Kevin and Carol drove Erik and the girls up to the Hamburg Airport early yesterday morning. They had gotten their seats the day before, online. Thankfully, Danae was able to sleep some. They enjoyed a nice lay-over with their Pilot-Uncle Kirk. Newark is one of his airline's hubs. In the mean time the girls had a good night of rest (though Danae is still having a bad sore throat and cough) and are busy organizing for school tomorrow, looking for books, and, in Dalene's case, also working.
Bradley took Danika and Donovan on the front of his skis for a few meters. They loved it.
Bradley treated us to two Swiss refreshments on our last afternoon. We sat outside on the balcony overlooking the ski area below.
The innertubes were lots of fun, and in the afternoon we were all happy to see Derek up close before he headed down the mountain again.
Last year the kids were skiing/boarding mostly on ice and artificial snow. This year every day was beautiful! What a special blessing! (Derek, Devon, "Going Down", Danae and a girl at camp, Dalene and Doreen)
Doreen and her little camp friend, Denise, built another snowman together. The skies are constantly amazing! The kids enjoyed their time outside until the last minute, and Dustin and Dalene then played a game before supper was called.
Bradley and Dalene came down off the mountain early to have some play time with the younger kids. Danika, Donovan and Danielle had fun showing the snow men they had built, Dalene had a great view from above, the boys enjoyed a snowball fight with Daddy and some fun romping.
In the early afternoon I walked up towards the bus stop to pick up Dustin and Doreen who were coming back down from skiing. It was a steep path. :) One of the camp buses ended up bringing us back down which we appreciated greatly. :)
It gradually stopped snowing and then began clearing as we were finishing up. The first two pictures I took right before the snow men were done, and then on our way back. The rest I took after we went up to our room. We were surrounded by breath-taking beauty. Our room was on the top floor, and Danielle, too, loved looking out across the valley from our balcony. By that time everyone was ready for a nice nap!
We built our snow family up by the bridge to welcome our family when they came home. "Papa, Mama and Baby" survived several days, though we needed the hats and shawls back earlier. :) Danika took the top picture of Danielle and me rolling a ball together.
It was still snowing when we rose on the third day. Snow chains were needed, so the three youngest and I stayed home and had a great time playing and building. It was perfect packing snow. We stayed up by the parking lot and were able to roll some good sized snow balls.
