Matterhorn - Family Trip to a Swiss Icon

If you don't know anything about the Matterhorn, you likely still know it as the iconic symbol of the Toblerone chocolate bar.

When we had to choose the spot for our annual ski trip, we were excited to put Zermatt at the top of our list. (I know, I know ... I just posted about our "last family trip" but I knew this one wasn't going to be the same as our daddy was going to be busy skiing 70% of the time and we were traveling with another favorite family of three. Bear with me!)

Zermatt did not disappoint! It is the epitome of the picturesque Swiss ski town. We arrived Friday lunch time and daddy went straight up the mountain with Stephen while mommies checked out the town. The sky was clear and we had a great view of the Matterhorn & from up top Matt took some great videos. 

  

The best part was watching these two little ones run around the hotel and play together. Lots of fun was had playing hide-n-seek in the curtains, drawing on the hotel wall, making long distance phone calls (KarKar? PopPop?), running back & forth on the balcony and trying to slip on the ice while mommy catches you. (Because apparently that's hilarious). It was awesome for us to see because while these two have been buddies for a while and have payed with each other's toys and interacted with each other, this was the first time they PLAYED together. Adorable everything. 

 

Saturday morning, while Matt went skiing again, we dropped off the kids for a morning of play time at the kids days care across the street. I was a tad worried about big E's response, but he ran away from me without even saying goodbye! There were cars... Hehe. I spent the morning lounging by the pool and sauna. Not a traditional ski trip, but it sure was relaxing. That afternoon we all went up to the highest kiddos and preggo were allowed to go. Unfortunately, the Matterhorn was covered by clouds this day, but we still had a great time with E in his gear and playing around in the snow. 

  

  

Lastly, we dropped into the Matterhorn museum. It was great! Tucked underground, it went through the history of Zermatt as a small village, to the rise to its elite position today as a premier Swiss ski destination. Additionally, it chronicled the first summit of the Matterhorn. I had no idea it was so controversial! The first ascent ended in tragedy, when 4 of the 7 climbers fell to their deaths on the trek down. The scandal arises from the varying accounts from the surviving climbers. Whymper, the British leader, questioned the choices by his local Zermatt father-son mountain guides, the Taugwalders. The rope used to tie the team broke when one team member slipped. Whymper was the first to stake claim to the ascent and to speak publicly about the accident, and started speculation about the use of that particular rope and the actions of the guides. The Taugwalders remained silent about the accident but the museum implies that there was more to the story... Wikipedia Summary

On our last morning we woke up to quite the snow storm! A beautiful site.

Thank you Zermatt.