Adrenalin rush! Skydiving in Switzerland

            

One of my hub's sports is skydiving. He told me a lot of things about it and he wanted me to experience it myself once. (Btw i'm afraid of heights lol )

I did a tandem jump.

It was end of september, so the weather was still good.

We arrived at the Flying Ranch airfield in Triengen (Canton Lucerne),where my husband used to skydive before. He knows some of the staff and some skydiver in psc triengen that's why we decided to do it there (fyi steph is a swissboogie skydiver).

First, i was given some important instructions about the jump and some do's and dont's...then we're off to go.

Wally the instructor, was so friendly.He made me really comfortable during the flight and specially during the jump. While on the plane i kept asking myself if i really want to do it, i was so scared to death, but no turning back! i just told myself if others can do it, i can do it too! 

           In the air,enjoying the beautiful scenery of Switzerland.

I was so happy that we landed good, i can't contain the joy that i conquered my fear for the very first time. I hugged my kids right away and very thankful that the jump went well.

I received a certificate from PSC triengen (Para sport-club) who run the place and i can make a skydiving course whenever i want. 

My husband made a package with a video of my jump, which is a nice remembrance to keep.

My son Niko is unfortunetly too young to try it, but he said one day when he's big enough he'll be like his papi ;)

Trying this extreme sport is a wonderful once in a lifetime experience and as a person who's afraid of heights (that's me lol) i don't think i'll pursue to be a skydiver like my husband steph. But all in all i was so thankful and happy to experience it.

It was my very first jump,so i was so nervous and paranoid like crazy, but the experience was so much fun and all worth it.

For those of you who wants to try and experience skydiving, just check their website for all the infos.

http://www.psctriengen.ch

Our family's easter sunday / Ostersonntag 2014

"Easter bunny! Easter bunny!

Where are you?

three little kids are looking for you.

Where are the easter treats? 

give us some too!"

Easter is one of our family's favorite holidays (next to christmas), not just because of the long weekend break but also because of our traditional easter egg decorating activity, easter egg hunt, easter bunny basket treats and brunch with the whole family (of course with the swiss's sunday bread "Zopf")

Our twin babies Ayden & Alyzsa are now 2 1/2 yrs.old, so it's their first easter egg decorating activity and they loved it so much.

                                                           

This year's easter eggs by the twins A&A.

Last year's easter egg by mami and Niko.

Last year's kids easter treats from tita Angela. Of course, easter bunny chocolates is a must ;)

           Lindt pralinés,swiss finest ;)

 Yesterday's easter treats (again and always from tita Angela)

     A&A looking for their easter basket.

At first they didn't know what to do but with the help of tita Angela and tito Silvio, they eventually got the idea of finding the easter basket full of sweets.

In switzerland they have this interesting and fun swiss easter tradition called "Eiertütsche" that literally means egg cracking or crashing. It's an "egg cracking" game which the first player needs to hit the tip of his egg on the other tip of the opponent's, with the intention of breaking the shell, the one who has uncracked egg is the winner.

 

 Niko's self-decorated bunny chocolate.

    

  Easter basket treats from Niko's school.

It was a fun easter sunday for the whole family specially it was A&A's first easter activity experience that they participated. We will do the same every year ;)

Custard cake or Leche flan chiffon cake (filipino style) by:S

             husband's 1st attempt

One sunny afternoon i was browsing the internet and accidentally saw somewhere a custard cake or leche flan chiffon cake. It brought back childhood memories specially during my elementary days buying it in our school canteen or in a local bakery. I thought of baking it my own since bakery in our place is like 5mins. drive and i don't think i'll find custard cake in a swiss bakery nearby.

I didn't want to bake it alone coz it might not be succesful, so i asked my husband to do it for me coz i know he will make it perfect and it was a succes! He made a very delicious custard cake i've ever tasted.

 

               husband's 2nd attempt

I gathered recipes online combined with my own recipe and husband simply did some tricks and surprisingly very yummy the first try and even yummier the second try.

Here's our easy steps and the ingredients:

- First preheat the oven to 180°C

and make the caramel.

-Caramel ingredients

300g Sugar (doesn't matter what color but we used white sugar)

80ml water

Simply mix it together in a pan until the sugar is caramelized,put it on your baking pan and set aside.

- Custard ingredients

250ml sweetened condensed milk

60g white sugar

6 eggs 

250ml fresh milk

1 tsp. of lemon zest

1 tsp.Vanilla  (we used fresh vanilla separeted from the stem but powder or liquid vanilla will do)

Mix all the ingredients for the custard in a bowl and using a strainer put the mixture on the baking pan with caramel.

- Cake ingredients

2X 60g white sugar (separately)

60ml fresh milk

3 eggs (3 egg whites and 3 yolks separately)

30g flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1) Mix the sugar (60g) and egg yolks in a bowl mix or beat until smooth, sift the flour and baking powder then put it alternately with milk, mixing after each addition, just mix until the batter is smooth.

2) In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the second 60g of sugar slowly while beating continously until the egg white gets stiff.

3) Mix the egg white mixture and egg yolks mixture together to create the cake batter ( mix together by folding technique until there's no white anymore, the reason why we have to beat the egg white first, is to create tiny air bubbles that will create the volume texture of the cake.

4) Put the cake batter over the custard and spread it slowly on your baking pan, the cake batter should float so pls.don't overworked the mixture.

5) Place the cake pan in a larger pan half-filled with water. Bake in your preheated oven for 50mins to 1hr. to know if the cake is good, just do the toothpick technique by simply inserting it at the center, if it comes clean,the cake is finished. If not, bake a little longer,testing it time to time.

                          before

Important: Make sure all the sides are covered with the cake batter so that the custard will not boil over it while baking.

                            after

Refrigerate the cake overnight to get the even and perfect texture of the custard. The next day scrape the sides of the cake and simply flip it on a tray and voila you have your delicious custard cake.

   

 Perfect partner for coffee or tea.

             Even our kids loved it.

Btw, we spent only 13fr. dor the infredients which is very cheap.If i'll buy

a pc. of cake in any bakery here,it would costs me 3-5fr. For us it's cheaper to bake our own cake than to buy it elsewhere and in the first place, homamade cakes taste better ;)

A day in the museum - Zoological museum

Zoological museum, Zürich

Zoological Museum  

of the University of Zurich

Karl Schmid-Strasse 4

CH-8006 Zurich

The museum is created by the university of Zürich for the public.Inside they have different kinds of birds species,fishes,

butterflies,even spiders and a whole lot more.

The museum is very informative and very helpful for everyone specially for kids to have a wider knowledge about different animals,their species and origins.They also have kids corner where thay can draw and read books.

The place is a perfect excursion for the whole family during cold and rainy days and it's free for the public.We went there several times already and will not get tired to go back and see the whole place again.The place is also for photography enthusiasts,i saw some already practicing their photography skills inside.

For opening hours and direction check their website below.

http://www.zm.uzh.ch/besucherinformation_en.html

Alpabzug in Urnäsch

Alpabzug/alpabfahrt in Urnäsch

Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Switzerland

Alpabzug is the descending of the cows 

from the alps into the valleys at the end of summer.

It is a parade of cows with their traditional swiss cow bell. Farmers are all dressed up with their tradional swiss outfit walking their cows down to the village.

They have marching bands, poeple yodelling (that reminds me of Heidi cartoon series ). A lot of farm market stalls;where you can try their popular Appenzell cheese, pig race competition and some fun activities for kids.

it's getting more and more popular touristic place that the village guide had to give instructions in high german and english.The place is really wonderful far from the busy bahnhofstrasse of zurich.

It's a perfect short day trip for the whole family to get to know more about swiss culture.

For all the activities and events check their website for all the infos.

http://www.urnaesch.ch

Schlitteln/sledding in Toggenburg

Shlitteln/sledding in Toggenburg

Früeweidstrasse, Unterwasser

The whole family went sledding in Toggenburg during the school's winter sports holiday.The place is near st. gallen in the eastern part of switzerland.

Our friend recommended the place since it's a family-friendly sledding place,though some parts are steep  for small kids,a good sled is advisable.We had a plastic sled good for 2 persons which was so hard to steer and we're always falling out (or maybe i'm not that good lol)...but all in all it was a fun day for the whole family.

The day ticket costs 34fr. which is expensive so it's better to go there early and go for more rounds as much as you can.The way going up the mountain is approx. 5mins by rack railway (zahnradbahn), sledding going down like 20-30 mins. or more depends how fast you are.

Aside from sledding the place is also for skiers and in summer a lovely place for hiking.

Here's their website for the infos.

http://www.bergbahnentoggenburg.ch/winter/

Family time - Swiss Aquaparc

  Swiss Aquaparc

Located in a Bouveret,at the lake of geneva near montreux.Aquaparc is just few minutes walk from Bouveret train station. We went there for a weekend during my sons spring break. I bought a deal online for 50% off entrance ticket and it was worth it. They have a big pirate ship where kids can climb up and play with the water guns, also slides for big and small kids. They have wave pool which is popular in every indoor water parks. Kids can use floaties for free so no need to buy if you don't have one available. The employees are really attentive and always making sure the safety of the guests.The whole are is well maintained and very clean.

My 2-yr old twin babies loved the pirate ship so much although it's somehow high for them we just make sure that they don't slip and fall.Always keep an eye on your kids to avoid any accidents since it's very slippery in every water parks.My 8-yr old son enjoyed and loved the big slides and the lazy river.

The outdoor pool was closed at that time due to bad weather,i think they just open it when it's summer or when it's not that cold.

Aquaparc also offers family photoshoot,their personnel will approach and ask the poeple if they want  to make a short fast photoshoot session and at the end of your stay you can check your photos and buy them at the reception.

Bouveret itself is such a wonderful place.

Walking near the lake is so relaxing and aside from aquaparc,swiss vapeur parc is also on the same location so make sure to visit them as well,it's nice for a weekend family trip.

For entrance ticket price and all information check the website below:

SWISS AQUAPARC
Rte de la Plage1897 
Le BouveretSwitzerland

http://www.aquaparc.ch/en

Enjoying the fun - Connyland,Switzerland

Connyland is a leisure park located in Lipperswil near Konstanz.They have different attractions such as:

*Mammut-tree

*Cobra

*Jungle-Adventure

*Voodoo Island

*Dino attack

and a whole lot more!




meet and greet with the park's mascott.




Fantastic dolphin Show for the whole Family.




our favorite Long slide ,i think we had like 10 rounds or more,it was really fun!




Sea lion show.




The Picture above is inside the Dino-attack attraction,you'll be seated with a laser gun going to a pre-historic journey hunting the dinosaurs,it was somehow scary for the small ones coz they will appear at the place that you won't expect them to be,then all of a sudden they will move towards you :D and at the end they took a snapshot of our funny scared face which is a nice souvenire.


check the link below for the ticket information:

Connyland,Switzerland
CH 8564 Lipperswil (TG)
http://www.connyland.ch/index.php/en/information-en-gb-8/pricing