Grandparents Vittone Come to Switzerland

Jan and Gordie made it over for their first visit at the end of February. The first place we had to take them was, of course, Italy to see Settimo Vittone. We spent the weekend in the Turin area again, staying in the most spacious and modernized (unusual for Europe) farm house in wine country. We took the morning to explore the town of Alba and happened upon a unique church in it's architecture. Upon further investigation, it was designed and built by a man named Benedito Vittone. I think I must start some geneology investigation. My dad and I were certain that our creativity and brilliance must come from him (wink)! We enjoyed the farmer market, buying all sorts of yummy olives, cheeses and sausages. On to a wine town for tasting and a huge plate of pasta. More vineyards, snacks, dinner, gelato.... you get the picture. Before heading home, we made a stop in Turin for a walk around the town, pizza, gelato. Then we dieted until we got back to Switzerland that night. The rest of the time we spent doing more of the typical local sites including Chamonix and a trip to Gruyere for cheese and chocolate tasting at the Cailler Chocolate Maison. Their next trip is planned for Christmas 2011!

The Brown Girls Join Us For Ski Week

My dear friend from Dubai, Jenny Brown and her daughters Hollis and Crosby, spent a long weekend with us in the Port du Soleil ski area on the border of France and Switzerland.  We had some good old fashioned fun!

Steve was 'super dad' taking care of six girls. He managed train rides with 4 kids to our ski town, boot fitting, ticket and ski instructor arrangements, ski rescues (Crosby headed off a cliff!), and a really fun "Mommy Free" night to boot. Jenny and I are still hearing about their evening without us. In fact, they wanted us to go out again the next night! Instead we all headed to the thermo baths for a good long soak under the star-studded night.

The kids took ski lessons each morning with two young and super fun instructors. They all improved dramatically over the four days-- as you can see from their shiny medals. While the kids took their lesson, the adults took some time to ski to France and back. We all enjoyed lunch on the hill each day, then spent the afternoons skiing together as a group. Snow was lacking, but by the last day we got a nice new layer so the kids got to try 'powder'. Our last day, was a drive back home with a sledding trip in the Jura mountains. We had to make good use of our new snow! The time went too fast, but hope that they'll be back next year for a ski week reunion!