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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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

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

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

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

Sky

Look what I spotted: doesn't the sky look fascinating?

Location:Applecross Ln,Christchurch,New Zealand

Cape Reinga Adventure

What a day! Firstly we travelled up to Cape Reinga which was just amazing! The walk to the light house only took a few minutes and the views absolutely amazing! To see the Pacific ocean meeting the Tasman sea was pretty special. I just love the New Zealand coasts ... After a few photos we took off to the amazing and huge sand dunes close to Te Paki! There we were able to hire some boogie boards and could slide down the dunes ... (after a very steep climb!) The boys absolutely loved it up in the sand and they climbed the hill several times! Trev and I only managed a couple of rides but so much fun!! Another amazing experience for all of us ... Now we are at another amazing beach called Ahipara and saw a beautiful sunset. We are very lucky!








After a great day we are all exhausted and ready for bed


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