Another little weekend adventure for Brian and Bea. They went into Zurich and then walked along the river and discovered a great playground. I think these trips will be such sweet memories for both of them – he buys her a treat, throws her up onto his shoulders and off they go to explore Switzerland. When they came back home she had a big grin on her face and her nose and cheeks were rosey from the cold.
Leaving our town to cross Lake Zurich. Heading to a little town called Euthal.
Bea and her first moments on skates. She loved it and she was smiling the whole time. Claire is bundled up in her snow suit and being good. Notice the life ring in the background.
Here’s one of the harmlessly drunk penguins that joined us on our way there. They were celebrating Fasnacht (like our Mardi Gras).
The skating area is a fenced off section of Lake Sihlsee and there are wide smooth paths where they’ve cleared the snow.
We didn’t realize skating with a little one was such a back-breaking job.
Here’s a polar bear that helps little people stand up on the ice. His sign says you can only use him for 15 minutes and then you have to share him.
What a beautiful day we had!
Bea colored some balloons for herself and Jenna today.
I have a new tooth.
Some packaging that pleases me. Going through the grocery store, I see lots of farms, cows, traditional Swiss outfits and Swiss flags on the packages.
We finally got enough snow for Bea to try her new sled – just barely enough. She was cute going down the hill. The sled is a such a different shape from what I had when I was a kid – she sits right up. Hopefully we will get some more snow so we aren’t sledding on grass next tim.
Nothing much going on here but I thought I’d post a few random thoughts and photos.
We get groceries delivered every few weeks. It’s the highlight of the day for Bea. She unpacks the bags and enthusiastically spreads the groceries all over the kitchen and hallway. Brian went a little crazy ordering chocolate bars this time (you can see them lined up). Well I won’t let Bea put those on the floor again – our heated floors turned them to mush by the time I got around to picking them up.
A precious moment – holding my baby fresh from her bath.
We’ve been here for nearly a year so we are now in the position to answer questions about living in Zurich. We had a couple over for dinner – a colleague of Brian’s and his wife who are preparing to move here. They brought me flowers.
We went swimming this afternoon so the girls are good and tired. Brian will return from a trip to London late tonight. I plan to work on my doll clothes sewing project until he gets home. I’m making dolly clothes for Bea’s birthday and I’m encouraged because just in the last couple days she has been playing with her dolls. She dresses them in the few clothes that they came with or she’ll put one of her shirts or Claire’s pajamas on them. I can’t wait to give her a whole new wardrobe for her dolls.
The snow is falling and I’m hoping there is enough for sledding by morning. And that’s about it – nothing much happening here. Pleasantly uneventful. Hope you are having a good day.
It has been very warm and spring-like here in Zurich. I even saw some snowdrops yesterday. This can’t be normal. We took advantage today and went for our first all-together bike ride. Two girls lounging and sleeping and snacking in the trailer. And two parents huffing and puffing up the hills. Actually I was the one struggling up the hills. Brian rode right up the hills – easy peasy – even with the trailer attached to his bike. I thought the weight of the bike trailer might make us more even out on the road, but no, he still has me beat. I guess I need some practice.
It’s funny – Brian is used to seeing these vistas. He is always telling me what I’m missing. Even though these views are very close to our home I just never get up there because it’s up up up and I don’t have a car. I always think the view out my kitchen window is so lovely so I don’t feel like I’m missing out, but today I saw more than I can see from my kitchen – It’s so beautiful. I hope we can do lots more biking like today’s trip this summer.
She usually giggles and squirms much more than this – but this is the best I could get on camera.
Cat:
Cat staircase to the second story:
Laowai 