Flat Stanley

Ethan Reid (whose family were our friends and neighbors in Moraga) sent us a "Flat Stanley" request from Alpine, Utah.  For those who don't know what that is (I didn't exactly know before we got it), it is when a school class sends a blank paper doll to friends all over the world.  The friends dress / decorate the paper doll, take photos with it in their city, and then send it back to the school class.  Nathan and Elise (with some help from Mom) had fun decorating Stanley and writing a letter back to Ethan's class about Switzerland!

Our Little Climber

Meredith loves the stairs!  We had no stairs in our house in Moraga, so we never had to worry about it. Here in Switzerland we have a big flight of stairs going up to the playroom.  Meredith found it and was so proud of her climbing (and sneaking up a few stairs before we caught her).  We now have a gate at the bottom of the stairs so she can't "practice" by herself anymore!

Barcelona for Two!

Yes, it's true!  Dave and I took a 4-day vacation to Barcelona on our own.  We had an amazing time!  Barcelona really is one-of-a-kind!  The architecture is beautiful and the food is incredible!  And it was such a treat to be there over my birthday weekend.

We left on Thursday morning during Sportferien (sport holiday), and flew to Barcelona.  Our friends Meg and Nathan came to stay with the kids again.

We stayed at 1898 Hotel on La Rambla, the main street in Barcelona, near the old town.  We spent the afternoon walking around the old town, eating at a tapas restaurant, and visiting the Boqueria market.  This was definitely the most beautiful market I have ever seen!  You can't believe how nice and fresh the fruit looked (and it tasted good too!).  And there was plenty of fresh fish!  We found a little crepes stand and had a wonderful crepe there as well.

We also visited the cathedral, even going up to the roof for a view of the city. And we walked to the Palau De La Musica, which is a very beautiful old concert hall. Thursday night we ate at a restaurant on La Rambla across from our hotel, that was also amazing.

Friday (my birthday) we walked around the city and saw more of the Gaudi architecture and did a bit of shopping. We walked up Passeig de Gracia where Dave found some European shirts and a good deal on a Spanish leather jacket. We saw Casa Battlo and La Pedrera, two of Gaudi's famous buildings. We made our way to La Sagrada Familia, a massive cathedral where construction began in 1882, and it is still under construction (for another 20 years or so)! It really is amazing.

We ate lunch at a very funky / creative restaurant, where they even served us gold-covered macademia nuts.  In the evening we took the metro to see the Magic Fountain of Montjuic.  It's a huge fountain where they have a synchronized lights, music and water show each evening!  For my birthday that evening, we went to a country music concert...Kevin Costner and his band Modern West at la Palau de la Musica.  Yes, it actually was Kevin Costner!  Who knew he is now touring Europe with a country band!

Saturday we walked down to the ocean where we went up Colom, a monument to Christopher Columbus, and then walked along Rambla de Mar and Port Vell.  The ocean was beautiful, and the weather was great for February.  We stopped at the Desigual shop in Port Vell.  When I asked to try on a skirt they took me to this dressing room - with a wall of windows - and told me (in Spanish) not to worry, that people can't see in from outside!  We took a few pictures with the amazing street performers on La Rambla.  That evening we went to a Spanish guitar concert in a small church not far from our hotel.  It was a guitar duo - very authentic and fun!

We really had a great time, and it was so fun to discover the city of Barcelona together!  Now we want to go back with the whole family...

Our Cute Kids!

We had a photo shoot at home and the kids loved it (except Meredith, who got tired by the time it was her turn!).  What cute kids!

Sportferien Aktivitäten

The kids had a week of school vacation in February called "Sportferien" or "Sports vacation" (also know as ski week).  We didn't go to a ski resort, as they're all very crowded with the schools in Germany, Austria and Switzerland all on holiday, but we did some activities in town.  On Monday I took the kids to Zürich to the famous Franz Carl Weber toy store.  It hsa several levels (4 or 5), with a giant dragon slide going from the main level to the lower level).  The kids loved the slide and kept running upstairs to go on it again.  They even have a restaurant in the store, so we made a day of it!  We did, of course, buy a few toys before we left as well...

It was a week of slides (Rutschbahn), as we went on Tuesday to the bread factory / museum not far from our house. They had an old fashioned slide where you can slide on a flour sack down two stories. Even Meredith and I got into the action! It was really fun - although the sides weren't very high and I thought I may fly off!

Wednesday, Dave took the day off and we went skiing with Elise and Nathan while Meredith and William went to their preschool / childcare.  What a fun ski day.  We went to a little resort only 40 minutes from our house called Atzmännig.  It was so much fun!  Nathan and Elise had both finished their 5 weeks of ski lessons through their school and they are doing really well.  Dave went with Elise and I went with Nathan, and it was great!  Nathan is awesome!  He is so daring, and can go all over the place.  He even goes up the steep tow rope lifts.  That's a big difference between the US and Switzerland - there are far fewer chair lifts here.  There are t-bars and tow ropes all over the place here.  At first I avoided them, because I think they're a lot harder than a chair lift, but now I'm used to them.  And, Nathan has no problem with them.  He had so much fun, going down the piste, looking for little hills where he could go faster (he went toward the signs marked "caution", while I avoided them!).  He is such a happy, pleasant kid!  I'm looking forward to skiing more with him on our upcoming Easter vacation.