What’s New

Both boys are at school and the house is almost too quiet.  While I’m sure there are a million other things I could be doing, I thought I’d put my feet up and relax for a bit – because in less than 2 months our lives are only getting busier 🙂

So my parents have come and gone, so I thought I’d do a little week recap.

They couldn’t have come at a better time, the weather was glorious and fall is just setting in here.  Across the lake a few mountain peaks have their first coating of snow so it is definitely picturesque. Throughout the week we did a lot of walking and traveling to close by towns.  They arrived early Saturday morning and Henry went to pick them up on the train.  It’s a 2 1/2 hour train ride back, but it’s so beautiful as you ride through the mountains and the countryside of Switzerland.  We all napped when the boys did and afterwards we headed to a nearby town called Lutry.  It’s a true European town with the old and very narrow cobblestone roads.  It’s also a port so we went to the park right on the lake and played for a bit.  We had a little snack of crepes and walked around a bit before heading back to our place to grill.  On Sunday, Henry and I were able to go to church in the morning alone, which is a rarity.  We had planned to have our hospital tour following church, however I was notified that they had 6 babies being born and it was a bit too busy (that’s a lot for the hospital since they have 700 a year).  We then came home, made lunch for everyone and got an early nap.  We woke the boys up prematurely from their naps so that we could catch the boat from Lausanne to Evian, France (where the water comes from).  The boat ride was glorious.  We spent a few hours over there and then came home for dinner.

I don’t remember what we did on Monday and Tuesday we had my doctor’s appointment.  Wednesday I walked my parents to the center of town to see the old Cathedrals and boutiques.  Once the boys were home from school and had their naps, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we just played and went to the park.  On Thursday, since Thomas we home from school and I didn’t have to pick Henry up until 1:30pm, we decided to head to the Gruyere Castle here in Switzerland.  It’s only a 45 minute drive from us and it’s just so beautiful. My parents really enjoyed that, as we were able to walk around the village and see them make the cheese along with tasting it (for them at least, it’s not all pasteurized so I just stay away!).  It was a busy morning so we just relaxed in the afternoon.  On Friday we just caught up on rest in the morning and played at our place and in the afternoon I selfishly made an appointment to get my nails done…and it was glorious.  I had an parent teacher conference at Henry’s school at 5 pm so another mom from his class and I walked there together.

Side note: During the conference, which was 1 1/2 hours because they had to do it both in English and French, I had another scare.  I’m not sure if it was due to the fact that for an 1 1/2 hours we sat in the little kids wooden chairs or what but it was scary.  Like halfway through the meeting I was getting these intense cramps, so badly that I was sweating profusely.  They felt like true contractions, starting from the back and radiating to the front and down toward my pelvic bone.  Within the last 45 minutes to an 1 hour of the meeting it happened 4-5 times.  I really didn’t know what to do.  After the meeting I walked home and they subsided for the most part and haven’t happened since.  Luckily my parents were here so they helped with bathing the boys once I got home.

Saturday we all got up early and headed to Chamonix, France where daddy was for a conference.  It’s about a 1 1/2 hour drive there and absolutely beautiful.  Chamonix is the highest peak in Europe and is covered in snow year round.  It also has a glacier on in and I’ve heard that if you go to the top (which being pregnant you’re not allowed, nor are kids under the age of 4) you can hear the glacier shifting…someday!  We spend the morning and early afternoon there and headed back home during naps so that the boys could sleep in the car (in which they didn’t).  Saturday night we cooked steaks and called it an early night since Henry and my parents had to get up around 4 so they could catch the train for the Zurich airport (it wasn’t fair to drag the boys along so I had a lazy, pj morning with them!).

All in all we had such a great time.  With jet lag and only being here for 8 days, I’m sure it was exhausting for my parents but they say they had so much fun!

And now some photos we captured from our week:

The current bump

Grandpa did a lot of reading to the boys

On the boat to Evian, France

Kisses from my love bug

What a beautiful day for the boat

Our little daredevil

Mom and dad in front of the Evian Cathedral

Group photo minus daddy

After bath reading

They read A LOT of books

Of course we had to bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with grandma

And yet more reading 🙂

At Gruyere Castle

Inside the Castle walls

Entering Gruyere village

It was such a nice, quiet morning strolling around the village

Playing in the rocks in Chamonix, waiting for daddy to finish his meeting

They were both so happy to see daddy

Beautiful church in Chamonix

Family photo, minus the photographer again

It’s so hard to get both boys to look at the same time

Gosh I love him

Family photo attempt…they were too enthralled with the paragliders overhead

The ENORMOUS pretzel daddy brought home from the Zurich airport