Ski Week 2013!

During mid-February we spent another great week in Serfaus Austria for the kids' Sportferien.  It's a really fun vacation filled with skiing.  The week we were there, there were also a lot of Dutch and German families on holiday.  So, Nate and Will took ski lessons the entire week, which included a ski race at the end.  And Meredith learned to ski this week!  She started in the Kinderschneealm (kids' area) and by Wednesday they were going on the lifts and the pistes!  Incredible!  Dave, Elise and I skied together and Dave and I took one afternoon of lessons (Elise says she's done with lessons now!).

We stayed at the Familienhotel Furgler for the second year in a row, and it was great!  Meredith and William would go to the kids' club after dinner to do a craft or some activity, and Nate and Elise could hang out in the hotel.  But we were usually all so tired after skiing...and eating...  The meals are so nice there, with breakfast, snacks and cakes in the afternoon, and a children's buffet and a 5-course served dinner every night for the adults.  Amazing!

We tried hard to speak German all the time at meals - since we were in Austria and they speak high German there.  Tuesday was Fasching (Carnival in Austria), so Meredith and William dressed up in costume at the kids club, complete with face painting, and Meredith won first place in the contest (the first 3 prizes all went to the smallest kids!).  They had a lot of fun.

As I mentioned, the kids did a ski race as part of their class.  William's teacher told me the day before that he was really fast - and he is!  He got 5th place in his race (he slowed down after the last flag and didn't realize he still had to go farther to officially finish), and was a good sport about it all.  Nathan got third place (he had gotten 2nd the last 2 years and he's very serious about the competition).  And Meredith got 4th place (her class started with 10 kids, and by Friday there were only 4 in the race...).  But Meredith definitely got first place for the cutest smile while racing.  Speed didn't seem to be so important to her.  But Nathan and William are speed demons!

I love the way Nathan ran out when they called his name!

We love this tradition and have already rebooked for next year!

Nathan's Baptism

Nathan turned 8 years old on January 11th, and was baptized on Sunday, January 27, 2013.  It was an amazing day!

When thinking about his baptism beforehand, Nathan had been a bit disappointed that his grandparents and extended family weren't able to come.  We decided it would be a great idea to invite some of his close friends from school and their families.  We sent out 9 invitations, and 8 families came (the ninth planned to come until two of their kids became ill the night before!).  The Gunvad, Curtin, Norris, Patel, Pagliara, Galkin, MacNaughton, and von Wittgenstein families came.  It was so cool!  The families were all anticipating the event and many of them said it was an honor to be invited!

The ward was incredibly kind as well - with so many people volunteering to help and bring food, and Lilly Mueller coordinating this huge apero with 31 different food items!

Nathan was well prepared, having read a book about baptism and talked with the bishop the week before.  Of course, he had actually been preparing for this all his life.

The baptism was really special - with Bishop Uchtdorf conducting.  Ana Da Rocha, the primary president, gave the opening prayer, and I (Mom) gave the talk on baptism.  Then there was a special musical number by William and Meredith, accompanied by Elise.  They sang "I Am a Child of God" in both English and German.  And there was applause from the audience!  It was so sweet.  Dave baptized Nathan with the missionaries as the witnesses, then we had a "Wunschkonzert" while we waited for them to get dressed and come back into the meeting.  Dave gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, then confirmed Nathan, along with Bishop Uchtdorf, Roni Eckart, Sandro Kreisch and Giovanni Lotito, our home teachers.  The bishop then gave a very nice welcome to Nathan and talked to the congregation about feeling the spirit and how we all feel it differently, and about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

The whole meeting was very special - because of the kindness and support of our ward family as well as our non-member friends.  During the wonderful apero afterwards, we had a chance to talk to many of our friends who were so nice to come.  It was really special for them to share the day with us and see firsthand an important part of our religious beliefs.

We're so proud of Nathan and the kind, smart, sensitive boy he is!

Happy Hippie Halloween!

Elise passing out candy from our "trunk-or-treating" trunk at the annual ICS Halloween Party!

We got lots of compliments on the groovy family theme - for the church Halloween party...

And for the school party!

Will wore his costume to school for his class party - and I reminded him that he was born in Berkeley, California, the birthplace of the hippie movement (here he is with his friend John)!

Elise was the mastermind behind the theme title for the trunk...and who knows when a disco ball might come in handy again!

What an amazing school experience!

I was just looking at Elise's schedule for the new school year, and one day she has English, German, and Spanish in a row.  What an incredible opportunity to be learning these languages, not to mention the performing arts classes (dance, drama and music) as well as visual arts, humanities, math, science, PE and technology!

The boys also have great classroom teachers and lots of specialist teachers for German, art, music, pottery, PE and IT...

First Day of School!

The kids went back to school today, Aug 22nd, 2012.  Elise is in 7th grade, Nathan in 2nd, William in kindergarten...and Meredith is still going to her Swiss preschool on a farm 3 days a week!

Boston!

Elise and I just got back from Boston.  We were there over the weekend for my 15th HBS reunion (how time flies) and we had a great time!

The reunion itself was great - but who would expect any less from HBS!  The campus is absolutely beautiful, and a lot of new buildings have been built since I graduated.  I warned Elise before we arrived that the campus is not the real world - it is so nice!  And there were people in blue shirts everywhere smiling, greeting us, and ready to give directions or any help needed!  It reminded me of my first day on campus when all the people working around campus greeted each of us with "Welcome to Harvard Business School".  It's very well done...

So, Elise came with me to Dean Nohria's speech and some of the faculty presentations, and spent a bit of time hanging out in one of the many study lounges reading.  I heard Clayton Christensen present, and it was so inspiring - both from a business and spiritual perspective.  He is very accomplished, but very humble.  He's LDS, and his faith is very evident in his approach toward life.  He recently wrote a book called, How will you measure your life? that I'm currently reading, and also another book called Disrupting Class about disruptive technologies in the education system.  Very interesting!

It was so fun to see people (most of whom I haven't seen in 10 years, since I was at the 5-year reunion).  There are some great people, very accomplished and very nice.  It was such fun to catch up with study group friends (who I spent every morning at breakfast with during our first year), section mates, and other friends.  The personal relationships are really gratifying!  Elise found it so funny that all these people knew me and I was always greeting and hugging people (and she had no idea who any of them were).  Elise did meet a girl who she spent a long time talking with - Lila Brady, whose mom Julia was in my section.  They had just returned to Maine after living for 3 years in Italy and going to the international school there, so she and Elise had a lot in common.

Elise got to join in a case study discussion for kids on Saturday.  The case study was Coca-Cola on Facebook by Professor Deighton, and he is the one who taught the class.  It was an actual case, not a special case written for kids, so it was challenging.  But Elise read it and prepared beforehand, and had a great time.  It was broadcast for the parents in the room next door, and you could definitely see that they were a group of HBS alumni's kids!  Every hand in the room was up, trying to "get in!"  There were probably 100 kids in the room.  Elise got in with a good comment about Coca-Cola wanting to create a "cool" image.  She was raising her hand a lot, but just got in once (the teacher was trying to give as many people a chance as possible!).  She was all miles when she walked out and said it was really fun - but she also said that mostly all of the comments were really good - and all the kids seemed smart!  What a great opportunity for her!

We walked around Harvard Square and I showed Elise our apartment at 13 Story Street.  We were staying at the Sheraton in Boston, so I also pointed out Dave's bachelor pad on Marlborough and Mass Ave!  We did some serious shopping at Cambridgeside Galleria on Saturday evening (it was real de ja vu seeing the food court at the Galleria - where I ate many a lunch and dinner while I was working at Monitor next door).

Sunday we went to church at a new building on Binney Street in Cambridge, which was very nice (but I didn't know anyone there - a lot changes in 15 years!).  Then we took a Boston Duck Tour which Elise loved (she said the guide was much funnier and more entertaining than most of the tour guides in Europe).  She even got to drive the Duck!  Then we had brunch at Fire and Ice in the Back Bay.  It's a restaurant that Dave and I went to (the Harvard Square location) when we lived there.  We walked around the public gardens and spent some time relaxing before heading back to Zurich on Sunday evening.

It was a great time - both to be back at Harvard and see so many classmates, and also to spend some really nice time with Elise!