Kids | 2 | ə-blog

January 20, 2012November 16, 2013

How Sweet it is

Switzerland is the land of chocolate. Did you know that the average Swiss person consumes over 26 pounds of chocolate every year?! We always have a few bars of wonderful chocolate in the kitchen. I’m on a mission to try every kind of chocolate in the amazing aisle at the grocery store. But this week, we had a chance to go a little deeper into Swiss chocolate culture.

On Wednesday afternoon, when the kids are not in school, I took them to the Kambly factory. Kambly is a Swiss company that is best known for their cookies. At their factory, they have a special program for kids to make a cookie creation. I had registered Emily and James, so when we arrived they received an apron and got to work. I was expecting them to churn out a batch of cookies, but no. They made a work of eatable art, complete with a cookie base, cake ball snowman, chocolate tree, and marzipan decorations. At the end, after over two hours of hard work, they didn’t want to eat it! (You can see their finished creations in our gallery). Fortunately, there were plenty of Kambly cookies laid out to sample, so we all spoiled our supper before returning home.

The next day was my birthday, and I had another treat for my sweet tooth. Recently, I discovered a great blog called “My Kugelhopf” written by an American living in Zurich who loves sweets, chocolate and traveling. It’s perfect for me! She gives a tour called “Sweet Zurich,” so I signed up. Joe’s gift to me was staying home with the kids for the day (he worked late a couple of nights to make up for it). So, I grabbed my book and my camera and hopped on the train.

This tour was deliciously sophisticated, like a chocolate appreciation class. We walked around the beautiful old town neighborhoods of Zurich visiting small, boutique chocolate and pastry shops. We learned about the different tropical regions the cocoa beans come from, the ingredients and process involved with making chocolate, and how different decisions affect the taste and quality of the final product. I tasted a dark chocolate with ginger and orange, a white chocolate with lime, an unconched chocolate with raisins (and learned what “conching” is!), among many other things. At a specialty cupcake shop, they even had a candle in a cupcake for my birthday.

Before I knew it, I was back on the train, but there was one more sweet treat on my list. After reading the blog and meeting the author, I wanted to try a Kugelhopf. I stopped at the store on the way home and picked one out. I opted for the less traditional chocolate kugelhopf (or gougelhof in this area.) At home we had a little celebration with the cake and a few cards and presents. I feel very blessed, and very full. I think I need to eat salads for the next week!

See all the sweet pictures here.

December 30, 2011December 31, 2011

Small Christmas Miracles

James has been having a bit of a difficult Christmas. He’s admitted to being pretty homesick, and I think that the holidays coming on were making him think more of home. More than that, though, James became convinced this year that Santa wasn’t real. And this wasn’t just a fleeting thought. He would argue about it. He would yell at his sister about it. He would get upset when anyone suggested otherwise.

So Sarah and I talked to him. We pulled him aside and said we thought it was fine if he didn’t want to believe in Santa Claus. He told us that he thought we were the ones who brought presents on Christmas. We told him that was true. But we also told him that it was important to his younger brother and older sister that Santa really existed. So we said that, for now, we would not discuss whether Santa existed in front of Emily and Henry, unless they wanted to talk about it too. He was OK with that.

Then we went on our Christmas Vacation in the Alps and a few small things happened. First, while enjoying our presents on Christmas Eve, a small bell rang from the next room, when the kids went in they found a few more presents and evidence that the Christkind had been there.

That night, at dinner, the Weihnachtsmann visited. The kids were suspicious of this man, but he pulled me aside, and asked me if I knew an Emily and James. I told him I did. He handed me two packages and told me that they contained a very special Swiss treat only for boys and girls who were ready to accept them. The Weihnachtsmann had singled out Emily and James.

Finally, when we arrived home in Münsingen, we found our fireplace open. There were bootprints and ashes around our tree. James detected hoof prints in the backyard. Most importantly, there were presents under our well-cared for and watered Christmas tree. There was also a note on the tree that read:

Dear Emily, James, and Henry,

I hope you had a great Christmas in the mountains. I told my friend Christkind to visit you there. But I couldn’t leave out any of my American children around the world, so I brought a few things to your home in Switzerland.

See you next year back in Milwaukee!

Love,
Santa

P.S. I hope you don’t mind – the reindeer were very thirsty from the long trip, so they took a drink from your pond.

James, Emily, and Henry all jumped around the room yelling that they couldn’t believe it! Santa had come to visit them in Switzerland. James told Sarah and I that he couldn’t believe that he was wrong about Santa. Then he told us he couldn’t believe that we were wrong about Santa, too.

We agree. How amazing it can be to believe again.

December 16, 2011November 15, 2013

Holidays with a Swiss twist

It’s hard to believe that Christmas Eve is just one week away! During this past week, we experienced even more Swiss holiday traditions.

Emily had two notable field trips. The first was to the Bern Puppentheater where her class watched the Christmas story – the one with baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph – enacted with puppets. Puppet theaters are very European, as is bringing public school children to a religious show (on a train!). This morning, Emily’s class went ice skating at an indoor rink in the next town where they were given ice skating lessons. They will go ice skating twice more this winter to improve their skills.

On Thursday night, Emily’s school had Wintersauber, which is a social gathering where families come to see the crafts the children have made and hear them sing holiday songs. The singing took place outside where it was cold, dark, and crowded. To warm everyone up, there was mulled cider being served out of a cauldron over an open fire. It was BYOM – Bring Your Own Mug.

James is our little chef; he loves to help out in the kitchen. In his kindergarten, they do a surprising amount of baking. He has made traditional breads, snacks, and cookies. I, on the other hand, am not much of a baker, though I do have some favorite Christmas cookies we make back home. However, it has proven impossible to make the same cookies here as the ingredients aren’t available. So, today the kids and I attempted to make a couple of traditional Swiss Christmas cookies. Cookies are very different here than what we are used to. There are no chocolate chips to be found, no gingerbread, no sugar cookies. Swiss cookies are made with a lot of ground nuts (almonds and hazelnuts) and anise, their favorite flavoring (they even put it in toothpaste!). The most common holiday cookies are cinnamon stars or Zimtsterne. We also made Chräberli. Both recipes require a significant amount of setting time, so we won’t know how they turned out for a couple of days. If you want to give them a try, the recipes are here.

Tomorrow, Joe is giving me a “Mommy’s Day Off,” and I am planning to go to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Bern and see a holiday choral concert at the Cathedral. What a great early Christmas present!

November 13, 2011November 15, 2013

Losing Ourselves in Paris

When Joe and I travel together, his job is always to navigate because he likes knowing where we are and he’s really good at it. Whereas I am happy to follow along blissfully unaware of which direction we are going. So, for my mother-daughter weekend in Paris, something I have been looking forward to for a long time, I turned on my navigation skills, only to be reminded that they are not one of my stong suits. We arrived in Paris at around 7:30pm on Friday night, and I found the Metro (Paris underground) to take us to our hotel. We made the right connections and arrived at the stop that was supposed to be “steps from the hotel.” But I failed to consult the last page of my meticulously printed directions, and simply started walking around looking for the hotel. We actually went right past it and carried our luggage all the way around a very large circular plaza. When we started passing things for the second time, I dug out my pages, reoriented myself and found the hotel about 30 feet from where we had started.

We hadn’t eaten much, so after dropping our things at the hotel, we decided to have a Paris-style dinner. At 8:30pm, which is normally Emily’s bed time, we were sitting in a café eating dinner and having a glass of wine. Café culture in Paris is deeply ingrained. There are cafés on every street, and Parisians go to their local cafés to pick up an espresso and croissant for breakfast, have a late leisurely dinner, or sit and enjoy a relaxing, afternoon drink. We did our best to take part in the café culture and try out French food. We had croissants at our neighborhood café for breakfast, we sampled crêpes at a café on the Île St. Louis, we had a late lunch in a café in the Latin Quarter, and finally a light dinner at a café near the Arc de Triomphe.

In between cafés, we saw a lot of landmarks and snapped a lot of pictures. We started at the cathedral of Notre Dame on the Île de la Cité. We walked much of the main island and the Latin Quarter on the Left bank of the river Seine. We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and braved the crowds to get a few prize shots, though we didn’t wait in the insanely long lines to ride to the top. Instead, we headed to the much shorter line at the Montparnasse Tower for a beautiful view of the city and the glowing Eiffel Tower at twilight. Lastly, we viewed the Arc de Triomphe, after which we got completely lost trying to find our hotel again, which didn’t look that far away on the map. After making at least one wrong turn and ending up in alternately sketchy areas and fancy areas, I finally caved and we took a cab.

That was all in one day! So, on Sunday we took a decidedly slower pace. We spent the morning in the Louvre museum, and again found ourselves completely lost. To my credit, that place is humongous and confusing. Like a labyrinth completely filled with incredible art. Once we abandoned the audio guides we had because we couldn’t find the things they were talking about, we just walked around and enjoyed the majesty of the place. Once, we were turned away at a stairwell, so we went a different direction and ran right into the Venus de Milo! We also came upon several pieces completely by chance that Emily recognized from the Louvre’s website (which has a great set of videos and explanations for children.) If you’re going to get lost, the Louvre is a great place to do it!

After two hours in the Louvre and lunch at a café, we were pretty tired from sensory overload. So, instead of seeing Sacre Coeur in Montmartre (Plan A) or taking a boat ride on the Seine (Plan B), Emily opted for Plan C — head to the right bank of the river and lay in the sun with all the Parisians on a Sunday afternoon. There was a street musician playing accordian on the next bridge and leaves falling from the trees above us. It was a beautiful way to end our weekend in Paris.

We spent my last Euros to ride the carousel in front of the Hôtel de Ville. Then we got on the Metro to our train station, where we got lost one more time trying to find the TGV trains, and then trying to find platform 23 when all the platforms seemed to be labeled with letters! I pannicked for a while, thinking we were going to miss our train, but we are now safely on our way back to Switzerland. Au revoir Paris!

Don’t miss the pictures in our gallery: Weekend in Paris.

November 5, 2011April 8, 2013

Into the Woods

Friday morning, James’s entire kindergarten class walked from their school to the woods for their outing called “Morgen im Wald” or morning in the woods. They do this on a Friday morning every 2 to 4 weeks. They walk about a mile to the woods and then play amongst the trees and have an outdoor snack before walking back to the school just in time to walk home again.

We have also started a new family routine in the evenings. Since the sun is going down earlier and the weather is getting cooler, it is easy to stay inside the house a lot. But, since Henry and I are home most of the day and Emily and James are often home starting at noon, we are all a little stir crazy by late afternoon. So, we instituted a nightly family walk. We actually call it our “puppy walk” because we told the kids it would show that they are able to take on the responsibility of caring for a dog, should we ever decide to get one. But, the first night we went out, everyone had so much fun, we no longer have to convince them. Even Henry has walked the entire thing every night (usually about a mile). It has been a great family bonding time, holding hands, talking about life, and growing to appreciate all the nooks and crannies in our town.

On Friday, the kids and I did our walk a little early since Joe was planning to go out after work with some colleagues. We went to a path that leads into the woods which is normally too dark for us to take. James recognized it immediately as the same path his class took for Morgen im Wald. He excitedly took the lead and we walked through a beautiful, fall-colored woods until we came to a clearing. James showed us the little structures he and his classmates had built, and the area where they ate their snack. We made music by banging on logs and rocks. We played a little hide-and-seek. It was a magical moment, and we decided to call it our “Abend im Wald” or evening in the woods.

We decided to go back yet again today so we could share it with Joe and take our time in the light of day. It feels a bit like a magic forest. When the kids go there, they completely forget about television and toys, and revert to an earlier time, running and playing with sticks. Of course, as I write this, they are watching Spongebob Schwamkopf. Nothing lasts forever.

October 24, 2011April 8, 2013

Team Alps

Sarah had a nice post about our recent trip to the Jungfraujoch, but she has left the bulk of the weekend’s activities to me. You see, we took the train back from the Jungfraujoch to Kleine Scheidegg where we had lunch. There is a 10km hike from Kleine Scheidegg to Lauterbrunnen (at the base of the valley) that was supposed to be very scenic. I had wanted to take one or two of the older kids on the walk, but Sarah felt that she would be a sure lock for the “Best Wife Ever” award if she let me enjoy the hike back in the peace and serenity of being by myself. So she offered me the “once-in-a-lifetime” deal of taking the kids back to our village while I walked back down the mountain. How could I say no?

The vertical distance from Kleine Scheidegg (2061m) to Lauterbrunnen (795m) is around 1.3km covered over a 10km walk. This is about a 13% grade averaged over the length of the walk, but for those of us who are not used to walking down that grade, your quads can begin to burn pretty quick (and that fire usually smolders for a few days).

Regardless, it was a beautiful walk through grassy fields, snow, forest, and meandering streets in mountain villages. The sky was perfectly blue and cloudless all day. It took about 2 hours to get back to Lauterbrunnen, and a short bus ride and cable car later I was back in Gimmelwald.

The next morning we awoke to another beautiful morning with plans to take the kids on another hike. Emily and James told me that they had decided yesterday that they were such good mountain kids, that they had started “Team Alps.” This team currently consisted of them, Mom, and Henry. They were interested in seeing if I wanted to join, but they needed to make sure I was ready to carry on the spirit of the team (whatever that was). I felt ready.

Around 11am we took the kids by cable car up to Mürren, and set out along the Northface Trail. This trail starts with a reasonable climb up paved village roads, but quickly turns to grassy passes, wooded trails, and muddy paths dotted with cow manure. Suffice it to say, the kids loved it. We followed the trail about 2.5km in (and 300m up) where we came upon a small farmhouse on the edge of a cliff that led down to a rushing creek.

Our host, Olle, told us that campfires can be set along the trail anywhere if you want to stop and cook sausages. He further demonstrated this point to us by giving us frozen sausages, matches, and paraffin paper to start a fire. He looked me straight in the eye and said, “Look. Your children will not be impressed that you are a doctor, but what will impress them,” he holds up the matches, “is if you can start a fire.” The smile afterwards sold it.

So here we sat, in a field spotted with cow manure, overlooking a rushing mountain stream, in front of a small Swiss farmhouse, roasting sausages over an open fire. The sky was clear, the sun was warm and inviting, the air was crisp, and the sausages were delicious. Team Alps enjoyed a “moment of Zen,” and then headed back home.

If only my damned quads weren’t still burning from the day before, the walk back (and down) would have been that much better. But hey, I can’t let my team members down.

Not when I’m the newest member of the group.

October 20, 2011

Just Call me “Emily’s Mom”

After the three-week fall break, the kids returned to school on Monday, and Emily began 2nd grade. Yes, it’s only October, but her 1st grade teacher had noticed immediately that Emily was ahead of her fellow classmates. See, in Swiss schools, they don’t do much academics in Kindergarten. So, most kids enter 1st grade at age 7 not knowing much more than the alphabet. Emily would have been in 2nd grade in the U.S. anyway, so when her teacher approached us about moving her up, we were not surprised.

But, having just started in a new school in a new country in a new language a few weeks earlier, I was worried about how she would take it emotionally and socially. She had already made friends in 1st grade. How would the other kids react? Well, I am happy to report that Emily is doing great in her first week in her new class. She has already made more friends and likes her new teacher. She speaks German/Swiss German all day long and loves going back to school (even though she has to walk a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes most days — two round trips!). I know I’m biased, but my 7-year-old daughter [singlepic id=474 w=320 h=240 float=left]blows my mind with how brave, how smart, how independent, and how strong she is. I am incredibly proud of her.

Emily’s reputation has spread throughout our town. I guess they don’t get too many German-speaking American kids at their local school, so a lot of people seem to know who we are. I have been stopped several times when I am out at the grocery store, at choir practice, and most recently at a cafe. They usually hear me speaking English to Henry, and they always ask the same thing (in German, of course): “Are you Emily’s mom?” And I proudly answer “Yes.”

October 12, 2011April 8, 2013

Mountains – the highs and the lows

Fall has finally found us. The day after our arrival in Zinal, Switzerland, the sun came out and melted the snow, at least at our altitude. We have had a few beautiful fall days in the mountains (and one rainy day, too). The mornings and evenings are quite brisk, and since we are in a valley, the sun doesn’t rise over the mountains to the East of us until 10:30am, and it sets behind the mountains to the West at 3:45pm. Between those hours, it is gorgeous, even warm. But, even though it is still light out when the sun is behind the mountains, the temperature drops instantaneously. We have gotten to be very good at Swiss-style dressing – lots of layers.

During the sunny hours, the kids and I hiked down into the valley where a beautiful river flows through the town. We also took a cable car to the top of a nearby mountain for a fabulous view. We found several great playgrounds (I’m still amazed that they build a playground at the top of a mountain!). There have been so many beautiful simple moments with things that both the kids and the adult can enjoy. But it isn’t without effort.

“Hiking” with the kids really means walking slightly farther than they are used to, which isn’t very far. In order to go anywhere in the mountains, you are automatically going either up or down. And getting back to our apartment means climbing up for about a quarter mile, the last part of which is rocky, so the stroller doesn’t work. Getting three kids, including a two-year-old, up the hills (and then up three flights of stairs) is quite a workout! No wonder you don’t see many overweight Swiss people.

When it isn’t sunny out (i.e. the other 7 waking hours), there are still lots of options for the kids. They spent one morning at a supervised children’s program, so I had two hours to myself! We have gone swimming every day, and I have three little water bugs. There is also an indoor playroom for children with lots of toys. All in all, it is a fantastic vacation. The only thing that could make it better is if Joe could be here to share it with us.

Don’t miss the pictures of our mountain adventures in our gallery.

October 5, 2011March 31, 2013

Post from Grandma and Grandpa

My parents visited us for a week at the end of September, and we asked them to share their thoughts. Here is what they said:

They are doing great. Sarah, Joe, Emily, James and Henry have adjusted well to their new life in Switzerland and are enjoying it immensely. In short form, that is our assessment from being there for a recent week. For the longer story, read on.

Emily and James have made friends with, among others, four kids from a good family across the street. After school, they are out playing soccer or hockey, riding their bikes or secretly spying on the neighborhood while hiding in their tree fort. It makes a grandparent’s heart swell with glee to hear them chatting away in German as if it is the normal thing American kids do.

We each walked James to school on different days. Walking along hand in hand, we chatted away and stopped to greet the neighborhood black cat as is the morning ritual. Nothing superstitious about this kid. As all the kids were funneling into the building, he ran off to excitedly tell his friends, in German of course, that his Oma/Opa was with him. James is enjoying his half day kindergarten.

Sarah and Judy with Emily nearby were having a conversation about careers and jobs. Overhearing this, Emily piped in: “Kids have a job too. Our job is to go to school and learn as much as we can so we can grow up and be good adults. Parents’ job is to have a house for us, feed us and buy clothes for us.” Judy asked: “What is the job of a grandparent?” Emily quickly replied: “Your job is to love us and care about us.” Emily is doing very well at school, at home and in the neighborhood. She is also the backup German speaker when Mom and Dad run into problems with the language.

Henry’s German is limited, but he knows “spielplatz” (playground) and “dampfbahn” (a miniature train). He, however, speaks the universal language of an uninhibited, gregarious two year old. On the bus or the train, he sits with a family member and chats away, sometimes being engaged with German speaking riders. Whether young or old, those who have been near him leave with smiles on their faces.

Sarah is a gourmet chef of Swiss food. We tasted much of the traditional Swiss fare and thoroughly enjoyed it. She also orchestrated our travels to the Aare River including a raft trip with everyone but Oma and Henry; a bike ride with Emily and James to a neighboring town with the Jungfrau in the background; a city visit to Bern, and our last night at the oldest restaurant in Europe still standing (1371).

Joe seems more relaxed than he has been in the last several years. He enjoys his work at the hospital, orchestrating travels for the family and, of course, watching and cheering the Packers. Ok, he is not more relaxed about the latter.

All in all, Switzerland is a beautiful country and Sarah and Joe are A-Plus Hosts. We say “Thank You” for a truly memorable visit.

Oma and Opa

October 2, 2011March 31, 2013

Legos and Castles

Once we got to Legoland, the kids were in heaven. We stayed at the Legoland Holiday Village where even our room number was made out of legos. There were things for kids to do everywhere — themed playgrounds in each suite of cabins, a ropes course, and a 4-wheel race track. A short 5-minute walk got us to Legoland, where even more fun awaited. We had lost most of our first day traveling, so we wasted no time getting over there to check it out.

Legoland has several themed areas with rides for kids, play areas, shops, and everything made out of Legos. One of our favorite areas was called miniland, where there were miniaturized European cities and landmarks made completely out of Legos, including Switzerland, the Netherlands, Berlin, Neuschwanstein castle, oh and, oddly, some famous scenes from Star Wars. It was my favorite area, but I was suprised that the kids also thought it was really cool.

We were lucky to have gorgeous weather while we were there, and since it was off-season there were no crowds or lines. So, even though we had limited time, the kids were able to go on every ride they wanted (several times in some cases). Unfortunately, Henry got bowled over by a teenage boy and face-planted into the pavement. But, other than that, the kids all had a blast. They also spent their hard-earned allowance money in the Lego store. And before we knew it, it was time to move on to our next destination.

We took buses and trains from Günzberg to Hohenschwangau, Germany, home of the international tourist attraction – Neuschwanstein castle. Hohenschwangau is incredibly beautiful, but it feels like a different world. We heard almost no German being spoken, mostly English, Chinese and Japanese. There are packed hotels, souvenier stores on every corner, and lots of huge tour buses. There are many South Asian staff at the hotels and restaurants wearing dirndls. Somehow, it doesn’t quite add up.

But, we had a very nice family suite in a hotel with a view of the castle, and our visit was still filled with several memorable experiences. Saturday morning, we took the kids up to Neuschwanstein on a horse-drawn carriage. We toured the castle with a lot of very friendly and patient English-speaking people from America, Australia, and Britain who all thought Henry was adorable and forgave his disruptions. After the tour, we hiked over to the Marienbrücke, a stunning footbridge spanning a mountain waterfall with a beautiful view of the castle. We descended back to town where we ate lunch at an outdoor restaurant on the Alpsee, the blue lake nestled in the mountains. It was idyllic except for the previously mentioned incident at the end of the meal.

The boys were a little castled-out and preferred to stay at the hotel to nap and play with their Legos. So, Emily and I visited the lesser-known

castle of Hohenschwangau. It is smaller than Neuschwanstein, but has more history as the summer and hunting residence of the Wittelsbach Bavarian royal family. We all watched the sunset over the lake and the castles, which was a beautiful way to end our German vacation.

We took so many pictures during this part of the trip. The best ones are in our gallery, which can be seen here.