Hello California! (and Chicago)

Operation Homeland Security? Obviously not in effect on United Airlines which let Lukas enter the cockpit & be the pilot before take-off.

Lukas & I had to leave Zürich 2 weeks earlier than expected to fly to Chicago for a family medical emergency. Miraculously, everything turned out OK in the end and a scary pilgrimage home turned into a very happy family reunion.

The autumn weather in Chicago was absolutely beautiful, and we got to enjoy some boat rides, bonfires and BBQs. Lukas was a little confused that we were stopping in Chicago since we had "played up" California for awhile in an attempt to make the move easier for him. But with Oma & Opa and Tante and family, he could have cared less if our move to California was diverted.


Lukas fishing on Oma & Opa's lake. He was pretty excited to catch his first fish. I was NOT so excited to have to take it off the hook. Isn't that suppose to be Dad's job?.....

After 2 weeks in Chicago, Lukas & I flew out to S.F. to meet Rob and the unpacking began....



I thought it would be difficult to unpack with Lukas around, but moving boxes/forts/houses are the best toy ever!






Lukas using some of our house paint to spruce up his fort

Goodbye Switzerland!

It is taking me forever to write this post since I am so sad to leave Switzerland. As many of you know, we just loved, loved, loved our time in CH! I know: blah, blah, blah. But I can't just leave without at least a short farewell post. I'll miss the mountains & hiking, the green, green grass, the Swiss holidays & festivals, the great swim badis, our wonderful neighborhood where I got to know so many families at the Gemeindschaftszentrum, the travelling, walking & biking everywhere, how safe it felt for kids, riding the trams with Lukas, heisse marroni, wurst & rosti, cafes, alpenhütte....I could go on & on..... And of course, I hope to carry on the great friendships that we made there. Seriously, I can't say that Zürich is the most exciting city to visit as a tourist, but for living there as a family, it can't be beat. Goodbye Switzerland!

Is this what it would have been like to grow up with a brother?

7 am this morning: Rob was already off to work & I was enjoying dozing in bed until Lukas woke up. Sure enough, just a few minutes later I heard the pitter patter of his little feet as he made his way to our room. I thought that he was going to climb into bed with me & cuddle for a few minutes. Instead, he very purposely sat on the pillow right next to me and "tooted". He then lifted up my head and moved it onto the "toot" scented pillow. Lastly, he sat on my head and tooted again. He was laughing hysterically!


Most of you know that we are always trying hard to get Lukas to eat more. These days we can get him to eat just about anything if we tell him that it will give him toot power. Last night we had Mexican.....

Elm and Alpabfahrt

For our last mountain weekend in CH we headed to Elm. It is a sleepy little town where we had gone snowshoeing the previous year:

It had been one of our favorite trips and it turned out that they were having their Alpabfahrt the weekend we wanted to go - so it made it an easy pick for our last CH hiking adventure.

It was just as beautiful as we remembered:

We had to choose a shorter hike in order to make it to the valley in time for the Alpabfahrt. Many mountain towns have this festival in the fall to celebrate the return of the cows from grazing in the mountains down to the valley. They decorate the cows with flowers & HUGE bells and parade through the town. I've wanted to see this festival ever since we arrived in CH, but always seemed to miss it since you can't plan it out in advance - the date that the cows come down from the mountains is somewhat dependent on the weather.

Eating the ubiquitous wurst while waiting for the cows...

And here they come!

It was really fun to see, although Lukas wasn't as excited as I thought he'd be because it was LOUD:

(I'm not tech-savvy enough to know how to cut this video clip - just 10 seconds or so of it & you'll get the gist of it! )

Hiking, wurst & cows - how Swiss is that! I guess we should have had fondue at the hotel that night too! (instead I chose mountain goat - no kidding - & yes -ugh - not a good choice. Really black meat & gravy.) But other than that poor menu selection, a truly perfect last weekend in Switzerland.

Jucker Farm

Before leaving CH, we made our annual pumpkin pilgrimage to the local farm known as Jucker Farm which is just outside of Zürich. It is a great little farm that we visit often throughout the year that has pick-your-own fruit, goats, ponies & pigs, trampolines and climbing ropes for Lukas, and a great lunch with a nice view of the nearby lake. In autumn, they have the largest pumpkin display in Europe. Every year has a theme. This year it was fairy tales which was fun since Lukas recognized many of the Swiss/European characters.

Ursli

Beatus & the dragon (not really - but Lukas believed it was.)

Puss in boots

Cinderella's carriage

We were back in the Bay Area for Halloween this year so we did the pumpkin pilgrimage all over again in Half Moon Bay....post to follow

Addictions

Aaaahhh......we've FINALLY received our shipment from Switzerland. We've been living in our house for about 2 weeks now & have been making do with what we have. I've learned that I can live without beds, dishes & most of our clothes, but not without our computer! We packed it up on Sept. 23 in Zurich and since then I have had serious withdrawals. I've been waiting eagerly for Rob to bring his laptop home each night so I could check my email, blogs & various time sucking websites....

In the meantime, I've added a new addiction:



We got so accustomed to great coffee in CH that we splurged on a Swiss automatic coffee maker. It grinds the beans for each individual cup and makes each cup according to your wishes (medium, strong, coffee vs. expresso, single vs. double, etc.) with just the touch of a button without having to deal with filling grinds or water tanks. The first week that we had it, I was having 4 or 5 cups a day....it is just too easy to touch a button.

So, with the computer set up & delicious coffee just a touch away, I'm more than ready to catch up on our blog. Stay tuned...