Do you see the swimsuits that the little boys in the picture are wearing? That's what grown men here wear as well. Not a complaint. Just an observation.

This was a new swimming class for Ally that Grace dressed out to support. The pool has a moveable floor and unfortunately Ally was too small to participate. The instructors couldn't raise the floor enough for Ally to stand and also make the class challenging for the other kids. She's still too small. Her size  however has no impact on how much she enjoys swimming. And she took full advantage of having half the pool to herself.

A Knight's Tale

Last month, Rob made a stick horse with Grace's help as part of a parent/child craft morning in school. The horse will be used in an upcoming school play her class is putting on at the end of the month. The children have also made individual castle facades out of large cardboard boxes to be used as props. As if that wasn't enough to get them really excited about the production, a knight visited them in class last week! A knight and his enormous jousting stick. It's easy to see why she loves going to school!

Tomorrow and Tuesday, she will be in a different classroom making bread and learning about sustainable living. On Thursday the kids are taking a field trip to a nature center and will take a boat and a bus (all public not private transportation) to get back to their school. The day after this outing, they will be visited by a Griefensee ranger who will talk about her career choice and what she does as a ranger.

Ally is in "school" too but she's currently obsessed with painting and learning German. Just the other day, she asked Grace to tell her how to say "can we go to the playground please?" in German. Grace obliged with --konnen wir zum spielplatz gehen bitte. Ally then asks me to tell her how to say "Dankeschön" in German.  Huh? She may only be three but clearly she knows I am not the one who will teach her German.

A Scandinavian Summer

We are visiting two Scandinavian countries this summer. Can you guess where we are going?

  

Migros Twisty (Tops) Mania

Our local grocery store, Migros, has promotions from time to time but I think the latest, Twisty Mania, is one of their best. For every 20 CHF spent you get one Twisty and for 60 CHF you get one of the prized Jokers. There are 48 regular tops and 4 jokers to be collected, traded, and purchased if you are really desperate to finish off the collection once the promotion has ended.

We have also enjoyed collecting the Animanca stones and Mountain Mania stickers. Some promotions are more educational than just the pure fun of spinning tops. Mountain Mania taught kids about the beauty of our planet and at the same time raised awareness and money for the conservation of vital resources. Over 430,000 scrap books were sold and instead of tops, stickers were handed out every time you shopped at Migros. The WWF collected and will distribute 500,000 francs toward protecting the Alps in Switzerland. 

Tortilla Soup

Switzerland has so much to offer but good authentic Mexican food here remains elusive. So when faced with a craving for something like tortilla soup, we head down to the (there's probably only one) Mexican grocery store to pick up the ingredients we need to make it ourselves. I shouldn't say we because Rob does all the cooking. Without a recipe. Because he's awesome!

I spent this weekend in bed with a terrible cough and cold and my better half surprised me with my favorite meal of tortilla soup. It didn't take away my cold but it did make me forget how much I miss good Mexican food. And reminded me of what a wonderful husband I have.

Rukka

In addition to bicycles and maybe nordic walking sticks when they are older, there is one essential item all children in Switzerland own. A pair of Rukka rain overalls. Children as young as 3 participate in preschools that use the woods as their classroom year-round and it's rare if rain or snow stop an already planned outdoor activity from taking place. That's where these (waterproof) overalls come in. They protect clothing from the wet elements and allow for the kids to be outdoors.

We will import these if we ever move back to the States.

New Bikes

Walking to the Greifensee

Rob took the girls on a long walk from our place to the Greifensee (Lake Greifen). Our apartment overlooks the Greifensee. The lake is also surround by conservation land so it's protected and absolutely stunning any time of the year. There's also a biking and skating trail that circles the lake and we are working on biking as much around it as we can with the girls. Hence the trip to Germany last weekend for new bicycles.

On this particular trip, Rob and the girls hiked down to the lake, walked around to the other side, took a ferry back across the lake, and a short bus ride up the hill to our apartment.

Mother's Day

Homemade cards / Handpicked flowers / Sleeping in / Great breakfast / Time to relax / Dinner at a Korean restaurant / Walking in the woods / Lots of hugs & kisses / Time with my favorite people in the whole world!

Beautiful places close to home

Thanks tumblr.

Lego People Rule -- No. 1

You may have collected too many Lego people when the "people" you have start to look like family members.

Barbary Apes Love Popcorn

While searching for family friendly activities on May Day, we discovered Affenberg Salem in Germany. The highlight of this park is being able to hand feed the Barbary Macaques, also known as Barbary Apes, a specially prepared popcorn that is distributed for free to all visitors. There's a nice pond to walk around and storks and other birds to observe. There is also a nice playground, with a restaurant/cafe. It's an easy day trip that was more than worth the 90-minute drive.

The girls were wild for the monkeys, and it was thrilling to be able to get this close to them. After hearing some important announcements regarding safety --- such as no popcorn in bags or pockets, stand 1m back, etc. --- folks are allowed to enter the sanctuary. Once inside there's a wide trail that is lined with a log fence. The Macaques sit perched along the fence and wait for people, usually children, to give them handfuls of popcorn. It took Ally a few minutes to learn how to properly feed the monkeys with her palm up and hand straightened but once she got it down, she was great at standing still and waiting for a monkey to pick the popcorn out of her hand. The girls absolutely loved it.