Derek and Brooke’s visit (part 1)

My brother Derek and my sister-in-law Brooke came to visit!!!  It was a great time filled with cheese, chocolate, sausage, and a little bit of seeing Switzerland.  :)
So with a bit of last-minute (poor) planning we told them to meet us in Gruyere to go to the chocolate factory, but unfortunately, it was too late for them to get a good map, and they took a wrong turn and then went around in circles for awhile trying and trying to find the darn chocolate factory.  But, by a miracle, they saw us in our van as we were pulling out of a grocery store (because I hadn’t packed enough lunch and Brett was still hungry) and followed us to our destination.  The chocolate factory was delicious.  It was amazing how much faster we went through than when we were with Mom who had to read every little informational sign about each different cocoa bean and hazelnut, etc.  :)
Then we went to the Gruyere Castle.

Orrin is a super cute funny kid.

Another day (Monday, I think) we told Derek he was going swimming in the Aare.  It was about 15 degrees Celsius –meaning it was really really REALLY cold.  Derek was a bit unsure about the idea, but we didn’t really give him a choice.  :)

I think Brooke has some better pictures from when they actually were in the water and climbing out- but I was pregnant and trying to hold Orrin and run downstream.  Yeah, I was left behind.  They froze and then when they got out, they said they felt like they were burning, and it was good times.
After they got dressed we showed them the sights of Bern.  I always love the Münster Cathedral.
 
Aunt Brooke made Orrin’s week by paying money for him to go on the little carousel.
 
Ethne was pretty much attached to Brooke the ENTIRE time she was here.  And Talmage was super sad and cried when I told them they were leaving.  It is always so fun to have some adults around who will play with you and roughhouse with you and put cute nail stickers on your finger and toenails.

Derek and Brooke were fun to shop with.  I took them to the grocery store where I shop, and they bought lots of chocolate.  Then we went across the street to the other grocery store, and they bought lots more chocolate.  Then we went back to the first one again, and they bought lots MORE chocolate (and cheese).  Then in Bern, they went into the chocolate shop –I told them they had to go in and smell at least—and they bought even MORE chocolate.  And shared!  They did not, however, buy this giant Toblerone.  :)

One hundred and twenty francs.  Yep.  It was heavy.

They were going to go do a session at the temple, but I played the devil and actually convinced them not to, since the weather was going to be better on Tuesday and I wanted to take them to a cool place in sunny weather and not rainy weather.  They said it was okay and they even promised not to hold me accountable if they didn’t make it to the celestial kingdom… But anyway, we did go see it, that totally counts for something, right?

It was lots of fun having them around to talk to and play with and share chocolate and cheese and icecream with.  They kept laughing when our kids were driving us nuts, and said they know it’s not funny when it’s you, but when you’re just watching it’s hilarious.  One night we watched a bunch of youtube videos.  It was late, and things were getting funnier all the time you know?  This was one that I thought was pretty funny.  First,  you must watch this one (embedding is disabled, so you have to click the link):
http://youtu.be/jkDComEOWt0
THEN (and only then), watch this (to enjoy fully, watch it very late at night hyped up on lots of chocolate and cheese):
http://youtu.be/2g76DUy7jKY
This one is really cute—I showed my kids and they absolutely loved it:

We took Derek and Brooke some other places—posts to come.