Going Away Party

On one of our last days in Switzerland, my good friend Toni (her son Ethan is Alex's best friend) had a party for Alex and Ruby. She decorated with red, white and blue and made some amazing cupcakes (see below). She had each of the kids make a card and then took lots of pictures. The next day she had all of it put together in an amazing book that the kids loved. It was a lot of fun mixed with sadness...we were really closing in on the end of our Swiss experience.

Alex, Ruby and their friends from school

Cupcakes with Swiss and American flags

Ethan and Alex

Elliott and Alex

Basile and Alex

Manon and Ruby

Ruby, Elie and Carolina

Henry and Todd

Celebrating with Pete

We had the chance to celebrate one more of Pete's birthdays in Switzerland.
This time we had candles.
Check out this post to see how much the kids have changed.

For a belated present we headed back over to the Adventure Park as promised

Alex was able to do some harder courses since Pete was with him.
Pete was also able to get some better pictures since he was at the same level as Alex.

I love this picture of Henry looking up at Alex.
It gives you a better idea of how high up he was.

Pete said there were a couple of challenges for Alex because his legs weren't quite long enough.
I'm impressed that he didn't chicken out so high off the ground.

Hooked on and ready to zip

There are a couple of courses that are only for 16 yrs and older.
We talked Pete into going on one. Here he is at the start of his course.

Ruby did a couple more challenging courses her second time as well

Here are a bunch of short clips of Pete and the kids

More than chocolate

A lot of people are probably familiar with Toblerone chocolate. What they might not know is that there is a line of 2,700 9-ton concrete blocks in the shape of Toblerone chocolate that was built during WWII to stop tank invasions. The Toblerone line starts in Bassins and follows a 10 km (about 6 miles) path all the way down to Lake Geneva. We discovered it early on while living in Switzerland and wanted to hike the trail that follows the line. It was one of those things that we always talked about doing but kept putting off.

With few chances left and day after day of lousy weather, we decided if we wanted to do it, it would have to be in the rain. On one of our last Saturdays in Switzerland, we put on our rain boots and coats and headed out to hike a small portion of the line. It was extremely muddy and slippery in parts but it was also green and beautiful.

Alex, Henry, Pete and Ruby at the start of our hike

Henry and Alex staying dry

Along the way Alex found some of these. If you can't tell what it is look closer...

...it's a giant snail! I didn't know snails this big existed. Gross.

Is it possible to be pregnant and fashionable in rain gear?
Only if your rain boots have cherries on them.

Finally discovering the Toblerone Line

Kids on a wire

Sadly, weeks before we left Switzerland, we discovered this great ropes course for ages 4 and up. One weekend while Pete was out of town, I took the kids along with Alex's friend Jack to try it out. It was a huge hit and the kids made me promise to return with Pete.

Jack and Alex getting ready to go

Alex and Jack at the start of their first course

There were different levels of difficulty with varying heights

All of the courses eventually led into this really cool wooded area

It's hard to tell in these pictures but Alex is pretty high off the ground

Ruby getting ready for her first run

She is so fearless and it was funny to see her impatience with older kids in front of her that were going slow

Alex on one of the many zip lines

Ruby's turn on the zip line

Tulips at last

After waiting and waiting, the tulips finally came

As always, they were beautiful

A little piece of heaven on earth

You can tell by our attire that the weather still hadn't warmed up even though May had arrived

Weather aside, we were happy to enjoy the tulips with Pete's sister Jane and her husband Clark

Our kids were in heaven to have more guests and we were sad they could only stay a few days with us