Hiking in the Woods

I walk quite a bit in the woods up by Katelyn's school. Maggie (the dog) has a great time with all the different smells and all the little mice. It is also a nice time for me to get some good exercise while talking with friends. Last week, Jason was able to join us because he was working from home due to conference calls in the afternoon and evening. The weather was just wonderful last week. We walk a good 4 miles in about 2 hours. There are so many paths and forest roads it always seems different. I remembered to carry along the camera last week. The following are a few of the pictures that I took.

There is an area that is right above where the boy's school that has some animals. Parker really enjoyed seeing the donkeys.

I thought this was a bit funny. We haven't ever seen any frogs while walking. I wonder how big the frogs get.

The baby animals are always so cute to see.

On a different day we decided to walk a trail that is actually a downhill mountain bike course. It is just crazy what they have set up. I don't know who is actually working on it but someone has put quite a bit of time and hard work into it.

This jump is a good 10 feet in the air. Stanton is 6'4". I think the goal is to jump over the road and land on the downhill slope.

You really would have to have good balance on that narrow bridge but even more so on the narrow part of the rock.

Tree logs are cut in half to form a platform to another rock.

You definately better have speed to make this jump. I would hate to be short.

After the jump, you go into a big curve.

Another ride the plank and jump.

It is crazy!

I guess there is a choice for those that aren't so fearless.

I think this took some time and hard work.

This is the new section that they have been working on the past few weeks. It's interesting because they leave their shovels up in the woods.

That is one bike trail that I hope the boys never get near to on their bikes. Devin has actually walked the course with his class from school. However, Lucas has never seen it and I hope it stays that way!

For the final picture, I decided to end with "I spy a mouse".

Flowers Everywhere!

It has definately been Spring in Neuchatel! The leaves have all popped out and the flowers are in full bloom. The lilac bushes smell wonderful!

I just took the following 2 pictures today. I thought it would be a true reflection how things look on a cloudy day. My parents really enjoyed walking by this bank and seeing the colorful flower beds.I was able to take a picture the other day on our way home from Kate's school. The walls are just so pretty and in some places there are purple flowers mixed in with the yellow.

The Magnolia trees were just full of blooms. I just never saw Magnolia trees in El Paso and NM. I take that back. Jason's Aunt Linda has a huge one in her front yard but I never saw it in bloom like this. I couldn't forget the English garden. This picture was taken 3 weeks ago after my parents left.The flowers have been planted around the fountains and statues. The following pictures are my favorite! Now look at the English garden and Katelyn was the perfect model!

I wanted to get a picture with all 3 of them but the boys had a busy week last week and we couldn't get it to work out. We had rain all weekend but we needed the moisture. The sun is out today but the weather reports are calling for rain showers all week.

The Glacier Express

The first day of our trip, we took the regional trains from Neuchatel to Zermatt. We caught the early train at 8:30 am and arrived in Zermatt shortly after 12:00. We had to change trains twice. One time we only had 5 minutes and we made it! The ride took us down thru Lausanne, along Lake Geneva and to Brig. From Brig to Zermatt it was a very beautiful, mountainous ride.

We dropped our bags at the hotel and took a walk up thru town. It was a great day to see the Matterhorn!

It was funny, I saw on the internet that it was suppose to be -3 Celsius. So we all took our warm clothes and jackets. It was so warm that we were getting hot.

Zermatt is a very nice, quaint town nestled in the mountains. There aren't any cars allowed. They have horse drawn carriages from several of the hotels and then electric carts as well.

The next morning we got up and caught the Glacier Express. The train wasn't long and all the cars had the panoramic windows.

Everyone was ready to embark on our 8 hour journey thru southern Switzerland to St. Moritz.

There is quite a bit of rock in this area and lots of land slides. They have used the stone for their roofs. I believe there is 2 layers.

We had to wear sunglasses the sun was so bright.

I think my favorite part is when we got up to where the snow was blanketing everything.

Mom and Dad enjoyed some wine. We were served a meal for lunch.

All the views were so pretty. The blue sky accentuated everything even more.

I believe we are starting our ascent to the Oberland Pass.

We were able to capture the picture of the skiers ready to take the plunge. There are ski areas everywhere.

Now we are approaching the St. Moritz region.

St. Moritz is a nice area but just didn't have the charm like Zermatt. This was the view from our hotel.

The hotel was located right in the middle of town. It was a very old hotel but nice. However, it was the most confusing hotel to get around. We had a delicious dinner at their Chinese restaurant.

The next morning we did a walk thru town and caught the train back to Neuchatel. We had another long journey ahead of us - 5 1/2 hours. We had to change trains twice and going thru Zurich. We made one big loop around Switzerland. I think we were all ready to ride a train for awhile.

We enjoyed our visit with Mom and Dad. We were sad to see them go. I think Maggie (our dog) is missing them the most. She was always being taken outside by my Dad.

Easter Weekend

Hello everyone! I am finally updating the blog. We had a wonderful visit with my parents and the weather was amazingly beautiful. They were able to see the Alps!
We took a walk along the lake. The temperature was nice but a bit chilly with the wind off the lake. I really like this picture of Jason in his hat. I hope you can see the Alps too in the background.

We had an Easter egg hunt in the garden. Devin and Lucas hid the eggs and Katelyn and the Taylor boys went hunting. We were still finding the plastic eggs a week later.

Lucas celebrated his 12th Birthday. As usual, no candles were allowed on the cake!

Our friend Susan sent jelly beans back with Jason. The different flavors entertained us for quite a while. They experimented with mixing different flavors. I think Stanton's favorite was the "Very Cherry" and "Dr. Pepper". Thank you Susan!

It was a nice and relaxing weekend!