HSM3

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Trevor - I thought this was funny and Annie hadn't posted anything for awhile. She has been meaning to take Grace and Holly to see HSM3...maybe this will motivate her to go. XOXO

Switzerland

Our trip was so fun! Here's a quick rundown of our whirlwind week.

Saturday: flew from Houston to Lyon, France via Paris.

Sunday: arrived in Lyon--it was a really long flight. Met Trevor at our hotel, went out to dinner, tried to get some sleep since I couldn't get any on the flight.

Monday: took train to Lausanne, Switzerland-- the Olympic capital of the world. The city sits right on the edge of Lake Geneva, which is absolutely breathtaking.

Tuesday: Spent the morning exploring the Chauteau de Chillon that was built in the 12th century, and had been beautifully restored. Then we took a beautifully scenic train through the alps to Gruyere, where the cheese comes from. We watched them make it, and we had some really delicious fondue. Then we continued on the train high up into the alps to the Berner Oberland region. I think this was probably the coolest part of our trip.I mean, words or pictures can't even describe the beauty, and absolute majesty of these mountains. We stayed in a village called Gimmelwald. Its a small village that sits on the edge of a sheer cliff, and can only be accessed by tram.

The peaks from left to right are the Eiger (ogre), Monch (monk), and the Jungfrau (maiden).
We arrived in the evening. And this is what we woke up to. Are you kidding me? Doesn't it just make you want to sing? It almost brings tears to my eyes just looking at the pictures.

Wednesday: Took early lift to the Schilthorn, ate breakfast in a revolving restaurant where we had 360 degree views of the alps. And it was also famous for filming one (it might have been the first) of the James Bond movies.

A lot of these pictures were taken on a hike that we took just above our village. It was the best day. We were surrounding by amazing views and walking in Sound of Music meadows. We both felt like bursting into song whenever we looked up--and sometimes we did! Seriously, it was that pretty. Pictures just can't do it justice. I tried to put some of the best ones, since I am sure you don't want to look at the millions we took.

If I could do the week all over again, I would spend more time high in the alps. What an amazing place.

Thursday, we woke up with the intention of staying the entire day and going up to the top of the Jungfrau, but we were fogged in. It was devastating. What was so clear and beautiful the day before, was still beautiful, we just couldn't see any mountains. So we headed out and spent a couple of days in Lucerne. I've been to Lucerne before. Eight years ago, when Megan and Kate and I went to Europe we stayed there. It's a beautiful city that sits on a really pretty lake with swans, etc. But I don't remember it being so huge 8 years ago. I think it's really grown. We had fun, though. We went to the Picasso museum, and the glacier museum, and we shopped, ate, and walked a ton. We even went to a movie. We hadn't seen The Dark Knight, so we found a theater that was running it in english with german subtitles.

Friday, we spent the day in Lucerne. We took a 2 hour boat cruise on the lake to see the different towns around, and it was really beautiful. We also had to figure out our travel plans. We were supposed to go to Zurich and both fly home together. But the hurricane had totally changed Trevor's travel plans, so we ended up going to Paris instead of Zurich so we could catch his flight.

Saturday: We took the morning train to Paris. It was the most beautiful and perfect day to be in Paris. Just gorgeous. We had worn jackets and coats all week, but not in Paris. Blue skies, in one of the most beautiful cities on earth. We only had time to see the main sights: Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysses, the Louvre (we didn't get to go in, though...next time!) I think we ate in the same cafe that Megan and Kate and I ate in right by Notredame. Memories! We took a cruise down the Seine River. It was such a lovely day, we wished we'd had more time.

Look at those gorgeous parisian bridges all lit up!

Sunday: Sadly, we had to fly home. But, we were happy to come home and find our kids and grandparents all alive and happy and living in a house with newly-restored power (it had just come back on the night before.)

What a blast.

My house is no longer a third world country...

Okay, I'm finally posting pictures! All I have to say is, September was a CRAZY month. Ike hit Houston on the 12th, and this is what my house and neighborhood looked like when I drove around taking pictures on the 13th...

our fence in the backyard.
part of our neighbor's tree was blocking our driveway.
a couple of houses down...there were a TON of trees like this in our neighborhood.
that's right, the tree is IN their house. Wish I could say that it was the only one I saw...
this was my across the street neighbor's garage.

I still can't believe that my house was literally unscathed. We had a ton of debris to cleanup, but that is really all. When we drove around our neighborhood, it looked like a bomb went off or something. Phones were out for several days. Cell phone coverage was very spotty. Gas stations did not have gas, and stores didn't have power, so many were not open. Trevor got on one of the first flights out after the airport opened back up to leave for France, and so the girls and I camped out on our own...and the power was out for us for two full weeks. That was a bit of a nightmare. Luckily, the weather was unseasonably cool and pleasant. So we were able to open the windows to keep things cool. Some friends of ours that had power restored to their house very soon after the hurricane lent us their generator so that we could keep our fridge and freezer cold. So many blessings to be grateful for. I don't think I realized just how much we relied on power until it just wasn't there. You can't run your dishwasher, or garbage disposal, cooking becomes very difficult, no tv, no phone, no internet, I could go on and on. And it gets very very dark, very very early. My poor girls became very well acquainted with their flashlights. But they were troopers. It was sort of like camping and being on vacation. Everything on our calendar (including school) was just cancelled, so we hung out with friends a lot and played. Slowly more stores opened, and gas stations that had gas didn't have lines a mile long anymore, and the cell phone service improved. Eventually, the city did pick up the mountain of debris sitting on my front lawn. But we are still waiting for them to pick up the mountain of bagged debris that is still out there. But at least we have power...hallelujah! Kind of a surreal experience...one that we survived, but wouldn't wish on anyone. Those poor people on the coast have it so much worse, and it will be months if not years before life is normal for them again.

My house is a third world country...

Well, I only have a few minutes to post an update. The hurricane hit last Saturday, and it is now Friday and we still have no power to our house. Luckily, the weather has been unseasonably cool, which has been a major blessing. I have so many pics of the damage to our neighborhood, but since I don't have internet at my house, I'll have to post them when I get back from Switzerland. Hopefully within another week we will have power restored so I can share with you our "exciting" hurricane story. (Not really very exciting, though.) Our house is fine. Our fence in our backyard blew over in one section, and we had a lot of debris from a tree falling on our driveway. But that is really all. We are so blessed...so many people had their entire houses destroyed. My across the street neighbors had a huge tree take out their garage. What a mess! The grocery stores are slowly getting back to normal, and gas was hard to find at first, but is starting to normalize too.
I'm leaving tomorrow for Switzerland and I'm so excited...but I feel bad leaving my inlaws with my children in my house without power. Pray for cool weather! :)

Hurricane Update

Well, Switzerland is looking pretty good right about now...

I've received several phone calls, emails, and text messages wondering how we are doing. So I thought I'd post a message here to let everyone know that we are fine so far. We're still about 12 hours away from land fall, so I'm sure the situation is going to get worse, but I think we'll be fine. My biggest concern is a prolonged power outage since it's still hot outside...

Trevor has missed his flight to France (all flights have been cancelled). Hopefully the airport will be open on Sunday so he can fly out. But I am glad that he will be with us during the storm...I thought I was going to have to do it alone for a while!

We'll keep everyone posted as we know more! Thanks for all the prayers and concern.

Happy Birthday Grace!!!

It's Grace's 7th birthday tomorrow, and this is what I have been working on tonight in preparation. I have to say, I'm happy with how it came out...but me and buttercream frosting have a love/hate relationship. I wish it would have gone on a little smoother. This was my first time dabbling with fondant. Maybe next time I'll try covering the whole cake (for a nice smooth look). But Grace really wanted chocolate frosting--I mean, who can blame her!

I can't believe I have a 7 year old child! That means next year she will be baptized! It's really all going way too quickly. Happy Birthday, Grace! I love you more than you will ever know.

In other news...

this is what Kate is up to lately.

That's just gross. And yes, she's a climber. She also is really into hiding lately. She'll just find a quiet corner somewhere, and sit and hide until someone comes and finds her. She thinks that she's hilarious and very clever.

Mamma Mia!

I have to start this post with a shout out to my good buddy Jon Fairbanks for introducing me to the ABBA gold album over 8 years ago on a little road trip to Vegas. Ah, memories. Since then, Trev and I have loved that album. It's got such a great beat, and you will often find all of us dancing and singing to it in the car. Yes, all of us. The girls LOVE it.

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical of the premise of Mamma Mia in a play. So, I haven't seen it...then the movie came out. Again, hadn't seen the play, so wasn't really planning on making this movie a priority. Well, my mom and sister and sister-in-law saw it last weekend, and they just raved about it. So, I got a little excited to go see it.

Well, yesterday, due to a little tropical storm (named Edouard) headed straight for Houston...Trevor didn't have to go to work. Yeah us! Then, the "so called" storm that was supposed to be a category 1 hurricane when it made landfall, was just a typical rainy day in Houston. Nothing to even write home about. We were a little disappointed...oh wait, relieved should be the word. I guess we're a little starved for some excitement? Anywho, the storm came, it was a dud, but we had been indoors all day, so we got a babysitter and went out to see the aformentioned movie.

I loved, loved LOVED it! Want to see it again and again. If your are not much for musicals, then this is probably not the movie for you. But if you don't mind the characters bursting into song rather frequently, then you will love it too!