The Berner Oberland

Yesterday we spent the day in the Berner Oberland. "Wow" is all I have to say about that. Actually, I'll also add gorgeous, breathtaking, stunning, relaxing and another "wow" for good measure.

I'll also add this description: The Berner Oberland is a region of the Swiss Alps with a ton to do and discover. We focused on the Alpine towns of Mürren and Gimmelwald. Mürren is a little more touristy but still completely charming, while Gimmelwald seems to have remained almost untouched by tourism. We saw lots of locals working on their farms, and even had the chance to enter a little hut which housed aging cheese.

Above: Luke in Alpine heaven, below: taking the cable car down to Gimmelwald.

Above you can see my belly is all of it's 8 month glory. No, I am not having twins, and yes, I can and will get larger. I've decided that the next time I get asked either of those questions (which seems to happen daily- by women no less!), the claws will come out.

Below is the cheese hut we encountered. It was basically a tiny little room with shelves of "Alp Cheese" aged 1-3 years. The owner said that he sells his cheese to restaurants in Geneva.

Luke exiting the cheese hut with his samples-

Casa de la Willis

If you are planning a visit and would like to stay with us, I suggest that you book months in advance. Switzerland seems to be a popular vacation destination (or maybe everyone is coming all this way just to see us??). Fortunately, we love having company!

September was a busy month, with an overnight visit from Andrew's aunt Florence and uncle Dave, a 10 day trip from my aunt Karen, a 3 week trip from my Grandmother and a 6 week trip from Andrew's aunt Colleen. Right now my Grandmother (aka Granny or Oma) is here until Tuesday, and aunt Colleen (aka aunt Coco) is here until the end of October. This all means that we've been having lots of help and lots of excuses to take fun trips.

Below is a picture of my "Granny" with the kids. It was taken about an hour after she and my aunt arrived at our house. She had traveled for 24 straight hours, and yet as soon as she got to our house she picked all of the neglected grapes in our backyard and made homemade grape juice. Afterwards we finally convinced her to take a short nap. What I've learned during my grandmother and aunt's visit is that there is no stopping those two. They are energizer bunnies...who clean my house and cook really good food for us.

Sidenote: My Granny was born and raised in Berlin, and immigrated to the US after WWII when she was 19. While she now considers America her home, it has been a lot of fun to see her back in Europe to show us the ropes. It also has been awesome having a native German speaker around!

pictures of our recent explorations
Below: Granny, Aunt Karen and Afton touring the local castles. The boys are obviously in school during the day, but Afton has been a trooper to travel around with. I guess it helps that I bribe her with sweets along the way-



Below: Aunt Coco at our favorite Swiss Castle- the Chateau de Chillon.



Vevey, Switzerland

Fribourg, Switzerland

Note From Management: We are booked until the end of November (with a trip from the mother to help with the baby), but are currently taking reservations for the new year.

The International School for all

After a 6 week summer break, school has once again started here in Switzerland. The biggest change is that we decided to place Luke in the International School with Sam. If I ever start to doubt that decision, all I have to do is see the enormous smile on Luke's face as he runs out of school each day. He is in kindergarten and he is in heaven. I'm also in heaven now that both boys are in the same school and my drop off/pick up routine is far less complicated. Life with just one kid at home is a piece of cake, although this is just the calm before the storm. 8 more weeks and my life is will be thrown into complete chaos with 4 kids. I'm trying to brace myself with plenty of naps.

The boys both seem to have great teachers, have already been invited to a birthday party each, and are happy as can be. We also resumed our Saturday family adventures. This past Saturday was a trip to nearby Wasserfallen.

USA: Part 2

After being away from the US for a year I was expecting to go through some type of culture shock upon our return home. Certainly my eyes would be open to all things American, right?

Nope.

Walking out of the airport felt like I had never left the good old U. S. of A. It was wonderful to be on home turf, and to be able to adequately communicate in public for the first time in a year. The only truly shocking moments occurred when we stumbled upon our daughter dressed up like this (might I note that she looks equally horrified)...

Also when we found Afton surrounded by all of her girl cousins and their American Girl dolls...

She actually looks pretty darn pleased with her luck in this time, doesn't she?

The two pictures above were taken at our Willis family reunion in Wheeling, West Virginia. Why West Virginia? Because it is the home of Ogelbay- a fantastic family resort filled with golfing, swimming, hiking, horse back riding, a nature center, zoo, train and trolley rides, and lodging large enough to fit all 27 of us.

The best part (as my sister in law pointed out) was that our year long absence seemed to have no affect in the kids. The boys ran to their cousins with open arms, while Afton reveled in the position of the youngest girl with 8 older girl cousins doting on her.

The kids also got to experience plenty of animals-

While most of my animal watching took place from the comfort of a park bench-



There was plenty of golf-



train rides-

and enough memories to tide us over until we see our families again.