The hills are alive with the sound...

...of Dodson

The crew is ready to go..

Just warm enough to bounce in swimsuits!

Amazing Race Winners 2015

C in Lucerne

Stopping for gas somewhere in Switzerland

Alpine Slide!

4th of July in Austria

Uncle Suds and his fan club

Gelato!

I give you the first Dodson European Vacation.  Since it has been awhile since the event, let me try to summarize:

• 3 nights at Chez Glotzbach in Zurich--i dare anyone to find better accommodations.
• 3 nights at Schlosshotel Fiss-- or "The Happiest Place on Earth" as my children would tell you. 
• 7 nights at Hotel Villa Serbaloni in Bellagio, Italy --or "where I saw George Clooney."
• The Highs:
• LBD asleep before we even took off
• Hanging with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world in all 3 places
• Arriving to find presents and our own swiss air travel kits on our own beds in our own rooms at chez glotzbach--does it get any better?!?
• Finding a Starbucks in Zurich (despite the cost)
• Running with Krista (also a low, see below)
• A calm fondue dinner thanks to the late great Steve Jobs
• The spectacular drives between zurich and fiss and fiss and italy-- so many "rapunzel" castles, so many beautiful mountains and pretty towns.  Absolutely beautiful.
• Heading up the gondola to the top of the mountain in Austria, where the glotzbachs said there was "a playground." Expecting a few swings and a slide and getting kid mecca-- tubing on land and on snow, jumping off high dives into giant air bags, zip lines, and the fan favorite Alpine Slide (Krista and Sudhir being their first choice companions)
• Not having to think about or organize a single meal the entire time in Austria 
• The dessert buffet
• Having all the kids get along so much that my kids now refer to the crew as "My friends"...as in "My friend Deven Dholakia would not like this place because he likes to run in the street and he does NOT like to sit still"
• Being able to go out every night after the kids were in bed thanks to "phone check" service--yes I totally took advantage of it and no i would never do so in the US
• Cousins hanging with cousins
• Shopping in Madrid---such a fun indulgence--- Thank you Marsha!! 
• A fabulous adult dinner one night
• Watching my girls take in new cultures
• Bella bella bella Lake Como
• Tubing with my girls on Lake Como
• Being back in Italy 
• Gelato, gelato, gelato
• Getting upgraded to business class on the return thanks to andrew's frequent travel, and after explaining to C that this kind of travel was NOT normal, having her say to me "Oh I get it mom, Coach is the regular way to fly, and business is the BEST way to fly." 
• Did I mention we saw George Clooney?
• The Few Lows 
• Deven throwing up upon landing (better than take off though!)
• Midnight jet lag hangs with my girls (how many Doras do you think L watched?? A LOT)
• Running with Krista on one of her "flat runs" and realizing that I suck, I truly suck
• Losing Lila for a minute at the Transportation Museum in Lucerne
• Realizing my Italian is almost nonexistent (though even a week made a huge difference--i just need a whole summer there!)
• Making the rookie mistake of not making girls sleep more on the flight home.
• Re-entry was horrific.  I would find L up at 2:30 in the morning, in a tutu, playing Zingo Bingo with Hello Kitty. They were up for the day at 3am 3 nights in a row.  I was like a super nanny audition reel for 3 days.  
• Having C now ask people, "Do you fly business class?"
• And a few funny in betweens
• Hitting the McDonalds in Lichtenstein, only to have kids who, apparently having not been there before, decided it was THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH.  Being able to truthfully promise that they could eat there whenever we were in Lichtenstein
• Stopping at yet another mcdonald's --this one in Lugano--and realizing that while we were still in Switzerland we were now running on Italian time.  
• Buying the same expensive fast pass twice. (Coming home and getting random Swiss speeding tickets in the mail a few weeks later).
• Watching Lila wash her hands in the bidet after Sam told her that it was used "to clean yourself" after using the potty