Chateau d'Oex

Last year I was told about the International Balloon Festival in Chateau d'Oex, a small town in the French section of Switzerland. The festival takes place at the end of every January. We missed it last year but I thought it would be a perfect getaway for our family for my birthday this year so I booked it straight away.

Brian had some work come up at the last minute so I took the kids and drove down to set up shop with them by myself.

We arrived a little early, which didn't make the property manager too happy. But I had a screaming hungry baby so I really didn't give a crap.

We settled in and went to bed so that we could wake up and enjoy the pool in the building where we stayed.

Marion doesn't care where we go as long as there is a pool around. It's amazing how a little water can make a vacation. Note to self: always book a hotel or rent an apartment that has a pool!

After some pool time, Brian arrived and we went out for a walk to see the festival, some balloons, and take a helicopter ride.



After the helicopter, we went into the event hangar to catch the end of the children's day facilities. Marion had a snack and enjoyed the free bouncer

Brian and I marveled at the proximity of the absinthe booth to the play area.

After some bouncing we headed into town to get some groceries then back to the apartment.


The next day we decided to go up the mountain for some sledding. The weather wasn't so great (snow!) so Brian went down the mountain with Marion while Betti and I hung out in the restaurant at the top. Then it was back home for rest while Brian did some solo skiing in the afternoon.

Friday brought some more crappy weather (more snow!). Betti and I took the opportunity to relax at the apartment while Brian took Marion for her first ski lesson. She couldn't contain her excitement and prepared for her lesson super early.

Night glow was scheduled for Friday night and I had been looking forward to it for awhile. The website didn't say it was canceled so, despite our thoughts that it may not happen because of the weather, we decided to take the kids out for a night snow walk.

It was canceled.

So back we went, praying for better weather on Saturday.

To be continued, since this is getting kind of long. This is kind of a boring post (sorry!) but that is what happens on 'relaxing' vacations, or vacations with kids that have relaxing moments!