Laowai

After recovering from jet lag and finishing the mountain of laundry we are in full on Summer mode around here. We’ve been chasing lightning bugs, making lemonade, going to the pool, eating lots of ice cream cones and waking up late.

Last week the girls and I picked strawberries. They were really cute (the girls not the strawberries). I had to keep reminding Claire to pick just the good bright red ones. Bea was a great picker and at the end she got really excited when I said she could get another basket and fill it for her friend Mabel. 

We enjoyed some yummy strawberry shortcake and I made some freezer jam. Mmmmmm.

Tonight we went over to the botanic garden. We had a relaxing evening walk and then we had a picnic while we listened to a concert. It was lovely and breezy out. We only missed Brian – who is traveling.

Well, Switzerland did not disapoint us. There were some things that I needed to be reminded of after a year. I was reminded how much I love the cheese. I was reminded how amazingly efficienct the Swiss are. I was reminded how tiring it is to travel internationally with kids. We had a great time!

The morning after we arrived someone would not get up for breakfast so Brian had some sent to the room. Everything was so lovely at our old hotel – right down to the shiney heavy coffee pots.

For the first chunk of our trip we stayed in Sils, a small town in the eastern mountainous area. The highlight was the great hiking we got to do.

This is a Larch tree blossom. The hotel china had a delicate pattern of larch tree branches and blossoms. The woods and the meadows were so pretty with early spring flowers blooming everywhere we looked.

Here’s the veiw from our hotel room. Aaah – just gazing out the window put me in a relaxed mood.

For our biggest hiking day we walked all along the Silsersee (a lake next to the hotel) and then took a boat back. 

See the milk pails below. Brian was charmed that he ate some delicious cheese for breakfast and then saw the very cows that the cheese came from on our hike… or was it goats (we saw both). 

It was so nice that we could just step out the hotel door and have great hikes that the girls could handle. We stopped in a village for lunch.

I watched this sailboat zip around the lake for a long time. I was wishing I could be sailing too.

That’s our hotel in the distance – the big white building.

For the second part of our Swiss getaway we went to the southern area that is right next to Italy. 

Whenever you see a fountain in Switzerland you can take a drink. 

Lugano is nice and easy and it has a lovely park along the lake. 

Here’s Claire and me a few years ago at the same park:

Bea and Brian on a pedal boat above and below in 2011:

Claire saw this carousel as soon as we got into town and then would talk of nothing else until she got to ride it.

We spent one day at the Lugano Lido (the swimming spot). They do swimming pools so well in Switzerland – there were several pools and an area to swim in the lake. They always seem to include some nice green shadey grass and the kiddy pool was great (as expected).

Mmmmm – swimming made us hungry.

We had some yummy croissants on this trip – including this rather large one:

One of the highlights, especially for Brian, was watching world cup games on a big screen that was set up in the city square.

Heeee hee – here’s Brian dumbfounded by the soccer he is watching. Sorry, honey, I included some  flattering photos of you, but I couldn’t resist including this one too.

The girls were bribed with cotton candy.

Next we took a funicular up to get a great view of the mountains and Lugano below.

Tired out from too much fun.

Here I am getting excited about Thomy mustard:

Claire was obsessed with finding this Hello Kitty ice cream that she used to always get. She later told me that she wants to live in Switzerland… because they have Hello Kitty ice cream.

Here we are heading back to Zurich to finish up our trip. The train ride was beautiful!

We’re back from our trip to Switzerland. While I look through all our photos and try to keep the girls from fighting like cats and dogs here is one little photo.

We saw a rainbow when we were in Lugano. Bea said “do rainbows only happen in Switzerland?” It was a good question since we haven’t seen one since we moved and we used to see them regularly.

In our family the traditional Father’s Day gift is a mug with a picture of two daughters on it. So Brian got that again… even if he is sick of it. And he also got the most traditional Father’s Day gift of all, a tie, from Bea.

We are definitely in a stage where Daddy is super loved around here. I mean he is at least 10 times more popular and fun than mommy (jealous). 

We celebrated Father’s Day early because we will be here on the actual Father’s Day:

These are little things, but they really bug me.

The first is from a bag of topsoil. We had to fix that hole in the backyard that the falling tree made. It was just a bag of topsoil from Lowes – it says CAUTION: KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN. If soil is dangerous to children my kids should be dead by now.

And another bad sign from a playground. It really actually says no running! NO RUNNING AT A PLAYGROUND – what is the world coming to? Also, barefeet are not allowed. Uhg.

Claire had her last ballet class until Fall:

As you may have noticed… it’s peony time!!!

After months of putting it off (and waiting for the weather to be warm enough for painting in the garage) I finally started painting the light fixtures that will go into Bea and Claire’s bathroom. They used to be painted in many colors and they used to be in my bathroom. They looked kindo of cool hanging in the garage. 

Here’s what they looked like before a fresh coat of white paint:

Claire really got the hang of riding her bike (no pedals) last week. Bea outgrew her pink bike and got a new bigger one over the weekend. I’m looking forward to being able to all ride together someday soon when Claire is a little faster. 

We tried making and using chalk painting today. It gets two thumbs up from all of us. We mixed one cup corn starch and one cup water then added food coloring. Couldn’t be easier. 

First Claire and I painted while Bea was at school. I have trouble engaging her in things sometimes – she just isn’t interested in concentrating and doing something like this for as long as her sister would be. So we painted for a little while and then we did more painting when Bea got home.

Claire and I harvested some peas today. Our little garden is making me so happy. 

Claire decided she likes raw peas fresh from the garden. She even decided that they all belonged to her.

Here’s her back off people these are my peas look: