May 2008

It is only the consciousness of a nonexistence which allows us to realize for moments that we are living. -Max Frisch

Road trip!! The King family packed up their rented Ford Focus wagon with a weeks worth of clothes and headed southwest to exotic Switzerland and northern Italy to visit friends and celebrate Lolo's second birthday. The drive to our home base, and Vanessa's (a.k.a. MeeMaw) home, of Baden was fairly easy but long...7-hours in total.

It could have been shorter if the Swiss had made it easier to enter their country (read: autobahn). Instead, we "suffered" through the torture of having to drive through one cute Swiss town after another before finally reaching the Swiss autobahn outside of Zurich. We later read that they planned it that way to discourage invading armies (read: tourists) from overtaking the country too quickly:-)

Two pit stops, one incomplete driving map (thanks google maps!!), one wrong turn and 705 kilometers later we finally made it to MeeMaw's place in Baden, Switzerland. An incredibly cute spa town northwest of Zurich. Her new apartment is so perfect we nearly moved ourselves in permanently.

We're going to miss MeeMaw and the beautiful view from her apartment's terrace.

The is what MeeMaw sees when she walks down the back steps and out the back door of her apartment building. Lucky her.

MeeMaw took us to the super-fun city park, where Lolo eased her way into sharing a big "Eagles Nest" swing. "The back and forth is fine, but please, no more spinning!"

The park had a long slide which we first tested for speed and reflective properties before sending the future generation down alone.

No children were harmed in the making of this photo.

"See, I told you guys I could do it all by myself."

After fun and games at the park, we continued on our tour of Baden.

No one does incredible Italian gelato like the Swiss of Baden;-) Daddy highly recommended the coconut, MeeMaw was so-so about the chocolate chip and everyone agreed that mommy's pistachio gelato was the best ever. Lolo said she liked them all the best, however.

After a couple of relaxing days in Baden, we rose early and drove 1.5 hours to the lake-side town of Twann. Criss, mommy's long-time partner in crime from her days in Sidney, Nebraska, invited us to come for a visit and enjoy the good life along Lake Bieler.

Friends re-united! It was all smiles during the Melinda-Criss reunion. She and Bob, her friendly and wickedly-witty significant other, quickly made us feel at home. Their son, Rafe (pronounced /reIf/) is so incredibly low-key and cute, we considered the idea of kidnapping many times during our visit.

Those Nebraska girls sure do make beautiful babies!

Yes. I am THAT cute. And no, I didn't like your Dig-Dug reference.

Nothing beats a relaxing day at the lake. Bob and Criss made a delicious lunch for all of us while we played by the shore and ran around on the grass.