the Matterhorn

When we let the kids vote on what to do on an unscheduled saturday, they often want to go the the mountains. We thought it was about time we go and see the tallest peak in Switzerland- the Matterhorn.The best view is from the little ridge called Gornergrat.

The tricky part is getting there. First you have to park your car in Tasch and take a train to Zermatt (15min). Then you change train stations and go on another train (30min) up to Gornergrat at 3089 meters or 10,000 ft. From there the views are spectacular and you can see more that 20 peaks that are taller than 4000 meters or 13,000 feet.

The kids loved seeing and playing in the snow. It brought back many fond memories of Calgary and sledding.

We did see one crazy mountain biker take his bike up on the train and then ride his bike down (almost 5000 ft) on the semi groomed trails to Zermatt.

Reina's 9th Birthday

LDS Church in Nice, France

Here's Reina feeding the sheep just around the corner from us. Her school class goes on long country walks at least once a week. One day she came back with an onion she picked up from the field they had walked through (a literal field trip). She was so pleased when I used it in our dinner that night.

Reina just turned 9 years old. The night before she was a little worried that I hadn't gotten her anything. But she assured me that was OK and that it could be late.

So all night I spent making a huge birthday banner and wrapping her presents and printing a photo cube of pictures of her. She was very surprised in the morning.

She had a family party and the best part was she had no school that day (teacher day) and Colin was in town.

So all day she was treated like the queen that she is. Crepes for breakfast, fun afternoon of no school work and pulled pork on a bun for dinner with a family invited over from the ward (kids to play with). We had a great time.

This is a very typical drinking fountain in Italy. The kids loved these - plug up the bottom and the water squirts out the top hole to make a nice arc.

Our neighbors insisted we eat raclette (french for "scrape"). A traditional melted cheese dish on top of boiled potatoes along with pickles. They loaned us their raclette pan and we enjoyed this meal so much that we borrowed it again. The most fun is scraping out the melted cheese from the little dishes.

Kelsey's 3rd birthday

Brooklyn is starting to understand simple questions from our

neighbors- they are so nice.

We had a birthday party for Kelsey in front of the houses and the neighbor kids had fun playing pin the tail on the sheep (it seemed like new game to them- no one really knew how to do it) and then we had a pinata and cake and presents. We were sad not to have Colin, but the older

kids knew it was Kelsey's birthday and insisted on having a party on the day.

The next week Colin came and our two neighbors were anxious to take him cycling.

They were waiting for him all week and were excited to show him around the countryside. After 23 miles they headed back and were happy that Colin could keep up. After all one of them goes on 4 hour bike rides every other day and the other one is a triathlete.

So they plann

ed another ride for Friday. That time they went 40 miles and I was happy to see Colin a little worn out. It's nice that he has someone to exercise with here.

Chateau de Chillon and Interlaken area

Because the kids don't have school Wednesday afternoons wetry to go and do something fun if the weather is nice.

We were waiting for Colin to come so we could visit the

famous medieval castle of Chillon on the other side of the lake from where we are.

The kids loved running around

stairways from the 13th century and seeing real prisons where "witches" were held before being burned at the stake in the 15th century. The scariest part was the crypt under the chapel. I was even a little spooked. Their favorite part was the bathroom. Kelsey seemed a bit surprised at how far everything dropped.

Then on Saturday after all the chores and homework were done we decided to drive to the mountains. It was a late start but after two hours we were in the Swiss Alps and the village of Lauterbrunnen where we parked the car and headed to the tram.

Looking up the houses are on the sides of the mountains and cows roam around the hillsides.

Of course all the mountain villages are connected with rail

roads and gondolas and we got to take both to get to the small village of Murren. We had a picnic and ate on the park benches looking out over the mountains.

When you get thirsty its not

hard to find a public fountain with fresh mountain drinking water.

Our bonus for the day was watching the horn blowers (Swiss alphorn) practice their song out in the meadow.

School in Eysins

The idea is to have the kids learn French in a place where they are used to teaching languages quickly to a lot of foreigners. The bonus is they also get

to learn some German too.

So far we've been here two and a half weeks. The kids have been in school for two weeks and are settling in. They are picking up a few basic words and phrases but not too much. It's still pretty slow. Alek and Kelsey are learning the fastest though.

Brooklyn has had to jump into junior high school. She has a busy schedule and lots of different teachers. Not only does she have a gym class every week but swimming every Thursday afternoon. I'm so glad she can swim because she said everyone in her class is a good swimmer.

But the kids are really enjoying it here and still have a positive attitude. One of their favorite activities after school is to go grocery shopping in France (about 5 min away by car).

There is so much chocolate and delicious yogu

rt and chewy yummy bread. It's a feast every day.
We also had fun going to France by boat when Colin finally arrived. Every little village if full of flowers and looks like it belongs on a post card.

Another fun activity is the outdoor pools by the lake. They are unlike anything I've ever been to. One is lined with stainless steel to soak up the solar heat, another is a splash pool with fountains and the third is a deep pool for swimming lanes and they are all next to the lake- you can swim in that too.

We have some wonderful Swiss neighbors who are very welcoming and kind. The people are really nice and fun to get to know. There are so many rules in Switzerland: no noise after 8pm, mow lawn between 8am-7pm Mon-Sat (sunday yard work is against the law), virtually all stores are closed on Sunday, if you leave bikes in front of your house you can get a ticket.

But the nice thing here is everyone still trusts everyone else. Even if you buy something on the internet, you don't have to pay for it right then you can just get the bill in the mail. And if you say you will do something or be somewhere- then you will be because that is how everyone is.
We still can't believe we're here, but so far it has been lots of fun and we have made many new friends.
Of course we would love to have any visitors that can make it over.
We'll keep this post updated as we go.

The move to Switzerland

How was the flight?

Had I known the flight on Air Canada was really a three stop flight (web price showed just one) and was over an hour late, I would have paid a lot of extra money to go on a different flight. But even with our 10 carry-on items and stroller that we had to load on and off the planes six times we somehow managed. Usually I had five bags, Brooklyn had four, Alek had one and Reina had Kelsey in the stroller. The kids were generally well behaved and were thankfully able to sleep for a few hours before landing.

We landed in Geneva and made it through customs and baggage claim exhausted and tired. It took several minutes to figure out how to additionally carry our 5 large suitcases as well our our 10 carry-on items - that we were now experts at transporting. Thanks to a luggage cart and extra effort from the kids we made it to the rental car. At this point I have to insert that in the commotion of figuring out the baggage I forgot to pick up the oversized baby car seat (which I’m kind of glad I did since there was no way we could have loaded that on top our our already overloaded tottering cart). So I had to leave the kids alone with all the luggage for 5 minutes while I ran back and got the car seat.

The rental car.

We had tried to rent a mini van but the counter help said he had another nice big car for us and we’d have no problem fitting in our luggage. Our hearts sank as we

saw our five passenger mid-size SUV. I quickly surveyed the other rental cars in the garage to see if there were any mini vans. None. So once again we spent several minutes dealing with the luggage. We loaded and unloaded the car in different configurations. We smashed and crammed and finally ended up pulling all the children out (except Kelsey) and loading the car full of the luggage and then loading the children in on top of or in between the cracks of the luggage.

Finally we were off to our new house. Miraculously we made it out of the airport and past the Swiss boarder guard, with a smile and a wave as he looked at my children crammed in the back window of the car, and onto the freeway to Eysins.

The addendum to this story is that my friend who knew we had a lot of luggage had waited for us at the airport for a long very time but we barely missed her because we were so slow!

The house

Everyone was in a good mood now as we rolled along lush green hills and quaint farms. We had no problems finding our house and were happy that the

management company, a seventy-five year old man, was there to check us in. After an hour wallkthrough we were finally home. The suitcases became chairs and we had one table that belonged to the house. The kids loved running around a new house but I was anxious to get to the store. We went to town and parked underground at the grocery store/mall (at this point I was very glad to have a small car and not the mini van I had hoped for). Close parking spaces had a new meaning.

That night my wonderful friend brought over air mattresses, pillows and blankets and towels and we were able to finally settle into our new home.

addendum to the long weekend

The Bear.

We knew we only had one day to pull off a two family and one out of town aunt outing that would be fun and memorable. We love it when Sabynthe visits Calgary for a week and we wanted to get out to the mountains with her. Our destination was Johnston's Canyon: the most popular trail in Banff.

Allen, Laura and their kids as well as our family and Sabynthe left early Monday morning (9:30) for the hike. We arrived by 11am and all ten children were read to run up the trail. After a short 1/2 mile along a winding trail, with exposed tree roots and moss encrusted logs, we reached the lower waterfall.

A cascade of water falling 50ft or more can be viewed from a distance on a bridge or up close via a rock tunnel with water dripping from the ceiling. Ascending the stairs at the end of the tunnel leads to a rock shelf that is directly in front of the waterfall. The mist covered the children's hair.

After appreciating this water wonder we continued on the trail towards the upper falls. It was another mile but everyone was having fun and wanted to keep going. This portion of the trail was much steeper and tiring. Reina and I decided we would turn back early to eat our lunch (we were both fighting colds).

Normally the return trip goes faster because most of it is downhill. We were making pretty good time and feeling like we were almost to the trailhead when all of a sudden a lady in front of us said, "Stop! Don't go! There's a bear up ahead." Startled, we stopped in our tracks, not sure what to do or if we should turn back. As we waited with several other people we head the same woman yell back to us that is was safe to proceed now because the bear had gone.

Cautiously our group of 8-9 people started forward trying to make lots of noise and trying to stay close together. It didn't work. Up ahead someone yelled, "Bear!" We all stopped. I told Reina to hide behind a tree and just then a bear turned the corner on the path 20 feet ahead of us. It looked at us for a moment and then charged us.

We all started running and screaming and then I remembered that Reina was still standing by the tree and had not seen the bear. I yelled for her to start running! As we ran past the people coming up from the trail behind us they were yelling at us not to run away. We were just happy to put some other people between us and the bear.

Moments later someone yelled that it was safe and the bear had crossed the river next to the trail. Once again we huddled together and made lots of noise as we walked to the trail head. All the adults were holding hands with their kids; young and old. I was more than a bit relieved to make it back to our car and rest from the hike.

The next people to make it back to base camp were John Ross and Paul. When I asked them if they saw the bear they both looked at me and laughed. I had to spend 20 minutes trying to convince them we had really seen a bear on the trail.

Victoria Day Weekend (aka the long weekend in May)

Kootenay National Park, BC

Not wanting to waste a weekend where the weather was nice and Colin was just coming off a graveyard shift. We were able to leave early Friday morning and explore some more places only a few hours drive from Calgary. This weekend we decided to visit Radium Hot Springs in British Columbia.

The drive through the mountains was beautiful and full of wildlife. Besides seeing many deer we even got to see a bear right on the side of the road.

Another roadside stop was Numa Falls. The kids loved climbing around the rocks and eating lunch next to the river.

We love packing as much in as possible so the kids got their first introduction to golf on the putting green, racquetball in the fitness area at the resort and swimming in two different pools at the hot springs: a hot pool and the cooler pool. The hot mineral water was wonderful to soak in and we enjoyed being outdoors with the kids.

what to do in the winter..

It seems we've tried almost every winter sport there is. I've had so many people tell me to "embrace" the winter and then it doesn't seem so long or dreary. If you can find fun things to do, well then, it should be fun.

So we've tried ice skating - every Canadian mom feels this is a required sport- kind of like learning how to ride a bike.

We've tried sledding - we now own two very fast sleds.

We've tried cross-country (or Nordic) skiing - Brooklyn and Reina seemed to catch on pretty fast.

But our favorite so far is Alpine (or down hill) skiing.

Last year Brooklyn and Reina learned and after a few lessons felt they has mastered the sport.

So this year while the older kids are at school I run up to the local learning hill with Alek and Kelsey and we ride the magic carpets. We've gone twice and it is more fun than I could have imagined. Both kids love it despite not being able to really stop or turn. But with a little more time I'm

confident we'll all say winter isn't so bad here.

Canada Olympic Park

Feb 9, 2011

Alek 5 1/2

Kelsey 2 1/2

Living in the deep freeze

It gets colder here than I thought possible for children. But amazingly it's not so bad when you get used to it. We consider ourselves ready to live at the Antarctic research stations. One of the most interesting parts is how "squeaky" the snow sounds when it's this cold.

Enjoy-