first up is this awesome ninja guy whom we’re related to in some uncertain way.

and this is my great-great-great-grandfather. apparently he used to go to school with a sword. now that is old school. this is the photo that we’re estimating was taking sometime between 1880-1900. which isn’t really *that* long ago when you think about it.

check outthese photos of my dad when he was young. he had (and still has) an impressive set of ears!

some more photos of my dad when he was a young pup:

hana and my favourite set of photos are from dad in his heyday. he was a young diplomat living the high life in various parts of asia. the shots imply equal measures of business and mischief, which is just the way it should be. the photos have faded beautifully and i think they would be gorgeous even if they weren’t part of our family history.

we sort of wish that he had kept his clothes from this era. i mean, how can you tell me that his pants are not the boldest, most courageous fashion statement ever made? fierce!

its not just my dad whose earlier life is being put on public display either. check out my mum!

this is a photo of my dad with me, around the same ages that nayou and i are now. ah, the cycle of life…

and here is my mum again with aya and myself.

but its not like we have the chance to do “real” hiking very often, what with being parents and everything, so we took a quick trip to the tourism office to see what the best route would be. we settled on a four hour loop up the mountain directly opposite from mont blanc, which promised some lakes and spectacular views. and we were not disappointed! its hard to describe the overwhelming majesty of seeing the peaks so close, so i’ll let the photos do the talking. we were ooh-ing and aah-ing every five minutes!

it was the perfect day for a hike – clear skies, gentle breezes, and optimal temperature. i even got to dry out my sweaty shirt at the summit of our loop!

one of the craziest things about the hikers around here is that they take their little kids with them! we saw so many parents with 2-4 year olds on their backs going up very steep inclines. i got tired just looking at them. once they are a bit older then the kids have to hoof it by themselves, which is also nuts. but they all seem to enjoy it so its all good!

we made it back to the gondola, all sweaty and happy, with half an hour to spare before the last ride back.

nayou, as usual, had an awesome time with his grandma and jiji. he even had a chance to sit and watch the tractor plough the field in front of their house while the sun slowly set behind the hills. in the words of grandma, “who said geneva was boring?”.

sunday was mellower but no less boring. we spent the morning at the antique market in nyon. the markets here are top notch, and it makes me seriously consider doing some sort of import/export business in the next place we settle. you can find all sorts of quality clothes, art, furniture and bric-a-bracs (swiss army blankets, old watches, coffee grinders, copper pots and pans, vintage telephones, etc). more importantly though, when we go to nyon, it means we stop at what might just be the world’s best gelateria. you should see the single minded focus that nayou has when he has a cup of pistachio ice cream in his hand!

the town of nyon also happens to have a pirates club. its a motley crew of old sailors who get together to drink, sail, drink, and drink. somewhere in there they also take handicapped children out on the lake and other cool charity events. these pirates were offering cruises on their boat to raise funds, so of course we hopped on and had a ride.

brenda and i are slowly narrowing down our next move. currently our choices are sydney or wellington. i’ve got a job back at weta should i want to take it, but first we are exploring the possibility of a move to sydney. i have a phone interview with dr. d studios in sydney tomorrow so we’ll see what happens based on that conversation. i think we would be happy in either location… i trust the universe will place us where we are meant to be!

like father like son:

nayou’s favourite thing to do when its wet outside is to go and look for snails. he likes to keep them in boxes, but we are teaching him about the concept of catch and release. everyone understands that when its night time everyone wants to go back to their mama and papa! it was cool observing the snails with him. i don’t think i’ve paid a mollusk that much attention since i was his age.

first up some photos from august 1st, swiss national day. nayou has been really into each peach pear plum, but couldn’t quite relate to plum pie since he had never seen or tasted one. so grandma made one!

that evening we went to the village get-together, but went home before the fireworks because of poor weather. on our way there i noticed that my parents and i were all wearing these earthy tones, as if we had coordinated or something. it reminded me of the outfits that the vampires wear in the twilight movies, so we did a little photo shoot to commemorate this amazing coincidence.

we also had the privilege of having a look into my mum’s two beehives. because of errant weather her honey harvest this year was dismal, but apparently its a lucky thing that the bees are even alive and healthy. we still managed to get 2+kgs out of one hive, although it wouldn’t last long if nayou got his hands on it!

last week we did an overnight trip to grindelwald, a town three hours drive from geneva. its classic swiss setting has made it a huge tourist attraction, especially for the japanese, but it still looks more or less like the village it has been for centuries. its located deep in a glacial valley which affords spectacular views, but unfortunately we were greeted with clouds and rain on our first day and more greyness on the second. still, it was fun to check out the town and its environs. this place is truly stunning, even when you can’t see much!

here we are in the gondola on our way up the mountain. we were planning to hike along a trails famous for its marmots, but had to cut it short 15 minutes in because of torrential rain.

our clothes got absolutely soaked, and since we didn’t have any spares, my mum and i hit the town in our sexy wear, reserved for only the most special occasions.

at least nayou had some proper rain gear, courtesy of our neighbours.

thankfully the beds in our hotel were warm and cosy!

the next day we voluntarily got (a little bit) wet when we hiked along this rather precarious path bolted into the stone. it was cool though – it was a reminder of how powerful the force of water is!

this weekend brenda and i went up to montbovon, another town up in the mountains where my friend layth lives. layth and i know each other from high school and there were a couple of other friends from that era there. it was very awesome to see them again! the only bummer was that i forgot to take a photo to commemorate the occasion. got some nice ones of our hike though.

the view of mont blanc on the way home was gorgeous too:

grandma found these fairy wings and she has been playing fairies with nayou for a couple of days now. we also found a matching tunic to go with it (at h&m no less!). soooo cute!

nayou and jiji discover the joys of the ipod touch:

and that’s about it for now. time for bed!

as is usually the case, nayou packed his bag to take with him. this dude is a real packrat – every time we go somewhere he spends ages stuffing his backpack with all kinds of things. cars, twigs, leaves, books, it all has to come along! pity he forgot to change out of his pjs

we left from nyon, which is the next village up the lake from where we are. we come to nyon quite a bit to play at the park, see friends and hang out at their amazing market. nayou has been jonesing a ride on the ferry ever since we got here so he was very exicted.

once we got to yvoire we couldn’t stop ooh-ing and aah-ing at everything. you realise where disneyland got their inspiration from when they were making their attractions – its almost too perfect!

of course since we were in france we had to have a baguette with cheese and pickles. or rather, nayou had a baguette with cheese and pickles, and his parents scrounged for the crumbs.

aaaand, here are some other random photos from the last couple of days.

here is an example of something positive that facebook has done for me – this photo is of me and olivier. we used to play together when we were living in geneva waaay back in the day. i was about four years old! he found out we were in geneva on facebook and got in touch. that resulted in the whole family coming over for dinner on sunday for a very happy reunion! we’re pretty much the same, just hairier.