Our European Vacation Part 2 - Exploring Saanen, Gruyere, & Gstaad

After the wedding, through the Kimball's generosity, we were able to continue our stay at The Palace Hotel. We spent a couple of days exploring the beautiful the Swiss Alps and the countryside.

EXPLORING SAANEN

One afternoon we walked to the neighboring village of Saanen and explored their 10th century church, one of the oldest in Switzerland.

CHATEAU de GRUYERES

One day Rolf, Liam, and I along with Mary Anne and George took the Golden Pass Panorama train from Gstaad to Gruyere. The Golden Pass is a train with a glass roof that gives you amazing views as you travel through the mountains.

Standing in front of the gate to the village of Gruyeres.

Can you find Liam?

What a happy boy! He just finished enjoying lunch outside the Chateau de Gruyeres.
We even had an audience of sheep watching us which proved to be very entertaining.


Standing outside the HR Giger Museum (needless to say we did NOT venture in).

Giger created the aliens for the movie Alien.

The village had some of the most beautiful doorways.

This is one of my favorites.

I was not a fan of geraniums before visiting Switzerland but now I am sold!

I think it must be a countrywide law to maintain stunning window boxes.

The view toward Lake Gruyeres.

The beautiful gardens at Chateau de Gruyeres.

Liam was such an awesome traveler.
He loved his Ergo Baby Carrier and took most of his naps in it.

Comfy for him...great exercise for us!

Family photo in front of the village fountain.

BIKING in GSTAAD

We had the most amazing weather while we were visiting Gstaad and decided to take full advantage of the beautiful Alps on our last day in town. We ventured out on bikes from the hotel, down through Gstaad, and along the river. We planned on eating lunch in the village of Gsteig but when we attempted to off road it with the baby buggy Liam quickly put up a protest and we had to return to the paved trail. We had a great ride and at the end Mary Anne and I had to threat to leave the boys to get them to return to Gstaad for lunch.

Rolf pulling the baby buggy behind a motorized bike!

The hill from town up to the hotel was so steep that you really needed it.

Mary Anne and George ready for the adventure.

Liam snuggled into the baby buggy.

He really like it as long as we were on the paved trail.

We can't wait to get one of these for Virginia!

FAREWELL TO THE KIMBALLS

On our final night in Gstaad the Kimball family graciously hosted us for dinner at their chalet. It was the first time the entire week that it had been just family. We had such an amazing time exploring this little piece of heaven. Thank you for sharing it with us Kimball family.

Liam playing with his cousin Nathaniel.

Our adventure is only half-way over. Stay tuned for more...

Our European Vacation Part 1 - A Fairytale Wedding in Gstaad, Switzerland

In early September we had the pleasure of traveling to Gstaad, Switzerland to celebrate with Emily, Philip, and the rest of their family and friends as they became husband and wife. We flew from Norfolk to Washington, DC to Zurich which was about 13 hours and then had a 3 hour car ride down to Gstaad. It was a long trip but truly worth every minute. We met up with family and friends, old and new, in Gstaad and enjoyed an amazing weekend celebrating Emily and Philip. I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Liam and Mommy off on another adventure

(So happy to have Rolf with us this time!)

A 4 hour layover is no fun with a baby but there was a Potbelly's near our gate so that made the wait a little better.

Liam greeting people as they board the plane.

Every fairytale has a castle, this was ours!

(A view of the Palace Hotel from town)

Exploring the village of Gstaad.

A map of the mountains for hikers and skiers.
We hiked Wispile which you can see toward the top of the map.

My sweet hubby stealing a few moments of quiet on our beautiful balcony.

The view from our balcony was amazing!

We slept with our windows open and awoke to the sounds of soft bells ringing in the pastures below.

We went on a hike with others in town for the wedding. It was a great mix of people from all over the world there to celebrate Emily and Philip.

Pointing us on our way...

Liam literally backpacking through Europe!

Awesome Wonder

(One of my favorite photographs from our trip)

Mary Anne, Rolf, Liam & I broke off from the big group for some family time. We had a great time hiking by ourselves singing as we went. Watch out Von Trapps here come the Granings!

A view of the Palace Hotel from the top of Wispile.

The village of Gstaad at dusk from the top of Wasserngrat (the rehearsal dinner location).

Sunset on the top of Wasserngrat

Liam rode on or should I say, slept through his first chair lift to get to the rehearsal dinner which was on the top of a mountain.

The Farrell Sisters

Aunt Kathleen (Mother of the Bride), Aunt Barbara, and Mary Anne

Sunset at Wassergrat

The hand of God.

All dressed up!

Here comes the bride...

The beautiful bride and groom just after saying "I do."
Emily and Phil exchanged vows during a beautiful inter-faith (Jewish and Christian) ceremony outside in the gardens of the hotel. Rolf and I both felt very honored to be readers during the ceremony.

Dancing at the reception

Liam was such a trooper and endured many long nights.

He did great during the ceremony and at the reception but you can tell he was one tired little guy.

Emily & Phil,

We wish you all the best as you begin your journey together. Thank you so much for letting us celebrate with you and for sharing such a special place with us. We feel truly honored to have been apart of such an amazing adventure.

Aunt Kathleen & Uncle Paul,
Your kindness and generosity far exceed any words. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for such an amazing time. The memories that you have given us are priceless and we are forever grateful. Thank you for sharing your special place with us. We now know why you love it so.

Stay tuned for more.....

Mommy & Me

Here are some awesome shots from a "Mommy & Me" photo shoot that my friend Rebecca did for us while we were down in Texas. Isn't she a talented photographer?

Livin' the Life in the Lonestar State

Last month Liam and I traveled down to San Antonio to visit our bestest friends the Lees Family and catch up with some of our other favorite friends and their kiddos. Unfortunately Rolf was working and wasn't able to make the journey with us but we definitely did miss him. Toby missed Rolf so much that he decided to work all weekend ;-)!(just kidding he was on call)

A lot of things have changed for us since our medical school days in Bethesda:
1. New homes - San Antonio & Portsmouth
2. New babies - Reagan (1 year) & Liam (10 months)
3. New dogs - Sadie and Chelsea
4. A toddler - Rylie (3.5 years old)
5. Residency and husband who seem to always be on call!

But a lot of things have stayed the same:
1. Toby still falls asleep on the couch before 9:00PM but totally denies that he is sleeping when woken up.
2. Rebecca and I are still able to stay up late talking about everything and nothing.
3. Rebecca still makes the best guacamole in the world and strawberry pie!
4. Arnie...well Arnie is still Arnie, not much has changed there.
5. And we are still the bestest of friends...no matter how many miles separate us.

We love you Lees Family and are looking forward to our family vacation!!

Meeting Uncle Toby for the first time!

Rylie was so good with Liam

Rylie helping Liam check out Reagan's toys

Reagan on the move

Best buddies, Liam and Reagan (maybe one day this will be in their wedding slide show!)

Check out those beautiful blue eyes!

An attempt at a group shot!

Here Comes Trouble (literally)

This post is for my sweet hubby who is on call tonight...

He finally did it! We have been eagerly awaiting this day for a long time. Liam has been working on it for weeks and tonight he finally put it all together and is now on the move. It has been a day for first for Liam, as he also figured out how to go from his tummy to sitting in his crib today and is already trying to pull up.

Here is our sweet little guy in action:

Please excuse the bribery, by the time I got out the video camera it was getting close to bedtime and he was getting tired.

Toes in the Sand

This month the entire Neal family, minus Rolf who was working, went on vacation together for the first time in 9 years. Growing up my family always went to The Cloisters in Sea Island, Georgia for family vacation in July but now that we have all "left the nest" and have our own families it has been difficult to take a family vacation with all of us having such different schedules. This summer with a special thanks to Gabi for inviting us all to join she and Ian at Kingston Plantation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, we were able to enjoy four sun-filled days of family fun. We actually enjoyed hanging out with each other so much that we are planning on doing it again next summer. Maybe we can talk mom and dad into taking us back to The Cloisters!! They went this summer to celebrate their 30th anniversary but for some reason they didn't invite the rest of us to tag along.

Here is a little slideshow of all the fun we had while on vacation: