Switzerland–Day One. One of my favorite days ever.

I I just put all these pictures in this post and I can’t believe we did all of this in one day!  It was enough to make us absolutely fall in love with Switzerland.  Last winter, through all those snow storms we read Heidi together as a family.  If you like to read aloud to your kids I think Heidi is a MUST.  But I warn you: it will make you itch for Switzerland to be surrounded by the alps and all that pasture land, the air, the clear water.   It all really is as restorative as that book claims it to be. 

I told Tal an Anita that really (besides seeing them and their awesome life there) what I wanted was to live a day in Heidi Land.  Little did I know there really is something right by them called Heidi Land!  But that touristy stuff wasn’t what I wanted.  I just wanted to live a day up in the high pasture land of the alps, breathing in that air and beauty.  Breath taking. 

So trust Anita to take us just to the spot that I had pictured in my head while reading Heidi. Up and up through pasture land, surrounded by snow capped mountains. 

We felt alive!  Beauty engulfing us around every bend.  Wild flowers, cows, streams. 

A lot of our hike was on roads past lots of Grandfather Alp type houses.  We kept going up. 

Anita is a powerhouse carrying little a up those mountains.  She makes it look so easy.  There’s something strong about that Swiss air. 

Until we reached this crazy contraption, not sure what it’s for, but we imagined it was for Peter and Heidi and Grandfather to transport their goat milk up and down the mountain. 

We stopped here for the most beautiful picnic of my life.  This is EXACTLY where I imagined Heidi and Peter would stop to eat the bread and cheese and flask of fresh milk everyday with their goats. Where Clara drank in the mountain air and miraculously learned to walk.  We felt stronger and more alive eating our sandwiches there in that rocky pasture up high. 

Emmeline also did her fair share of screaming up there….just so I wouldn’t get too lost in my little Heidi bliss.  

While we ate and dealt with Em’s little tantrum, Charlie and Jeff went up a little further to get to the top and see over the other side.  

On our way down Hazel stepped in quite a few cow pies.  Luckily in Switzerland there are drinking water spigots all over creation with the most delicious water running out of them.  So we got her all washed up and headed down the mountain. 

Where we used a self timer to take a family picture to remember this perfect moment in time. 

I’m dying now to go back to those mountains.  To live in them for a season.  They feel like magic. 

And then our day turned from green to brilliant blue when we stopped for lunch and a swim here.  Seriously.  That’s the color of Swiss lakes.  It’s incredible.

It was a SUPER hot day and that water felt so thrilling and rejuvenating. 

This is my view ^^ while laying on that pier listening to my gleeful children, drinking in that blue sky. 

Peter, forever with his guns. 

And then (this day just keeps going!) we met up with Tal and Anita to go to a little chocolate factory where they had all you can eat samples.  Chocolate mixes well in your blood and bones after all that beauty.  At this point I was beginning to reach nirvana.  And last we went up to the little farm close to Tal and Anita’s house where we got to watch the cows be milked and buy the raw milk right there to take home for dinner.  Wow, did it smell real in there.  The raw milk was incredibly good, but I think I would have maybe enjoyed it a bit more if I hadn’t had seen it come out of the cow and smelt that earthy barn.  The kids thought it was amazing though.  Love the connection for them with their food.  We don’t get much of that in Malden. 

And, Joy of all Joys, Peter got to ride this little smurf.  (random!)

We got to meet all of a’s little bunny and chicken friends that she gets to visit at this small farm.  She was so great to show us the ropes.  What a life she has there!  So different from New York City. This is the most ideal childhood I can think of.   

And last….yes, more fun….we got to have a little swim party/bbq at Tal and Anita’s before bed. 

I went to sleep that night feeling supremely happy and alive.  You know that exhausted/elated feeling you get after a day immersed in nature and beauty where you’ve tested all of your senses in so much goodness?  I felt bathed by the beauty, washed over by the water and filled up with that real food.  Those guys have such an incredibly wholesome and full and beautiful life.  I loved that we got to experience the best of it that day.