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.