Italy

We took off for Italy for a few days with mom and dad. It was fun trying some new food, sunning ourselves like lizards and tasting gelato at every possible opportunity. Much to our surprise, dad managed to find a few bakeries while we looked for espressos and capuccinos. We took the road from the Valais to Domodossola and onto Stresa on the Lago Maggiore. We followed the lake north the next day back into Switzerland and to Locarno, where we took Ralph to the train station for the trip back home and to work the next day. We stayed in Ascona on the northern lake for two more nights and enjoyed the mild weather. On our way back home we encountered snow and numerous accidents which made our trip longer. We were glad to get back to the warm fire and the sunny weather seemed like a dream. It has been snowing ever since and we woke up to a few inches of the white stuff this morning. We managed to construct a snowman but he fell over already so must be melting! Dylan turns 6 today and he is anxiously awaiting present opening time.

Ski Vacation

It was our intention to enjoy a week of snow and sunshine, good company and beautiful scenery. All of these things actually happened and we found ourselves once again in love with Austria. The boys did well on their skiis and I even got on skiis for the first time in several years. I even enjoyed myself and felt only slightly disgusted when my five and seven year olds whizzed by me on the slopes, looking for jumps while I searched for the easiest possible way to make it to the bottom. I found that I enjoy the scenery just as much as I enjoy the feeling of swishing down the slope and I informed them that I would likely never be an excellent skiier but I would endeavor to join in the fun and become more instead of less active. It was a great week. We shared an apartment with a family from Germany and had some good laughs in the evenings with sharing stories, foot massages and children's charades, among other games. Valentine's Day was during our stay there and the four of us managed to go out to a peaceful wonderful dinner while the other family's daughter Melanie looked after all of the kids. Hooray for people who started having their kids before we did and now provide babysitters!