HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Here are a few pics from one of my favorite holidays. Matt actually bought the little shark costume back in July, before the baby was even born. She humored us by wearing it for a few minutes, but it didn't last too long. Oh well. Happy Halloween!

SWITZERLAND PART II - BERN

Bern was one my favorite places in Switzerland. I'd recommend following Rick Steve's walking tour of the city - without it, you could wander right through the historic old town area without realizing what you're seeing. The walk starts near the train station and ends near the famous bear pit. You'll pass one of Einstein's apartments and the Zytglogge clock tower, which has stood at the edge of the city in one form or another since the 1200's. It's one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the world and is even a UNESCO Heritage Site, which is cool if you're a history nerd like me.

SWITZERLAND PART 1 - INTERLAKEN AND THUN

We were lucky enough to spend some time in Switzerland this summer for Matt's work. Even though we were entertaining clients, we still had a great time and managed to make an awesome babymoon out of it. This was actually the second time I've visited Interlaken. The first was exactly 10 years earlier (wow that makes me feel old), when I traveled there after studying abroad in France. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time. We spent most of our days there wandering around under umbrellas, and eventually got so bored that we convinced my brother to get his ear pierced. That was a real hit with the parents when we can home. This time, I was excited to go back and really do it right.

Interlaken is a pretty little tourist town and makes a good home base for exploring the nearby alpine valleys and glaciers. We took the train up to the Harder Klum overlook, explored local restaurants and did a little shopping, but saved most of our time and money for the big attractions that lie just outside of the city.

We stayed at the historic Victoria Jungfrau hotel, which was amazing, especially considering the fact that the last time I was in Interlaken I shared a hostel room with my brother, my best friend and a bunch of complete strangers (and that was one of the nicer hostels we visited!) Our room was gorgeous, so clean and roomy, with a marble bathroom and fresh chocolates delivered every night. Basically pregnant lady heaven. 

This is the view from Harder Klum. Matt loved this so much that we almost did it twice. You can hike up to it if you're feeling ambitious. We were not.

Another view of our gorgeous hotel.

A pretty little church in the middle of town.

The neighboring town of Thun is definitely worth a visit. It's only a 15-minute train ride and it's a great place to explore and grab dinner. I found it a little more charming than Interlaken, and the restaurants along the river have great views.

PARX'S BABY BLESSING

Our little nephew Parx was blessed the week after Kate was born. She was too little to go to the service, but we did get her all dressed up in one of my old outfits for family pictures before the main event. Look at those long legs!

NEWBORN PHOTOS

Here's a glimpse of our beautiful baby when she was just 10 days old. Getting myself, Kate and the house ready for a photo shoot was a challenge to say the least, but luckily our photographer made it look like everything was under control.  You'd never know that the baby was crying between takes, eating about every 10 minutes, and that I was a sweaty mess. (You're supposed to crank the heat to 80 for a newborn shoot so the baby won't get chilled when she's hanging out in her birthday suit. Good for baby, not so good for mama's hair and makeup.) Kate is a mini version of her dad, right down to the long eyelashes and olive skin.

AND I'M BACK

A lot has changed since my last post...we remodeled our house, went to Switzerland, and oh yeah, we also had a baby. I obviously have some catching up to do, but in the meantime, here's a few pics of me and baby Kate enjoying this gorgeous fall weather.