The kids meet Santa

We wanted to take the kids to see Santa, because they were worried he might not bring presents to the ranch and instead leave them in London.  It evidently wasn't sufficient that we had written him a letter and called him on the phone and had received a video for each kid confirming he would deliver the much anticipated gifts to ranch.  So we set off...

We ended up going to LapLandUK after the kids received personalized invitations from Santa's elves to come assist in the building of toys due to a shortfall of toys for the high percentage of children that had been good this year.  They couldn't wait.  Once we arrived, we were greeted by elves, taught elf songs and elf waves, and went off to build toys in Santa's workshop.  Sadly they didn't get to keep the teddy bears they built since the toys were to be passed out to good children on Christmas eve.  After that, decorating gingerbread men and ice skating kept them busy.  The huskies that were roaming around were good fun and a favorite as well. Both kids wrote new letters to Santa and then we were off to meet him.  The kids were so happy that he knew all about them (best friends, class year, favorite lovely's name, etc).  He assured them he would bring them their presents to the ranch and all the world became a better place instantaneously.

Video Highlights:

Texans meet Switzerland

Scott and I had wanted to visit Switzerland since we arrived Europe, but there was always other destinations to go to.  We decided to take a quick weekend trip to Zurich to see what it was like and hoped quietly for nothing more than some snow.  There were several highlights to the trip:

1.  The flight and hotel for both of us was FREE!  I love that!
2.  We arrived Friday night, ate dinner, and then slept for almost 12 hours.  I love sleep.
3.  We ventured out and saw the beautiful old town Zurich.  Cobblestone streets, Alps in the near distance,
      and beautiful rolling hills.  Amazing and just as we had imagined.
4.  We ate some delicious food and drank enough beer to make up for missing the night before.
5.  We woke up Sunday morning to SNOW!  Beautiful and giant flakes of snow covered everything.  The
      beautiful hilly city, was now one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.
6.  Realizing we hadn't eaten the famous Swiss chocolate since we arrived, we stopped at the airport
     specialy chocolate shop and indulged.  No wonder it is famous.  It was delicious.

Zurich ended up being a wonderful weekend adventure that I wouldn't trade for the world.