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

Jumeirah Beach Hotel

Lazy river action shots.

Hanging in the pool.

Chatting to the Hoggard girls in the wave pool.

Poor Baby Boo had a fever all weekend but was a brave soldier.

Our room.

The view from our balcony by day...

...by evening...

...and by night.

The view from the top of the central atrium. It made me feel a bit queasy.

The view from the back of the hotel. Hot, dry and dusty.

The view from the front of the hotel. Lush!

Panning around.

The kid's pool.

We're big fans of Jumeirah Beach Hotel so we decided to spend the night there last weekend. The hotel is attached to Wild Wadi water park which Daisy has been desperate to revisit so we were all very excited about our night away. Not surprisingly, we had a fantastic time.

Andy took the big kids to Wild Wadi earlier in the day then Bastie and I joined them after his afternoon sleep. At Wild Wadi we met up with friends who were also staying in the Madinat complex and we all had a lovely dinner at Beachcombers restaurant. Once the kids were in bed Andy and I enjoyed a few drinks on the balcony.

The kids were thrilled with the obligatory cartoons in bed in the morning and were even more thrilled when I let them partake in the chocolate fountain at breakfast. Yes, at breakfast. We then took a golf cart down to the Madinat to check out things then spent the rest of the morning in the pool. A late check out topped off a great stay.

Bx

General mooching

There's been a lot of lounging on the couch in a generally dishevelled state. Zach reigns supreme at this activity.

We had a witches and wizards afternoon, the kids loved making a spell for a bubbling cauldron.

The garden is also a good spot for lounging.

Daisy is holding a heart shaped plastic bead melt with the iron type thing that she made. It was her favourite thing EVER (for about five minutes).

Daisy turns photographer.

Birds eye views of Bastie...

...Zach...

...and Daisy.

Fishcakes!

Amped for some indoor football. Bastie loves shouting goaaaaaaal!

The kids have really enjoyed having time to spend at home mooching about these holidays. They are all really good at entertaining themselves and making their own fun which is very nice for me. There has been lots of puzzles, drawing, dancing, making huts, indoor football and hide and seek. They also love running, scooting or triking around and around and around the house, preferably as loudly as possible and getting out enough toys to cover the entire floor. Mud pies in the sandpit is normally a winner too. Having a maid makes it very easy for me not to care about the mess, rock on.

Bx

Ski Dubai Snow Park

Daisy and Zach are blissfully unaware of the ice dragon about to pounce behind them.

The tow up to the big toboggan.

Kicking back.

The kids zoom down the small toboggan.

No wonder you never see fat sled dogs, hauling the kids around on this was top exercise.

Is that Zach, or a tomato?

Daisy, Zach and I had a fun trip to the snow park at Ski Dubai in mid July. I was worried about them being cold and miserable so went a bit overboard with the layers, poor Zach ended up looking like an over ripe tomato. We had lots of fun though and they really surprised me by going on the big toboggan.

Bx