Soccer Champ!

On Wednesday, Brendan participated in a grade 4-5 indoor soccer tournament for the international schools in the area. His team got first place and he brought home a gold medal! Way to go Brendan!

For inquiring minds:
The tournament was hosted by ICS and held at the town's gym which can be segregated into 3 indoor fields. It's a short walk from the school; in fact, C.J. uses this gym for PE. The tournament took all day, so Brendan had no school. 11 of the 21 kids in his class (it was boys and girls) participated in the tournament, so his teacher had a small class that day! As such, he took the entire class to cheer on the last couple of games in the morning and the finals in the afternoon. Apparently, the class was split with a 5-5 vote on whether they should go. Once the teacher disclosed that he would NOT teach art with half the class missing, the vote quickly swung to 7-3 in favor of attending. Brendan scored two goals, and claims to have a few assists as well. Considering his team was mostly 5th graders, we're pretty darn proud of his performance!

Engelberg

Via trains, planes, and automobiles, we had a family ski trip to Engelberg last weekend. Craig and Ginny were still visiting from Atlanta, but due to car constraints, they took the train from our house to Engelberg. Brian flew in from NY and took the train directly from the airport. I drove with the kids and Lucky, while John came via train after work. We stayed at the Ramada, which was right in the center of town with convenient access to the train station, restaurants, and the ski shuttle.

We woke up Saturday morning to gray skies, but opted to ski anyway. After all, people had traveled a long way to ski on the Swiss Alps! Engelberg also presented the opportunity to ski on a glacier.





Friday evening, we went back to the slopes for night skiing and a fondue dinner. This event was the highlight of the week for the entire family. Even Abbie, yelled "That was the best thing ever!" when she reached the bottom of the mountain. I couldn't convince her to trade pole position with John for caboose with Mom. Poor Lucky got rejected from the sled course, and I had to take her back to the hotel while everyone else completed their first run.

C.J. chats with another sledder at the start:

We were surprised to see C.J. so talkative, and the fellow sledder was just as shocked when C.J. said he lived in Zurich.

Abbie waiting for John to hop on the back of the sled:


Brian ready to go:


Craig and Ginny:


Per the restaurant's recommendation, everyone completed their first run, stopped for salad, headed up for a second run (my first), and then returned to complete the fondue dinner and dessert. Even though the sled run was officially open from 7:30-9:30 pm, the first train didn't go up until about 7:50 and the last train left before 9:00, so you could probably only get 3 runs total completed.



Saturday was a much clearer day.

You can see from the first gondola ride that there was a lot of "green" intermingled with our snow. Our ski resort had great coverage, but there was limited "powder" as it hadn't snowed in a long time. There were definitely patches of ice, but conditions weren't too bad. Across the valley you saw completely green hills.



We really appreciated the amazing views from the top of Mt. Titlis.













Ginny joined us for lunch on the mountain. You'd think it was a Spring day!









After lunch, Craig and Ginny explored the glacier a bit while Brian and our family headed over to the other side of the mountain. We stopped for some free tubing:







Everyone appreciated the magic carpet ride back up the hill!



There was also a sledding hill. Brian tried his luck on the "snail of death." Fortunately, he lived through the experience!





John, gathering material for the feature video -- to be released shortly!



All in all, it was a great trip. We loved the views from the resort, but it probably isn't a resort we will return on a "regular" weekend. The slopes were steep and it was difficult to traverse across the mountain. It takes several gondolas and chairs to reach the top of the mountain.

Ice Skating

Between ski weekends, we dragged Craig and Ginny to the ice skating rink. It was a blast!

First up, C.J. who is arguably the best skater in the group. However, he has been on a "no picture" campaign, so the only way to actually snap his picture is to get him after a crash. Sorry bud!



Abbie, of course, is on the opposite end of the picture taking spectrum from her oldest brother. She also appreciates conservative skating, and started out using the learner-bar. She clearly doesn't need it, but she likes to feel secure on the ice.





Brendan just skated -- except when he was taunting his sister or Uncle Craig!




This outing demonstrated Uncle Craig's personality. Just in case we decided to go skating, he'd packed his skate lacing hook -- which he had saved for 30+ years from when we lived in New Jersey. Kudos to him for (a) saving it, (b) knowing where to find it, and (3) actually packing it! Brendan, of course, decided that Uncle Craig knew *exactly* what he was doing, and rebuffed my lacing job -- trading up for the "tight" lacing job that Uncle Craig could accomplish. After a few minutes of skating, they both hit the sidelines, to undo their laces and get some relief.



I asked Brendan if he remembered who had tied his skates for pretty much every ice hockey practice last year, but, of course, kids have short memories and very little faith that their mothers know anything.

Just as Brendan likes to taunt his little sister, Uncle Craig likes to scare his sweet wife.



Fortunately, he was very kind later in the session.



I felt a bit like I was back at the roller rink during a "couple's skate" session. They were so cute together!

Ginny was a great skater! She even confessed that she was a famous Sesame Street letter-holding skater in her younger days.



The surprise of the day -- to my kids at least -- was that I got on the ice!







Here's the link to all the photos.

St. Moritz - 2011

Having thoroughly enjoyed Celerina last year, we returned last weekend with the Haynors and Brannons as well as my brother and sister-in-law. Once again, we stayed at the Hotel Saluver and skied Corviglia. The hotel provided the Swiss charm of a small chalet and restaurant while also meeting our needs for group gathering with tables for card playing, attentive servers, and semi-private dining rooms.

Friday was travel day. I drove down with the kids, Craig and Ginny took the train from the airport, and John took the train after working (proving, once again, that somebody does have to work to earn the moola for all these vacations!). The kids and I got a few hours of skiing in the afternoon. We couldn't have asked for a clearer day!



At the end of the day, the kids arranged themselves on the winner's blocks. They started out in the order they finished, then I heard Harrison say, "Ok, now rearrange so that C.J. feels good about himself." and a minute later, "Now shift for Toby." You've got to love the consideration of feelings at this age!



And, yes, this mother is entitled to post the "C.J. feel good" photo!



We met up for a group dinner at the hotel. Saturday brought another clear ski day. Ginny and Wayne met us mid-mountain for lunch and then explored St. Moritz while the rest of us finished our ski day. Sunday brought a more typical ski day -- patches of fog white out ski conditions. We were able to follow the sun and stay and enjoy a good day of skiing despite the clouds.





















On Monday, we stopped at the bobsled track on the way out of town. Last year, we were able to walk inside the track, but this year it was in use:





More pictures are available on SmugMug.

Last, but not least, the photo op that made my mother's heart stop: