Switzerland, Pt 2, Pilatus

We spent a good part of the day at Pilatus. The six of us took a gondola up a top portion of the mountain, played for a long time at the playground and hiked back down. The hike down wasn't quite what we expected...but with the view we couldn't complain!

On the gondola ride up.



Jason and Jeremy
Mandy and I laughing so hard because both Jason and Jeremy were hilarious trying to take our photograph.
Cutie Grace on the swings. She wanted to go really high!


Now you can see why we decided to spend a majority of the time at the playground. It was gorgeous!


Reason #101 why you don't wear flip flops hiking. She ended up hiking back down the mountain with no shoes. She was a good sport about it, though!
All the kids took advantage of a parent to carry them down the mountain. Belle had an ear infection, Aubrey was asleep, Grace was tired of walking and well Jackson...he doesn't have an excuse. He hikes everyday at school and just wanted to be on daddy's shoulders.
The next blog will be about Brunnen...

Switzerland, Part One

We went to central Switzerland with some friends of ours (The Sheppards) over our Spring Break this year. My mom and dad have a time share and we were able to get a great 3 bedroom apartment with a full kitchen overlooking Lake Lucerne for seven days. It was a fantastic place to stay! The view from our apartment was nothing short of amazing and the amenities there at the resort were perfect for the kids.

I took over 400 pictures, but I am not going to bore you with all of those. So, I am going to break it up a bit and try to blog about it over the next few days.

The first bit is going to just be a preview of the place we stayed at. Jason and I said we will definitely be going there again in the years to come.

The view from our apartment overlooking Lake Lucerne.

The kids hanging out on the balcony.
Rock climbing wall at the resort.
The view we had from our dining room table.
The downstairs area.
Adult bowling alley

Sport court
Inside swimming pool
Another view
Kids bowling area
Go kart course
Outside swimming area. It connected to the inside through a tunnel. It was really neat!
Beautiful!
The teepee area

More to come soon....

Star War and a Princess

The title say it all...

my star wars boy (his star wars toy), and a princess girl!

Although...Grace is a little of both. Good thing Jackson didn't take on the role!!! :-)

Jackson's Leprechaun

Jackson came home from school on Monday with a hatful of rocks that he collected. I asked him what we were going to do with them and he said, "build a leprechaun house." So we worked together to pick the perfect spot to build it. He was so cute, he got grass and flowers for it while I made the popsicle stick walkway. He was so proud of it after it was built. But most of all he couldn't wait to see if the leprechaun would bring him any gold in the morning time.

(I am pretty sure he gets this from school. Supposedly there is one that lives in the forest by his school...but who knows...it's a 5 year old's imagination at work!)

He couldn't wait to get downstairs and to the backyard to see if he left him any gold. And that crazy, little leprechaun did! This face is just part of the pure joy he had when he saw the gold.

A Scherden Saturday

Our weather on Saturday was the best we have had so far in 2011. The temperatures were in the middle 70's and it was a perfect day here. We started out the day at Jackson's t-ball meeting then came home and got the bikes ready for our ride. We rode around 3 villages, stopped by the Blockhaus for a treat and by the time we got home we rode almost 10 miles. Jackson did great and was in front of us for most of the ride. We were so proud of him! It is so nice to see all of the green popping up all around us. After having the winter months behind us now, spring is just a tease to what summer is going to be like!

Grace loved seeing these horses. Right when we stopped to watch them about 6 horses came running full speed out to the other horses. It was so neat to see the horses excited about seeing each other and nudging their noses.

If you look back in the distance at the hill you can see the green growth start to make its way down.
Jackson ready to make his way up the "big" hill!
At a break at the Blockhaus.

The kids had so much fun running around the place.
Here is a shot of Jackson and Grace playing hide and seek. This is what their game consisted of:

Jackson: "Grace, go hide and I'll count to 10."

Grace: "Okay, here I go."

Jackson counts to 10 while Grace hides behind a bush. After Jackson is finished counting he looks around and Grace says, "Jackson, I'm here!"

She hasn't quite learned the concept of the game just yet...but it's funny to watch their own way of playing!

These trees have been popping up in full bloom the past couple of days. They are absolutely gorgeous! I learned they are called Bradford Pear trees. When I got close to take the picture you could hear hundreds of bees in the tree. It was an eerie sound!
Here is a pink version of the tree. (I think)
Jackson loves cutting away at branches and sticks while at school. Jason gave him a new pocket knife with a saw. Here he is putting it to good use. Who would of ever thought I would let my 5 year old have a personal pocket knife! But the good thing is, he has really learned how to use it responsibly.