Omi K in Geneva!

To say that we were excited about Omi K's visit to Geneva, is an understatement.  She arrived one year, to the day, after we moved to Geneva and the girls were so excited to show her all of  our favorite places.  I love my mom so much, and I especially love how much my mom and my girls love each other.  It's hard to live so far apart and I am so grateful for the three weeks that we got to spend together this Summer in Europe.  To be able to not only show her what our life in Geneva is like, but also get to introduce her & our girls to Venice and to visit Fehmarn, Germany (my favorite Summer vacation spot as a child) all together was pretty magical.  

She arrived during the girls' last week of classes and they were so excited to show her their school.  Not only did Omi get to see Ecolint, she also got to attend both to their end-of-year class picnics.  A sure sign of a grandmothers' love is that she agreed to help chaperone Lexi's class trip and spent over 3 hours in the cold rain at a park after 16 hours of travel (and a 9 hour time change) the previous day.

The girls were both sick for parts of Omi's visit so we had a couple of quiet days spent at home.  It was actually nice to have that down time, to play Legos, do puzzles, and just spend some quality home time together.

I will write about our trips to Venice and Fehmarn in another post, but once we returned from these trips we had a few more days of fun in Switzerland!  We explored Old Town ...

Took a trip to the beautiful quintessential Swiss village of Gruyere where we toured the Chateau, ate fondue, went for a bob-luge ride through the Swiss Prealps, and visited a Gruyere cheese factory.

On Omi's last day in Switzerland, we had the perfect Geneva day.  The sun was shining and we spent the whole day by the lake.

We walked out to the Jet d'Eau on the new "boardwalk," ate lunch on the Bateau Geneve ...

Took the water taxi to a cafe where we enjoyed our favorite Summer cocktails (the Apperol Spritz for mom and the Hugo for me) and ice cream for the girls ...

and fed the ducks!

We concluded this perfect day (and trip) with a trip to Geneve Plage, where we swam in the lake, went down the big waterslide and basked in the the beautiful Geneva sunshine.

Such amazing experiences that we will treasure forever.  Thank you, mom!  xoxo

Our IronGirl & Sweet Tiger

Last weekend was an exciting weekend for our girls.  Kenzie completed her first IronKids triathlon & Lexi had her end-of-year gymnastics show.  They were both so excited about their big events!  Sadly, they took place an hour apart in locations that are 3 1/2 hours apart.  So for the first time, Randall and I had to divide and conquer in support of our twin daughters.  I am sure this will happen more and more, as they grow up and pursue different interests, but for us this was a first.  I went with Lexi to her gymnastics performance and Randall went with Kenzie to Rapperswil to cheer her on in her race. They both did great!  I just wish that I could have been in two places at one time!

I am so proud of Kenzie for completing her first triathlon (technically is was a biathlon because the kids just swim & run, no bike)!  She swam 50 meters in a freezing cold pool and then ran 500 meters in her bathing suit, to complete the race in 4 minutes and 38 seconds.  Proud of her determination and love her enthusiasm ... it was a short but monumental race for her.  Proud of her courage ... she was completely at ease despite the fact that nobody spoke English.  This girl loves running, swimming & biking ... just like her Daddy!  I'm pretty sure she is hooked.

Lexi's gymnastics show was adorable!  She was the sweetest little tiger and had so much fun with her friends (and was very excited that I volunteered to do the face painting for her group).  The show was a Circus Theme and each group was a different circus act.   Lexi was part of the dancing & vaulting tigers.  Adorable!

Following her show, Lexi and I went straight to the train station and caught a train to Rapperswil to meet up with Randall and Kenzie.  We celebrated the girls' success over a good Swiss-German meal of schnitzel and white asparagus & then went to bed early so that Randall would be prepared for his big Ironman 70.3 race the next morning.

It was a chilly rainy morning, when Randall took off for the 1.9km swim in freezing cold Lake Zurich.  We cheered for him as he transitioned to the 90km bike...

...and then the girls were anxious to check out the kids ares in the expo.  They had various bouncy houses and an area where they could color signs to cheer on Randall.

After they finished making their signs we went to catch Randall before he started the second loop of the bike course and then made our way to the Knie Kinderzoo which was right next to the Ironman transition area.  It was a really cute zoo with a surprising number of animals and great play areas - and a great place to spend some time before going to see Randall again as he transitioned from the bike to the 21.1km run.

The run made 2 loops through the cute old town of Rapperswil and we waited for Randall at the base of the "Stairway to Heaven" (73 steps after an ascent on cobblestone steps into Old Town) on both laps ... somewhat cruel to have this many steps when you are nearly 110km into the race but Randall survived!

We were very excited to cheer Randall across the finish line, after he had swam, biked & run 113km! Quite an accomplishment ... I am proud & amazed!

Overall, a great weekend!  So proud of my people!  Love these three adventurers so much! xoxo

Discovering Beautiful Croatia!

Many of the places that we have visited with the girls are favorite spots that Randall and I have been to before.  Croatia, however, was a country that none of us had ever visited that was on our list of must sees.  Given its popularity as one of Europe's hottest new destinations, I had read that it can get overcrowded in the Summer months and many people recommended May and September as the best times to go.  Since the girls had another four day weekend, we decided this would be the perfect time to go discover Croatia together!  With Easy Jet offering a direct flight from Geneva to Dubrovnik, it was the perfect long-weekend getaway to the Dalmatian coast.

With the promise of sunshine & already warm temps by mid-May, we were a bit disappointed when the forecast called for thunderstorms/rain and a high of 64 F each of the four days that we would be there.  You can imagine our delight when instead we arrived to blue skies and sunshine.  Since we thought this might be our only sunny day we decided to spend the afternoon taking advantage of all that our hotel had to offer.  With its own rocky beach, four beautiful pools overlooking the Adriatic, and a playground, the Radisson Blu was the perfect home base for our visit.

The girls loved getting to swim every day and Randall and I enjoyed the stunning views & poolside drinks.

On Sunday morning, we were excited to wake up to sunshine once again.  Given that the temperature was a bit cool we decided it would be the perfect morning to go explore the Old City of Dubrovnik.  I had seen pictures of the medieval walled city, but these did not prepare me for its true beauty.  With marble streets and terra-cotta rooftops, this was one of the most clean & picturesque places I have ever visited.    

We wandered through the narrow marble streets, checking out the market and a few cute shops.  Lexi befriended some birds along the way (while Kenzie was terrified that they were going to hurt her sister).

We then walked along the old city walls.  This mile long walk is definitely worth doing, as you get gorgeous views of both the city and the Adriatic. 

After many steps and lots of walking, the girls were excited to head back to the hotel for a swim.

There was a thunderstorm during the night, but on Monday morning we woke up to the most gorgeous skies yet.  We started our day with a walk to the beach, and the girls had fun climbing and collecting rocks.

We had hoped to take a private boat that day to do some fishing and island hopping, but the captain called us on Monday morning to say that the sea was too rough.  So instead we went back to the Old City and made our way to the marina as we planned to catch a larger ferry boat out to Lokrum Island. Once we were in the marina, we were happy to find that the sea had calmed a bit and happened upon a last minute deal on a private boat that would take us out to see the different islands.

Our first stop was Sipan, the largest of the Elaphiti Islands which has only 500 inhabitants.  At one point there were over 250,000 olive trees on the islands and while it still is know for olive oil production it is mainly a small fishing village.  We went for a short walk outside of town and happened upon an old man selling homemade olive oil and almond liquor in his driveway.  After purchasing a bottle of each we made our way back to the marina and Kenzie bought a seashell from a little local girl who had set up shop near the harbor, before hopping back on the boat.

Our next stop was Lopud, the second largest of the Elaphiti islands which is economically the most developed.  It is famous for its sandy beaches, particularly the bay of Sunj.  The bay of Sunj is on the opposite side of the island from the marina, so after our skipper dropped us off we went for a short hike and then hitched a golf cart ride to the beach.  

It was definitely worth the trip across the island as the bay was beautiful and the girls loved going for a swim in the shallow waters.

Our last stop was Kolocep.  It used to be an important shipbuilding site, but today has less than 300 inhabitants.  Visiting the islands was fun, but my favorite part was just being out on the Adriatic.  I would love to go back sometime in September when the sea is still warm and you can stop and go for a swim and check out the many caves and swimming spots along the beautiful coastlines.

We had the boat drop us off back at the hotel so that we could take advantage of the warm afternoon for some pool time.  Later that evening we took a taxi back to Old Town for dinner and to pick up our rental car.

It was fun to see the city at night and we had a delicious meal at Proto.  I had heard that the food was nothing special in Dubrovnik, but we really enjoyed many of the mediterranean dishes & fresh seafood.  And the people were especially friendly!

On Tuesday morning we went to the pool & spa one last time, before packing up.  Just as we were checking out from the hotel it started to rain.  We still had some time before our flight and had wanted to take the cable car up to Mt Srd, where you have beautiful views of the Old City from above.  Given the rain, the cable car was not operating but we decided to drive up the 778 meters to the plateau and restaurant.  It was a beautiful (albeit somewhat scary due to the narrow road winding up the edge of the cliff) 10 minute drive to the top and definitely worth it!  The views were stunning and the rain had stopped by the time we reached the top.

Now this is what you call lunch with a view!  It was unbelievably gorgeous!

We had just a little bit of time after lunch to go for a short hike, and only caught a glimpse of the beauty that there is to discover along the coastline and within the mountains of Croatia (we did spot some donkeys & foals).  There is so much more to see, we will just have to plan another trip sometime in the future.    

Croatia definitely won our hearts!  Between the stunning blue Adriatic and the old world charm of Dubrovnik it was a trip that we will never forget!  I will forever treasure the memories of Randall teaching the girls how to skip rocks in the Adriatic, Lexi turning every railing in the Old City into a gymnastics bar, Randall & Kenzie training together for their triathlon in the bay of Sunj, and time spent together with just the four of us.