These boots were made for walking

On Sunday we went for a hike, to further test out Bella's new walking boots. After an initial moan she did really well and after climbing up the hill, she practically ran all the way back down again. As you can see Bella also takes her map reading very seriously. This time Malc got to carry Sebby. We had lunch at a mountain top restaurant with a view. As their only high chair was occupied we improvised with the car seat (erm yes we did actually drive there). We had our first cheese fondue since arriving in Switzerland (take note Jo for your next visit) and Bella had quite possibly the biggest sandwich in the World. We also met the biggest snail in the World along the way. Quite a day.

Summer Festivals

Every year there is a music festival in Nyon near where we live, called the Paleo. The "Woodstock of Switzerland" someone described it as. Lots of people camping Glastonbury style without the mud (most of the time...) and lots of music some more famous than others. We got a pair of tickets for last Saturday. It was a sweltering day. We went along in the mid afternoon. There wasn't actually much music at that time but some kids entertainment, food, stalls etc. Bella had her first candyfloss (Barbe-a-Papa), thank goodness she didn't like it, nasty stuff. WE had some fun. By the time we were leaving to take the kids home to bed lots of people were arriving. We went home with the plan to come back for the evening leaving the babysitter at home. The headliners were Etienne Dau (or however it is spelt) and Vanessa Paradis (???? - at midnight). As it happened there was a huge huge storm, and given the place was a dustbowl in the afternoon it was surely going to turn in to a mudfest. So party poopers that we are we went to a bar instead and watched the rain come down whilst drinking wine, eating cheese and humming "Joe le Taxi" to ourselves.

A visit to the mountains

We had a night away in the mountains (Siviez), about time to, considering we live in Switzerland. We stayed a night with some old friends of Malc. - Carl and Sue, plus Cameron and Holly. They were in the middle of their summer holiday. We bought Bella her first mountain shoes (under duress I must say). However due to a pants wetting incident en-route they were worn with a less than mountain-appropriate dress, ah well one step at a time. Malc did some more mountain biking, wearing all the body armour this time - Chris take note. I got to carry Sebby in the rucksack (OK I did do some more business travel). There wasn't so much sleep as it was a one bedroom apartment with 4 adults and 4 kids, however we all had a good weekend.

outside the apartment

Having pizza then baby races on the way home.

Going up the mountain

fun on the mountains

Working on the garden

On a normal weekend afternoon, Bella helped wash the car, tend to the vegetables, close the gate, whilst Sebby made his own contribution to mowing the lawn.

Smile please

Trying to get the two of them to sit next to each other and smile for the camera, never easy. Plus Bella has a professional haircut this time.

Wheee... ouch

Jo, Chris & Oscar came to stay for the weekend. On Saturday, Chris and Malc went off to do some downhill mountain biking. Malc had earned this for sure as I'd been doing a lot of travelling with work and he'd been doing the family stuff at home. The rest of us went off and had a pootle aorund Nyon, and then decided to hang out in the garden with the pool. Oscar loved the water so he was set for the afternoon. It wasn't long before I got a call from Malc...Chris had fallen off his bike, hurt his hand and they were going to the hospital. Ooops. 5 hours in the ER later it transpires he'd broken a bone. We still managed to go out to a lovely Auberge for dinner, so all was not lost. Sunday it poured down with rain, and there isn't much to do on a rainy day in Switzerland as everywhere is shut, so we went up to the old favourite Signal de Bougy as it has an indoor play area with the restaurant, and during brief rain respites we could see the animals. Plus lots of time to test out the playroom.