This morning, the first day of spring vacation for the kiddos, we were all up at 6:30 am. Why, you ask? Well, our visitors for the past 10 days (which is the excuse I am claiming for not writing anything new) left this morning and we all wanted to be sure and spend every last possible second with them. I drove them down to the train station at 7:15 or so and they are now flying over the ocean as I type this. We had an absolutely wonderful time with them, and many, many tears were shed when we had to say goodbye. What makes it worse is that we won't see them until summer 2009! As Sarah said with tears streaming down her face, "It isn't fair! Annika's (her little friend from Kindergarten) cousins just leave up the hill from her. Ours live across the ocean." I agree, Sarah, I agree.
But enough sadness for now. Let us talk of happier things. Like all our adventures while they were here, and the fun we shared together. Since there is so much to cover, I think I will just give each day it's own paragraph and hit the highlights.
FRIDAY, APRIL 11
Lance, Heather, Halea, Hayden, Heidi, and Holden Walker arrive at the Zurich main train station, having flown in to Paris a few days previous. Chris left work early to meet them there, and to quote Lance, "I don't think I have ever been so happy to see anyone in my life." Apparently, there was some confusion towards the end of the train trip as to which stop they should take in Zurich, as there are more than one. But when the doors opened and they saw Chris standing there, all worry left and they knew they had made the right decision. I arrived in the car a few minutes later and we packed the luggage and whoever would fit into the car. Chris walked off towards the train home with a whole gaggle of small children hovering around him, just like the Pied Piper of Hamlin. They were a little put off by the three flights of stairs to our apartment combined with their heavy bags, but everything eventually made it where it was supposed to go and the cousins spent the rest of the day playing together and deciding who was going to sleep with whom and on what. We also discovered the first chicken pox on Noah and Alexandra. 🙁
SATURDAY, APRIL 12
It's Halea's birthday! I took her and Heather down to a local jeweler to get her ears pierced, thus making me an eye witness to the near fainting episode that took place shortly thereafter. Apparently, her friend lied about the whole "doesn't hurt a bit" thing. Fortunately, Heather has quick reflexes and a strong arm, so Halea didn't fall completely flat on the floor. We all rested on the bench a bit, and then felt fine enough to finish our shopping. When we got back I was greeted by the sight of my daughter Sarah riding around the courtyard on her bike, absolutely thrilled with her new skill. She had been practicing on the little trainer bike of Noah's and was doing quite well with her balancing. That, plus a few tips from cousin Heidi and she was off. She likes to go real fast and have the wind lift up her hair. Congratulations, Sarah!
Those who wanted to came to Luzern for an afternoon of exploring the old city wall and climbing up the many stairs of the several lookout towers. I was very glad Chris agreed to stay home with the sickos and some of the smaller kids who just wanted to play, as it would have been quite a feat to lug them up all those stairs and back down again. We also admired the Lion stone carving by Thorvaldsen and walked across the old wooden bridge. Three cheers for Starbucks and it's clean, free bathrooms! Everyone at home was eager for us to arrive so they could 1) eat dinner, and 2) eat birthday cake and ice cream! Halea even managed to blow out all her candles in one breath. haha (Inside joke as there was only one candle on the cake, my bad I forgot I needed more)
SUNDAY, APRIL 13
We had planned for Chris to again take all the little people, since they ride for free, on the train with him to church, and I would take everyone else in the car. However, plans changed Saturday afternoon when it was discovered that Noah and Alexandra were covered in chicken pox. And when I say covered, I mean, every single inch of skin that is on their bodies had a red splotch on it. Oh did I regret not getting them immunized. They were both so miserable, such high fevers, didn't sleep for four nights straight, and made it hard for the rest of us to sleep as well, as they were crying and moaning continuously. Poor little things. We ended up sending Sarah to church with our neighbors, and everyone else who wasn't sick squishing into our van. There was a bit of double buckling going on, but fortunately there aren't a lot of cars on the road on Sunday mornings and we made it there with no incidents. We left after only two hours because I just wanted to get home to my sick kiddos and pamper them a bit. We spent a lazy afternoon just chatting and playing. We had intended to take a walk around Turlersee, the lake by our house, but no one felt like leaving, we were all so cozy and comfy. It was a great Sunday, despite the sick kids.
MONDAY, APRIL 14
The kids and Chris had today off for Sechselauten, or the burning of the snowman! We thought we would use this time to head up to Neuschwanstein and see the beautiful castles there. Yeah, that was before we discovered that it takes 7 hours by train/bus. The Walkers would get there just about when we were done with our tours. So we scratched that idea, and decided to stay in Switzerland. My friend had told me about this great outdoor museum called Ballenberg, that is in the Berner Oberland. The Walkers hopped on a train in the morning, and we stayed to finish packing up a picnic lunch, and then set off to meet them there. The weather was a bit rainy, and quite cold to start out with, but it didn't last too long and we ended up having a great time. In fact, the kids liked it so much, we already have plans to go again during spring vacation.
They have taken lots of old farmhouses and other buildings from all over Switzerland and rebuilt them, stone by stone, in this absolutely idyllic valley near Interlaken. In many of the houses, people would be doing authentic crafts or cooking from 100 years ago. We saw a lady making lace, another woman separating blossoms to make tea, and were invited to eat our lunch by the warm fire inside another house. There was a gigantic animal memory game that the kids played, and a cute playground complete with goats, chickens and bunnies for them to play on. The highlight of the day was the fact that no one got hurt, no one whined too much, and no one fell in the stream.
Awesome. My favorite part was the very end with the "a little illegal driving" part. Very Amy. Can't tell you how jealous I am of the Walkers and their European vacation. We just keep telling ourselves, "someday".