We're off to Oman!

We weren't too sure for awhile since Inga's passport showed up just today (less than 24 hours prior to departure!) after being sent in for renewal weeks ago. Of course, with our luck, we noticed that her name is spelled incorrectly on the new passport. We're just hoping that we'll get a lazy passport control person that won't notice.

Anyways we're seeking sunshine, beaches and some exotic travel! Looks like we'll get the sunshine:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/MUXX0003?from=36hr_topnav_business.

We're all super excited, but Lukas has already informed us that he IS NOT going to ride a camel - "too scary!"

Hopefully, some interesting posts to follow!

No beads or boobs - just beer & brats

Last weekend we went to the Fasnacht (carnival) parade in Zurich. It was a beautiful sunny day and the parade was perfect - lots of costumes & music. Definitely more family friendly than the traditional mardi gras celebrations - no drunks or nudity. Lukas was dancing to the music and throwing confetti on some of the "monsters"that walked by. It was a test of courage for him because they would then come over to him which was quite scary, but also might give him a candy. Of course, in typical Swiss fashion, the street sweepers came by about 20 minutes after the parade was finished and everything was back to order in less than an hour......

Alpenhütte

One of my favorite things about CH, besides the chocolate, are the Alpenhütte. It seems no matter where we hike -no matter how remote we may be - we can crest a hill and there, like an oasis, is a little Swiss hut in the mountains ready to offer us a beer, wurst, coffee and cake. They really are storybook: A-framed, decorated with pine cones, cow bells and playing oompah Swiss music. Last weekend we headed again for the mountains for some snowshoeing. At the top of the gondola, though, it was windy & Inga was lazy. So....our 2 hour planned snowshoe hike turned into a 15 minute hike to an Alpenhütte for lunch with a great view!