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!

Summer Round Up: Part One California

With the easy days of summer drawing to a close I figured it was about time to look back at our summer adventures here on the blog.

We had friends visit us in June and the kids and I hitched a ride back to California with them while Kevin stayed in Switzerland for a few more weeks.

Twenty five hours door to door and the kids were awesome on the flights. Phew! Once we got to California the kids were in heaven, with cousins to play with and tons to do. We celebrated my parent's 50 years of marriage with a big family reunion complete with a Fuller Family Olympics. Here are a few pictures to highlight some of the events.
We started it off with the 100ish meter run...

After, we moved on to the donut on a string eating contest.

Anna really went for it!

 

We washed off with some rules optional apple bobbing.

There was an event for everyone, we even had a show to showcase all our talents. Here is my Dad playing the violin!

We had such a blast being together. The house was packed full of cousins and siblings so there was some major cooking and eating happening everyday. 

 Of course, with William around, there was plenty of pasta!

We celebrated Kevin and the kid's birthday with a piñata and cupcakes, but for some reason I can't find I picture of it. oops!
The kids took swimming lessons and greatly improved their ability in the pool. They also had a great time making pottery and hanging out with cousins.

It was a fun filled trip to California and we can't wait to go back next summer!

One Year In

Hey everyone! We've been here for just over a year and all in all we really love it, we have made so many friends and have learned so much. There have been a ton of life changing highs and an equal amount of family/personal growth opportunities. We made a quick list of our feelings about Switzerland one year in....

Love
1. Centrally located.... traveling is so easy!
2. Chocolate, Cheese, Wine, enough said.
3. Parks, Annie says it best... "Park today, all day long!"
4. Public Transportation, so clean, so efficient, I may never drive again!
5. So many interesting people from all over the world.

Hate
1. Smoking, SO MUCH SMOKING! I keep wondering why no one here got the memo about cigarettes.
2. It's hard to do stuff in french...paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!
3. So expensive...sigh.


Love/Hate
1. Slow Sundays...Nothing's open!!
2. Apartment living. We are getting a bit better about not stomping... sorry neighbors.
3. No Car.
4. Hills and strollers... not a match made in heaven.
5. French.

*PS- The above photo was our attempt to get a family picture on Swiss National Day.... I think it sums up all our personalities very well.