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Thomas is 15

How is it possible that I am old enough to have a child that is 15!  I remember being 15!  Happy Birthday Thomas! We love you!  It is a pleasure to watch you grow into a fantastic young man!  Can't wait to see what this year will bring for you.

Sophie turns 11!!

Sophie was so excited to turn 11.  She celebrated with a few friends and they giggled and laughed their way through the evening.  I am so grateful she has such a nice group of friends.  So important and necessary to navigate the maze of middle school that she is traveling through.  Happy Birthday Sophie!!

Haute Konigsburg

We took a field trip to Alacse to pick up some of Jon's favorite wine and stopped by my favorite castle ever, Haute Konigsburg.  We had been to both the vineyard and the castle previously so in a very out of character trip revisited places we had already been!  Does the vineyard look familiar Mark and Judy!  Wine is tasty as always!

Unihockey

I think we may have found the perfect sport.  Played indoors, 6 minute games, running with a stick, chasing a ball and no need for any special gear!  I love unihockey!  So does Noah!

cow bells and peppermint candy houses

On one of our hikes with the parent's hiking club from school we came across this lovely old farm house.  Not all the picturesque views in Switzerland are of mountains and valleys!  I love the pink swirls on the house.  Makes me think of those peppermint hard candies that are alway last to be eaten from the Halloweem stash and could always be found in the bottom of Nana's purse. 

Cows are in the barn (or at least down out of the mountains) for the winter so I guess they can take their bells off.  I wonder if they have to do neck weight lifting throughout the winter to stay in shape to wear these things come spring!  I have seen what these bells sell for at the flea markets.  This farm has a lot invested in bells! 

ICS hiking club

 What a view!

 Family photo

 Daddy using Noah as a pillow.

 Noah got so warm had to take his shirt off!

View of the Walensee, far below.

One of the fun thing the school has is a hiking club for the kids.  Best part is parents can come along too!  (Kids might not agree that is the best part...)  One of the teachers who has lived here awhile and is very familiar with the hiking trails in Switzerland leads a hike about once a month in the fall, until they are covered with snow, and then again in the spring as soon as the snow melts.  We all went on one a few weeks ago.  It was near the Walensee, just below the Churfirsten peaks.  The day started out cloudy and rainy of course but the sun came out in the afternoon for a gorgeous day!  We even say our first Swiss Chamois kind of like an antelope.  They can leap 4 meters vertically!  We didn't see them do any leaping but just wandering around on the rock.  Lots of fun.

Noah's 9th birthday

So I get bad mommy award for this.  This is the only picture I have of Noah on his birthday.  (Clearly someone else needs to be in charge of photos....)

First day of school August 18, 2010

The photo says it all.

Noah grade 4
Sophie grade 6
Thomas grade 10

Rheinfalls- August 17,2010

With the same friend we took to Engelberg in the rain, we traveled to the Rheinfalls in the rain (ok, mostly just cloudy... but hey, no one comes to Zurich for the weather right?).  They are the largest waterfalls in Europe.  Lots of discussions about, do you think I would survive if I jumped in here, how about here?  You walk down a path from a castle on the top of a hill with the water rushing along next to you.  Pretty incredible.  Made Sophie motion sick!  Noah started to fade by the end of the tour and in the next days we realized why- he had chicken pox!

Post catch up time....Engelberg August, 2010

We had a friend visiting from the US so we took him to Engleberg, a quaint village high in the mountain.  Of course the weather felt more like November than August but we had a good time anyway.  Noah was our tour guide for the day as his third grade class had spent the week in Engleberg last spring.  He happily showed us the sights including the youth hostel where he had stayed.   Engelberg means mountain of Angels in German and there were angel statues throughout the town.  It is in the valley of Central Swizerland's highest mountain, Mt. Titlis.  Given that even the valley was rainy and cloudy and visibility was worse at the top we opted not to ride the gondola to the top.

 One of the angel statues.

 Family photo, note Thomas in t-shirt and shorts (on principal- it is August) and me in my coat/fleece/long pants!

 Noah's youth hostel.

Some of the lower peaks....

Cinque Terre, Italy Oct. 2010

For the half term break we drove down to Italy to explore the Cinque Terre region.  I may have a new favorite place in the world.  Incredible scenery, turquoise water, warm sunshine (in October!), friendly people, delicious seafood and wine and of course that wonderful gelato!  We spent 5 days hiking the trails in Cinque Terre, between the five villages, and on the trails around Levanto, the first town outside of the National Park.  We stayed in yet another wonderful Agritourism apartment.  This was called Villanova.  It was the rectory of the little church that belonged to some Italian baron in the 1600's.  There are a total of 6 or 8 apartments on the grounds as well as a small vineyard, garden and fruit trees.  I loved hiking between the towns, the views coming into the approaching village were incredible.  Kids loved all the rock climbing and the gelato at the end of each day!

Just a few of my favorite photos.

Even I got into the rock climbing action, (ok, just once on Jon's urging for a photo's sake...)

Thomas wore the big back pack all week (in training for his India trip).

Incredible coastline.  This is between Riomaggiore and Manarola.

Riomaggiore, the furthest south of the villages.

Noah taking in some sunshine- soak it up buddy boy we return to rainy Zurich in three days!

The was the drive in to Villanova.  Our apartment was on the left, under the bell tower.

Coming into Vernazza

At the top of a tower of the castle in Vernazza

It was very windy!

Our sophisticated world traveler!

Nets drying in Corniglia.

Travels with Peabody!

Taking in a good book.

As an East coast girl it is rare to see the sun set over the water- very cool!

I love the late afternoon sunlight.  Levanto's harbor.

Thomas dancing on the rock.  The beauty of a zoom lense- he had no idea he was being photographed!

Sophie after being told it was time for gelato!