The YaYa's have Landed

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The YaYa's have arrived! (My mother and her bestest bud since the ice age, Mother Marilyn Tucker). It was wonderful to have not one, but 2 grandmas to spoil us and the girls for 10 days. We got to celebrate Abigail's 6th birthday over French Flammenkuchen (fancy pizza) and homemade cake! We took the opportunity to find some more spectacular spots in the area. We traveled to Chateau de Chillon on Lake Geneva and Gruyeres, Switzerland(home of Gruyeres cheese, and a beautiful medieval city). This weekend we rented a car and roadtripped into Northern Italy to the Italian Alps and up to the French/Italian border to see Mont Blanc, the tallest Mt. in Europe. It was more adventure than we bargained for. Abigail and Bella, unaccustomed to traveling by car now, were very ill on all the winding mountain roads...we had to make 3 emergency stops (the whole trip was only 1.5 hours) to clean up and change the girls..and the car. FUN, FUN, FUN! poor babies. Once we arrived at our hotel, in the tiny village of St. Nicolas, Italy, we discovered that the beautiful, serene area was really not ready to accomodate tourists in early November (off season). Everything was closed. After successfully navigating the cliffside, sans-guardrail switchback road up to St. Nicolas, to discover that our only means of food,etc. was ALL the way back down about made me cry...especially since we had puked our way through the girls entire wardrobe. So, we made lemonade out of lemons and were thankful we brought a healthy supply of wine, and spent our afternoon sipping and enjoying the quiet, beautiful area. That evening, we did venture out to find food..and after 2 hours lost up on the mountain, found a great little Italian restaurant. The next day was more successful...we hiked a bit in St. Nicolas, drove just to the Italian/French border to get a good look at Mt. Blanc, and took our time making our way back to Switzerland. Just over the Swiss border we made a quick stop in Grand St. Bernard (with St. Bernards EVERYWHERE...I thought Abigail, my little dog lover, was going to have a heart attack). The return trip brought us only one puke stop, so overall a great success!

A couple of days later, we packed the YaYa's up, put them on the train to the airport home...a very sad affair. Our next big adventure will be our trip to Wisconsin for Christmas. YIPPEE!

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Photos

Chateau Chillon
The arms room, complete with a mideval Knights gear...coool.

view from Chillon
The castle is perched on the edge of Lac Leman (Lake Geneva)

Lord Byron's pillar
The pillar Lord Byron was chained to for 8 years. You can see where he etched his name in the stone.

horse cake
...ohh, the yaya's are so creative...whipping up Ab a horse cake, per her order, for her birthday.

Hannah Montana
Ab doing her Hannah Montana impersonation

Abby
Ab models her new birthday jammies from YaYa Marilyn, and her new pet and carrier

Gruyeres sheep
very sweet, lots of new baby sheep, right next to the castle. The girls got to witness a brand, brand new baby take her first steps.

new baby
go to page 2 and 3 to see more photos!