Cousin Brant and Sardine come to Switzerland

July 21-August 5, 2009

My parents came to Switzerland! Their names are Brent and RaeDene. Most children call their grandparents Grandma & Grandpa, Nana & Papa, etc... Rachel is not most children. She prefers to call her grandparents Cousin Brant and Sardine. It makes me laugh just typing it!

We had such a great time while they were here! Even though I'm certain my parents would have been perfectly content to sit on our balcony and stare at the view for their entire trip. We did manage to pry them away from their perch for a bit of sightseeing.

We took a short hike to Heidi's house. Yes, even fictional characters have homes.
My husband, the goat trainer

Those goats were mean. Poor danny took a horn to the gut. Fortunately he suffered only a minor flesh wound.

(Click on the collages to enlarge)

August 1st is Swiss National Day. Matt and I had arranged to have breakfast at a local farm. For my parents, I think this was the highlight of their trip! Fresh cows milk, rosti (Swiss style hashbrowns) fresh eggs, homemade breads, jams, pastries, and sausages. It was to die for!

The kids had a blast playing on the farm. Danny couldn't get enough of the tractor obstacle course.

We also took a 3 day excursion to Bern and Interlaken.

I was in charge of finding hotel accommodations for one night in Interlaken. I checked on Trip Advisor and found a reasonably priced and seemingly clean hotel. Funny, neither Trip Advisor nor the hotel's online site mentioned anything about the fact that it was also a home for the elderly and mentally disabled. When we first arrived and walked into the lobby, we were certain we had walked into the wrong place. No such luck. My parents kept the kids in the lobby while Matt and I parked the cars and carried the luggage up to the rooms. After doing so, we met up with my parents and told them we may need to switch rooms because of the awful smell. My Dad then informed us that the smell came from the old man downstairs who just pooped his pants. We figure he saw the 'mess hall' sign and got a bit confused. (Da Dum-Ching) Fortunately, the mess was cleaned up an the smell eventually drifted away. Needless to say, I took a lot of flack for my choice of hotel. I told my parents that if they kept giving me a hard time about it, I would check them in PERMANENTLY! I can't remember the actual name of the hotel, but to us, it shall forever be known as The Poo Palace.

UPDATE: It was the Hotel Artos in Interlaken. After scanning the site a bit more meticulously, I found this in the photo section. I suppose if I would have taken the time to study the blurred figures in the background, I would have noticed that they were all OLD!

We also visited the Trummelbach Falls, Schloss Neuschwanstein, and beautiful Appenzell.

In Appenzell, my Dad bought me and awesome birthday present. A bell almost identical to the one in the picture above. I LOVE it!

Thanks Brant and Sardine! We had a blast. Come again soon!