Southerners on Sleds

It has been really cold here.  No, I don't think you understand how cold.  This is 'coldest you've ever been in your entire life' cold.  This is 'so cold you can't feel the majority of your body parts' cold.  This is 'you didn't think you could be this cold' cold.  As a southerner, once it gets below freezing, it's really all just semantics.  Cold = cold.

So, what does a good southern woman do when it's super cold?  She drags her family out into the Alps for a fun-filled day of sledding, of course!  After all, who doesn't want to become one with the cold?  Apparently, my children.  We all have thin, southern blood so we put on as many clothes as we have ever worn at one time and headed out.  Everyone was fine until we got onto the ski lift.  Then, the cold really set in.  It was -22 degrees Celsius and if your counting, that's -8 degrees Fahrenheit.  Remember what I said about semantics?  We are deep into that territory now - really -3, -8, whatever!  First, Piper stated her feet were cold, then it was her hands.  She started to cry (frozen tears do not feel good - nor do snotscicles).  About halfway up the lift, Stella started crying because Piper was crying.  By the time we got to the top, I wanted to cry from all the crying.  Had we seriously dressed everyone in all the clothes they own and driven 2 hours for this?  NO!.  We were GOING to sled and these kids were GOING to have fun dammit!

Everyone tromped over to the restaurant which was nice and warm.  We drug the two girls crying at the top of their lungs, took off their gear, got the hand and foot warmers stuffed into the gloves and boots, ordered some french fries and took a break.  Halfway through a gigantic plate of warm fries and a mug of steamy hot cocoa, they were feeling better.  Before long they were smiling.  So, we put the gear back on, got everyone's hands and feet toasty warm and proceeded to have an AMAZING time sledding.

The sled course was 10 km long (about 5 miles) and took us about 45 minutes to complete.  We went down twice and Piper 'soloed' on the second run.  She doesn't care too much for the brake on her sled and prefers instead to challenge my nerves by stopping AT THE LAST SECOND making me thankful we bought everyone helmets and goggles.  Stella had a great time as well and asks on a daily basis when we will be going sledding again.  And now for the part you have all been waiting for - the photos.

 Stella on her sled

 Piper and I on the ski lift (the second time around)

 Piper in all her gear

 One of many amazing views of the day

 Another amazing view

 A video of Kurt and Stella sledding

The sun was so bright it was difficult to capture this but we were literally surrounded by mountains

Tex Mex - Switzerland Style!

So the girls and I arrived safely back home about a week ago.  The flights to and fro were pretty uneventful and the girls were very well behaved.  I am so lucky to have such well behaved and (becoming) well traveled children.  On the way to the States, we had an amazing crew in the economy cabin who invited Piper and Stella up to the cockpit to see how it's done.  Additionally, Piper was allowed to help with the dinner service by passing out the freshening cloths to all the passengers.  She had a great time on both adventures.  Stella was not interested in the cockpit at all so she hung back with one of the flight attendants while Piper and I got nosy.

What Stella lacked in interest in the cockpit she made up for with her antics.  The flight was 10 1/2 hours long (thanks to a hefty head wind) and toward the end of it they served us pizza and ice cream.  It was very tasty and Stella loved it.  The ice cream gave her the extra heft she needed to carry on with this nonsense until we finally reached Atlanta.

Our trip was great - we got to see lots of friends and family and I got to check in with work which was also very good.  Oma and Pop took care of the girls for a few days and they did a great job (as usual).  The girls and I all enjoyed the familiar comfort of being back in the States and it was a great 'shot in the arm' for me mentally and emotionally. Our flight home was pretty uneventful as it was night time and the girls slept most of the way (thank goodness!).

We are now over the jet lag and getting back into our day to day routine of school and work.

This brings me to last night, when Kurt and I went out to dinner alone for the first time since we moved to Switzerland.  We could have done something normal like found a great Swiss or Italian restaurant.  But what did we want?  Mexican!  We have seen only 2 Mexican (looking) restaurants over here so we weren't sure what we would get.  We went to one cleverly named "Tex Mex" one town over in Wettingen.

We walked in and the sound of a mariachi band, the bright colors of the tiled walls and the smell of salty chips and margaritas welcomed us.  I was getting a good feeling.  We were seated and the waitress and hostess immediately realized we were English speakers and graciously spoke English to us. I had done my homework and printed out an English version of the menu from the web before going to the restaurant so we were able to choose what we wanted rather than ordering the only thing we could translate!  We both got frozen strawberry margaritas and ordered 'nachos'.  We also had a chicken quesadilla, chicken taco and beef enchilada.  The food and drink were good.  I was by no means transported to Mexico as a result, but at least they had real guacamole, real tequila and traditional mexican white cheese.  All that and I didn't have to cook making it all taste that much better!

We are currently going through a serious cold snap and snow event as you can see from my picture above.  The high for today is 18 degrees Fahrenheit and the snow is slowly building up.  There are about 3 inches on our terrace and it is super powdery.  We are planning a sledding adventure with another family for the weekend and I don't think there will be any threat that the snow will melt as the temps will hold steady at highs of 18 and lows below zero.

Next on the agenda is a ski trip to the Tirols in Austria week after next.  The girls will be in ski school while Kurt and I try not to break anything as we try to remember how to ski!

We hope you and yours are doing well and staying warm!