Back in Switzerland

Ski holiday

2010-03-07T22:47:00.003+01:00

We spent last week in Ovronnaz. If "holiday" means rest than it wasn't holiday but if it means a change of rythme and a lot of fun than it definitely was holiday !!
The change of rythm because Merlin wakes up 2 or more time every night, and a lot of fun because of the friends who spent the week with us, of the snow, the sun, the ski and Mara, Tristan and Gaspard who enjoyed the ski so much !!

Who had almost no time to take photos but Bernard did take the camera the last morning. Gaspard is not on the picture but at 2 1/2 he is still in nappy but has just started to turn and do the snowplough !

Joyeux Noël !!

2009-12-24T12:17:00.002+01:00

Nous vous souhaitons un très joyeux noël !!

Nous allons passer pour la première fois la veillée de Noël en famille, juste nous 6 à la maison à faire de la musique et raconter des histoires, je me réjouis beaucoup !!!

Oups I forgot to write in english !! Enjoy the music :

Webcam

2009-12-18T09:57:00.002+01:00

I still had no time to take nice photos of our new house and (huge) garden-forest, but there is a webcam lower near the school so you can get a idea of the weather we have !!!

If some of you fancy a little stay in the snow ...

Moving

2009-09-25T13:12:00.002+02:00

Our last night in Saint-Blaise we are so excited !!! It's seems that we like it because it is Merlin first move in 6 months, Gaspard second in two years, Tristan third in 4 years, Mara fifth in 8 years, Bernard 9th in 15 years and me 12 in 14 years !!! Since I left my parent's house I have moved house 12 time, maybe this time we will stay a bit longer at the same place ?!

A new house

2009-07-08T09:01:00.003+02:00

At the end of septembre we are moving a bit higer we will be living at 1000m I will need a green house for the tomatoes !! I am looking forward having a bigger house but also living in the forest. Mara and Tristan will go to a tiny school they will be in the same class, all children together from 4 to 11, 28 children in total for the whole school. There is just one after school activity : riding ... what a shame all my children will have to ride horses with their mum, of course they can also running with dady !

We went for a pic-nic up there last sunday :

Merlin is 3 months

2009-06-25T09:12:00.004+02:00

Well three and a half now ...

Life is a bit crazy down here but in two weeks it's the holidays !! Not for me of course but at least I won't have to drive everybody everywhere at fixed time and that's pretty cool !

Merlin is the most adorable baby ever (you all knew that already !) he simles whenever you look at him and he is so happy just to be in the middle of Mara, Tristan and Gaspard going all around him he dosen't need toys to look at !

As you can see in the picture we spent most of our time lying in the hamac ... especially me !

Tristan's birthday

2009-05-19T13:40:00.004+02:00

Tristan is four now !!

For his birthday the knight Tristan had to go hunting for a dragon .. and with the help of his knight friends and some fairies they found one !!

We all had a very nice time !

Mes poupées

2009-04-27T17:06:00.001+02:00

I am working for a craft market the 9th of may ...

Merlin and his sister and brothers

2009-03-16T16:25:00.003+01:00

Merlin

2009-03-12T19:27:00.005+01:00

Merlin is born Tuesday the 10th of March as you can see he is the most beautiful baby ever.

Here at 20 min of life

And this afternoon

Life is wonderful ....

Snowy Christsmas Holidays

2009-01-11T15:00:00.007+01:00

Hello hello,

I hope you had a nice Christmas time and tank you for your cards !

Here it's been a long time since we had soo snowy Christmas holidays, I have to admit that it was a bit frustrating not to be able to go skiing and all with Bernard and the children. But I enjoy my holiday at my parents having a bubble bath every other day (for those who don't know we don't have a tub at home, juste a shower !) and doing a lot of sewing with my mum.

The only thing I managed to do was to give Mara her first lessons of snowboard, and I am very proud of my little girl !! Here is a little video of her after just one hour :

And here is Tristan skiing with Bernard :

Medieval.....

2008-12-15T11:00:00.002+01:00

Yesterday we went to a birthday party in a real castel 15 min from home. And the children had to wear costumes, they were really cute .....

It's snowing !!!

2008-11-22T10:35:00.002+01:00

Again it makes me sooooo excited !

This morning Mara and Tristan woked up and dressed themseves in snow equipment and went outside to make a snowman before breakfast ... they were even more excited than me !

Bernard very seriously just reminde me that we haden't got yet the snow tyres on the car so we cannot drive.

I will try to take some pictures later but I have to make the most of the few next hours because Bernard took all the children to Berne (by train of course) so I can work for my PGCE and my christmas craft stall. You can have a look at some of it at http://fairieswool.blogspot.com/

Talk to you soon

The reste of the holidays !

2008-08-18T15:37:00.003+02:00

After our fantastic 3 weeks in the UK we spent the rest of the holiday around here.

We were lucky with the weather with lot of sunshine and temperatures between 26° and 32°C ... much better than Whales !!

Mara had her 7th birthday the 26th of July and get a new bike, Bernard had his mountain race the 10th of August and he made 4h15 (for 31 km and 2200m up hill) and Gaspard had his first birthday the 16th of August. Between those highlights we went swimming in the lake, I took a few sailing courses, Tristan learn (in a few minutes!) how to go on a big bike without stabilizer (at 3 years and 3 months we are quite proud but he is still in nappies !!) and we had some barbecues with friends ... nice relaxing holidays !

Mara went back to school this morning and Tristan is starting the Steiner school tomorrow he will go two morning a week and is very exciting.

Here are some pictures, those in the mountain were taken in Zinal (were the race ended) our favorit place in the Alpes most of you had already heard about !
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We are coming !!

2008-06-22T15:55:00.005+02:00

Juste one more week and we will be on holiday !!!!!

Here the summer just arrived for the first day of summer, it is 29°C the children are playing in the paddling pool, Gaspard is sleeping under a tree, Bernard is reading is paper under another tree and I ... I am in front of the computer ! But just a quick word because we are all very excited to come in England next week, to see YOU and speak english, and eat vinegar crisps with real ale, and drink elderflower fussy drink (I am putting sparkling water in my elderflower cordial but it is not the same as the "ça pique") !

So we are coming next week. We have the ferry booked for monday the 30 of June !

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU !!

But yesterday we went to visit friends of us who are working as "young cow and goat keeper" in the mountain with their 3 children ... and one day we are coing to do that too, because it is soooo beautiful up there. Bernard helped our friend to put up the fence that mean walking in the mountain carrying wood and everything, but even after that he is still motivated .... Yoohooo it is one of my dream so I really hope we can do it.

Some picture taken yesterday :

The view from their chalet

And Gaspard sleeping in the backpack while we were playing in a little mountain streem very cold !

And my friend milking a goat :

3 years old today

2008-05-16T20:48:00.007+02:00

The 16th of may 2005 at 2pm Tristan arrive in this world ... and look at him today !!!

He is the most funny little boy I have ever seen, everyday he makes us laugh. Tomorrow we are having a little party ... under the rain I am afraid, but we had to have a cake today too. You know what one says "a chocolate cake a day keeps the doctor away" !!

Some picture of the little fellow taken the two last weeks

Laughing Gaspard

2008-04-30T11:01:00.003+02:00

We are playing with our new digital camera. We have just enter the 21 century because until recently we could only take 12 pictures at the time and of course had no video or panorama fonction !

So here is a little video of Gaspard

News

2008-04-28T13:31:00.003+02:00

Ok maybe you don't really care about the dog and would prefer photos of the children ... faire enough !

We had a very nice week-end and this time it was sunny so I have done everything I wanted in the garden for April. And now it's raining again ... but I don't really care, and we are goint at my parents for four days on wednesday and they live under a microclimat with 300 sunny days per year.

Tupac

2008-04-27T19:15:00.005+02:00

We had "our" dog Tupac for two weeks and now he is gone again.

It had became very hard for me to take care of Tupac with 3 children and at the same time the person who looked after Tupac during our stay in England missed him so much that we have decided that Tupac would stay with him in Auvergne and come back for holiday. So he has been there during 7 weeks and came back for two weeks here and it works very well.

Taken yesterday morning just behind the house:

July in the UK

2008-04-15T21:47:00.002+02:00

We miss you and your fabulous country so much that we are coming back this summer !!

I am planning our trip at the moment. We will leave switzerland the 27 of June probably and come back around the 22nd, and during those 3 weeks we will visit Madingley of course, but also, the Isle of Wight, Oxford and Edinburgh. Sooooo cool I am getting exciting !!

I need to do that because this april have been very depressing so far, regarding the weather only but still I would like to saw and plant things in my garden but it is always so wet ....

Anyway to be sure to have plenty of sunshie we are coming in the UK this summer isn't it a good idea ?!

Amy & Tiffer

2008-04-02T14:25:00.003+02:00

We had the nicest time with Amy & Tiffer, it was a bit like being in Madingley again but with the snow !

The thing that is so good with friends staying with us is that : 1) Bernard take time out of work 2) we do things we never take the time to do normally (like the lovely horse riding in the snow !) 3) the children are so happy they don't even think about annoying each other !

So please Amy and Tiffer come back another time we have such a long list of things to do together ..

And for the other who might be hesitating to visit us : don't hesitate we will be very happy to have you !!

Ski holiday in Zinal

2008-03-04T13:41:00.007+01:00

Last week we were in Zinal and that was GREAAAAT !!! 5 days of sunshine and one day of mist but most important 6 days of snow. We shared a chalet with our friends that some of you may have met (the two that came to visit us four time in Madingley !) and their little baby : Gaspar (without the "d") ! We had organise a very precise schedule to know who was skiing, who was looking after the Gaspar(d)s and who after Tristan and Mara. It works out very well and everybody enjoyed his stay. Mara won her first medal in the slalom (every child get a medal of course but Mara is sooo proud of it !) And Tristan managed to turn alone friday and before that he enjoyed skiing holding the ski pole and even did it with Mara. I was very proud of myself too because I skied most of the week and did some progress too, I have to otherwise Mara will ski better than me very soon, I know this will arrive one day but possibly when she is older than 6 years old !! And next year she ask me to teach her snowboard ...

Gaspard is 6 month today !!

2008-02-16T09:05:00.005+01:00

Incredible Gaspard is 6 month today, and we left Cambridge just six months ago and it seems ages !

I am going to prepare a nice organic carrots puree because he is still to young for the chocolat cake ... or maybe I will bake a chocolat cake anyway for those who are old enough to eat it !!

This morning Bernard, Mara and Tristan are on ski but the wind was too cold to take Gaspard too. I gave the camera to Beranrd, but I am not sure he will have time to take any photo at all.

Last week Mara had four days of ski with the school. She enjoyed it soooo much that the first thing she ask on saturday morning was to go skiing again !

A few picture of the ski week with the school. Mara is the little one in red.

Week-end in Zinal

2008-01-14T10:51:00.001+01:00

Sorry for the bad quality of the photos but I only had my mobile.

We went for a little week-end without the children in Zinal. Saturday it was snowing and what we call "a white day" that mean that you can't see anything, but Sunday we had 40cm of powder snow and a big blue sky.

We still hope that some of you might come to sky with us one day.

Ski at Les Savagnières

2007-12-23T19:05:00.000+01:00

Just 30 min from home there is a little ski resort just fine for the children. We went this morning and it was great because down here the winter fog was hiding the blue sky, but just 1000m above the sun was shining and it was beautiful. Bernard's parents were already there and they took Gaspard for a little walk so I could go too !

Tristan is in orange and Mara in red ... and Mara and me at the top at 1500m.

Christmas cookies (2)

2007-12-20T09:43:00.000+01:00

This time we made some "milanais" the traditional Christmas cookie with his irresistable dough (Bernard used to eat ALL the dough before one could make a single cookie but fortunatly he was at work yesterday !)

I guess everybody knows this recipe but if not I will be happy to give it to you.

My two little pixies working hard again :

Christmas cookies (1)

2007-12-10T14:02:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we made some "miroirs" they are my favorit christmas cookies.

I give you the recipe :

250grams of butter (I said they are my favorits but not necessarily the best when you have some kilos to lose after a pregnancy for exemple !)
let it become soft as you want (microwave, or just take it out before) and then mix it until it looks like a cream
125 gram icing sugar
2 tea spoon of vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt (you can put some black pepper in stade of vanilla sugar ... very good with strawberry jam!)
mix well all together until it become white (let's say very light yellow)
1 white of an egg
make it become white but no need to be very firm
350 grams plain flour
just add and form a "ball"

Let it in the fridge at least 2 hours then take it out 30 mins before starting.

Then you need some special cookie cutter rond with a hole in the middle or you can make it yoursefl. You roll out the dough (2mm) and you make little round (for the bottom) and little round with a hole (fot the top) you place them in the oven pre-heated at 200°C for 7 min then you let them cool a bit while you heat the jam and you put some jam (very good with redcurrant !!) on the flat bottom and then put the lid on top. You can put some icing sugar on the lid for a nice effect. And that's it.

Of course it is better to make some quality-testing during the whole process and Tristan take this part very seriously !

Our car is dead !

2007-12-05T14:07:00.000+01:00

I am very sad to announce that our old and faithfull white VW Passat is dead. After 18 years and 290'000km (180'000 miles ?) she is gone. I was 13 years old when my dad arrived at home with this car so I was a bit sad when a stranger take her yesterday evening. Now we have a big green Mercedes Vito so it will be easier to travel with 3 children, a big dog and a few rabbits ! But we will remember our epic travel to and from Cambridge with our white Passat.

Tête de Ran

2007-11-20T11:09:00.000+01:00

To tell the truth the snow is almost completely gone in our garden but I hope we will be able to take pictures like this one later in winter. This is a nice place to go with Tupac, he has a little harnes we can attach to the sledge ...

Skiing ...

2007-11-19T12:01:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we went skiing for the first time of the year and it was also the first time for Tristan!
It's a shame we didn't have the camera because it was incredible. Tristan was completly fearless and so happy to be on his little skis ! He wanted to go alone. The first time he took the ski-lift at the top he said to Bernard "tout seul" and tried to get ride of Bernard. So he went alone a little bit and was so strong on his little legs it was amazing. And he wanted to go again and again. Mara was a bit frighten at first but soon she rememberd how it works and was also very proud and happy.

Gaspard slept most of the time in his cosy Phil & Ted's cocoon, wrap in a lamb skin ... he wasn't cold at all but I was since finally I was just watching Bernard and the children. We'd never imagin Tristan would be so daredevil as to go on the big slope with Mara and Bernard !

We all enjoyed a great day in the sunshine and the snow and I hope the condition will continue to be good for the winter !

That's where we went, it is just 25 min drive from our place : http://www.chasseral-snow.ch/

3 months today !

2007-11-16T10:59:00.000+01:00

Gaspard is 3 months today and he is just perfect !! He smiles a lot, sleeps well and he is still a very big baby ! He is an eco-friendly baby too in washable nappies so who could ask for more ?!

Some pictures taken yesterday :

It's snowing !!

2007-11-15T08:11:00.000+01:00

I had deleted the blog in a paranoid moment thinking that nobody was looking at my stupid blog anyway (and that's when it would be very nice if you put a comment saying "no it's not true we do like your blog !) but I have decided to go on with it for two reason :

1) I sometime doubt that I have ever been in England at all (and Bernard feels the same) and we don't like this feeling. And the best way to be sure those 18 months were real is to be in contact with the real people we met on the other side of the channel : YOU !!

2) It's been snowing and I am as much excited as Mara and Tristan and I want to tell everybody that 's been snowing but obviously everybody here knows that, but YOU don't (you might not care a bit but that's another problem!).

As proof of the snow some pictures taken this morning:

The new rabbit hutch with Bluebell our Belgian rabbit inside.

The view from Mara and Tristan's bedroom :

And the view from our bedroom :