Just a Park

Blue sky and sunshine makes everyone happy! Kaylie and I were walking today and we crossed the street and continued walking on the side of the street where there was sunshine.

"Do you hate the shade, mom?" she asked.

"Well", I replied "I just really like the sun."

Funny that she noticed we were walking just where we could be in the sun.

"Me too mom, you and I are the same, same!"

Kinder Museum

The girls and I have been trying to find one or two things to do to get us out of the apartment every week to keep them/me from going stir crazy. We usually have a busy and exhausting weekend as we try to pack all the big sights and visits into Saturday and Sunday while Jeff is available. And then Monday comes and he goes back to working 20 hr days...these SkullCandy guys work insanely hard. He did promise me that he would come home for dinner tonight and stay home which only has happened one other time here, it being valentines day. I\whave big plans which include making crepes and watching all the episodes of New Girl that we have missed since moving. Anyone else totally find that show hilarious? Anyways. And then Monday comes... its just me and the girls trying to figure out our way around zurcih and all it has to offer.

The girls bringing sunshine to zurich. I heard that it is snowing at home, but it is springtime weather here in Switzerland. This is a museum that was recommended to us by some members of the branch here. I sure it is mostly the german google engine, but for some reason I can't seem to find out about things like this online. It seems by nature most Swiss are modest in, well everything, but mostly I will have a conversation, and they will mention....have you taken the girls to such and such a place ....and I will say no, and they will say, oh it isn't anything too great, but worth checking out. And then we will go and be totally blown away at how great the place/museum/event is. Or maybe after all the time cooped up in our very small apartment with limited ways to entertain young ones I am easily impressed.

It had a little farm where you planted and harvested the produce. The girls love the little place like this that they have at Thanksgivign point, so they knew just what to do.

A little foam pit for jumping. We took the train there early and were there right when it opened so we had the place almost to ourselves.

One of thier most favorite things was this giant impressions boards. Can you see that that is Audrey? And for some reason , even though tiny toothbrushes with glittery pink toothpast elicit screams of terror on a daily basis, the girls are amused by this large mouth to brush.

Kaylie is becoming very aware of how people are from different countries and speak different languges. This globe speaks all sorts of languges, so she ws intrigued. The other day she was playing with a german girl at the playground. I heard her say to the girl a couple of times....I only speak English. Somehow they played together for a half hour or so despite the languge barrier. When her mother came to collect her I am sure she told her mother, just as Kaylie would later tell me that she made a friend who spoke a different languge. Not becuase I could understand the little girl, but because as they walked away I heard her mother say to her....hello, how are you? Like she had asked what you say to someone who speaks English?

Audrey is mooing at the cows.

A recycling game. The Swiss have indoctrinated Kaylie with their passion for recycling. They are crazy for it here and it is very complicated, but Kaylie thinks it is all fun. I kid you not, the other day I bribed Kaylie to go to the store with me, not by telling her I would by here a treat, but by telling her I would let her sort the recyling when we got there.

There was plenty of things to climb on, and plenty of buttons to push, and water to play in, it reminded me a lot of the discovery center downtown. After a few hours they girls were tired.

This is a little naptime room they had for little ones to rest in. It said for less then 2 years, but like I said hardly anyone was there soI let Kaylie come in too. It was Adurey favorite thing, she kept going back and just laying under the "stars" and singing twinkle twinkle to herself.

Everyone needed a snack at the cafeteria after all our hard work playing. How could a little girls day get any better then playing all day at the new kids museum....pink donuts with sprinkles, that's how!

Swiss Valentines Day!

How we celebrated ourValenitines day. The night before we all went out to dinner….at the roof restaurant that Kaylie has been asking to go to every time we pass it on our walk home. We told Kaylie that it was a fancy restaurant and we had to be grow up in it and she did just that. Even going as far as twirling her spagethi around a fork…which for a girl who usually eats with her hands it is saying a lot. She was over the moon about getting to sit out in the sunroom ( which is what you can see from the street and why she calls it the roof restaurant and she even got to sit on the couch seat.) Afterward dad took the girls to pick out some ice cream and I went to the store to try to come up with a way to make valentines a celebration for the girls the next day, feeling badly that they would be missing out on class parties and valentines from friends. I spent about 100$ on very little. I am not sure that the swiss recognize Valentines day, as there was nothing out in the stores...cards or candy and such. What I walked out of the store with. Two heart shaped ballons and a roll of red christmas wrapping paper. Some pink glaze frosting, and heart bisquit cookies, some candy ladybugs and hearts, strawberrys, and a package of red paper napkins.

They woke up to ballons and notes, and jelly doughnuts and a few decorations ( I had made from paper napkins). Then I showed them the boxes ( left over from cereal...it was really a make-shift valentines) we were going to make into mailboxes and explained all about how we write each other special notes for valenitnes day. And how we were going to make a special lunch and have a party with dad at lunch time. Kaylie set about to make all the preparations…Audrey was just happy about doughnuts and her ballon.

We made some cookies and notes and decorations and of course dad showed up with chocolate and flowers for each of you girls and even a liter of diet coke for mom . I even helped the girls get fancy in pink and red dresses and even let them put on perfume and makeup.It was really
Kaylie's kind of day.

She was really excited about the notes in the box and we made them on and off all day long, cutting and coloring. She kept asking when we got to open the boxes and I kept explaining that they were just going to be notes, and it seemed she understood, but was still excited. After
dinner I let them open up the boxes and they were super happy about all the notes….I had filled it with several, and Kaylie were excited to see us open our notes from her that she had worked hard on. Kaylie is so cute about special thing, when she is told that something is special, she really treats it as such.

Audrey was a little bit young to understand, but she does understand chocolate very well and all day, she would go pick a chocolate out of the box and peel it and eat it. She was a chocolate covered mess most of the day . We even skyped grandma and she kept bringing her chocolates and showing them to her and then eating them.

These girls are really the best. I know it doesnt take much to please most little ones, but they seemed delighted by our minimalistic celebration. They are getting so close here. I am sure it is a combination of Audrey getting older, and Kaylie lacking other friends, but they play together all day long and for the most part are so sweet. Everyday when we go out they insist that only the two of them ride the small elevator of our apartment building together alone. It is like thier little secret clubhouse that lasts for approximately one minute while I walk down the stairs. And they always come out giggling and silly. Seriously , I love these two girls!

Meditereanen Sea Sisters

Not exactly the best time of year to be dipping our toes in the medittereanen, but we had to do it if only to say that we had. Kaylie's fear of the ocean still exsist depite the lack of waves. We stayed for an hour of so taking pictures, soaking in the sunshine, and eating gelato.

I can't get over these pictures of Kaylie, shes the perfect model all of a sudden.

And Audrey is heartbreakingly adorable as well.

We actually have a picture of all four of us, but it is terrible. Obviously I really want pictures of all four of us, but we had been warned time and time aigan about the pickpoketers so it is not like we are going to hand the camera over to a stranger for a snapshot. I can't imagine someone would target us....hands full with diaper bags, and two bright pink strollers, distracted by two little ones. Ha! it seems we are nothing but the perfect target. No one bothered us of course. Soon after this we headed home back to Zurich. While we waited in the airport the girls played on a few of the playgrounds that were inside. If you ask them, they would say that the airport playground was thier favorite part of Spain. Silly girls.

The Gothic Distirct

We headed out to the gothic district first thing our second day in Spain. It is old town...and I mean old....barcelona. It's building dates back to the Roman Empire and it was the most heavily populated area in the world during the medevil times. You can see, it is still quite busy.

Proably even more so because there was some sort of celebration going on. It was fun to be a part of. The children were all marching around in there school classes playing instruments and then every class had a giant costume too

Here is Kaylie watching the parade from dad's shoulders. Me and Tiny went and got up close and she was fascinted by the confetti.

Not every street was crowded. It was a sort of labryinth of streets, but we only got lost a little.

Every street was beautiful. We explored for a bit.

Then we took a break with barcelona's famous churros and hot chocolate as thick as a melted candy bar. Kaylie is blowing her's off

Off to explore some more we found the cities cathedral. It looks a little like the sagrada, but more like a certain familiar salt lake city building to me. You think so?

Inside the cloister of the cathedral were geese and my bird loving babies had to get a peek.

And that is only half a days worth of sightseeing. This was definately a jam packed trip.

More posts to come to finish it off.