End of competitive skating season

The end of Sydney's second year skating in Switzerland is nearing and Sunday, Feb 17th we headed to Saignelégier for the Coupe Romande.  It is for all skaters in the French speaking part of Switzerland and according to Sydney the most important competition of the season.  She did not compete in this last year as she was not ready.  Each skater skates twice.  The first time the perform two spins and two jumps and the score from those elements determines when they skate their free program or with music.  The highest score skates last so is is important to do well on the spins and jumps.  Last year Sydney's spins and jumps were not strong enough, but that is another store this year.

Sydney and her coach Catia getting ready for her  spins and jumps.

Got her mid jump.

After the spins and jumps, Sydney was in 4th place and would skate in the last group.  While she skated strong, she seemed more nervous and was a little behind on her music.  She placed 5th in her free skate and finished 2nd overall.  We were so proud of her for working so hard to get to where she is today.

Coupe Romande podium - 2nd for Sydney and 3rd for her friend Elena

All the competitors from her group at Coupe Romande.

Sydney with her friends Elena and Lisa.

Below is her video, both computer and mobile version, from this competition.  Unfortunately we had issues with the camcorder so ended up having to use our iPhone, which didn't do too badly.

Computer version

Mobile version

Afterwards we headed straight home and loaded the car up for a weekend of skiing, which I will tell you all about in the next post.  Sydney did have one more competition, but unfortunately took a hard fall on the ice and had to take a week off to let her knee heal.  The Coupe Romande would be her last competition for this skating season.  It was now time to focus on the skating show and her test to move to the next level.

Winter fun and Art on Ice

On Sunday, February 3rd we took a family ski trip to Les Paccots, which is a short 30 minute drive.  Aaron was very nervous and did not want to go.  He sees the mountains and thinks we are going to the top.  Randy took Aaron on a harness to keep him safe and they figured out how to take a button lift together.  The girls and I took a couple runs before grabbing some lunch.  It was a beautiful day and gave us time to practice before heading to Nendaz for ski week at the end of February.

Aaron getting ready for another run with daddy.

Quick stop for a picture.

Randy and I decided to take each of the kids to an event.  Sydney's choice was Art on Ice with Stéphane Lambiel.  There was a piece of chocolate on each chair, which Sydney was very excited about.  She has a bit of a sweet tooth!  It was a fantastic show including a live performance by Leona Lewis.  Stéphane has started spending time at the rink giving lessons to the skaters that compete, which is a highlight for Sydney now that she knows who he is.

Sydney and her chocolate

Hailey had Brownies on Sunday, February 10 and the were going to Les Diablerets for a family day of sledging, or sledding back in the US.  Aaron and I stayed down below with Ava while the dad's took the older girls up the chair lift for a 7km (~5mile) sledge run.  I tried taking the younger two down, but was clearly an amateur when it comes to sledging as I used my heals as a brake and we ended up with snow filled faces.  Aaron was not a fan as it was very cold and wet.  I couldn't get him back up so we would walk up part of the way and they would go down by themselves.

Ava and Aaron ready for another sledging run.

After the dads and girls made it down, Hailey and Grace asked if they could go down the smaller one by themselves.  I agreed, but quickly became nervous when they were at the bottom and showed no signs of slowing down.  They barely missed taking out a couple of people from a group that was talking at the bottom.  They flew past the bottom without showing any signs of slowing down.  They ducked, fortunately, when going under the pole that pulls tubes around in a circle.  Needless to say that was their last run and we headed home.

Hailey and Grace with the famous pole.

Randy also has a work outing that week where they had meetings and then went dogsledding in the afternoon.  After some instruction, Randy was able to drive the sled himself and found it more difficult than it looked.  We may have to try it out next winter with the kids.

Randy trying out dogsledding.

As you can tell I am a little behind on the blog and need to spend some time getting it caught up as there is much to share!

Sydney - Bday and Skating

The kids were back into the swing of things with school and with the start of the new year also comes Sydney's birthday.  She was turning the big double digits on January 13th.  Sydney decided she wanted a birthday party with friends from both school and skating.  We found a place where the girls could make a chocolate design at Fleur de Pains in Crissier.  Time to put my French to the test with not only booking her party but managing the girls during the party since only half of the girls spoke English.

Sun rising on the day of Sydney's birthday party.

The girls are ready to make some chocolate.

Sydney working on her two bird chocolates design.

Hailey is all smiles!

Sydney and her scrumptious birthday cake!

The following weekend it was time to test out Sydney's new skating program.  She was very excited for her competition, which was a first since we arrived.  She loves her new music from Brave and program.  She had two competitions over three weekends.  The first competition was in Vallée de Joux which is also where she goes for skating camp in the summer.  We were so proud of her, she had a fantastic skate and she was so proud and beaming when we saw her.  At that time she was in first place and after all the other skater, she finished in third place out of 11 scoring 19.82 points.

Sydney ready to start her program.

Sydney placing 3rd at Championnats Vaudois.

Her next competition was on Friday in Neuchâtel where there were 22 skaters in her group.  She skated in the Poissin group and they broke it into 3 groups as there were over 60 skaters.  She had an excellent skate once again and finished 6th with 18.21 points.  I have included her skate from Neuchâtel.  She has another competition this weekend for all the skaters in the French speaking part of Switzerland.  This will be her first time competing in this competition.

The one above is the mobile version.

I have also included a large version, above, for those that want to view on their computer for various reason I won't go into. ; )

Anderson/Stanger Marathon - Part 4

Hard to believe that we find ourselves on their last full day in Switzerland.  The boys were up and off to Villars for one more day on the slopes while the girls and Aaron stayed back to explore Lausanne.  After packing up a few things for lunch in my handy dandy little cart we we were off on the bus to head to the center of town and take in some of the local sights.  We stopped by the Cathedral and walked the streets before heading down to Ouchy and Champittet where the kids go to school.  Sydney was also able to show Chelle and Lizzy her graffiti artwork from last year.  We also made a pit stop to Claire's so Chelle to shop with the girls for their birthday present.  They had a blast picking out what they wanted and Chelle was able to experience shopping in Switzerland, which is not so cheap.

Hailey, Sydney, Lizzy, Aaron, and myself in front of the Cathedral.

Lausanne with French Alps in the background. 

The boys had a great time skiing and while I don't have much commentary, I did want to share some pictures.

Great day and spot for lunch.

Anthony, Andrew, and Ron in Villars.

Skiing in Villars - awesome view of the Swiss Alps.

Friday was a sad day as it was time to say good bye.  After getting Sydney off to the rink to catch the last couple days of camp, Randy took the Anderson/Stangers to the airport for their trip back to the US. After the tearful good byes, my kids were exhausted and we had a hard time getting them to go anywhere as they just wanted to stay home before it was time to head back to school on Monday.

Anderson/Stanger Marathon - Part 3

And let the marathon continue bright and early Monday morning.

We were on the 8am train to Paris on Monday, December 31st.  Fortunately we were taking the train so we could all relax a little before arriving in Paris around noon.  We took the metro to Gare de l'Est and tried to figure out where our hotel was located in reference to the train station.  After standing there for a few minutes, Anthony says isn't that our hotel?  Yes, it was in fact just on the other side of the street and way to go!  After getting checked in we headed out to explore before going out for dinner at Ratatouille.  It was a great little restaurant that had us sitting in our own private little area on the second floor.  The food was fantastic and it was great to spend New Years Eve with family.  After dinner we dropped the kids off at the hotel and we headed to Champs-Élysées to ring in 2013.  The rain was coming down a little harder and we ended up getting wet, but hey we are in Paris ringing in the new year.  Unfortunately, it was underwhelming as there weren't any fireworks, no hooting and hollering and it was even hard to tell when the clock turned midnight.  We kind of went with it and just declared it was midnight before finding a subway and heading back towards the hotel.  We stopped at the bar next door for a drink to warm up and dry off before calling it a night.

The crew enjoying our New Year's Eve dinner.

Chelle and Randy - Happy New Year Sis!

Ron and Chelle trying to stay dry with Eiffel Tower in the background.

Ron and Chelle - Happy New Year!

The next day we purchased tickets for the hop on and hop off bus to take in all the sights of Paris.  We ate an early lunch at Subway since our preferred choice of Chipotle was closed : (  Hailey was in heaven as it is her favorite and loves when we leave Switzerland as we often come across a Subway.

Boo - they are closed : (

Ready for the Hop on/Hop off tour of Paris.

Andrew and Anthony - The Louvre

Andrew and Anthony - Arc de Triomphe

Chelle staying warm - Eiffel Tower

Even though most everything was closed we were able to see the major sites and get a great overview of Paris.  We finished off the first day of 2013 with dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.  Ron quickly embraced Europe and purchased a scarf : )  Randy thought Ron looked so cool with his scarf that he followed suite.

The men sporting their new scarves!

Aaron, Lizzy, Chelle, Anthony, and Andrew

The next day we were up and checked out early so we could get a better view of some of the sites.  Our first stop was Notre Dame before heading to the Louvre for a private tour geared towards family.  This has become our way of keeping the kids engaged and hopefully interested.  We had two guides, one for the Anderson/Stanger's and one for us.  We learned about the history of the building and saw the original foundation from the Louvre, which was a castle until it was destroyed for something bigger and better.  We saw Egyptian artifacts, statues of Greek goddesses, which Sydney was quite knowledgable about thank to the Rick Riordan Heroes of Olympus series she read.  We finished with another view of Mona Lisa and a large display of Napoleon paintings.

 Stanger kids make it to Mona Lisa - are their expressions one of speechless or not impressed???

The crew outside The Louvre

One more of everyone with The Eiffel Tower.

After our tour was finished at the Louvre we took the bus over to the Eiffel Tower.  The kids and I have been to the Eiffel tower several times, but this will be our first time heading up to the top.  Of all the days we have been in Paris, this was the best weather we had so while it was a little chilly, we were dry!  Randy and I were separated from the rest of the group and I was hoping they had all our kids.  We finally saw them as we were making our way down the stairs and they were heading through the turnstile for the elevator.  I am not sure what had gotten into my, but I totally squeezed through a beam to cut into line to join everyone else.  Randy had to actually crawl through the space to follow my very rebellious lead.  I wonder if the Swiss non-queuing has rubbed off on me???  The Swiss are very orderly, but for whatever reason they don't queue and it ends up being more of herding and/or pushing process.  It was a bit of an eye opener for Ron and Chelle when we went skiing.  I guess we are getting immune and just go with the flow.

Andrew, Aaron, and Chelle at the top of The Eiffel Tower.

Chelle and Sydney taking in the view from the top.

Sydney and Hailey

Lizzy, Chelle, Ron, Anthony, and Andrew

After the Eiffel tower we headed back to the hotel after making a much desired pit stop at Chipotle for a very early dinner.  There was no way I was going to leave Paris without getting my Chipotle fix as who knows how long it will be before I get to go again!  We arrived back in Lausanne and curled up in bed before getting up on Thursday, January 3rd for their last full day in Switzerland and the last leg of their marathon, which will be concluded in the next post.

Anderson/Stanger Marathon - Part 2

Sunday we were up and on the road early heading to Verbier for a day of skiing.  I put Aaron in ski lessons so we could all go out on our own for awhile.  The boys headed straight to the top where the slopes are too difficult for me and my girls.  It was a great to get on the slopes and it was an absolutely beautiful day.  I went down to get Aaron while the others continued skiing and we all met up for lunch.  I went back down with Aaron and we hung out while everyone else skied.

Getting ready to head up for our first run.

The whole crew, minus Aaron who is in a lesson and not ready for the slopes yet.

Anderson/Stanger crew

Ron and Chelle taking in the view on our first run.

Andrew on top of the world!

Anthony, Ron, and Anthony up towards the top of Verbier.

Ron's quick picture of a St Bernard before his handler found another location for customers to get photos with him.

Unfortunately Ron finished early and he hung out at a restaurant across the street from where Aaron and I were.  I guess that is what happens when you only have 3 cell phones, but we managed for the most part.  Randy skied with the girls in the afternoon.  Chelle decided to go back and ski with Ron, but unfortunately they never met up and she ended up skiing past our meeting point.  She managed to find someone that spoke English and asked how to get back to the tele-cabine.  The lady asked which one as there are several, Chelle wasn't sure but the lady was able to direct her to the correct one and our group was back together!  We were all exhausted and more than ready to get back to Lausanne.

The next morning we were up and out the door heading to the train station to head to Paris for 2 nights. I will continue with our marathon in the next post.

Anderson/Stanger Marathon - Part 1

Chelle, Ron, Anthony (18), Andrew (15), and Lizzy (12) arrived the day after Christmas and we had a marathon of sightseeing planned over the next eight days.  Thursday, December 27th was a low key day where we headed to Callier Chocolate Factory and Chillon Castle after the kids opened their Christmas gifts.

Sydney, Aaron, Hailey, and Lizzy waiting to open Christmas presents.

Hailey is way excited for the LifeSavers!  American food was a huge hit.

All Sydney wanted for Christmas was Goldfish.

The kids and I skipped the castle as we had been there several times so we headed home while the others went to Chillon.  I don't think the kids will ever tire of Callier since the end has an endless tasting room!!

Anthony and Andrew - look at all that chocolate!!

Andrew, Anthony, Chelle, and Lizzy inside Chillon Castle.

Lizzy, Ron, Andrew, and Anthony outside Chillon Castle.

On the way home they stopped at Coop to pick up a few groceries.  Anthony is 18 and purchased, legally : ), an alcoholic beverage which he enjoyed later.  I am sure they wondered what in the world are they taking a picture of someone buying an alcoholic beverage.  And yes he was carded!  A little fun fact - you can smoke when you are 16 and drink when you are 18.  Eighteen is also when you can start driving in Switzerland, that may include Europe, but I am not sure.

Anthony at Coop getting carded for his big purchase.

The next day we were up and on the road by 8am heading for Genoa, Italy.  Randy and the boys were in one car and I drove the girls on our car.  We made it through the mountains without anyone getting sick, but Chelle and Sydney weren't feeling the best and glad to be out of the mountains.  We stopped at a gas station for a picnic lunch before arriving into Genoa.  We made it to Genoa without any problems, but finding the hotel was truly an adventure!  The roads are quite close to one another and run on top of each other so it was very difficult to see which road the GPS wanted us to go on.  We passed the recycled tire dinosaur sculpture twice and almost drove down a pedestrian walk.  Oh the joys of exploring and giving everyone a good laugh ; )

The recycled tire dinosaur landmark we passed twice while finding the hotel.

The crew down at the port.

Anthony and Andrew exploring the pirate ship.

After finally making it to the hotel and getting checked in we headed down to the port to explore and see if we could find some gelato for the kids.  There were some massive cruise ships in the port!  We had reservations at a restaurant close to the hotel before turning in for the night.  The next day we headed back down to the port where Randy took all the kids to the Aquarium while Ron, Chelle, and I walked the streets of Genoa.  It is a very quant town with the little streets weaving throughout the town.  We stopped at the cathedral where there is a bomb from WWII that never detonated.  We met Randy and the kids and grabbed a late lunch before heading back to Lausanne.

Looking back at Genoa from the port.

Cruise ship in Genoa port.

Genoa, Italy port

Laundry was hanging out everywhere and you needed to watch where your stood unless you wanted to get a little wet.

Inside the Cathedral in Genoa.

WWII bomb that still sits inside the Cathedral.

Ron and Chelle outside the Cathedral

Ron and Chelle getting a close up view of the fountain.

That takes us through Saturday or day 3 of the Anderson/Stanger trip to Switzerland.  Stay tuned for the remainder of their marathon trip!