We visited a new town today called Solothurn. It’s full of Baroque architecture. We just walked around (at a toddler’s pace most of the time) and enjoyed the sunshine. They were having their market when we arrived – lots of good looking produce, flowers and cheeese – all in the shadow of the cathedral.
There were piles and piles of branches for forcing.
Claire was 10 months old and we were looking forward to a visit from Grandma J., Jennifer and Jenna.
Well almost nothing to report. It’s been pretty uneventful around here lately. I’ve felt good this week because I can sense a bit of spring in the air and because Bea has been making some great progress at school. Yeah!
When we eat raspberries we can pretend it’s summer.
She likes to do a couple naked laps around the house right after her bath.
This is the mattress inside the bassinette that Brian, Bea and Claire slept in. My friend borrowed it for her baby and she has just returned it today. I had to pause and look at the funny little illustrations on the mattress and I tried to remember my babies when they were tiny. Time to pack it away – I’m afraid it will be a long time before another baby sleeps in there.
It seems odd and I don’t exactly know what to make of it, but just in the last few days I can see a bunch of signs that Bea is maturing. She is participating more at school and she has more smiles when I meet her outside the school. She seems more in control of her emotions. And she seems to be enjoying her sister – laughing, helping and playing with her instead of just competing with her for my attention. I don’t know what has brought these changes so I find myself gazing at her with a big question mark above my head.
Claire E. explored a box.
I’ve wanted to make a quilt for Claire since she was born and I’ve finally started it. It’s inspired by the Swiss flag. Perfect for our girl who was born in Switzerland. I wish the girls would just let me work on it all day uninterupted. Sigh.
My Bea is five. Five sounds mighty big.
We started her birthday bright and early with her room full of balloons. I guess it’s become a tradition. Then we had birthday pancakes. A trip to an aquarium to see some penguins and finally cake and presents. I was a bit sad because she had a fever and didn’t even feel like eating her cake. She managed to open her presents – of course. And she enjoyed her cake the next day (Aunt Judy’s peanut butter cake – yum).
Here are some highlights from our Montreux vacation. I had a hard time narrowing our photos down because they remind me how lovely it was there.
We went to the Callier Chocolate museum and at the end they had a room where you could stuff yourself silly with as much chocolate as you wanted!
Here we are excited to be on a train.
We toured a really interesting castle.
My favorite part was just walking – enjoying the sunshine and the beautiful scenery.
For the girls they were most excited to go back to the hotel. They just wanted to look at themselves repeated in the elevator mirrors, jump on the fluffy beds and test all the light switches in the room. Bea exclaimed Look – I got a little shampoo bottle! in the most aw-struck tone when she spotted the toilettries on her cot.
Laowai 