The Hannons in Germany

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

On the slopes

Our first morning on the slopes was a little chaotic. Eric went alone to get the the daily lift passes and it ended up being a workout in itself as they wanted to see the girls before they would issue children's passes for them. So Jean-Marc and he quickly carried the girls over to the booth and brought them back to the lift area.

Then the mini-gondola that runs across the hill to the ski school area broke down, so we thought we had to hike up a portion of the hill to get to the ski school; however, the teachers were also where we were at, so the girls were able to stay with them. Emmie went in one direction to catch a bus and Adeline stayed near us as we waited for the mini-gondola to start operating again. We finally were on the mini-gondola 15 minutes late and I was able to join my class and Adeline was with her teacher meeting up with the rest of their class.

Adeline first boarded the gondola that went half way up the mountain and I followed her with my class. Our classes were both going to the beginner hill at the top of this lift. Heading up the mountain the view was very nice as it was clear and the sun was out.

We put our skis on and went to the hill to start our day of skiing. While Adeline and I were practicing, Eric, Jean-Marc, and Katerina stopped by to see how we were doing. They then continued on their path and eventually went above the treeline. At this height, they had an awesome view of Mont Blanc.

After a few rounds on the beginner hill, my class continued down the hill. The class moved at a good pace for me. The unfortunate part was there were numerous icy spots because it was through the woods as well. A little while later, Adeline's class caught up to our class. Adeline was holding onto the teacher's lead as she was not comfortable doing these slopes by herself yet.

At the end of the session, Adeline and I ended up at the bottom of the hill where Emmie's class was and two of the four boys' sessions ended as well. Since it was so nice out, we all took a trip back up the gondola for a break at the restaurant to enjoy the atmosphere. The girls then went for a few more runs on the beginner hill with Eric and Jean-Marc before us girls took the gondola back down the hill.

Afterwards, I took the girls back to the room for lunch and to rest while Eric went with the Kopp family to the top of the mountain again for some great skiing.

In the afternoon, I took the girls sledding. They had a blast and the little ramps added fun to the outing.

At the end of the day, Eric returned with the youngest two Kopp brothers at which time I learned that Katerina fell while trying to help Christopher, the youngest boy, in an icy area and could not ski. They went to get help for her, but by that time, Jean-Marc assisted her in getting down the hill and then carried her to the apartment with the help of the two older boys.

We convinced her to go for medical help since her knee was quickly swelling up. While she was away, I made dinner as everyone was hungry from the days activities. When she returned, she told us nothing was broken and she had a brace to stabilize her leg along with some medication. We helped Katerina get comfortable and had a low key evening as we all had enough excitement for one day.

Oui Oui

Upon arriving in Les Coches, we checked out the apartments. Jean-Marc's colleague owned a unit which the Kopps were staying in and the studio unit next to his was also a family members and free at the same time. This was great for us spending the week together as we could use the same balcony between our two places to ease going between the places. Unfortunately, we did not have any view as it was too cloudy to see the mountains from our place. The girls immediately asked if they could bunk with the boys when they saw the loft in the Kopp's place. Jean-Marc and Katerina agreed to it for the first night, but with conditions for all of the kids.

We quickly unpacked before heading into the quaint little village. Jean-Marc and Katerina assisted us with getting our ski equipment and setting up ski school since very few people spoke English and we do not know French. The guys were envious that my rental ski boots were brand new. After a few hours, some discussions and then translations for us, and a quick jaunt through the streets to compare ski schools, we had our equipment, lessons lined up for the children and myself, and had walked through town to know where the store and bakeries were at along with a French 101 lesson courtesy of the Kopp family to help us survive the week.

For our first dinner all together, we managed to rearrange the Kopp's social area into a little restaurant with one table for six and one table for four. By combining the two kitchens, we had enough cookware and dinnerware for all of us. Of course Katerina and I bumped into each other as we worked around the tiny studio size kitchen preparing the meal, but it was all fun. We know by the end of the week, we will have it perfected.

The evening was short as the ski lessons began at 9am, so everyone went to bed early. The girls were super excited to be bunking with the boys. We kept our balcony door unlocked just in case Adeline or Emmie decided to come home in the middle of the night.

We woke up to a breathtaking view of the mountains from our balcony.

Adeline and Emmie were rousing when I went to get them. Upon stepping out onto the balcony, they thought it was neat to be in the clouds and then watch them pass by so quickly.

We had no issues getting ready and out the door for our first ski lesson of the week.

Monday, January 2, 2012

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.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

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.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

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.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

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.

Friday, December 23, 2011

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.