Autumn Holidays 2016…

i know this is an extremely belated post. We have been back at school for 4 weeks now. i have tried a few times over the last few weeks to get this post written but somehow it never happened. So this week i decided that it has to be written and it got moved to the top of the ‘to-do’ list.

Our autumn holidays was the first 3 weeks of October and while it was not as exciting as last year’s, it was still fun-filled and we managed to do a fair bit.

In the first couple of days, we focussed on getting some housework done. Tobias then went off with one of his best friends to a nearby waterpark, Bernaqua, for an afternoon. The next day, we met up with some friends from Niderwalden at the Toni Zoo for lunch and a lovely walk around the small but well-kept zoo.

One of the highlights was the Foxtrail! We did this scavenger hunt type game around the city of Bern. We did have rather high expectations after reading great reviews. But it was a bit of a let-down. A few of the instructions were not well written, so we got confused and turned around quite a number of times. The helpline was not as helpful. But i think it was because this was originally meant to be worked out in German and being English-speaking meant we understood the instructions differently. We had also expected to learn more about the city as we chased the “fox”. However, there was little write-up to learn from at all. What was expected to take us 2.5 hours, took us 3.5 hours. Oh my, my feet were nearly falling off.

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Top Left: One of the clues, Top Middle: This tunnel took us ages to find, Top Right: Another clue, Bottom: Such a lovely view of the Aare!

It was not a great experience but it was not all that terrible. We did see parts of Bern we would otherwise never venture into and walking along the river was lovely. i can see that it can be quite fun for an adult group of close friends. But we had children with us so such long walking times with very little rewards of learning or anything else made it difficult to justify the costs.

After all that walking, we took it easy and took in a movie the next day. ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ was a great movie and we loved it. Even in German, the story came through nicely as did the funny bits.

As it is our tradition, every year in the first week of October, we attend the Suisse Toy Fair! This year saw us spending more time in the electronic games section (E-games) and it is no surprise as this has been the trend. There was even an entire hall devoted to LAN gaming! Tobias has said he might try and see if he can register for entry for that next year… hmm… this mama doesn’t quite like that idea.

Tobias had a great time in a pallet gun game. He had to queue for about 45 minutes but he thought it was worth it. And it did look like loads of fun.

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Top Left: LAN Gaming, Right: Trying out VR, Bottom Left: Pallet Gun Game

We also put in some practice in our squash game. And watched yet another movie, ‘Miss Peregrin’s Home for Peculiar Children’, which we absolutely loved! Definitely going to get the book!

In between all that, Tobias cooked a dinner of stewed meatballs and a breakfast of healthy blueberry donuts. We also painted our dining area wall a bright sunshine yellow!

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Stewed Meatballs for dinner, they were yummy!
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Delicious Breakfast!
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Our spot of sunshine in the house 😉

On top of that, we hosted 3 guests; Tobias’ best friends stayed for a night, another friend who just had an operation came to stay for a night too and another friend stayed one night as well.

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i took one of our guest on a walk on top of Weissenstein, the mountain behind our place. We were well-rewarded, don’t you think?

So as you can see, we were busy those 3 weeks in October!

syc

12th Birthday Celebrations…

That’s right, my little boy; now not so little anymore, turned 12 a week ago!

Usually, i blog about his birthday pretty much on the day itself or a few days after, but this time, the husband was away so i had to wait till he got back before we could do our traditional birthday shot. (See end of blog)

So this year, his birthday fell on a Friday which was when i had to bake his favourite cupcakes (Red Velvet with cream cheese icing) for him to take to school and share with his classmates.

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He got to open one of his presents before he left for school and the rest after lunch. His friends loved the cupcakes! This has become a sort of tradition since he decided that Red Velvet was his favourite and only cake to have.

He had already decided that he was just going to have a small celebration with 3 friends. One of them could not make our Saturday outing so i took just him and his 2 best friends to the Schwarzsee on Saturday.

Isn't this scenery just to die for? LOVE IT! It was such a gorgeous day!
Isn’t this scenery just to die for? LOVE IT! It was such a gorgeous day!

We arrived in time for a nice lunch by the beautiful lakeside. Then it was off to ride the Monster Trotti (Monster Scooter) down Riggisalp. After a bit of a shaky start, the boys were off. But not for me, i had no confidence on the scooter and the gravelly path didn’t help. After a couple of falls, i decided to walk the steep parts and ride the less “scary” parts. So of course, the boys were already at the bottom quite a while before i managed to get there. Well, as long as they had fun.

Then we went off to ride the Rondelbahn (Toboggan Run). There was no space to have our bags with us, so i sent them off to ride it by themselves while i watch the bags. They made 2 runs and then i went with one of the boys for another 2 runs. This was so much more my thing. Heheee 😉

Before each of their fun thrilling rides!
Before each of their fun thrilling rides!

One of the boys had wanted to ride the Monster Scooter again but it was too expensive to go again. So they settled for ice cream and drinks by the lake.

i love this shot of them, trying to skip stones on the lake.
i love this shot of them, trying to skip stones on the lake.

We came home just a little earlier than planned, opened the presents, had some cupcakes and the boys played a little on the computer before they went home.

It was a good day of celebrations 😀

 

This is our traditional birthday photo!
Here is our traditional birthday photo!

syc

 

Winter… Where Are You?…

That has been the question we have been asking for the last 3 months.

This winter, snow has been little and it doesn’t stick around for more than a day at our level (about 500m above sea level). And even in the ski resorts, snow seems to have become a bit of a rare sight.

Check out the photo below of the slopes in Engelberg just before the new year. The slopes, which were snow-covered, were icy and one of them was littered with pebbles, which all made the skiing no fun at all. We gave up after lunch and decided a walk in the little town was better and was rewarded with lovely local produce from the Kloster and that pretty view of the Kloster framed by the mountain behind it.

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We waited a number of weeks and tried again in February, during the recent school Sports-holiday. We went to Lenk. We were worried on the way up to the ski place as it did look so green. That first day, we skied through wet, heavy snow, (which turned to rain towards the end of the day) but it was still better than it was in December.

Then overnight the snow arrived, in force! See that lovely snowy view which greeted us just outside our hotel room. It continued snowing through the day quite heavily, which made visibility quite poor, but it also meant skiing on fresh snow, which was quite good.

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However, the poor visibility also meant we came across at least 3 accidents on the slopes, which required medical aid, including a heli-lift. i hope those injured are on their way to full recovery.

Then, of course, on the day we leave, we were greeted with perfect ski weather; blue skies, sunshine and slopes covered with freshly fallen snow overnight. Sigh!

But check out the difference between the snow cover in the resort area and the non-existent snow along the highway, on the way home.

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Well, we hope that there is more snow now on the slopes, especially since the school is going for ski camp in 2 days!

syc