Hi and Happy New Year to all!!!!! I hope everyone had a fun and festive Holiday Season! We are in fact finally in our own home! We are getting unpacked and settled and I don't think any of us want to see another home decorating store for a long time. Well, maybe just a little while for me but I can guarantee that if I get the boys (all three of them) near one I may have a full fledge mutiny on my hands.

So, our move to the new apartment was not without it's own humor and snags. The boxes after being over 3 weeks late arrive on the day planned, EARLY!!! So Peter and I were not home, in fact we were 30min away. We flew home and found one guy with our three palates waiting for us. While Peter parked the car I found that instead of delivering them to our apartment as promised, the driver had instructions to deposit the 20 boxes on the SIDEWALK!!. I didn't have the heart to tell Peter he was going to be lugging the boxes up to the 4th floor alone so I pulled out my bad French and hired a guy off the street to help. So, Peter and this guy in a suit carted all our boxes up the stairs. The poor guys were shaking with muscle strain.

So, two day before Christmas we are in the apartment and unpacking our 19 boxes. Oh did I say 19... That's right the big goofs not only smashed, or should I say concave 5 of our boxes they some how lost one too. This wouldn't seem to be that hard except they had them all shrink wrapped together, so how one box escaped is beyond me. But considering the fiasco that those boxes went through, I might try to escape too. Now we get to find out how bad the insurance we bought really is. We did find out that the original shipping company we used is being nailed for a number of other scams almost identical to our situation. Can we all say "Class Action". What fun we have had, so many valuable lessons we have learned.

On our return move home I think I will swim our stuff back myself. I'm sure there must be a better way! It will probably take our full stay here to figure out what way that is, but at least all our European treasures will arrive home safe!! Or at least I hope they will.

We are having our first Swiss storm today, January 2. The water in the lake is crashing up on the shore line and making huge waves. It is so funny to see all the children standing there getting smashed by the waves. Being land locked I'm sure this is as close to the excitement and splendor of the surf as they may ever see. Drake and Davis stood out on the balcony and watch everyone run and scream as the waves crashed on the rocks. It was really exciting. We also had the fun of securing the house up. You have to close all the wood shutters and drop the metal blinds to keep the wind out. We also found out where the drafts are. I spent an hour plunging up holes with Scott towels to keep the wind out, also tons of construction dust. It was amazing how much warmer the house got just after doing that. We had no idea that much cold air was getting in until it became 40+MPH winds, THEN YOU KNOW!!!

We are hoping that all this weather is bringing snow to the mountains. It has been really warm here, in the low 50's and high 40's, LOL, yes that is warm here. It is funny how quickly we have all adapted to the cold. I still have to fight to keep Davis in clothes. I swear he must have a built in heater. We are planning a ski trip this weekend to Portes du Soleil. It is the ski resort that allows you to ski in Switzerland, France and Italy all in the same day. We are going to stay on the Swiss side this time since we have been told it is possible to get stranded in France or Italy, because of weather changes. With the boys in Ski Camp we would not have a way to get them. HMMM, good or bad????

We are also planning a trip to Paris on Valentine Day landing in Geneva on Sunday to see the Lord of the Dance. We all wanted to see them in Vegas, the one time we were there, and couldn't. So the boys are really looking forward to seeing them. It is the Irish Dancing, for any of you wondering. We have friends in Paris so we will visit with them and do some site seeing. We also want to go back in the Spring to do Euro-Disney. There is a great little puddle jumper air lines that allows you to fly, when made weeks in advance, all over Europe for as little as $20 to Paris. We are trying to do one trip a month so that we can take advantage of our location.

Many of our friends and family have expressed interest and some already have placed dates for visiting us. We were wondering, any of you that are interested, and all are welcome, if you could email us with the time you were planning on coming. Even if you are still in the planning process let us know if it is in March or August... This way we can make sure we are here, have room, can make arrangements for hotel (and we are experts on that now ). We do have a guest room and it sleeps two adults. The boys have space in there room too, for kids. I think we could comfortably fit two adults and two kids. But remember, Swiss is "small".

So, we would love anyone interested in visiting to PLEASE do so. We miss having all our friends and family! We have created a comfy little chamber for anyone who comes. If you think it may be too Swiss/small, don't let that stop you, we live on the main street and have hotels of all types just a stones through from us. If you could just send us an email and let us know the date or month you are planning this would really help us out. Since our travel is made in advance to get the great fares we want to make sure we don't plan something during a visit.

Happy New Year to all!!!