vendredi 2 décembre 2011

Week with Dad


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!

dimanche 6 novembre 2011

Desalpes 2011



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


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













dimanche 11 septembre 2011

Eger, Hungary

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.

Membres