Freedom Fries

31

2012-01-29T02:53:00.000-08:00

We celebrated my birthday with our typical weekend outing--skiing. We had great weather and great snow so it was perfect. Even more exciting is that Jonas is now going down the intermediate slopes so we can do more skiing with the entire family together. It is so much fun! Jonas says, "I want to do it all by myself; I won't be crazy!" to assure us that he will do his turns and not just bomb down the hill. Daniel is feeling pretty proud that all of his work with Jonas in the harness seems to be paying off.

After skiing we stopped by for dinner at a little diner we've noticed a few times in St-Cergue. It opened up just a couple months ago and we met the owner, a Swiss guy who spent a couple years in Connecticut. His goal was to make the place all-American, and we think he succeeded, down to the twangy country music. The food was delicious and definitely tasted like home. I guess the only thing that didn't feel American were the prices--20 francs (about $22) for a burger and fries. But I don't think that is going to stop us from becoming regulars!

It was a great birthday celebration. If only it ended with a dip in some Alpine thermal pools it would have been perfect....

Italian Christmas: Capri

2012-01-05T04:17:00.000-08:00

For our final day we headed out early to catch the boat to the island of Capri

We took the minibus up to Anacapri
I was trying to capture how easily we could have plunged to our death.

Taking the chair lift to the top of the island

I love European picnic lunches

Hiking down
Capri

Back in Sorrento
The kids loved playing in the bath at the hotel. Emily was nice enough to watch the kids so that Daniel and I could go to the thermal spa this evening. And the next day, having completed our perfect Christmas trip, we were back on the plane heading north to good old Switzerland.

Italian Christmas: Positano

2012-01-05T03:56:00.001-08:00

The next day we headed down the Amalfi coast on one of the most exhilerating bus rides of my life to Positano

Have I mentioned that we quickly became addicted to the picked-daily perfectly-delicious mandarin oranges which we found in abundance?

Hiking down to the beach

The kids loved having a beach day

Daniel found this delicious homemade mozzarella cheese. The best I have ever had for sure.
Daniel put himself to work while Emily and I checked out the shops. Isn't he sweet?Hiking back up to the bus stop.

It was an exhausting day for some. But it didn't end there for Emily and me. At our hotel there was an amazing thermal spa, the perfect place to relax after the perfect day.

Italian Christmas: Volcano day

2012-01-05T02:35:00.000-08:00

The day after Christmas we headed out to visit Pompeii and Mt. Vesuvius.We started the day by hiking up Vesuvius. We got lucky because the week before it had been closed due to the ice. It was still icy when we went up, but at least week got to go.
At the crater

Emily was insistent on getting a "steamy" kissing picture of us.
Hot chocolate warmed us up on the Circumvesuviana train on our way back to Pompeii.
Pompeii was fabulous. The kids never tired of climbing all over the perfectly preserved destroyed city.

After Pompeii we headed over to Naples to visit the Christmas market. I loved the grittiness of the place, but I can't say the Daniel and Emily appreciated it very much. In any case we did manage to enjoy some delicious pizza in the birth place of pizza.

The kids go to watch them cook the pizza in the wood-burning oven, and they were even given some dough to place with while we waited for our pizzas.

This 7-cheese pizza deserves its own photo

Daniel appreciated the tagged religious statues.

This is how Emily felt about Naples. She said, quote: "I can't believe I told people I was going to Naples, Italy for Christmas." It was an adventure, though.

Italian Christmas: Sorrento

2012-01-05T02:10:00.000-08:00

We spend Christmas day in Sorrento. The kids set their stocking out the night before and found them filled with surprises from Pere Noel in the morning.

Christmas breakfast
We thought the the place would be totally dead, but there was actually a lot of action. Even the Christmas market was open.

We wandered around Sorrento before finding the perfect restaurant for Christmas dinner.

Pizza, gnochi, cannelonni...what better Christmas dinner could there be?
Claire found that she loves fettucini alfredo.

Later we had ice cream. Poor Jonas slept through it again.

We visited a Catholic church in the evening and listened to Christmas carols played on the organ.
I wasn't sure how it would be to spend Christmas away from home, but it was great! Everything worked out perfectly and we were especially happy that we didn't have to fast all day...

Italian Christmas: Vatican City

2012-01-05T01:47:00.001-08:00

We spend Christmas Eve day visiting Vatican City.

Nothing like beginning a trip to the Vatican Museum with a little wrestling match.
I love this painting and I have never succeeded in finding any prints of it.

Outside of St. Peter's cathedral. After spending these several hours at Vatican City, Jaxon decided that not only is it the world's smallest country, but also its most boring. Although they did enjoy chasing pigeons.
After the Vatican, we headed south to our new destination, Sorrento.

We found this little pastry shop first thing and we knew that we were going to like it here. The workers gave the kids a little treat.

It wouldn't be Christmas Eve for me without acting out the Christmas story. Our cast: Claire as Mary (that required a lot of coaxing; she really wanted to be one of the animals), Jaxon as Joseph, Emily as the donkey, Jonas as a shepherd (he is very impressed by the angel of the Lord in this picture), me as innkeeper and angel of the Lord and Daniel as the narrator/videographer. Both the dress rehearsal and the performance were great successes.

Then we broke into our pastries a little bit. The one that looks like peanuts (it is actually deep fried little balls covered in honey) is a Christmas specialty from the region.

Jonas loved it the most.

Italian Christmas: Rome

2012-01-05T00:48:00.000-08:00

My very best friend from Houston, Emily, came with her oldest daughter, Claire, to spend Christmas with us this year. Emily is awesome. Not only did she fly halfway across the world to some see me, she was even willing fly into Geneva in the morning and hop back on a plane to fly to Rome that very afternoon. Jet lag and everything. But one would not have even known.
When we got into Rome that night I was thrilled to find that I had totally scored on the lodging. I had booked for us at a monastery with the sweetest nuns and the coolest room.

We sent Daniel out to forage for food. He did well.
It even included free breakfast in front of the Christmas tree.

We started our first real day in Rome at the Colosseum. It was awesome, although I never could convince Jonas that he wasn't going to see a guy fighting a lion. I think he was a little disappointed at the end.

Jonas playing the emperor. Will he let the gladiator live...?
Apparently he was feeling generous that day.

Next we headed to the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum

Then Capitol Hill
Followed by gelato at the Pantheon

Unfortunately Jonas slept through it.

But he got his own gelato later. He was especially excited about the little cone.

We leisurely made our way to the Trevi Fountain.

Then we found a nice little place for dinner on our way to the Spanish steps.

At the Spanish steps.
It was a great and full day!

Christmas season

2012-01-05T00:32:00.002-08:00

Le Hameau de Pere Noel...

Jaxon losing his first tooth...

Annecy Christmas market...

PwC Christmas party...
Montreux Christmas Market...

Jonas's Christmas presentation...

Ice skating...

Getting ready for skiing...

Skiing!

Week with Dad

2011-12-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I was sent to Washington D.C. for work to present at the American Public Health Association conference. Daniel obligingly arranged his schedule so that he could try out my life for a week and save me from having to arrange other childcare. It was kind of weird for me since I had never been away from my boys even for a night. Okay, once Jaxon spent the night at a the neighbors house, but that is it. Wow, life doesn't seem very complicated until you start writing down the schedule for each day and all the things that need to be considered. I wasn't sure Daniel would survive... After dropping my off at the airport they headed up to Signal-de-Bougy, an amazing park up on the mountain.

With bumper boats...
And bumper cars...
it was clear that nobody was missing me!

It just so happened that I was gone over Halloween, so I missed a lot of the action, but Daniel did not disappoint me with his festiveness.

He was even brave enough to take them treat-or-treating in a country where they don't really trick-or-treat.
There are advantages and disadvantages to trick-or-treating somewhere that it is fairly uncommon. You have fewer people prepared to offer candy...

But you end up with some pretty good booty when people start rummaging through their cupboards. The kids also made a good amount of money.

This is a token picture of the church Halloween party we went to the night before I left. Not the best picture, but it was a great party!

I loved being at the conference, though it was crazy, busy and it was a great experience for me professionally. When I got home from D.C., everyone seemed to appreciate me more than ever (especially Daniel!), even though they had a good time. Jaxon enjoyed my pictures Washington D.C., especially Barack Obama's house. Daniel did remark later on, "Huh, the kids didn't take a bath the whole time you were gone." So, if I weren't around, they would survive, but they would be stinky!

Desalpes 2011

2011-11-06T11:24:00.000-08:00

We will Desalpes twice this year. First we went with our friends, the Hiatts, to Charmey near Gruyere. It took awhile to get there since we had to drive up the road that they were bringing the parade of cows down...

The kids loved the baby cows
There was more free stuff here than I have experienced anywhere in Europe. They had this stand handing out free milkshakes of different flavors.
Then all the cheese makers brought were offering samples of all ages of Gruyere as well as different cheeses, and even fondue. It was delicious and I would definitely go back next year if only for these samples.

Jonas and Evan being cows. They were inspired.
The next one we went to was in St. Cergue.
Afterward we went for a little hike up the hill. I'm sure we would have had a great view, if not for the fog.

Sixt-fer-de-cheval

2011-11-06T11:19:00.001-08:00

Just another beautiful hike in another beautiful corner of the Alps near us...

Eger, Hungary

2011-09-11T09:05:00.001-07:00

We took a train up to a small town in rural Hungary called Eger.

We spent the day at a water park and the evening in the luxurious Turkish baths which we had almost completely to ourselves. We had a hard time understanding the signs...
The baths were wonderful. They had these really hot showers that you could have on as you sit relaxing by the pool.
.

After the baths it was pretty late, but we managed to get a seat in a restaurant. Jaxon ordered strawberry soup as a starter which was very tasty. They gave us soft blankets to keep us warm as we ate on the terrace.
We got some authentic Hungarian Goulasch.

We were the last ones out. They had cleared all the tables and chairs by the time we finished.
While in Eger we stayed in a bungalow right out of town. It was fun and really cheap.

There were goats that lived on roof of the house across the street.

On the way to the airport this guy asked an old lady to stand up so he could sit with his baby on the chair. They must have forgotten they had an enormous stroller with room for the whole family.

At the airport we had to wait a while and found this great seat for the boys.
After 10 days and three countries we headed back to Switzerland. We had a great time and enjoyed discovering Hungary, Slovakia and Vienna with Tracey and the boys.

Vienna continued

2011-09-11T08:50:00.001-07:00

We visited the Schonnbrunn palace which had some great costumes which we fully took advantage of. Don't we look very royal?

Janet and her sister look like they come out of a Jane Austin novel.
The wigs were our favorite, but I was a big fan of the shiny green coat

Our family picture. Jonas and Jaxon are the little kings.
Like I said, we really enjoyed the costumes....

Jonas loved the hair dressing exhibit.

and the medieval toy room....
We did not have time to see everything, but the grounds were immense and very beautiful.

Jonas found a Austrian snail which he carried with him for a while.
Hundertwasser, a famous architect and artist redesigned a few buildings in Vienna.

We looked for Wienerschnitzel the whole time we were in Vienna but only succeeded in the train station right before we left.
When we left Vienna Jaxon started crying. We asked him what was the matter and he said he missed his spider friends we saw every day going to and from our hostel to the metro.

We went to a park with mazes for the afternoon which was harder to get through than I thought.
Which way???
Even the snail enjoyed the mazes although he cheated by sliding over the walls....

We wandered around Vienna and watched the street performers who were actually really good.

Jonas had to pee while on the metro so we jumped off and found a spot.

Arrival in Vienna

2011-09-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Vienna to find great advertisement in the metro and tons of huge spiders on the way to our hostel.

Our first full day in Vienna we went out to find the Secession, but first came across this opera toilet.Then got lost and found this...

Then visited the Secession, pretty much just to see Gustav Klimt's Beethoven's Frieze. Then we got sucked into some modern art videos.

We headed over to visit the Belvedere to enjoy some more art, notably Klimt's The Kiss. The collection was really great, and we lucked out because Jonas passed out in his stroller. Afterward we went to the Stadtpark where Daniel and Jonas took extreme strolling to the next level.

Jonas loved the music and danced for a long, long time.

Listening to lots of sounds...
Jaxon found the tooting sound and listened with delight for a while...
This game allowed the kids to lead the Viennese Orchestra. The faster they move the stick the faster the guys played. Jaxon and the kids loved it.
We then went to a jazz night in the city center.
We bought some of these yummy Austrian goodies and asked for some of all the sauces to try. It sure hit the spot after a long day.

Bratislava

2011-09-11T08:29:00.001-07:00

We headed out early the next morning to go to Bratislava, Slovakia.

Jonas, who apparently was not impressed, passed out in front of the Slovakian white house

In Slovakia, all places are measured from this very point in Bratislava
Part of the fun of the city was searching for these whimsical statues and cannon balls in the walls

Next we went to eat at a Rick Steve's recommended restaurants, and we were well recompensed for the effort of searching for it. Everything they serve comes from the farm that they own.
First we tried some of the traditional Slovakian cheese with paprika.
Total deliciousness that sticks to the ribs.

Daniel left a very happy man. Not only was the food amazing, but it was really cheap. Daniel regretted that we weren't staying longer in Bratislava, if only to eat.

Last day in Budapest

2011-09-11T08:11:00.001-07:00

The next day we started at the Jewish Synagogue, the second largest in the world after...you guessed it, New York City. Or maybe you didn't. I was surprised.
Jaxon was fascinated by the Tree of Life. There was one leaf for each person killed during the Holocaust. I was surprised by how much time he spend looking at the names on the silver leaves.

Then we went and had a delicious lunch at Hummus Point

We splurged for the large family size hummus platter. We were stuffed at the end.

Jaxon loved these little old communist era Hungarian cars and buses.
Stuffed full, we headed up to Hero's Square and City Park.

This statue represents "the importance of packing light." I can sympathize with that, but he could have at least packed some shorts...hey but at least he remembered the essentials - his golden bird statue
The George Washington memorial

Afterwards we made our way over the the Fisherman's Bastion.

Jonas did not appreciate the view of Budapest as much as the rest of us.

We liked this guys because he does Daniel's scowling look when he is sitting on the stand at church.We got ripped off on the smallest ice cream cones in history of the world. Even Jonas was disappointed withe the quantity.
We liked this car and then laughed when we saw his plates. He might have to change in 2012 as his approval rating appears to be slightly higher in Europe
That night we went to see some dancing horses. I was really excited because I had wanted to see the Lipizzaner stallions in Vienna, but the are off in August. So we were able to see them in Budapest! It was great.
I quickly gave up trying to take pictures. What I have concluded, though, after seeing dancing horses in both Spain and in Hungary, is that while it is very entertaining and looks very cool, it never looks, well, comfortable for the horses. Jonas loved it, though, and showed off his dancing horse moves the rest of the evening.

More of Budapest

2011-09-11T08:06:00.001-07:00

The next day it was time to hit some more thermal baths, this time the Szechenyi baths at city park. Here everyone it cramming in our little changing cabin that we rented. Don't worry, we took turns.

The baths were amazing! Not surprisingly, everyone has a great time.

Having thoroughly relax, we headed the the museum I was most excited about, the House of Terror. It was all about the Hungary's years under communism and was fabulous.

Pictures of the victims.
Oily tank

St. Istavan's cathedral

I loved these subways!

Budapest, continued

2011-09-11T07:52:00.000-07:00

The next day we started out by heading up to the citadel and visiting the Catholic Cave Church on the way. It was closed off during the communist years.
We then hiked up to the top of the citadel.

Daniel showing off his "gland" on our way up to Castle Hill.
Enjoying some "turdelnik" (in Czech terminology) on Castle Hill.

From Castle Hill we headed to the Hospital in a Rock museum, the hospital that was used during WWII and the 1958 uprising. From the way that they described the conditions (three patients sharing a bed, temperatures around 90 degrees, and reusing gauze cut off of dead patients) it seems as if you would not want to spend much time there as a patient. Daniel thought it was the perfect setting for a horror film.

And we followed that up with, well, dinner. It was still delicious!

Judge me if you will, the kid still loves his binkie.

After that we headed over to Margaret island for some frog spotting...

and some huge cotton candy. It was kiwi flavored. In case anyone is wondering, cotton candy always tastes like cotton candy, no matter what they say the flavor is.

Invisible Jonas.
The musical fountain on Margaret Island.

Fun on the way back to the apartment.

Budapest, Hungary

2011-09-11T07:38:00.002-07:00

The day after my mother and father-in-law headed back to the U.S., my sister, Tracey, came to visit us with my nephews, Alex and Nate. They spent five weeks with us, so part of that time we took off on a trip to hit the three capitals closest in proximity in the world (unvalidated): Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. Jaxon and Nate are in the airport ready to leave Switzerland behind.
Arriving in Budapest, this was one of the first things that stuck out to me: graffiti on the escalator. Although it isn't very good, it's a creative idea!
Our apartment accommodations.

Although I briefly visited Budapest about 12 years ago, my biggest regret was missing the thermal baths that the country is so famous for, so he first thing we did the morning after we arrived was hit the Gellert thermal baths. It was absolutely amazing! Pools of all temperatures, saunas, steam rooms. This place was plush.

After the baths we headed to the Great Market Hall. We picked up some delicious goulash and browsed the souvenirs, but the kids were most excited about the fountain that they discovered out front...

We then took off an a long walk along the river and through the water district to get to our next activity.

Finding cool statues along the way.And cool hats.
We arrived just in time to get to our seats to watch a traditional Hungarian dance troop.

We all enjoyed it, but I think Jonas was the most inspired and started showing us his Hungarian dance moves as soon as we hit the sidewalk outside

And after a wonderful and exhausting day we headed back to the apartment.

Swimming to the island

2011-09-11T07:38:00.001-07:00

This is a picture of Mom the Explorer.

Perhaps one of the most memorable moments of our Corsican adventures was the swim to a little island off the coast. A sand bar spread from the mainland to a small island about a kilometer away. In order to get to the sand bar we had to swim about 100 meters until we were able to walk the rest of the way. Once we got out a little way, Mom, who was excited to go decided to turn back. I did not want to pressure her to do something she was not comfortable doing so after some encouragement I listened to her and went on with Janet, Jaxon and Jonas.

When I arrived at the island with Janet and the kids I turned around to see how far we had come and noticed a woman with two blue noodles walking on the sandbar. I was shocked, it was Mom! I quickly got up and ran across the sandbar in the surf to meet Mom laughing the whole way. I will always remember her big smile as we met on a sandbar with waves crashing all around us in between two islands in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. We walked the rest of the was together hand in hand and I even took one of her blue noodles. We relaxed on the little island for a few minutes before heading back as the afternoon wind was picking up and the waves were getting bigger. Last year Mom climbed the stairs of the Eiffel Tower even though she was very scared of the height and the stability of the tower and this year she swam and walked across a sandbar to a remote island in the Mediterranean Sea even though she was a little scared at the beginning. I will always cherish the special moments and adventures I shared with my Mom!

We also enjoyed a short visit to a beautiful beach before getting banished thanks to Jonas’ little “accident”. As there are almost no public bathrooms in Corsica and Jonas has only been potty trained for a few months we had to improvise to find “potties” everywhere we went. A tree, a wall, a drain, a street, a little flower that looks thirsty… you name it and it probably was one of Jonas’ potties during the trip. Before going he would look at me, turn his head to the side and say in his sweet, innocent voice, “dada, is dis a potty?” to which I would reply “yes Jonas” . He would then say “ok dada, dis is a potty” and take care of business. Unfortunately for unsuspecting neighbor on the beach that day Jonas did not think to ask me if the little orange beach tent was indeed a potty. I was talking when I heard the sound of tinkling on a tarp. I turned around just in time to see Jonas as he finished. No Jonas this is not a potty! I tried to clean it with water which attracted the attention of the owner of the tent who was an Italian guy who did not speak much English or French. He came up to me to see what I was doing to his tent. I tried to explain that Jonas had gone pee in his tent and he first looked confused then angry. He pointed at me and said “you?” in serious tone. I replied "no not me the baby" and pointed at Jonas. He then nodded and said, “baby…baby.. it’s ok…” Luckily I was able to help him understand what happened because he thought it was me! We moved away from the beach but got a picture of the little orange tent which you can see in the background.

Our spot after being banished...

The color of the water was amazing.
Jaxon sure loved the little hike with Grandma and Grandpa to the beach.

Grandma and Grandpa Hausen in Switzerland

2011-08-28T06:47:00.000-07:00

We visited many places around our home in Geneva during the next week.

We spent some time in the forest and fields outside of our town. I love walking over here and looking out at the mountains.
I took my Mom and Dad to Thun, a beautiful Swiss town in the German speaking side of Switzerland near Interlaken.
Jonas laughed at this sign which said "This is not a potty"

We hiked around the towns castle and enjoyed the beautiful gardens and plants.
At the chocolate museum Jaxon had a blast in the fountain.
Jonas almost died when this lamp post fell on him. We were blessed as his body rotated just enough so it fell on his arm and not on his little head just an inch away.
Janet and my Mom had fun preparing food together. Here they have a wonderful Raclette with dried beef from the Alps and smoked ham from Italy.
Jonas had to try the coco beans at the chocolate museum. He was disappointed with the taste.
Jaxon was a little more wise and just smelled them.

Cool playground at the Maison Callier, the chocolate factory
No words needed.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the chocolate museum is the chocolate room which allows you to live your childhood Willie Wonka dreams. After touring the factory you arrive in a room with unlimited amounts of all the best Swiss chocolates. It is worth the 10 franc entrance fee just to visit this room. After the visit Mom and Dad said they never wanted chocolate again, but the next day they were ready for more.

We had a wonderful visit with Grandma and Grandpa. It was so fun to watch the boys bond with them throughout the trip and to share so many wonderful experiences and memories together. We are already scheming for next year!

Travelling back home

2011-08-21T08:54:00.001-07:00

The boat ride to Nice was great. The ship had a play area that the kids were in the whole time.One last look back at Bastia and Corsica.

When we got to Nice we saw this sign to Marseille which made us want to turn left. But instead we headed to Nice and beyond.

Mom and Dad took us to a nice pizza to get some pizza au feu de bois (see the wood oven below) We got four cheese pizza with mozzarella, blue cheese, goat cheese, a pizza with white cream sauce, smoked salmon and fresh tomatoes, and a pizza with grilled eggplant, fresh tomatoes, artichoke hearts and more. It was so good. Thanks again Mom and Dad for possibly the best pizza I've ever had.
I love these ovens which leave the pizza with a flavor of the wood they use to cook it.

So many choices. We found a wonderful Nicoise ice cream parlor which sold 50 different flavors. The kids always love a good ice cream cone.
Jaxon showing how much he loves ice cream!
On the way back we stopped in one of our favorite medieval villages in Southern France, Eze-le- Village.
Jaxon and Jonas found little door just for kids
Jonas loved doing the bars on this persons front porch
With this last stop we drove back through Italy and through the Mont Blanc tunnel through the Alps back to Switzerland. We had an amazing time in Corsica but Grandma and Grandpa's visit was not over yet...

Corsica-Bastia

2011-08-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

As we headed up to the tip of the island we ran into a herd of sheep which blocked the road for a while. Welcome to Corsica. We were taking pictures and the natives who were not impressed were honking at us for not running the poor guys down.
We got a campsite on the beach which was great. We slept with the calming sound of the small waves. We had a nice pasta dinner and ate a ton of olives a la provencal. Yummy. We watched the sunset over the sea and could see the lights of Bastia, the capital of the island in the distance. After the kids went to bed, Janet and I went out for a night swim in the sea and a walk on the beach.
Mom loves the beach and the sea. She and Dad enjoyed walking along the beach at dusk.

On Sunday we started on an adventure to find the one LDS chapel on the island. The Church website provided very little help as the address listed the main road of the city. We drove down that road looking for something that resembled a chapel to no avail. We tried the phone number listed over and over and when we were ready give up, Dad insisted we keep trying. Then we got through to someone who gave us directions. The chapel was behind a store and nearly impossible to find without help. When we arrived we found that there were only two members at church. They were happy to have some visitors and we all participated. Janet played piano and we all gave talks! Jaxon and Jonas hung out in the nursery and played with toys with no supervision, but had blast.

After church, Franc, one of the members invited us to his house for a wonderful meal from Cameroon. We also had an assortment of French patisseries.

You only live once...I'll take one of each please.
During our visit, Dad needed to use the restroom and was in there for a long time. We heard him fiddling with the door for a minute. We soon realized that the bathroom door in the apartment which must have been nearly 100 years old was jammed. The bathroom was the size of a stall with no air circulation and it was a hot day. I will always remember Franc asking Dad if he would like to come out and Dad's serious response in French, "Oui, j'aimerai sortir" (yes, I would like to come out).

Despite all our efforts, we could not open the door. Franc then said, "Richard, get in the shower away from the door." He started kicking the door harder and harder until finally the door broke and opened. We were all laughing the whole time.
When Dad was freed from his toilette prison his smile showed how happy he was to get out. After Dad's adventure and a great meal at Franc's, we went to walk around Bastia for a bit.

The old town was a labyrinth of narrow streets with peeling pastel colored walls.

We loved the walk around. As you can see we don't look at all like tourists and blended right in...
We loved the rough feel of Bastia which reminded us of Marseille. Who needs a dryer when you have windows?

We finished the afternoon at the old port. Nobody fell in the water...

Wait. There was Jaxon that mysteriously disappeared...

The next morning we were sad to say goodbye to Corsica after an amazing week, but the fact that our boat was scheduled to call in Nice in only a few hours lightened the blow. I found a nice Corsican pastry for Janet which she enjoyed while waiting for our delayed boat.
The drinking fountain which was a real fountain was a lot of fun and filled some time while we waited. Jaxon got a nice drink from 5 feet away. I got a nasal flush when I first decided to have a little "drink" from this thing.
A few steps back does the trick.

Corsica-Plage de Pallombaggia

2011-08-21T07:27:00.001-07:00

The next day we all went to the famous Pallombaggia beach which was really amazing.

After a long swim, Janet and I ended up passing out in the sun for a short nap while grandma and grandpa watched the kids.

How could I resist? Beautiful beach, beautiful wife....
We spent a lot of the day under water observing the fish. Janet followed a stingray around for a while. My dad and I swam out to the rocky island in the background.

That night we celebrated Jonas' birthday again at the campsite.
He was really excited about the sand toys which were perfect for the beach.
My dad bought us some great pizza au feu de bois (wood oven) with eggplant and olives. We added fresh tomatoes and sliced red peppers. On the side a nice green salad with a classy vinaigrette sauce. Janet picked out a really good French cake.

When it was time to move on we found this enormous caterpillar on the tent.

Trip to Corsica-Bonifacio

2011-08-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

With summer vacation coming to a close (Jaxon starts school tomorrow) I thought it was high time to document our summer adventures. It has been a great! It all started the end of June when Daniel's parents came out for a visit. Somehow we convinced them to leave the day after their arrival to drive to Savona, Italy and spend the night there before hopping on an early morning boat to Corsica and cruising down to the islands southernmost tip. All I can say is that they are troopers! Corsica has been Daniel's dream for years, and now it finally came true.
It was a four hour boat ride, during which everyone enjoyed the scenery and the breeze on the deck. With the exception of me, huddled inside the boat on my laptop. Based on the pictures they seemed to have had a great time.

As soon as we got off the boat in Bastia we took off toward Bonifacio. We chose this destination not only because it looked beautiful, but also due to its easy access, 2 1/2 hours from Bastia on the best maintained, least windy road on the island. Unfortunately we found that this particular road was closed just outside of Bastia because of a large accident. So we were forced through the center of the island and forged our way through the windy road south. All in all it took closer to 5 hours, but it was a beautiful drive and well worth the effort.

Our first real day in Corsica we left the island for an even smaller group of islands, the Lavezzi islands, notable due to their odd rock formations. We hiked around for awhile until we found the perfect beach.

If you can make out two little shadow people on the rocks in the background that would be Daniel and Richard.
This was the first time that Jaxon really figured out the snorkel and went snorkeling. He quickly became a snorkeling machine. Couldn't be stopped! I loved being able to see him discover this new underwater world. It is really some of the best snorkeling we have done and I was thrilled that he was able to enjoy it.

Jonas alternately enjoyed swimming...
And napping in his makeshift bed.Jaxon and I sat on the front of the boat for the first portion of the trip, and got drenched. Which would have been nicer had it not been for the cool wind whipping us around.

The boat trip back was a scenic ride along the cliffs and the sea caves. Unfortunately Jaxon missed most of it.

Our next day we took some time to enjoy Bonafacio and its environs.

We took a hike along the cliff line out to a lighthouse.

Enjoying a somewhat violent lunch.

Reaching the lighthouse.

Later that afternoon we hiked down this super-steep stairway to where the Bonifacians used to go the fetch water. Or so they said. But I didn't see any fresh water down there.

It was very cool, if not so safe. But even Jonas survived, in spite of his death wish.
This part, with no barrier, kind of creeped even me out.
I love old steep stairs.
It was a great day.

Camping Brienz

2011-06-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went camping in Bernese Oberland with our good friends, the Hiatts. We spend Saturday at Ballenberg, which is an amazing open-air museum. Can I just say that I am a sucker for open-air museum? This one was really amazing with imported chalets from every region in Switzerland and dating back a few hundred year. We really had a blast.
If you wonder what Daniel is doing in this photo, he is being the Heisman trophey.

Evan, keep your head in!
With all the amazing things to see, I think this slug may have been the kids' favorite..

Jonas yelled, "Hey, Donkey! Don't eat the caca, okay?"
The Roundy's were able to meet us in the afternoon. Through some miracle, Daniel actually managed to get control of all six of these kids for about 30 seconds. Definitely picture worthy.

We visited the small chocolate factory at Ballenberg. Jaxon was enthalled watching this machine stir the huge vat of mouth-watering chocolate. I admired with him for a moment, thinking of how delicious it would be to dip some strawberries in that pool of chocolate. I asked Jaxon what he wanted to put in there. "I want to me in there," he replied. "And eat ALL the chocolate!"
Here we are at the campsite. It had a great park for the kids and an unbeatable setting. However, Jaxon's favorite?...
The elephant shower. My favorite? Being able to put all the kids to bed and be able to hang out just with the adults.
The next day we headed over the mountains to visit Lucern. We took a little time out to eat our lunch at this beautiful spot.

Lucern was fabulous and beautiful.

I absolutely loved the building facades.

The Hiatts left that evening from Lucern, and we stayed one more night. We had had the great idea of bringing our fondue pot to make pasta, since we had not yet bought a camping stove. The idea was good, however the pasta was a little soggy since the water never really reached a "rolling" boil.
The boys played in the lake at our campsite. I think I managed to capture to some degree the blue of this alpine lake. It is stunning.

We didn't let the rain keep us from a hike up some waterfalls the next day.

Okay, so this was something I definitely had never seen before: a slug eating a mouse. Gross, but strangly intriguing. Jaxon said, "Wow, that is a fast slug."

It was a great 3-day weekend!

Last trip to Germany...really.

2011-06-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

After Salzburg we drove the three hours up the Nuremberg to spend a couple of days there. Of course we had to make one last trip to my favorite zoo in the world.

We had an up-close encounter with a marmot. That was definitely one of the highlights.

I have found myself trying to relive my youth in Germany through Jaxon. This was my very favorite ice cream bar when I used to live in Germany, the Bum Bum. It is bubblegum flavored ice cream with a bubble gum stick. You really have to be a kid to appreciate it, and Jaxon certainly did.
Going to the river with my parents. Maybe I should be asking myself why only my kids are stripped down to their underwear playing in any small body of water so often.
We found a nice little store full of some old junk. It's a miracle it is around.

We stopped in Heidelberg on the way back

The iconic Heidelberg monkey.

I had to get a picture of this before the end our trip. Since we had left for Austria immediately after Daniel had arrived home from work on Tuesday, I was in a rush trying to pack for everybody. Not surprisingly, I forgot I few essentials, including Daniel's casual shoes! He was a good sport, though, and didn't even complain about wearing dress shoes, well, everywhere (to the saltmines, to the zoo, trekking through cities....) He is too nice.

It was a great trip!

Salzburg adventure

2011-06-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

For the Pont d'Ascension this year we had planned to head down to Marseille to visit old friends and to live out dreams of returning to hike in the calanques, lay in the sun on those wild beaches and get some good snorkelling in. We had everything set to spend five days into the region, until the weather forcast changed on us and predicted 5 days of storms. We decided to revise our plans since hanging out on the beach during a storm is not so great. We decided to head for the sun and realized that Germany was going to be having great weather, so we thought, heck, why not go visit my parents for one last time? We wanted to do a new trip too and so I started searching a couple of hours before we were set to leave for somewhere to go on the way. We had written Salzburg off since it is not on the way, even though it is a city that we have wanted to visit ever since we passed through on the train and didn't stop on our way to Slovenia when we were backpacking with Jaxon 5 years ago. After not getting excited about anything else, though, I thought, why not do it? At least it was in the right direction.

Daniel was up for it as soon as I mentionned it and I hurried to get everything ready so we could leave as soon as he got home at 7:00. It is a seven hour drive from our place to Salzburg, so I though that Innsbruck, which if five hours away, would be a good place to stop for the night. I called reasonably priced hotel and asked if it would be too late to check in at 12:30. The lady assured me that it wasn't too late and that there would be restaurant people available to check us in.

The drive was somewhat strenuous with pouring rain and construction everywhere as soon as we hit Austria. We did go though a 20 kilometer tunnel through the mountains on an interesting note. I didn't even think to call the hotel since we managed to arrive by 1:00, only half an hour later than planned. But when Daniel went to the reception, it was all locked up and everything was shut down. When we headed into the city most of the hotels were shut down, and the couple that we checked were full. We considered driving the rest of the way to Salzburg or sleeping in the car, but finally reduced ourselves to start asking at the 5-star hotels, which apparently are the only ones with 24-hour reception in Europe. I think Daniel was about to pay anything for a bed at that point. So we gave in.

I have to say, it made me a little nostalgic for the days where we would have slept in the car to save a buck. However, we (and especially Daniel) probably enjoyed the following day much more after sleeping six hours in a very comfortable bed instead of a car. The breakfast was amazing and the kids especially loved the hot chocolate.

A couple more pictures of the hotel. I wanted to get our money's worth. I even took the towels. (Just kidding)

Without spending much time in Innsbruck we headed over to the salt mines just outside of Salzburg. You have to be at least four to go through them, so Daniel and I each took a turn with Jaxon. Apparently Salzburg gained all of its wealth from these mines back in the day when salt was worth its weight in gold. We took a little train deep into the caves and then made our way down mostly by using these miners' slides and took a boat across a brine lake.

In the caves we had the experience of crossing in to Germany and then back into Austria

The slides were really fun and fast.

Outside of the mines there was an open-air celtic village (since it was the celts who originally discovered the salt)

Not surprisingly, Jaxon was most interested in the slug.

The whole experience was awesome. And educational. I learned a lot both about salt and about Salzburg that I never know.
We had a nice view of the castle from our hostel.

Daniel and Jaxon playing the air-piano in from of Mozart's home. No, Jaxon did not pee himself, he was playing in a fountain.

Jonas was creeped out by this same sculpture in Prague at Christmastime. He must be used to it by now.

Hmmm....apparently the views are supposed to be amazing from up here by the castle on a clear day. A lot of people come to Salzburg for the scenery. I guess it would be more of a bummer if you aren't coming from Switzerland. We were just happy we weren't trying to hang out on a beach.
x
Fun stuff for the kids at the castle.

At the marrionette museum.
Nothing like a big odd thing to climb on. We took the funicular down since it was included in the admission. Jaxon couldn't relax for the picture. He was stressed that I was going to be left behind.
That afternoon we went on the Sound of Music tour. We love the Sound of Music and Frommer's had listed it as one of their favorite Austria experience, so we figured it would be worth the price. So, wrong about that, but you have to do it to know, right? Although we were disappointed that we spent that whole afternoon mostly on a bus with a tour guide telling us that if we looked really hard over the trees we might catch a glimpse of the von Trapp residence, we tried to make the most of it.

The gazebo
Where Maria and the kids fell in the water.

The church where Maria and the Captain were married in Monde See

I'm such a sucker for beautiful building facades. So I think the tour would have been better with the movie playing on the bus, more costumed guides, music and choreography at each stop. Maybe my expectations were too high.
Back to Salzburg

The car show taking place was a hit with the boys. We fell in love with Salzburg and then headed up to Germany to spend then next portion of our vacation there.

6!

2011-06-15T01:22:00.000-07:00

My little boy turned six a couple of weeks ago. He isn't so little anymore. He had been counting down the months and then the days until his birthday, talking about it constantly, so I have to admit I felt a little bit of pressure for the first time to make it good. I went in to work before he woke up in the morning, but not without leaving very specific instructions for his birthday breakfast: crepes with nutella (clearly prepared ahead of time) with a candle to blow out and lots of singing. Daniel succeeded and even gave him more candles than I had planned.
That evening we had a little party with our familiy at the house. He was so excited about the presents that he had openned that we could hardly get him outside to discover his biggest present of all. We had decided to buy Jaxon a new bike after we biked as a family for about 18km on day in March. Though Jaxon did great, it made us think that he would probably do well to have some gears, and two brakes that worked. I was a little worried that this bike would be too big for him since Jaxon is a little on the shorter side and it said it was for 7-10 year olds, but he picked it up no problem.

Afterwards we went in for lemon meringue pie. Jaxon has been on a big lemon kick and requested lemon cake to take in for his party with his class. I thought that the pie would be a hit, but I think it was Daniel and I who liked it best.
The next day to continue the celebration we went to Aquaparc. I had given Jaxon the choice of having a birthday party with his friends or doing anything he wanted with our family. Finally he decided that this year he wanted to go to Aquaparc, a huge water park in the region and that next year he would have a birthday party with his friends. I was very happy with his choice, as honestly I don't feel like I have the time to throw a party for him. I felt justified by this taking him to Aquaparc since it really has to be for a special occasion that I spend over 100 francs on something like this.

The place was huge! The indoor area is immense, then there is an outside portion, then you cross over the bridge for more pools and the lake beach. We had so much fun! The most amazing thing is that there were no lines for the slides. I imagine it gets crazier later on in the season, but it was fabulous not having to wait.

Jaxon had the best day, and now he says that he wants to go to Aquaparc for his birthday next year. And he want to go for Jonas's birthday. And Daniels. I think it is a good idea, too.

Kathi's Visit

2011-06-15T01:16:00.001-07:00

My cousin Kathi is working in London for a while and was able to make it over to Switzerland for a weekend visit. We had great weather and a really fun time. Janet, Kathi and I ended up staying up into the morning hours talking which was fun as we have not seen each other since we were at BYU six years ago. Jaxon and Jonas were very excited for her visit and loved playing with her and showing her their toys.

We went to Gruyeres, a famous Swiss medieval village/castle perched on a hill in the Alpes. We all loved climbing on the walls.

We ended up walking around the walls, enjoying the ambiance in the main square and having a picnic lunch overlooking the valley.

We headed next to Fribourg and spent the afternoon exploring the old town. The kids were most interested in the fountain.

Geneva's iconic jet d'eau and the surrounding port was great for an afternoon stroll. We were daring and waited for the wind to shift before running under the spray to the other side of the fountain. If the wind shifts at the wrong moment you get hundreds of gallons of water dropped on your head. We were quick and avoided the fate of a few people behind us.

A common scene for our family. Anytime the kids see a fountain they need to climb up and play. This usually involves splashing water all over the place. It was great having Kathi come out for a visit. We hope that it won't be six years until we all get to together again.

Les Grottes de Vallorbe

2011-06-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we finally had a rainy day and decided to take advantage of it by visiting some caves in the region. We went with our good friends the Roundy's, who are unfortunately about to move back the the U.S.
We arrived at the caves earlier than our friends and took some time to hike around. It kind of slowed us down when it started to pour on us, but we found a little cave and ate our lunch there.
The caves were absolutely amazing, full of stalactites and stalacmites and little straw formations and cave pools. I definitely didn't take enough pictures. But in any case we had a blast!
Daniel holding up the Leaning Tower of Pisa Stalacmite.

Jonas's first hike

2011-06-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

With summer really about to hit, it suddenly hit me that I should probably catch up and post our spring adventures... Several weeks ago we took a long (longer than expected) drive into the Jura mountains to the Queue de Cheval waterfalls. It was a fairly short hike, so we thought it would be good to have Jonas do the whole thing by foot as he really needs to be training to be part of our family adventures.

One of the first interesting things we spotted was this two-bottomed horse.
We reached the waterfalls after about an hour. Almost unbelievable, we had the trails and the falls all to ourselves that day.

The highlight was all the wildlife we found. Here Jaxon is holding a Salamader.

Jaxon also became great friends with this toad.
Jonas did great on his hike. I think he'll be ready for Mount Everest soon!

Tulips and 10k

2011-05-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I signed up to run a 10k race in Lausanne. My history with running has been on-again, off-again. I guess you could say I am a fair-weather runner; I love to run--but in the right conditions. That being said, I didn't run at all when we lived in Houston and I finally started up again toward the end of our stay in Marseille after I finally weaned Jonas. After another short hiatus I started up again in February. Running where we live here in Gland is absolutely amazing. I leave from our apartment and three minutes later I have reached the trails that run up and down the creek and can either run down towards Lake Geneva or up into the Jura mountains. Going further up the forest is littered with trails. It would really be a waste not to take advantage of it. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to add a race to the mix.
The race didn't start until 17h, so we decided that visiting the Morges tulip festival would be a good way to spend the earlier part of the day.

Then we went to Lausanne for the race. Jaxon was very excited about his new (free) hat and cow bell and enjoyed the skateboarding display while I as running.

Daniel was insistent on taking a picure of me with my nifty medal after the race. Nope, I didn't really win in any sense of the word, but I did finish the race in 55 minutes, putting me at a little under a 9 minute mile. Not spectacular, but respectable. I was happy with it, and it gives a reference point for future races. I run "unplugged," no music or timing myself, so I really had no idea how fast I run. Jaxon loves wearing the medal out and about, though we've had to put some heavy restrictions on his cow bell usage.

An Easter Hike

2011-05-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

I guess I should qualify it as the day-after-Easter hike. To finish off Daniel's four-day weekend we decided to hit les Alpes Vaudoise. There is supposed to be a spectacular view at a place called Rochers-de-Naye, and a marmot farm to boot. Most people take the cog train up to the top, but that isn't really for us. We decided to hike it, not knowing for sure what we were in for.

The hike was both strenuous (not shown in this picture with the paved path) and spectacular, but then a few hours in a couple of hikers on the way down informed us of a narrow passage that was completely snowed over, and suggested we take another route.
We decided to go to the Col de Jaman instead, but found snow on those paths, too. It wouldn't have been that bad had I not been wearing my hiking sandles. Oh well, I wasn't going to let that stop me.

The view on the other side was really spectacular

I think there is a reason trains don't use this track anymore...
Le Col de Jaman in the background
We ended up hiking for about six hours. It was amazing to see how much Jaxon has matured since the end of last hiking season. We have been taking him on some pretty crazy hikes since he was about 3 1/2, and he has always done great. However, even last fall I remember having to give him some pep talks every now and again when we were hiking around Mont Blanc. Now he is giving us pep talks to keep us moving! It was amazing to see how he just cruised up this mountain with no complaints.
Of course that had to enjoy some of their Easter candy when we got home. I got all of their Easter basket stuff when we were in Germany. My favorite was the grass. None of that plastic neon green stuff. This was REAL grass that smelled great! In the end I suppose the kids didn't care what kind of grass it was, only the chocolate mattered.

Spring break

2011-05-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

We ended up doing a hodge podge of thing during Jaxon's spring break this year. Although we had just left visiting my parents in Germany, when I looked at the calendar I realized that between Jaxon's school, my work and visitors we have coming up, this would be the last trip I would be able to reasonably make to see my parents before they leave in July. It was great though. I hardly took any pictures as most of the time we just spent enjoying the beautiful weather at parks outside and enjoying being together.
One day we did go to the transport museum. We had to go one more time; it really is an amazing one. I would say it even rivals the Tranport Museum of London. I guess it is hard to compare, though, with one being very bus oriented and the other very train oriented.

Apparently Easter weekend is always four days long in Switzerland. I didn't want to miss the time with Daniel, so I met him halfway at Basel and we spent the weekend there exploring the city.
It was beautiful and charming, even though it was quiet as it was a holiday. All of Switzerland had left to go to Italy. I think we picked the right spot since we weren't stuck in traffic for hours.

Jonas's catnap

Pointing out some very important things to dad

We camped, like we try to do as much as we can in when the weather is nice. Our crazy pop-up tent is starting to look a little haggard...
How is it that they always want to swim, no matter how cold it is?
Someone had given the boys some chocolate bunnies in Germany and Jaxon refused to eat his until he had shown his dad. Luckily Daniel did get to see them when they were still in tact. They didn't fare very well during the hot day in Basel...
The next day we visited the Basel zoo. It is supposed to be one of the best zoos in Europe. It was really nice, but I have to say I am still partial to the Nurember zoo. It's my favorite. If I were an animal in a zoo I would want to live there. We were able to see a lot of animal babies and behinds on this particular day in Basel.

My favorite animals.

Matt and Ryan's visit-Yvoire

2011-04-26T02:40:00.000-07:00

On the Saturday that Ryan and Matt were at our place we took a boat across the lake to the French side to Yvoire, a charming medieval village. We had a great time. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

After that we only had one more day together and spent it in Geneva. They were only in Europe for 10 days, not nearly long enough, but we made the most of every moment. They were our first visitors from the U.S. in Switzerland and besides our big outings, it was just so much fun to be with them and be able to share our new little world with them. I took Matt on an early morning bike ride (not quite early enough to see the sun rise over the Alps, like I love, but we still had them as a backdrop) on our bike paths one morning and we spent a wonderful afternoon our the creek just next to our house where we caught some tadpoles. Matt showed off his rock skipping skills and Jonas his rock throwing skills. Jaxon and Ryan were together non-stop for 10 days and did not have a single disagreement and never got tired of eachother. We ate lots of regional specialties and the three kids cleaned up (ate) 24 snails between them. We were really sad to see them go, but luckily we didn't have time to show them everything, so they will have to come back!