Category: Kids

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Field Trips

Our last week in Switzerland has been filled with both work and play. Lots of packing, cleaning and organizing has meant a chaotic house, and not many toys available to play with. (Even fewer than usual). So, the kids and I went on several “field trips” to get out of the house and cool down, as it has been a beautiful and warm week.

First, we went to Spiez, a beautiful town on Lake Thun only about 20 minutes away from Münsingen by train. We have past it many times heading toward the mountains, but we have never gotten off the train. So my plan was very simple: go to Spiez, get off the train and see what we can see. We just walked toward the waterfront and explored along the way. The kids found a fun playground with a beautiful view and a rotating seesaw that Emily and James loved. While they spun and laughed, Henry picked me a bouquet of wild flowers. We had a picnic lunch, found another bigger playground by the water, splashed in the lake, and visited the local castle. Sometimes having no plan turns out to be a great plan.

On Wednesday, we visited the city of Bern for the last time and did something I’ve wanted to do with the kids all year… splash in the spraying fountain outside the Bundeshaus. I was so glad this worked out in our last week here! With the way Swiss weather is, there aren’t a lot of days when it’s warm enough to be running through a giant outdoor sprinkler. Plus, there is a market on the Bundesplatz several days a week, which covers the fountain. But we finally had our chance!

We spent one afternoon at the community pool complex in Münsingen and one afternoon splashing in the Aare river. Then, for our final outing, we invited the kids from across the street to Bern Aqua, a waterpark at a mall on the west side of the city. I bravely took 7 kids to the waterpark by train, and they all had a wonderful time with their friends.

We were also invited to a few friends’ houses for coffees, dinners, and farewells. And somewhere in there we managed to pack up our suitcases, sell our bikes, ship most of our stuff back to America, and get the house ready for its next occupant.

It was a wonderful last week in Switzerland. It is hard to believe that the time has come to say the last good bye.

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Big weekend!

After the big hospital party we hosted on Friday night, we had another party of a very different kind on Saturday. It was James’s 7th birthday. The day started off a little slow, as James wasn’t eating his breakfast because one of his teeth was really bothering him. It was very loose, but he was scared to pull it out. The whole family gave him suggestions, and in the end we all laughed and hollered and did anything we could to distract him while Joe pulled it out. Woo hoo! What a way to start your birthday.

In the afternoon, we had a few of his friends over for a Lego-themed birthday party. After having done Emily’s party back in April, I was ready with Lego projects, activities and treats. The Lego candies Grams sent all the way from America were extra special! We did Lego stamping, played Lego toss and Lego Bingo, ate Lego cake, and much more. After a while, the Swiss kids started commenting on how everything was “Lego.” I don’t think they are used to such pervasive themes at their birthday parties. But, it worked anyway, and everyone had a good time.

The next morning, we woke up, packed up our backpack, got everyone ready and caught the train to Lucerne. This city is the center of Swiss tourism, and yet we spent 11 months in Switzerland without going there. We also needed to see Isabel one last time, and so we decided to meet up with her in Lucerne. Perfect! Upon arrival, we walked around the old town which hugs the Reuss River and features Lucerne’s famous covered bridges. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the river before catching a boat to our primary destination.

The Verkehrshaus is a very well-known museum in Switzerland all about transportation. It is huge, containing a whole building filled with real, historic train cars and engines, another building dedicated to automobiles, one for air and space travel (including two real airplanes in the center courtyard), and one building for boats, cable cars, and other mountain transport. There are lots of hands-on exhibits for the kids to explore and play with as they learn about force, buoyancy, wind resistance, etc… We saw two of the buildings (trains and boats/cable cars) and spent a lot of time in the outdoor area where there is a hands-on construction site, harnessed trampolines, a parcours for scooters and bikes, and exhibits about racing cars and motorcycles. It was a fantastic place, and I would certainly go back to see the rest. But, after 3.5 hours, we were exhausted and the clouds had blown in, so we caught a boat just as it started to rain.

As we crossed the water toward the train station, a rainbow appeared behind us. It was a great way to say our goodbyes to Isabel and to end a very big weekend.

More pictures from the weekend are in our gallery.

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The Beginning of the End

In just 7 more weeks, we will be back in America. It’s a little hard to comprehend what then next couple of months will be like for us. The work of moving our family back across the ocean has already started. We’re working with moving companies, we’ve bought our plane tickets and started completing paperwork. And in terms of our life here, it feels like we’ve entered a sort of “lame duck” period. There is no point in trying to establish anything here anymore. We want to get as much out of these last weeks as possible (especially since the weather is finally nice!). But every conversation we have with people here involves talking about how soon we are leaving.

On Wednesday evening, Emily’s class did a play at her school. They performed “The Valiant Little Tailor” (“Das tapfere Schneiderlein“) by the Brothers Grimm. Emily got to play Princess #2, and she did a great job. After the show, there was a little pot luck reception where all the families could mingle. We talked with some other families, and they always started the conversation by asking, “So, when are you leaving?” We answered questions about where we live in America and whether we are looking forward to going back. It is a conversation I have had a lot recently. But this time it ended with our first goodbyes. We probably won’t see the parents of Emily’s classmates again, so they wished us a nice summer and a safe trip back home.

It was very nice of them, but also a little strange. After all this time trying to integrate and and fit in, we were definitely the strangers again. I get the feeling the next seven weeks are going to be a long series of good byes. Going back home should be comforting, except that so much has changed I get the feeling we may be strangers there as well, at least to a certain extent.

I’m not sure Henry even remembers America. We have all changed and grown, though it is a lot easier to see it in the kids. I found a couple of pictures of Emily that really illustrate how much can change in one year. The first was taken at a farm in Germany last July, and the second was taken at our local farm just a few weeks ago:

emily-bunny-11       emily-bunny-12

 

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Salzburg

Since Sarah and Emily got to take a trip to Paris France, just the two girls, James and I decided to take a trip as well, just the two boys. Henry, being less than 3-years-old when we left, is considered gender neutral by the Geneva Conventions and is therefore ineligible for any “all girls” or “all boys” events. Fortunately, he turned 3 on June 3rd, so this is all a moot point.

Anyway, James and I set our sights on Salzburg, the City of Music, birthplace to Mozart, and the namesake of the Salzach River. Salzburg is a stone’s throw from Munich, nestled between Innsbruck and Vienna, and within view of the Austrian Alps. It sustained a reasonable amount of damage during WWII, but, like many European cities, has retained or restored its altstadt (old town), around which it flourishes with modern architecture and pedestrian-friendly layouts.

James and I boarded a train from Bern on Friday afternoon, and by 8pm we were at our hotel in Salzburg. We stayed at a charming hotel in the altstadt right off of the Mozartplatz. Get used to seeing that name everywhere as Salzburg loves its native son. Nearly every cafe, platz, strasse, steg, and saal has a name associated with the famous composer. Even though Mozart gladly moved from Salzburg to Vienna, to get out from under the thumb of the Bishop of Salzburg, the town still holds tightly to his legacy.

We arrived a little bit late in the evening, but James and I were hungry so we took the bus to the Augustiner Bräustübl (beer hall), just on the outskirts of town. Augustiner is a kloster (monastery) that supports its religious mission with a vibrant brewery (not uncommon in Germanic lands). James was very excited to visit the beerhall. We went up to the shelves in front and both grabbed ceramic mugs. James filled his with water, and I filled mine with Augustiner’s flagship Märzen beer. We sat in the beerhall, two Schwab men, quaffed from our mugs and ate sausage. When it was too late for James to keep his eyes open any longer, we headed back to the hotel.

On Saturday, James and I woke to a delicious breakfast, and headed to the Museum der Moderne where there was an exhibit for kids about Monsters. We looked at the pictures, dressed up, went into a scary room, and looked at different artist renditions of monsters for an hour or so. Then we made our way from the museum, via Salzburg’s catacombs, to the Funicular that goes up to Salzburg’s fortress.

High above the cliff over Salzburg the fortress is now a museum and restaurant. We saw images from Salzburg’s Marionettetheater as well as lots of relics from the origins of the fortress all the way up to munitions from WWI. James loved seeing all of sights, but eventually we got tired and headed back down to the old town for lunch.

In the afternoon we headed to Mozart’s birthhouse where we walked around with approximately 1,576 asian tourists. Fortunately James’ hair has gotten dark enough that these tourists were not stopping us for pictures. After the Mozarthaus we went to dinner in the eastern part of the old town while bands played for a festival being thrown by the University of Salzburg.

In the evening, James and I boarded a bus to the outskirts of Salzburg in a town called Anif. Anif houses Schloss Hellbrunn, and the Salzburg Zoo. We took the tour of the “night zoo” where we saw brown bears, wolves, snow leopards, and flamingos eat before their bedtime. We also saw lots of frogs, turtles, red pandas, alpacas, tapirs, capuchin monkeys, capybaras, parrots, and so much more. The Salzburg zoo is reportedly the oldest zoo in the world, but, as James learned, does not house the oldest animals. It is a beautiful zoo with cliffs as the backdrop, and Alpine foothills across the other side. You can see why the Salzburg royalty would build their palace right next door.

Sunday James and I awoke later, ate breakfast, and made our way to the train station to head back to Switzerland. James got a few small commemorative items, and we got some famous Mozartkugeln for the rest of the family. It was nice to spend some time with my son, getting to spoil him a little bit on one hand, but getting to see him grow a little bit on the other.

See the gallery of our trip.

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Churning up Memories

The kids have another school vacation — something about “Whitsun,” an ancient holiday revolving around Pentecost that I’m pretty sure no one except Switzerland acknowledges anymore. So, last Thursday we went to Basel again to visit Isabel, our former host daughter, and her family. We visited them back in October for Basel’s Fall festival. And they invited us again for a nice weekend in Basel, including a day trip to Alsace, France just across the border.

We arrived on Thursday, and Isabel’s parents showed us around Basel’s old town. We ate lunch on the Rhine river, took a tethered ferry boat across, and went into the Rathaus or city hall. Then, they took us to a local festival in their suburb of Basel where we had a couple of beers, heard a local band perform and the kids got to ride ponies. After a nice dinner back at their place, they took us to our B&B to rest up for the big excursion the next day.

Isabel’s dad had planned a lovely drive through the wine region of Alsace, France, stopping in a few towns for picnics and sightseeing. He picked us up in the morning, and the nine of us split up into two cars. Joe and Henry rode with Isabel and her boyfriend, Marco, in his nice BMW, while Emily, James and I rode with Isabel’s parents. They drove us along the small, windy roads in rural France, which was beautiful, but much more motion than we are used to. Remember, we have been riding trains on nice, straight tracks and haven’t been in a car for any extended period of time for 9 months. So, about 30 minutes into the ride, I was feeling a little car sick. Meanwhile in the other car, Henry wasn’t feeling so good either and he kept telling Joe he wanted his mommy. Joe was trying to console him when Henry said, “But I just want mommy!” and then puked all over the back of the car.

Isabel called her dad to tell him what happened, and we turned around and drove back about a mile where we found them on the side of the road. Joe had stripped Henry of his puke-filled clothes, so he was running around in his underwear. Poor Marco was trying to wipe the vomit off of his seats. After much discussion, it was decided that we would go a little further up the road to the next town where I could buy Henry some new clothes.

With one less seat, I had to sit in the back seat with all three kids and Joe sat in the front with Isabel’s mom. No more Schwabs in the BMW! I had a plastic bag for Henry in case of a repeat. After just a little while back on the road, the kids and I were feeling nauseous again. I looked at Joe, who had his head back and his eyes closed. I asked him how he was doing and he said “fine” but it sounded more like “leave me alone.” We rolled the windows down, but a few minutes later, James said, “Mom, I need the bag!” I handed it over to him and he immediately threw up into it.

Emily was sitting right next to him, watching (and smelling) the whole thing, and then she said, “Ooooh, I’m next! It’s my turn!” So I stretched the top of the bag toward Emily, and both kids hung their heads in and puked their guts out.

Joe lifted his head and declared “Okay, that’s it. We’re done.”

Both cars pulled over. There was more cleaning and stripping. With a little fresh air we felt much better. It was almost lunch time and we were a little scared to get back in the cars, so we decided to have our picnic right there. Isabel’s dad was concerned that the spot wasn’t scenic enough, but we assured him it was fine. After the picnic, we took the highway back to Basel hoping the straighter roads would be better, and we made it without further incident.

Having completely ruined the trip to Alsace, we spent a relaxing afternoon at Isabel’s parents’, and then went to a nice park in Basel for dinner. On Saturday, we were on our own. We made a family visit to the Basel Zoo before catching the train back home. This was probably the last time we will see Isabel’s family, and it was certainly memorable!

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At the fair

On Wednesday afternoon, I took the kids to the BEA, which seems to be the equivalent to the State Fair for the canton of Bern. Now, since the entire country of Switzerland is smaller than most states, this was really more like a county fair. In the past 8 months, we’ve been to the largest fair in Europe (Oktoberfest), a local fair in Germany (Barthelmarkt), a large festival in Switzerland (Herbstmesse in Basel), and so we had to cap it off with our own local festival.

There were some similarities between all the festivals. I swear they all rent the same rides from the same company. Our kids even recognize them and know which ones they like. Emily likes the one we’ve dubbed the “whirl and puke,” which no one will ride with her anymore after our experience in Basel. But, now that she is 8 years old, she can ride it on her own. There were fewer rides at the BEA, but the ferris wheel is always a favorite that we can all do together.

The food is also similar, especially the sweets. I am a softie when it comes to cotton candy, probably because I loved it when I was a kid (okay, so I still do), and my parents never let me get it. So, we bought three huge cotton candies, which my kids devoured with a little help from their mom. The festivals all have more traditional sweets like magenbrot, as well as other food like wurst. I have to admit, I still like the German food best.

The BEA had something the other festivals didn’t… animals. It really felt like a county fair, with local farmers showing off their livestock. We saw horses, sheep, goats, pigs, Bernese mountain dogs, and even birds and rabbits. There were no cows, which I found surprising in a country with such a “cow culture.” However, at this time of year, Swiss cows are all going out to pasture after a long, cooped-up winter. We saw lots of them on the way to the fair, so I guess that’s good enough.

The fair was a lot of fun, but also pretty exhausting. So, when we missed our train home by about 45 seconds, watching it pull out of the station as we were running to the platform, I nearly lost it. You would think after all this time, I would be better at getting to the station on time. But, alas, sitting in train stations is part of every excursion we have. So, the kids and I just made ourselves comfortable for the 30-minute wait, 15-minute train ride on a packed rush-hour train, and 5-minute bike ride – all with 3 balloons in tow!

A few more pictures at the fair.

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Birthday Bunny

My little girl turned 8 years old last week. Wow! Joe and I watched our video footage of her birth in 2004… our first child. Now she is a strong young girl who speaks 2 languages, bosses her two brothers around, reads chapter books, and does division. When did that happen!?

As we mentioned, she spent her actual birthday in Sorrento, Italy. But the real celebration was on Saturday when her friends from school came to our house for a 2 1/2 hour long party.

Now, let me just say that my history with birthday parties is mixed, at best. There was the time I planned a swimsuit/water-play party in July, and then it turned out to be 60 degrees. There was the time I spent several hours building an obstacle course as the primary party activity, which took the kids only 5 minutes to conquer and demolish. And there have been several times when I have burned through all my party activities only to look at the clock and find at least half the party time still remaining. Over the years I have done a lot of improvising, and learned that it’s really just better to hire professionals. Some of my prior successes include a rented bouncy castle and an expert face-painting artist.

But in Switzerland, birthday parties are “simple.” There is no birthday party industry like there is in America, no destinations, no bouncy castles. You can buy balloons, candles, and “Happy Birthday” garlands at the store, and that is about it. So, I was on my own. Plus, none of Emily’s friends speak any English. I knew the only way to pull this off was to be really well prepared.

Thank goodness for the internet! Emily had decided on a “bunny” theme, and I quickly found several blogs by moms who are way better at this than me. I picked bunny crafts, decorations, food, and activities. Two days before the party, I hit the stores (at least the ones I can reach on my bike) and came home mostly empty handed, failing to find most of the things I needed. Back in America I would know where to go to find tagboard and puff balls.

And I’m proud to report that the party was a smashing success! The girls had a lot of fun with the crafts and activities. By some stroke of luck, we had a few hours of blue sky during the party, so we were able to go  But here, I don’t know where to find those things, and even if I did, I probably couldn’t getthere on my bike. This is where my improvisation skills came in handy, using what we had in the house to make what we needed. And this year, Emily was old enough and interested enough to help with the preparations. She and I spent most of Friday afternoon sitting at the table cutting, glueing and tying.

outside for a hoppin’ gunny sack race, to make beanbag bunnies out of socks and rice, and to teach the girls the Bunny Hop dance, which they performed for their parents at the end of the party.

I knew we had done it when I looked at the clock and there was only 15 minutes left, and we still had one activity to do. We played Bunny Bingo (with the letters “HASEN” at the top – German for “rabbits”) using Swiss M&M candies for markers until all the parents arrived. The girls all had fun, and Emily only had to translate for me a handful of times.

Given the challenges of living, making friends and communicating here, throwing this party was a huge accomplishment. After her friends had all left, Emily ran over to me with a glowing smile, wrapped her arms around me and thanked me for such a great party. Her smile alone was worth it all!

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Newest member of Team Alps

Another beautiful weekend in the Alps. What can I say? We left on Friday afternoon for Hasliberg, where we stayed in a 400-year-old guest house in the mountain town of Reuti. We ate out at the restaurant next door twice, a rare treat!

Our primary objective for the weekend was to ski. The season is rapidly coming to an end. Snow is long gone in the lowlands of Switzerland, but the mountains are still open for business. Emily and James have come so far in just a couple of months! We wanted to squeeze in every opportunity we can.

As you may know, Emily and James have become such good mountain kids that we call ourselves “Team Alps.” We use it especially when we are in difficult situations. For example, this weekend when I led Emily and James down the wrong ski piste at the end of our final day. We ended up on a long, flat, slushy run that went to the wrong town. We had to take off our skis and walk part of it, and face the possibility of missing our bus back home. But, as always, we gathered our strength and said, “Come on, Team Alps, we can do this!” And we did!

Henry, on the other hand, has really just glided through our trips to the mountains. He usually gets pulled on a sled, carried on someone’s shoulders, or just stays back for a nap while the rest of us take turns hiking and skiing. But he has started noticing that he is the only one in the family who doesn’t get skis, and he insisted he wanted to ski with the rest of us. I was skeptical, to say the least. The one other time we put him on skis was a disaster. But Joe agreed to be in charge of Henry, so we rented him the smallest skis in the rental shop and headed to the slopes.

I have to admit, Henry really stepped up to the plate! Granted, we mostly kept him on extremely small bunny hills, which abound in this area known for the best ski school for kids in Switzerland. Joe or I had to be right with him the whole time, but by the end we could let go and let him glide on his own for 20-30 feet. And he loved it! He also had his 2-year-old moments, as one would expect. But, he walked around in clunky ski boots for two days, didn’t get a nap all weekend, and got a sun burned face. It’s official — Henry has earned his place on Team Alps.

His accomplishment completely wiped him out, and he passed out on the train on the way home. It’s okay, Henry, you earned it!

You can see a video of Henry skiing on our video page.

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Caught in the Middle

[singlepic id=289 w=320 h=240 float=right]What is it about March? Maybe its the nicer weather, more physical activity, or just the passage of time. It was last year at about this time that James turned a corner in his kindergarten class. Things we had been working on for months just started clicking for him. And it’s happening again.

James is in the difficult position of being our middle child, a role he plays extremely well. He is both an older brother and a younger brother, and he has mastered the delicate balance of tormenting his siblings while simultaneously endearing himself to them. He loves playing video games and computer [singlepic id=421 w=320 h=240 float=left]games, and while that hasn’t changed, he has discovered a number of new interests in the past months. He loves cooking and baking, skiing, riding his two-wheel bike, and generally enjoying nature. Just yesterday, James and Emily spent an hour running around our yard spotting all the little flowers and new plants that are sprouting up through the dirt – and they LOVED it!

James also loves to read, a remarkable feat for a 6-year-old boy in kindergarten who has never been formally taught to read in English. His abilities are attributable to one thing: Calvin & Hobbes. James has found a soulmate in Calvin. He is unfocused, mischievous, [singlepic id=903 w=320 h=240 float=right]and a pain in the butt. But he is also funny, imaginative, curious, adventurous, and occasionally sensitive. The other night when I walked into James’ room before going to bed, I found him clutching his stuffed tiger named Hobbes (yes, that’s the truth) in one hand, and his laser gun made out of tinker toys in the other hand. They protect him from any monsters that might be lurking under the bed.

Tonight, James’ kindergarten class put on a play called “Es Klopft bei Wanja in der Nacht.” And guess who got to play Wanja! For the past two weeks he has been talking about it as they practiced at school. We all came to support him, and it was great to see our middle child finally get to take center stage. He was so excited, he kept waving at us when he was supposed to be sleeping in his bed. Of course, the whole production was in German. I’m not sure acting is in his future, but we couldn’t have been more proud. (You can see the show on our video page.)

Oh, and James finally has his first legitimately loose tooth – at age 6 1/2! He’s been waiting for this for at least a year as his sister lost a whole mouthful of teeth. He should be getting his first visit to the tooth fairy in the next week or so. He probably could have wiggled it [singlepic id=373 w=320 h=240 float=right]loose already, but he insisted that “Wanja” had all of his teeth. Now that’s dedication!

Either way, James has always had a killer smile that could make me melt. I’m going to miss it. But it’s all part of growing up.

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Henry Benry

Henry turned two the month before we left for Europe. We have always wondered whether he will remember any of this experience. While the rest of us are immersing ourselves in the language, having cultural experiences, and learning new things, Henry is pretty much oblivious. He has been to Oktoberfest in Munich, skied in the Swiss Alps, and so much more! And yet, here is a conversation I had with him the other day:

Henry loves Legoland“Henry, where do we live?”

“America!”

“Well… where do we live right now?”

“Um, Minnesota?”

“No.”

“At home.”

“Yes, but where is our home?”

(Blank stare)

“Is it in Switzerland?”

“Oh yeah! Switzerland!”

Hmmmm. So, not only will Henry not remember his year in Switzerland, he doesn’t even really understand it as it is happening. However, he has had a big year in his own two-year-old sort of way. He went from a pretty limited vocabulary, to speaking in complete sentences, repeating and incorporating everything he has heard and making us all laugh. “Hey dad, you wanna hear something? It’s super cool and funny!”

This week, Henry finally got out of his pack-n-play that he has been sleeping in for the past 6 months. We figured it was time since he could no longer lay down in it without his head being wedged in the corner. Not that he was complaining. He usually slept all curled up like a snail with his butt up in the air. But, he immediately took to his “big boy bed,” and when we checked on him the first night, he was sprawled out on his back with his legs stretched out and his arms above his head. I was so happy for him!

The second morning in his new bed I went in to get him up, but his bed was empty. The covers were bunched up on the floor, so I lifted them up expecting to see him there. But he wasn’t. I listened, and I could hear breathing. So I bent down and looked under the bed, and there he was, sleeping peacefully. And this was at 8:30am. I don’t know what we did to deserve this, but he is an awesome sleeper!

This morning was Henry’s second time at Spielgruppe. It translates as “play group,” but it is a sort of short-term, in-house day care for 2 – 4 year olds. Henry gets to go to Ursula’s apartment for 2 hours every Friday morning. Last week didn’t go so well. Of course, all the other children speak Swiss German. The teacher speaks a few words of English for Henry. But, all of a sudden he was completely on his own in unfamiliar surroundings and couldn’t understand what people were saying. I imagine he felt a lot like the rest of us felt 6 months ago, and the way a two-year-old deals with that feeling is by crying for his mommy.

But, with a little help, he did really well this week. When I picked him up at the end of Spielgruppe, he said, “Mommy, I didn’t cry!” And who knows, at his age he might still be able to absorb some of the language from this exposure. He is a fast learner.

[singlepic id=705 w=320 h=240 float=right]In fact, since our earlier conversation, he now likes to ask, “Hey dad, where do we live?” That is our cue to say, “I don’t know, Henry. Where do we live?” He gets a big smile on his face and says, “Switzerland!”

There is just one more big project for Henry this year: potty training.

We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.