We love to go wandering.....

Since our original plans of heading to Italy for a few days were put on hold...due to the cars dash board having a few to many lights flashing and is only able to be checked out after the kids start school. We thought we would crack into a few of the walks up in the hills behind our house.

We choose a simple 5.5km loop promising spectacular views and a few hours adventuring as a family. So we packed up a picnic lunch and headed for the hills.

The kids and I have managed to meet lots of great people and see and do a lot of wonderful things while Tim was preparing the New Zealand team for the Olympics, but it was really special to be discovering new areas of Leysin with him as a family.

As promised the meadows were bathed in beautiful sunlight, sweet petite wild strawberries and raspberries bordered the well maintained paths and the grand forest sections provided some much needed shade and even an educational yarn or two from Tim to keep the kids on their toes.

 

 

 

Jack and Jess are starting to learn and understand the rules of hiking, and respect for the weather and its ability to change with in minutes, that it wont be long before we can adventure further into the mountains surrounding the Berneuse (2042m above sea level).

My man cave, by Jack

I brought this painting from a second hand shop in Switzerland. I used my going away money from Grandma and Grandad. I think it was a good investment.

 

My duvet from New Zealand makes my room feel like home. I have some tadpoles in the glass bowl by my bed so I can watch them change each day. I also had a newt...but he has gone missing. I think he escaped in the night.

 

My bookshelf holds all my treasures. Books, Lego and toys.

 

 

I also have an armory for all my weapons!

 

My room is great because it is half under ground. It has a small window that gets sun in the afternoon and I have a double bed to stretch out in.

My Swiss bedroom by Jessica

I have two soft single beds and my favourite duvet cover from home. We brought a flower light from Ikea which lights up my wall a pretty pink colour.

 

 

 

My pet tadpoles (in the old wine bottle) from a pond up on the Berneuse mountain behind our house.

 

 

 

This is a  chair that some students didn't want anymore. It is now my big soft reading chair.

 

I love my new room because it has a nice view to the mountains and it is bigger than Jacks.

Havent we been here before....

Yep we have! The Kuklos above Leysin looking down on Corbreyier

and then 6 years and 3 months later.

and ironically we also did Gruyere in the same weekend both times

Then

and now

 

 



The only thing is I am trying to figure out where my blonde wife went! TC

Busy week with Tim

Hi there everybody.
We have had a busy week and a half since Tim has joined us. We have finalised our residency with a trip to Lausanne to complete our biometric testing...photos, finger prints and signatures. We are now in the system!
And after a few trips to Ikea (I think Tim is grateful it is 60km down the road...wont be 'just popping in', to spend up large) we are now sorted and settled in.
School starts on Monday for the 'new' year and the kids are looking forward to catching up with all their new friends they have made over the summer.
I will get myself sorted today and post a few stories about our exploration of the walking tracks in hills behind our house.
Thanks for checking up on us,
Fee

Welcome home dad!

Our dad came back from the Olympics today.

Jessie and I were so excited.

Poor mum though, as we both work up really early ready for our drive to Geneva Airport.

Unfortunately we had to wait for ages till we could see him as he didn't arrive till 2.20 in the afternoon.

Jessie and I made this welcome home sign. The cards in the back ground have all sorts of kiwiana pictures on them.

Yay. Dads back!

Jessie picked some flowers and got a the glasses ready for a toast. So many options.

Dad is all ours for the next 2 weeks before we start school. I thin we might go camping in Italy for a few days.

Jessie and I got some really cool presents from the Olympics and posters signed by all the track riders.

Its great to have dad home.

From Jack.

Party on the lake.

We had the pleasure of being invited to a secret location on lake Geneva, just past Montreux, to help a friend of Jack and Jessies, Micheal, celebrate his birthday.
It was an amaing spot! Sourrounded by laughing kids and relaxed parents, and of course cake!
What more could you ask for.

Our new home

We have finally moved into our new home.

YAY!

So here is a sneeky peek for those of you who are tempted to come and visit.

It is simply stunning.

My current view from the kitchen table!

Late evening over the valley.

Jack took the next two photos.

We lose the sun off the veranda at about 6pm.

 The rest of the valley is bathed is glorious light till 10.

The sun bathes the whole house from sun rise till early evening.
Such a treat.

The living room wrapped in glass.

Looking through to the sun room from the master bedroom

Friends and family montage.

 A small reminder of who we are and where our hearts lie.

We still have a few things in storage at the World Cycling Centre. Though we will have to wait for the Olympics to conclude before we can get access to them as it seems all the staff are pre occupied in London.

It has been a while since we packed them up so it will be interesting to see what treats we brought with us to add a little kiwiana to our Swiss chalet. 

The Kids are most excited about their own rooms and having space to run and play. After three months of single room apartments and three people in a two person tent it certainly nice to spread ourselves far and wide and unpack our worldly processions.

Both Jack and Jess are keen to put their own posts up on the blog about their rooms once they have got their them just so....the suspension builds.

Each season here sounds as stunning as the last with winter boasting more sunlight hours than summer...should be interesting from our high vantage point right next to the ski lifts. Though so far summer will be very hard to beat.

We have been super lucky securing the house from a lovely kiwi family heading to warmer climes in Abu Dhabi. And I know it was with heavy hearts that they left this beautiful place.

We also have another kiwi couple living next door....go figure, we are in the middle of Europe up a bloody big mountain...who would have thought!

I can see a few funny nights on he horrizan!

School starts again on the 27th of August and both the kids are looking forward to it after spending days on end hanging out with the locals.

Tim starts his new job on the 1st of September and by all accounts is looking forward to two weeks being unemployed and just hanging out with us. What was he thinking?

I know he is not the only one as the count down is well underway.

Thanks for checking in once again and seeing where we are and what we are up to.

Take care,

Fee. 

Olympics!

What an adventure it has been living the in an Olympic Games bubble for the past two weeks.
 The kids and I have been thoroughly in grossed in any and every sport we could find on line. Even though we had no TV we found a couple of great live web sites to keep us up with the play. While the cycling was on we ran both computers on different streams in case one cut out or froze at the all important moments. How is that for commitment!
The kids are now in count down mode till Tim finally joins us. After four months of living out of suitcases and hotels he can finally settle down and spend the two weeks he has up his sleeve till he starts his new job relaxing and acclimatizing to our new surroundings. And boy do we have a few treats in store for him!

Congratulations!

 

Congratulations to the

NewZealand Teams Pursuit Team

Bronze medal in a stunning time of  3.55.952

The kids and I are proud of all five of you and are happy to have been able to share Tim with you over the past 7 years.

 Here is a little bit about the London Medals.

Designed especially for each Games, the medals are what every athlete strives to win.

The medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games will be awarded during a total of 302 Victory Ceremonies, taking places at venues across the UK.
The medals have been designed by David Watkins, an established artist in the field of decorative art, and are in production at the Royal Mint headquarters in Llantrisant, South Wales.

The story behind the medal

The Olympic medals’ circular form is a metaphor for the world. The front of the medal always depicts the same imagery at the Summer Games – the Greek Goddess of Victory, Nike, stepping out of the depiction of the Parthenon to arrive in the Host City.

The design for the reverse features five symbolic elements:

- The curved background implies a bowl similar to the design of an amphitheatre.
- The core emblem is an architectural expression, a metaphor for the modern city, and is deliberately jewel-like.
- The grid suggests both a pulling together and a sense of outreach – an image of radiating energy that represents the athletes’ efforts.
- The River Thames in the background is a symbol for London and also suggests a fluttering baroque ribbon, adding a sense of celebration.
- The square is the final balancing motif of the design, opposing the overall circularity of the design, emphasising its focus on the centre and reinforcing the sense of ‘place’ as in a map inset.

Medal specification

- The London 2012 Olympic medals weigh 375-400g, are 85mm in diameter and 7mm thick.
- The gold medal is made up of 92.5% silver and 1.34% gold, with the remainder copper (a minimum of 6g of gold).
- The silver medal is made up of 92.5% silver, with the remainder copper.
- The bronze medal is made up of 97.0% copper, 2.5% zinc and 0.5% tin.
The precious ore for the medals has been supplied by London 2012 sponsor Rio Tinto and was mined at Kennecott Utah Copper Mine near Salt Lake City in America, as well as from the Oyu Tolgoi project in Mongolia. For the small amount of non-precious elements that make up the bronze medals, the zinc was sourced from a mine in Australia as well as from recycled stock, while the tin originates from a mine in Cornwall.

How the designs were chosen

When creating the brief, the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) Victory Ceremonies team worked closely with the British Museum’s Keeper of Coins and Medals, Philip Attwood, to look at the symbolic history of medals in Europe in the last century.
An independent panel of Sir John Sorrel (chair), Sir Mark Jones, Catherine Johnson, Ade Adepitan (deputy chair), Iwona Blazwick OBE, Niccy Hallifax and Martin Green was set up to look at the designs submitted by over 100 artists. The LOCOG Athletes’ Committee, chaired by Jonathan Edwards, and the British Olympic Association (BOA) were also involved throughout the process.

Thanks Grandma!

We love our New Zealand tee shirts Grandma!

We will wear them to cheer on the kiwis at the Olympics!!!

Love from Jack and Jessica

xxxxxxxxxx

Swiss National Day

The Swiss National Day  is the national holiday of Switzerland, set on August 1st
 It is an official national holiday since 1994, although the day had been suggested for the celebration of the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy as early as 1889.

The day kicked off with a bang!
Oh yes....at 6am the cannons reverberated around the hills for the early morning wake up call.
Rise and shine people, its time to crack open the Schnapps and fire up the hot plates
for a communal breakfast on the village green. As the golden glow of dawn wraps its long tendrils around the valley the day is celebrated with a toast....which seems to flow on through the day and well in to the night.
No one can complain that they don't make the most of a special occasion here.
Every town celebrates in its own way with a huge amount of energy, pride and local taxes put into the grand finale....a fireworks specular to out do any other.
Well, with the exception of the Olympics Games.
As dusk settles on across the canton every mountain top is lit up with blazing bonfires and with great antisipation the night sky is cut into a thousand sparkling lanterns of colour and sound.
To top off a truly special day on our short walk home we were treated to another seven spectucular shows happening in other villages around the mountains.

The assult on all our sences lasted for more than half an hour and the exciting bit is, our new apartment has the best view in all of Leysin for the stunning show!

We were invited to celebrate the evening with good friends and learn a thing or two about our adopted countries Special Day.

The kids and I got creative and made sweet chilli philli dip to take to the party!

Not a bad job. 

The Olympic Rings

A wee bit of trivia for you...

Despite popular misconceptions there is no link between the ring colours and a continent.
The five interlocking rings represent the five continents brought together by the Olympic Movement, or the five main regions which are:
Africa
The Americas (North and South America are combined)
Asia
Europe
Oceania.

As it says in the Olympic Charter, the five-ringed symbol "represents the union of the five continents and the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games." The symbol of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings, coloured blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white field. The colours of the rings represent the flags of the countries that participate in the Olympics. Every flag of a country participating in the Olympics includes one of those colours.

Baron Pierre de Coubertin conceived both the symbol and the flag.
Not coincidentally, Coubertin was also the founder of the modern Olympic Movement.

I do apologise for not updating you earlier, the kids and I have been immersing ourselves fully into the Swiss way of life. With the pinnacle event being August 1^st. Swiss National Day.

A little more about that later.

 First up, a little bit about our past weeks escapades….

A Day at the beach…..well, Swiss styles anyway.

Being one of 17 landlocked countries in Europe going to the ‘beach’ means something slightly different than what we are used to. It could also be why you have to pay a little extra to enter the swimming area. To be fair, it was worth it.

The kids and I were invited to join friends down at their Bach for the day which backs onto Lake Geneva. The small town of La  Bouveret, a charming Valaisan village suitated at the mouth of the Rhone where it feeds into lake. Is a popular summer getaway for those living up in the hills above the valley floor.

The set up is fantastic. Complete with swimming pool and slide, large grassy space to dry off in between swims and a section of lake roped off for bathers’ safety, as you can hire a range of water craft too. Changing rooms, snack shops and bouncy castles added in the height of summer when the crowds cover every square inch of grass in their bikinis and Speedos. 

                                       

Cindy with her two girls Ella 8, Naomi 6 and Jack and Jessie

We thoroughly enjoyed being shown the ins and outs of a stunning Swiss summer day by the lake.  And ended our day with a slight sun kissed glow and happy with the thought we had made new friends who are extremely generous with their time, hospitality and knowledge. Making us feel truly welcome into this small village.

Perfect end to a perfect day!

Thanks Bill and Cindy Ella and Naomi.

Farewell to Mick, Sara, Leilani and Sequoia

We have also had the pleasure of being invited to Mick and Sara's going away party (the owners of the apartment we will be moving into in the 6th of August)

Mick and his band jammed long into the small hours of Sunday morning.

It was a mix of locals and expats from around the valley, ready to celebrate our hosts and their amazing presence within this small community.

It was truly a magical evening with many laughs and a few tears.

The kids danced he night away and I got to chat to a many of the people who call Leysin home. Giving me further in site to our new home and its surroundings. The more we get to know the 'locals' the happier I am that Tim has made the right decision for the Carswell family to settle its roots here for a while.

I hope you are all enjoying the Olympics, with the Tim an the Track team taking to the boards tomorrow,  Thursday 2nd August 16.42 London time, 8.42 am in New Zealand.

Good Luck to you all!

And may the Force be with you!