Moving - Stage 3

We have quite a bit of catching up to do, so here we go :). 

Our 3rd stage of moving was to move into a furnished flat offered by the ETH in Zurich. We were thrilled to be moving to Zurich and even though we had planned on vacationing elsewhere for Christmas, we decided to stay because we were having so much fun in Zurich. We really used this month to focus on spending time with our immediate family and our friends in Zurich since we couldn't be with our family and friends in the US. Andy also used this time to prep for teaching and I used to it to shop online for items for our new home (thanks Mom Hoogeveen, Mom Huisman, and Ashley for letting me send things to you!). This month-long housing was just what we needed to end our time in Switzerland because it allowed us to try to tie up loose ends with our belongings and housing issues in Egg, send our international shipment early, live close to the ETH so we got back ~9 hrs per week with Andy (yay!), and to experience Zurich since we really never got to do that on a regular basis. Here's a brief snapshot of how we spent our last month in Zurich:

Enjoying walks around Zurich:

Look at all that snow!

Sometimes Andy had to carry Carsten. Thanks Andy!

Riding the 'railroad train', which was the steep cable car train next to our grocery store that Carsten LOVED to ride. He still asks to go ride the railroad train and is sad when we tell him it's in Switzerland.

Railroad train going up!

At the top of the railroad train.

We renewed our 1 year zoo membership for our remaining month, and I'm happy to report that we went enough times to make it worth it :). We may have even gone before church on a couple of occasions because church didn't start until 11:30 am.

The tigers seemed to love the snow!

Carsten also gained a new interested in reading books (he goes through phases), so we all spent a lot of time reading 'the airplane book' which meant 1 of 2 books that we had. I should also mention at this point that the 2nd half of the month was characterized by little sleep for all of us. Carsten would typically wake up around 5 am and had difficulty sleeping through the night and for naps because he found out he could bounce while sitting up in his soft-sided travel crib. We are still dealing with the ramifications of those habits now, but hopefully sleep will become better for all of us very soon (jet-lag plus bouncing is not a great combo but he has a regular crib now). Andy was a champ because most mornings he would let me sleep in while he got up and read books with Carsten. Admittedly, Carsten was a good snuggler during this time (which is not typical for him) because he was so tired and exhausted.

1 of the airplane books.

Before bath snuggles are the best. Turns out that Carsten doesn't like to be cold so he'll snuggle :).

We spent a lot of time at the Christmas markets in downtown Zurich which we found to be fun and Carsten tolerated pretty well. What was so nice was that we were only 10 min from downtown so we could go and leave at any time which was not something that we could do when we lived in Egg (50 min each way).

Downtown Zurich for Christmas markets!

Swarovski tree in the HB Christmas market. So pretty!

Carsten thought the carousel was pretty fun at the market.

We also had to take him to see the trains when we were at the HB. :)

So pretty at night when everything is all lit up!

We also spent quite a bit of time at our temporary housing and we had to be pretty creative for our activities since we hadn't kept many toys for Carsten. Luckily, we got to borrow several things including a 'tractor digger'. Thank goodness for kind friends!

Daddy's shoes are great for playing!

Tractor digger borrowed from our friends. Thanks so much!

Coloring with diggers is a must.

When you're moving sometimes boxes are really the easiest and best toys :).

love this kid :).

We made cookies and of course, as we packed up, Carsten enjoyed playing in our suitcases. He even made a 'bed' in one of them. Too bad we can't have him travel like that :). He also managed to go through our stuff while we were packing and find some fun finds: like safety glasses. Safety first!

making chocolate chip cookies!

buckled in and ready to go!

The ultimate travel bed :).

Safety first!

All in all we loved our month living in Zurich. Travel and commute times were so short and there was plenty of activities to keep ourselves busy with. We also discovered that Carsten loves gipfeli (croissants), and we enjoyed walking and taking the trams all the time. What a wonderful pre-international move time for us a family. The only thing missing was getting to see all our families and friends at Christmas.