Velotag = Bike day

Last Saturday the insurance company AXA sponsored a Velotag (Bike day) at Grace's school. For CHF15, kids spent an hour with an instructor to learn about bike safety and how to navigate obstacle courses that included uneven terrain. The kids really enjoyed themselves. The only grumbling I heard was from Ally when we told her scooters were not allowed on the course.

For more pics -

The Weekend

Last weekend we went into the city and then met up with some friends at a local park. On Sunday, we biked to one of our favorite parks and grilled sausages for lunch. It really feels like Spring now! It was a very quiet and relaxing weekend. You can never have too many of those.

In other news, my blog has been super slow to load so the "read more" links will hopefully help cut down the time it takes to load the site. I could take less photos and maybe even compress a few before uploading but I found this to be the quickest fix.




For the rest of the pics from our weekend including a very cute llama and the longest swing in Zürich

What does the world eat for breakfast?

In Switzerland, we eat bread (really fresh bread) with butter or jam, muesli with yogurt, and maybe cheese. On the weekends I cook a very American breakfast with eggs, toast, maybe pancakes, and occasionally bacon or ham.  And always OJ. Grits would be great if I could find them back here.

via The Kid Should See This

Alejandra is four years old!

Ally turned fours years old yesterday and we filled her day with all her favorites. Her morning started with being serenaded "happy birthday" in bed and then a breakfast that included Nutella and toast. Ally decided the toast was too filling and only ate the Nutella. She had a birthday party at her playgroup and we made homemade saucepan brownies for everyone and cut them into star shapes. she got a bottle of bubbles and gummi bears from her teacher.

IKEA Hack

I ran across an IKEA hack on The Socialite Family and decided to give it a whirl. I think it turned out great and I am really pleased with the splash of pink stripes in our living room now. I think it would've helped to have used larger bookcases. The pink wouldn't appear so pink but I still think it's an improvement over what we had before.


The hack = 2 x Expedit bookcases + 1 roll of MT Casa tape + 1 pack of IKEA capita legs.

For pics...

Ally and Friends

 We had two of Ally's good friends, Aline and Sophia, over from school (spielgruppe) for lunch on Friday. All three were talking about going to kindergarten in the fall and how they can't wait to be 10! Apparently this is the age when you're "old" :-) I love chatting with kids who are four. They say the funniest things.

One of the things I most enjoy about living in such a cosmopolitan city is the diversity of cultures you'll find. It's rare to meet a married couple where both are from the same country. And if you only speak one language, or two for that matter, you will most certainly be in the minority. Aline's mother is Bolivian and her father is Swiss (from the French region). Her family speaks Spanish, French, German, and English. Aline is fluent in Spanish and French. Sophia's mother is German and her father is American and in their home they speak German, English and French.

For the cutest pic of three four year olds --

The Movies

Grace and Annabella went to see the 3-D movie Mr Peabody and Sherman today (thanks, Gabi!). Interesting note about theaters in Switerzland: seating is *always* assigned but you can pick your seat when you buy your tickets.