My kids are the "big" kids!

We went to a neighbor's 2-year-old son's birthday party today. It was quite nice and we all had fun. As I'm standing there watching my kids participate in the Kindermusik-like program independently, I realized how "big" my kids have gotten.

I had a deja vu moment when I remembered being at some kid event and looking at another mom with older kids who was just standing there talking to another mom, not chasing after one kid and holding a crying baby as I was doing at that moment. Today, I was that mom that I was jealous of 2 or 3 years ago! My kids were the "big" kids! I was the one standing to the side talking to another mom while most of the other moms were either holding babies and/or dealing with 1- or 2-year-old tantrums. My youngest kid was older than the other moms' oldest kids (does that make sense?). I have to say, it was nice being me today!

I remember those days of babyhood and toddlerhood fondly, but I'm really enjoying Aidan and Lainey being a bit more independent now. I'm sure in a few years I'll desperately miss them needing me as much as they used to (and do now), but for now, in this moment, I'm seeing light at the end of the exhausted-mommy tunnel.

Wine Boats

My fabulous neighbor, Megan, volunteered to watch the kids for us on Sunday so we could check out the Wine Boats. Every year, 5 boats dock in the city and vineyards and wine distributors come to offer tastings and sell cases of wine which they'll deliver right to your house. Jason and I had been looking forward to this since we heard about it this summer We were there for 2 hours and didn't even get through half the vineyards. Let me tell you, it was tough to try all that wine (especially without eating dinner first!). We ordered a case and a half, not bad considering some people I know who bought more than 4! But it was still a rough night and next morning.

Our neighbor upstairs was there selling his wine. He runs a vineyard in Tuscany-must be nice. He only lives here part time, but his $175,000 car is always parked here making all the men of the building drool. Unfortunately, we didn't see him there, but I keep hoping he'll just leave a case by my door. (He did bring me a Tuscan pumpkin, so maybe there's hope for wine next time!)

Next year, I think we'll pace ourselves and try to go over a few days.

Basel Zoo

We explored Basel this weekend. Basel is a city on the border of France and Germany. Supposedly, there's a point where you can stand in all 3 countries at once, but we drove around for an hour looking with no luck. I did however get a big scratch on the car when I had to pull a quick u-turn at the French border. Great.

So, we decided to check out the Basel Zoo. It was a great zoo, lots of cool animals that were pretty close to us, so the kids could see them easily. They had a great time and the weather was perfect.
Our favorite animals, by far, were the monkeys. They had an amazing exhibit of monkeys of all sizes up to gorillas. They were behind glass, but interacted with the people. I love this picture of Lainey with one. It looks like she's right next to him, but there's actually glass separating them, don't worry! This monkey looked at us and made faces and "played" with us for around 10 minutes.

Swiss Doctors

So far, I think I love the Swiss health system. I think I'm going to be irritated with doctors when we move back. The kids and I all had to go to the doctor this week as we've been sick for nearly a month and coughing like maniacs (so bad that Jason even kicked me to the couch one night before an important meeting at work). I called on Monday morning and was able to get Lainey in the same day and appointments for Aidan and me on Tuesday. We walked in to each appointment without a wait. No hoardes of germy kids sicker than my own. I didn't have to fill out loads of paperwork, prove I had referrals, or be screened by nurses before meeting the doctor. The doctors themselves met us in the waiting room!

The pediatrician and my GP were very thorough, asking lots of questions and listening to my comments. They even did tests (breathing capacity and blood) right in their own offices! I didn't have to shlep to a lab or anything! And, best of all, they give you the medication right then and there. No traipsing to a pharmacy with sick kids, waiting for the pharmacist to check your insurance and spend an hour counting out 20 pills. Just "here's what you need and here's how much and when to take it". I didn't even have to deal with waiting to check-out and co-pays, they just send you a bill later which you then send to the insurance company. I was in and out of each appointment, drugs in hand, flu shots had by all in 30 minutes flat!

That in itself made me feel better! I just hope that when I do get the bills, I don't have a heart attack seeing as I have no clue what medical care costs here. (But it is socialized medicine, so it shouldn't be too bad.) Hopefully, the kids and I will be better soon. Jason's lucky he's got to work so much and not be around us sickos!

Out of the Mouth of My Babe

This morning Aidan watched the election results on CNN with us. Jason explained what we were watching and how it was historic because Obama is the first black president. We asked Aidan if he knew who the current president was; he didn't at first but when we said George Bush, he said "oh yeah, I know who he is".

At dinner, out of nowhere, Aidan asked me, "Mom, is George Washingtion on my coins?" I said, "yes, on quarters, why?" He said "Oh no! Then I have to throw away all my coins! They aren't good anymore now that Obama is president."

That kid is always thinking. I'm constantly amazed by the things he thinks about, especially at his age. This one is going to keep us on our toes!

All I need to know about America I learn on Swiss Radio/TV

Europe is OBSESSED with the US election. Completely obsessed. There's more coverage of the election and economy here on TV and radio than I remember at home (at least we don't have the campaign ads, though!). I can hear info in English on BBC, in Swiss-German on the radio, and in German, French and Italian on other TV channels.

It's weird. For example I'll be listening to a Kid Rock song on the radio (the one that mentions Michigan-funny), the song ends and the Swiss-German-speaking DJ comes on to give the news and it's all "blah,blah-Barack Obama-blah,blah-John McCain-blah, blah, blah, General Motors-blah, blah-Fannie Mae-blah, blah, blah" I can't understand the German part, but I clearly hear the American names. When was the last time you can remember hearing about another country's election on American TV or radio?

We Americans live in a bubble (and I like it that way), and what goes on in other places doesn't really affect us that much. But, to other countries, America is NEWS. What happens there affects the whole world. All of Europe is watching this election so closely. They can't stand Bush here and are completely behind Obama. My friend here said she hopes for our sake Obama wins because other wise the US will be a laughing stock to the world for sticking with Bush's party. I'm not particularly fond of either candidate, but that's a pretty meaningful statement from someone from outside of America and I think that is what will happen, at least in Europe.

So, I'll either stay up really late or get up early to see the election results. The reporters will probably be speaking another language, but at least percentages look the same in every language! I'm pretty sure that if Obama wins, there will be celebration rallies all over Europe. Weird.

Halloween

In Switzerland, they do a lot of cooking with pumpkins-soup, bread, ravioli, beer, everything-but it's trickier to find the kind of pumpkins you can carve. We found these at the farm we went to for the pumpkin boat racing. Aidan carved his like a vampire, and Lainey's is a kitty. At Aidan's school we went "trunk or treating"

I had heard that they don't celebrate Halloween in Switzerland, and I guess mostly they don't, unless you're in an ex-pat community. I didn't bring many decorations with me, nor did I bring the kids' pumpkin baskets for trick-or-treating since I didn't think we'd need them. But, as like in so many situations, I was wrong.

At Aidan's school they had a big Halloween party, complete with "trunk or treating". Parents decorated the trunks of their cars and then parked in the parking lot at school and passed out treats to the kids there, instead of the traditional door-to-door in the neighborhoods. (Thanks mom for buying the 3 Musketeers and thanks Denise for bringing them here :) They also had a haunted house and crafts. It was great fun.

The kids finally decided what they'd be minutes before leaving for the school party. (On Thursday at our neighbor's party, Aidan refused to wear a costume, and Lainey wore a leopard cat costume). We lit up our "pumpkin head leaf man" on our patio and did a bit of trick-or-treating at the apartment with the kids here before the party.

As we were driving home, exhausted and filled with sugar, Lainey was chattering away in the back seat. She was deciding what to wear for the next Halloween tomorrow. All week we'd be carving pumpkings, going to parties, trying on costumes so of course she didn't realize that in reality Halloween is just one day. We had to explain to her that today was Halloween, and that now it's over. She didn't quite accept that and said "Daddy, don't give up, another Halloween will be here soon!" Seriously, where does she come up with these things?

So we decided what next year's costumes will be...and next year Mommy and Daddy have to dress up too. I'm just wondering how many times they'll change their minds between now and then.