23 October 2011

Switzerland - Lake Lucerne

Blake and Flynn check out the swans. Look at all those hanging baskets on the walkway over the water! I love a good hanging basket.

Walkway from the other direction.

The day trippers. Castle in the background!

Looking over Lake Lucerne from our ferry. Beautiful.

Mountains, ahhhhh.

A very Cinderellesque castle.

Daisy and Zach check out the view from the boat whilst Bastie can't see a thing. I know the feeling.

A view from the walk to the restaurant.

Blake kicks back with a beer, lakeside.

Blake, Daisy and I swam out to this pontoon.

We head back over the hill with our convoy of buggies.

You can just see a big hotel on the top of the hill here.

Another beautiful view.

Bastie enjoys the last of the boat trip.

We did a fantastic day trip to Lake Lucerne. It took less than an hour to get to on the train with lots of lovely scenery on the way. We started off with a walk around the very pretty town and coffee in what had to be the Starbucks with one of the best views ever. We then took a boat along the lake followed by a walk to a great restaurant by the lake. We had a very nice time hanging out by the lake then it was a quick dash back to the ferry stop for the journey home.

Bx

25 September 2011

Bastie and Benjy

Hello there!


Benjy checks out Bastie for comfiness.


Bastie passes the test and Benjy takes a seat.


Half the future bobsled team get in an early practice.

So cute!

Bastie and Benjy were very cute to watch together. They are both used to not quite being able to keep up with the bigger kids so were thrilled to have another small person to hang out with.

Bx

24 September 2011

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

14 August 2011

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