Jungfrau: Tope of Europe!

Although it was a cloudy day, we decided to stick to our plan of going up to the Jungfrau. After almost 10 km of riding the train through a tunnel carved out of the rockface, we reached the cloudy summit - and a snowstorm! Jasper loved the ice palace which was carved inside the glacier, and throwing snowballs at all of us!

First Day above Wengen

Lynnedi & Nono took us on the most wonderful trip this past week. We took the train from Rougemont to Wengen (involving 4 changes!) and stayed in a wonderful chalet looking out onto the glacier Jungfrau. The day we arrived we took the gondola up one of the cliff faces & took in the dramatic views. Jasper was cold, and had to put on mummies (acutally Auntie Britt's!) jacket.

The rocket

We discovered over the course of the year that hammocks can be used very creatively & fuel any little (or big for that matter!) mind's imagination. Blankets figure highly in this equation, and usually they create a cosy "rocket" where we blast off from planet to planet. It can get a bit stuffy at times. It is a little sad to think our beach house days have drawn to an end....

Fishing in the "boat"

Last weekend at the beach house & Heather full of bright ideas. Including a fishing trip on the most comfy boat EVER! My question is whether her imagination was fueled by the home-grown caipirinhas made with limes off our resident tree....?

Tucking them in...

Jasper insists on tucking his little friends to bed. They look so cosy!

Hot Wheels!

Nothing like a day at the mall! The Hot Wheels promotion was great for our little racer...

T.G.I.F.

On the way to school Friday, I taught Jasper what T.G.I.F. stands for. He was super-keen and seemed to catch on right away. A few minutes later at school he told the teacher what T.G.I.F. meant: "Oh my God it's Saturday"!

Big Boy

Jasper is very proud he now sleeps through the night in his own bed (sometimes!), doesn't need a nappy anymore, and is all grown up. Just wish he'd lay off the beers before bed as it seems to effect his sleep!

The Budding Photographer

I'm actually looking at our "stuff" through new eyes....

Arrrrgh... Just call me Captain Long Eye

And then....

The peacock got a little nasty!

Jasper the Red Mystic Ranger

Jasper has noted we need to call him Nick when he's in costume. Cute!

Sao Joao Del Rei - Yet more churches...

By the time we were done the Minas trip, we were all "Churched-out". Jasper did remarkably well, but it was especially nice he got to travel from Tiradentes to Sao Joao in the first steam train used in Brasil - "Steaming Mary"!

Tiradentes

Jasper befriended a nice boy on our last stop in Tiradentes, and they went on a horse & carriage ride together to natural water springs where we drank the freshest mineral water ever! The Carriage had a resident dog appropriately named "Princessa".

Five funny faces

Jasper & Daddy had a great time in Ouro Preto making funny faces at the fountain..

Belo Horizonte

Probably the ONLY nice thing about the city is this church. Neimeyer was (as always) involved in the project...

Power Rangers Snore

Jasper knows ALL the lyrics to the Power Rangers theme song: Power Rangers Roar, Power Rangers Snore. Those are the words, aren't they?

Funky

My favourite shop in Sao Paulo - Melissa. Home of strange art installations & rubber shoes. Jasper looks great against their latest exterior paint-job. And I look great in the rubber shoes!

All the Way

And by the last day of (SwissGerman) ski-school, Jasper was in Level 2, and going well up the hill on a proper pommel lift. It really was amazing over the course of two weeks to see Jasper go from no technique to going up the hill alone followed by confident snowplows down pretty steep slopes. Now if he would only follow the teacher....

Ski School

As the weather was pretty rotten (note lack of snow in the hills), Jasper's group lessons had only 1-2 other kids. And a lovely teacher with the patience of a saint. The try-ski clips were off within 3 days and Jasper was zooming down the hill almost in control!

Chateau D'Oex

We were lucky enough to be present for the annual balloon festival just down the road from Chalet # 3, and had a wonderful morning watching at least 25 balloons take off over the course of an hour or so. It was amazing, and Jasper had fun identifying the balloons he had seen last year - including the one which took him for a tethered flight. Sadly, the wind was too strong for tethered flights for kids this year... so we shall keep our fingers crossed for the year to come.

Forget Slicing it....

Usually maternal instinct gets the better of me, and I insist on slicing it for him. However, his delight at the "weave" of the bread, and desire to devour it whole allowed me to put discipline aside for a moment and enjoy the show. And now you can too....!

First Snowman 2007

There was some snow when we arrived in Switzerland Jan 4th, and the first thing Jasper and Nono did together was build a snowman. Not a bad job. Hey Nono have you taken that carrot out of your jacket yet??

Ho ho ho....

He's Batboy! Or is he Liverpool boy? Or...? Christmastime was lovely and Santa was very good to Jasper...

Gooooooool

Jasper had a fabulous day at the football, and thanks to Eduardo's friends, had a chance to run onto the pitch with a group of children and wish the players good luck. He did it all by himself, and in fact ran so far out that he and Bia had to be retreived from mid-field and put back in their places. Heh.