quiet misery

I was driving Rock home from a friends house. He was really quiet on the 20 minute ride home. I heard a soft "ugh" from the back seat. "What's 'ugh', Rock?" I asked. "Oh, I'm just thinking about my worst favorite jam."

...for my Dad

My Dad served his mission in Switzerland - back when it was the "Switzerland Mission".

I don't know how long it's been since my Dad has visited this area, at least 31 years; if not then, I do believe he hasn't been back since he served here 50 years ago.

I DO know how much he loves this part of the world. When I told him we'd be here for the summer he asked me to take lots of long, deep breaths of the Swiss mountain air for him. Sure thing Dad, and I've enjoyed it.

I also know he'll love pics of his grandchildren in front of the Temple here. Let your heart soar, Dad.

4 languages - 20 minutes

At the park the other night, while waiting for Hannah to show up w/ a friend, we met a Moroccan family who works in France. Trav introduced himself and started speaking Moroccan Arabic with them. They were, as Moroccans always are, THRILLED to talk w/ someone who speaks darija, their local dialect. I chimed in a bit, but my Arabic needs some serious work. So the wife and I had a lovely conversation in French. Then they found out that Rock speaks Spanish, and they both began a conversation w/ him in Spanish. Trav and I were joking in English about how crazy it was to have 4 languages going on in one conversation. Quite awesome, we decided.

July 14 - Bastille Day

France's Independence Day.

Fireworks started at 10:42 PM. While watching a fantastically choreographed fireworks show, we could see across the lake and around the valley about a half dozen or more other towns and villages having their own fireworks shows. It was a really neat sight!

Le Musee Olympique

For Whit.

Hannah's got hops - this is the world record for high jump.

Rock - um, you've got your hand on his derriere. I liked how their wheels made the Olympic Rings. Cool art.

Frankenstein, Medieval Town and a Beach

A Saturday:

We took the kids on a telepherique ride up the cliffs of Mount Saleve (Trav ran up, the kids called him Frankenstein). They loved it, but Rock kept scoping out the softest places for the telepherique to land, just in case the cable broke. I had to continually reassure him that we were fine and the cable wouldn't break, and his continued response was "Yah, Mom. But what IF?!?!" That's the latest question to anything, and I mean anything, no matter how far fetched.

On our way up (L) - R scoping out the soft landing spots (R)


The top of Saleve overlooking Geneva (L) - a little monkeying around on our hike (R)


R was a bit more relaxed on the way down, but you can see the sand pit he chose to land in 'IF' the cable broke.



After the ride and some beautiful hiking up top, we headed on over to the small, very cute town of Yvoire. An old medieval town on the lake, that is now pretty much a boutique and restaurant extravaganza. The last time we were here we had a wooden napkin holder carved w/ Hannah's name on it. I remember intentionally not getting one for me and Trav on the 'off-chance' he fulfilled his promise of bringing me back to Geneva and we could get them then. Now we have a complete family set.





What can't nutella and Smurfs ice cream fix?


Happy to be in Europe / Could care less to be in Europe


After Yvoire, we continued up the Lake road to one of the only sandy beaches on Lake Geneva, Excenevex. Not only is it sandy, but it is shallow and warm. About 75 yards out it was still only waist deep.... We had fun, but Rock was a grump as the pictures will tell. How can you have a bad day in Europe?!?!

h made herself a hot tub - while I watched the boys play football in the Lake (dead center of pic, way out there)


"Today is NOT my day!"

Mont Blanc...if only I'd remembered to pack my ice pick

I swear, it's really there. Right behind us.


Mountaineers on their way up. Trav wishes he were one of them.....


These summitted in the morning and are on their way down - MB is just in the upper right corner - okay, way up.


This is Aiguille du Midi - the Needle. The cable car ascent was practically straight up the rock face. MB is to the right.


Aiguille du Midi - our last stop on the telepherique.

Don't strain yourself, Trav.


Our hike down-admiring the huge glacier behind us.

A few of my favorite flowers on this trip.

These tiny ones caught my attention right away.

I only saw half a dozen of the red ones.

These looked so delicate.


Had Trav not turned Economist, he would have chosen the Ski Jump as his occupation



You can see where we ran down the slope.


Trav and I went on a date to Mont Blanc (how pretentious does that sound?). We left immediately after we dropped the kids off at their camp at 8:15 in order to maximize our time on the mountain. We drove to Chamonix; trying to keep our eyes on the road was difficult with Mont Blanc towering over us. It was a beautiful day, on the valley floor. At that elevation though, the weather can change rapidly; still beautiful, but not swimsuit weather, mind you.

We rode the telepherique up to Aiguille du Midi (wishing we could have hiked it, but knowing we were short on time and winter gear). It took two cable cars, with a mid way stopping point. The rides were breathtaking, particularly the second, as the second half of the second ride was a direct ascent, about 85-90 degrees, straight up the rock face. W.O.W.

As we stepped out at Aguille du Midi, my breath was literally taken away. It was cold, not just cold, but idiotically cold. (It didn't help that I had dressed for "valley floor" weather.) As we looked around we saw tons of mountaineers scaling different parts of the mountain (if only I had remembered to pack my ice ax and winter coat!). Some were on ice cliffs, others were at the base camp (which we could over look) before/after ascending the summit, others were on their way up to or down from the summit, others were hiking in from other areas of surrounding mountains. It was an awe-inspiring sight, even though we never actually were able to see the peak. It was shrouded in clouds and occasional snow flurries. The view down to the valley was clearer, but at times there was a complete white-out all around.

I survived. Though Trav was sure he'd have to thaw me out on the way down. Instead of taking our return trip to the valley on the telepherique, we opted to hike down from the first stop (you know, without the ice pick we wouldn't have made it very far from the top). A brilliant 7 mile trip through the beauty of the Alps and it's changing flora and fauna.

It made the Top 10 Best Dates Ever.

AWESOMELY COLD!!!