A group you wouldn't usually put together

For the past year, every Wednesday from 10:30am-12pm, Elsie has attended tumbling and dance. Since she started out a bit nervous, I'd stay at the studio during the class. It wasn't convenient, and I could have thought of a lot of things I could do for one and a half hours, but I was there. Come to find out, I really enjoyed it. 

Now the music was good and the kids dancing was just about the cutest thing around. However, it was the other parents (or grandparents) who had to stay with nervous kiddos who made it extra special. There was a group of us, usually three, and sometimes four, who really got to know each other well. Heck, we had 1.5 hours to talk, so we really had some good conversations. In all truth, I looked forward to my visits with these individuals on a weekly basis.

In this group, there were two grandmothers, a younger dad, and me. We talked about everything from the desire to drive fast, the problem with social media, how much food I should order for the PTA meeting I was bringing lunch to, how old to let your kids walk with friends to the 7-11, how the culture around mental health has changed, planning vacations, remodeling houses, getting along with new family members, what snacks are good for teens, what restaurants are worthy of five stars, the grieving process, the real estate market, extracurricular reading programs. I really came to know these individuals, their life situations, their sorrows, their joys. As I came to know each of them, I was in awe of what they had done, what they were going through, how they flexed, adapted, survived. I really got to know these people. We really listened to each other. We gave advice, we laughed. 

Dance just finished. On the last day, I said goodbye to these individuals, each amazing in their own way. I was going to miss them, dang it! It was hard to say goodbye. I was sad there wasn't a way to keep us together, having weekly conversations. I pictured a lunch group, a text string, a Marco Polo. Truth is, they have their own busy lives with lots of moving parts and I fear we wouldn't be able to keep up. Still, I was so very thankful for the time I got to spend with them and the 90 minute snippets where we got to connect. It was cool, especially since each of us could have looked at our phones every week but instead, we chose to notice one another and make connections.

Maybe I'll send a yearly Christmas card. 

Ian gets a sling, then a cast, then a recast

On Mothers Day, Ian was riding a cardboard box down the stairs, when it caught the last stair and sent Ian flying. When he caught himself after the fall, he broke his radius causing a simple, transverse factor. I had suggested he ride down the stairs in the box, so yep, I was feeling like a really good mother on Mothers Day.

Due to the type of break he had, he had to be sedated and his arm had to be realigned. A week later, after the swelling had gone down, he had to get a cast. Turns out, his cast was too tight (think so much pain you can't sleep and purple fingers), so in the wee hours of the morning, we had to head to the ER and get his cast cut to loosen it. A week after that, he had to get more casting material wrapped around his cut cast. Now he's healing with a return check-up at 3 weeks.

During this adventure while going back and forth to appointments, I had a lot of one on one time with Ian, which is rare seeing as Ian is moving all of the time and never one to sit for more than a few minutes. On one such car ride, we had a great conversation.

Ian: Mom, I don't want to go on a lot of trips this summer. I'd just like to play with my friends. Please, no long trips!

Mom: Okay, we won't do any long trips, but we are going to go on some short ones.

Ian: Who are we going with? I hope we go with some other families.

Mom: We will go with cousins and some friends, but what's so wrong with just going with our own little family? I used to do that all of the time when I was a kid and it was great!

Ian: That's because your siblings played with you. That's why the trips were fun. My brothers and sister don't play with me.

Mom: Really?

Ian: Yes, I am more of an action, fighter type guy. Elsie only likes to play with Barbies. Ansel is like a video game, chill guy. And Oliver just reads and does nothing.

Mom: Oh, I see. Still, I feel like you guys have fun sometimes.

Ian: Yes, its fun when they can play action, fighter type games. 

Now we know what Ian thinks of his siblings. Ha! Ian is such a fun personality. He is the best conversationalist. And even though he has a broken arm, it hasn't stopped him from swimming or going down some very big slides at the pool this weekend! 

March happenings, no wait let's talk about Jan and Feb first

March has come and gone and I haven't mentioned anything about such a great month. Let's do a quick sum up.

Oh, but before I go to to March, I just have to mention that in February there were some neat things too. Ansel had a birthday, and he won the Spelling Bee at school, and then he won an award for Reflections, had goals in indoor soccer, and then he won the child's trophy at our family bowling tournament. Whew! The kid had a great month. Ansel loves to ski, enjoys Book Blitz, playing Minecraft and flag football, and loves a hug. He's very cerebral. He's thinking a lot about a lot of things.

I don't mention all of the things all of my kids are doing all of the time, but it doesn't mean I'm not cheering for them every second of each day. My life is not an open book. Nor are my kids' lives. But now I feel like I'm going to mention a thing or two about each of them. 

Ian is such a fun kid. He's thinking a lot and has really good questions. He tends to worry like I used to worry when I was a kid. He likes to hang out with mom, but he is always playing with friends, always. He's been fun to watch at basketball. He's the class jokester but does well on his school work and has really taken to reading good books. Still, he loves to be moving and doing all of the time. He loves four square and Legos. He won a Reflections award too!

Oliver likes school (not so much homework) because he is genuinely interested in everything in the world. His habits of doing homework and getting things done are top notch.  He has great taste in music and is always forming a sweet playlist. He's great at piano and tuba. He's very clever and funny and he loves to hang out with friends. He's a lover of all the cool different foods, which I am totally surprised at seeing as his kid palette was not very exotic. He's a counselor at the Special Needs Activity Program and he is seeing the value of trying new things.

Elsie is totally into letters right now. She tell me when a word ends with a "T" and she loves the "K" sound. She'll write out letters, and man, I love little kid handwriting. Her favorite activity in the morning is  to color and cut with scissors. She loves to play with friends and she wants to play everyday. She enjoys preschool and tumbling and dance and soccer. Moving, doing, she's like Ian. And she thinks she's Ian's age. 

And with that, we'll move onto February. For Presidents Day we went to Capitol Reef. Time with cousins and family is priceless! We spent time hiking, playing games, and staying in the coolest AirBnb.

And while we're discussing trips, let me mention our Disneyland trip with friends in January. It was a bit cooler but less busy, and it's always better to go when things are less busy. We had a great time! I lost my phone but it was found in the Indiana Jones ride and sent back to me within a week. Who the heck cares? I was at one of the happiest spots on earth.

Each of those stops above could be a post of it's own, but I probably won't get to writing about them seeing as it's May and I'm writing about January. Suffice it to say, we had great times spent with people we love.

This post was supposed to be a post about March. Ha! I'll have to get to that later. But I'll whet your whistle with this photo of Elsie with her friends in all their 4-year-old glory. Celebrating her birthday in March was a great start to the month.

Elsie and her love for le sucre

When wondering whose house we were going to for the Super Bowl, Elsie asked, "Mom, where are we going for the Sugar Spoon again?"

After leaving In-N-Out where she had had mostly a shake for dinner, "I needed sugar because it's almost my birthday." Makes complete sense to me. Plus, she calls shakes, "sugar shakes."

At 10:30am, "Can I have lunch and then a treat?"

When she gets asked to get tucked into bed, she says, "Will you snuggle me up?"

Back to France, this time Paris

We left Switzerland and went back to France for a few more days. This time, to the capital city of Paris.  It was so very busy. So busy! Still, such a neat place. The energy is real!

We drove into town and checked into our hotel. Then we walked to the Eiffel Tower and road on another double decker carousel. Can you spy Ansel on the tiger?

We ate at the market there and I made the mistake of buying over-priced nougat, but it was delicious. Many people were taking photos around the Eiffel Tower and they had such serious looks on their faces. We saw this all over and realized that it was people taking photos for Instagram. Ha! Ian and I decided to join in and try our hand at Instagram worthy stuff. I'm pretty sure we failed. 

We walked back to our hotel and rested up. The place we stayed at was a hotel designed for groups. We saw lots of families here and young adult groups. Our room was designed for 6 people, so it had one queen size bed and four bunk beds. It was tight but nice and not too expensive, which Paris can become very quickly.

The hotel actually had an old video game theme, which I saw photos of but didn't realize were prevalent in every aspect of the hotel: the halls, the keys, the lobby, and arcade games.  The kids loved playing Pac-Man, King of Fighters (think Mortal Combat), Steel Talons and more. Each day, we spent time on these games, giving the kids a chance to take a rest from the sights and sounds of Paris. Come to find out, seeing the City of Light isn't that exciting for kids.

Yet, we persevered! Jess, Oliver, and Ansel headed to the Catacombs. They really liked seeing this part of Paris.

I stayed with the younger kids and walked around the city looking at the Siene River, Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle, along with restaurants and street vendors. We stopped at a water fountain that was out of commission (seems like saving water during a drought was a high priority for France), so we played a game. It was simply called, "Find the bottle caps!" The kids went wild and found so many.

When Jess and the boys finished, we met at Notre Dame. You could still smell the scent of the fire in the square. The public entity in charge of the project is working to have things restored by 2024 but it looks like there sure is a lot of work to do. What a job! Glad they are putting in such a great effort.

We then began walking along the Champs Elysees. We stopped at the Louvre. Earlier, during planning, we had asked the kiddos if they had an interest in going inside the museum and the answer was no, so we just went to see the glass pyramid. 

We moved along, skipping through the Tuileres Garden and stopping for a drink. 

And we walked along the Seine. 

I'm sure someone (or many someones) has written a blog post (or two or three) about how to do Paris with kids and I'm sure none of them say to take your kids on the 2+ mile walk along the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Still, we did it, and it was probably a mistake; but we made it. The kids were exhausted and we may have soured them on the city of Paris, but hopefully, they can go back when they are older and really come to enjoy the place.

The next day we headed to Versailles. Another place that requires walking and looking and not touching things or running around wildly. Still, the littles were good sports for the most part. 

I came to discover that the Hall of Mirrors won't impress a 7 year old or a 3 year old. Ha! Oliver and Jess did enjoy it however, which made it worth it!

And the place is amazing! I loved the rooms and couldn't stop taking photos. Even the halls were exciting. Look at those floors!

After getting some food from a very small, French cafe, we ventured out to the gardens. I would say that if you plan to eat at the Chateau during the busy season, bring your own food. Food options are few here  and the lines get long. However, we did enjoy our pastries and eating French sweets always lifts the spirits.

We looked at the fountains, two of which were actually working. The drought had put a stop to most of the  fountains being on, which I totally understand but was sad to miss.

Ian took up map reading since the gardens are so very expansive!

The kids found a statue stone foundation and decided to become pieces of art. Oliver climbed up first before I reached this location with the younger kids, so when I came around the bend, he was standing in this position. I couldn't stop laughing. 

The creativity flowed!

You could tell by the kids' poses that they had seen a lot of statues that day.

And Elsie was trying her best to interpret the stone statues along with the brotherly statues and came up with a this pose.

Versailles was beautiful! After a day of walking we were so tired that we headed straight home and totally forgot to stop at the Paris Temple. Yikes! Oh well, there's always next time.

We finished up our Paris stop with tickets to the top of the Eiffel Tower! I was so excited I could hardly manage it. Come to find out, I scheduled it for 10:30pm (which were the only tickets available) and with the late hour, the kids were tired. Turns out, even with the reservation, the lines to get on elevator one were long. After we had taken a ride up and saw amazing views (!!!) we needed to get onto elevator two to make it to the top, but those lines were even longer. The kids were ready to mutiny. Another line. More waiting. Jess and I gave in. We had made them go, go, go and they had done such a good job. So instead of going to the top, we decided to walk down the stairs from the halfway point.  It was neat to be in the innards of the Eiffel Tower and fun to see the workmanship. 

Paris, you were good to us and I really enjoyed our stay. However, we tried to do too much, walked too much, and planned for the older people of the group instead of the younger. Lesson learned!

Overall, I think we did a great job creating a trip for a family of six, with kids ages 3 to 14. We had a great time (check out the four previous travel posts). The kids and parents were patient with each other and with situations that we couldn't control. We ate good food, had snacks at the ready (most times), and got to see and experience so many awesome things! Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Keep those passports current kids. Where shall we go next?

Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen

Grindelwald is a beautiful area in the alps know for magnificent skiing and beautiful peaks housing the Eiger Glacier. We decided to visit Glacier Canyon early in the morning for this stop and it felt like we had the canyon all to our selves. It was here that we got to drink glacier water (ahhhhh!), feel the glacial mist, and walk over the rushing river. The sights were magnificent.

We had the chance to walk out on a net secured over the rushing water of the glacier. Everyone was brave enough to do this as it was kind of scary, but by the end we were all very comfortable with it. Of course, Oliver, Ansel, and Jess were the bravest of all, it hardly even phased them.

Here's the fam on a warm August day with jackets on because of the coolness of the canyon. At one point, one could climb up to this glacier (I visited it in 2000 and it was awesome!), but it has since receded faster than they can build a tunnel to it and all you can see is the glacier in the distance.

The kids loved this photo-op at the entrance of the glacier. Apparently, a Swiss woman used to sing at the entrance of this place, and now it's Ansel. He is really good at the playing the zither.

Afterward, we went on a hike up and over the valley. Crossing a very high bridge that was over the very river we had just visited.

We hiked up and up and up, all while taking in the wonderful sights.

At the top, the view of the valley was just amazing!

We were really excited to ride the alpine coaster up at the top, but the rain began to pour just as we were about to buy tickets. Deciding it would probably pass, we played for a bit at a zipline up top, and rode afterward. 

The rain let up, and we all loved riding the alpine coaster a couple times. Once finished, the sun was out and the top of the mountain was teaming with tourists, so we headed back down. Again, the kids were great hikers on a long hike and ice cream was a welcome treat.

We got back to our car as evening began. The views never ceased to amaze.

The next day we set out again, but this time to Lauterbrunnen to visit Trummelbach Falls. I couldn't get enough of this place. One of my favorite stops.  To begin, we took a ride in a funicular up near the top of the mountain where the waterfall begins.

Water was rushing through the mountain at such force that the noise was immense! The power of nature at this spot was exhilarating and all I was doing was watching it!

Look at that water behind us. It was so neat. For those us familiar with the slot canyons of the western United States, it was very similar but instead of sedimentary rock, this was granite and gneiss.

After we took it all in, we ventured to the bottom to relax a bit. While relaxing, Elsie found a very large, Swiss worm. She reminded me of a time, when Ian, at about the same age, picked up a very large, German worm.

We decided to venture out farther in Lauterbrunnen for some more sights and found another beautiful, though slower moving, waterfall. We watched paragliders sail and land in this lush valley, as we played and joked and took in the summer sun.

As we finished up our time in Switzerland, we made sure to take a photo with our favorite bakery mascot who we drove by daily. We named him "Bakery Man" and here he is in all of his gluten glory. We went so far as to give him a jingle, "Bakery Man, Bakery Man, no one makes bread, cakes and biscuits like he can!"

Next up: we head back to France and this time, to Paris.

Kandersteg and Interlaken

Our next stop was Kandersteg, which served as our home base as we traveled to mountain stops around Switzerland. Our Airbnb chalet was at the far edge of town and a perfect spot for our family.

We went on a walk right after arriving in the alpine town and it did not disappoint. Right across the street was the most magnificent pond! The view! That reflection! Wow!

From there, we went into the mountains and found wild raspberries and blackberries! We enjoyed finding the sweet surprises as we hiked. M-A-G-I-C-A-L. This is the stuff I live for!

We could see a waterfall in the distance on the other side of the valley, so we decided to take a walk over to get a closer look. On our walk, we came upon a tiny gondola, the Scout outpost, and lots of camper vans near the waterfall. It was cool to see all the many people, from all over, enjoying this special place. It was a perfect day in the mountains.

The next day we took a day trip to Interlaken, which is out of the canyon and down in the foothills. We stopped at one of the lakes and the littles took a swim (in undies) which looked so fun, so we decided to go back again so the olders could swim too. 

We saw some neat birds and enjoyed the magnificent water which was cold but, oh, so refreshing. Who cares when you're surrounded by this? 

We were warn out and needed some food, so McDonalds! We had to try the Swiss version which turned out to be just as delicious as in France, but a tad bit more money. Jess enjoyed the Raclette sandwich, which was a Swiss special. Plus, apple soda came in the kids meals. I mean, how can you not like this place?

We drove through the town of Kandersteg daily, and it was always so beautiful.

The following day, we stayed in Kandersteg and hiked the Oeschinensee mountain.We tackled the hike and stayed focused with lots of crackers and gummies and positive talk all the way up.

 

At the top, we were rewarded with this lake and more amazing views!

We also had the reward of ice cream and then riding the alpine coaster, which was the funnest part of the day, as far as the kids were concerned. They have been trained on the alpine slides of Snowbird and Park City so were ahead of the curve of most people taking to the slide. They wanted to go faster than anyone else. Ha!

We decided to take the trip down on the Gondola. At 30 CHF, it was a bit pricey, but it was a welcome ride. Beauty all around and a lot of fun, plus we had an aerial view of cows on the steep mountains grazing like it was no big deal. Those Swiss cows sure have it good.

Another stop we made during this week was to the castle in Thun. Another town in the valley. This was a cool museum and historic spot. 

At the top, the kids got to dress up as knights and battle each other on wooden horses. They also had a fun quiz game that they completed for a prize at the end. Ansel was totally into it. And again, I loved the views from the top! I couldn't get enough of the views.

The kids enjoyed the fresh water fountains all over Switzerland. They couldn't quite believe that you could drink the water that was constantly running from these spouts. It's one of my favorite things in Switzerland (and I saw it a few times in France too), fresh water for all, at all times, and in most places.

And here's one more shot of a perfect day, in a perfect spot, in Interlaken; a place situated between two turquoise lakes surrounded by towering mountains and green hills with cows and chalets. Maybe it's the beauty, the combination of nature, the fact that my ancestors come from this place. I don't know, but I sure love Switzerland.

 Next up: Grindlewald and Lauterbrunnen.