Switzerland!

 Hope you're ready for a million Switzerland pictures!

This was the kids' first flight to Europe (we've done a long one to Hawaii but that was quite awhile ago). The four of us were able to sit together with Kael right in front of us so that he could have an aisle seat too. 

The kids did SO well on the flight.  They were all able to sleep a little bit and enjoyed the meal service since that was something they hadn't gotten before.  And Kase loved the chocolates from Air Swiss!

We landed in Zurich (where we learned Kylee's luggage had not made it- bummer!) then had a two hour bus ride to Interlaken.  Our first views of the mountains and lakes were incredible! 

We got to our hotel and the view across from it was amazing! 

We loved the city of Interlaken and our hotel location.

We wanted to adjust to the time change so we grabbed a little lunch by the pool to stay awake. Such a pretty spot!

Very peaceful and not very busy.

The cutest little food truck out there!

Our first Swiss food was pretty good!

Loved our rooms. Plenty of space between our two adjoining rooms for all of us!

We loved being able to watch paragliders right from our balcony!

Seriously those views! It was like out of a movie.

We met up with the Jones group for a walk around town to orient ourselves. Kase loved the fresh water that was all around town to fill up your water bottle!

The color of the river and lakes didn't even look real! I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

The city was very easy to navigate and it felt good to get our bearings.

We got cleaned up for our Welcome Dinner- Kylee was such a trooper having to share my clothes and not complaining at all about not having her luggage.

We couldn't believe this was our life staying in this amazing place with that view off our balcony.

Pointing to more paragliders! 

These two were kinda buddies this trip.  Kylee's new friends thought Kase was hilarious and fun and I think Kylee and Kase must watch some of the same TikTok-type things so they had lots of laughs together this trip.

And Kael was just so grown up and responsible and helpful like always!

Taking it all in.

The green space across from our hotel was the PERFECT spot for Kase to kick a ball around and chase paragliders landing and burn off energy.

Kylee had met some friends at dinner so she was busy but the boys decided to take a night swim after dinner!

The water was CHILLY and I laughed that we were the only people (Americans, of course) jumping in a freezing river at dusk.  But it ended up being such a highlight of the trip that we did it again later on! And we did see others getting in the water eventually. 

The next day Kent and I had a meeting then we rented bicycles to zoom around town. Kase loved it!

Meanwhile, Kael hit the gym and Kylee went shopping with friends so she could at least have some things to wear in case her luggage didn't come! She found a few key pieces that got her through the trip!

Then we were ready to adventure! 

We had heard there was a little (rocky) beach about a 25 minute walk from our hotel so we strolled by the river to check it out!

We found the spot and it was just gorgeous!!!

Kent teasing Kylee for all her poses.

Kael prefers to take serious photos. 

We got in (even me!) and swam for awhile.  It was cold but refreshing after our walk getting there!

We had the funniest time finding out that Kael is not able to skip rocks.  Now, I know we have taught him and I know he has done it in the past but for some reason he just couldn't nail it this time and we were all laughing so hard.  At one point he threw a rock backwards accidentally and hit Kylee in the head and I'm so glad she laughed it off! Even Kael was laughing so hard.  Just a funny memory and within seconds of me showing him how to do it he figured it out again.

Back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner! Love my guys.

We loved sitting on our balcony.

We went up the Harder Kulm- the name of the mountain right behind our hotel.  It was just a short walk to the funicular. The hydrangeas behind our hotel were so pretty and these pink flowers too!

Even though it was a short walk Kylee didn't keep her heels on the whole time- ha.

I think I made the kids take a picture every time we crossed the river.

This is the view from the top of Harder Kulm! And this is one of the dresses Kylee found at a shop down the street from our hotel!

I love us.

We stayed up until almost sunset and had fun taking a few pictures on the way down. Kael cracks me up.

We got the front seat in the funicular on the way down- stunning view!

And found some gelato when we got to back down to town! This was a regular thing for us- I bet we got gelato ten times while we were there! We each had our own favorite spot. 

The next morning it was our turn to paraglide! We all five were able to go which I was so happy about.  It was really smooth too- a quick van ride to the top of the mountain then we each had our own guide and we got all hooked up and took off! 

It was AMAZING.  10/10 would recommend for anyone.  

For some reason I don't have the pictures of Kylee doing it on my phone but here are a couple of the boys!

It was a 20ish minute free fall and at the end we could tell our guide it we wanted to "roller coaster" and they would do all sorts of spins and things.  Kael and I opted not to but everyone else did and both ways were super fun!

We had plans later that afternoon so we didn't have a lot of time so we decided to walk to the local pool near our hotel that we had heard had a fun high dive.  Kylee loved this little scooter we saw on our way there!

Ok, so I don't remember how high this was but it was not like any other high dive I have seen in person.  6 different platforms and the top one was so, so high! The kids and I all jumped from the highest one!

Then it was time for family pictures- this was something Kent had scheduled for me as a birthday/Mother's Day gift. So thoughtful!

Loved all the beautiful flowers around town and all the Swiss shops and houses- seriously it was just how I imagined it. 

You guys, I almost cried when I saw the pictures when we picked them up on the last day.  We don't get family pictures taken every year and I know it is no one's favorite way to spend a couple hours and Kylee's *perfect* dress was still in her luggage, lost.  But she found this cute dress in town and the boys were super agreeable and honestly the whole thing was just great and now we have some lovely shots of us that I am so, so happy with! Thank you, Kent for making this happen!

When we picked up our photos, the photographer asked us for permission to put one up  in her shop window! So she must have been happy with them too and, of course, we said yes!

This one reminds me of one we took in Clear Lake earlier this summer! I'll have to do a side by side of the two of them!

Celebratory snacks and drinks after pictures! Shortly after this we saw Alfonso Ribeiro! The kids all knew him from being the host of AFV and Kent and I also from the Fresh Prince days! We didn't want to bother him (we were in our hotel lobby) so we didn't talk to him (this time- but later in the trip we ran into him right outside our hotel and Kent said hi!)

Then we headed to our group theme dinner.  Kase liked the big dogs!

This was a very memorable dinner.  The food was terrible (we all thought the fondue smelled like feet), the entertainment was questionable and it was so, so hot in there.  No air conditioning! Oh well, it was another memory to laugh about!

So we went to the Funky Chocolate shop for some dessert to save the evening! Super cute spot and we had fun trying all sorts of desserts.

Kylee spent many of the evenings hanging out with her new friends- one of the nights Kael went too, but lots of nights we were back in our room by about 10:00- still adjusting to the time change.  We enjoyed going back to our room and watching the Olympics but it was funny watching them from another country!

The next morning we went to Grindewald.  It was an adventure getting there- a walk to the train station, then walk from the train to the gondola, then walk to the place we planned to do mountain carts.  Super proud of us (Kent) for navigating so well!

And more great views once we got there!

It was a bit of a wait even though we had tickets so we killed time by taking pictures and getting some food. 

Then we were all geared up!

It was a fun ride down the mountain! Here Kase is laughing at me for going so slow but honestly those things flew! And there were no guard rails or anything!

We all loved it though- so much so that we got Trotti bikes to go the rest of the way down the mountain! Kent and I actually liked this even better.  We let the kids zoom ahead of us and we took our time going down and taking in the scenery.

This was where we had started our trip up and ended on the bikes. Super charming Swiss village!

Had to try the gelato there too!

That night we had dinner at the Italian restaurant at our hotel and this was one of my favorites.  

Kylee was still getting along sharing clothes with me.  Such a trooper.

Kent didn't want to call it a night so early so we found a little pool hall.  The kids loved doing this!

The next morning was our jet boat tour on Lake Brienz.  Again, for some reason my pictures aren't showing up of us on the boat but it was really fun and just about the perfect amount of time for a little history of the lake from our guide mixed with some adventurous spins!

Then Kent found a lunch spot on the 18th floor of a hotel just down the road from us.  So cool!

I forgot to mention right before this we all enjoyed going to the hot tub and indoor pool at our hotel and later we all had massages.  A spa day was lovely! After massages the boys rented scooters and I joined them towards the end while Kylee enjoyed the sauna and steam room!

This pool table in our hotel was so fun for the boys.  They often spent time there while Kylee and I finished getting ready for dinner!

This night we had dinner near our hotel then everyone wanted to swim in the river again. Brrr! Here's Kylee and Kase walking to gelato after dinner.

We spent our last day hiking! Kylee had wanted to find a "spot that wasn't too hard to walk to but you could swim in".  In other words she didn't want a two hour hike but was willing to go a little ways and it was definitely worth it! Our Maritz girl recommended Oechinessee so we took off! 

We hired a private driver to get to the town of Kandersteg because by the time we finished breakfast  (we were all sleeping in more than usual- I guess it took us a long time to adjust to the time difference) we would have had to wait another hour for the next train.  

Once again we took a gondola up the mountain.  We did a cute alpine slide there first which probably wasn't necessary but another funny memory when Kael accidentally rain into me. Then we walked about 20 minutes to this beautiful lake!

I mean, come on!! That is the real color of the water! So pretty!

There were cows all over on our walk there.  And even IN the lake when we got there! 

Turns out we aren't super big hikers.  We got to the lake but waaaaay across the lake were some pretty waterfalls we thought about hiking to.  We started on our way but got hot and tired and decided that the view of the falls was just fine from where we were, plus Kase had seen some teenagers jumping off this rock so he decided he would rather do that.  And he was able to convince Kylee and Kael to join him!

As we were leaving Kase decided he was hungry so we grabbed a brat from nearby and just laughed at him eating the brat with no bun and his bare hands with the mountains in the background.  So much Switzerland in this picture! 

We got back in time to cool off at the hotel pool and start packing up. AND when we got back to town, Kylee's luggage was there!!!!   Just in time for our group Farewell Dinner.  Since the kids had been such good sports about family pictures, I didn't force one this night even though they all looked so nice. After dinner Kent and I took one last walk to his favorite gelato spot and came back to our hotel lobby all decorated for Switzerland National Day (which is today- we missed being there for it just by one day!) 

One last nighttime view.  Loved this place.

One thing we love to do on our way home from a big trip is rank where this trip lands compared to other trips we have taken.  It is definitely near the top for all of us! Kase declared he could live there or at very least "stay for a month".  It's hard to compare it to a beach vacation since they are so different.  Another thing we like to do is rank "excursions" and I would say paragliding is also definitely near the top of the list for things we have done as a family on trips.  So many great memories made!

We had to get up early the next morning to start the long trek home.  There were a couple delays due to weather coming from Chicago to Des Moines but overall beside Kylee's luggage being lost it was pretty smooth.  However, in Chicago Kase left his phone on the plane and lucky we realized it before we had gone through customs because Kent was able to run back for it and we got it back! I couldn't believe it.  All in all, just a couple very small hiccups but traveling to Europe with five people went even better than I could have imagined! Love vacationing with my people!!!