From February 3rd to 10th we were in Château d'Oex, Switzerland. We drove down on Saturday, the 3rd. It was about a 7 hour drive. Dragonheart was very well behaved in the car. He spent most of the trip asleep, either on C's lap, or curled up on the seat behind her. He had water, food and a litterbox, but he didn't make use of any of them, even when we stopped for a break at lunch (one of us stayed in the car with him the entire time.)
When we arrived in Château d'Oex, we discovered that our chalet was up on the mountainside, and that our chalet was on the top floor of the chalet building. It was a very nice chalet, with a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains and the valley below. There was a bedroom, with two single beds, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room, as well as a fireplace. The living room had a sofa bed, which is where we slept, so that Dragonheart wouldn't have to choose one of us to sleep with. We had a fire in the fireplace every evening. Although it was very warm while we were in Switzerland, it was still nice to sit in front of a fire. Dragonheart really enjoying the fireplace. He liked the warmth, of course, and seemed to be mesmerized by the flames.
It's a good thing that we aren't skiers, because none of the ski slopes in the village where we were staying were open, due to a lack of snow! The weather was great for us though, warm and sunny for most of the trip. It rained on the Thursday, and the rest of the trip we had great weather.
We went running twice while we were there. It was impossible to find a running route that didn't involve a large number of hills, so we got some good hill training in, which is good for building leg strength. We went horseback riding on the Wednesday (English/hunter seat) for a trail ride through the countryside around the village, and we went paragliding on the Friday.
Paragliding was amazing! Such an incredible experience, to soar through the air like a bird. We each did a tandem paraglide, with an experienced pilot strapped behind us. It was very cool to fly through the air. Just an amazing, incredible experience.
You can check out some photos from our trip below. The first set of photos are all of Dragonheart in Switzerland. The second set are of the entire trip, the chalet, us out horseback riding, and the road from the chalet to the valley below.
Here are some photos from Christmas this year. Here is a photo of our Christmas tree. We decided to just buy a small tree for the three years we'll be in Germany. We have a large tree with lights pre-installed, but of course we can't use it here in Munich with the different power supply. So we decided to just go with a small tree.
Here are some photos of Dragonheart in his Christmas sweater (C crocheted it).
For a while, Dragonheart was more interested in watching the birds outside than in opening presents and playing with ribbon and toys.
Dragonheart enjoyed helping us unwrap our presents.
Here are a couple of photos of Dragonheart with his presents. One of them is a rustle tunnel that makes noise when he walks through it. The other is a ball track.
Here's a short video of Dragonheart playing with his new ball track: (If you can't see the video, click here.)
You can view more Christmas photos by clicking on the small photos below. The first set of photos features Dragonheart, the second set features K and C. by Caylynn
Here are some photos of Dragonheart and our Christmas tree. Our large Christmas Tree from Canada has lights pre-installed on it, so it won't work here in Germany, due to the different electrical power system. So we decided to just have a small tree for the three years we will celebrate Christmas in Germany. Not all of the presents are under the tree yet - Dragonheart enjoys playing with the ribbon a little too much!
So we bought Dragonheart a sweater on Friday. It's not cold enough out yet for him to need it, but when the time comes, he'll have a sweater to help keep him nice and warm. Doesn't he look cute?
Last night was Drake's first evening with us. He slept curled up next to C for about half an hour, and spent most of the rest of the night in his cat tree, with a fleece blanket. He really likes the cat tree - he is quite content to hang out there a lot of the time.
Today he has been quite active, exploring the room, playing with us and with his toys, and then coming to curl up in C's lap for a bit before heading off again to play some more. He really enjoys playing with a peacock feather that we can dangle in front of him, as you can see in the photos.
He is very curious and a lot of fun to play with. He seems to be settling in just fine.
We picked up our Sphynx kitten, Dragonheart, from the breeder today. Dragonheart is a Sphynx, a hairless breed of cat. I posted more about the breed here.
The breeder lives up near Frankfurt, so we drove from Munich to Frankfurt yesterday afternoon, spent the evening in a hotel, and then picked up Dragonheart this morning at the breeder's place. She provided us with some toys, food and litter for him, as well as his vaccination and ID chip papers. Once we have him neutered, we'll send her proof of the neutering, and we'll receive his pedigree.
Dragonheart slept through most of the drive back to Munich, and was quiet throughout the entire trip. Once we arrived at our place, we put him down in the room that will be "his" and that he'll be confined to for the first few days (it's our guest room/office room, and is the largest of the three bedrooms in our place). At first he was meowing quite sadly, and running around, probably looking for his older brother and sister to play with, but after about an hour he settled down. He played with us for a bit, and let us pet and cuddle him, and now he's napping. He's used the litter box once, and we have food and water out for him, so I'm sure he'll take some of that when he's ready.
Dragonheart is the name the breeder gave him - she names her litters according to themes, and this litter was "fantasy" so we have Dragonheart, and his brother was Merlin. We'll probably end up calling him Drake or Drago. (For more pictures of Drake from today, click on the small photo below.)
Dragonheart is a Sphynx, a hairless breed of cat. I posted more about the breed 
