Vacation in Italy!

My Mom came to visit for a few weeks and while she was here we spent some time in Italy, and boy was it an experience. We took the train to Milan and stayed right in the middle of the city which I highly recommend when traveling with kids. We spent a day at Expo Milano which is an World Exposition focusing on food and preserving resources. Each country has a pavilion where they showcase their resources and culture, and they were amazing! We walked through most of the pavilions fairly quickly, but could have spend days just at the Expo.

Anna and Quinn checking out the Swiss Pavilion.

The kids had a great time, and were serious troopers, we walked ten miles that day, and nobody had naps. The massive amounts of gelato they consumed must have helped. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

After our day at the Expo we checked out the cool Navigli District which is a neighborhood built around Milan's three remaining canals. I had no idea that Milan was a canal city, Venice and Amsterdam are always strutting their canals around, but in it's day Milan's canals were kind of a big deal. They're a little trashy and filled with boat bars and restaurants these days, but are still pretty cool.

 Unfortunately we visited on a bank holiday so most of the shops were closed, but we did grab some espresso and goodies at a very eclectic bar/coffee shop where a certain young lady may or may not have put on quite a show….of the tantrum variety of course.. Fun times.

We headed over to the Duomo and looked out over the city from the top of the cathedral. The view was stunning, but man did I have the death grip on our two little monkeys, and Kevin was practically a saint for lugging our stroller up ALL the stairs to the roof. After we climbed down, we walked around inside the church and the art and relics are really breath taking. Just thinking about all the history inside a place like that is mind boggling. We happily spent some time wandering around in awe.

Kevin headed back to Lausanne on Sunday morning, and my mom, and I headed up to the lake district to take the kids to a little town on Lake Maggiore for some R&R. We were a little nervous about getting the kids, our stroller and suitcase on and off the train but it worked out just fine (as it usually does).

See, no elevator, no problem!

We arrived at our hotel and were astounded by the beauty of the lake and surrounding mountains. The weather was perfect and my mom and I were excited for some mellow days.

For most of our stay we parked ourselves either at the pool or at the lakeside park, and the kids were HAPPY to be in their element!

Trucks forever. 

This pool was perfect for kids, Quinn could stand in it and Anna was happy to splash around.

Ice cream Anna having the time of her life!

We were sad to leave Lake Maggiore but have plans to take Kevin back soon. It was great to spend some time with my mom and hopefully she'll come visit us again after we dragged her to three countries in two weeks!

Is There a Doctor in the House?

After several weeks of calling around to various pediatricians in the city I finally found one! My mom and I took the kids to their first visit last week, and it sure was an experience to remember. The appointment lasted 2.5 hours and was the most thorough examination that I have ever seen. EVER!!

The appointment began with the doctor taking a full DETAILED health history for each child, then giving them a full examination that included the usual ears, nose, throat check. She was so detailed that she even saw and asked me about the tiniest spot where Quinn had bitten his tongue earlier in the day.. 

Yup, there it is doctor, he bit his tongue.

This ear machine was so cool. It made a small vibration in his ear and then showed a graph that related to his hearing.

The "physical fitness" test that followed was amazing, the doctor had them walk on their toes, then their heels, hop, jump, crawl…I was exhausted just watching! 

Swiss Doctor explaining the next physical challenge… Pay attention Quinn.

Here is a video of the doctor testing Quinn's hand/eye coordination, we may have to work on that…

The "French skills" portion of the exam was by far the most hilarious. The doctor showed Quinn pictures and asked him different questions about each one. He impressed us all by naming the colors in French (thanks Madame Brenda!). 

Then she pulled out a card with ten indians on it and asked him to repeat their names after her. These indians apparently were French and had the longest, craziest names my mom and I had ever heard! To Quinn's credit he did fairly well mimicking the French sounds, but it was hard.

At the end of the appointment lucky Quinn was given a vision and hearing screen that lasted the better part of an hour…poor nurse. He was a bit tired and couldn't be bothered to raise his hand when he heard the beep in his ears. Or maybe he really can't hear me when I'm asking him to clean up his toys…Hmmmm, it's a mommy mystery.

Anna was not subjected to the vision and hearing tests, we get to look forward to those in a few years for her. She LOVED the whole thing and I'm hoping that means we have a future doctor on our hands!

To go to school in Switzerland all children need a letter of health from their doctor saying that they are up to date with their vaccinations and in good enough health to go to attend school. Fortunately both kids passed, and are cleared for a Swiss education. Yay!

After it was all said and done we love our new doctor and feel very comfortable in her thorough Swiss hands!

Around here lately...

Kevin here.  Here's a few quick updates on what we've been up to lately around here.

Thanks to Rome, there are ornate public water fountains all over Switzerland.  The water is drinkable in nearly all of them.  If it's not, there will be a sign clearly calling it out as "Eau non-potable".  I love it b/c, as most of you know, I'm a huge water drinker.  These fountains help you avoid paying for a bottle of water when out and about and it helps avoid that empty bottle being dumped in some landfill.  And it helps when you head out on a bike ride and forget to fill your bottles before leaving.  A couple weeks ago, I was out on a ride on an extremely hot summer day (have we mentioned how hot it's been here this summer!?) and realized that I had forgotten to fill my water bottles.  No problem.  I just pulled off into the next town I saw--Lutry,found their public fountain, filled up my bottles, and hopped back on my bike!  Here's a pic of the fountain:

Swiss National Day (the day that Switzerland was founded back in 1291) is on August 1st and all cities have huge fireworks displays.  We were lucky enough to be invited on our friend's boat out on Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) where we were able to see the fireworks right above us.  Each city along the lake lights off an impressive fireworks display from either their shore or a barge.  We were able to see the fireworks right above us and the displays from a few towns along the lake on either side of us. In the pics below you can see some of the other fireworks displays in the distance.

We live about 1 km from work (trying to get used to the metric system!) and I love walking to work everyday.  Here are a few pics from my walk.

And as I've been walking around the town (we don't yet own a car), I've been noticing all of the city's electrical boxes have been painted very creatively. I'm guessing it wasn't the city's doing but you never know--in this city there is so much art hidden among public parks and spaces.  Either way, they're fun to see around town.

On the work front, things are going well.  Everything is new though--new staff (only 3 of us came over from the US office), new offices, new software system, etc--so it's been a bit stressful.  I am really enjoying the challenge and the opportunity though.  The office is outfitted to hold 30-40 people, but as of now there are only 9 of us and we are truly a melting pot of a group.  There are 3 Americans, 2 Brazilians, 2 Swiss Germans, 1 Belgian, and 1 French national.  It's extremely common to hear 2-3 conversations going on at once all in different languages.  People hop in and out of Spanish, French, German, English, and Portuguese and often blend them all together in one sentence!  It's a fun experience for me.  Here is a picture of a few of us "cupping" some recently purchased coffee.

We finally received our sea shipment of furniture and other goods from the US a few weeks ago.  The stuff was delivered by a large truck pulling a large trailer.  In an act of sheer driving expertise, the driver parallel parked the trucks on our single lane road outside of our apartment.  The kids loved watching the action!

And finally, the next two pictures are true examples of our day to day life here in Switzerland--we're either at a train station heading out on an adventure or at a park overlooking the beautiful views!

Anna is Two!

On Sunday we ended our summer birthday marathon and phew, we had a good birthday year! We rounded out our three weeks of glutinous cake eating with Anna and my special day. After breakfast we opened presents and played, played, played with all the toys. She loved all her presents and Quinn was especially helpful with the present unwrapping!

They had a great time having tea and Anna would like you to notice her beautiful fingernails, care of our Hungarian babysitter!


Back to birthdays, this year we got Anna a scooter and she loves it! It's so crazy, everyone around here seems to have one, kids, adults, dogs, well maybe not dogs but I do see lots of businessmen in suits scootering to work. Here we are giving it a little spin.

We had lunch at a hamburger place, because it had been way too long since I've had a burger. After dinner we dove into this lovely grocery store carrot cake. We also picked up matches this week, so Anna didn't have to pretend blow out her candles like Quinn did.

 Don't worry about him though, he made a wish and blew out Anna's candle for her. Here's a picture of round two. I think the birthday girl got her wish!

I totally ran out of birthday steam and failed to make a cake for Anna and I. We had big dreams of picking up cupcakes but alas, everything in the entire country of Switzerland is closed the day before our birthdays (Swiss National Day).  Luckily Kevin picked up this little beauty after biking ALL over town. I believe it may have been the last cake in the entire country.. Phew, what a guy!

All in all, the day was great, Kevin even surprised me with french macarons while the kids were napping!!

We are so lucky to have Anna in our life, her feisty spirit makes her a perfect addition to our family!

Visit to a Castle

Saturday was rainy so we decided that it was the perfect occasion to take the train to the nearby Château de Chillon. We woke up and headed out early so that we could be there when the castle opened and we were not disappointed!

This castle is built on an island at the edge of Lac Léman and dates back to the 12th century! You guys, this place is old! We spend the morning taking the kids on a self guided tour of the place. It's so amazing to me that they just let people walk around anywhere they want, there weren't any roped off areas, you could jump out a window if you wanted to… although I wouldn't suggest it.  I even climbed the tiny, rickety, steep stairs all the way up to the highest point of the building, it was so cool! I guess the Swiss mentality is that people are responsible for their own risk. Let me tell you, being responsible for our little monkeys in that place was a full time job!

Anyway, back to our visit… Throughout the centuries this castle was occupied by various groups, Savoys, Bernese, Vaudois. But, it is most famous for a poem written about one of it's prisoners by Lord Byron after he visited the castle and was intrigued by its stories. I guess he was so intrigued that he decided to leave his own mark on one of the dungeon's pillars!

Of all the many rooms and courtyards our kids were most interested in the Lords bedroom and "bathroom" facilities. In the bathroom the hole in the "throne" was situated high above the lake. I laugh every time I think of Quinn's face when he realized what he was looking at!

While Quinn was a fan of the facilities, Anna settled right in and warmed up by one of the many gigantic fireplaces.

The castle was warm when we visited, but can you imagine spending a Swiss winter in this place?? Brrrrrrrrrr!

At lunch Kevin and I took turns exploring a bit on our own, while the kids did laps and played in one of the courtyards.

Here's what I found at the top of the castle's keep…

And here are the kids amusing themselves with Annie's favorite game.

These days there are less knights and prisoners and more tours and functions, we even saw a wedding party getting a guided tour! It was such a memorable day for us, and our kids were troopers without the stroller for the day. We'll be back Château de Chillon, we've got more exploring to do!


PS- Sorry about the grainy iPhone pictures…I was too chicken to bring the nice camera out in the rain sans stroller…now I regret not bringing it! Oh well, c'est la vie!