Laowai

Ask and you shall receive… it from the Brocki (it’s like Swiss Goodwill). 

For our Maisy Mouse obsessed girl – who had just minutes before asked for some more Maisy books – a Maisy Mouse puzzle.

For me – I was telling Brian that I really wanted one of these Swiss style sleds for a souvenir. Unfortunately they don’t come cheap so I didn’t know if I would have one or not…. until today when there was one for 25 Francs!

For Bea – She has been wanting a desk and she even made her dresser into a desk the other day and set it up with markers and all her important papers. We won’t buy her a real desk for a while but this mini-desk will please her. It opens up and it already has her name on it. Plus, it was only three francs. I had to buy it.

Well we did it – we pulled off our first big birthday party. I really liked getting ready for the party. Planning the decorations and activities with Bea was great fun:

Penguin bowling (in case you think I’m brilliant – I’m not – I just get ideas on Pintrest)

We made a pinata

And the cake – my favorite part. I used Grandma Dice’s oh so reliable chocolate cake recipe with cream cheese frosting. And I made penguins out of big chocolate covered marshmallows that I bought. 

She liked it

The decorations – just quick paper decorations to hang from the ceiling. We also had a craft for the kids – they each decorated silly paper glasses like these. And we made little goody bags for the kids to take home – Bea was so, so excited to put those together.

And then it was time for the party. I think it went alright… but who knows. I spent a lot of time not understanding what little kids were trying to tell me. I tried to get Bea to translate for me but she will only do so much of that. Frustrating. The pinata went pretty well but Brian and I were a nervous wreck because there were so many close calls with the swinging stick just missing a kid’s head. At least they knew what to do with it. There was a moment of panic when all the kids reeeaaally wanted a marshmallow penguin from the top of the cake. And then all ten kids just ran around like loonies for the rest of the party – but I think that’s normal right???

I told Brian – I’m glad I don’t have to do that again. I don’t mean all the fun prep or having a party – I just mean having a party with a bunch of (sweet) Swiss German speaking kids. I want to be able to talk to the kids – really talk to them.

So Bea is a very happy almost six year old and I am glad it’s done and dusted.

– We’ve gotten quite a bit of snow in the last couple days. I stood outside under some trees and watched the girls play. I was reminded of cross-country skiing as a kid – how we used to reach up with our ski pole and wiggle a tree branch so all the snow would fall on someone.

– The other day I was in the paltry Mexican food section at our grocery store. There was a lady there with tortillas in one hand and salsa in the other – she was looking confused. She noticed that I bought a few Mexican items and after we got around to speaking English, I explained how you take this spice mix and cook it with ground beef then you add your cheese and lettuce, avacado, beans whatever and top it with salsa. She had a few more questions and then she said eagerly that she was going to try it tonight. I completely enlightened her to one of the easy peasy staples of American family dinner. Brian says I’m a cultural outreacher.

– Making Grandma Dice’s white bread – the girls love it.

– Brian is in Budapest for a gentlemen’s weekend so we’ve been making pillow nests. And last night I let the girls sleep together in Bea’s bed.

We’re planning a birthday party for Bea. Her first big party – she’ll invite a bunch of kids from school. She finished the invitations today. I’m a little nervous to host a bunch of little Swiss-German speaking kids. I’m hoping if I make a nice cake and put up some bright decorations everything else will fall into place and it won’t matter that I can’t really communicate with the kids. We’ll see…

Today we visited a butterfly house near Bern called Papilliorama. It was a good thing to do on a dreary February day.

Here’s my Bea examining a butterfly.

There was a huge snake in a display outside the butterfly greeenhouse. Claire spent the rest of the time freaked out and we had to keep telling her that there weren’t any snakes in this area.

Here we go into the giant spider viewing area. Giant spiders, not a giant room. Actually it was a very dark and confined space. We didn’t linger. I later spent about two and a half seconds in the nocturnal area. I supressed a scream after a bat flew inches from my head. Yipes!

She chooses her outfits these days and she’s worn that blue under skirt for about 35 days in a row (thanks Dave and Kim).

They had a great outdoor play area. It would be nice to go back on a sunny, un-muddy day.

It felt very spring-like on this afternoon. We even saw some snowdrops on our way up to the playground. The winters here just don’t seem to last as long as Michigan/Chicago winters.

This playground has a neat maze – it’s made up of a modular system of posts and wooden panels. You have to go up and over and then down under parts as you go through.

Houses and neighborhoods are on my mind.

Today we drove up into the hills to find some snow. We wanted to do some sledding.

Weeeeeeee!

Then the girls wanted to make a snowman – they were tired of climbing the hill.

I was thinking of my Dad because there were cross-country skiers all over. There was even a place to wax your skis in the nearby parking garage. 

I had to do another post to show a bunch of photos of the girls tackling Brian in the snow. It seems the girls can’t resist jumping on Daddy whenever he lies down. 

Here’s the face Bea makes when she’s about to be hit by a snowball.

Attack!!!