Missing the tulips....again

I took my family to Morges to see the tulip festival there. We have been every year and it is really beautiful. Unfortunately, just like in Holland, the late winter had kept the tulips from blooming so there was nothing to see. There were only a few bulbs that were up. Better luck next time. We decided to walk around Morges and luckily there was a street market going on.

Ruby, Henry, Tommy and Alex next to Lake Geneva

Alex, Papa John and Tommy

The group in front of the street market in Morges.
The kids found a balloon man who amazingly knew all sorts of facts about the U.S. While he made balloon animals for the kids, he quizzed us on presidents, movies and other categories. I have to admit that several times he had us stumped. He must play a lot of Trivial Pursuit in his free time.

Onto the chocolate

After the cheese factory we decided to end our day at the Caillier chocolate factory in Broc. It had been redone since the last time we visited but one thing was the same. At the end of the tour there was a room full of chocolate and you could sample as many as you liked. I had to keep my eyes on the kids though. The last thing I needed was throwing up on the drive home.

Mama Linda, Ruby, Tommy, Alex and Henry in the sampling room

Ruby and Tommy putting down as much chocolate as they could

Charlene and Mama Linda

Mmmmmmm, chocolate

After all of our chocolate eating we were super thirsty. While the kids were playing on the playground next to the cafeteria, Charlene and I were waiting in line to buy some water. About 2 minutes later, Tommy and Alex came rushing in shouting that Henry was hurt, followed by Ruby who was carrying him. There was blood all over the both of them.

Apparently, the older boys had been playing a little too rough with Henry and he had smashed his mouth into the playground equipment. His gums were bleeding pretty badly and one of his teeth was cracked in half. Unfortunately, it was almost 5pm and we were over an hour away from home. I knew by the time we got there my dentist's office would be closed.

Long story short, I got a hold of Pete in the States and he found an urgent care dentist that we rushed Henry to.

Henry was not happy about being there but he was pretty tough. The verdict: 2 teeth were broken and needed to come out. Ironically, they are the exact same teeth that Alex lost in Paris. He was too swollen to have it done that night so we made an appointment for the next day and Pete (fresh off of a flight from LA) took him in. Unfortunately, they could only remove one and a half of the teeth so now he is stuck with a little broken tooth.

After the accident before the teeth are removed

Swiss cheese

From Fribourg we headed to Gruyeres to check out the cheese factory there. Since we had already been there once I thought my kids would be bored and want to play on the playground outside. Silly me. They wanted to take the tour one more time and watch how the cheese is made.

Alex and Tommy "milking" a cow while Ruby waits for her turn

Fun facts about making cheese

Ruby and Henry learning all about the process of making Gruyeres cheese

On the tour there are a line of different things (grass, flowers, herbs, etc) that cows eat that can affect the flavor of their milk and therefore the taste of the cheese. The silver canisters hold the different scents that you can sample. Beware of the stinky cow poop canister Dad!

Charlene taking a smell of one of the many different scents

Fun in Fribourg

My parents arrived two days after my sister and we didn't waste any time showing them around. The day after they arrived we headed to Fribourg, which is a place I have always wanted to visit. It isn't far from us but somehow we've never made it up there. It was a charming city although we happened to arrive there at lunch time and apparently everything closes during the lunch hour. Whoops! We made up for it by stopping in to a crepe shop for a bite to eat.

Our group consisted of my sister Charlene, my mom and dad, me, my nephew Tommy, Alex, Ruby and Henry. It was nice to have one adult per child. Unfortunately, Pete missed out on a few of our adventures as he was working in the States.

The kids in front of the fountain (1525) next to the Hotel de Ville

My Dad, Mom and Charlene in front of the Hotel de Ville (Town Hall) which also dates back to the early 1500s

Charlene and Tommy, who is holding the coveted paprika-flavored Pringles, which are not sold in the States but have become my kids' favorite

Alex, Tommy and Ruby on the Zaeringen Bridge which crosses over the Sarine River

Standing in front of the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas

Inside the cathedral

Tommy and Alex testing out the comfort of the seats

The exterior of the cathedral

Company

April was the month of visitors at our house. We had 4 straight weeks of family...in part thanks to the volcano in Iceland that kept some of them stranded for an extra week. Our first arrivals were my sister Charlene and nephew Tommy who is only 8 weeks older than Alex. They have been best buds since they were babies. Alex loved showing him what life is like in Switzerland. They played a lot of DS, read a lot of books and enjoyed an almost 3 week long sleepover.

While they were jet lagging we took it easy and visited a few different parks

Even though the weather wasn't cooperating their favorite park was Signal du Bougy

We decided to try our hand at miniature golf. It was hilarious because the "greens" were like a concrete sidewalk. The golf balls would go flying and usually ended up long past the hole.

Our favorite hole was this one where we had to "tee off" with a putter. See the video below to get a better idea. By the time everyone had finished the hole we were laughing to tears.

Our morning ended with a stop to the little bakery to buy some fresh, hot rolls.

Fore!

Double the fun

This year Alex's birthday was the day after Easter. Since Pete was heading out of town on his big day, we decided to combine our Easter celebration with his birthday party. We had our friends, the Murdocks, up for dinner and birthday cake. Since we didn't have any family in town, it was nice to share the day with the kids' adopted "grandparents".

Easter and Birthday decorations

8 years old

The Birthday Boy

Make a Wish!

Party of Five

The kids with Barbara and Kent Murdock