Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Halloween 2016!

Boo! Halloween this year was awesome, walking around our neighborhood felt like we were in America. There were so many trick-or-treaters out and the mood was very festive, good job Switzerland!

 We were out of town leading up to Halloween, and I hadn't given much thought to costumes, luckily my mom came through with these gems and shipped them our way just in time. Thanks mom! Kevin and I got lots of great stares and giggles as we walked the neighborhood with our little dogs. 

Our neighbors had a spooky party and the kids had a blast walking the neighborhood all together. It still seems funny to me to have to walk several stories up into an apartment building for one piece of candy, but my city living kids had no problem with it!
Here's a good dog waiting patiently for her friends.

This dog found a fire hydrant! 
Kevin even got festive at work this year!

From our hotdog and hamburger loving family, hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Wednesdays...So Fun ... Alternate Title- That time the Kids Locked Themselves in the Elevator


So in Switzerland, elementary aged students only go to school for a half day on Wednesdays and some of the young ones don't have school at all. After talking to many people about the reasons for this, the best I could come up with was that this is the day that the Cantons have set out for kids to take lessons, or participate in sports activities. Pretty smart! My neighbor told me that when he was a child they went to school on Saturday morning to make up for the lost time on Wednesdays!

During our half days this year I've been trying to set up play dates. Early on, I ran into some minor cultural differences when scheduling these play dates. The conversations would go something like this-
 Me- Hey can  so-and-so  come for a play date on Wednesday after school? (School ends at 11:30)
Them- Yes!  so-and-so  would love that, how about at 5pm?
Me- What? Um, 5pm is a little late for us.
Them- Okay four o'clock then.
Me- Um, um... I'll have to get back to you....

Talk about cultural differences.. Anyway I've finally figured out the solution to my problem, The Lunch Date! Genius, I don't know why it took me a year to figure that out...

Anyway, yesterday we had one such lunch date and all was going well until we decided to take the kids to the park for a run around.

My little apartment dwellers have become increasingly independent lately when it comes to operating our building's lift. Yesterday with their little friend cheering them on they managed to trap themselves in our elevator during the 0.5 seconds that it took me to lock our door.  Talk about a nightmare... Thankfully my friend ran down to ask the concierge to unlock the elevator and the kids were out in less then five minutes. Phew!

I have to say that being trapped in an elevator really brings out people's true personalities. Quinn was super happy and excited during the ordeal (surprisingly), while Anna, after trying to free herself by sticking her fingers through the small crack between the elevator doors, sat down and had a good cry.

Fortunately no one was harmed during ordeal and everyone now understands the new rule of no kids alone in the elevator. Wednesdays, so fun!
*Looks like these two are plotting their next elevator adventure...


Monday, October 3, 2016

Dino Zoo!

I'm all for kids activities, and that's good because that is mostly all we do during this season of life, but a kid's activity that mixes a nice walk in some French woods and ends with a visit to a cheese shop is high on my list.

A few weeks ago we paid a visit to The Dino Zoo. This special place is situated in eastern France where at one point dinosaur bones were excavated. The drive from Lausanne was an easy scenic hour and when we stepped out of the car in the middle of nowhere France the kids were ecstatic to see the giant dinosaurs and the adults were happy for a mellow day in the woods.
Raaawrrr!!!

The Dino Zoo is huge and after deciding on the best possible route, we set out onto the beautiful wooded trails for some dino hunting.

This place is every dinosaur loving kid's dream come true, complete with life sized dinosaurs in their natural habitat and scary sound effects that really take the visitor back to prehistoric times. After reassuring some of the more timid members of the group that the dino sound effects were just pretend and coming from speakers, everyone really enjoyed themselves!
Here's our friend showing Quinn exactly where those loud noises were coming from.

 The day was beautiful and the green woods were just perfect for exploring. 
I love this picture of the giant T-Rex and tiny Anna and Kevin!

The forested area was lovely, it was so nice to  mix our kid friendly dino looking at lifestyle with a  "hike" for the adults. We stopped for a break and Quinn kindly snapped some pictures for the website. 
Not too bad for the budding photographer! 

Throughout the day everyone picked a favorite dinosaur and Kevin was lucky enough to be pictured with his pick. I think he really liked these dinosaurs because of their red "mohawks".
I'm pretty sure he was looking up more information about those dinosaurs on his phone...

The kids loved this giant brontosaurus and had a great time running through its legs and trying to hang from its tail!
We ended our visit by watching a 4D dinosaur movie where we were sprayed with water and blasted by air. Quinn thought it was pretty cool and Anna huddled in Kevin's lap for the duration. Good times.

The highlight of the day for Kevin and I was stopping at a local store for honey and the regional specialty Mont d'Or (cheese) read about it here. It's all sorts of delicious! We baked ours up a few days after we got home and relived all the great memories of our day at the Dino Zoo. 


Thursday, September 22, 2016

Apple Cake


Whenever Kevin leaves for a work trip I like to stock up on all the necessities before he leaves so that I won't have to do any major shopping while he's gone. This leaves me plenty of time to care for the kids who inevitably get sick anytime their favorite parent leaves the country.

This time around Kevin was super helpful and picked up a bunch of necessities for me, while I at the same time in the same store unknowingly picked up the same necessities. We may have had a bit of a breakdown in communication somewhere there..

Anyway, more food is always better in my book, and when we came home with a thousand apples I knew that the kids and I had some baking in our future.

On a rainy Sunday the kids and I washed peeled and sampled all the apples needed for my mom's Jewish Apple Cake.
We mixed, measured, and baked, then both kids got sick and stopped eating for a few days, so naturally I ate all the cake. Sorry pants.


Here's the recipe for Jewish Apple Cake in case anyone else has apples on their mind.

Ingredients:
6 apples peeled and sliced
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup of sugar/cinnamon mix

Directions:

1. Mix flour, sugar, oil, eggs,orange juice, vanilla, and baking powder
2. Grease and flour a tube pan
3. Spread half the batter into the pan
4. Cover with half the sliced apples
5. Top the apples with half the cinnamon/sugar mix
6. Pour the remaining batter on top
7. Top with apples and the rest of the cinnamon/sugar mix

Bake at 350 for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours

Bon appétit!

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

First Weeks of School

 
We're back at it! School is in full swing and we've gotten off to a good start. Of course the first few weeks have had a few bumps but I've been super impressed with Quinn and Anna this year, they are SO resilient. If there is one thing that living abroad has taught all of us, it's to keep pushing through even when things are difficult, uncomfortable, and sometimes scary!
Last year, the start of school was tough, new faces, new ways of doing things, and most of all a new language made for some rocky days in the beginning. This year both kids are at the same school and also have the opportunity to share a classroom, it's awesome! Quinn seems to have settled in quickly, he has the same teachers as last year and most of his classmates have returned as well. I'm not sure if its a personality thing or something having to do with birth order, but Anna seems to be settling in quite well. Although we did have a few exciting days in the beginning...

Every morning the kids are picked by the school van and other than a slight bout of carsickness on the first day, it has been a huge life saver, and they love their bus friends.

The full school day has been a bit of an adjustment for Anna and a few days during the first weeks she fell asleep in class! The teachers are very nice, and set up a little mat for her. The first day she fell asleep the English teacher told me that she hit the sack right at the lunch table!
Fortunately, she seems to have adjusted and for the past two weeks has been staying awake at school.

My favorite time of the day is picking them up. They both have a lot to say on the bus ride home and I always enjoy hearing about what they ate for lunch.

Look at Quinn, he's totally too cool for school here!

Saturday, September 17, 2016

A Day in the Alps


One sunny Sunday last month we woke up early and caught the train to the Jungfrau region in the Bernese Oberland. It was a beautiful sunny day in the Alps and the perfect day for a family "hike".
We began our day in the valley in the little village of Lauterbrunnen where we admired the huge waterfall Staubbach Falls just outside the town before hopping onboard a local train that took us partway up the mountain where we were stunned by the gorgeous views of the Mountains and valley below.We spent the morning hiking around on the paths that connect the tiny mountain hamlets and enjoying the beautiful views.
All the little houses have beautiful gardens that were in their prime on this sunny day, the kids loved meeting the animals and all the beautiful flowers made me wish that I had a yard!


We wandered into a field for a picnic lunch and were surprised to see that we were directly below one of the mountain trams, excellent lunch time entertainment!

By far the highlight of the day was stumbling upon a small town parade. Growing up in a small town myself, I remember my mom always saying the our town parade was the best (and longest) because everyone could march in it no matter what. I'm happy to say that this small town mentality must be worldwide because this was the longest (and best) parade ever. They even invited the cows to join in!

Of course these fancy ladies were leading the way...

Then there were these guys and their giant bells...

And bands...so many bands....

 This guy was a real crowd pleaser, it looks like it was a good harvest this year.
Possibly the best part of the parade were the carts with pots of bubbling hot fondue, where people were dipping potatoes and bread and handing the cheesy Swiss delicacy out to the crowd! WHAT??? Sorry no picture, I was too busy with my snack.

This parade was such a treat to find, it will be one of those memories that will for sure go down in our collective family memory. I'm so happy we saw it!

This was such a such a memorable day trip, the weather was perfect and the fresh mountain air was just what we needed! Here's a few more pictures of our day in the Alps.



Sunday, September 4, 2016

Keepers


For the past week or so, the question of what to make for dinner has been a bit of a problem. I don't know if its the start of school craziness or me not wanting to let summer afternoons by the pool go just yet, but lately when dinnertime rolls around I haven't been very creative. Easy pasta has been on our table more days than I care to count, so last night I decided to change all that and make a real dinner!

Since it was Friday night, I would have really loved to have ordered take-out, but I found a way to curb my craving for the easy way out with a quick and easy pad thai recipe. Everyone loved it, and that's a win in my book!

While we were eating, Kevin did what he always does during a good meal and told me that we HAVE to keep this recipe, it's a keeper he said. As usual, I nodded my head and said yes, total keeper. Then as usual, I completely wiped the memory of the recipe from my consciousness. Almost as if he knew what was happening in my head, Kevin came up with the idea to start putting the "keepers" on the blog. Hopefully this way we can all get a little dinner inspiration when we need it!

Here's the recipe for Pad Thai-

I couldn't find a few of the ingredients so, maybe this isn't exactly pad thai, but it's close enough for us!

Sauce-
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce (you could also use fish sauce here)
1/4 Cup Lime Juice (I used 2 limes)
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

1 Package of Rice Noodles
1 Pound ground pork (we used less)
1 Onion (diced)
1-2 Cloves Garlic (diced)
3 Eggs
2 Carrots (julienned)
1 Red Bell Pepper (julienned)
1 Bunch of Cilantro (chopped)
1 Cup of chopped peanuts
Extra limes for garnish

Directions-
1. Boil noodles until just al dente (a few minutes). Drain and set aside.
2. Mix, soy sauce, lime juice, and brown sugar for the sauce. Set aside.
3. Cook onion and garlic in a large skillet until soft
4. Cook pork with a few spoonfuls of sauce, and set aside.
5. Stir fry carrots, and peppers with a few spoonfuls of sauce. Add eggs to one side of the pan and scramble.
6. Add pork and noodles into the pan with the rest of the sauce and stir fry.
7 Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and peanuts. Add quartered limes for garnish.

Bon Appétit!

Friday, September 2, 2016

Super Anna!

All summer long Anna's favorite game to play is "Super Anna". She made a super hero mask and arm bands and has been known to sport a pink cape, or sometimes just a large cloth napkin to help her fly through the air. But she is always at her super hero best when we're at the swimming pool. She loves to swim and after a few lessons she now has a new found love for jumping in the pool. She'd do it all day if we let her. It's the best expression of pure three year old joy that I've ever seen.

So here's a little video to brighten your weekend, Happy Friday everybody!!



PS- Sorry about the super grainy video... ekkk.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Summer Round Up Part Two: Virginia Beach

After a fantastic few weeks in California, we packed up and headed east to visit Kevin's family in Virginia Beach. We were there for just a week and while it wasn't nearly enough time, we did our best to soak up our last bit of American summer.

It was so nice laying low and hanging out with family. At this age our kids are perfectly content playing with all the toys at Amma and Pop's house, and just soaking in the grandparent love.


Since it's so much easier to learn a new skill in your native language, we wanted to give the kids the opportunity to have a few lessons in English while were were in the States. In California, they took swimming lessons and in Virginia Quinn took tennis. 
Man, America is the best, no wonder we have all those Olympians! You just can't beat American enthusiasm and ingenuity. The tennis coach was so upbeat and positive. Quinn's little face just lit up during every lesson. The coach gave Quinn a butterfly net at the beginning so he could get a feel for the forehand, and our little tennis guy was so happy when he would catch the ball in the net! After the net, swinging the racquet seemed natural. ....Well, sort of, we have some major practice to do before heading to Wimbledon.
Here's Quinn practicing with Amma.
The adults got some tennis time in as well. Just look at these fierce competitors.
No need for climbing lessons..

To help survive the southern heat we made sure to get lots of beach/pool time in, our favorite!
Quinn taking advantage of his new found love for water shooters...

One of our favorite nights in Virginia Beach was when we packed up and headed to the local state park for a campfire picnic dinner. It was so fun! We had all the best parts of camping without actually having to camp! It was such a blast that maybe next time we'll spend the night...

I love these two goofballs! 
Here's Quinn really embracing his new found love for marshmallows!

Pop's made sure to teach the kids how to properly put out a campfire at the end of the night.

We wrapped the week up with another birthday celebration and these kids didn't mind a bit!
Amma made a special birthday cake with a "few" cake toppers that can only be found in America!

We had a really fabulous time in the US and we can't wait to do it again next summer!