Friday, 6 July 2012

What have we been up to?

Another few full on days: sometimes I really wonder if we are on holiday ... so much to see and so much to do ... it didn't help that I ended up in hospital for severe stomach cramps and pain!!! Ambulance and all, how exciting!! Fortunately I felt much better after a few days rest, but lost some precious time!

The boys are very happy playing with their new Star Wars Lego, over the moon to have been able to watch lots of European Championship soccer and love their new made friendships with my friends children. Fortunately most kids are in the same age group and they play very well together. The boys speak more and more swiss german even though all the swiss kids learn english from year 3! So lots of english/swiss german conversations.

Here a few pages out of Luke's diary:

Wednesday, 27th June
Today we went to the lake of Constance. We went to a museum at the old wheat-house which was the old wheat production place. At the start there was a place about how the ancient swiss people used to live. We tried to find things in sand that they would have used, like a deer horn which they used as a hammer or a stick to start a fire. We also got to try to use a bow and arrow. Opi and mum got a bulls eye. In another room you got to try to write with feather, it was really hard, but a great experience. After we went to my uncles parents. My uncles dad had his birthday today, so we had citron (lemon) cake. It was really yummy. We had a swim at a pool they had there. It was a really hot day so we were very lucky.





Thursday, 28th June
Last night we watched the semi final Portugal vs Spain. Portugal have never lost a penalty shoot out but Spain won 4:2 in penalty shoot out! Today we went to the pirate shop pool we went too last time we came. We played on the pirate ship. I hit Dylan a lot with the water cannon. We also went on the diving board, I did a cannon ball and a forward flip. We got an Ice cream, I had strawberry & vanilla. After we played again. Out the back of the pirate ship there was a slide. We got dressed and biked back home. Dylan and I played some soccer, then we watched some TV. Later mum left to got to Bernadette's house for tea and she was sleeping there. We watched Tim and Struppi (Tintin in german), then we had dessert and went to bed.


Monday, 2nd July
On Friday we went on 6 x trains and I x bus. Some of the trains were called: Appenzeller Bahnen, SBB, Intercity etc. The bus was called Rheintal Autobus. One of the trains went to the lake of Constance. Opi, Grossmami, Dylan & I got a hot dog, then we walked to another train station. We went in a carriage that was open. It was really hot so we were lucky. We went in a train that was really noisy. On Saturday Luca & Dario came. We went swimming and did a water fight with their water guns. When we got home we did another water fight, then mum went with them home because she was having tea with Petra. At 10:00 at night mum had to go to hospital with the Ambulance. On Sunday night it was the final Spain vs Italy in the Euro 2012. Spain won 4:0. Silva scored the first goal.

Friday, 6th July
On Wednesday we drove to Zürich. We stopped at Petra's house and played a bit with the boys when they got back from school. Then we went to my Gotti's (godmother) house. We played inside a bit. Joshua had tonne's of CD's that he got from his Götti (godfather) when he died. After we went and played soccer with Joshua and Dominic's friends. We were split into three different groups, then we would vs another team and then the winning team would vs the other team. Next we did a water fight with the water guns. We got soaked. We had tea, then we played Fifa 12. Dylan and Dominic were England and Joshua and I were Portugal. We won both games in penalty shoot outs. On Thursday at lunch we went to get my present, then in the afternoon we went to the Mohrenkopf factory. We saw how they got made. First cream was put on a waffle in the shape of a Mohrenkopf. Then the chocolate was put over the Mohrenkopf, then it got cooled at 17 degrees for about 2 minutes. Then a machine wrapped the Mohrenkopf and a lady put them in boxes, we got to try a Mohrenkopf. They were yummy!!









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Saturday, 30 June 2012

Heatwave in Switzerland

Hi Followers

Haven't written anything for a while ... but ...

Weather has been incredible hot over the last few days (30++ Degrees) and we had some full on days with bike riding, swimming, visiting friends, train riding, European Championship watching (soccer), Diary's & very late nights due to the heat ...



Walk by the Lake of Constance.


Swimming in the cool, blue water & relaxing in the shade


Will write a bit more soon ...

Enjoy your holidays and see you all in Term 3!

Susanne & boys

Location:Appenzell

Thursday, 21 June 2012

Burg Laudeck

Today we got up early to get on the bus, to get to burg Laudeck
(castle). I learned about a knight who came home from the war and
from the castle his wife was waving to him, he was excited he
rode over the frozen lake and he was so heavy with with his horse and armour he sunk.

The only thing they found was the horse's head. If you look in the
lake on a night with a full moon you will probably see the knights armour.

We went on 4 gondolas to get home.

By Luke












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Location:Ladis

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

Lukes 1st Ride on the Serfauser Flitzer






Hi Room 8 and other followers!
Hope this video works! Had a ball ... Doing lots of amazing things. Many long mountain walks, up to 2,440m!! Won't deny it: lots of gondola riding involved! But boys are getting very fit and this in high altitude!
Have been learning about reading the temperatures, highs and lows and found out about different boiling temperatures!
Until next time ...










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Friday, 15 June 2012

1st day in Austria

Yesterday we packed our car, we picked Ursula up and left for Austria. The trip took 2 hours! We were very excited to see the apartment. It is awesome. Downstairs there is a kids room, table tennis, dart and soccer table room and also a fitness room. Today we took a gondola up to the mountain and we walked all the way to a huge play ground. In the play ground there was a castle with 7 tunnels. Some were very small and under ground and some were above ground. There was also a raft that had a metal circle with a rope through it. The rope was attached to two posts and you had to pull the rope to make the raft move.





Murmeli - Marmot


Enzian - Gentian

In the gondola on the way down with had a great view over the mountains.






By Luke (written on the blog by mum)




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Location:Serfaus

Tuesday, 12 June 2012

Work in Switzerland

Just in case you were wondering if we were doing any school work: Here is the prove ...












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Busy weekend

What a busy last few days we had !!!

On Friday afternoon we visited the local Brewery and got to know all about beer brewing ... They had a very good display and we also watched a DVD, which was very interesting. Zac bought a few beers and in the evening my dad, Zac and Jade tried them out. Great day and evening.

On Saturday we visited my Aunt Alice who lives in Flims. The trip took 1 1/2 hours and Jade was very happy to get out as she was sitting in between the boys! My aunt lives in a beautiful old house and has hundreds of saucepans and pictures on display. I was a bit concerned that the boys would break something but fortunately the weather improved a bit and they could run around in her big garden together with her boxer dog! She made a yummy traditional lunch (cheese & sausage salad) and we also had apple doughnuts with vanilla sauce ...





Later on we went for a walk to the stunning and beautiful Caumersee ... Only pictures can describe its beauty!





By Susanne

On Sunday we went to St. Gallen and we learnt about the beginning of the city 1400 years ago!! Two huts were firstly built, then the whole city around it. In the middle was a huge and stunning church and I took heaps of photos. The church was really big with lots of stone carvings. On the ceiling it had pictures of angels, holy people and lots more. We also went for a walk and had a great view over the city!















By Luke


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Location:Appenzell, Flims, St. Gallen and Widen

Saturday, 9 June 2012

Surprise visit

What a great surprise for the children: My dad and I went to Zuerich Airport and picked Zac and his girlfriend Jade up (my stepson, the boys half brother).

The two have been living and working in London for the past 12 months. Luke and Dylan were very excited and have non stop talked about their trip, explained about Appenzell and Rugby!!!

Zac and Jade are staying with us for the next 4 days and the apartment is getting full ...

Anyone else for a visit?





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Thursday, 7 June 2012

Cheese factory


Yesterday Grossmami, Opi, Mum, Dylan and I went to the cheese factory. We learned about how they make swiss cheese. We got to watch the workers making the cheese. At the end of the process, the milk gets broken into little pieces.We saw the machine putting the secret ingredient on the cheese.We also learnt about the men/boys and women/girls who take the cows and goats up and down the mountains.After we had some food. I had chips and chicken nuggets.

By LUKE











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Location:Appenzell

Wednesday, 6 June 2012

snow in Christchurch

Hello Guys,

We have just read about the big snow in Christchurch ... that is amazing!

Pictures on the TVNZ page look great. I bet you kids are happy to get a day off!

Fortunately our weather is a bit warmer. Went to the cheese-making factory yesterday and will write about it tomorrow.








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Location:Appenzell

Monday, 4 June 2012

Weekend

What a great weekend we had. On Saturday we got an invitation from my niece for lunch. We visited them in their apartment which is on the 12th floor! It was quite scary to travel all the way up in the elevator ... (The boys thought it was more fun but hard to walk all the way up the stairs!!) The view was amazing ...



We all had a great afternoon and it was fantastic to catch up with my family and the boys had a wonderful time with their aunt and cousin's.


Here are the 4 cousins together. Marco and Tamara together with Luke & Dylan. Marco who is nearly 18 and Tamara who is 16.



On Sunday my Gotti Claudia came with her husband and their 3 children. She used to live in Christchurch but has moved back to Switzerland. She bought me a big box of swiss chocolate! The box is shaped in a map of Switzerland. I haven't opened it yet but can't wait to have a look inside.
Luke


In the afternoon we had some more visitors. My brother Andrew together with his girlfriend Tanja came to see us! And also my sister Ursula with Marco and Tamara. We again had a great afternoon and had the opportunity to take our first family picture in 6 years! (missing is Trev and my sisters husband)


Full on but great weekend!

Location:St. Gallen / Appenzell

Friday, 1 June 2012

Travel to Switzerland




After 10 hours flight we arrived well in Singapore. It was 5pm and 32 degrees!! We had 7 hours at the airport before our second flight to Switzerland. We first had a look at the butterfly house. Some butterflies nearly landed on my arm. Most butterflies landed on ladies
/girls arms and we wondered if it was because of their perfume???


We also were fascinated by the Koi fish. They were huge!!!






We also went on the Sky Train which goes between the 3 different terminals. We spent some time looking at different shops like a huge M&M store, a store with gold carvings of fish & golden eggs and I specially liked the iStore!! We had a burger to eat and had to pay with Singapore Dollars. The notes look very different and they have a $2 note!



It was fun to walk on the travelators (like a moving carpet on the ski fields)

We left at 1.20am and had a few hours sleep on the plane and also watched TV and played some games. The time went really fast even though it took us 12 hours to get there! We arrived at 8am in Switzerland and were very excited to see Opi and Grossmami (swiss names for our grandparents). On the way to Appenzell (where my grandparents live) we visited a chocolate factory and got to taste quite a bit!!

Now its 6.30pm and we are very tired and nearly ready for bed.

By Luke and mum



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Location:Appenzell