Santa's visit

This year, Santa was going to visit Lukas' preschool. The parents & siblings were invited to listen to their kids sing a few songs & then watch Santa pass out a small gift to each kid. Lukas was excited & said to Marieke: "Are you excited to see Santa? Just keep your eyes OPEN & your mouth CLOSED. I don't want Santa to see my sister crying."

I'm not sure if he was afraid that then Marieke wouldn't get any presents or more importantly, if it would reflect badly on him......

Not so sure about the name...

Lukas was staying with his grandparents when we were at the hospital for Marieke's birth. After Marieke was born, grandpa told Lukas that we had the baby & that it was a girl. Lukas was OK with that. Then grandpa told Lukas her name was Marieke. Lukas' response: "No, I don't think so."

The next night I was talking to Lukas on the phone from the hospital wishing him a good night: "I love you Lukas. I hope you have a good night."

Lukas: "I love you mom. I hope you....... can still change her name."

Marroni!!!!

Beginning in November, "Heisse Marroni" (hot chestnut) stands would pop up all over Zurich and be a fixture on the street corners til March. For about 5 francs you'd get a little paper cone filled with hot, roasted chestnuts. It seems that people either love roasted chestnuts or hate them. We were definitely in the "love 'em" camp - even Lukas. We'd get a coneful just about every other day.

When we moved back to the States, it was just one more of the things that we missed about CH. So I was practically giddy when I found out that there was a chestnut tree farm less than an hour from our house.

We headed out on a beautiful sunny day, got instructions from the owner of the orchard & then donning thick leather gloves to protect our hands from the prickly shell of the chestnut - set out for our picking. Chestnut "picking", it turns out, isn't really picking off the tree, but gathering chestnuts off the ground. Since these orchards are planted on hills, we were scrambling up & down looking for the biggest chestnuts - it feels like a kind of treasure hunt & it is easy to get carried away. As we were leaving we met a family that had picked $80 worth of chestnuts. I asked them what they were going to do with all of them & they said they had no idea - they just overpicked!


The best chestnuts seemed to be on the steepest slopes

Most of the people out picking were Asians & Europeans - I guess chestnuts are more prevalent in those cultures. Strangely enough, there were also ALOT of pregnant women out there too (myself - 8 mos along - included). It was quite funny to watch all these women trying to make their way up & down the steep slopes.

Anyways, a fun beautiful fall day. And we are getting pretty good at grilling the "heisse marroni" just like in Zurich.......

Halloween

When we asked Lukas what he wanted to be this Halloween, without hesitation: Monster!

So Rob & Lukas sketched out what Lukas wanted that monster to look like: Big, blue, with horns, 18 eyes, 42 arms & a long spikey tail. Then, on a Saturday morning, father & son headed out to the fabric store to buy the fabric & supplies. Over the next few weeks, Rob was at his sewing machine in the evenings, bringing the monster to life. Although, we pared down from 42 arms to 4, I think it turned out great & Lukas was thrilled!

Halloween was a balmy night this year & while we thought that the fur costume would be great for keeping him warm - he was one sweaty monster! It didn't deter him from hitting lots of houses - trick-or-treating was definitely all about the candy this year!

The Wiggers family goes trick-or-treating.

The monk costume was an attempt to hide a 9 month bump.

The mummy costume was a last minute get-up.

Later we realized that Inga was a "father" and Rob a "mommy". .....ha! ha!

Bowling!

We took Lukas bowling for his first time a few weeks ago. The bowling alley had automatic bumpers (to prevent gutterballs) that popped up before his turn and 6 lb balls for little kids - so all went well. Lukas' favorite part was the bowling shoes, though. He really wanted to take them home afterwards. While we were there we saw that they had "disco" bowling night where you bowl in the dark with flashing lights & music - we're there next!


Lukas & Rob discuss strategy & form.


Lukas already "steering" with his body.

Our family is expanding!

Meet the 2 newest members of the Wiggers/Lapsins family: Squeak & Lucy. They are 9 week old kittens that we adopted from an animal rescue organization after literally months of searching.



When I was growing up, I remember that free kittens were everywhere. Not here. We had a hard time finding any kittens & then if we did most had adoption fees when they weren't even spayed/neutered & vaccinated. We finally found some at the local animal shelter only to have our application turned down because we revealed that we were planning to keep them as indoor/outdoor (gasp!) cats. We may have had a shot if I hadn't rolled my eyes when the animal shelter worker explained that the cats couldn't go outside because they might get sunburned/skin cancer.

Anyways, 2 days later we found these 2 at another organatization. They are the cutest things - playful, affectionate, purring little troublemakers. Lukas is loving it!


Squeak watches Lukas' work of art in progress

Oh..... and for those of you that may have had other ideas of our family expanding when you read the title of this post......... you're not off - we're expecting baby #2 this fall! ;-)

Father's Day Hike

All the Dads & their boys

On Father's Day we headed to Mount Tam for a hike up to the West Point Inn for a pancake breakfast. The Inn is only open for breakfast a handful of days/year and the only way to reach it is to hike in. We did a nice little 1 mile hike & then enjoyed perfect weather, a great view & breakfast with friends.


Breakfast with a view

Lukas having fun with his buddies

The kids were kept busy building this fort while the parents enjoyed more coffee.

Lukas' first baseball game

Rob & Lukas took the train into SF the other week to catch a Giants game. Lukas was REALLY excited, even though he knows squat about baseball. But Rob taught him some of the basics of the game during the 4 innings or so that they actually watched, and Lukas learned the word "creamed" .... as in the Giants got "creamed". Of course, more exciting for him was the concession guy selling hot chocolate from a big tank on his back with a hose, the playground at the back of the park and taking the train into the city. He was all smiles as he bounded off the train telling me stories of hotdogs, ice cream, etc......

Backpacking - sort of..

At the start of the trailhead (with Lukas' new friend Ru)

We've done vanagon camping, we've done car/tent camping so we thought it was time to step it up a notch & really get out into nature with a backpacking trip. Rob found a great hike-in camp site up in Point Reyes. The hike was only 2 miles so we thought it would be doable with Lukas and the site was just meters from the beach so it promised to be beautiful.



We headed out with some friends that also have a 2 1/2 year old little boy. And the boys did great! Lukas hiked the whole way with his backpack which carried his essentials: extra underwear, pajamas, favorite stuffed animals and a water bottle. The boys "helped" set up the tents when we got to our site. And then the "sort of" backpacking part came into play. While the moms & boys headed to the beach for some fun, the dads hiked back out the 2 miles, loaded up 2 bikes with a burley trailer & rode back on a 5 mile fire road with all of our other creature comforts: air mattress, real food (no dehydrated backpacking meals for us!), etc. I think it turned out to be a great compromise - we got a nice secluded campsite, the boys felt like they were truly backpacking & we all got good meals & good sleep. win. win. win.

Setting up camp

Playing monster trucks in the sand while the dads get all the goods!

Definitely beats car camping!

What's camping without a s'more?

After a good dinner & watching the sunset on the beach, the boys crashed hard. But the grownups stayed up sitting around reading old ghost stories by flashlight while bold raccoons edged around our campsite.

We all packed fleece & hats prepared for the often foggy, blustering weather up on the coast. But we couldn't have asked for better weather - sunny & warm (actually hot). The next day we explored the tidepools and played on the beach for awhile.

After all of the sun in the fun the boys were wiped again, so the burley & dads got another workout: 2 trips out by bike - one loaded with gear, the other with 2 sleeping kids. :-)

Gotta love the like-a-bike

Grandpa & Grootmoe bought Lukas a like-a-bike for his 2nd b-day. It's a "laufrad" - a small wooden bike with no pedals which is ubiquitous in Switzerland. It's great for little kids cause it teaches them balance - Lukas could cruise around on it & absolutely loved it.





But he was getting a little too big for it so it was time to move on to a "big boy bike". So G&G bought him a blue two-wheeler. This past weekend we decided to teach Lukas how to ride it. Now I seriously remember trying to learn how to ride a bike: lots of scrapes, lots of tears, & as my mom reminds me: a couple of outbursts at my mom&dad, telling them that they bought the "wrong, stupid bike"!

But literally after 3 minutes with Rob helping Lukas, he was zipping around no problem! I'm sure it is because of all his like-a-bike "training".

Pinnacles National Park

Lukas had his spring break from preschool a few weeks ago (like he needs a break from all the playing & snacktime?) so Rob took off work for a few days & we headed to Pinnacles National Park for some camping.


Heading off in the vanagon - Lukas always tries to talk to us from WAY back there which would be hard in a normal van, but in the sputtering vanagon.... impossible....

This time we brought a tent for sleeping for more of a real camping experience. We only brought 2 sleeping pads, though so I opted to sleep in the vanagon afterall while the boys roughed it in the tent.

Lukas was very excited to help set up the tent.

Tadaa!

It was near 80 degrees during the day, but dropped to 30 at night. I woke up at about midnight, absolutely FREEZING! I was wearing fleece & jackets & was sleeping on the thick vanagon cushions. I was soooo worried about Lukas who was sleeping in only his flannel PJs & fleece & sleeping (basically) on the cold ground. Of course, my mind started getting ahead of me, wondering how cold it has to get before hypothermia sets in, etc. I wanted to check on him, but figured that Rob would look after him....unless..... Rob was sound asleep......aaah.... So basically, I couldn't sleep all night, worried about my little boy. Finally, at about 7am I climbed out of the vanagon & went to check on them in the tent. They were both completely zonked out, sleeping happily in a toasty little tent. I guess the little tent captured the warmth from their bodies & breath quite nicely. And here I thought I was getting the better deal, sleeping in the vanagon.

Rob & Lukas warming up at the fire

We did a great hike on a trail that took us through caves, through forests & out in the canyons to see the rock formations. We were all so excited to be hiking again - we miss our CH wkd hiking excursions!

Leprechan Traps

We never really celebrated St. Patrick's Day when I was growing up. Maybe because we have absolutely no Irish heritage? But now I'm thinking that this may become one of my favorite holidays with a 4 year old. We prepared by making leprechan traps the night before. Rob, being the engineer, was in charge of this project. And quite the traps they were. The traps had silver rocks inside and a special gold nugget hanging from a string. (You all know that Leprechans love gold, of course.) Once the leprechan pulled the gold nugget it triggered a rubberband which SNAPPED the box shut! ha ha! The boxes were also decorated with rainbows to further entice the leprechans inside.

Lukas woke up at 5:30AM the next day, all excited to check the traps. Alas, the boxes were shut, but no leprechans were found. The little troublemakers did wreck havoc on our house, though: bananas were hanging from the fireplace, chairs were upside down, one of Lukas' stuffed animals was dressed in an astronaut suit, boots were hanging from doornobs, Lukas' cars & trucks were piled high, etc. Lukas thought it was HILARIOUS & ran around the house trying to find all of the things that the leprechans did. Also kind of fun to celebrate a holiday that doesn't have to involve candies or presents!

Vancouver Island

We all headed to Vancouver Island in February to help celebrate Anne Marie's "big" b-day. We weren't too convinced that heading to Canada in winter was the smartest move, but we ended up being blessed with beautiful sunny days.

We spent the first few days in Nainaimo with Joris, Elizabeth & the girls. I think I got about 5 minutes of Lukas' attention in those days as he was completely enthralled in hanging out with his cousins. They also have cats, dogs, a trampoline & a huge yard for play - no shortage of fun here!

The pizza chefs in action


All zonked out from too much fun

We then drove about 3 hours west to Tofino on the coast where we had rented cabins for a few nights. The drive to Tofino was beautiful - & Tofino itself was gorgeous too. Our cabins were right on the beach so we could some nice walks.


Standing on the beach looking back at our cabins tucked in the woods


Sunset on "our" beach

On our first night in Tofino we went to the Wickaninnish Inn for the big b-day celebratory dinner. The restaurant had amazing views of the coastline & delicious food. We managed to enjoy a 3 hour dinner which is amazing in itself considering all together there were 4 kids under the age of 5! I think the grandkids picked up on the fact that they needed to be good on Grootmoe's special night.

The next day we took a one hour boat tour to a nearby island. The captain pointed out bald eagles and seal lions - but unfortunately no whales - we were a bit early in the season for that. On the island we took about a 2 mile hike to some hotsprings. It was kind of funny, the walk was completely on a raised wooden walkway which made for a really easy hike. But when we got to the hotsprings, we had to carefully manuever our way over slippery, mossy boulders. Of course, that didn't stop us & we all enjoyed a soak!


Our yellow boat docked & ready to bring us back home when we're done on the island


Family pic along the hike


The Wiggers family soaking it up!

We had such a great week on Vancouver Island. Wonderful time to relax & catch up with family and a truly beautiful place.

NO SLUGS ALLOWED

The one thing that I love about being back home is that I once again get to work in the garden. The garden was sorely neglected while our house was being rented, so Lukas & I have been busy trying to bring it back to life. We planted a salvia about a week ago, but when we checked on it the other day, many of its leaves had been eaten by slugs. I showed it to Lukas & was complaining about the slugs when he said "hold on a minute!". He disappeared inside. I few minutes he emerged with the following sign:

"NO SLUGS ALLOWED!"


I thought it was pretty funny, plus I didn't know he knew how to spell "No".

The next morning we were eating breakfast. He wanted to watch The Magic Schoolbus, but I told him that he couldn't leave the table until he had finished his breakfast. We were going back & forth on this for about a minute when he said "Can I be excused for just ONE minute?". I said yes, & a minute later he returns with a picture of a stick figure (with long hair) and big NO. As in "No Mommies Allowed". Kind of disrespectful, but kind of funny too....

Snow Fun

Once again, I'm playing catch up on the blog. We took a trip to Arnold about a month ago, but am just now getting around to posting about it....


Not tons of snow, but enough for a snowman family

We were hoping for lots of snow to be able to sled just outside our cabin - instead had temps over 50 degrees during the day. But just a short 20 minute drive up toward Bear Valley & we were able to find a sledding hill. Lukas has no fear on the sled & wants to "go alone" even though he has absolutely no control & the hill had various rock, stump & tree obstacles. So I was stationed at the top of the hill to try to at least start him in the right direction & Rob met him mid-hill (running alongside) to try to minimize injuries. ;-)

Rob & Lukas head back up for another run

The next day we had planned to do a snowshoe hike through the redwoods in Stanislaus National Forest, but with no snow it turned into just a regular hike. Of course, the redwoods were still as majestic & the park rangers had hot chocolate at the end of the trail, so who could complain.



Pretty big...


The cabin we rented was great with a toyroom & a hot tub. We managed to get lots of hottubbing in during the weekend & our fireplace was constantly roaring in our little cabin..so all in all - a fun little winter weekend.

All creatures great & small

The other morning I went to cut up a cantaloupe for breakfast & this is what I found:

Hmmmm....looks like we have a mouse in the house. Lukas was sooo excited! He wanted to take care of the mouse & make sure that the mouse didn't go hungry. I was happy that we have instilled in him the importance of respecting & caring for all animals. So...... I went along with it & that night we placed 2 pieces of cheese out for the mouse which Lukas was sure would make the him very happy. Sure enough, the next morning the cheese was all gone. The next night Lukas wanted to make sure that the mouse had a comfortable bed to sleep in & also some entertainment. So he put out some stuffing from an old pillow & a red pom-pom that the mouse could use for a ball:

I guess the mouse already has a nice nest & toy because the offerings weren't touched. HOWEVER, we did discover that we had no phone or DSL service the next day. I called the AT&T repairman & he confirmed what I had feared: the phone line to our house was OK, the problem was inside our house. After work that night, Rob got the fun job of crawling around under our house trying to locate a loose or frayed wire. And yes, you guessed it, he found the wire which had been nicely nibbled on by our mouse. He didn't find any other evidence of mice while he was under there & I haven't found anything else in the house either, but we put an end to feeding our little friend.

Christmas

I had started this post weeks (& weeks) ago before Christmas, but never got around to finishing it. So now it will just have to be the pre-Christmas, Christmas & after-Christmas post. I also still haven't made my New Year's resolutions, so late is all relative.

Anyways, Christmas with a 4-year old is a blast. This was the first year that Lukas really got into the whole St. Nick thing. I tried not to overuse the "be good or Santa won't bring you many toys" line, but I have to admit that it really makes for good behavior for a few weeks!

We cut down our own tree at a tree farm off of Skyline Blvd. - lots of people were having tailgating picnics after cutting down their tree. We'll have to remember that for next year. Cutting down the tree was fun since we didn't have a tree for the past 2 Christmas' that we were in Zürich.

Bringing home the perfect tree

Lukas also helped me make Christmas cookies. Usually, I can't get him to help me bake - he only has about a 30 second attention span. But for some reason, he really got into the cookies. He could actually roll out the dough, cut out the cookies & place them on the cookie sheet by himself. He did about 3 sheets of cookies on his own - I was blown away - kids really surprise you sometimes.


VERY carefully placing the cut-outs on the sheet

Lukas wrote his letter to St. Nick just 4 days before Christmas - as a first time mom I learned this wasn't a good idea. He asked for: a spaceship that goes sideways, bouncing aliens and a crocodile. Huh? Where was the request for cars, dinosaurs, and books (that St. Nick already got!)? Good thing we are in the USA where you can shop practically 24/7 right up to Christmas!

Following one of my brother-in-laws' traditions, we are all allowed to open one present on Christmas eve - which is new PJs. This year, Rob & Lukas got matching elf pjs:


Can you find Lukas in this pic ? ;-)

We sprinkled magic reindeer food on the lawn to help Rudolph find his way and of course, put out milk & cookies for St. Nick. We were woken by Lukas at 7am the next morning (not too bad). He was yelling: "The milk is all gone! The milk is all gone! St. Nick must have been thirsty! But not too hungry, because some of the cookies are still there!" He was impressed to no end.


The elves sprinkling magic reindeer food.

Lukas had been a little bratty on Christmas eve --- being very greedy about everything he wanted for Christmas. So, I was a little worried about how Christmas would turn out. He started tearing into the presents and I was fearing the worst. But on his 3rd present, he got a Diego Dinosaur rescue vehicle from Tante Cora, and all present-opening came to a screeching halt. He loved it & just wanted to play with that toy. We kept telling him that there were more presents under the tree for him, but he said "maybe later". What? About 3 hours later, (no kidding) we eventually re-started opening presents.

We headed to David & Corinna's for Christmas dinner. Lukas was the only kid & was spoiled with attention & goodies. But best of all, David had the complete set of plush characters from the Rudolph movie - his favorite. Lukas was in heaven! We all enjoyed a wonderful evening - we couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.


Lukas & friends watching Rudolph for the umpteenth time.