Snow in October!

Yesterday, it snowed a bit. Just big, fat flakes that melted pretty soon after hitting the ground.

This morning we woke up to at least 6 inches! I couldn't believe it. This is a cruel joke. When we moved here, we were told it rarely snows in Zurich, "nothing like what you're used to in Michigan". Well that's true, I'm not used to 6 inches of snow in October in Michigan. Frankly, it really ticked me off.

Then I talked to my Australian friend who was so excited by it. I had to hang up. I couldn't talk to someone who was happy about snow in October. She and our other friend didn't take their kids to school today because of the snow. Now, being from Michigan, I didn't even consider not going out. However, there are laws about needing snow tires here, and we don't have ours yet (that's tomorrow). If I had gotten into an accident I would've been in heaps of trouble, but seriously who thinks to deal with snow tires before Halloween?

We made it to school and around town without too much trouble. The crews had cleared the roads well by noon. I'm just hoping we don't get anymore between now and tomorrow night. How are the kids supposed to trunk or treat with a foot of snow in the parking lot????

Not so excited anymore...

Remember how excited I was to find the frozen bag of chicken breasts? Well, I went to cook some and when I opened the bag, I found out they weren't boneless/skinless breasts, they are big legs with skin and bones. Grr! The dumb bag is opaque and I can't read German enough to get past "poulet" (which yes is really French, but it's what the Swiss German call it). Oh well. I guess I'm making soup and we're having a lot of BIG chicken legs with our BW's sauce during the next football game.

I Love Sparty!

GO GREEN! GO WHITE!!! Welcome to the D'Antonio era! 'Nuff said! I'm going to bed!

(At one point during the game I yelled loud enough to wake up my sleeping kids, I'm so glad this game is over. Now I can calm down.)

Great read!

I just finished the book The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve. It is such a good book! If you're looking for a book you can't put down, go get this one!!!

Kindergarten Homework

Aidan brought home his class "pet", Wembly, today. He had to do stuff with him and then write about it in a journal and take pictures. He was very serious about it. Wembly went outside to play with him, helped him paint, and told Aidan that Delainey was bothering him by pulling his ears. We worked hard on the journal. He did most of the writing, which is a struggle for him, and cut out the pictures I printed. He had to write more and have more pictures than the kids who went before him. He always wants to do better than the others in his class, which I guess is good as long as he doesn't get too competitive. It was nice to see him put forth the effort.

It's interesting for me being on the other side of the school "fence". I'm used to giving homework and being the teacher. I've got a new perspective now. I see now how sometimes homework can be a pain to deal with. I can also see how cool it is to see your own kid get excited about something at school. I had the chance to help in his class today. I baked an apple pie with some kids and read to the class. It sort of made me miss my own classroom, but it was also nice not having to worry about disciplining the kids or setting up/cleaning up and only being there for 1 1/2 hours!

Once a joiner, always a joiner...

I have always had trouble saying "no" to people who ask me to help out on a school committee or join a group, or a book club, or do a project, or watch their kids, or, or, or... So it shouldn't surprise me that I'm constantly busy here already! I've volunteered or signed up for so many things that I'm having to cancel some due to double bookings. Have I mentioned that I don't even have a job to go to here??? This is all "fun" stuff, though.

Tomorrow, for example, I have a meeting about the Halloween Party at Aidan's school at the same time that the Scrapbooking Club I joined through his school is supposed to meet at the same time that the new class at the gym I joined and told a friend I try with her is. Hmmm...so I think I'll go to the party planning meeting, then to scrapping for a while, and skip the class at the gym but go workout after I drop Delainey off at Gymboree, but before I go back to Aidan's school to bake an apple pie with the kids and read a book to his class. Whew! I think I can fit it all in!

Then I have to remember that next week is book fair set up, planning meeting for the Holiday Market, German lessons, pre-sale of Halloween party tickets, a class parent meeting, Gymboree, pumpkin carving in Aidan's class, the neighborhood Halloween party, Lainey's ballet class, and the Halloween party at Aidan's school.

Why do I always do this to myself?? Probably because I hate being bored!

Thank God my friend Megan volunteered to watch the kids for us next Saturday when the wine boats come in to Zurich! I think I'll be needing a night to relax with some vino!!

I'm excited!

I'm so excited! Here's why...

I just booked a cheap flight to London with my friend Megan for the end of February! No kids, no husbands, just us and SHOPPING! It's a ways off, but still something to look forward to. Hopefully, my favorite cousin will be able to find us a hotel room for a great deal (Erin rocks!).

I just found (finally) those big bags of frozen chicken breasts at a grocery store here (I know, lame thing to be excited about).

We got our Auslander cards yesterday! Now we are officially allowed to live in Switzerland for up to 3 years and we can get cell phones finally.

Just a few things that made my day today!

Facebook

OK, I did it. I succumbed. I now have a Facebook page. So many of my friends keep sending me invites, that I finally decided to check it out. I'm not sure if I felt old because I didn't have one and use it, or if I thought it was dumb to have one when mostly it's younger people on it. But, fortunately when I did explore a bit, I found a lot of 30-somethings (and older!) on it. I feel better about it, even if my husband did tell me I was acting like I was 16. At least it's not myspace!

I didn't do much with it, and don't anticipate doing much. This blog keeps me busy enough! But, considering I didn't think I'd blog much...who knows!

More Daytrips!

Here are a few more pictures of day trips... This is a funicular train. It goes up a steep grade from the lake part of Zurich to the University. Of course Aidan had to ride it, so we paid 1 franc and rode up and back on Tuesday.
Later that same day we went to a park on the edge of the lake, but on the other side from where we live. We played in the leaves and collected some. I love this picture of Aidan, but sorry, I can't turn it around!!!
The kids' favorite part of this day was our visit to the Lindt & Sprungli Chocolate Factory Outlet store. Can you say "sugar buzz"?!?
Lainey was at Gymboree today, so I took Aidan out for a special Mommy/Son day. We went to Kindercity, which is comparable to the Ann Arbor Hands On Museum. Of course, I got convinced to buy a yearly membership, so we'll be back with Lainey. Plus, they have these cool workshops for kids 3 and up where they learn how to make chocolate or bread and bunch of other classes which are included with the membership. Even better, we'll get in to the premiere of Madagascar 2 at the movie theatre there!
Last Saturday, we decided to drive to Konstanz, Germany-just over the border. We've heard the shopping prices are much better there. Things are cheaper, but not that much!

We had a good time walking around the city. That is until Lainey starting coughing uncontrollably and we decided to race home to get the inhaler!
On Sunday (Lainey's birthday) we took her out to lunch then went to Uetliberg, the "rooftop of Zurich". The kids brought their scooters and rode through Rail City to the train that took us up the mountain.
At the top there was a great playground and a nice hotel/restaurant with a great view. Uetliberg is known for all the hiking trails, but we weren't in the mood for long hikes that day. We'll attempt that another time!
View of Zurich from Uetliberg. We live somewhere on the other side of the lake just above where the highest part of the tree is pointing.

Ravensburger Spieleland

Since we couldn't go on vacation this week (Aidan's off school, but Jason has to work), I've been trying to do day trips in the area. Yesterday we went to a theme park in Germany run by the Ravensburger Puzzle Company. It's a great place for young kids. Think Camp Snoopy at Cedar Point, but more stuff to do and no grown up rides. It was a great day to go, 70 degrees, sunny and hardly anyone was there!This fire truck ride wore me out! I had to turn a crank to make the fire engine roll down, then turn another crank so Aidan could squirt the water to put out a "fire", then roll us back. This is when it would have been nice to have Daddy with us!
Clownin' around

Mommy got more exercise on the paddle boats.
Ravensburger is famous for their puzzles, so of course they had giant puzzles to put together, which the kids loved.

We spent a lot of time at the Grune Oase (Green Oasis) where they had lots of farm activities. The kids loved these pedal tractors and animals. They rode ponies and we went on a tractor ride and even milked a pretend cow.

"You're So Sharpei!"

Aidan loves High School Musical, just like every other kid under 10. We own both 1 and 2 and he's seen them a few times each.

Today, as he was telling me how he was going to buy himself a desk and computer to keep his map collection when we get back to Michigan (which is a story in and of itself!), Lainey said "I want a computer too, a pink one!" Lainey wants everything pink.

Aidan looks at her with disdain and says "You're so Sharpei, Delainey. Sharpei even has a pink car. Do you want mom to have a pink car, too? You want everything pink."

Lainey replied, "I like purple too."

I burst out laughing. What else could I do? My kids are nothing if not characters. God help me when they are teenagers.

Go State!

I can't believe how great MSU's football team is doing this season! And we're not there to see it first hand. Just our luck-the team's best season in years and we can't go to a game. At least we've got our SlingBox so we can watch the games on TV!

We're wearing our MSU shirts with pride around here, even though no one knows American football here (let along American college football!). I so want to be wearing these shirts at home right now, among all those U-M groupies! (Talk about a bummer, U-M losing to a MAC team at the Big House for the first time ever! Watching that was as good as seeing the Spartans win!)

I hope the Spartans can keep it up. There are still some big games to go, and I never trust U-M, not even this year. At least we're bowl eligible now. Hopefully, while we're home at Christmas, we can make a detour to Florida and catch a game there!

Go Green! Go White!

Nein, Danke!

Jason takes German lessons one hour a week. I take German 3 hours a week. Aidan has German 3 times a week at school. Lainey doesn't take any German classes, even Gymboree is all English.

Oddly enough, she is the one that is using the language without thinking! She now says "nein" instead of "no"-all the time! At her birthday party after opening every present she said "danke" instead of "thank you".

I think she's listening more than I am at my lessons! Just wait until next year when she starts at the bilingual pre-school...

Playing Hookie

I let Aidan skip school yesterday to meet our friends Kelly, Benjie and Cassie and their kids at Rhine Falls (Europe's answer to Niagra Falls). Cassie lives in Germany and Kelly and Benjie were visiting her. They didn't quite make it to Rhine Falls, though, since they didn't bring their passports and the Swiss thought they looked suspicious, I guess!

So, the kids and I went to the Falls anyway. They are MUCH smaller than Niagra, but still beautiful. We took a boat ride into the falls and went to the look out point. "Doing" the falls took all of 45 minutes.

Then we went and met the rest of the group in Germany, because luckily I did toss our passports in my purse before we left home. We went to a castle (I don't remember the name), but we didn't actually go in it. The walk up a super-steep mountain to the castle just about did me in and the others were already done with the castle, so we just let the 7 kids run around and play in the forest area.

Aidan is so into hiking and nature right now. I didn't feel too bad about him playing hookie since every Tuesday they do "WaldKinder" at school where they have classes in the forest. So he just had an extra WaldKinder class with his friends.

(Thanks for coming to visit, Kelly and Benjie! Keep the visitors coming-hint, hint!!!!)

Delainey's Birthday Party

All ready to party!
Lainey with Scarlet and Ellen and their mom from upstairs
She loves the attention!
Presents!
Aidan, Scarlet, William, Clara, James, Teddy, Lily, Lucy, Ellen, Lainey, Lea

When we were planning our move here, I was really feeling sad for Delainey. I figured that she'd miss out on having a birthday party since we were leaving all our friends and family behind. I think I really thought that for the next 3 years, it would always just be the four of us for celebrations. I didn't that we'd make friends quickly. Luckily, I was very wrong!

I just put the kids to bed after a 2 1/2 hour Disney Princess birthday bash with 14 kids. 14. Yep. 1-4. Ranging in age from 6 months to almost 13 years! I invited all the kids that live in our apartment complex, because they all play together so nicely. I couldn't leave anyone out, no matter their age. In fact, the 2 oldest girls (Ellen-almost 13 and Clara-11) asked me to move the party from it's original date of Friday to today because they were leaving for vacation right after school on Friday. They told me they really wanted to come, and they even asked their moms to postpone their trips until Saturday! Seriously? A 5th grader and 7th grader wanting to come to a 3 year old's birthday party? So, I switched the dates.

Most of the kids (and one cross-dressing mom!) came in Princess or knight costumes. They all played together, no matter what age or gender, and did crafts and ate a dinner of fairy wands (breadsticks and pizza sauce for dipping), princess parfaits (granola, fruit, yogurt), tea sandwiches, and tea in little tea cups.

I don't think Delainey walked anywhere at the party, Ellen was always carrying her! Ellen and Lainey adore each other. All I hear from Lainey is "Where are the big girls? When will the big girls be home?" Luckily, according to Ellen's mom, the feeling is mutual.

Lainey and I made cupcakes for dessert (Betty Crocker is a big hit around here where boxes of cake mix cost 9 francs!) and the kids sang "Happy Birthday" to her in 3 languages-English, German, and Swedish. It was so cool.

I'm sure she really felt like a princess today.

Alpabfarht

So, one may wonder "What is an Alpabfarht?" and "do you pronounce fahrt, like fart?"

First of all, yes it's pronounced like that. It's a very common word in German, too, which makes us English speakers giggle a lot.

Anyway, an Alpabfahrt is basically a cow parade. Each summer the dairy cows go up into the Alps for an all you can eat grass buffet and to make tons of milk for the farmers to turn into cheese. Every fall, the cows come home. Literally. It's too cold for them to stay in the mountains so they parade down the mountain roads dressed to the nines. They wear huge cow bells and headdresses made of flowers and greenery. The shepherds and farmers wear the traditional outfits from many years ago. It's like a scene from "Heidi".

So, Alp refers to the Alps, and abfarht means to go down (or exit). Much like an ausfahrt is an exit off the highway.

So apart from the funny name, the event was pretty cool. Except for the weather. It rained ALL day and was COLD, but I wanted to see the cows!!! (I really like Swiss cows. I think I may be obsessed. They are so beautiful on the mountainsides and I have to roll down my window to hear the bells everytime I pass them.) So we drove 1 1/2 hours in the rain, then walked straight up the mountain in the rain, then tasted a bunch of freshly made (some stinky!)cheeses in the rain, then watched the cows walk by us so closely we could pet them in the rain.

And the highlight of the event is that both cameras, the digital and video, had dead batteries. Duh. With all my planning and desire to go no matter what the weather, it didn't even occur to me to check the batteries. UGH!

You'll all have to wait until next year to see what I'm talking about. Hopefully, I'll remember to charge the batteries then.