Zermatt

The British love their holiday. They have holidays more often than Americans do and they don't feel the smallest amount of guilt. I love that. When a school vacation comes, almost everyone jets off on holiday. It has taken me a little while to get used to this wonderful mindset~ but I think I am there!

I have declared 'our best vacation ever' to be this year to Zermatt, Switzerland. Our travel was smooth. We stayed in the same place for 7 days. The town was sparkling with little lights. The food was amazing. The views were spectacular. Each day we got out skiing and then had relaxing evenings. We did half board with our hotel. Each night we had a 5 course dinner that was so delicious I can't even describe it. Yummy!! After dinner we snuggled up in front of the fire and relaxed. I had enough down time that I finished the new Dan Brown novel ~ loved it!

The views of the Matterhorn mountain as we were skiing are breathtaking. I couldn't get enough. I think I photographed it from every angle I could. We had two days when the weather was nice enough that we were able to ski from Switzerland into Italy and have lunch at an adorable little Italian place.

We had such a lovely time. I hope I have found the magic formula for a perfect vacation!

Hanukkah

This post is a bit late, but I need to go back and record our wonderful holiday season. Lenny and I had a field trip to Golders Green a week before the first night of Hanukkah to pick out a menorah (also called a Hanukkia) We found this adorable little dreidel menorah! Every night that we could, all three of us gathered around our dreidel menorah and sang the blessings together. It is an amazing process feeling ourselves become a family unit.


Lenny and I both had a hard time finding each other a Hanukkah card. Lenny went into one shop and they said they were too small to have any hanukkah cards. So, he went into the largest card shop in Richmond. They didn't have any cards out in the store, but in the back room they did have a few. When Lenny said that Hanukkah was still going on so they should keep the cards out longer, they said they didn't have room. However, they did have room for at least 600 Christmas. The shop I went into, even had a sign in the window for Hanukkah... but they let me know hanukkah was over. Hum, interesting. I thought it was 8 days! Silly me.



The best night of hanukkah 2009 was the 8th night. We had our closest friends over for dinner. Lenny made amazing latkes using his mom's recipe. I made homemade applesauce to go with them. Truely amazing. Who knew potatoes could be so good! For dinner we had a classic brisket that has started to become a bit of a family tradition. As I was getting ready for everyone to come over, I was filled with the most wonderful feeling. I really felt like family was coming. I felt relaxed and excited. Emily, Jayme, Rebecca, and Dave are some of the most amazing people I know. I really love them to bits. The brisket didn't come out right at all, and I wasn't too upset. I knew if we needed to we would just order pizza! It was family, and they really didn't care what we ate. You know that feeling? It is so wonderful.

Kingston

Forecast: Saturday evening ~ light rain. Sunday ~ heavy rain. Monday ~ light rain. Tuesday ~ heavy rain. I think you know where this is going.

So, Saturday afternoon we decided to make the most of the time before the rain and take a walk.... to Kingston! I had been wanting to do that walk for some time. I imagined it would be a lovely walk along the Thames River through Twickenham & Teddington into Kingston.

I was right! It was a great walk! As I look back at the pictures, I laugh because they don't look like such a wonderful day! But, I guess it is all relative. I really had a lot of fun. It was the first time I got out of the house for some recreation with Lenny in almost a month (remember the blog about being sick?!) I know by all the mud that Chula also had a great time!

Snapshot of the day: Walk along the river. Hold hands with my husband. A few photo opportunities. Dinner at our favorite Mexican place in Kingston.

Biggest surprise of the day: Chula got to come into the restaurant with us! Many of the pubs out in the suburbs will allow dogs, but I had not even ever asked in a restaurant. By the time we got to Kingston, it had been drizzling for a while and we wanted to eat inside. To my shock, they had no problem with her joining us! Now, it is even more of a favorite place!!

I also had a fun new toy ~ a pedometer! Our walk turned out to be 6.33 miles! Not too bad.

Houdini

Here's a riddle? How does a dog get out of an apartment with all the doors and windows locked? This Friday we wondered that when Lenny got a text message from our landlord saying "Nikki has your dog."

Nikki is our upstairs neighbor. Our first thought was, how did she get Chula?? We had a chuckle when we realized that she was wondering the same thing! Apparently she saw Chula in her back garden as she was getting into the shower. By the time she got out of the shower, a woman was holding Chula in the front yard looking all around. Long story short ~ Nikki had a visitor until we got home from work that day.

The big question is... how did Chula get out? While that remains a mystery, I think it is safe to assume that just like Houdini... Chula had a secret trap door that let her slip out. How often have we said, Chula is smaller than some cats.

Some people like to call it a 'cat door' but we have renamed it. Whatever you call it, in addition to re-checking that it is locked.... we have also taped it closed!