Halloween in Switzerland

Halloween was not quite the same here in Switzerland. It is a Holiday that is NOT celebrated. Fortunately, the kids' school had a fun trunk-or-treat & class parties to keep us in the spooky mood.

Carving pumpkins the night before Halloween. The pumpkin turned out great, but I didn't have any matches to light the candle (they aren't allowed in the shipment over seas), so we used a flashlight instead:) It worked for one night. The kids loved scooping out the inside, well at least the girls did. Alex thinks it is gross!





Clara and her friend Chloe decorating pumpkin cookies thanks to my sweet friend Jessi. I think they ate more frosting than made it on the cookies!

The kids already to trunk-or-treat. It has been a long time since we had a cold Halloween and we weren't quite prepared. So, we didn't last long.

Dorthy and the Wicked Witch of the West (the perfect costume for Clara on that day, if you know what I mean).

The brave knight protecting the beautiful princess!

And last but not least, our little bunny! Not quite hopping through the forest, but crawling through it:)

France!--Castles & Colmar

We finally left the country! And headed to France for the weekend. It was a quick 2 hour drive. I was amazed at how quickly the scenery changed once you left Switzerland...it went from mountains & seclusion to open plans & space. We just loved France and can't wait to go back & explore some other parts.

We headed to The Caslte of Le Haut-Koenigsbourg first. The castle had been burned down back in the day and was fully restored in the late 1800s. It was beautiful and huge! It was quite a steep walk up to the castle entrance, because of course it is built on top of the hillside. But it was worth it. The views from up there were amazing!


Inside there was amazing wood work and tapestries. I couldn't resist taking a picture with the wall.

We climbed a lot of staircases like these. I was always afraid one of us was going to slip & tumble down.

These are their fireplaces & how they heated the castle. Every room had its own unique one. They were beautiful!

Alex's favorite part was the weapons room. It took all his restraint to not grab a spear and play with it.

Clara loved the courtyard. We ate our lunch there imaging all the events the trees had seen.

At the top of the castle you could look out and see clear to Switzerland & Germany! With the fall colors it was fantastic!

They had all sizes of cannons on display. They likes the big ones the best!

Leaving the castle. Just a few more steps down.

We stopped at a little cafe on the way down to have a soda. We sat outside and this was our view!





Next, we headed to sweet town called Colmar. Colmar is the home of the maker of the Statue of Liberty. So there is a small replica as you enter the town. It made us feel a little more at home:)

We took a train ride through the historical part of the city to get a quick overview. It was very informative and a great way to see the city with kids!

They offered 12 different languages. Alex had a fun time listening to the other languages...his favorite was Korean.

This building has more than a 1000 heads on it as decorations. A little scary if you ask me.

Dinner. George, Sammy, & I adventured out and tried some French food. But Clara & Alex stuck with French fries 7 hotdogs.

We stayed in this quaint hotel in the "little venice" part of the city. We had to get 2 rooms because our family is so big. From what I hear, this is the case in most of Europe. :) It was a great place to stay with loads of character & modern at the same time.

We tried to catch a boat ride through "little venice", but after waiting for an hour & being passed up time and time again by tour groups we headed off on foot. Maybe next time.

Lunch outside at a little cafe. It was great because the kids ran around while George and I could take our time.

A church from the outside. George ventured through, but I chose to remain outside with the kids. We had just been through a museum and asking them to keep quiet again wasn't going to happen. Isn't the doorway breath-taking?!

Just outside the museum Unterlinden. It was an old monastery. George slowly walked through while I quickly moved from painting/sculpture to painting/sculpture. Allison was making her wonderful screeching noises & the other customers were not too happy:) It is most famous for the Issenheim alterpiece, which was amazing.

We couldn't visit a French town without a ride on the carousel. From what we hear almost every major French town has one. No matter how many they rider on, they kids never seem to tire of them.



On the way out of town we visit the ruins of the 3 Castles of Eguisheim. This was my favorite part! The kids explored all over them and could even venture inside to see how thick the walls were & how cold it could get.
Sammy went inside & found some pieces of the castle to take home.

It was amazing what parts of the castles survived like this archway.

Alex couldn't resist climbing and often found himself in spots he couldn't get down from.



On the way home we stopped off at McDonalds for a quick bite to eat. I never thought McDs would become my little taste of America, but it is always a comfort there:) It was a wonderful trip...now where to next!

Fall Break 2011

Here in Switzerland they don't get days off of school here and there, but rather a whole week and 1/2 at a time. This is a recap of some of the fun we had for their Fall Break. George had to work, so we explored our neck of the woods.

First day we headed to the Wilderness Park in Langnau with some friends from school. We walked around and saw some animals, let the kids get their energy out on the playground, & had an ice cream of course.
We watched the mountain goats ram each other with their heads over and over again. Exciting to watch, but its gotta hurt.

The kids found a stray cat walking around. He was headed towards the wolves area. Don't think he would have lasted very long in there.

Alex pretending to be a moose. I think he makes a cute moose!

On Tuesday we headed to McDonald's for lunch with the Jeppsons and then off to Planet Magic, the Swiss version of a bounce house, trampoline, jump place. The kids had a great time with only a few tears. Forgot to take pictures, so here they are holding the balloons from the place.

Wednesday was raining and Allison needed some good naps, so we stayed home, watched movies, & had a spa day. Alex was a good sport to join in the fun!

Thursday was my favorite day...Lenzburg Castle. It is about 40 minutes from home and so fun! It is built at the top of the hillside right into the mountain.
It was quite the walk up, but more than worth it!

Alex and Sammy at the draw bridge entrance. The castle was built back in the 11th century and legend has it that it was build on a dragon cave (Alex loved that part of the story). Knights killed the dragon, but not before she laid an egg. Fache, the dragon, still roams the castle today:)

They had different floors representing each time period the castle was used. On the walls were portraits from that time period. The kids loved looking at the different hair styles and how the furniture changed. I loved to see all the details to the furnishings. Alex loved the weapons and armor all around. They let you explore all over the castle.

At the top was a wonderful kids museum where they could dress up at princesses and knights, make swords & a crown, & play in the castle. The kids had a great time! My two beautiful princesses.

Alex makes a handsome knight!

Friday we met some friends at Park Im Gruene. The kids ran around playing, went on a little train ride, & warmed up with some hot chocolate and croissants.

Saturday we headed to the Rapperwil Kinderzoo. Clara has been a few times and enjoyed showing her family around the place.

The kids fed popcorn to some of the animals (mostly ponnies). Sammy loved this! She's not afraid of the animals. Clara would just through the popcorn in the cage.

Alex was a little nervous and found it gross when they licked his hand:)

George and the kids went on an elephant ride. I thought that was something you only did in Africa, but apparently not. Switzerland does it too. :) They loved it! It was so much fun to watch their faces.

And a pony ride. They had a wonderful time!

The next Monday we spent at home and then Tuesday we met George for lunch in Zurich (I forgot my camera). After lunch we headed to the toy store and let the kids play while I shopped. It was a great ending to a really fun break!