Spring and skiing

It has finally warmed up enough to pack a picnic lunch and play for awhile before heading home on Wednesday afternoons.  As you may recall, the kids get out of school at noon on Wednesdays, which has been helpful since they usually need a little more down time as they are exhausted with a long day of school in french.  I packed a picnic and threw the scooters in the car and parked next to the lake rather than the chaotic parking lot.  The school is about 2 blocks from the lake and quite a few parents park next to the lake to avoid the parking lot.  The kids were very excited and had a great time riding around.  Here is a clip of Aaron finally getting to take his new bike from Christmas outside.  He now prefers this over his scooter because he can go faster.  Last Saturday at the open house at school he found a hill he would ride down.  Here is a video with Hailey on her scooter and Aaron on his bike.  You can hear Sydney in the background wondering why I wasn't taping her.  Oh to be the oldest child!

The next two weekends we went back to Nendaz for a little more skiing before the season was over.  I decided to enroll Aaron in a private lesson in hopes of getting him excited about skiing.  He had a great time and we went with a 2 hour lesson the following week.  The first weekend we had someone showing us around, which was wonderful and proved to be invaluable when we were on the own the following weekend, which was quite comical.  Here is some video from our first weekend in Nendaz.  Hailey is the first one in bright coral, Sydney is in pink and white, and then Aaron.

So, our second weekend didn't go quite as smoothly, but we tried to make the best of it.  We arrived without a hitch on Friday and had everybody up and ready to go in great time.  I was my usual, everyone needs to go to the bathroom with everyone responding I don't have to go.  I only made Aaron and decided to let them go as I wasn't taking on that battle today.  They are old enough.  On the drive over there was mention of having to use the restroom, but they all decided they wanted to go down one run and then they would go.  I was staying back with Aaron to get him to his lesson.  Well, you guessed, I was in the bathroom trying to dry off long johns well enough so we could hit the slopes again.  Randy was off getting Aaron to his lesson and when we finally met up, Aaron was crying and there was confusion as to how long his lesson was.  We settled on 2 hours and off we went with Aaron crying about his glove.  Not sure what it was, but we could see from the lift all was well.

Randy decided to take us up toward Verbier for something different and Hailey had a hard time on one of the slopes last weekend.  We finally made it up to Verbier where they had a freeride competition so there were tons of people.  It was absolutely beautiful with the sun shining and we finally made it to the top of our first slope.  OMGoodness, we seriously have to go down this.  Keep in mind, I am very much a beginner and this slope was way past Hailey and my ability.  Randy quickly realized that we would not make it back in time for Aaron so I told him to head toward Aaron and we would meet up at some point when we made it down, hopefully in one piece.  We were almost past the hardest part and Hailey falls and starts sliding down the hill.  I was finally at a good stopping point and with my beginner abilities could not help her.  Some nice gentlemen were finally able to get her to the spot where her ski slide to and told me this slope was to hard for us.  I totally agreed with him and if there were some other way of the mountain I would have signed us up.

The girls and I enjoyed lunch with a great view and I looked at the map to try and figure out where we were and how we were going to get back on easy slopes.  The ski school called asking where we were since the instructor was waiting was Aaron.  Yikes, I hope Randy is ok and close to getting Aaron.  We finally connected on the phone and Randy was with Aaron and they were going to get lunch and would wait for us while we made our way back.  Two hours later we finally made it back we were exhausted.

We enjoyed the hot tub and sauna before eating dinner and packing up for our trip home.  Nendaz is about 1 1/2 hours from Lausanne.  On our way down, the low tire pressure light came on in addition to check your stop lamp.  We got down the mountain and stopped at a service station to realize it isn't just low, it is FLAT!  Ugh, you have to be kidding me, now what do we do and do service stations have air compressors.  Tomorrow is Sunday and Randy is leaving for Turkey, so I am on my own with the kids.  Time to give Volvo roadside assistance to the test.  I called them on Sunday and was very happy to hear they spoke english.  Someone would be out in 50 minutes, wow, really on a Sunday, that is wonderful news.  So the mechanic calls looking for our place and I am doing my best with French.  We manage pretty well, but there was a point I went to get Sydney to help translate.  He filled the tire and put on the spare and it will be off to the garage first thing Monday.  We all survived and I now know where to take the car for service.

We are in our final countdown for our first trip back to the states.  We leave on Thursday, April 5 and will be there for 2 weeks.  The kids are so excited since we will be going to Disndeyworld and have a long list of foods they want while we are there.  It is quite funny what they think of - watermelon, licorice, cheese puffs, fruit loops, fruit snacks, etc.  Some of the items they sell here, but it tastes different or too expensive to buy all the time when it is in season.  I will leave you with a picture looking back at the valley from the apartment we stayed in at Nendaz.  Wishing everyone a Happy Easter with family and friends!!!

Budapest

I had my first girls only weekend March 9-11 to Budapest, Hungary.  Easy Jet is a Europe's version of Allegiant Air or other budget airlines.  I was able to fly round trip for under $150 as long as I didn't check any luggage.  Knowing how much Switzerland is for following rules, I looked at what size suitcase they allowed, measured and checked with Angie, who I was traveling with.  She has flown Easy Jet and just brought a carry on and never checked the dimensions.  Well, I must have been back luck, because we were checked on both flights.  Fortunately, hers fit and ours were the same size, so I didn't have to shove mine in on the way there.  There is more to this, but will save it when we are heading back.

We had planned this back in November and wouldn't you know it, Sydney has her skating show the same weekend.  Oh well, guess it will put Randy to the test on managing three kids and Sydney's skating.  We left early Friday afternoon, so Randy had to get the kids off the bus, get them loaded up and head to the rink.  She also skated on Saturday and had to be at the rink at 8am on Sunday.  Fortunately Sydney's skating friend's mom was going to be there and could help her if needed.  Here is a picture and some video from the show.

Group picture - The ugly duckling and the swan.

Sydney spreading her wings.

The ugly duckling was Sydney's piece and then they joined the swans for the finale.  She is the middle egg and usually third from front of line.

We finally made it to Budapest and found a ATM to get some Hungarian money and then a cab to the hotel. We arrived later than expected so got checked in and asked for a recommendation for dinner.  We ate at a Hungarian restaurant that served us some sort of shot/drink in a shot sized wine glass with a lid.  It was very strong but went down pretty well.  Angie tried another one back at the bar in our hotel and that one didn't go down as well, so must have been on the cheap side.

We had a leisure morning and slowly made our way to the market in Budapest.  We totally took advantage of no kids and just strolled along taking in the sites.  The market was in a massive building with food vendors on the first floor and goods on the second floor.  We headed for the second floor and wandered around in search of some nesting dolls for the kids.  My aunt bought me one from Russia and the kids absolutely loved it and unfortunately one broke.  I wanted to get one for the kids and one for our house.  Randy and I like to buy things for the house when we travel, but we have been a little slow since arriving in Switzerland.  We are finding it a bit of a challenge to find souvenirs for the house when we have a limited time and typically have the kids.  After the mission was accomplished we found a restaurant along the river and plotted out our afternoon.

Danube River and Buda side with castle hill and bridge at night.

Market on Pest side

Buda and castle hill during the day.

It was time to cross the bridge and head up a funicular to Castle Hill.  The views were just spectacular at night and we were both looking forward to getting up there and really getting a view of Budapest and Parliament.  We had done a ton of walking and our feet were a little sore so we took a stop at the hotel before heading out to another Hungarian restaurant for dinner.  We had great luck with restaurants and enjoyed some tasty food.  We had a very late flight the next day so went to the Széchenyi thermal bath, which are not only relaxing but therapeutic because of the water composition.

One of the bridges connecting Buda and Pest, we walked across to funicular.

At top of funicular looking back down at river and bridge.

Castle hill with awesome views of Pest and Parliament.

Parliament through the pillars.

Parliament - it is a massive building.

Angie and I with Parliament in the background on our way back to the hotel.

Szécheny is a massive complex with several different pools and saunas on the inside and a few on the outside.  They were all different temperatures and it was a maze to get outside and felt very institutional.  There was white everywhere with all tile on the floors and lockers and even the people working there wore white smocks.  Every time we turned a corner or walked through a door we were afraid we would walk into the mens changing room.  Not that they would care, but it would definitely be a shock to us "Americans".  Once we made our way outside, it was a beautiful courtyard in the center with 3 different pools.  We stayed in one after realizing one was much colder and the other required a swimming cap, which we did not have.  It was time to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up before heading home.

Courtyard with 3 pools.  The one closest was the warm one.

We made our way to the airport and after having to wait in another area after a bag was left unattended we were finally able to check in.  The asked if we wanted to check our bag for free since it was a full flight and I declined since I had only 15 minutes to catch the train to Lausanne and the last bus home.  He asked to see our bags and then asked that I put mine in the metal frame to make sure it would fit.  I finally shoved it in and then had one heck of a time getting it out!  Ugh, what a pain and after several minutes it was finally free and I was begrudgingly checking my bag!  It took a couple extra hands and muscled and I was so hot to only have to wait in a huge security line.  We ended up leaving late so checking the bag didn't make a difference.  I made it home safely and was quickly off to bed since 6am would come too quickly in the morning.