Skiing when it's actually winter

This was a great weekend despite freezing temperatures!  First everyone is quickly recovering -- I'm probably the farthest one behind but at least I feel good enough to be useful. :)  Then Dad and Jose both arrived on Thursday and Friday afternoon we drove to Tignes for another round of skiing.  While I stayed with the kids most of the time (and most of the time indoors because it was soooo cold!) it was a very relaxing weekend and the boys got to enjoy their skiing.  Whereas in November there wasn't nearly enough snow now there's actually too much snow!  The good thing is all the runs are connected with snow so you can go everywhere around the mountain in skis (or sled if you're me and the kids).   Here's Jose and Dad starting their first run on the first day, basically leaving from right in front of our apartment and this tunnel took them to one of the lifts.

On the way back on Sunday afternoon we stopped at Annecy for a late lunch and took some beautiful pictures of Annecy at night, which I never had seen before "in person".  This one was from my iPhone which came out even better than the one with the Canon.

Next up some more goodbyes. :(   Dad is leaving on Wednesday and Jose's leaving this weekend to go back to Cincinnati for a few weeks.  C'est la vie!

In sickness and in sickness...

After so much "fun and leisure" over vacations we hit reality with a thump.  Jose left for Cincinnati on Tuesday after we arrived on Sunday afternoon, where he'll be spending a lot of time over the first few months of the year (the fewer the better!).  I will be playing single mom, hauling kid after kid to the doctor because their bodies are in shock after three weeks of pleasant weather -- warm sunny beaches and still warmer people around them.  I am incredibly grateful for the help of our nanny who can stay with one kid at home while I rush the other one to the doctor.  I am also incredibly happy that on Thursday both Jose and my Dad are coming to spend a little time here.  I do enjoy my time alone once the kids have gone to sleep where I can actually watch some chick flick that's been sitting on my DVR for 6+ months.  But I'd rather have Jose here taking the control of the remote because it's either Formula 1 or FIFA or who knows what other sport on the TV.  I would also like some time in the hectic schedule to be able to work out, but with this cold who wants to go outside anyway? I hope spring comes early this year...

Our only outings this weekend were to a birthday party and to the peruvian restaurant.  Sad I know but I'm trying to keep the kids inside healing as much as possible.  Sebas is thankfully fever-free as of Saturday, but now they're both coughing a lot and super congested.  And I'm next I can tell!  Hopefully next weekend I am alone with the kids we can do something a bit more fun like ice skating.  Gabi is not looking forward to skiing the next couple of weekends -- says it's too cold.  I can't say I disagree with her, despite the fact that everyone says it's been a relatively mild Genevois winter so far!

Happy New Year!

Crash landing is probably the best term to describe what I'm doing in the office today after so much time away! Suffice it to say the vacation to Lima was amazing and much-needed, and that it'll take me a while to adjust to the reality of being back in the daily grind (not to mention losing those extra few pounds).  Given I can't get my head in the game for a good post-vacation blog post today (hopefully after next weekend), I decided to just post these videos from our vacation, and then post my career horoscope for the year from Yahoo which I thought was suitable to describe the mayhem going on in our work lives right now, given that Jose is leaving tomorrow for Cincinnati and will spend a good portion of the next three months in Cincinnati.  Here's to single motherhood, hoping I can survive the next few months of 2012! I'm hoping the horoscope is right and that while turbulent, 2012 will bring great things to our personal and professional lives...

One more week

This was our last weekend in Geneva for the year. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. We had another busy weekend, trying to fit in some packing time for the four of us in between all the activities. Packing this year has somehow been very hard. Last year I packed everything for the kids and myself for five whole weeks in just one suitcase. I honestly don't even know how was I able to do that. This year somehow we've got two pretty big suitcases for the four of us and they both seem to be bursting at the seams. 

Anyway, yesterday we went to La Clusaz again. We'd been there last January and now that it's been raining a lot in Geneva it means lots of snow in the mountains.  Jose took a skiing lesson while the kids and I did some sledding at the base of the mountain. After a while I couldn't feel my feet though, so I was more than happy sitting in a restaurant looking out at the crazy skiers...

Only four more days in the office before beginning the long journey to Lima.  Via London. Via Mexico. Via Connecticut. I will be so happy once we're finally settled in (and free of jet lag!). Here's to another year of world travels. :)

Escalade

There's a well-known Genevois tradition every first Sunday in December called L'Escalade, which celebrates the defeat of a surprise attack to Geneva by France back in 1602.  Because Escalade means "climbing of the walls", there is a short race around the old town (which is all walls basically) every year.  I was excited to sign up Gabi for her very first race and she was excited that she would be running with some friends from school.  She did a 1K in the morning and then with zero training and just after having had lunch I did 5K in the afternoon.  It was a very fun activity that we had to miss last year because we were already on our way to Peru (can't complain about that!). Gabi was a little lazy about it (every time we saw her she was walking instead of running!) but with a little prodding from us she completed her first race. I think she was proud to be like her mommy who likes to run but I also have to remember she won't always like what I like. And that's OK.

Another activity we had missed last year was the Company Kids Christmas party. We were also able to do that yesterday afternoon and the kids had a blast. It was their own version of Art Attack which they are crazy about lately.

Today I am counting exactly 9 working days before we begin the long journey to Peru - not looking forward to the actual process of traveling, but definitely looking forward to actually being there! Warm weather, great food, and family. What else is there in life!?!

Thanksgiving

Lots of people are doing the "gratitude posts" all over social media this year.  I myself tried to be good about posting something daily on Facebook, and I also downloaded this cute little iPhone app called Gratitude. I'ts pretty obvious that family and friends are usually at the top of the list for most people when it comes to giving thanks this time of year, and I am indeed very grateful for that. But I quickly add a "but" in there -- I am so grateful for spending Thanksgiving with family BUT I wish I could spend more time with them.  Guess it comes with the territory of living away from family.  So I keep trying to find a "BUT-less" gratitude statement and I guess it's this...that my incredible three year old son showed an amazing amount of bravery on Friday evening after getting into a losing battle with his sister and slamming his chin against the corner of a wooden sofa in the apartment we were staying at Tignes, requiring four stitches and a big injection to the cut...while he cried a ton when he actually cut his chin once he was on the doctor's table he didn't move a muscle, he didn't cry and he didn't complain at all.  Then he was so proud of himself he kept telling us he was so brave.  And then when we got to school this morning and a friend asked him "what happened?" he said "You should've seen the other guy".  (coached by his Dad of course).  And that his wonderful older sister felt so concerned for his baby brother she spent the entire time he was at the doctor writing him "get well notes" (she also felt partly responsible about his accident so she had a huge amount of guilt that we had to try to talk her out of!).  So I guess what I'm saying is I'm grateful for how my kids never seize to amaze me. Never ever ever. No buts about that.

I'm also grateful for this amazing view.  I got what seems to have been the flu over the weekend so skiing was out of the question for me; I barely had enough energy on Friday to watch the kids sledding...But once I started feeling better I went out with my sister around Tignes for walking and usually stumbled upon a view or two like this.  The altitude wasn't the only thing that left me breathless!

We had to break the streak

Well I guess it was too many straight weekends at home (two!) so we took a short trip to Morocco this past weekend.  The weather didn't want to cooperate too much the first day but we braved the elements and went through the street market for hours and hours. So cool!  Next day we traveled 3 hours to the Atlantic Ocean and since the weather did decide to cooperate that was an even better street market experience! Now we are waiting for Thanksgiving to go skiing at Tignes!

One thing I loved is how many cats there are in Morocco, amazing!  And they were so nice too but you had to be careful not to feed them because otherwise you were bringing them home!

And finally I loved my little iPhone 4S camera, it took such great pictures!  Like this one...And with Instagram filters, I'm in photography heaven. :)