Chateau on the lake (Switzerland - day 4)

We came down out of the mountains to the lakeside to see a wonderfully preserved chateau - Chateau Chillon. 

The rear of the castle had a exit to the lake...for emergencies. 

It had a pretty nice dungeon - vaulted ceiling and light off the lake. 

The great hall the coat of arms from the surrounding families were painted on the ceiling - the bannermen

By far the most exciting room of the castle...

complete with fart jokes!

The the castle was in the shadow of a modern looking overpass.

"price Calvin"

Sunset over the lake from the highest tower. 

and from the lakeside

Ski the Alps ( Switzerland - day 3)

It was time to hit the slopes for real. The kids were going to learn to ski in the Alps!! 

First was getting the gear.

Then the train ride up the mountain to a height of nearly 2000m.

I think someone was excited....

The kids got sent off to their lesson...

...while mom and dad had a quite mountain-top coffee.

The kids learned quickly and had a lot of fun. 

"it was awesome!" - Cal

"it was awesome, it was hard, it was fun. Calvin didn't even have to learn." - Emmy

The instructor said Sam was a little champion.  

They had so much fun we hung around the hill for a few more hours after the lesson. 

Mom and dad didn't have skis but Cal was willing to take his younger siblings down the bigger hill. He was a great teacher!

They were exhausted on the train-ride back down.

SNOW!!! (Switzerland - day 2)

A "quiet" coffee overlooking the Alps (birdsong and excited children were the soundtrack) started our Swiss adventure.

Then it was off the the hills to play in the snow. We had no idea how much the kids (and Peter) missed the snow until they were re-united! Being the end of the season the snow was melting but there was enough for us. We rented some toboggans and hit the hill. 

The tapis-roulant only went half-way up.

Sammy insisted that we end the day with a snow ball fight!

"Apres-tobogganing" 

here's hoping it'll all be dry for tomorrow!

Yodele-eh-oo (Switzerland - day one)

For the first week of school break we traveled to Switzerland to enjoy a week of sun and snow.

We landed in Geneva to glorious blue sky and fresh mountain air. After a giant preztel in the airport we picked up our rental car and set out around the lake to the mountain village of Villars.

Along the way we had lunch in beautiful Lausanne.

Hello Alps!!

And of course...cheese fondue for dinner. (the first of many)

And sunset over the Alps was a beautiful way to end our welcome to Switzerland.

Safe and sound

We just wanted to post a quick blog entry to let everyone know we are safe and sound, on vacation in Switzerland. The events in Brussels are terrible and of course, concerning. We are here until Saturday and will see how things are at that point. For now, know we are having a nice peaceful holiday.