This morning
was BEAUTIFUL. We woke to crystal clear skies and a stunning view of the alps
& plateaus in the sunshine. After our grey arrival yesterday it was
amazing. Outside our door was a plate with fresh muffins and a little morning
note from Samira – Marin’s 16yo cousin, Andrea’s daughter – she is really
lovely!
The boys
were ‘allowed’ to sleep as long as they wanted today (sort of...) – as we had
no great amount of driving to accomplish today it was nice to have a slower
start. The girls hung with Noah (he is just too cute), Mika (who becomes almost
liquid when being patted in the sun and fell off the couch/peoples knees a few
times) and Samira while consuming a few hot drinks and a bretzel to keep us
going.
After the
men emerged we did some washing and had breakfast together while planning the
day. Off to Lichenstein Castle we ventured with Sonya & Noah along for the
adventure too. We had a wee drive before walking through autumn colours to the
castle itself. There’s a playground there and a confidence course in the trees!
The flying fox got some good use before we explored around the castle, saw the
magnificent view over the valley, ate some nuts off the trees after Maren
showed us how to, heard some stories connected to the castle then sat in the
sun to share cake and a drink for lunch.
Back through
the autumn trees (past a HUGE forest ant mound –amazing!) to the car. BBQ for
dinner tonight so we headed to the supermarket and butcher for supplies before
returning to Sonya & Tarsten’s place. Tarsten’s other children had arrived
by this stage – Alisa & Maya (8yo twins) and Ben (6yo) – so it was a full house!
Dinner preparations underway, Bray played outside with the kids to make some
room inside for kai prep – very wise.
Kids fed
first then Bray & Simon took over BBQ duties and cooked our meat to
perfection. A relaxed and delicious dinner consumed by all as the kids watched
their weekly Friday cartoon-type show. We were really impressed by Ludo which is a “kid’s news” segment in
the show. A presenter shares political, sports and global news in a manner that
kids can understand – NZ even made it on there with our looming environmental
disaster in Tauranga :-(
As a concept
it’s great and the execution is efficient – the kids asked questions about news
stories and both Maren & Simon said that it kept them connected to the news
when younger, awesome. Something NZ kids shows could do with!
After clean
up there was some relaxing to be done, Bray bonded with Tarsten over a fire
outside under the stars while the others kept warm inside. Roni popped home for
a bout of space before returning to play Skip Bo with the adults. Maren was
victorious!
The family
retired to bed after that so us four filled a basket with supplies and walked
down the road (Andrea and Samira were out for the night). We played some 3 Up 3 Down (new to Simon) with snacks
and beverages before looking at pics from today and retiring to bed...once
again early in the am.
