Skiing

So I could create an entire blog dedicated to all the great places we have explored skiing this winter. Last weekend we went to Flims/Laax. Really great. You take a bergbannen (not sure what it is called in English- a large rectangular cable car that you squeeze an impossible number of people into and then hope for the best) up to the base of the ski hills and then either gondolas or chairlifts to the top. The Swiss are big fans of the t-bar or drag lifts. Tough on the older knees. This weekend we saw our first "craplift" Just a chairlift with a name that made the 14 year old really laugh! I think we may have finally tired Sophie out. Now if we can just do the same for Noah I will know we have gotten our money's worth. We dragged him off the hill begging for "just one more run".

The sign for the craplift


A worn out Sophie


The trio

Sophie's first swim meet

So we had a first this weekend. Sophie swam two events in a multi-school swim meet.There were three international schools from Switzerland and one from Luxembourg. It was held at a local pool that had timer pads at the ends of the lanes. The kind where the swimmers swim up to the end and touch the pad and a automatic timer records the time and almost immediately posts the time and place finish for all to see. Very professional and fun. Especially when your daughter finished first! (Come to find out later she was first in her heat-the first of 3! She ended up with an impressive 4th.) I will say that swim meets are longggg! We were there from 8:30am until 3:00pm. Of that 6 1/2 hours she swam for approximately 45 seconds! (See the posted video...think it's long- be glad Jon didn't film the whole swim meet!!) She had fun although she did say that she loves swimming just not racing. I am not sure she has the killer instinct. I just love that she loves to swim.

Life in Switzerland

After a very busy fall, with lots of uncertainity about our futures we were very happy to start a new adventure in Switzerland in late December. Very easy move for everyone, same language (sort of), still in Europe and best of all we could just drive the dog across the border! No kennel/plane trip for Peabody! We are loving Switzerland so far. Kids are very happy at the new school, we love our house and neighborhood and best of all the skiing!

Noah is 8

So the day finally came, the first day of school and his birthday. No wonder the poor kid couldn't sleep last night! Noah has been counting the days for weeks until he would finally be eight. We celebrated at home with lots of legos! Happy Birthday Noah!!!

First day of school 2009

So yesterday was Thomas and Sophie's first day of school (today was Noah's) Everyone was very happy to go back to school and it was so nice not to be the new kid! First time in a long time that everyone started school in the same school that they had finished in in June! It may be the first time that there were no tears, even from me! I think the pictures tell it all (except of course Thomas's. He is about as happy as possible having his mother take pictures of him in school!) Ahhhh, 9th graders are fun! Of course I forgot my camera to take pictures of Noah today, on his official first day but I will devote another entry entirely to him for his birthday!!

Health care in Germany

So I have been meaning to post this for awhile and with all the debate regarding health care in the US I thought it was timely! Thomas had sinus surgery two weeks ago. We had debated a bit about whether we should do it in the US over the summer but decided that there would be too much follow up care to do it somewhere other than where we live. We had several appointments leading up to the surgery, a week long stay in the hospital and have have many follow up appointments so far with more to come. I have been nothing but thrilled with the quality of care, the patience of all the doctors/nurses/staff with me and the language barrier, and of course the results of the surgery. My boy can breathe through his nose!!

There has been one very funny andecdote. We where sent home with a bunch of prescription for creams and nose drops. I dutifully took them to the apotheke (pharmacy) and had them filled. The pharamacist carefully went through what each of them was, what the proper doseage was and how often they were to be used. We got home and T settled happily on the couch to watch some DVD's in English- a week of German only TV had been a bit boring! It came time for some the nose drops to be administered. The directions had been that he needed 20-30 drops of this one medication. I began dripping into his nose. He began to scream. He took the bottle from me and said "Mom, I think these are painkillers and I only need them if the pain is bad." I wasn't sure about that but I stopped the torture. It did see a little strange that the medication to ease pain was causing more. We were going back to see the Doctor in a day so I would just ask him then. The next day he took an Advil for the pain.

When we went for our appointment and the Doctor asked how everything was going, I replied fine except that the pain killers were causing more pain than they were curing. He said, "ohhh" I explained that I could only drop 2 or 3 drops into his nose before Thomas complained that they hurt too much to continue. The Doctor smirked. He asked to see the bottle. I gave it to him. He chuckled. He explained, smiling, that the drops where to go into water and be drunk by Thomas. He laughed and said "Good to know that pain killers in the nose hurt though!"

When we went back for the next appointment I reported that all was fine now that I was putting the correct drops into his nose. I told him that all my German friends (and others as well!) had found my story very funny. He told me his had as well!!

I am not going to get political on this blog - I will leave all that debate for Facebook!- but I have to say the German Health Care system certainly has worked for us!

Leogland

We went to Legoland for the weekend. They were having a special deal where if you bought a two day ticket you got the second day for free if you stayed in the Lego village. Since one of the lodging choices was camping (kids: think fun, mom: think economical) seemed like a perfect deal. We had a fantastic time. The park was great (a bit crowded on Sat but Sunday we hardly had to wait in lines at all). Kids rode all the rides several times. Thomas got over his fear of rides on this trip and now wants to return to all the theme parks he has been to where he didn't ride the roller coasters. Sophie is the fearless one, went all all the rides, icluding the spinning ones to the point of feeling ill. Noah started off fearles but gained some respect for the scarier rides. "I liked it but I thought I might die so I don't want to ride it again!" I rode several of the rides until I realized that Noah was tall enough to ride most of the rides himself! A turning point in visiting amusment parks! I could focus on being the photographer! Camping was great. For the first time in many camping trips we had no rain- quite a feat for camping in Germany! It was a beautiful evening and after spending 12+ hours in the park every one just passed right out. Me included! We had a great time and the kids are already asking when we can go again.....


The kids waiting in line for the Dragon Coaster


Going down the "Test Track"


At the entrance to the park


Waiting for the fireworks to start


After I took the picture I decided everyone needed lunch! They looked much happier after some food.


Getting ready for the 1st ride of the day- the roller coaster! Why start off small? Jump right in. (Noah may have regretted this decision...


After the roller coaster a little bit tamer ride. We spent a lot of time bouncing off the sides of the water way. He may not be quite ready for the open seas...

Then onto a daddy powered ride. Jon hauled them up to the top of the tower pulling the rope.


Thomas and Sophie rode the "caterpillar" Sounds tame enough until it starts spinning around and around then switches direction half way through. All the time going up and down little bumps. (like driving in Boston!)


Riding up in the observatory tower to get the full view of Legoland.