Switzerland Part 3: Lavaux Vineyards

On Sunday morning, we took a mini-train (with wheels on the road) on a tour of the Lavaux vineyards. Since 2007, the sprawling 830 hectares (around 2000 acres) of vineyards have been protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Apparently some of the vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th Century. Holy cow! There's been a lot of wine-making here throughout the years. The Swiss love their cheese, their chocolate and their wine, and they are one of the lesser-known countries of great wine production. It was amazing to see field after field of neatly ordered vineyards, the straightness of which has always appealed to me. I have so many memories of being in the car in Switzerland, staring out the windows watching line after line of vines go by, seeing all the way to the end of each row, before the next one appears quickly.

Sophie enjoyed the train ride, and hopped from bench to bench, person to person. We took turns with the camera, trying to capture the beauty of the vine covered hills, with the incredible beauty of the lake below and the mountains beyond. Ah, la Suisse...

Switzerland Part 3: May Snow

We were invited to go eat dinner at my uncle and aunt's and as we got in his car to go to their house, he said, "Do you want to go see the May snow (la neige de mai)?" Every year, wild narcissus flowers grow in fields up on the mountains, so much so that they look like snow. Apparently, the tradition when they were younger was to go pick them up before they had bloomed and send them to other relatives in Switzerland. Now, however, it is illegal to pick them. We apparently were nearing the end of season, but they were beautiful nonetheless. Sophie, in particular, had fun running up and down the mountain roads and picking the flowers, as you'll see in the pictures.

The flowers, the mountains, the views were all beautiful, of course. I mean, this is Switzerland. Jacques and my dad told us about how they used to sled down the long, curvy road in the winter, but now of course, they plough it as there are so many more cars, so kids can't do that any more. Jacques also told us that his father, my grandfather, who just passed away this last Christmas, would take them to this one hilly field to teach them skiing. They would go up and down and up and down all day, and then at the very end, would ski all the way down to their house in Clarens. My grandpa was an amazing skier and skied all the way into his late 70's. Such a strong man.

But I digress. Here are the pictures:

Switzerland Part 2: Vevey 2

On Saturday, we walked down to Vevey and visited the market, had a cup of coffee (or for me a bottle of Sinalco) at a cafe facing the main square, and then took Sophie to the playground down by the lake. I didn't end up taking many of the market, but I wish I had taken some of the square. It's a beautiful square, with smaller mountains to it's back and the lake and the French & Swiss Alps to it's front. The houses are old and full of character, with their typical Swiss shutters on every window. It's surrounded by quaint cafes and small pedestrian streets with boutiques and more cafes.

 As we let Sophie roam in the playground, we discovered a small fountain nearby. There were a bunch of kids in their bathing suits jumping in. We barely had time to strip Sophie before she jumped in herself and had a blast of a time walking around the freezing water of the fountain. She desperately wanted to go in the deeper end like the bigger kids had, but of course, that was not going to happen for her! It was a really nice morning:

Switzerland Part 1: Vevey

I'm so excited to blog about Switzerland! I had so much fun taking pictures and had to anxiously wait to get back to England as we had left my laptop here due to Easyjet's tight laws on hand luggage (we just didn't have space). So here I am... the photos are being imported to my computer as we speak.

We spent 10 days visiting family and sight-seeing in Switzerland and had a wonderful time. Sophie was getting over a cold, so was a bit more grumpy than usual, but she had lots of fun playing outside in my uncle and aunt's garden and meeting and playing with her second cousins (or whatever they're called - my cousin's children, what are they called?) ;) John had to work some as he had two deadlines due that week but was able to take some time off to explore.

Sadly, my camera battery died halfway through the week, and I had bought the charger for my camera instead of my dad's (he's graciously lending me his wonderful 5D Mark II while we're in Europe). The batteries are the exact same size but the connectors are spaced apart differently, much to my chagrin. My genius aunt had the idea to take it to a camera store to get it charged, so I had it again by the end of the week. Therefore, some of these posts will be iPhone pix only...

Here's some pix from our first outing to Vevey, the town where my uncle and aunt lived. It has a great market, a beautiful walk along the lake, and lots of beautiful views and buildings.

First we fed the swans:
Sophie had fun feeding both the swans and herself:
I love this lake:
Some of Vevey's art deco style:
To me, Switzerland is a land of flower boxes under windows and off balconies:
One of Vevey's main streets:

Beautiful England

We've been in England now for a month and my dad had his surgery almost two weeks ago. We're now on the road to recovery and our return to the States in now in sight! Everything went beyond well with the surgery, and we were very impressed with all the doctors and nurses at Wellington Hospital. My dad was really taken care of and is recovering quite speedily. John, Sophie and I had a fun week in London, too, catching up with old friends (like, really old, I've known Kiera since we were iddy biddy kiddos!) and getting taken care of too, as she bought food for us, and made us tea every day. :)

We've been here now for just over five weeks, and we have about five weeks left. I've been enjoying my time here, but California is most definitely our home and I'm excited to go back. It's been interesting being back after 5 years and seeing beauty here where I hadn't seen it before. We've enjoyed going on walks and seeing the rolling hills in the countryside, the beautiful brick buildings, and pretty wild flowers. We also had a lot of fun in the hustle and bustle of London, and unfortunately were only able to get a few night shots (though I'm excited to do a day down there and have more fun taking pictures).

The thing that has helped make our transitions here so smooth is our dear, sweet girl, Sophie. She really has adjusted well to each new place (we spent four nights in a row in different houses a couple of weeks ago), and seems to do well making the most of what is there for her to play with. She's been napping and sleeping well and bringing smiles to us all. (Of course, we're having some temper tantrums too, pushing of boundaries, and, of course, the teething, but she's really just been quite sweet most of the time.)

Here are a few pix of our time here:

Newborn Photography: Alexander David Braaten

Right around the time I did this photo shoot, we found out we were pregnant again! My bursts of energy with editing completely died away as the first trimester exhaustion hit, mostly during my usual hours of work: Sophie's naptime and at night after she went to bed. Hence, the massive lack of recent blog posts, and the delay of all my editing!

I'm nearing the second trimester and my energy is coming back. Today, I didn't have an afternoon nap for the first time in two months. I caught up with some editing and now want to present to you this gorgeous little baby boy, Xander, who is now almost three months old.

Grant and Tabitha (click here for maternity shoot) lived with us for 8 months and had a home-birth, with baby Xander being born on Jan 28th. We got to enjoy the first 6 weeks of Xander's life before they (sadly) moved back home to Kansas City, Missouri. We miss them so much and are so thankful for facebook, where we can watch Xander grow through Instagram! He's already changed so much!

Here, finally, are Xander's newborn pictures, taken at just one week and a half:

family and peace

Last Friday, we walked around the Sundial bridge about an hour before sunset. Instead of putting Sophie in her stroller, we let her walk with us. It took us a while, but we had fun, basking in the mild winter weather and warm sun, showing Sophie how to throw stones into the beautiful Sacramento river and loving the far-off views of the mountains that surround Redding. It's on days like that that I really enjoy living here. The feeling of family, peace, the arrival of the weekend bringing more family time, and the beauty of the nature around us, as well as the amazing Sundial bridge, just warmed my heart really.

Some of the beauty around the Sundial Bridge (not actually taken last week, but before Christmas!):