Bye Bye KaRynn

We said goodbye to KaRynn today. It was a sad farewell. After driving to the Geneva airport in the wee hours of the morning, the girls were not quite sure what was going on. But they were definitely upset. We are really going to miss KaRynn!

Mariah is in the background making her sad face.

Fun with KaRynn

Ever since KaRynn arrived, the girls have been having lots of extra fun. KaRynn entertains them non-stop. They are really going to miss her when she leaves. Below are photos of fun times with KaRynn. Most of them were taken by her. (She's a great photographer.)

Fairy dress-up time.

Pretty in pink!

I'm the pink sleeping fairy. . .

Puzzle time!

I'm hiding!

Peek a boo!

Me too!

Peek a boo!

KaRynn was somehow able to convince Anna to let her do her hair. A miracle!

Pretty girl!

Bathtime with KaRynn

The girls have had such a fun summer with KaRynn. They really loved it when she gave them baths. They would stick out their tongues so that she could spray water into their mouths, then splash all over the place.

Splash. Gotcha!

See the beautiful twist that KaRynn made.

I get the mohawk!

Time to get out! I've got my "papillon" (butterfly) towel.

And I'm the froggy!

Day Trip to Liechtenstein and Austria

One of the benefits of living in Zurich is that Liechtenstein and Austria are only just over an hour away. So we thought we'd add a few more countries to KaRynn's list (and mine -- Liechtenstein was a first). Liechtenstein is a tiny country, only about 25km long, with a population of around 32,000. It actually has open borders with Switzerland, which handles most of its foreign affairs, but is still quite a distinct country (which one would know if one had a bank account here -- better secrecy rules than even Switzerland). It has a king with power to dissolve Parliament, which he has even used recently. This is a close-up of the king's castle on the hill. No tours are allowed because the king really does live there. (After Liechtenstein -- we drove across the border to Austria for lunch -- and made it back for naptime!)

Running around in the garden in Vaduz (the Liechtenstein capital).

Let's play chase!

At the Seebad

Yesterday we decided to visit one of the "Seebads" (lake swimming areas) on Lake Zurich. Almost every community has one -- and they usually have lots of fun playthings for the kids there. Lake Zurich is actually quite warm and clean. They say it's so clean that you can drink the water. Although, I wouldn't. KaRynn went for a swim. (I tried this later -- and it was great!) This Seebad had a wading pool with fountains, a waterslide, sandpit, swings and a beach area. Here are the girls "pumping" water.

Anna Claire goes down the waterslide.

I can go down it too! Woah! "Scawy!"

Watch Daddy do it. It's not so bad.

Padding along the shore.

Swinging with Daddy.

Wading with the whole family.

Today, we found another great place. It's a park with the longest slide I've ever seen. They would never have something this fun/dangerous in the U.S.!

Exploring Zürich. . .

We spent a day in temporary housing before our goods arrived at our new place. So we took advantage of the respite to go explore Zürich. It was great to just hop on the train and be in the city in 15 minutes. Mariah is already a real commuter -- newspaper in hand.
Here we are at Lindenhof Park overlooking the glassy Limmat River.

Where there is a fountain to be found, Anna has to play in it.

Swingy, swingy, swingy.

Look! A real American-style drinking fountain.

Mariah found the perfect fountain for her. Note her little chipped tooth. She fell and chipped it the last day we were in the Pyrenees. It will be a long wait with that chipped tooth before she gets her permanent teeth. She's still got a killer smile!

Chasing the birdies!

An alley view of the big clock tower at St. Peter's Church.

Grossmunster Cathedral. This is where Zwingli preached. Yet more Reformation history.

No, Anna. It's my turn to smell the flower.

More fountains.

Bye Bye Morges, Hello Wädenswil

We moved this week from Morges to Wädenswil (a town right on Lake Zurich, about 15 minutes outside of Zürich). Rob had to work so KaRynn and I managed the move. I am soooo thankful that KaRynn is here with us. I couldn't have done this without her. Fortunately, the movers packed up all of our stuff. But changing apartments in Switzerland is not so simple. First, you have to bring your own light fixtures. How crazy is that!!! Second, you have to leave the apartment literally as spotless as it was when you arrived -- no wear and tear allowance. (Oh, how landlords in the U.S. would love that!) For us, that meant scrubbing every speck off the walls, getting the floors replaced where there were tiny scratches and paying thousands of francs to have a cleaning company scrub the place spotless (including all the utilities, which have to be certified as working properly). Anyhow, we somehow made it!

Goodbye Morges. . .

. . .Hello Wädenswil! This is our new apartment. It's a ground floor apartment with 2 levels, 2 patios and a balcony. Much more comfortable in many ways.

Out in front -- great place for the girls to ride their bikes. Here is a view of all our neighbors' places. We thought our girls would be learning Swiss German from the kids in the neighborhood, but it turns out that most of them are English-speaking foreigners! The ones we've met seem really great!
The back view of our apartment. Ours is the lower two levels. Almost every room opens out to a patio. The kids love it! We now need lots of outdoor toys.

The view of Lake Zurich from our balcony. We're a bit further from the lake than in our previous place, and definitely up a hill. But we'll adjust. It's still Switzerland -- and that's hard to beat.
The shiny, perfectly clean floor of our apartment. Not for long!

The best part about our place is the play area with a swingset, slide, sandbox etc.

Cool slide, huh?