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Monday, September 10, 2012

Happy 2nd Birthday to Carsten!

Happy 2nd Birthday our little buddy!! I know I've posted this photo on fb, but I wanted it on the blog too :).

We had a fun and relaxed birthday day for Carsten, which mostly involved making chocolate cupcakes and eating chocolate cupcakes. Andy wasn't feeling well, so he didn't get to indulge, but we still managed to have a very nice day as a family. A more detailed update on Carsten will be coming soon!

Friday, September 7, 2012

The great 2012 sickness

Well, this last week has been a doozy. A week that I do not want to ever repeat. Last week Friday, I was ill enough that I had to ask Andy to stay home and watch Carsten, which is not something that has ever happened to me before. Luckily, Switzerland has an amazing policy which says that you can care for your dependents (aka Carsten and I) for a certain amount of time without using up vacation days. Go Switzerland!

Well, anyway, I was sick enough that I was laying down on the couch for 3 days straight, and Andy was wonderful in the way that he took care of Carsten and I. Carsten even got to have some Daddy time (went on walks and went to the 100 year Forchbahn train celebration). Unfortunately, Andy got what I had, but fortunately, it was when I was starting to feel a little better, so I could start taking over more duties with Carsten. I'd have to say that I've never been this sick for this long, and now after a full week, I'm finally feeling mostly normal. And after a week of being sick, I've lost ~9 lbs. Not a fun weight loss plan.

By some miracle, Carsten seems to have only gotten a touch of what we had and he has missed the worst part of our symptoms. Mostly he's been waking up once during the night, but then sleeping in a bit to make up for it. He still has a voracious appetite, which I take to be an excellent sign of his overall health.

So, if you have been wondering what we've been up to, please be assured that it has been absolutely nothing fun, and if we're going to have a weeklong staycation again, we'd like to all be healthy. Here's a photo that is representative of our week:

being sick is no fun.

And here's a couple of photos of the Forchbahn celebration - wedgie wars anyone?

apparently Carsten did not enjoy himself as much as we thought he would... :)

Wedgie wars with burlap sacks.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Zurich Airport Observation Deck

Our friends Kai and Vanessa flew back to Switzerland on Saturday, and since we wanted going to meet them at the airport, we decided to go a little early so we could to go to the Zurich airport observation deck before they arrived. The observation deck had an amazing view of the planes that were taking off, and it had a lovely airplort themed play area for the kids as well. Carsten was enthralled by the planes and after a bit, we let him explore the playground. If a plane was taking off (every 3-5 min or so) then he'd RUN to go see the airplanes and then RUN back to the play area. He was SO pumped :). We stayed there for about 1.5 hrs and we all had a lot of fun. It was a fantastic activity, especially for a little boy who loves planes. :) Here's some photos:

AIRPLANE!

He just wanted to watch for a LONG time.

Bye bye airplane!

play area

Yes, Andy got inside the plane.

Carsten kept running back and forth between the viewing area and the play area.

Airplane!

After the observation deck, we got to see our friends again! Woohoo :).

Friday, August 10, 2012

Dinner with the Wiersmas

A friend from college and his wife, Josh and Kaitlin Wiersma, happened to be visiting Switzerland for vacation, so we met them in Zurich for supper at a fantastic Swiss restaurant in downtown Zurich. This is a rare treat for us because of a) they're from the states and b) we really don't eat out that much due to the incredibly high prices. It was wonderful to meet Kaitlin and to get to talk with the both of them. Carsten did really well, especially since he took a pretty short nap that day. The food was incredibly delicious. :) Here's a few photos of our evening:

Josh and Kaitlin!

yummy!

The restaurant had a very large gun.

Swiss National Day

August 1 is Swiss National Day, and since it's a Federal holiday, we got to spend the day with Andy :). I'm not sure what we did last year, but we did not go into Zurich because we thought it would be way too busy. That assumption was completely wrong. In fact, Zurich was deserted. It was strange. So, we slowly made our way over to where the parade route was, and got to watch the parade with a few other people. Apparently the parade is not that well attended. I enjoyed the extra space, and actually, the parade was pretty good. Alpenhorns, large cowbells, and men throwing Swiss flags were featured (see video below). Also, everyone in the parade was dressed in traditional costume, which I always enjoy. Carsten really enjoyed the parade, especially the bands. Here's a few photos and a video of the parade:

Switzerland!

This is how people try to spell our last name here.

Getting ready for the parade!

Traditional costume.

After the parade, we followed the crowd to the square where they were reading the Swiss Constitution (we of course did not pay attention since it was in German). We elected to try a specialty from one of the cantons (see photo below), and it was honestly one of the more disgusting things I've ever had. It looked like fruit pizza. Instead it was a piece of bread covered in what tasted like rot. We threw it away after 1 bite. Yuck. We did have better luck with an almond pastry after that.

Gross. Gross. Gross.

It was nearing lunchtime, so I went to the grocery store to get some food while Andy inquired about paddle boats. We had been wanting to go on a paddle boat in the Zurich Lake for a while, but we were too nervous to take Carsten on. They had life jackets included in the rental, so we got one for Carsten and set out. And by we, I mean Andy. Andy did all the paddling while I held onto our son in the back. Carsten sat happily for quite a while we finished our lunch, and then I let Carsten dip his toes into the water, which he really enjoyed. In fact, he enjoyed it so much that we ended up letting him get almost all the way in the water (clothes and all!) while I held him from the boat. He could have kept doing that for quite some time, but we had only rented boat for 30 min, so we had to get back. We'd really like to do this again, but next time we'll all be bringing swimming suits! :) Here's a few photos:

Sitting nicely.

He loved it!

Pretty Zurich.

We then headed home and got Carsten into bed for nap, and he slept for 3 hours. So wonderful! We then had a relaxing evening in Egg, and got to listen to fireworks from about 9 pm - 12 am. It was a bit later than we would have liked to hear fireworks. Oh well. All in all, a great day!

Potty training debacle

Well, after hearing about the potty training success of Carsten's twin cousins from Michigan, we thought we would give it a go with Carsten. To summarize the method we tried (by Lora Jensen), it's a three day intensive potty training course which basically involves putting the child in 'big kid' underwear, and then rush them to the potty any time you notice that they need it (meanwhile you're pumping them full of liquids). The method emphasizes positive comments, which helps make it a good experience for your child.

Anyway, we started out with a lot of enthusiasm and hope, but that quickly was replaced with frustration and a loss of patience after three days of accidents. Carsten definitely improved over the course of the three days, but he never got to the point of telling us BEFORE he had to go. Sometimes we'd get lucky and guess the right time, but that didn't happen very often. After going back and forth on whether or not to continue the method after the three days were up, Andy convinced me to try another day. The morning was fantastic with no accidents, but the afternoon quickly went south. I again tried on the morning of day 5, and then decided to quit after 2 accidents with no signs of recognizing that he had to go before he went (he was good at telling me when he was going). The other side effect that none of us enjoyed was the loss of sleep at nighttime and at naptime. In fact, Carsten was extremely exhausted when day 5 rolled around, so I'm glad we stopped then.

Carsten simply was not ready and we definitely gave it our all. Andy even stayed home from work to help with days 2 and 3, but all was for naught. I was a bit worried about returning to diapers after all the brainwashing we were doing about the potty, but Carsten really doesn't seem to care which is nice :). So, now were enjoying getting out of the house again, and we're all really enjoying that I don't have to spend every moment right next to Carsten. So, hooray!, we're done until next time...

Thursday, July 26, 2012

July so far

I'm almost caught up on my blog. So I'm going to cheat a bit and just give a brief overview of our July since my parents left. Our activities have been:

1) Playdates and hanging out with Kai, Vanessa, and Eleanor as much as possible because they're awesome. So here's a photo of Carsten and Eleanor at our house being goofy, and here's a couple photos of a hike we took with them at Flumserberg (top of a mountain near here). Highlights of the hike included lunch under a covered awning, having it clear up while we were hiking so we could enjoy the view and take off our rain gear, and Vanessa and I got to go down the Floomzer, which is a sled on a rail track (yay!). Andy and Kai had gone skiing here in February, so I think it was fun for them to see it without snow as well. Here are photos:

They were having a ton of fun doing this :).

The group!

Not the best weather.

But we still had some pretty views :).

The Wallenzee. Zurich is just beyond what you can see here.

The Floomzer! SO FUN!

2) Playing outside our house. We do this almost every day, and Carsten loves playing in the sandbox and with the trucks.

He likes our playground!

Looking for airplanes!

3) Playing at parks in Zurich. We found this by accident, and despite it being a rather cold morning, Carsten still had a lot of fun on the splash pad. We went back today and it was a much nicer day :). The best part is that it's free! Not a lot seems free here... :).

I love his face here. I think he accidentally ran through it :).

He got VERY wet :).

Today was much nicer.

Carsten didn't want to play much in the splash pad. I think he didn't like going barefoot because it was slippery.

4) Going to the zoo! Our membership runs out at the end of July, so we've been trying to go there a bunch because we are not renewing our yearly membership. Carsten has a really good sense of where the animals are (I don't have to tell him where we are), and lately, he always asks to see the tigers. When the tigers are sleeping, he says 'AWAKE!'. Surprisingly, they usually do wake up :). He also loves the aquarium at the zoo, especially the fish we call the 'digger fish' because he digs himself into a hole and disappears. He also really likes riding the tractor down by the petting zoo.

At the tigers.

Where did the digger fish go?

The tractor!

5) Going to the tram museum. Andy took Carsten to the tram museum on Saturday afternoon while I stayed home and cooked. We all had fun! Well, except the boys got stuck in a torrential downpour when they came home... Poor guys. Here's a few photos of their tram museum time. Carsten loves the number 9. And he knows what it looks like (we didn't teach him).

Carsten the tram driver.

Playing trains.

This kid loves the number 9.

6) Going to the gym. Carsten and I go here about 3-4 times per week. They have daycare in the morning so I can workout while Carsten plays. He loves going there and playing with different trucks and diggers. :) We usually hit the grocery store on our way home to reduce the number of errands. No photos here :).

7) This weekend we went on a brief walk near the Greifensee (down in the valley by Uster). We normally don't go there even though it's close because there's not an easy way to get there by public transit. However, our friends let us borrow their car (thanks!) so it was super easy and close to go take a quick walk.

We went sans stroller.

Just walking!

8) When we're home, we play trucks, trains, and watch Bob the Builder. Carsten loves ALL of these activities :). Carsten also likes to help sweep. In fact, he asks to sweep several times per day. He's a clean kid. We also play 'hide' when we're home. Which mostly involves Carsten hiding in the same spot and then yelling 'ready!' However, this particular day he found a great spot! We also enjoy eating at home, and chasing Carsten around the house. Here's a lot of photos: :)