Escape from the fog

Living by the lake has its downfalls, one of which is the fall fog. Somedays it is like living inside a cloud and you never see the sun. I don't really mind the fog, but it bothers Luke so this past weekend he was determined to escape it and drive up the mountains. We didn't have to drive far before we were out of the fog cloud

In the mountains above Neuchatel looking down on the
sea of fog below us

We drove up to the city of La Chaux de Fonds where they have a free zoo

On the playground at the free zoo

It was great to feel the sunshine!

All bundled up with little Lily

At one point at the zoo I told Jack that there were reindeer (not sure if they really were reindeer or not, but they sure looked like it) and Jack told me "no mommy, those aren't rain deer, they are fog deer." I love the things that this boy comes up with!

 My little animal lover

 Having fun in the leaves

 My guys

 And here are some more pictures of Lily with her cute bow a friend made for us

A good way to keep Jack from being a camera hog
is to give him his own camera!

Smiles for daddy!

My pretty girl

"Does this bow make my cheeks look fat?"

Loving the double chin!

Happy girl

Basel Herbstmesse

This past weekend we drove up to Basel to go to their annual Autumn fair (called the Herbstmesse in German). It is Switzerland's largest and oldest fun fair, dating back more than 540 years and attracts over a million visitors.  

One of several squares throughout Basel with rides and food

Taking a look at the Rhine river

Jack and Mabel eating hot dogs

Hundreds of booths were scattered throughout selling
all sorts of things. I picked up several tasty treats for myself.

Jack and Mabel were able to enjoy the kiddie rides

I loved how this one was like a mini-prison. I wish we
could have let them ride in this for several hours while
I got some Christmas shopping done ;-)

We couldn't leave without riding the pony

It was a good afternoon outing. Surprisingly Lily did great and slept the whole time we were at the festival and did pretty good during the 90 minute (each way) drive.

I wanted to post some updated pictures of Lily. She just had her one month check up and is weighing in at just over 11 pounds. I haven't been able to take as many pictures of her like I did when Jack was a baby... and here is why

Taking a picture of Lily is no easy task. Every time I get ready to take a picture of Lily, Jack wants to jump in the photo too:

That's not so bad, but eventually he wants to be the only one in the picture so he'll try everything possible to block Lily from the camera

And then there is the smothering. It's really hard to get a good picture of Lily when Jack is always trying to get right in her face:

Every once in a while I can get a picture of Lily by herself:

But then Jack is always asking me to take a picture of what he is doing:

And then, if I am taking pictures of Lily, I cannot watch what kind of trouble my 3 year old is getting in to

But every once in a while I get some good shots:

I love to see Lily light up when she sees her brother:

But then again I have to be careful of the 3 year old who thinks it's fun to launch Lily right off her little rocker:

And it's time to put the camera away...