Montreux - July 22-23, 2011

This weekend we enjoyed a quick get-away to Montreux, a charming town on the coast of Lake Geneva (aka Lac Leman), on the opposite side of the lake from Geneva.  Switzerland's fantastic train travel made it easy to explore a new part of the country.  Highlight was touring the Château de Chillon.  The kids loved that it was a real castle, complete with moat, prison, and keep (castle fortress).  Close to our hotel was a park with a few amusement rides, including bungee-trampolines for kids.  Once harnessed they soared into the sky -- really fun and something they had never seen before.  

Montreux, Switzerland

Chateau de Challon

View from the 'keep' 

Getting ready for the bungee trampoline

Long live Freddie Mercury

Soccer Camp July 2011

All three kids went to soccer camp this week.  We signed Ava up for the girls' camp, but arrived to learn she was the only girl.  Fortunately she didn't mind, and despite three rainy days they had lots of fun.  It was Carlo's 1st camp and soccer experience, and although he annoyed his coaches by constantly running across the field to see his brother & sister, he had a great time.  A learning over the past two weeks (thanks to the women's world cup tournament and soccer camp) is that men's soccer is huge in Europe.

Giving a few tips to the Frenchman

GOAL!

Disbelief that his sister scored the winning goal for the other team

Cam quickly got over the loss and loved the medal ceremony

Last Day of School!

The last day of school ends with a huge celebration in Geneva.  Children from the elementary schools dress-up based on a theme (this year=pirates), then they parade through the streets and end in a huge park which has been transformed to an amusement park.  Live music, treats, and ride after ride, all free for the students.  Almost worth going to school until July 1!

June 2011

Playing dress-up is fun in any country and Ava can still talk her brothers into wearing dresses.

Carlo making crepes

The Container Arrives - June 2011

After 5 weeks of rental furniture, our container arrived.  Since the elevators, er lifts, in Switzerland are tiny and 6 floors of stairs wasn't practical, the movers arranged a system to hoist everything up from outside the building and come in via the balcony.  Quite a process.  Everyone liked seeing their stuff again, and fun for the toys to seem new again.  Now that task of fitting our Minneapolis house into our Geneva apartment.

Mt. Blanc May 2011

Mt. Blanc

Ava stops for a yoga pose along the way

Sorry, Nana, we couldn't get it out of the ground

We spotted an ibex!

We quickly moved from the smallest mountain in Europe (Saleve) to the biggest, Mt. Blanc which is massive.     You could be in Switzerland, France, or Italy depending on your location on the mountain.  We spent the day in Chamonix (the French side).  During our hike we came across a marmot and an ibex (in the picture).  The kids loved seeing such a cool animal without being at a zoo.  We had a great day taking in the breathtaking views.  It made us excited (and a bit intimidated) for ski season.