Switzerland - Muttenz and Basel

Daisy and Zach enjoy the fresh air on our first day in Switzerland. Blake and Adrianne's new house is lovely, Andy and I had the huge spare room upstairs and the kids were thrilled to take over Flynn and Benjy's playroom downstairs.

Feeling the serenity. Did I mention the fresh, fresh air?

The very green view down the street outside.

Very Swiss looking houses on the main street of Muttenz.

There were goats across the road! That weren't there to be slaughtered!

Hanging out in the paddling pool with the cuzzies. More fun than Bastie's face suggests.

This contraption pond was in Basel and was very cool.

Walking on the hill above Muttenz. Lots of rolling farm land with crops growing, and animals grazing. And trees! So many trees! Beautiful.

We spent an afternoon hanging out by the Rhine in Basel. Here comes a brass band, flags waving, trumpets blaring.

There were lots of people floating down the river on the current at great speed, clothes in inflatable bags. Very cool.

It looked like a lot of fun although dodging the barges and bridges looked a bit dicey.

Bastie and Flynn have a quite moment on the lawn. Or it may just have been a quick pause in wrestling.

It's Steve! Quite coincidentally Steve was visiting Basel for the weekend while we were there. We caught up at a great restaurant near Muttenz, overlooking the Rhine.

We made the most of being able to make hand gestures without the fear of arrest.

Getting a water taxi over the Rhine.

The taxi heading back to the other shore. They are attached by a wire to a cross wire and move using the current, no motor needed.

There were excellent playgrounds a'plenty, all with water features of some sort. This one was in Muttenz and had pipes with a tap at the top for brilliant dam making. Or crawling up as Benjy 'get amongst it' Mackie so aptly demonstrated.

The rain came out, the clothes came off and much fun was had by Zach and Flynn.

A pick your own flower field over the road.

Andy and Boo relax on the terrace.

Bedtime stories. Flynn and Bastie have obviously inherited the Mackie cack eyes.

Two weeks of fresh air and fun with their cousins had transformed the kids in to happy healthy little munchkins.

In mid August we very excitedly headed off to Switzerland for a two week break from the heat. All the kids had been laid low for a couple of weeks with tummy bugs and colds and we were very ready for some fresh air and a change of scene. We were staying with Blake, Adrianne, Flynn and Benjy who had very recently moved there and bravely invited us to stay.

We had a good flight over, Daisy and Zach love flying and Bastie seems to be taking after them, phew! After landing in Zurich we got a train to Basel. It took about an hour and the scenery was stunning with lots of green hills and big rivers.

Blake and Adrianne are living near Basel in a village called Muttenz. It was really good to see the Kackie clan and the kids were super excited about spending two whole weeks with their cousins. Basel is beautiful, surrounded by green hills, with lots of pretty buildings and a really healthy outdoors feel to it.

We had a fabulous holiday, Blake and Adrianne were great hosts and we really enjoyed watching the kids get to know each other.

Bx