Merry Christmas! Our Christmas Eve

Just a few quick photos for the Holidays....

Hope you all had (are having) a wonderful Christmas.  Last night we had Larry the Lobster for Christmas dinner.  He came all the way from Norway to join us; how nice!

And (as a Fleming Family tradition) lwe let Maisie open one gift from a family member (much to the chagrin of the Hinson Family tradition).  She chose the gift from her Mom and Dad  - a ski helmet and goggles which she will need when school starts again in January.

After opening her gift, we set out the goodies for Santa:  homemade linzer cookies, carrot cake and a carrot for Rudolph, yum!

Merry Christmas!!!

Our New (Gingerbread) House

Look what we made....

It was our first real attempt and although we cheated a little by using kits from Ikea, the decorating ideas were all ours...

With a little help from Maisie's friend Valerie.

Later in the week we decorated the rest of the house.  It was the first year in recent memory that I didn't swear at the Christmas tree.  Thank you Michael for loading it in the car for us and getting it to stand up straight!

Then we decorated Maisie!

Last Thursday we made a snow penguin.  Maisie is obsessed with penguins these days and spends lots of time on the computer playing Club Penguin (another brilliant marketing strategy by Disney to get my money).

Oh, and we also got some long over-due hair cuts since Susan refuses to visit us every six weeks.

 

Maisie's new do.... and I got bangs (don't ask me why).

Belated Thanksgiving and Geneva

In case there is anyone reading this who doesn't already know how I feel, I believe every day here is worthy of Thanksgiving.  I absolutely love Switzerland and truly feel each day here is a beautiful gift.

For those who asked, yes, we did celebrate Thanksgiving.  Michael had some friends visiting from Pennsylvania and on the Wednesday before (excellent planning skills, I know), I thought it would be a good idea to have everyone over to our place to celebrate.  I had to drive to the next town over for a grocery store that had a larger selection of products since the grocery store in my town is the size of a 7-11.  I found a giant turkey breast at the butcher counter and most of the traditional ingredients within the same store.  I did have to substitute a sweet potato pie for a much longed for pumpkin pie but other than that we pulled off a decent meal in under 4 hours.  We didn't take any photos that day unfortunately but the day after we all headed to Geneva for some touristy fun.  Here are a few photos from that trip...

Maisie on our hotel balcony overlooking the Jet d'eau in Lac Leman (Geneva).

Here is everyone milling about in front of St. Peter's and here is one shot of the inside.  I won't bore you with the architectural detail photos I took (unless you ask nicely).

This is a photo of Maisie and her new friend Spencer standing in front of a garden of shrubs cut and decorated to look like giant lamps (sponsored by GE).   Spencer is a year older than Maisie, is also a very picky eater and likes Club Penguin.  They got along famously.

We walked from our hotel along the lake, across the botanical gardens, and over to the United Nations.  We then visited the Red Cross Museum which was very interesting.  My favorite part was a room full of file cards with the names of every prisoner of war who was treated by the Red Cross during WWII.

Here we are (or is that my sister?) in front of the Lake.  I loved Geneva and hope to return soon.  Maisie wants to go back because they have an American store where we can buy things like Poptarts and marshmallows.  

Let it Snow!

We had our first major snow fall in November.  I'm a little slow with posting the photos and we just got covered with another beautiful blanket this weekend.  Maisie and I still get giddy every time it snows probably because we have no shoveling responsibilities (other than digging the car out when we need to go somewhere)!

The neighbors keep a ping pong table in the courtyard (which they share with us).  We had enough snow to make a couple of snow men and join in a snowball fight with the neighbor's sons (ages 13 and 15 who did not care to be photographed).

 

We pass this house on our path between the apartment and where we have to park the car.  I liked this photo because of the kooky tree and the fact that the motorcycle was covered with snow.  The amount of snow was quiet unexpected and rare so early in the year (so the locals say) but we love every flake of it.

 

This is the view from the guest room....wanna come stay?

We hope you all are enjoying your winter weather whatever it may be!

Bern(e) Revisited

We made a return trip to Bern to check out the English bookstore and their huge market.  It is a really cool Swiss-German town with lots of great shops.  We made our compulsory visit to the bear pits,

 and then walked down to the market.  We saw a spot-on AC/DC cover band which Michael and I wanted watch but old sensitive-eared Maisie (maybe she's not listening to her ipod loudly enough) refused to go near the stage.  

I'm going to save this photo for the teen years when she begs me to let her go to concerts. 

We also saw these men playing a giant game of chess 

but once we saw the freaky blue guys we knew it was time to head for home!

Halloween(ish)

Maisie's school had a Harvest Celebration which originally was planned for Halloween but the weather was so bad it was postponed until November 3.  We had a beautiful (if not a little cold) day and I got to see how the Swiss celebrate Halloween.  There were lots of costumes but very few scary things and a severe shortage of candy but all the kids seemed to have a good time. Maisie dressed up as a devil and at the last minute decided to give the costume a mustachioed twist.  

Love it! 

 

 

Maisie (devil) and her friend Gabby (angel).

The girls from Maisie's class.

Group shot of all of the kids at Maisie's school.

Apples hung from the big tree.

The creepy "eyeball" cupcakes we made, yum!

Thanks to everyone who posted their Halloween pics.  We certainly missed out on our favorite Holiday this year.  Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!!

Funky Fall Colors

We went to Cully to check on a friend's house while they were away.  We searched for a rake but couldn't find one so Maisie decided to take care of the leaves her own way.

  

After "cleaning" up the yard we strolled down to the lake for refreshment.  And no, the locals did not stare at Maisie's outfit.  It matched the day perfectly!

Chamonix, France

Here are a couple of photos from a recent trip to Chamonix.  It is about a 75 minute (white knuckle) drive from Sion.  It is a popular ski-resort destination but since it's not quite ski season everything was pretty quiet.  We had a delicious lunch (Maisie found a restaurant with a Texas Cheeseburger on the menu) and then strolled around the town.  True to form, I forgot the camera so took these shots with my phone.   In the second photo you can see a glacier in the background (the strip of white going up left from the pinkish building).

                               

I'll try to post some photos of the new apartment soon!

Gruyeres

We took a trip to Gruyers Castle in the pre-alpine, Fribourg foothills.  The castle (altitude: 830 meters) is one of the most prestigious in Switzerland and towers majestically above its medieval town.  As always, it was a beautiful day!

  

Gruyeres (yes, famous for the cheese of the same name) is a fortified town and it is a steep hike up to the gates but once you enter, there is a perfectly quaint little town inside.  Here is a photo of Maisie and Michael inside the gates hiking toward the castle (barely seen on the left beyond the chapel in the foreground) and a photo of a house on the main square with some beautiful autumn-red ivy.

      

Here is a photo of the castle gardens and one of Maisie on the rickety courtyard cat walk. Sorry, I didn't take any photos of the interior or a good shot of the exterior but you get the idea.  If you want a better look, come visit!

No trip to a castle is complete without a stop at the gift shop.  Here we bought post cards that are still sitting on the desk and then stopped to pose with a local.  As you can see we're wearing our coats but I think it was an irregularly cold weekend.  It has since warmed up.  Maisie and I went hiking today in t-shirts (and pants).

 

One last shot before we end this post:  Lac Leman at night.  Enjoy!