Lac Blanc

We live within and hour and a half drive of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe (okay, so it has a competitor in the Ural mountains, but there is heated debate as to whether it counts as being in Europe or not). We can see it out the window of our apartment, but we knew we had to see it close up. I think that these very may well have been the first glaciers that Jaxon has seen in his life. That is kind of a big deal, right?

Jaxon once again astounded us with his hiking abilities. It was a really tough hike up to Lac Blanc, a glacial lake in the area. He kept up with the best of us, and he wasn't even sore the next day like me and Daniel. How is that?

Daniel has become so French. He doesn't even mind changing his clothes under a towel.

The water was probably about 33 degrees. I really wanted to see him go in all the way, but it didn't happen.

Take out your binkie and smile, Jonas!

I had never seen water quite that color before.

What a treat to live so close to this place!

Escape to the Bernese Alps

The weekend after getting home from Germany and Jaxon starting school we were ready to explore our new surroundings. We decided to head up to Thun in the Bernese Alps (close to Interlaken) which is just under an hour and a half away from us. I have to say that it got us pretty excited to be living in Switzerland. If could easily have been a day trip, but we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and camp.

When I looked at the weather which I thought would be fairly chilly and considered the fact that we would be visiting cold mountain lakes, I opted out of bringing swimsuits. When will I learn? Swimsuits should never be left at home! The weather was beautiful and the lakes were not cold enought to keep my boys out. Luckily they can still get away with going in the underwear or nude. I think Daniel was the most dissappointed that he hadn't brought his swimsuit. He can't quite get away with that anymore...

We spent the day hiking up to Lac d'Oeschinen. We started with a lunch in the riverbed to get our energy up.

Jaxon playing hide-and-seek. Luckily his yellow had kept him from being too camouflauged.

Jaxon had finally found something picture-worthy when he saw a baby duck and his mom swimming in the lake.

It was hard to move very fast when every, single rock on the mountain was a distraction.

After our big day of hiking we spent the evening in Thun.

I was trying to catch how perfectly blue the water is there, but my camera isn't capable of it.

This was a wonderful view to wake up to in the morning.

I had only brought two bowls and Daniel got impatient with waiting for the kids to finish their cereal, so he took matters into his own hands.

And of course they had to finish off with a morning dip before we headed out...

Family trip to Germany

Right after we moved all of our things into our new swiss apartment we took off to Germany to take advantage of the one week of summer we had left before Jaxon started school. I am wanting to spend as much time as possible with my parents while they are in Europe. It is so much fun having them so close, and from Geneva they are even closer. It is an easy 6 hours on the road the see them from here. What a treat for me!Daniel ready to taste some of the German snails

To celebrate Daniel's birthday we visited the underground torture chambers of Nuremberg. My mom is trying to make her most sympathetic face here.

Jaxon liked being able to try out some of the torture tools.

We spent one day at the zoo. I absolutely love th Nuremberg zoo. It is so green and natural. If I we an animal in captivity I would want to be in this zoo.

Jaxon experienced his first bee sting. He ran up to us full of smiles saying "I just got stung by a bee!" I didn't believe him at first, until his ear swelled up.

We bought some feed for the goats this time. The kids thought it was fun, even though there were few takers. The goats were apparently completely stuffed by the time we got there.

Playing at the zoo playground

We spent one day in Bamberg, a UNESCO world heritage site

This is a very real smile. Daniel loved eating bratwurst whenever he had the chance. These particular brats are called Coburger, and they are cooked over pine needles.

Visiting the castle near Bamberg

We visited Marloffstein, the little town where I lived for two years when I was younger. This used to be our home. There is a pond that is nearby that I often visited. I've told Jaxon about it because in the spring time millions of little frogs acsend out of the pond and end up crossing the nearby street, often to their peril. The street becomes somewhat perilous due to the slimy frog guts and leads to car wrecks, so during this time they have a frog-crossing traffic sign up, much like a deer-crossing sign. Jaxon was insistant that we visit the frog pond while in Germany, so we did; however I think he was disappointed by our lack of frog sightings.

It was a very fun trip, though not long enough. It was very fun to be with my mom and dad. I was also able to reconnect with some old friends, which was very fun, and it was especially great to have Daniel their to experience a place that means so much to me.