I am trying to work on my procrastination skills by writing a blog rather than cleaning, gardening, unpacking, doing homework, etc. Practice makes perfect.

We had a great extended weekend with my mom’s brother Todd, his wife Linda, and my cousins, Morgan and Julia. We met up with them in Zermatt, Switzerland on Saturday. Chad and I have planned to go see the Matterhorn (when I was little I always thought the Matterhorn was just a Disneyland ride) since our arrival in Switzerland and have been waiting for a Saturday with perfect weather to go. We knew when we planned to meet them there that we could very well not see the great peak after all since the weather has been so inconsistent. Wow! What a spectacular sight! We really could not have planned or hoped for a better day to visit!

We arrived around noon and checked into a great little place called Le Petit Hotel. Then we had lunch with the family. After lunch we road a cable car and gondola up to an area called Glacier Paradise. Poor Linda was not too fond of the rocky heights we were traveling over. We were super high, the air was thin and it was cold. We all had to breathe deep on the top. I get altitude sickness at 9500 feet and we were above 12500! On our way down we opted to hike the last third of the trip back down to Zermatt. It was steep but nice and shady most of the time. The only bad thing were the millions of ants climbing all over our sandaled feet. There were alpine photo ops all the way down.

We walked around town and got some great crepes and chocolate before the shops closed. We also ran into some enormous Saint Bernards at a tourist shop. I love BIG dogs. Before dinner we sat out on our hotel’s roof with a spectacular view of the Matterhorn. Chad taught the family (and retaught me) the card game Durak which became our mainstay for the rest of the trip. We had some typical Swiss food and then parted ways. It was a really wonderful day!

• Pictures of Zermatt