Playing in the Alps!

Today we went and grabbed a bunch of pastries (an apple one, rhubarb one, pecan one and one other-had to try a variety!) for breakfast and the kids got to try marzipan penguins at this nearby German bakery. The Swiss Franc and US dollar are pretty much the same rate right now so it makes it easy. Then Chris watched the kids and I headed up skiing (two stops on the gondola and then you ride on the world's highest underground train). The funicular is crazy--it's so weird going on this diagonal train that you stand on and goes straight up the mountain.

We couldn't have asked for better weather!

Bluebird day today-the views are unreal! There was very little powder and it was mostly hard packed snow but I was just glad to be downhill skiing! I was thinking about it and I have only downhill skied one half day in the past 5 years! Towards the end of the day it started to get icy but was mostly groomer runs (which was fine by me the first day back)!

Cool outdoor bar on the slopes:

Chris headed up to the first gondola stop (The kids were free but we were too cheap to pay $50something for him to go to the top when he wasn't skiing. It was around $66 to ski for the day-not bad!) with the kids to play in the snow and then meet me for lunch:

Heading down on the gondola:

Playing in some untouched snow they discovered:

Quite the gorge:

Post nap snackie:

If only this small Swiss grocery store carried some chocolate... (Decisions, decisions...) :)

Dinner at the cafe in their matching long johns. At one point, people dressed as St. Nicholas and his helper came by and gave each of us some little chocolates. Then we realized "Oh yeah, it's St. Nick's Day today!" The Swiss tradition is to have St. Nicholas (Samichlaus) come around to public places with his helper Schmutzli (a frightening helper with a soot covered face in a monk outfit) ask kids if they have been good and if they have been saying their prayers. And then give the good kids candy. Kind of fun to experience their tradition! Chris had to go get cash to pay when they didn't take credit and a fellow came along and gave the kids a ton of Lindt chocolates so they had plenty of candy!

Journey to Saas Fee, Switzerland!

They go from this (getting along, opting to share a chair):

To this...

...in a matter of seconds. 

I like this one where Ethan is looking through his pockets (stuffed with matchbox cars) while Hailey looks through his other pocket:

They were waiting while we were waiting at the Milan Malpensa AVIS rental car counter. We had been up since 5am and we were all a little tired and hungry. After waiting quite awhile, we got sent to the AVIS counter at terminal 2 so I was a little frustrated at this point as well.

Once we got the car all sorted and were on our way (like 1.5hrs after landing), the kids fell asleep, we made a pit stop for lunch panini and a mocha and then crossed the border an hour or so later into Switzerland. The drive takes 2.5-3hrs. They make you pay 40 Francs for a car sticker to enter into France and drive in the Alps area. All of the sudden you start seeing the mountains and before you know it, they are every direction you look. Chris said about the buildings, "it's kind of like being in Leavenworth, except it's real." 

We drove through a ton of tunnels. One of them had to be the longest tunnel I had ever been in. Some of them were open on one side like this, which was nice:

Cool bridge:

Houses are dispersed on the mountainside and valleys--some look pretty treacherous to get to!

Once we got there, you park at the parking lot and call the hotel to send one of their golf buggies to fetch you. The village is car-less and very quaint. The buildings had very German names like "Edelweiss" and there were a lot of blondes with double braids which reminded me of the movie, "Heidi". My German was a bit rusty but I could still understand a lot even if I wasn't as proficient at speaking the language. Pretty much everyone spoke English as well so it wasn't a problem. The place we stayed was very dated but had everything we needed and was a bargain for a ski town at less than $100 a night for a one bedroom condo.

Nice! Glad our Welsh friend Hedd, recommended this place to us!

Check out this view from our room deck!

Apre ski party time at the bars outside in the village with a DJ outside and all! We didn't know until we got here but it was the opening day for winter skiing on the mountain here today. Could ski but yet we beat the crowds since the holiday busy season starts in a few weeks. Good timing!

Seriously, can cowbells get any bigger than that? 

Ethan was SO excited about the snow that he wanted to take a hunk of snow with him everywhere! We had to make him leave it outside the stores and restaurants when we went in. 

I love how excited the kids get when they spot Christmas trees!

I noticed this place when we walked by it earlier and wanted to go there for dinner--it looked so warm and cozy with the fire going:

We chose wisely, this place was great! Switzerland is pricey though (but that is everywhere)! I'm continuing on my mulled wine kick. It's called Gluhwein here. Really though, a warm drink and festive wine combination in cold weather can't be beat!

And Chris didn't waste any time getting a good German beer:

This and That

My little elf!

These things are huge over here, I see them for sale at markets and stores everywhere! This one is called a "Hottie" but I've also seen them called a "Hotty Boddy":

I can't remember what she was trying to see--the postman, perhaps?

Ethan has come a long way in swim lessons! He doesn't use the water wings anymore, just a kick board. The teacher let him go on his own several times as well! I need to register him for swim lessons back home so we can keep it up (one thing on a very long list!). 

He is so proud of himself:

What a cool double decker toy bus! Looks kind of like a Little People one but it isn't. I saw that it was on sale for £20

($30) and thought, "that is the sale price, really?". So I looked it up on Amazon and it was over $130 if you order it in the US. Even the UK Amazon was £31.64-205! Sorry kids, no Happyland bus. We are not buying anything else that we have to carry or ship back with us.

Speaking of which, I have been busy this week getting our items ready for shipping. And we leave in just two weeks so I have started stocking up on tea (so much cheaper here-go figure!) and Cadbury chocolate bars and other gifts etc. They ship it next Wednesday so it is coming up fast! It's hard because we have Christmas gifts that we have to bring in our packed luggage (and all food items can't be shipped) and I don't know how much room the remaining stuff is going to take up and have to make sure it can fit in our 10 checked bags limit (which is quite substantial but most of our luggage is small-mid size duffles or wheeled carry on size bags and not large suitcases). And I had to pack for our Swiss Alps trip this weekend and dig up all of our ski and snow gear.

And, I realized that the house needed to be cleaned somewhat because they are coming to "check us out" Monday while we are away. So it was a busy week. Had to bail on Thursday workout.

Wednesday we lucked out and rented the newly released "Minions" DVD and the Cinderella (older cartoon) movie. Both kids were beside themselves excited! Ethan watched it twice on Wednesday and then we ran into his best bud Aiden at the mall after swim class Thursday and invited him and his mom over to watch it and join us for lasagna impromptu. Aiden is such a sweetie. He was all excited that we were having popcorn. His mom was telling me about how his father didn't want to visit him once a week anymore because he has a new girlfriend and it just broke my heart. Such a sweet kid-he deserves a great father as well (his mom is awesome). Ethan is in a trance when he watches movies, there is no playing and watching a movie at the same time! Those boys are hilarious together--they speak the same language (which is a different language completely), talking about the "baddies" and running around changing who they are chasing every few minutes.

Friday, they had a Christmas Fayre (yes, spelled that way) and we got different cupcakes and desserts, grab bags, tombola (raffle) and spent change on this and that. It was all to benefit his school.  H got a little Peppa pig and Ethan got a little minion so they were both pleased. Ethan also got this mini book and H got this bendable jointed doll that had on painted cardigan and pearls but no pants (she must have come with a fabric skirt?)--odd. It was so crowded and hard to move with the stroller, we had to make an escape.

Hailey saw this in my things and tried it on and said "Addy's hat". I couldn't believe that she had remembered from weeks ago that this was for Addy (well, she did have a breakdown because she wanted it instead but still...)

Greggers sent us this link and it captures all of the differences in England English and American English perfectly:

http://www.earthables.com/differences-between-british-and-american-english-1487206421.html

Random Treasures and Discoveries

I was curious to try this but Chris thought it looked nasty. I can't even imagine what it might taste like.

Today I discovered that Boots (pharmacy) has an upstairs and also kids clothes (cute ones)! I might have gotten this dress in two sizes because it was on clearance for half price!

Hailey was in a super huggy mood tonight and pulled us in for a big hug and face pet/back pat. So cute.

Ethan has this cough that he caught from Chris that keeps escalating. He kept going into these uncontrollable coughing fits and didn't sleep well so I opted to keep him home today. I was hesitant because he has missed so much school already but I couldn't very well take him to school coughing his guts out. We went and got him some kid cough meds and that seems to help so hopefully he can return to school tomorrow.

December 1st! We can finally use our advent calendars that we have had since early Sept. It also makes it apparent how soon we are going home (in just 17 days!)!

These two in the motorized carts were cracking me up. They kept alternating inching a little bit more forward. A little rivalry, perhaps? We had to wait for 3 trains today in a row (a new record)! 

With their new Minions PEZ dispensers. Ethan calls them his "meds" and is convinced they are helping his cough. Ethan has Stuart (one eye) and Hailey has Kevin (two eyes).

Ethan insisted that they both wear their matching shirts today:

This sweater is kind of ugly cute but was on clearance new for £5 so I figured I would wear it the day we fly home-Dec. 18th (British Ugly Christmas Sweater Day national holiday). And for future ugly Christmas sweater parties (since they want to charge $30 for some nasty used ugly Christmas sweater at Value Village). 

Hailey never lets me put any clips in her hair and yet she sat here patiently while Ethan put ALL the clips in her hair. Perhaps I should recruit him to be her hairdresser in the mornings (but maybe keep it to just one or two clips). :)

Here they are discussing the style she is going for:

Such a concentrated serious look. He's got a job to do!

Why stop at just one?