French Alps or Bust

I was able to pack all of our clothes into a few carry-on size suitcases and a large duffelbag for all of the skiing gear. Eric managed to fit all of it, plus the ski equipment, and some snacks into our A3 before the New Year's Eve celebration began. 

We managed to leave 15 minutes later than originally planned to start our two days of driving to the French Alps. The autobahn was fairly empty at 10:30am on New Years Day, so we cruised along in the morning. We planned this trip with the Kopp family and we were able to meet up for lunch at the German/ Swiss border. This worked out for a good stretch break. 

In the afternoon, we followed Jean-Marc Kopp since we would be staying near his parents place just outside Geneva in France the first evening.

 He took us on the scenic route and it was beautiful when we first saw the mountains. We stopped again for a short break to enjoy the view. 

Six and half hours later we arrived in Geneva. We checked in our hotel and then went to Jean-Marc's parents place for dinner and to unwind from being in the car all day.

The next morning we had a traditional French breakfast of fresh baguettes and croissants and were introduced to delicious Speculoos, a caramel ginger spread made from Belgium cookies.

We were soon on our way to the French Alps. First, we made a stop at the last Carrefour store for groceries before we started heading farther into the mountains. It gave me the feeling of being in Meijers again with all of the choices. After cruising through the aisles and our families loading up two grocery carts, we left the store and managed to get all of the food and drinks into the Kopp's caravan with their four boys and gear.

Thankfully, the weather was cloudy and it was not snowing as Jean-Marc informed us we might need chains on our tires to get up to Les Coches, one of the villages we were staying in the La Plagnes. The roads were clean and we had no issues reaching our village at an altitude of 1450m in the early afternoon.

Happy New Year 2012!

We had a fantastic evening ringing in the New Year in Hofheim. 

Karolin invited us over with two other families. It was a treat for me as her friend used to be a caterer, so she made us a delicious four course meal for the celebration. Even though I was tired halfway through the evening due to the constant translating, it was nice not worrying about cooking and the kids were all playing good, so Eric and I were able to enjoy the evening. Around 10 pm, we departed as we had a long drive ahead of us the next day.  Before returning to our place, we stopped in at our neighbor's place who live in the top apartment and delighted in dessert, spirits, and conversation as they also invited us over. 

15 minutes before midnight is when the fireworks began in the distance and at midnight and they continued for almost another hour all around us. We ended up in the driveway watching our neighbors and every person up and down the street light off fireworks. The guys bought sparklers for the kids, so they were part of the festivities as well. It was quite the disorderly scene with the bottle rockets being launched within such small quarters and the numerous other types of fireworks being lit on the sidewalks and street, but it was fun to be an onlooker in the safety of our garage. We just laughed as we knew a little past midnight, there was no way we would be in bed soon with the amount of noise and street partying going on to get an early start on our drive to the mountains.

God has blessed us this past year and we are thankful he has been with us through life's little and big trials  to overcome them and appreciate the triumphs along the way. We pray that 2012 will be full of blessings to our family and friends who are near and far, but ever so dear to us.

May 2012 bring everyone bright hopes, new success, and many reasons to smile. 

Enjoying our days off

Having the week free of school and work for us meant days of having fun.

Monday afternoon we enjoyed the company of the Wendel family. The girls had fun playing while us parents conversed about the current events and snacked on holiday treats.

Tuesday evening, Clara spent the night. This was every exciting for all three girls. Emmie camped out with them in the living room as well. They had a fun time and are planning for when the next sleepover will be.

Wednesday, Eric took the girls wall climbing with our neighbors. Everyone got a few opportunities to scale the wall and Adeline is beginning to really enjoy this activity.

On Thursday, the Lotz family hosted a raclette dinner. It was fun making the little dishes with cheese and then putting them on the grill. Melanie did a great job with the variety of things you can make and made it kid friendly. It was perfect for our two families to enjoy the relaxing social meal.

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at church. The early afternoon started with an international lunch buffet. The food selection was widespread and we ended up having almost a four course meal based on the food that was brought in. Everything from the soup to the duck and other meats was delicious along with the side dishes. 

Afterwards, we gathered in church for a family worship service. In addition to singing hymns and carols, our family, along with other families, told the Christmas story. Even though we practiced our lines at home, Emmie became shy when we were on stage about there being no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn, so Adeline helped her out to continue telling the story. 

Adeline was the first one up on Christmas morning and peeked to see if Santa had visited us. Eric and I were able to convince her to let Emmie sleep for another 30 minutes before they sacked the tree. The girls were very surprised and happy with Santa's presents he left for them. The girls had a terrific morning that was toped off with a tasty Christmas breakfast.

We spent the rest of the day playing with the new toys and games and chatting with the family.

We wish everyone a joyful Merry Christmas and hope you created many holiday memories with your family.

Happy 7th Birthday Adeline!

Adeline's birthday celebration began in the morning with her opening presents and enjoying her pancake birthday breakfast. Eric craftly made a number 7 pancake along with the mickey mouse pancakes for the birthday girl.

She then prepared herself for her next birthday wish as she wanted to get her ears pierced. We walked downtown to the mall, so she could get her jitters out along the way and arrived at Bijou Brigitte, the jewelry store. She picked out her earrings while Eric filled out the consent form. The salesclerk put the black dots on ears for a review. I thought the right ear hole was too low, so after a few tries of telling her where to put it, she said I could place it, so I did. When she marked the left ear, I thought it was in the correct location. Adeline was brave when the first ear was pierced as she held in the tears, but she did comment it hurt. When the second ear was done, she just closed her  eyes and waited. When it was finished, she was extremely happy to look in the mirror and see the earrings on her ears.

Adeline picked My Thai restaurant for lunch. The excitement of her new earrings outshined the lunch outing, so we brought her leftovers home with us.

I think Adeline went through a bottle of hand soap within three hours. Every 15 minutes she was washing her hands, so she could touch and or turn her earrings. It was great to see her so happy about this.

In the afternoon, friends came over to celebrate her birthday. Adeline was very excited to share with everyone her big event of the day. It was another fun afternoon filled with lots of  happiness and joy as we celebrated Adeline turning 7.

Here are a few things Adeline wanted to share:

Favorite color: Light Blue

Favorite vegetables: Green Beans

Favorite fruit: Clementines

Favorite ice cream: Chocolate & Zitrone (lemon)

Favorite meal: Spaghetti with sauce

Favorite stuffed animal: Firedog 

Favorite person: Emmie

Favorite movie: Wizard of Oz

Favorite book: Harry Potter

Favorite Superhero: Wonderwoman

Favorite Princess: Sleeping Beauty

Favorite friend: Clara

Favorite clothes:  Skirts

A day in the kitchen

Today was our rest day from celebrating, but we did keep busy with doing the family traditions we have started. As for me, it meant another day in the kitchen, but worth every future smile.

In the morning, the girls made their Gingerbread house with Eric. Each one took half of the house and decorated according to their style. I think Emmie may have ate more frosting then she put on the candy decorations to hold in place.

In the afternoon, the girls assembled the Christmas cookie trays for our neighbors. Adeline was our carrier and delivered each one with a happy smile. Our neighbors always enjoy the variety of American cookies we bake up at the holidays (although some think they are a little too sweet), but then they ask for the recipes, so I have some work to do in translating the recipe to metric.

In the evening, we made Adeline's birthday cake. This time she went with a pink frosted strawberry cake to compliment her Barbie theme. While the cake was baking, I made a raspberry trifle with the leftover cake from forming her Barbie cake as some friends were coming over for her actual birthday celebration tomorrow afternoon.

Barbie World

Today we celebrated Adeline's 7th birthday with her friends. In the morning, I made her Barbie cake while her and Eric put up the room decorations and transformed our place into a pink dwelling. She then embellished Barbie's dress with the decorations she picked out for it.

Emmie arrived home from school to share with us her classroom ceiling had collapsed and they spent the rest of the morning in the other class. Apparently, it was due to the water retention from the snow melting and the play corner with the dolls and kitchen was all wet. 

In the afternoon, Adeline's friends promptly arrived to start the party. The girls loved the Barbie cake and could not believe we could eat it. We first painted nails and put on nail stickers. Then they opened presents and ate cake.  I quickly realized the girls are at an age where they will set the schedule, so I always had options for them to pick what to do next. The girls made an ornament for the craft and played some traditional German party games mixed in with a few Barbie themed games we made that they had fun with. The girls kept referencing everything we had in games and decorations which was Barbie as Top Model, since Top Model is also very popular here. 

For dinner, we walked downtown to Paparazzi Cafe. We reserved a large corner booth so we all could sit together. While the pizza and spaghetti were being made, the girls colored doll fashions and played a table game to pass the time. On our walk back home, the girls started a snowball fight with Eric. It was a fun day!