Peppermint Candy Christmas Cookies

I don't blog anymore (NO time!) but these are SO cute and SO fun and **SO** good - I'm calling them Peppermint Candy Christmas Cookies!

I had high hopes for this recipe (I even used the legendary William Sonoma Peppermint Bark) but it was simply too sweet.  A bit of tweaking gave me the the PERFECT thing for anybody else who is **obsessed** with peppermint, and who knows that you can't actually beat chocolate chip cookies!  Plus, they pack a satisfying crunch with the candy cane!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter 
• 1/3 cups brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp peppermint (up to 3/4 if you love peppermint)
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (Ghirardelli 60%)
• 1 cup broken up Andes Peppermint Crunch Thins (or the baking chips, if you can find them), Divided
• Crushed candy cane, optional (to sprinkle - buy a jar of it)

Instructions:

• Set butter and eggs out to room temp (if you can)
• Whisk dry ingredients in bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt)
• Beat butter and sugars till mixed and fluffy-ish; add eggs, vanilla, peppermint and then mix in dry ingredients
• Slowly mix in the 1 cup of dark chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the Andes
• Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350
• As the cookies cool, gently push in the remaining Andes and sprinkle with crushed candy cane

Voila!

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The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: Our Quarantine Chronicles

No idea where to start with this but it's been such an unexpected, emotional experience that I know I'll want to look back on it.  I also know I've already forgotten so much ... the first few weeks were a whirlwind of panic .... So here we go.

Part I:  Spiral Into Darkness

It was a Friday morning, January 24th.  I had woken up in one of my favorite places on Earth, the first day of our annual 3-day ski trip to Sugarbush, Vermont.  We had finally gotten the kids settled in ski school and were just sitting back down to quickly get some work done before hitting the slopes ourselves.  Checking my Facebook messages, I noticed one from my friend Lindsey.  She was writing to me and our other two close friends; we co-admin a doctor spouse group on Facebook and the summer prior had done a girls trip together in Tennessee.

What she said alarmed me - she said that her husband, who was just finishing up a fellowship in pulmonary critical care (so a sub-specialist lung doctor for critical cases) was really concerned about a new virus out of China, and that he was not one who was prone to alarmism - quite the opposite.  In fact, she went so far as to advise the three of us to buy masks, specifically, N95s, and to consider stocking up on food.  My stomach sank.  Lindsey is one of my smartest friends and also very no-nonsense.  She wasn't prone to alarmism either.  I told Mark about it and he shrugged - there really wasn't anything we could do about it at that particular moment.  Might as well enjoy the rest of our trip.

But the worry lingered, and the more I heard from Lindsey the more concerned I became.  The problem with this virus (vs SARS and MERS) was that it it had a long incubation period during which people could be contagious without knowing they were sick - this would make it impossible to contain.  She also said China seemed to be heavily downplaying the crisis, because Chinese citizens were tweeting videos that showed frantic building of massive hospitals with rows and rows of beds... and physicians falling sick and dying.  A case study out of China provided to her husband concluded  that the disease had the potential for neurological impact - one medical student who had it had to be kept awake or she would stop breathing.  Meanwhile, even mainstream news coverage in the U.S. was disturbing.  Bleak and dismal images of a total lockdown, with accounts of Chinese citizens pretty much imprisoned in their own homes.  Anyone who WAS out and about seemed to be wearing full on hazmat attire.  It all seemed terrifying and apocalyptic, but at least it wasn't happening here... maybe it would never reach our shores?

I attempted to warn friends about the situation but was pretty much disbelieved by everybody.  I was accused of "spreading mass hysteria" and even "xenophobia" - more than once - just for considering it a real threat we should prepare for.  But nobody gave me what I considered to be any good, scientific reason to believe it couldn't come here eventually so I went about lightly starting to stockpile my favorite nonperishables.  I never did grab any toilet paper (thankfully we had plenty).  I checked Amazon for the N95 masks Lindsey's husband had recommended but they were all sold out.  I thought about heading to Home Depot but someone online said they should be reserved for health care workers, plus, on social media they were deemed a sign of racism (even though actually, the only people I ever saw wearing them in my area at that time were Asian themselves).  I was **so** naive at that point, it didn't even cross my mind that my husband, a lab guy, could be one of the workers lacking these masks and that within a matter of weeks I'd be scouring the internet for them, losing sleep over the studies showing that health care workers were at a much higher risk of death due to their high viral load exposures.

Still, everything else around me seemed normal during those early February weeks.  We continued eating out and doing everything else we would normally do.  One strange and ominous day, an acquaintance told me that her daughter's Chinese school on Saturdays had been canceled indefinitely, due to fears of the virus.  This was troubling - did they have reason to believe it was already here or could be at any moment?  I asked around and was told (by Asian friends) that it was culturally Asian to just be extra prudent about things.  Another friend told me her in-laws, who were Asian themselves, were no longer going to Asian restaurants - something I had been looking down on other people for not doing (IMO, indoor dining at that point was either safe or it wasn't, and the type of restaurant made no difference).  This really wasn't adding up for me.  As much as I didn't want to believe everything was true and we were doomed, I found it equally implausible that Asian culture was (according to Asian friends) basically being paranoid - when they were the ones who seemed to be following the science that to me showed no reason to believe it couldn't come here.  Absolutely all signs were pointing to this being a true and imminent threat.

Soon enough, it broke out in Italy.  To our shock, Italy also started shutting down.  The beautiful northern region we'd just visited seven months earlier for a hematology conference was devolving into what from all accounts sounded like hell on Earth.  People suffocating to death because there weren't enough ventilators. Those who did get ventilators dying alone, with no chance to say goodbye to loved ones. Physicians out of masks, out of gloves, getting sick and dying.  Bodies being hauled off by the truckload and stockpiled in churches.  Ultimately, everyone over the age of 65 was denied care because there weren't enough beds and ventilators to go around - spiking the fatality rate to over 8%.  To my sheer and total horror, as this was happening there, cases started popping up in California... Seattle... New York... and then Boston.  One day in early March, Italy rush-graduated all of its medical students to help with the crisis - truly, every single day there was a new bombshell of jaw-droppingly horrifying news.  Then cases started popping up just miles from us in Arlington and Cambridge - kids whose parents had been at the Biogen meeting; the parents had self-quarantined but the kids had not.  I started cringing at the touch of my kids' backpacks, homework, and lunch boxes.  I started being afraid to snuggle them goodnight.  The rate of spread was exponential and we kept seeing those bell curves and knowing we were ON one - it felt like we were living in a ticking time bomb.  New York physicians began sounding alarm bells similar to Italy's - concerns of care being rationed.  The top medical journal in the U.S. (NEJM) published guidelines for how to ration care once the systems were overburdened.  I was terrified that my asthmatic symptoms, which are triggered by upper respiratory illnesses and had been severe - lasting months, and including weeks of not being able to breathe without coughing in spite of multiple inhalators - meant I was a goner, or would at least need a hard-to-find ventilator, if I was exposed.  Mark had been scheduled for 6 weeks of COVID care backup pending the now-expected "surge," and I worried that even he wasn't bulletproof if he were to get a high viral load exposure due to lack of PPE.  We looked into alternate living situations for him.  Finally, I could stand it no longer.  I did one last trip to the store and pulled my kids out of school.  Things were changing so quickly that the day I pulled them out, most people thought I was crazy.  Fox News had relegated the entire story to a sidebar, and was pushing the idea that the seasonal flu was the real worry.  But a little over a week later, our schools were fully shut down.  I knew they'd never reopen that spring, and I wondered what would happen the following fall.

Part II:  The Strange New Normal

Shortly after I pulled my kids out and hunkered down, I started feeling an immense relief.  I still had a few days where honestly, my anxiety was so high that I could barely function - the only thing that helped was riding my Peloton HARD, but I could barely breathe getting started on it because I was essentially living in a state of a panic attack.  But once my kids were home with me, and especially once I got through to my parents and convinced them they HAD to stay home, things felt much more in control.  At that point, the only "study" we had showed that the virus could live up to 3 days on plastic so I was spending 45+ minutes washing every grocery that came into the house.  It was exhausting and annoying but it seemed a small price to pay for safety.  Our apartment also left a LOT to be desired in terms of space for a family of 4 to be inside of 24/7 - we literally had no yard at ALL - but that too seemed a small price to pay - my kids seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation, and other than a meltdown Claire had one day, they never complained.  I purchased rollerblades for each kid so that we would have a way of getting outdoors that did not involve climbing on a structure with other kids, which was still allowed but felt unsafe.  Soon, however, blading on the paths also didn't feel safe... because we were passing people (this was before masks were mandated).  It is remarkable to look back on how we discovered a large, vacant parking lot near our home and it felt like SUCH a treasure at the time.  I also recall that food was strange.  I dropped 5 lbs during the last half of February and the first half of March, because I physically could not eat.  Then once I relaxed I gained all 5 back making our favorite comfort foods like mac and cheese in the instant pot, Mark's college coach's wife's famous baked beans with bacon drippings, and what Matthew would ultimately deem "quarantine cake" because I made it so many times (this cake with the icing from this recipe - SO GOOD).  Eventually, though, nothing sounded good ... I still don't know if each food took on a PTSD-element of being associated with trauma, or whether it was just that the selection on Amazon Fresh was sparse and carting groceries felt like a video game (going to the store was OUT of the question for us for 2+ months; we were at the mercy of online ordering but it was constantly overloaded and it would often take me several days to get a checkout spot - flour, eggs, butter, and even milk became HARD to come by).   

My lifelines at this time remained my closest Facebook friends, and thankfully included a friend who is a HR executive in Mark's hospital system... there is no way my sanity would still be intact today if not for her letting me know what was happening.

... and that's where this blog entry stopped!  I wish I had continued it last year but I got busy and distracted. The Cliff's Notes are:  

• Shortly before the surge **really** hit Boston and our obituary sections soared to 16-18 pages long, our then-governor Charlie Baker finagled a private flight (using the Patriots' plane) of PPE gear for our health care workers.  This was possibly the most relief I have **ever** felt.  We did end up rush-graduating medical students to join the "front lines," but miraculously we flattened the curve before Mark's six weeks were coming due and I never really had to worry about him bringing it home to us.
• During the pre-mask mandate, pre-vaccine time where it didn't feel safe to go to the store, I bartered and traded with friends and at one point ended up with like 72 eggs in my refrigerator.  I also procured what I thought was a lifetime supply of Dröste cocoa powder (I was so worried they'd run out of it) - but managed to use it up, ha! 
• One casualty of Covid was rhythmic gymnastics for Claire.  The classes went remote and they were two hours long - WAY too much for a 7 year old; I heard stories of other teammates crying through them, and I just couldn't force her to do that.  Matthew's karate classes were fine remote; they were 45 minutes.  I eventually got Claire back into regular gymnastics doing the XCEL team and she has thankfully been very happy with that, but rhythmic is such a fun and beautiful sport, I will always mourn this loss.
• We bought a house!!!  After about four months quarantining in the top half of our two-family apartment (no yard access), it was an incredible relief to move into our new home.  Once we got serious about it, our favorite way of getting "out of the house" was actually walking over to see it, as it was about a thirty minute walk each way and there was nothing else to do.  The night we moved in, Matthew surprised everybody by immediately setting up grow lights (he'd had Mark order for him) and getting WAY into gardening!  He read all kind of books, watched all kinds of videos, and grew all kinds of produce.  The first thing I did was buy an inflatable pool for the kids.  That summer was incredibly blissful, enjoying having a basement, an attic, and a yard.  We started feeling comfortable getting takeout.  We enjoyed **lots** of bike rides to Honeycomb Creamery in Cambridge.  Mark was working from home and most nights we did a family walk around the reservoir in the evening.  The kids absolutely LOVED this time in their lives.
• The kids went back to "hybrid" school in the fall, which I felt unsure of at first but pretty quickly felt pretty safe about - the kids in our area are great about masking, and mandates are enforced successfully.  Halloween was nice - everybody went all out because we knew we'd have fewer visitors, and the kids did fewer houses too, so it was fewer treats but good stuff.  I'd love for it to always be that way, instead of the mad dash for WAY too much candy!  
• Vaccines came out for adults that winter and into the spring!! School here went back to full days, masked.  I felt quite safe about things by then; our "test and stay" program showed Covid wasn't really spreading in the schools plus, adults were vaccinated and I didn't consider the risks posed by Covid to my kids to be statistically worth continued angst.  
• That following summer we finally got to see my parents again; it had been 1.5 years.  It was absolute heaven; I hate all the time we gave up with them, knowing how limited their time left may well be (especially with a recent diagnosis for my dad), but it **was** better safe than sorry before adults were vaccinated.  We took them on a day trip to Cape Cod, dinner at Café Nuovo in Providence RI, and up to Bar Harbor, Maine for a few nights (unfortunately it was blisteringly hot).  
• That fall, Delta started hitting and mask mandates returned.  My family snuck in a trip to Universal for my dad (he had turned 70 and always wanted to see the Harry Potter stuff) before Omicron started hitting late fall.
• Mark was assigned to work the holiday block, and so I got to host my parents for Christmas.  I went all out making my the most magical holiday food:  Cinnamon/cardamom rolls, egg bake, and fruit salad for Christmas morning.  Rib roast, mashed potatoes, and pear/squash soup for Christmas dinner.  Homemade lasagna frozen in advance.  Braided Swedish cardamom bread frozen in advance. I even tracked down the veggie-beef soup my dad had mentioned over the years, that my grandmother used to make, and we had it with cranberry-nut bread - it was delicious!!  Plus all my favorite cookies:  Chewy ginger molasses cookies (Matthew's faves), Korova cookies (these are incredible - be sure your flour is light and fluffy, fluff with fork if necessary, not compact - or you'll have too much flour in them), and soft sugar cookie cutouts.

As I sit here typing this in January of 2022, the future feels very uncertain.  It doesn't seem feasible for anybody to completely avoid Covid in the long run, so I am just hopeful that our vaccines will protect us from the longterm neurological effects reported by people with long covid (loss of smell, taste, fatigue, memory).  I am pretty convicted that for **my family**, the risks of continuing in a social-distancing mode outweigh the risks of covid that again, seem unavoidable regardless.  Even being now in a top district in the #1 state for education, both of my kids slipped in the 2020 school year; they were ultimately able to make it up but I really worry for kids with parents who don't have our same resources - to say nothing of kids in districts that didn't fare as well with virtual learning.  My personal view is that this sacrifice was necessary in 2020 to protect human life before vaccines came out for adults, but it cannot be continued indefinitely which is what it would take to avoid Covid permanently.  I realize some families may never feel safe enough from Covid to go on with normal life and I really feel for families in that situation.  I hope the state will provide an actually-good remote only option for families that cannot afford any Covid risk; I understand there are some charter schools that existed pre-covid and were fully vitual that were actually great schools - it seems like this should be explored both for families with covid fears as well as for families whose kids actually do better with remote learning.  

I'm just wrapping this up as quickly as possible, mainly having wanted to get the big stuff down before I forget.  Here are the pics!

Seven months after we visited for a hematology conference, this region of Northern Italy became a hellscape involving streets lined with freezer trucks and bodies stacked in cathedrals.  The major PPE shortage left even young, healthy hospital staff sick and dying from large viral loads.  Ultimately, care was denied to everyone aged 65+ due to not enough ventilators.

That last good ski trip in January 2020, on which we first heard the news.

Last social outing - Mona's century Peloton ride!
(At this point, I felt like the virus could be anywhere)

Last meal out.
This was the last truly good food we had for a LONG time because even once we were comfortable doing takeout (half a year later), the takeout was never **that** good.

Virtual tea party with Papa during the 1.5 years we couldn't actually see them.

Creating new spaces in our apartment, for quarantine.

Playing lots of Monopoly

Quarantine trend:  Thin layer of cream cheese, avocado, egg, everything bagel seasoning, and balsamic glaze.

Our first visit!!
We weren't expecting to buy a home any time soon!

Victory!!!!

Matthew's gardens - his first pumpkin!

Remote school.  I absolutely loved being able to do window candles and decorate windowsills!

Lots of bike rides from Lexington to Concord.

Snow days - we took the opportunity that year to make lots of great cookies for neighbors.

It was so fun finally being able to decorate and paint Claire's real bedroom!

Finally!!!  Huge relief!

Matthew got into beekeeping after taking a community course with Mark.

Sadly, the bees ended up dying (some food we tried to make them for wintertime melted on them)

but we will try again next spring!

Best.  Day.  EVER.

Seeing Mark's family again in Michigan.  Revisiting old traditions like The Cherry Hut.

Only two dates so far since 2019!  This was a great one.

That fall, Mark did an Ironman - he barely trained for it.  It was in the mountains of upstate New York (Lake Placid)

Universal turned out to be one of my favorite family trips of all time.  We had such a fun time seeing my brother and his family again - I believe we didn't see them for Christmas 2019 so it had been possibly nearly 3 years!

A New England feast of local foods from Fresh Pond Seafood (amongst others).  Last great meal at our old dining room table!

Blueberry picking, summer 2021.

The house did need a few more touches; we added built-ins and did a fireplace makover!  Before...

... and after!

Mark's dad had always wanted to see Manzanar, so we did a trip out west. 
Claire insisted we rent this - she loved i!!

Great shot in Yosemite!

Mark and I snuck off to bike the Golden Gate Bridge!

It was kind of creepy - a nice little adventure!

Christmas morning breakfast.

Decorating cookies with Nana.

Me and the best dad <3

Matthew and his new swords.  Probably last time he'll let me pick his clothes out.

Finally after all these years, my own built-ins with my own treasures.  

Our Epic Europe Trip (with Itinerary)

* FTC Disclaimer:  Married To Medicine is affiliated with many companies including, but not limited to, Amazon, and purchases made through blog links often generate a small % commission.

NOTE:  You can click the pics to enlarge them.  I don't think I got the videos to work :(   If anyone knows how, let me know!  Also, be sure to scroll down to the bottom for my travel tips!
__________________________
Y'all.  It's been forEVER since I updated this blog.  I didn't even do a post about how Mark finally finished training (all 15 post-college years of it) and accepted a faculty position here, at DFCI/Harvard.  We're permanent Bostonians!  But I can't miss capturing our family's biggest adventure yet.  And many of you have asked for the itinerary, so here it goes!

Now, let it be known that I would never have set out to plan a 3-week trip to Europe - it was insanity, cost-wise, planning-wise (literally 100+ hours; I planned it myself because I felt the travel agent my parents were going to use was ripping us off - and I did it for way cheaper, and we stayed in much nicer places) and logistics-wise, especially with two kids (ages 5 and 7) and my aging parents (my mom's knees are bad enough right now that it was a major consideration daily).  It started with Mark having a conference to attend in Sweden.  I've blogged before about how his mother embraces her Swedish heritage - cooking, baking, decorating, even the church community they're a big part of has strong Swedish roots.  He wanted to seize the opportunity and take her to Sweden - she'd never been!  And since he'd flown Iceland Air before, he'd seen more than his share of those enticing advertisements for the stopover.  In case you didn't know, if you fly Iceland Air, you can stop for up to 8 days in Iceland for FREE.  Meaning, you pay for ONE plane ticket (ours were to Sweden) and you get to see two countries.  So - Iceland, Sweden, and then Mark also wanted to visit a French friend/colleague of his who has a vacation home in Provence (specifically, the coastal town Le Lavandou).  I had met his wife (also an MD/researcher) and child a few times back when they were in Boston for a sabbatical research year, plus I was dying to get back to France after having majored in French and spent a college year studying there, so it sounded like a great plan.  I then realized that since I'd be in France and adjusted to the timezone, I should stay after Mark had to go back, meet up with my parents, and knock a few more areas off my bucket list.  I don't even remember how Switzerland got roped into it but it did, and the trip was now 4 countries and 8 towns long.  Here's as brief a summary as I can muster:

Iceland (2 days)

Iceland was fascinating; I definitely recommend it, especially as a stopover.  It's an isolated country with a population no bigger than that of Madison, WI, that was 100% uninhabited until the 800s, when it was settled by Norwegians.  Due to its isolation, the spoken language didn't change much over the centuries and it amounts to Old Norwegian - so old that modern Norwegians couldn't understand it.  It is frigid - we wanted winter coats and hats in August - and basically seemed very bleak, plus the island has active volcanos ... I was fascinated by the fact that it had ever been settled by anybody, honestly, and I wondered if having such a close-knit community (they actually have to check a registry when they start dating to make sure they're not too related) was what got them through the near-perpetual state of winter.  Iceland remained isolated until recent decades - just 50 years ago, it wasn't uncommon to travel by horse and not own a car.  In WWII the U.S. basically plopped down an air force base that eventually became the main airport and current source of tourism. Tourism has has been of huge benefit to Iceland's economy, which at the turn of the 20th century was not only the poorest in Europe but was 100x poorer than the next poorest country in Europe, according to our guide.

We saved a ton of money in Iceland by staying in an AirBNB (we otherwise would have needed two hotel rooms).  It was my first time booking one and I was nervous but as long as you choose one that already has a ton of great reviews, it'll be great.  If you have a rental car, be sure your AirBNB (or hotel) has parking.  ALSO - when you rent cars in Europe, pay close attention because a lot of them are manual rather than automatic - even if you're using a common U.S.-based company like Hertz, you need to be careful when booking.

Most visitors to Iceland will want to hit the Blue Lagoon, a really cool looking natural hot spring/spa. it's near the airport, which is about 45 minutes from the main town (Reykjavik), so most people do it on their way into or out of town.  You need to book tickets in advance.  We took a redeye, rented a car, and drove immediately here, arriving at 7am - you could take a bus from the airport, but you'd need to lock your suitcase in a hut near the parking area.  Be sure to have your shampoo (lots, because the silica that makes the water naturally blue makes your hair stiff), cream rinse, moisturizer, etc., ready (packed separately, so you can grab them from your suitcase and take them in) - they make you shower beforehand it's pretty much impossible to not get your hair wet in those showers, so you're going to actually swim.  Try for a morning spot since some reviews say it gets dirty by the afternoon.  Food in Iceland is expensive, so if you're on a budget consider bringing your own food (unless you're a foodie and it's your main reason for going, like me).

Outside of the Blue Lagoon: Freezing, near-barren land with natural hot springs.
*  You can click ANY of these pics to enlarge, and many are BEST viewed that way!!

The other big thing to do in Iceland is a "Golden Circle" tour.  It's a tour that hits some of the highlights closest to the main city, Reykjavik - we saw waterfalls, geysers, tectonic plates and more.  I definitely recommend it; we were exhausted from our red-eye and the blue lagoon (day 1) so it was a great way to spend day 2.  We wouldn't have had the energy to get to all these places ourselves, and we loved hearing all the interesting tidbits from our tour guide on the bus.

Fam pic on the Golden Circle Tour.  #Tired

Our tour guide brought some traditional iIcelandic food - smoked lamb on flat rye pancakes and "ale," a nonalcoholic drink that tasted like really sweet beer (they mix it with orange soda and that's their traditional Christmas drink!)

Icelandic horses are unchanged since the 800s due to the country's isolation.  Icelanders are very proud of this fact and it is prohibited to bring a horse into the country - even it was a horse originally born in Iceland.

Trying so hard to keep this short (hahaha...) but I can't not mention our best food find.  Sandholt is a cafe in the center of Reykjavik with downright incredible pastries and hot chocolate.  It's not cheap, but it really was amazing - even compared to what I've had in France.

Amazing hot chocolate at Sandholt

Sweden (3 days)

Next up, we flew from Reykjavik, Iceland to Stockholm, Sweden.  Again, the "stopover" in Iceland was free so we only paid for the Sweden ticket.  Such a great deal, both for travelers and for Iceland's economy!

I was downright enchanted with Sweden, even though we only had a few days here.  It's beautiful, the food is fantastic (I personally love seafood, dill, pickled things, potatoes, and pastries!) and I've always been fascinated with nordic/Scandinavian culture.  I would love to go back someday and see more of the countryside or other coastal towns.

For this portion of the trip we stayed in a centrally located hotel and did not rent a car.  It was easy to get from the airport to the center of town by bus (it took a little longer but was significantly cheaper than the direct shuttle).  I recommend selecting a hotel by reading TripAdvisor reviews.  Honestly, TripAdvisor is the best thing ever.

Stunning Stockholm.
* You can click ANY of these pics to enlarge, and many are best viewed that way!!

Mother/daughter pic under overcast skies

My MIL's first meal in Sweden - Swedish meatballs in old town!

This was an incredible family memory; how neat is it to take someone somewhere they've had a lifelong interest in?!

The two best attractions in Stockholm (based on tons of reviews I read) are the Vassa Museum and Skansen.  The Vassa Museum is a fascinating restoration of a sunken Swedish war ship from the 1600s.  You could spend an entire day there; I would allocate a solid 3 hours even with kids.  The information is fascinating and it was highly educational - you'll get some history, physics, art, and even biology since the bones of many who went down with it have been recovered and analyzed, and are stored and visible at the museum (Matthew was fascinated).

Vassa Museum

Vassa Museum

Skansen is a living, outdoor museum that has everything from remakes of old shops and houses to zoo-like areas that feature animals native to Sweden.  It was fascinating and I wish we'd had more time here.

At Skansen

Gorgeous city view from Skansen.

Another really great thing to do is to take a boat to one of the archipelago islands.  We were lucky that my MIL had had a Swedish host student back in 1998/99 and the student, now a mom of 3, and her mother met up with us and took us on one of these (you can buy tickets day-of, just head to all the boats near downtown).  We had lunch on the island at the most adorable, picturesque cafe.  It was delicious and a perfect day spent with the nicest people.

On the boat.

Adorable lunch spot.

Out of a storybook!

A Swedish feast with our Swedish friends.

Dessert was to DIE for!

Cute shot on the island.

Food - if you're on a budget, no problem.  I could have eaten cardamom buns all day long.  Similar to cinnamon rolls but with the complex spice of cardamom.

Le Lavandou - Provence, France (3 days)

After Stockholm, we said goodbye to my MIL and flew to Nice, France (on the southern/Mediterranean coast) to visit Mark's friend/colleague Jerome and his family.  They own a vacation home and Jerome is into sailing, so this part of the trip involved relaxing in a smaller type of town and sailing in the afternoons.  The sailing was amazing - we put anchor down and went diving off the boat, and the water was such a crystal clear blue that we could see about 40 feet down to the sand on the bottom.  The food was incredible; I've found the food in Southern France to be significantly better than in the North - it's all about the produce.

Clearly a sailing town!
*You can click ANY of these pics to enlarge, and most are BEST viewed that way!!

Simply adorable.

Jerome and Alexa made us amazing meals with local produce, hams, and other goods. The salads especially were just divine.

Sailboat buddies!

Captain Jerome.  I thought this was pretty cool - he's the only doctor in France that Jehovah's Witnesses with blood cancers see.  He developed some way to treat them without transfusions.  He and Mark are kindred spirits.  We just love this family.

Swimming off the sailboat in the Mediterranean!!!  One of the very top highlights of the trip.

I should note that this part of the trip was not without adventure.  Our flight to Nice was delayed and got in very late, and we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us in a foreign country with kids.  We learned the toll system on the fly (sometimes you take a ticket, sometimes you pay).  And Claire's motion sickness got the best of her - we barely saved the rental car by balancing some cardamom buns we were bringing Jerome and Alexa on the center consul and having her use the bakery box.  Thankfully it was a very good box, for a pastry box!!

Nice (2 days)

Nice is beautiful but it's super urban and touristy.  It was our least favorite city of the trip.  I had anticipated this so we only had two nights here - and that was only by necessity, so Mark could fly out early one morning.  It was really just the most logical place to meet up with my parents and head to the Alps!

Cool view from the hotel.

*Almost* sophisticated.

We did have an incredible meal of crepes here.  If you're not familiar, creperies in France serve savory crepes called "galettes" so you really can make a whole meal of crepes - and you definitely should!!

Ladies in the city.

It was pretty hot out, and lots of ice cream was eaten.

Claire learned to dive!

Annecy, France (3 days)

So here comes the part of the trip from my bucket list - from here out it was just me, the kids, and my parents.  I'd wanted to see Annecy and Chamonix during the college year I spent in France, but train strikes foiled my plans.  Not to be caught off guard again, my parents and I flew from Nice to Geneva, rented a car, and did easy 45 minute drives between the airport, Annecy, and Chamonix.  Y'all...

I.

Am.

In.

LOVE

With these little towns.  Oh my GOSH.  Annecy is STRAIGHT out of a dream - you could picture Beauty & The Beast happening here.  It's centered around a stunning, crystal clear lake that has breathtaking backdrops of the Alps and is the perfect temperature for swimming.  The actual town itself is an old medieval town with an equally stunning river running through its heart.  I have to be honest here and tell you that we splurged on our hotel.  We booked a really nice one that was right by the swimming beach and had an utterly glorious breakfast spread and outdoor dining each morning - it was about a 20 minute, mind-blowingly beautiful walk into town.  This portion of the trip captured my personal version of total vacation perfection.  I wish I'd had a full week here to bike the lake, swim, hike, and explore the town.  Those things plus the food here, which was French with Alpine influences (think fondue and LOTS of cheese), are my idea of heaven.

The old town during the day - to DIE for!  You have GOT to click this pic and enlarge it!!!

Another view - this one at night.  Click to enlarge!

Yet another cute view, this time with Papa <3!

This adorable decorative door to nowhere reminded me of Claire's favorite book, "Flower Fairies Magical Doors."

It was REALLY hard to narrow down my pics of the lake.

What a trip for them!!  (Click to enlarge)

Heaven. (Click to enlarge)

This pic captures the water color pretty well.  Click any pic to enlarge!!

Seriously - out of a dream. 

And here are some breakfast views:

View of lake from hotel at breakfast.  These were the most glorious mornings I have ever known.

More of the same.

Best breakfast of my life!

Mmmmmm.... I've been longing for French yogurt, baguettes (with butter and jam), and REAL hot chocolate for 17 years now!!  My daily breakfast back when I lived in France.  I couldn't get enough of these simple things, even though the breakfast buffet had lots of other, much fancier stuff.

The hotel also had a dessert buffet that was to die for!

Just one side of this ah-mazing dessert dome!

They were in heaven.

My personal spread (we just did one night of this)

Cheese lovers - take note that fondue, Raclette, and Tartiflette (shown) are some of the Alpine-influenced regional specialities commonly found in Annecy and Chamonix.

Tartiflette (cheese, potatoes, ham)

On a personal note, the kids really were great on this trip.  They are pretty seasoned travelers since we live so far from family, and through sheer luck (I take no credit - P.S. we sleep-trained, did time-outs, I had epidurals, and they get lots of screentime and a fair amount of sugar, haha) they actually really love each other and are the best of friends.

Eye masks for sleeping are a godsend if you're sharing hotel rooms!

And here's a view of the beach from when we actually went swimming.

Literally felt like heaven.  Really great ice cream stand right on the beach too!
* You can click ANY of these pics to enlarge, and most are BEST viewed that way!

Food rec - if you're in Annecy, don't miss La Folie Royale.  It's a little cafe owned by a Brit and his French wife, and the lunch, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate were all divine.  Plus we all agreed the ice cream was out of this world - even better than the famous ice cream at Glacier Des Alps.  I yelped it here if you need more info.  And good news if you don't plan to travel to Annecy - the downright incredible tea we got here is available (and not even that expensive!!!) on Amazon!  If you want to cozy up with a super flavorful cup of cinnamon tea this fall, check out Hot Cinnamon Spice by Harney & Sons. It involves three types of cinnamon, orange peel, and sweet cloves and is the best tea I've ever had.

Pics from Folie Royale - my dad out front, and the amazing "Italian dream" plate I had for lunch.  You can click to enlarge.

Chamonix, France (3 days)

Chamonix is only about an hour's drive from Annecy but it has a totally different, equally delicious feel.  Being tucked up in the Alps gives this charming little town some outrageously gorgeous, fake-looking backdrops and with Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, literally right there it was destined to become the birthplace of extreme Alpine sports.  The town is small and entirely walkable; it comprises only about 8 blocks, and perhaps because it attracts so many wealthy skiers we found the restaurant selection to be amazing.  If you have time, google "freeriding" and you can read about the fascinating and terrifying "sport" in which crazy people have helicopters drop them on mountain summits and then they ski or snowboard down ungroomed ultra-steep terrain - extremely dangerous, even for seasoned champions, and utterly unimaginable to those of with a fear of heights!  You can check out this video on Marco Siffredi, a freerider from Chamonix itself who ultimately became (at the age of 20 - born when I was) the first person ever to snowboard down Mt. Everest (unfortunately he then went back to try to snowboard down the ultra steep North Face and was never found).  His slang and mumbling in the video (in French) is difficult to understand even for me, but it's just a 3 minute clip and the footage is unbelievable.  Maybe it's because I have such a pronounced fear of heights (or lack of boundaries?) but I am endlessly fascinated by the thought of doing what these people do.  I would literally rather be eaten by a shark than die that way.

This backdrop is REAL!!!!  And pics never do mountain views justice.  You have GOT to click this one to enlarge it!
* You can click ANY of these pics to enlarge, and most are BEST viewed that way!

Not quite as outrageous on an overcast day, but impressive and beautiful nonetheless.  Click to enlarge.

Another clear-day town pic!  I just cannot make this background up!!  Click to enlarge.

I loved pondering the people who lived here long ago, and what their lives must have been like.

So glad we did this trip.  It was SO much work both to plan and to execute, and it was definitely a financial sacrifice (we still rent and we don't do private school, so I have some excuses!!) but absolutely worth it for the memories made.

On the overcast day, we drove up a mountain (terrifying for me, I was shaking!) and did the Merlet Animal Park - a suggestion by our hotel's concierge, and another example of how it does really pay off to prioritize nice hotels if you're traveling (better than paying a travel agent, IMO).  Here you can see mountain animals essentially roaming free.  This is where I first discovered that I've developed a major fear of heights - it's fine if I'm enclosed in something, like a plane or a gondola, but if not, even if there's a fence, it's torturous.

The park really is on the SIDE of a mountain.  Everything about it is steep, and I was nervous just walking around on most of the walking paths.  It felt (to me) like I could fall over and never stop falling.

On the path with reindeer!

Little man in his yellow raincoat.

So hard to capture on film but the views really were dizzying.  Again, I felt like I could fall off and just keep falling.

Love this shot.

Claire snapped a bunch of pics of me when I waited with her for my dad to come back down the mountain road with our rental car - he'd had to drop my mom off at the top/entrance because of her knees but I was terrified to go any higher up in a car.  Claire and I were just killing time but now I'm really glad she took these.  This trip was about family and exploration but it was also about coming back to a country I'd lived in for a year, and devoted an entire college major to learning about.  It's crazy to think about how much in my life has changed since 2000-2001 when I was here at age 20.  I'm now 38 years old, married, two kids, a law degree, a successful social media business, I live in Boston - permanently (what??), and I'm thankfully still healthy.  There was definitely some bittersweetness, thinking about how life passes you by and how short it really all is.  I blinked (sort of) and went from young to middle-aged.  Who knows when I'll be back here again, but I definitely think this was my last time in France looking and feeling even remotely youthful.

We saved the Midi D'Aguille (taking a cable car to the top of Mont Blanc) for our clear day, but unfortunately when we woke up that morning it was down for maintenance.  Another day saved by our hotel concierge - she had figured this out for us, let us know right away, and helped us plan another trip this day to the "Mer de Glace" ("Sea of Ice") - the glacier.  Following are some pics from that outing.  *Note:  There are other day trips you can do from Chamonix if you have more time, including a small culturally Swiss village way up in the Alps, and I believe you can even do a day trip to northern Italy.

Cogwheel mountain train we took from the center of town up the mountain.

Terrifying views from the train, and utterly unnecessary warning sticker.

Impossible to capture on film but I tried (click to enlarge).  A person would be an invisible spec in this picture.

More glacier pics.

I couldn't go near the fences myself, but I snapped some pics of those who could!

I would be remiss if I didn't specifically give a shoutout to the hotel we stayed in, which was Hotel Mont Blanc.  This one was also a splurge for us, but not only did the concierge greatly enhance our daytrip planning as described above, but again if you're traveling with young people and old people (and if you can work remotely while your kids swim) it makes a big difference to have a pool, and the breakfast experiences when you travel are a huge part of it, especially if you're a foodie.  I reviewed this hotel here for those of you actually interested in potentially traveling to Chamonix, and here are some hotel pics.

Adorable Hotel Mont Blanc

Pool and hot tub with mountain backdrop.

Another view.

Cold and cloudy day was no problem in the hot tub!

... a note on the food in Chamonix.  First off, even just the raspberries I bought from the grocery store were OUT of this WORLD.  I have never, EVER seen raspberries like these in the U.S. and they tasted AMAZING - different and better than any I've ever had before (and yes, I've picked and even grown my own berries in the U.S.).

This is the actual color, unenhanced.

Second off, if you go to Chamonix do not miss Aux Petits Gourmands - an incredible chocolate shop and pastry cafe in the center of town.  The chocolates I purchased here were better than any I found elsewhere on the trip, including Switzerland.  And the ice cream treats we had were utterly divine.  I also read some really good reviews of breakfast here so if you didn't splurge on a hotel that included breakfast, this would be a great stop.

Store front window says it all.
* You can click ANY pics in this post to enlarge them!

Chocolate counter - best chocolates of our trip.

And our ice cream...

Clockwise from Left (lol!):  Mixed berry sundaes, Strawberry/Raspberry sundae, incredible sundae (details below), Claire, banana split.

Mine had vanilla ice cream, lots of meringue (love!), nuts, and whipped cream.

Claire's strawberry/raspberry sundae was also amazing.

What, you think it's too much to get hot chocolate AND ice cream??  Somehow I didn't gain any weight on this trip BUT I did lose muscle so I'm sure I gained fat.  I'm now back at the gym, hoping to get my muscle back without gaining.  

Last, if you don't have an extra day to do a day trip from Chamonix to northern Italy (or even if you do), do not miss the Pizzeria Des Moulins.  Some of the absolute best pasta and salads we have ever had, and we're told it's pretty authentically northern Italian.

Grindelwald, Switzerland (3 Days)

Here it comes - the ultimate (allegedly) for scenery!  Yes, if you want utterly mind-boggling "Sound of Music" views and breathtaking hikes and train rides, the Grindelwald/Interlaken area of Switzerland is the place for you.  It's in the German region so the food (and obviously language) were very different from the rest of our trip.  The big issue with visiting this area is it's outrageously expensive **but** you really need at least one sunny day to see its full beauty.  We only planned two days here and we lucked out that 1.5 of them were sunny.  As for this francophile, I'm very glad to have seen it once but my heart remains in France for any future trips we're lucky enough to take.

To get here, we drove an hour from Chamonix back to the Geneva airport and ditched the rental car.  Then we hopped on the trains and it took 3-4 hours total to get from Geneva to the town we stayed in, Grindelwald.  Grindelwald is near Interlaken but it's a smaller town and a little closer to a lot of the hiking and other sites up in the mountains.  I'm not sure we'd do that again - the views were incredible even just from the town but it was really, really small town and not much to explore right outside of our hotel.

Views of Grindelwald area from train.

In case the above video fails, classic shot of Grindelwald.
* You can click ANY pics in this entry and enlarge them!

We did wonder if all of this was zoning or cultural homogeneity.  It did kind of make you think about German culture and WWII.  Also our stopover in Germany made me think of how strange it is that my very own grandfather was in a war against the Germans.  Fast-forward several decades and there I was, casually stopping in a German airport and buying chocolate.  Alexa said it's still a little strange for some French people too - visiting a country that literally took theirs over.  And I have no way of knowing how it feels if you're Jewish and you visit, but I'd imagine it's a whole other level of ... something.

Moving on, our first full day was CLEAR!!!  We took advantage and did the train ride up to Jungfraujoch, or the "Top of Europe."  This is considered an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience and the price reflects that.  It's something outrageous like $200/person just to take the trains and explore the building up top (P.S., no idea how they EVER built that thing but being involved in that would be my WORST nightmare!!).  You get a significant discount if you purchase a Swiss Travel Pass, which we did (it's worth it if you're going to travel a lot by train) and thankfully Claire (5) was free and Matthew (7) was only 25 CHF (about $26).  I found it easiest to purchase the travel pass at the Geneva airport (counter closes at 4pm) right before we hopped on our first train.

Views from the train ride up to Jungfraujoch.

The view at the top was hard to capture on film, but it was basically like being in an open airplane (click to enlarge).

These horrific stairs were the limit for me with my fear of heights.  No.  WAY. (click to enlarge).

I still got some great pics from behind a window.
Can you spot the tiny people? (click to enlarge).

Lots to do at the top, including an ice cave inside the glacier.  Claire had no long pants because we lost an entire suitcase - left it on a train and eventually got it back 3 days later.  Travel is definitely not the same thing as "vacationing" - it's never without troubles and the anxiety doesn't end until you're back at home!!

In case the video fails, a few pics of the ice cave inside the glacier.

Ice cave or no, you'll want coats (winter coats really) for any high altitude excursions - brrrr.
Also on the altitude, the itinerary I planned turned out to be really great because Annecy --> Chamonix --> Grindelwald was a very gradual altitude increase.  I was worried about it because I had altitude sickness the only other time I've ever been to Switzerland (part of a school tour I did at the end of high school).  If you do experience altitude sickness, try to get down to a lower altitude area for half a day and then go back up.  It helped me a lot way back when.

One last pic at the top!

On the second Grindelwald/Switzerland day, we took the trains from Grindelwald to Wengen and from Wengen we took a cable car (used for skiers in the winter) up the mountain to Mannlichen and then we hiked from Mannlichen down to Kleine Scheidigg (a train stop).  This hike is famous for its scenery.  Unfortunately the clouds rolled in when we were about halfway down, but we can't complain - the pouring rain hit within minutes of making it back to Kleine Schidigg!!!

At Wengen, about to get on the cable car.

Cable car view - looking down from near the top - yikes! (click to enlarge)

More cable car views.

At the top - this was the closest I ever got to a high altitude fence.

Breathtaking scenery. (click any pic to enlarge)

My favorite shot of the trip - snapped this with my phone!  Mannlichen has an adorable park for kids, it's right at the top of the cable car so you can't miss it.  Great restaurant too!

We just loved the beautiful cows.  They seriously just look like their milk would make better dairy products. 
Or caramel flavored ones.  Or something.

And the hike itself!!!  Some pics I snapped on our way down... click on any to enlarge.

Love this pic!

... and this one, with my Dear Old Dad.

But rut-roh, the clouds rolled in...

I cannot exaggerate how hard it is to capture this awe-inspiring scenery on film, but check out what looks like a miniature playhouse next to Matthew - that's a pretty massive trainstop area actually, it's just SUPER far away! 
* Click to enlarge if you wish!

Video taken while walking down.  Wish I'd done one before the clouds hit!

The walk/hike from Mannlichen was gorgeous and an experience we'll never forget.  A little scary if you have a fear of heights.  I felt bad for my mom - her knees wouldn't allow her to do this, so she took a cable car back down instead.

Trying to wrap up this post!  A note on the food in the Interlaken/Jungfrau/Grindelwald area of Switzerland - I personally LOVED it.  Not as much as I love French food and, dare I say, the pastries we had here were pretty terrible, BUT I've always been a big fan of all those cold salad potluck style dishes.  I had no idea they were German!  Plus... sausages and schnitzel!  Yum!!!

Salad bar creation from our hotel's restaurant.

Salad bar creation from the lunch spot in Mannlichen.

Luzern, Switzerland (1 day)

Before I get into Luzern, I wanted to note that we saw some incredible views of Switzerland from the train on our way there from Grindelwald.

I can't get over the color and crystal clarity of all these lakes.  (Click to enlarge)

I was also fascinated by all these little cottages dotting the mountaisides. 
Most of them had no driveways or roads leading up to them.

Small lake town (click to enlarge)

Such a cool  little town, imagine living under these massive mountains!

Closer up - and again, with the color of these lakes!!

Arrival!!!  We did Luzern partially because we wanted to see Mt. Pilatus, and partially because it just seemed more logical to fly back home out of Zurich, rather than backtracking to Geneva.  Unfortunately our only day here was rainy (and you don't go up in mountains in the rain because you won't be able to see anything).  Thankfully we snapped a few pics of Luzern on our first evening, because by the following day it was too rainy to even try.

Luzern.

We noted that even the simplest pasta dish at a tourist trap is just SO GOOD in Europe!

Almost done now!  One day of touring and one big day of travel home to go!

It turned out that the rain really wasn't a big deal because by this time in the trip we were all truly exhausted.  Even with great kids (and great adults), the constant logistical issues of traveling and touring will eventually wear down even the most functional group of 5+ travelers.  Instead of anything ambitious, we spent our last day doing a low-key, half-day trip by taking a train to a chocolate factory.  It turned out to be pretty much the perfect thing (and one of the top highlights of the entire trip for the kids, who got to make their own bars!!).

Video from making our own chocolate bars.

Chocolate fountain tasting area.

Pic of making our own bars, in case video fails.

Ready and on its way.  Dark chocolate for me!

Victory!

Retrospectively, rain was really appropriate for the last day of our trip and not just because we were tired and it scored us the chocolate factory. By this time, a bittersweet feeling had begun to sink in. We were all traveled out and very ready to get home, but we also all knew that this had been the trip of a lifetime for us.  Even if we ever do make it back to Europe with my parents, we'll never do anything even remotely this ambitious again; my parents were still just young enough, and my kids were just barely old enough, to make this happen.  All of the pics and memories from this trip were captured at such a sweet spot for all of us, but especially for me.  I know that most of the time I ever spend looking back on this trip will involve a deep longing for a time when my babies were little, safe, and mine, and my parents were alive, healthy, and with me.

I snapped a few pics in the rain, waiting for the train.

To quote from The Sound of Music, "Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good."

Their personalities captured.

My boy.

My girl.

A lifetime of love - struggles, yes, but mostly love.
This one really gets me.

TRAVEL TIPS

A few quick travel tips before I go...

• For **any** travel, but especially with kids, you have GOT to get packing cubes (if you don't already have some)!!!  They are a total game-changer!  I have one color for me and one for each kid.  They keep us organized not just for the actual travel but throughout the stay itself, and keep our stuff less wrinkly.  I thought it was a little crazy when I first read all the reviews raving about them but they really are THAT good.  Instead of opening your suitcase to those piles folded around shoes and socks it's all nice and neat, as shown.  Ebags is the original brand (click to shop) but the AmazonBasics (generic) brand also gets fabulous reviews.

• Bring multiple outlet converters - you'll need more than you think you do.  But...
• Don't bother bringing a hair dryer or flatiron.  European outlets cannot handle U.S. hairdryers or flat irons.  Most hotels and AirBNBs will have a hair dryer.
• Taking a redeye, or otherwise anticipating a nap on the plane?  I read TONS of reviews and concluded that these BCOZZYs were the very best product for travel sleep.  LOVED mine!  If you need two, they're cheaper as a 2-pack here.  They also make a version just for kids too, here.

• If you're trying to not check any bags, you MUST pay close attention to measurements.  I found that this suitcase worked for all our international flights and it really maximized the space we had.  Plus it's an easy all-direction roll - even my kids could handle their own.  The measurements look a little dicey for Iceland Air's website but when we got to the airport and put them in the sample size bin, they fit perfectly!
• I also highly, highly recommend getting these TSA-Approved Quart Sized Clear Toiletry Bags for your "liquids & medications" if you're not checking a bag.  You can fit a TON in here, somehow it really seems like a lot more than I can fit in my Ziplock bags - maybe because of the shape.

• For your shampoo, moisturizer, etc., I cannot recommend these leakproof silicone travel bottles enough.  Best things ever.  I'll be using mine from now on domestically even though we usually check a bag.  Those tiny little jars at the bottom are also great for bringing your own Aquaphor or other ointments, which count as liquids.

• For Iceland and for any high-altitude excursions elsewhere - even in August - you'll want a winter coat.
• Every international flight we took worked out totally fine arriving 2 hours in advance of departure at the airport EXCEPT Zurich.  If you are flying out of Zurich, give yourself 3 hours, and make sure you get ALL the way to your actual gate before you stop to eat.  We waited in two 45-minute lines and the second one was a big surprise.
• Something will go wrong (again, we lost an entire suitcase for 3 days, and my daughter threw up in the back of our rental car).  But you'll recover!  And it'll make a great story.