expatswissbliss

New Year's

2012-01-15T15:39:00.001-08:00

We celebrated New Year's Eve by ourselves this year. To be honest, at first Rob & I were a little bummed that other plans didn't come thru. But in the end it turned out to be loads of fun. Little kids are so easy to please.. good snacks, party hats and noisemakers, and life is good! Their enthusiasm was definitely contagious. We rented 2 family movies that we thought we'd watch as we waited for the countdown, but we were so busy playing games, decorating the house, making party hats, etc. that we didn't get to either of them. The kids spent a great deal of time dressing all of their stuffed animals in their fanciest PJs, accessorizing with necklaces & earrings. We celebrated New York's midnight for Marieke's sake at 9p.m. our time so that she'd get a chance to toot her horn & throw confetti. After that, she was still going strong so we celebrated again on Chicago's midnight at 10p.m our time. Finally, at 11:15 and still going strong, we decided to put her to bed while still on a good note. Lukas made it to SF midnight and beyond with no trouble at all.

Toasting with fancy glasses of sparkling apple juice

New Year..... New 'Do.....

2012-01-14T15:13:00.000-08:00

Lukas 2011

I'm not sure where the idea came from, but Lukas decided to grow his hair out & stopped cutting it last spring. While he's got really great hair - pretty thick & wavy - I wasn't too fond of having to brush out the tangled mess each morning before school or how it was always in his eyes. But I bit my tongue and let him decide when he was ready to cut it. Thankfully he finally asked to go to the barber the day before New Year's Eve. I've got my little boy back :-)

Lukas 2012

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T15:49:00.000-08:00

This year may have been one of my favorite Christmas'. The kids are just the perfect ages where everything is magical, exciting & fun. It all started when our neighbor hung up his outdoor Christmas lights a few days after Thanksgiving. That night, after Marieke was in her PJs and all ready for bed, I took her outside to see the lights. I wish I would have taken a picture of her face. Her eyes were so wide & her mouth made the quintessential "O". She excitedly shrieked, pointed and laughed at each new thing she noticed. Throughout the season, we took LOTS of walks to see the lights at night.

It just seemed that every little thing we did was met with excitement & joy: hang up a little handtowel with Santa on it = Marieke talked about it for days. Put a Santa hat in the advent calendar for Lukas = jump up for joy.

I did get a sense that Lukas is beginning to enter that stage where magic starts to clash with intellect/maturity. This is the first year that we did "elf on a shelf". Someone in Lukas' class was talking to him about it, & I told him that our family had an elf too. I don't know the whole story that is suppose to accompany the elf, we just decided that it would appear each morning in a different spot causing different mischief. After the 2nd morning, Lukas asked me point blank if I moved the elf. I never want to lie outright so I did the usual "what do you think?", "it might be magic if you want to believe", etc. but he was persistent & kept asking me if I did it. Finally, I admitted that I had moved it that morning. About 10 minutes later (and 2 minutes before we have to leave for school) I find him crying in his room. He says "it isn't so fun if I know that you did it". Backpedal, backpedal...."well maybe I just moved it after the elf had already caused his mischief" or "maybe it was magic the other days" or "maybe...what I said I don't really remember. I don't think Lukas really remembers either. But it was enough to sway the balance back towards magic & enough that he could believe in the elf again. And smile again. whew!

We went to our usual tree farm & cut down our tree with some friends this year. We got a good tree, although Lukas pouted a bit since we didn't go with his choice. Marieke just thought it was exciting to cut down the tree & put it on top of our car. The weather was so mild & beautiful that we brought a picnic lunch to share afterwards.

And of course, we made loads & loads of cookies again this year......

Sprinkling magic reindeer food out on Christmas Eve

Lukas wrote his wishlist/letter to Santa:

1) tour of Santa's workshop

2) puppy

3) nutcracker

Luckily, Santa was able to deliver one of the things on his list (not the puppy!)

Marieke's list was much easier:

1) soft puppy stuffed animal

2) hard dinosaur toy
But the big hits for presents this year were stilts that Grandpa made for Lukas, a wooden kitchen that Grandpa made for Marieke, a $1 panda hat that Marieke got from Tanta Cora, and a new Canon DSLR for me!

Lukas all excited as he guesses this is the nutcracker he requested

One of Marieke's favorite presents

Lukas masters his stilts

Father's Day

2011-06-22T20:32:00.001-07:00

Our 3rd Annual Father's Day hike on Mt. Tam for our pancake breakfast. Once again - perfect weather, good friends, great little hikers and this time, no Pukey-Lukey on the drive up!

Mother's Day

2011-05-22T19:47:00.000-07:00

Rob asked what I wanted for Mother's Day & I said half-joking/half-serious : to be on my own for the day. While I totally want some alone time, it didn't feel right to have it on Mother's Day. So instead, I got "me" time on Saturday: (finally) got my hair highlighted/cut & got to do a little shopping. On Mother's Day we had a great sluggish/lazy pajama morning followed by an outing to a local indoor water park, followed by a short little hike in a new nature preserve & a quick, easy hamburger/fries/milkshake dinner at a local diner. Perfect day.

Couple of Mother's Day pics: Although I sometimes/often dream of enjoying a relaxing cup of coffee while leisurely making my way through the Sunday paper uninterrupted, deep down I know how much fun I'd be missing:

Trouble......

2011-05-17T21:01:00.000-07:00

Marieke is keeping me busier than ever these days as she explores & tries to do everything that her big brother does. In just the past few weeks:

1) I found her eating catfood out of the catdish in the garage.

2) She swallowed a coin. Luckily just a small 1/2CHF coin which I found in her diaper a few days later.

3) She learned to climb out of her crib already (at 16 mos.) - UGH!

4) She found my secret stash of Swiss chocolate bars in my closet. She unwrapped one and was working her way through the whole thing.

but the clincher was when I found her up in a tree - seriously - in our backyard. (no photo of that one for obvious reasons!) Lukas is an expert tree-climber and had given her a hand to get up on a lower branch. Both her & Lukas had the biggest smiles on their faces! I had to explain to Lukas - after my heartrate was back to normal - that 16 mos. old babies should not be up in trees.

I feel like I'm watching & shadowing Marieke like a hawk every day & still she manages to get into trouble. (with Lukas' encouragement & training, of course!)

2 Gooberheads

2011-05-08T21:04:00.001-07:00

I was worried that with 5 years between them, Lukas & Marieke wouldn't play that much together. Luckily I had nothing to worry about......

Kauai

2011-05-08T21:02:00.001-07:00

Spent a wonderful 9 days in Kauai with the extended family. We rented a HUGE old plantation right on the beach with enough bedrooms for us all to stay together. Lukas had the best time playing with his cousins, Marieke loved the sand & water & we had an great, relaxing (as much as you can relax with little kids) time. Not too many photos, unfortunately. Just seemed like I was always too sandy, greasy, sticky or lazy to take many pics. I guess that's a sign of a good vacation.

Our house had huge verandas where we spent most of our time when we weren't at the beach.

The kids spent a good amount of time trying to catch fish & other sea creatures in the tidepools.

Our property had lots of coconut trees & the Dads took turns cracking them open for the kids.

One of our excursions was a tubing trip down some old plantation viaducts. About 75% of the time we were in tunnels. I thought that the kids would be a little freaked out, but they loved it.

While we were tubing, Grandpa & Grootmoe were babysitting the little ones.

Our yard in front of the beach.

Sunset on our last night.

Kiwi Picking

2011-03-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

The crew heads out to the fields.

We've done strawberry picking, cherry picking, apple picking, etc. So when I read about a farm nearby that offers kiwi-picking - we had to try it. First off, I was intrigued that kiwis grow in northern CA and that the kiwi season is in December. I always assumed that they were a tropical fruit. We headed out on a beautiful sunny day to meet up with some friends & check it out.

The pros:

Kiwis grow on low overhead vines so you don't have to stoop, but even the kids could reach & pick
Price was great - $1.50/lb
Organic
Beautiful coastside location

The cons:

Kiwis ripen after you pick them. So we were picking hard, sour kiwis. No snacking while picking - a major con for me!

Somewhat offsetting pro:

Kiwis can be stored in the fridge for months. They only ripen (in about 4 days time) when placed on the counter. So you don't have to worry about "overpicking" and have a constant supply of kiwis if you want.

I'm finally getting around to writing this post about 4 months later - and yes - we still have kiwis in our fridge. I'm doubtful that they'll last another 2 months - but I think we'll be able to eat them all by then anyway.

We'll definitely head out again next year!

Lukas demonstrates the easy pickin'

Even Marieke gets in on the act (and didn't seem to mind sucking on sour kiwis).

Lukas loses his first tooth

2011-01-13T22:50:00.000-08:00

Lukas lost his first tooth. He lost it at school which was an added bonus because he got to go the principal's office where he got a little tooth shaped holder on a string to carry it around the rest of the day. Rob & I were dorks & were seriously up late that night debating about what the tooth fairy would do. Lukas did NOT want the tooth fairy to take his tooth away & even wrote a note for her with those instructions. We were also worried that, since he lost his tooth at school, everyone would ask & compare what the tooth fairy brought him. (some kids here get $5, $10 & even, yes $20 for a tooth - it is the expensive Bay Area, afterall ;-) In the end, the tooth fairy did take his tooth, but Lukas was OK with that since he got a whopping $3. We've already told him not to expect that much for each tooth - we think the tooth fairy only gives that much for the special first lost tooth.

Girlie Girl

2011-01-13T11:51:00.001-08:00

I'm trying not to raise Marieke as a "princess" and try to encourage dinosaurs & cars alongside any dolls & fairies. But apparently nature overrules nurture.

Marieke hates to wear shoes except... a pair of hand-me-down shoes that she found buried in her closet. They are super sparkly with pink sequins and jewels - she LOVES them. They don't fit her yet, but she is always bringing them to me to put them on her & she clomps around the house. Whenever she is cranky or crying....I can pull out the sparkle shoes & everything is right in the world again.

Marieke can go from this... (BTW - notice the grinning pesty brother)

to this....

and then completely recover with her girlie girl shoes.

Halloween

2010-11-14T21:26:00.001-08:00

Although we can't go to Jucker Farm anymore to see the pumpkin displays, we are lucky to live near Half Moon Bay - which is a pumpkin patch mecca. We hit 2 patches this year: one for the hay bale maze (takes nearly an hour to get through) and another for the better (cheaper) ;-) pumpkins for purchase.

This year we also combined our pumpkin patch outing with another excursion: An 85 foot pregnant blue whale had died (presumably hit by a cargo ship) & washed up on beach very close to the coastal pumpkin patches. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the largest animal on earth. The whale had only been on the beach for about 5 days before we went to see it, but the stench was overpowering - Lukas & I, seriously, almost vomited. But it was amazing to see.

Enjoying the beach (upwind) from the whale

On to trick-or-treating. This year Lukas wanted to be a skeleton & Marieke was a pumpkin. Lukas was REALLY into the candy this year & hit quite a few houses. Marieke held up pretty well too.

At the last minute, Rob & I dressed up too. I don't know why we never plan it better. We always want to dress up, but don't think about costumes until literally a few minutes before we head out the door to trick-or-treat. Resolution this year to to plan ahead!

Lukas turns 6!

2010-11-14T21:24:00.001-08:00

Lukas wanted an "Underwater Adventure" birthday party this year. He loves everything to do with sea creatures. As usual, I planned/researched ideas/bought supplies & then Rob provided the artistic talent. Rob painted a huge shark with a cut-out for taking pics of the kids which they later turned into picture frames. I think it turned out pretty good. He also made a great cake.

Pin the leg on the octopus

It was only a 2.5 hour party, but after about an hour the kids had already whipped through all of our games/activities. Rob & I kind of looked at each other in panic... we pulled out Hullabaloo which thankfully kept them busy.

Legos were still the coveted gift this year & he got plenty...

2nd Annual Chestnut Picking

2010-11-14T21:22:00.000-08:00

Our 2nd Annual Chestnut Picking was even better than the first. The weather was perfect. We also are now experienced and know to pack a picnic lunch & hot chocolate to enjoy after our "work". Picking was definitely more tricky this year - trying to keep Marieke happy but off the ground & away from the prickly outer shells of all the chestnuts. But we still managed to pick way more than we needed.....

Lukas holds our loot & Marieke just thinks the chairs are fun.

Car conversation with Lukas

2010-10-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

"Mom, you know "goop", right? If a piece of goop about the size of Marieke fell from outer space to earth, how big of a crater would it make?"

"If that piece of goop fell on a porcupine, would the porcupine get smooshed or would the porcurpine quills poke through the goop."

"help" in the garden

2010-10-14T22:50:00.000-07:00

I love working in my garden and love it even more when I get some help:

First Day of Kindergarten

2010-08-28T23:50:00.000-07:00

Lukas was neither excited nor scared to start kindergarten. For him, it was just an accepted fact of growing older.

Alaska!

2010-07-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

I visited my sister in Alaska once before - in the winter - we went sledding, snowshoeing & dog-mushing. I've been wanting to go in the summer & when she offered to also take the kids for a few days so Rob & I could do more adventure stuff - that sealed the deal! Our plan was to fly into Anchorage & meet Anita & family for a few days of camping. Then Lukas would drive the 8 hour trip back to Fairbanks with them while my niece would fly back to Fairbanks w/Marieke (I love my sis & wouldn't subject her to 8 hours in a car with a crying baby - although she ended up with 8 hours in a car w/ a puking kid (Pukey Lukey)- hmmmm....which is worse?!) Then Rob & I would have 4 days to ourselves - the first time we've ever left Lukas for more than one night.

Our trip started off rocky when our flight to Anchorage was delayed by 3 hours - getting us into Anchorage by 2:30am. When we went to get our rental car - we discovered that the rental counter closed at 2 am. Ugh! But after that - everything went great. We rented a cabin in Girwood & went on a pretty hike where we also had to cross a ravine with a hand tram:

Then on to the Russian River for camping, salmon fishing & bear watching! We were just a few days early for the salmon spawning season but we were still able to see some of them jumping upstream & a bear trying to fish some out.

Momma bear & cub

After camping, Rob & I headed towards Valdez for some kayaking. It was about an 8 hour drive which - without kids - was actually quite nice to enjoy the scenery. We had planned to stop 1/2 way and camp for the night, but it started POURING and the idea of setting up tents in that wasn't so appealing. Not a lot of hotels outside of major cities in Alaska, so we totally lucked out when we found a B&B along our route. It was EXACTLY the perfect Alaskan log cabin that I could have dreamed up on a beautiful spot on a lake. In the morning we could sit on our deck in big fluffy robes, drinking hot coffee, (along with M&M's from a moose dispenser in the cabin), reading bear attack stories from a book on the nightstand or looking through the owners' photo book. The owner was a character - BIG TIME hunter. When we went to the main house for breakfast he gave us a tour - and although I don't like hunting - the pictures & all of the stuffed heads/furs/horns/bones were pretty amazing. I would have liked to stay an extra night - but we had reservations for kayaking the next day.

Rob on the deck of our perfect log cabin (made entirely by hand by the owner).

View from our deck.

Alaskan pipeline which was just across the street from our B&B.

Some things are hard to find in Alaska, but definitely not Espresso huts. These huts were everywhere, even in the most remote, unlikely spots.

Fishing boats in Valdez

Kayaking was amazing. We got good weather which is lucky for the area which gets lots of rain. It was still cold, though, with the wind off the ice making it feel like you've just opened the freezer door.

Columbia Glacier Bay

After kayaking, we made the long drive back up to Fairbanks to reclaim our kids. Lukas didn't seem to have missed us much - my sister has Wii (with Lego starwars), a trampoline, a big lego table with tons of legos...

In Fairbanks/North Pole we did some hikes, went gold panning, visited the Christmas House and - finally - saw some moose just in my sister's neighborhood.

Lukas pours out his "poke" of paydirt

Rob & Lukas pan for gold. Our take? Lukas: $8, Marieke: $8, Inga: $10, Rob $16

Beautiful hike near Fairbanks, but the infamous mosquitos killed us!

Despite the nearly 11:30p.m. sunset, it wasn't too hard to get the kids to sleep at night while we were camping. They stayed up til 10p.m. and were pretty exhaused by that time anyways from all the excitement during the day. On one of the last nights at my sister's house, though we put Lukas to be around 10. When I headed up to bed after 11p.m. I heard Lukas calling my name. "I can't sleep Mom, it's too bright". I walk into his room where the sun was setting & DIRECTLY shining onto his bed - I swear it was as bright as a summer day on the beach.

Strawberry picking - Half Moon Bay

2010-07-04T20:40:00.001-07:00

Lukas shows off the perfectly ripe strawberries

Even Marieke got in on the act

Annual Father's Day Hike

2010-06-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time last year that this year we did our 2nd annual hike up Mt. Tam for the father's day pancake breakfast with our friends. Lukas did his 2nd annual puke on the drive up. But after that, things went smoothly. The kids (other than Marieke) are getting so big that we now are saying "hey, wait up for us at the next turn!" rather than having to constantly try to coax them along. It was a beautiful fun morning - can't wait til next year!

Like father - like son

2010-06-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Rob isn't bike racing anymore due to 2 cute little energy/time zappers. But I know he misses it. This past weekend there was a bike race nearby that also had a kids' race. Lukas was very excited to sign up & don a racing number on his back. Lots of questions preceded the race - most focusing on whether other kids would have training wheels - which he was hoping for so that he'd have an advantage. ;-) The course was .7 kilometers on closed city streets. I waited halfway down the route to cheer him on. He looked so cute pedaling with all his might & laughing at the same time because he got the pedals going so fast he couldn't keep his feet on them. He did great & was happy with his race (6th or 7th place he says). Of course everyone was a winner with a medal & ice cream at the end!

Rob talks pre-race strategy with Lukas

A medal + an icecream = one happy racer!

Stillwater Cove

2010-06-26T22:05:00.001-07:00

Our cute cottage by the coast. Rob poses for the camera while Lukas keeps an eye out for peacocks.

Since Marieke has been born, we haven't done much travelling or wkd adventures and I was starting to go kind of stir crazy. So at the last minute with some luck of a cancellation, I booked a wkd at Stillwater Cove. We had beautiful warm weather, a cute cottage on a ranch with lots of animals for the kids, great hikes right off the property and amazing coastal views. Perfect weekend to recharge!

It was mating season for the peacocks (there were 25 on the property) so the males were in constant display mode. Although they weren't aggressive, they also weren't afraid of people. And with feathers up, they easily outsized Lukas. And boy were they loud!

The ranch had sheep with an amazing view

Watching the sunset from the bluff

Of course - no matter where you go - there's always the old-fashioned jump-across-the-beds fun

Topsy Turvey Day

2010-06-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lukas sports a blue mohawk - and some attitude - for Topsy Turvey Day - one of the last days of preschool.

Daddy's little girl

2010-05-26T22:12:00.001-07:00

Or is that Daddy's little grease monkey!

Big brother Lukas always gets a laugh

2010-04-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

Lukas is constantly squeezing Marieke, pulling her legs, etc. to get a reaction (& my attention) - which most often, of course, is a cry. But when he wants to be nice, he can make her laugh like no one else.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-30T22:09:00.000-07:00

I forgot to take a pic of all the traps - but here's one of Lukas enjoying his all-green breakfast.

Aaaah....one of my new favorite holidays. This year we made 3 - yes 3 - leprechun traps in hopes of finally catching the little rascals. And they worked! Unfortunately, despite the fact that Lukas woke us up at 5am to check the traps, they still managed to escape from the traps before we got there. One guy made a little "rope ladder" from a piece of nearby material to pull himself out from the secret pit trap. Another guy cut his way out of the trap using one of Lukas' lego swords that he found laying nearby. They are resourceful! The usual pranks & havoc were found around the house - Lukas was cracking up at everything they did & is already talking plans for new & improved traps for next year.

First Dentist Visit

2010-03-15T22:10:00.003-07:00

Lukas FINALLY had his first dentist visit. I think most kids have it at 3 or 4, but I wasn't brave enough to attempt it in Switzerland since I wanted to make sure he had a great experience his first time. Needn't have worried - he was so excited to go & was a perfect patient. Even anxiously asked for x-rays when they didn't do them right away. Dentist said he had a "celebrity" smile & no cavities. Yeah!

Christmas

2010-03-15T22:10:00.001-07:00

I'd like to say that Christmas was magical & everything this year, but to be honest it was quite exhausting given our new little "angel": Marieke. I'm trying to write this catch-up post a few months later & it all seems like a blur. We did go with Grandpa & Grootmoe to cut down the perfect Christmas tree. Lukas spotted it from across the field - a weird kind of tree with the longest trunk. But he had vision - once we shortened the riduculously long trunk he had the perfect tree which was covered in tiny pinecones.

The best Christmas tree we've ever had.

3 generations of Wiggers men haul our tree

We did manage to decorate the house, put out our slippers on St. Nick's Day, fill the advent calendar with goodies, sprinkle magic reindeer food, and all of the other traditions. Lukas put out cookies & milk for Santa, but was worried that the cats would get to it first. So, in addition to the "for Santa" sign, he made another sign which said: Squeak Lucy (with their names crossed out).

Lukas woke up at midnight all excited to see if Santa had come, we finally got him settled down (in our bed) when Marieke woke up at 2. Then Lukas woke up again at 3 to check yet again - we put him back in his own bed only to have Marieke wake up at 5 for another meal!

Everything turned out in the end with Lukas getting his "Kangaroo with a baby in its pouch" which he had requested in his letter to Santa. But like I said.... the rest is kind of a blur.... ;-)

Legoland

2010-02-24T22:06:00.001-08:00

Southwest had a screaming deal of $49 roundtrip tix to various destinations. So we took it as an opportunity for our first getaway as a family of 4 and jetted down to San Diego and Lukas' ultimate spot: LEGOLAND!

The weather was VERY iffy - dark ominous clouds threatened. We even got a little "notice" when we paid for parking at Legoland that some rides could be closed due to inclement weather. But the rain held off until literally 10 minutes before closing time. The HUGE bonus: NO LINES. None. After talking with other parents about their experience of 2+ hours of wait, I realize how lucky we got. We rode ride after ride after ride..... Marieke (at 3 mos old) was easy to just push in the stroller or moby around. Keeping her happy in restaurants for the rest of the trip (yummy fish tacos at a beachfront restaurant) and getting to sleep in the hotel? Not so easy. But a great quick & fun getaway!

Evacuation

2010-01-15T12:38:00.000-08:00

The other day I came out of the shower & found Lukas' room like this:

Now on a normal day, it looks like this:

I asked him what was going on & he said that he had to evacuate everyone because a volcano was erupting in his room. Oh, of course.

Santa's visit

2009-12-19T17:36:00.000-08:00

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...

2009-11-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2009-11-09T17:43:00.000-08:00

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

2009-11-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-07-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-10T20:30:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-26T20:30:00.001-07:00

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..

2009-06-26T09:19:00.002-07:00

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

2009-05-27T16:15:00.001-07:00

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

2009-04-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-21T16:14:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-10T19:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-09T19:21:00.001-07:00

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

2009-02-13T17:51:00.001-08:00

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

2009-02-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-26T19:36:00.000-08:00

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.

Camping Adventures

2008-12-27T20:52:00.001-08:00

Rob borrowed his parents' vanagon for the first few weeks we were back in CA until he had a chance to buy himself a new (used) car. Lukas thought it was the coolest thing since it had curtains, a back bench, fridge, etc. But when we showed him that the top popped up for sleeping, he was beside himself. He BEGGED us to let him sleep in it curbside at our house. We were pretty sure that our neighbors wouldn't approve of that, so we promised to take him camping.

We headed to Butano State Park on the coast nearby. CA had been experiencing a drought, and it hadn't rained in about 4 months. Of course, the weekend we chose to camp it rained cats & dogs. But we still had a great time. I see more vanagon camping wkds in our future.

Exploring nearby Pigeon Point Lighthouse

The coast replaces the mountains.....

2008-12-13T15:33:00.001-08:00

The coast is only a 15 minute drive from our house. It is proving to be good therapy for me whenever I am "homesick" for the beautiful green mountains of CH. It is too cold right now to build sand castles and such, but we always find fun on the beach:

Lukas finds a driftwood tree to climb

Kelp whips/snakes/tails...

Looking for creatures at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve tidepools

who needs to cook?......

2008-12-01T23:25:00.001-08:00

Rob & Lukas dig into a good ole American meal at a local diner

We are missing CH like crazy, but are loving all of the restaurants & take out here -something that is definitely lacking in Zürich. I have cooked probably less than 10 nights since we've been back. Why bother when there is great Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, etc...... just a phone call or short drive away.

Hello California! (and Chicago)

2008-11-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-25T22:34:00.000-08:00

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?

2008-11-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-12T06:19:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-09T22:14:00.001-08:00

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...

I see excess baggage fees in our future

2008-09-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

We carefully planned what the movers took & what we could fit in our suitcases. But today when I picked Lukas up from his last day at Kinderkrippe (preschool) he joyously ran up to me with his new going away presents:

Looks like we'll be exporting an entire penguin family (including giant papa penguin) to California!

Schlaf im Stroh

2008-09-28T09:13:00.000-07:00

About 5 years ago, pre-Lukas and pre-before we ever knew we would be living in Switzerland, we went biking through Switzerland with my sister & brother-in-law. Along the bike route, we saw lots of signs for "schlaf im stroh". We learned that, basically, a farmer will let you sleep in his barn and provide breakfast - for an obviously much lower price than staying in a hotel. Sleeping in straw didn't seem that appealing after biking all day, but ever since then I thought that it would be a fun thing to try. I've been trying to plan a "schlaf im stroh" wkd from pretty much the first days that we arrived in CH. Many of my expat friends think that I'm crazy both A) that I even want to do it in the first place and B) I've been talking about it forever. But we finally did it last weekend!

We picked a farm that was only an hour drive away in case the whole sleeping in a barn thing didn't turn out that great. The farm also had lots of animals & looked to be in a beautiful spot.

We nervously followed the "farmer lady" as she showed us where we would be sleeping. But it turned out great! The sleeping places were in the barn that housed farm equipment. The cows and other animals were kept in another barn - so no smells or flies. This farm had 20 sleeping places, but we lucked out & got our own "stall". The other group of about 12 guys (who stumbled in around 1 am.) were sleeping in another part of the barn. We brought our own sleeping bags but the farm also provided tons of wool blankets. Good thing too - it was cold! About 5 degrees celsius! But surprising, sleeping in straw is quite comfortable.

The Wiggers family settling in for the night.

Lukas had a riot. He was so excited to sleep in his sleeping bag in the straw that he wanted to go to bed around 6 p.m.. Of course, when we finally went to bed (around 8:30) he was so wound up that he didn't fall asleep til well after 10.

In the morning we were treated to a big farmers breakfast complete with fresh milk from the cows and the best muesli I've ever had in my life. You might be wondering about how some people with allergies (i.e. Rob) might fair on this adventure. Everything I read about schlaf im stroh said that people with hayfever wouldn't be affected since you are sleeping in straw - not hay. But Rob can definitely refute that claim!:

Rob & Lukas enjoying our hearty breakfast.

Lukas was afraid of the cows, but fell in love with the farm's 2 little kittens. Every chance he had he'd be out in the barn petting & playing with them. When it was time to leave he cried - so obviously schlaf im stroh was a success with him!

We also planned to hike while we were out in the mountains. Unfortunately, it was REALLY cold and foggy so we had to cut our hike to a short one. Here's the view we had from the gondola on the way up to our hike:

The fog cleared, but it was still freezing! So just a short hike to a little capella this time.

Since our hike was short, though, we had lots of time for fun on the rodelbahn back at the bottom.

Achtung, fertig, los!

Rob & Lukas burning down the rails!

So our schlaf im stroh weekend lived up to my expectations and talking up! (But it probably is not a wkd that allergy-Rob would be willing to do again!)

There's no turning back :-(

2008-09-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

The movers have come and gone. I thought that Lukas would be upset when all of our stuff was packed up & taken away - especially once he realized that his toys were also in some of the boxes. But he thought the whole thing was pretty fun & we played "guess what is in the box" as the movers took each box away.

We've paid our CHF 1500 to have our apartment cleaned - that's right - about $1500. It is a standard expense here in Switzerland since you need to leave the apartment in ultra clean condition. (I've heard stories about the landlord putting a white glove on & running his finger on the upper inside rim of the oven.) But our apartment passed inspection and we are now staying in a furnished apartment in Zurich for the next few weeks. Our container is scheduled to be shipped out of Rotterdam this week. I guess I can't deny it any longer... we really are leaving. :-(

Top Ten Things I won't miss about Switzerland

2008-09-09T13:30:00.001-07:00

OK, Rob is really tired of me about now. I'm getting so mopey about leaving CH. Every time we do something now I say "oh, this is the last time we'll do this in Switzerland." or "This is the last time we'll eat here."., etc. I've also been little to no help in arranging movers, finding temporary housing or buying our plane tix back home. If nothing gets done, then we won't be able to leave, right? So, in the interest of trying to feel better about leaving I thought I'd run through all of the things that I won't miss about Switzerland:

10) Lack of customer service

CH is definitely efficient, but when it comes to friendly service - I can't wait to get back to the states. Somehow shops & restaurants here seem to think that you should be lucky to have them rather than the other way around. Often I'm at the grocery store standing in front of a shelf trying to pick something out, an employee will sternly ask me to move out of the way so that she can stock the shelf - rather than wait 20 seconds. Or they block the aisle with boxes so that I can't get by with the stroller. Clothing stores only stock about 1 of each size of item & would NEVER hold an item for you. Waiting 10-15 minutes to get served in a cafe or restaurant is not unusual.

9) Store hours/shopping

I know, I know -everyone says "but isn't it nice that since the stores are all closed on Sunday that it is a day only to relax." Ummm - NO. All it does is force me to shop on Saturday with all of the other people who are forced to shop that day. Long lines & empty shelves. I have no problem relaxing - I don't need a day imposed on me.

8) Lack of good restaurants

Zurich seems to have Swiss restaurants & Italian restaurants. That's about it. The first time we tried a Mexican restaurant here they had zucchini & corn in our fajitas & it was all smothered with a weird ranch dressing. I can't WAIT to get back to the Bay Area and the Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, "fill in the blank".....restaurants.

7) Tiniest parking spots ever

Here's our spot in our garage:

Every time I park I have to first let Lukas out. Then I have to back it in and climb over the passenger's seat to get out. Of course, by this time the automatic lights in the garage have gone off & Lukas starts calling to me from somewhere in the dark.

6) Language difficulties

I love the day-to-day challenge of speaking with the Swiss & trying to improve my German. But when it comes to more important situations I can't wait to feel totally competent . Somehow, Rob, Lukas & I all managed a visit to the hospital in the 2.5 years that we've been here. My german is strained under normal circumstances, but trying to speak German when hurt, stressed & worried - near impossible.

5) High Prices

Common prices in Zürich:

Lukas shoes - $100

2 chicken breasts in grocery store- $14

Dinner entree in restaurant - $40

Single yoga class - $30

We'll be feeling rich once we're back in the States.

4) Recycling

CH was recently named the most "green" country in the world by Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/143682. That is also one of the reasons that we love it so much - the beautiful green mountains, ultra clear lakes, clean clean streets, etc. Recycling is a way of life over here - just not a very easy one.

We have to collect our bottles & cans & then schlep them over to the recycling bins (about a 5 minute walk - 30-60 minutes if Lukas helps me ;-)

I then have to sort them according to green, brown, or clear glass or aluminum tins. Plastic bottles are also collected, but these I need to bring to a nearby grocery store. No curbside recycling for any bottles or cans here.

Paper & cardboard are also collected separately. They do pick these up curbside, BUT you have to bundle them up correctly according to strict guidelines and have them out curbside by 7am. Don't put them out the night before or mix paper in with your cardboard or you could be subject to a fine! Finally, they only collect paper every 2 weeks and cardboard every 4 weeks. I've had many stress attacks when I realized that I've forgotten that it is cardboard day & we then have to store all of our cardboard for yet another month. Remember our apartment is only about 980 SF - we've had to convert our extra bathroom into a mini recyling area (seriously.)

3) Unpredictable Weather

I love the change of seasons in CH, but it does seem like summer is REALLY short and that it is REALLY rainy for much of the year. Maybe weather is just more important to us here since we're always trying to plan weekend trips.

2) Laundry

According to the building schedule, we have Friday designated as our laundry day.

Doing laundry only once a week doesn't gel that well when you are living with Pukey Lukey who was/is also in toilet training. It has gotten to the point that when Lukas spills, pukes, or wets his pants - his first reaction is to ask me "Is it laundry day?" It also means that we often schedule weekend travel plans to start on Sat. morning so that we can finish our laundry first. Of course, I often - with heart pounding - sneak in a load on someone else's day or during prohibited hours (10pm.-7am). Ridiculous.

1) Apartment living

I will not miss our 980sf apartment. When it rains (which is often -see # 3 above) on a Sunday when everything is closed (see # 9 above) it is quite depressing staying home. Our main living space is a living room/dining room/kitchen combo so there just isn't anywhere to go to get some space. But mostly I hate that we have to be quiet & considerate of the neighbors. I actually get nervous using the vacuum on a Sunday or the handmixer in the early morning to make pancakes. As mentioned in previous posts, our grumpy neighbor has pounded on the wall for these infractions before. (of course I still do it anyway ;-) Above all I hate that we have to tell Lukas to be quiet whether he's playing one of his musical instruments or knocking over towers of legos. He's a kid & kids are just loud. In addition to asking if it is laundry day he also asks "are the neighbors home?" since he knows that when they are at work he can be loud. That's just wrong. On the plus side, I think the small apartment is an additional driving force for getting us venturing out & about Zurich & CH that much more.

Rainy Day Fun

2008-09-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

Although we've been hoping to travel/hike as much as possible these last few weeks, the weather hasn't cooperated & was rainy last weekend. So, instead Rob & Lukas visited the Tinguely Museum near Basel. The museum has HUGE mechanical sculptures that swing, rattle, light up, thump, bang, etc. The works of art are "started" by stepping on a big red button on the floor, which of course, Lukas loved. Some of them were a bit too loud & scary for him ("I didn't like the clown one."), but he definitely was intrigued by the museum as each day since he's been remembering different aspects of various sculptures & telling me about them.

Lukas contemplates the art before setting it in motion.

Melchsee-Frutt

2008-09-03T13:16:00.001-07:00

OK, now this wkd trip didn't start out quite as nice as Braunwald. It started with Lukas puking in the car on our drive. Nothing new for us, but this time Lukas followed up the car puke with about 4 more pukes in the gondola parking lot. We rode up in the gondola with a plastic bag at the ready - luckily we didn't need it.

Lukas & Rob washing out the "car puke bucket" in a little creek. We finally wised up with the bucket idea...only took us about a dozen or so pukes before we got a clue.

Our destination was Melchsee-Frutt. This is just on the opposite side of the mountains from Engelberg which we hiked a few weeks ago & loved. I had seen photos of Melchsee-Frutt & it looked beautiful:

When we got there though, this is what we found:

Hmm... false advertising, don't you think? The beautiful alpine lake was nearly dried up - so all we found was mud - and a bit stinky too. Even worse perhaps was that the "trail" around the lake was a paved road with loads of people. Yuck. To top it off, the clouds & wind moved in.

So after a quick lunch we decided to head up a ridge trail for better views. So glad that we did. Once we got off the paved road, the other people disappeared and the scenery was much prettier.

We hiked the ridge to the peak & then took a chairlift back down. Lukas was eager to get to the gondola restaurant so that he could play in a ball pit. He got involved in the throwing "fight" that was going on in the pit between lots of Swiss kids. He's really learning to hold his own & defend himself against the often aggressive Swiss kids. Rob & I got to enjoy coffees & gipfels as we watched the match.

Lukas could have stayed in here forever.

We ended the day with a stop at the cute little hut at the bottom of the mountain that sold local cheese. (jealous Grandpa?) Very nice day afterall.

How Swiss is this?!

Braunwald

2008-09-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

One of our first hiking trips in CH was to Braunwald - a beautiful car-free town in the mountains.

http://momstotsipc.blogspot.com/2006/08/braunwald-hiking.html. It turned out to be one of our favorites in the 2+ years that we've been here, so we decided to go back one more time before our time in CH runs out :-(

It was even more beautiful than we remembered and of course, now that Lukas is 2 years older - he could actually hike much of it himself. Sniff, sniff....I'm going to miss CH so much!!

The $165 Movie

2008-08-23T10:56:00.000-07:00

Rob & I just paid the equivalent of $165 to see a movie. Just a movie - no dinner (unless you consider a movie theater hotdog dinner), no drinks, - just a movie. Here's the breakdown:

$100 babysitter ($25/hour)
$38 movie
$20 hotdogs, popcorn & one coke
$7 ice creams
$165 total

Ugh. This is actually the first time that we've seen a movie together in CH & I'm sure it will be our last. We had planned to do an organized swim today in the Limmat River in Zurich, but it was cancelled due to high waters & we had already booked the sitter. So we opted for the movie instead. We saw The Dark Knight - good, but worth $165???

Germany

2008-08-21T04:49:00.000-07:00

We finally ventured into Germany for some sightsighting. Somehow, since we are living in German-speaking CH, it hasn't seemed all that interesting to travel to Germany - we always opt for France or Italy instead (where we can enjoy different food!). But we had a nice time in Germany & I definitely gained a few pounds with all of the knödel and schnitzel I ate.

We first headed to Calw in the Black Forest. A sleepy little town with timbered houses and a nice pedestrian only town center.

Grootmoe, Grandpa, Lukas & Rob in town square (Rob looking like a giant - standing on a parking pillar.)

We did a small hike in the Black Forest, mainly just to say that we've "hiked" the Black Forest and also to be able to enjoy a beer & big lunch afterwards without (as much) guilt. But mostly we just wandered around the town which was a quaint little town to explore. It is fun and much easier for us also to explore with Grandpa & Grootmoe along with us. Lukas was such a happy camper - trading off between riding on Grandpa's shoulders and holding Grandma's hand.

Our next stop was Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This town is considered one of the best preserved medieval towns in Europe. It is ridiculously charming and picturesque, to the point that it feels a bit like a movie set or historical Disneyland. Apparently, Rick Steves has also raved about this city which has added even more tourists to the mix. But I loved it. And when we ventured just one or 2 streets off of the main square, the tour groups were nowhere to be seen. About 40% of the town was destroyed in WWII, but it was quickly rebuilt in historical style. I liked that since then I didn't have to imagine what it would have looked like.

Main square of Rothenburg ob der Tauber

The entire town is enclosed by a city wall and you can walk on top of the wall for most of it - which of course, being with the Wiggers family - meant that we would walk all of it - about 1.5km. It was a nice vantage point to see the city. Also, one of my favorite memories of this trip is that Lukas thought that for some reason we should all be in a marching band whenever we came to dark sections of the wall - which was about every few minutes. So whenever we'd go into a tower, etc. Grandpa would pretend to play the trumpet, Lukas the trombone, Grootmoe the flute, etc. and we'd have a little marching band for about 20 seconds - any other tourist who we happened to pass must have thought we were nuts.

The Wiggers marching band takes a break

We also took an evening walking tour with the Night Watchman who told us little stories of what it would have been like to live in Rothenburg in medieval times - very entertaining. And mostly we just wandered around the town - stopping for coffee breaks with schneeballs (the local doughball specialty) and taking lots of pics.

Cute Lukas on a cute street

Our restaurant on our first night (Lukas would remember it as his "time out" spot when we'd pass it on later days ;-)

Rob, Lukas, Grandpa & Grootmoe in front of the castle garden gate

The other half of Rothenburg viewed from across the little valley.

Inga & Lukas on ANOTHER cute street/square.

Lukas takes aim from inside the city wall.

Grandpa, Lukas & Grootmoe enjoy a lunch break.

Unfortunately, at the end of the trip it was time for Grandpa & Grootmoe to hop on a train and continue their trip up to the Netherlands. Lukas was NOT happy with this plan. But we'll see them soon in CA and in the meantime Lukas is loving his "I love you" bear he got from them.

Miss you & love you Grandpa & Grootmoe!!

Engelberg

2008-08-12T08:09:00.001-07:00

Grandpa & Grootmoe are visiting...

.....so we all ventured to the Engelberg Valley for some hiking last weekend. It is a large valley with several choices of lifts, gondolas & cogwheel trains to take you up your choice of mountains. On the first day we took a cable car & then a chair lift up to Brunni. At the top we did the Kitzelpfad trail which is a barefoot trail. You take your shoes off & then follow the trail over changing surfaces: pinecones, rocks, water, mud, moss, etc. The trail goes around a little lake & also has great views - a really fun little hike.

The Wiggers walk over woodchips, pebbles & sticks.

Grandpa & Lukas walk through the water section.

Lukas loved it all - except this knee-high (thigh-high on him) section of mud.

Fun walk & beautiful scenery

The little lake also had tons of tadpoles that Lukas could catch and a nice picnic area near a small waterfall. A nice spot to spend a morning even without doing more hiking.

Hundreds of tadpoles - fun & easy to catch

We then hiked back down to the midstation. There was a nice playground there & a rodelbahn that we all tried out.

Grootmoe on the rodelbahn

The next day we headed up the gondola that goes all the way up Titlis. Lots of people, but we got off at an earlier stop & avoided a lot of the tourists that only go to the peak for pictures. We did a tough, but beautiful hike to Trübsee.

Easy meadow walk before the climbing began

No hike is complete without wurst grilling!

Lots of uphill hiking - most of which Lukas did himself

Reward for off-the-track hiking - beautiful trails all to ourselves!

The town of Engelberg is nice in itself with a monastery dating back to 1120 that houses the largest church organ in CH (9000 pipes). We had a little time to walk around the town after dinner, but mostly we were just there for the hiking - which was great!

Jura Region - quick trip

2008-08-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

We travelled to the farthest eastern part of CH last weekend, so this weekend we headed to the farthest northwest - the Jura Region. We waited to the last minute so we couldn't find a hotel before we left, but our plan was to drive to St. Ursanne & check with the tourist office once we got there.

St. Ursanne was a picturesque medieval little town, but it was VERY little. Even if we could find a hotel with availability, we didn't think that it would be very interesting to spend the night there. So we ate lunch in the little square, walked around a bit & then headed to the nearby town of Saignelegier where we had picked out a hike. We thought that if Saignelegier looked nice, we'd look for a hotel there.

On the 30 minute drive to Saignelegier - Lukas once again lived up to his nickname - Pukey Lukey - and vomited ALL over his clothes, carseat, etc. Ugh. We cleaned up as best as we could & then continued on. The hike we did was recommended by our Swiss neighbor and was actually around a little peat bog. Definitely different than our mountain hiking. The pond was black - Lukas thought it was pretty funny that when he stuck his feet in the water they looked all orange/brown. Some people were actually swimming in the pond - when they came out they were covered in black sludge - yuck - no thanks .

Lukas & Rob checking out the bog

After the hike it was early evening & Lukas was stumbling tired. Although the area was pretty - rolling hills, green pastures - it didn't offer the dramatic views that we've gotten so spoiled with here in CH. So we decided to save ourselves the 200+ CHF for a hotel & dinner & drive home. (We also didn't like the idea of leaving the stinky carseat in the car overnight!) So it was a quick trip! But we are still glad that we got a chance to check out this part of CH.

Engadine Valley

2008-07-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

Little town of Guarda as viewed from one of our hikes

We finally made it to the Engadine Valley for a weekend of hiking. It has been on our "list", but we've always pushed it off since it is in the farthest eastern part of Switzerland. We headed out on Friday & it took 2 hours, 14 min. to get there. Hmmmm... not so far afterall. The 2 hour trip also included a section where we drove our car onto a train ferry so that we could cut through a mountain instead of enduring pukey curving roads over it. Lukas thought that was pretty cool.

We stayed in Guarda which was one of the most charming towns we've seen in Switzerland. It is perched on the edge of the mountain with beautiful views of the valley. Most of the houses are decorated with "sgraffito" - kind of etchings in the stucco and colorful painting. It only takes about 5 minutes to walk from one end of the town to the other with numerous pretty fountains along the way, and the town is mostly car-free.

On Friday we hiked the Ursli trail (or as Lukas called it: the "wurstli" trail - he really is becoming Swiss ;-) The trail has signposts along the way that tell the story of a little boy, Ursli, and a bell festival in his town. At each signpost there are games for the kids: play a song on bells, look for hidden Urslis, find the correct key to open a lock, etc. Lukas really got into the story & enjoyed the hike - good thing because it was over a 4 hour hike! Different hiking than other areas of CH - no dramatic peaks, but beautiful meadows, lots of trees and creeks & more wildflowers than I've ever seen on any other hike.

On Saturday we planned to stop at the little tourist office to get some recommendations for another hike. Closed. Of course, what were we thinking? It was only a Saturday in the peak vacation season! Aargh! So we had to pick a trail on our own. It turned out OK, but nothing spectacular. However, we did see one spectacular sight: We had stopped on a little plateau to eat our lunch. We heard a helicoptor flying over the mountains and heading our way and then noticed that it was carrying something on a long line. Rob says "it's a cow!". Yeah, right. But sure enough, seconds later there was a live cow in a sling flying over our heads. Of course that fueled Lukas' question barrage for the rest of the hike. "why was the cow flying?" Where is the cow going?" "Is the cow scared?" , etc. etc. Unfortunately, we didn't get a photo of this.

On Sunday we headed to the mineral baths in the nearby town of Scuol. It was fun, but by this time Lukas was pretty wiped out so we kept it pretty short. All in all, a really nice weekend.

Lukas' favorite YouTube video

2008-07-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZP-n3E43M3Y

Dinosaurs and "toots" .... it doesn't get any better for him....

Dragons and St. Beatus

2008-07-16T06:32:00.000-07:00

On the recommendation of our good family friends, Jim & Clare, we booked a weekend at a hostel on Lake Thun. The hostel is right on the lake, and we planned to make it a nice relaxing beach weekend. Of course, the best laid plans......

The weekend forecast called for 70% chance of rain on Saturday and 80% chance of HEAVY rain on Sunday. Unfortunately, the forecast was completely accurate - so much for lounging on the beach! But we outfitted ourselves in our rain parkas and ended up having a great weekend anyways.

On Saturday, we hiked in the misty rain on the Beatusweg adventure trail. The short trail has signposts along the way that tell the story of St. Beatus and how he slayed a dragon and saved the villagers (and also converted them to Christianity - thereby "saving" them twice.). To accompany the story, the trail has a castle, boat, dragon footprints, etc. along the way for the kids to play on. Lukas LOVED the story and has since been talking about dragons and St. Beatus nonstop. It was actually kind of cool that it was such a foggy & dark day - it made the trail even more mysterious & eerie.

Ship that Beatus sailed on.

We definitely missed the views on this hike, but we kind of liked the fog.

Lukas & his slug collection at the start of the hike.

The next day it was POURING out so we decided to explore the St. Beatus caves where it obviously wouldn't matter if it was raining. Plus, Lukas was very excited to see the cave where St. Beatus slayed the dragon. The cave was huge - we took a one hour tour that took us 1 km into the mountain. Lots of stalagtites, stalagmites & underground rivers. Of course at one point in the tour there was a huge dragon in a cavern. The guide warned us that they were going to tell the story, turn out ALL the lights - it would get pitch black - and then the dragon would light up like fire. We warned Lukas. A few minutes into the story, Lukas proudly proclaims "I'm not scared." Seconds later the lights go out & Lukas is shrieking ;-)

The cave tour also included a little dragon museum and dragon playground so Lukas is now into fullblown dragon mode. At home all of his knights are now St. Beatus and all of his dinosaurs are dragons.

RAINY, RAINY play in a dragon's mouth

The hostel was fun - kind of like a summer camp: set your own table, strip your bed linens, board games in the dining room after dinner, quiet time after 10p.m., etc. It was a great casual kid-friendly atmosphere. We also lucked out & got the best room in the house with a balcony overlooking the lake. The rain cleared for a few hours at night so we did get a sunset:

Thanks Jim & Clare for the recommendation!

Seeüberquerung

2008-07-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

The daily chocolate bars have definitely taken a toll on my shape, so now that the weather is nice I'm making an effort to run & swim more. Last week Zürich held the Seeüberquerung which is a 1.45km swim across Lake Zürich with safety kayaks and police boats along the way to control boat traffic. I had wanted to do this last year, but the water temperature never reached the minimum 21 degrees since we had such a poopy summer. Rob took a 1/2 day off work so that he & Lukas could be my cheering section at the finish. At first I was kind of nervous, but at the start I realized that a lot of people weren't even wearing googles. I quickly switched from being nervous to being annoyed at all of the slowpokes in my way! Apparently, it is much more of a fun swim with people just casually swimming along in groups & talking along the way. But it was a gorgeous sunny day & the water temp was perfect. It is funny that even at something like this, there are still cultural differences. At the finish, after exiting the water there were booths with drink & food for the swimmers. I grabbed what looked like a gatorade - but then scalded my tongue on what was hot tea instead! Hmmmm? It was over 80 degrees outside! The food turned out to be a big bowl of risotto - no bananas or power bars here. Lukas was excited to see me at the finish - just one of 5000 orange caps.

Can you spot me in the crowd?

A peek ahead into the teenage years....

2008-07-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

We were lucky. We experienced Fête de la Musique when we were in Beaune on June 21. Then, the next weekend our Zurich neighborhood put on its own Fête de la Musique. It was very small - they closed down just 2 or 3 blocks - but they had live bands playing from 5p.m. until 2a.m. It was a wonderful small event. We got to share a drink & talk with friends while Lukas cruised around with his best friend on their bikes. The first few bands were pretty mellow, but then a hard rock bank took the stage. I thought for sure that Lukas would flee from the music since he's afraid of loud sounds (he actually used to run & hide from a "talking" snoopy greeting card that my sister sent to him.) To our surprise, he LOVED the hard rock & acted like a groupie right next to the stage for the entire set.....Is this what his teenage years will be like?

(Sorry for the bad video quality - for some reason the camera kept going in & out of focus - but I think you can get the idea from it anyways.)

Burgundy, France

2008-06-24T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah! We made it back to France once last time! I love France. The more that we travel there, the more I realize it. I think I'm one of the few people that doesn't like Paris....but the small towns & countryside are just so beautiful and charming. Now if only we spoke more than 2 words of French....

We just spent a long weekend in Beaune in the Burgundy region of France - only a 3 hour drive from Zürich. When we first arrived, we thought that Lukas might be reaching travel-saturation - he was completely whiney, didn't want to leave our hotel and refused to walk anywhere. Ugh. Unfortunately we also didn't have his stroller with us - so we had to schlepp him through town on our shoulders. Luckily, after a 2 hour nap back at the hotel, he later was back to being a good little travel companion. Good thing - because his good manners were really put to the test as we experienced the quintessential 2+ hour dinner that night! We were the typical Americans, I guess, waiting on the sidewalk for a table the minute that they opened for dinner at 7pm. Although, we still didn't get seated till nearly 7:30.

Our bistro was outside on a square with lots of people watching & distractions. Plus, Beaune was having a musical festival so there were bands playing throughout the town for added entertainment. Still, the dinner felt long for us too since Lukas just learned to rhyme that day. Our dinner "conversation" was: "Do you see that dog by the log? ha-ha" "hey, don't eat my pork off your fork! ha-ha"....and so on and so on..... Dinner was delicious, though, and both Lukas & I tried escargot for the first time:

No problem trying the snails, but wasn't all that impressed (nor was I).

But the real reason we were in Burgundy was to go biking throught the vineyards. We had both a bikeseat & trailer for Lukas. He was a happy camper & the trailer also came in handy for the wine that we bought along the way.

Gearing up for our ride

Just starting out....

The bike route took us through this pretty garden lane in Pernand Vergelesses

Most of the route was on designated bike paths or very small country roads with few cars.

Umm....adding a little crispness to the 2008 vintage.

On our last day, we toured L'Hotel-Dieu, a hospital built in 1443 for the poor after the devastation of the plague. Sounds kind of odd, I know, but it turned out to be interesting and impressive.

Rob & Lukas in the courtyard of L'Hotel Dieu

We finished up our trip with lunch on the square in Beaune and one last ice cream/tart/coffee break - a perfect ending for a really nice trip. Maybe we can still squeeze in one more wkd to France.......

Baguette lunch on the square in Beaune

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

Here's some of the adventures of my 2 favorite guys over the past year....

Auslanders: 1 Grumpy Neighbor: 0

2008-06-12T01:18:00.000-07:00

I'm am feeling soooooo smug today. You know how when you have an argument with someone & then afterwards you replay the argument in your head and think: "If only I had said this.... " or "....that would have been a better comeback" . Well, imagine an argument where you are completely satisified with all of your comebacks AND the argument took place in a foreign language. Ha-Ha! That just happened to me with a confrontation with the Grumpy Neighbor!!

I won't go into the details of what spurred the confrontation but let's just say that he reached a new level of grumpiness. At first I stormed over to his apartment to talk to him. Luckily, he wasn't home so I was able to simmer for a few hours and plan what I was going to say (and check the grammar on the internet). Anyways, I caught him right as he was entering his apartment - just minutes before the Swiss soccer match was about to start. (Strategic move #1). Of course I addressed him in German which I think actually threw him a bit since I don't think he realized that we do speak a little German (since he has never bothered to talk to us - just pounds on the wall). I started out super nice & naive. But then I ZINGED him with a direct question (Strategic move #2). This Swiss avoid direct confrontation at all cost - so this was not expected & caught him off-guard. If he answered "yes" to the question - then he was basically admitting his guilt, but if he answered "no" - then he basically couldn't continue his childish behaviour. He was actually squirming as he tried to answer the question. (He answered no at first & then changed his answer to yes.) I then made a few references to the landlord and the Renters Rights Board in Zurich (Strategic move #3). Funny how if you mention any authority in Switzerland, the Swiss immediately become compliant - they are definite rule-followers. I ended the whole exchange with a saccharin sweet "Great - I'm so glad everything is worked out."

I realize that this post might not make total sense or be that interesting. But I don't care - it gives me a chance to relive my moment of glory. There have been so many instances in Switzerland when Rob & I have had to "grin & bear it" - because the language barrier makes it too difficult for us to complain or argue. It felt so good to stand up for ourselves this time!

Fussball Fever Hits Zürich!!

2008-06-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

Giant 17 meter tall replicas of most team captains. The display is set up at Zürich's main train station.

On Saturday the Euro 2008 Soccer Tournament started (http://www.euro2008.com/) . The games are being played in Switzerland and Austria, and the preparation and excitement in Zürich has been building for months. Yesterday we headed out to downtown Zürich before the Germany/Poland game to check it all out. The game wasn't even being played in Zürich (and it wasn't the Swiss team), but you wouldn't know it by the crowds! The city has been totally transformed: huge viewing platforms and restaurants built out on Lake Zürich itself, dozens of large screen TVs set up around the city, about a hundred food booths, dozens of sponsor booths with games, and several major streets shut down to cars & trams. The tournament lasts for 3 weeks, & we're curious if everything will be shut down for the entire 3 weeks or just for wkd games. (Most movie theatres are actually closed down for the duration of the tournament since they expected such poor movie attendance.) Yesterday was just a reconnaissance outing, but we plan to head back another night for a full night of eating, watching & cheering.

"The Steep, Scary Part"

2008-06-08T05:40:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had another sunny day so, of course, we headed to the mountains. We were too lazy to research any trails so we just picked a mountain area http://www.buerglen-kinzig.ch/ & gondola & hoped we'd find a good trail when we reached the top. We needn't have worried....at the top we had a choice of about 40 trails....

Hmmm...which trail to choose...

Hiking is a family sport in CH with many mountains offering a playground at the top.

We hiked for about an hour until we stopped for lunch. This time we found an actual designated picnic spot right next to a little waterfall. The spot had a firering & firewood so our wurst-grilling was easy.

Grilling with a view

After lunch, Lukas was tired of hiking so he rode in the backpack. We hiked a little ways until we reached the gondola that we had planned to take back done. By this time, Lukas had fallen asleep. It was so nice out that we thought that maybe we should just hike down to the midway station of the gondola. I BRIEFLY checked a trail map that was posted on the gondola and it looked like there MIGHT be a trail that headed that way. In my defense (which will become obvious shortly), I told Rob that I wasn't completely sure.

We started down a trail that headed straight down but slowly & surely disappeared. Before you knew it we were trudging across cow fields and hopping barbed-wire fences. We tried different directions but each way just seemed to lead us to a huge ravine that we couldn't cross. Rob was fuming a bit at me by this point. His mood wasn't helped by Lukas either, who, by now was wide awake and asking questions and adding comments: "Why are we lost?" "I don't like this." "This is too scary." "You are going the wrong direction." "I don't want to fall." "I think you should go this way." He was in the backpack, so this never-ending commentary was only inches from Rob's ears.

We finally had to bite the bullet & hike straight back up the mountain to the start of the gondola. It was soooo steep!

Heading back up to the gondola -even this photo doesn't fully show how steep it was!

Now whenever we talk about hiking, Lukas chimes in with "But I don't want to do the steep, scary part again!" That makes 3 of us.

Secure in their man(boy)hood...

2008-05-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

but in touch with their feminine side:

Strasbourg

2008-05-26T12:04:00.000-07:00

Why haven't I heard more about Strasbourg before? We just spent a wkd there, and I think it ranks as one of my favorite European cities. Beautiful timbered houses, quaint streets, picturesque canals and great shopping. Plus, it was only 2 hours away by train since we took the fast TGV train in France.

2 hours of train time = 20+ animals/dinosaurs/cars/airplanes

Gutenberg Square

Ponts Couverts

"Petite France" area of Strasbourg

Strasbourg also had fantastic food - such a nice break from the endless Swiss brats! Lukas gobbled up cheese, galettes, flammkuchen - nearly anything that we put in front of him. Since we are always still concerned about his eating (or lack thereof) this was an added bonus on our trip.

Oh I hope we can squeeze another France trip in before our return to the States!

Enjoying a stroll & icecream

Run-in with the law

2008-05-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

I got a traffic ticket last week:
Even if you can't read German, do you notice anything? Under (vehicle) typ - its lists: "Specialized". Yes, I got a ticket on my bike.

Rob & Lukas were at the zoo, so I was enjoying a rare morning cruising around Zurich on my bike, stopping in my favorite stores & cafe. Whenever I ride bikes with Rob, he always admonishes me for not obeying all of the traffic signs. Of course, I'm always careful if I have Lukas on the back, but.... if I'm alone and I come to an intersection that is clearly empty, I don't wait at the light. So, on this beautiful day I did my usual coast through the light. Halfway down the block a police car "pulls me over" and I'm promptly written a citation. I'm not sure which I'm more bummed about: having to pay CHF 60 or having to hear Rob say "I told you so!" after he reads this post.

Prague

2008-05-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

We went to Prague a few weeks ago. Beautiful city, but LOADS of tourists. Still, we had fun walking the streets, taking a boat tour, eating lots of pork & cabbage and drinking lots of beer.

Nothing too extraordinary to tell, so I'll just let the photos describe our trip:

Lukas in front of the Old Town square

Prague castle on the hill (and our tour boat in front)

Lukas in front of the Prague Cathedral

Lukas & Rob checking out the inside of the cathedral

Old Jewish Cemetery - graves built upon graves - dating back to 1439

Police patroling the streets on their Segways in front of Powder Tower

Rob & Lukas ready to dig into a "farmer's plate": pork, ham, dumplings, sauerkraut & red cabbage - YUM!

Another weekend....another mountain...

2008-05-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

The weather is still beautiful - maybe spring is finally here to stay. So, last weekend we picked a hiking trail in the Toggenburg area of Switzerland. The plan was to head up on a chairlift, hike for 3 hours, take a different chairlift back down and then a bus back to our original starting point. The trail we picked was called the Klangweg or Tone Trail because it has 22 "stations" along the way where you can produce music using unusual objects. The stations were quite impressive - pretty elaborate sculptures and set-ups. It was great for Lukas because when he started getting tired, we could get him to hike a little bit farther by talking about the next "instrument" that was just around the corner.

About one hundred cow, goat, sheep & donkey bells

One of Lukas' favorites since it required hitting the rings with sticks & it was loud!

Tired & riding in the backpack, but playing his own music: harmonica (and missing Grandpa's accompaniment)

Unfortunately, when we reached the chairlift to head back down, we found that it was closed for renovation. And then we recalled briefly seeing a sign at the start of the trail. Now we know what it said and why the trail was so empty! So about 30 minutes of unplanned, knee-pounding downhill until we reached the town & busstop. Still, another beautiful day in the mountains.

Just a little off the top please...

2008-04-29T04:05:00.000-07:00

Haircuts, like everything else in Switzerland, are really expensive. But we finally found someone with reasonable rates:

Mt. Rigi hiking & wurst roast

2008-04-28T05:27:00.000-07:00

Finally some nice weather last weekend! We eagerly headed out on Sunday to get back in the mountains & do some hiking. We picked a trail on Mt. Rigi which overlooks Lake Lucerne. First up a little "farmers" gondola where you just hop on & then ring them from inside the gondola to start it up. The view was spectacular at the top!

We hiked for about an hour & then stopped for lunch - wurst, of course! In Switzerland, you can build a fire ANYWHERE to grill your wurst: parks, trails, side of road, etc. This has taken us some getting used to compared to CA where you need a fire permit, designated firepit, etc. Anyways, we picked a beautiful spot & Lukas had fun helping find rocks to make a fire ring and wood for the fire. Plain wurst & bread tastes so good when eating it while enjoying the sun, fresh air & gorgeous view.

Building the fire

Grilling our wurst

Yum!

After refueling we hiked for another 2 hours, had an icecream break at an Alpenhütte and then took a cogwheel train back down to our starting point. Perfect Sunday outing -----we'll really miss Switzerland.

Slacker parents

2008-04-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Lukas is nearly 3.5 years old & is still wearing diapers. I am about 90% responsible for this since I have never pushed the whole potty training thing. The thought of having to constantly and urgently find a public toilet every time while we're travelling has pushed potty training pretty low on my priorities. Plus, we can only do laundry once a week on our "scheduled" laundry day in our apartment building. Diapers are so much easier.

I thought that I would finally put some effort into this a few weeks ago and bought some Thomas the Train underwear. When I showed them to Lukas he was very excited.... until I suggested he try them on. No way. I thought all kids were suppose to be excited about big-boy underwear?! And Thomas the Train too!

While on a trip to Prague last week (post to follow soon) I told Lukas that when we got back to Zurich he was going to need to start wearing underwear. Fast forward a few days. We are at the Zurich airport collecting our bags when Lukas starts crying quite hard. We thought that he was just tired. But as we listened through his sobs we heard...."don't want to wear underwear!"

So we've put the effort on the back burner again. Grootmoe just sent us an Elmo "potty time" DVD - we'll give it a try soon.

Don't worry - this will be the only post on this topic. No updates or details to follow.

It's a Böögg!

2008-04-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

We just finished celebrating one of Zurich's most popular festivals - Sechseläuten. The name Sechseläuten means ringing of the six'o clock bell. Dating back to the 14th century, the church bells were used to announce the working hours. In winter, with dusk coming early, the craftsmen had to stop working at 5 p.m., in summer they used to work until 6 p.m. So, Sechseläuten festivities basically celebrate the spring equinox. The festival starts with a children's parade with all of the kids dressed in historical customs. This is one of Lukas' favorite parades since all of the kids throw candy and there are tons of horses in the parade too.

The next day is the guild parade (only men in historical costumes & lots of bands) - kind of boring in my opinion. BUT... the parade ends at a square on the shore of Lake Zurich where the Böögg, or giant snowman, is placed. The Böögg is made of wood & cotton and stuffed with explosives- yes - explosives. At precisely 6p.m. he is lit on fire - the sooner his head blows off - the sooner that the long-awaited springtime should arrive. Kind of the Swiss version of Groundhog's Day. This year it took over 26 minutes for his head to blow off....pretty long compared to other years.....ugh...more winter.

Penquin Parade

2008-03-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

We've got a yearly membership to the Zurich Zoo so we visit at least a few times a month. Lukas never tires of the monkeys or the shoebill (don't ask me why - it never even moves. Know what a shoebill is? - I've gone ahead and googled it for you: http://www.google.ch/search?hl=en&q=shoebill&meta ;-) But a special treat is the Penquin Parade. Basically, any day that the temperature is below 10 degrees celsius (yes - it is still that cold here) they let the penquins out of their exhibit to walk through the zoo. We first get some "heisse marroni" (roasted chestnuts) and munch on those while we watch the penquins waddle by. Equally fun for Lukas is pointing out the penquin poop that is left in their path....

Skiing

2008-03-31T06:30:00.000-07:00

It's embarrasing to admit that we've been living in Switzerland - the ski capital of the world - for 2 years now and have yet to go skiing! Our excuses are varied: what will we do with Lukas, too expensive, to much hassle with all of the equipment to rent, etc. This past wkd Rob's coworker (Heinrich) invited us to go skiing with his family. He had extra skis for all of us and offered to give Lukas ski lessons so that Rob & I could ski off on our own. Obviously, this offer was too good to pass up!

We had a perfect day of skiing with blue skies and good snow. As soon as we got there, Heinrich had Lukas on his skis and away they went up the towrope and down the bunny slope! Heinrich is an EXPERT skier and has taught all of his kids to ski. Their youngest is 3 1/2 and was cruising down the intermediate slopes and was clocked at 64 kilometers/hour!

I can't say that Lukas is there (yet!). But this mornng he said that it was "super fun" so that's all that matters. (On the actual day of skiing he wasn't quite as enthusiatic and just wanted to play in the snow after a few trips down the bunny hill.)

Unfortunately, Heinrich & his family actually live just over the border in Austria which is where we skiied.......so we still can't claim to have skiied in Switzerland.

Grumpy Neighbor and Stinky Man

2008-03-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

Last week we ran into our neighbor in the hall. Lukas pointed at him and shouted "Grumpy Neighbor!" Luckily, I'm pretty sure that our neighbor doesn't understand english or at least a little 3 year old's english. Of course, we have no one but ourselves to blame. We regularly refer to our neighbor as the "grumpy neighbor" since he pounds on the wall when we are too loud - he even used to pound when Lukas cried as a baby. As if we liked to listen to that ourselves..... Anyways, we rarely see our hermit-like, unfriendly neighbor so in Lukas' eyes he has grown into this mythical creature. Sometimes when he is playing, the little people or animals that he is playing with get attacked by the abominable snowman OR the grumpy neighbor.....

A couple of weeks ago, we were riding on the tram when a guy got on & sat in front of us. This man was clearly an addict and/or in need of psychiatric help, but the bottom line is he really smelled. Lukas started sniffing & stated "something stinks!" Then he sniffed the back of his jacket and stated: "he stinks!". Now, unfortunately, "stink" in English translates into "stink" in German. Fortunately, I think the guy was too out of it to hear Lukas anyways.

Everytime Lukas says something inappropriate I realize how much we are able to get away with here because of the language difference. We need to start monitoring our choice of words around Lukas more. Soon we'll be back in the States where every word that Lukas utters can be understood by all...... yikes.......

Oman

2008-03-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

We're back from our trip to Oman - it was great! The arrival was a bit rough, though. After the 6+ hour flight it took us a good hour to get through immigration and then another 45 minutes to get our rental car. Finally, at about 1 am we were on the road to our hotel - another 45 minute drive - if we hadn't gotten lost. Here we learned our first lessons about Oman and the Omani people. 1) It is impossible to find an accurate map of Oman/Muscat. 2) Omani people must not be used to using maps anyways & don't know how to read them 3) Omani people are so friendly, though that they don't want to admit they can't read the map & will try to help you anyways. Thus, after driving for an hour & asking numerous people we finally had a very nice man actually escort us in his car until we found our way......checked in at about 3am!

Resort was beautiful - great swimming pools & right on the beach. The resort has 3 hotels and there is a "lazy river" that you can float down on innertubes to get from one hotel to the other. One of our favorite activities!

Admittedly, we didn't venture off the resort as much as we normally would. It was hard to convince Lukas (and ourselves!) that we should just walk by the sparkling cool swimming pool and instead get in a hot rental car to see the sights but also invariably 1) get lost 2) have Lukas live up to his "Pukey Lukey" nickname and 3) have to worry about searching for tasty authentic - yet stomach friendly - food. Plus, everything closes from noon - 4p.m. so you have to plan your sightseeing accordingly.

Why give up this?.......

For this.....(post-puke clean-up)

That being said, we had some awesome experiences! We spent a full (12 hour) day driving to some nearby towns to explore some old forts, castles and markets.

Of course, just being "off resort" was an experience in itself seeing all of the Omani in their daily dress: dishdashes (basically white robes) and an embroidered cap for men and long black dresses/robes and black shawls for women. Most women just covered their heads & neck with the shawls, but we did see a fair amount of women that only had their eyes showing or not even that (very sheer shawl over entire face.) Looked so hot to wear! It was interesting - on Thursday & Friday - the weekend in Oman - we had more Omani people at the resort. We saw a few of the women wearing the robe & shawls poolside. Even floating down the lazy river & swimming in them! In case you're wondering: Inga could wear her normal clothes "off resort", but it was appropriate to wear long sleeves and long pants/skirts. On the resort, shorts/tanktops, etc. were OK.

We explored Muscat, the capital of Oman. There was a great "souk" or market with silver, pashmina scarves, frankincense, and spices. Oman isn't touristy yet so the markets feel authentic without any t-shirts, souvenirs, etc. Also visited the Sultan's palace (can't go in though) and the Grand Mosque. The mosque is the 3rd largest in the world and has the world's largest persian carpet in the men's prayer room - very ornate & beautiful. We basically headed into Muscat every evening for dinner since dinner on the resort was the typical $80 while off-resort it was closer to $10. Unfortunately, the food wasn't anything spectacular (either on or off-resort) - lots of shwarma and Indian food .

Sultan's Palace

Grand Mosque

Finally, we hired a private tour guide to take us into the desert with a 4x4. It was amazing - nothing to see for miles but dunes, dunes, dunes, camels wandering and the occasional Bedouin (nomadic Arab tribe) camp with tents & goat pen. We did some dune driving (limited - based on Lukas' puke history) and some camel riding. Wow - are camels tall! And you REALLY have to hold on when they get up or get down from a standing position - otherwise you get catapulted over their head! But look who decided he wanted to ride afterall.......

The men negotiating the price for a camel ride

Drinking tea with the Bedouin in their tent

On our way home from the desert we stopped in a "wadi" (an oasis in the dry mountains) for a swim to cool off. It was about 99 degrees in the desert.
After a wonderful 8 days we flew back to Zurich. We were greeted with snow on the ground and 30 degree temps........

We're off to Oman!

2008-02-25T06:20:00.000-08:00

We weren't too sure for awhile since Inga's passport showed up just today (less than 24 hours prior to departure!) after being sent in for renewal weeks ago. Of course, with our luck, we noticed that her name is spelled incorrectly on the new passport. We're just hoping that we'll get a lazy passport control person that won't notice.

Anyways we're seeking sunshine, beaches and some exotic travel! Looks like we'll get the sunshine:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/tenday/MUXX0003?from=36hr_topnav_business.

We're all super excited, but Lukas has already informed us that he IS NOT going to ride a camel - "too scary!"

Hopefully, some interesting posts to follow!

No beads or boobs - just beer & brats

2008-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we went to the Fasnacht (carnival) parade in Zurich. It was a beautiful sunny day and the parade was perfect - lots of costumes & music. Definitely more family friendly than the traditional mardi gras celebrations - no drunks or nudity. Lukas was dancing to the music and throwing confetti on some of the "monsters"that walked by. It was a test of courage for him because they would then come over to him which was quite scary, but also might give him a candy. Of course, in typical Swiss fashion, the street sweepers came by about 20 minutes after the parade was finished and everything was back to order in less than an hour......

Alpenhütte

2008-02-05T12:48:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about CH, besides the chocolate, are the Alpenhütte. It seems no matter where we hike -no matter how remote we may be - we can crest a hill and there, like an oasis, is a little Swiss hut in the mountains ready to offer us a beer, wurst, coffee and cake. They really are storybook: A-framed, decorated with pine cones, cow bells and playing oompah Swiss music. Last weekend we headed again for the mountains for some snowshoeing. At the top of the gondola, though, it was windy & Inga was lazy. So....our 2 hour planned snowshoe hike turned into a 15 minute hike to an Alpenhütte for lunch with a great view!

Snowshoeing

2008-01-30T12:32:00.000-08:00

After recovering from some horrible jetlag from our Christmas trip back to Chicago (Lukas up from 12am-4 or 5am the first 5 nights), we finally are back on track and made it up to the mountains again for some snowshoeing last weekend. We stayed in a hotel at the top of a mountain that (obviously) had a sledding hill right outside the door. Lukas loved it & kept asking to 'go by myself'' - which thrilled his dad & worried his mom. The hotel also lit lanterns at night throughout the woods so that you could take a hike by the lantern light - really magical. Halfway through the hike there was a cute little hut that had hot cider - reason #10,003 that I love Switzerland! The next day we went on a 3 hour snowshoe hike - Lukas did great - walked about 1/2 on his own & the other half in the backpack - he's becoming quite a little hiker.

Kinderhueti

2008-01-20T06:35:00.000-08:00

On Monday mornings I drop Lukas off at the local park where a group of parents takes turns watching the kids (Kinderhueti). The kids play outside year long unless the weather is really nasty. HOWEVER, Lukas has been going for almost 2 years now, and they have yet had a day that they've considered the weather "bad" enough to go inside. The first few times I dropped Lukas off in the rain, I felt really bad (and even worse when I was back inside a nice dry apartment enjoying a hot cup of coffee) But, it seems that the wetter & muddier he is, the bigger the grin when I come to pick him up. He loves it!

Samichlaus, St. Nick, Santa........

2008-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

In Switzerland, Samichlaus visits on Dec. 6. He looks like an old-fashioned St. Nick and brings "goodies"for kids that have been good. Goodies in Switzerland, though, mean clementine oranges, peanuts in the shell, lebkuchen and chocolates. Toys get delivered by a different fellow (Christkind) but not until Dec. 25 . Anyways, we went on a little hike to visit Samichlaus at his hut in the woods. He was there with his "Schmutzlis" - his helpers that are dressed like monks (and look pretty scary in my opinion!) and also his donkeys that help him deliver the goodies. Surprisingly, Lukas wasn't scared of either Samichlaus, the Schmutzlis or his donkeys. We went into the hut where Samichlaus told us a little story while we sat around his woodstove. Afterwards, Lukas did get some peanuts which he was as excited about as if they were M&Ms.

Of course, to further confuse things for Lukas, we also follow a Dutch tradition in which we put our slippers out the night before (Dec. 5) and St. Nick comes and puts some treats in them. This year he brought Lukas some playdough.

Finally, we celebrated Christmas this year in Chicago with the Lapsins family. Lukas was really into Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and watched the video about 25 times. Santa came and spoiled him as expected. Lukas asked a few times about St. Nick, schmutzlis, donkeys, etc. but as long as the goodies kept coming I don't think he was too worried about the details ---yet.

Räbechilbi

2007-11-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

In November, we celebrated Räbechilbi. This light festival has its origin as a celebration of bringing in the last crops before winter sets in (or something like that). First, we went to one of the largest festivals in Switzerland that has a parade of thousands of carved & lit turnips - which was quite magical. Most towns also have their own local celebrations, and we participated in our own neighborhood parade. Carrying a carved turnip lit with fire on a long stick - what 3 year old boy wouldn't want to do this! We first went to our community center where they supplied the turnips and carving tools and most importantly for us foreigners- someone to show us what exactly we were suppose to do. The next evening we met at a bonfire, lit our turnip lanterns and paraded through the park singing traditional songs. This was followed by - as any good (wintery)Swiss event is - soup, bread & glühwein (hot spiced wine). We ran into all our of neighbors, playgroup friends, etc. during the parade & really felt like part of the community - great event!

It's the little things in life.......

2007-11-02T12:55:00.000-07:00

Lukas started swim lessons last Friday. He loves the water and has no fear; jumping in whether or not anyone is in there to catch him. He thinks he can swim so we thought we'd start up some classes to help him along. Since he has absolutely no body fat, he was always shivering like crazy going to and from the pool. I bought him a robe, thinking this might help. This turned out to be the hit of the month! He was soooo excited and begged me to let him wear the robe out of the store. We also had to have "robe night" here at home for a few nights in a row. Who knew what joy a little robe would bring.........