Samichlaus

Anna partipated in a really fun Swiss German tradition this weekend. She went to see Samichlaus (Santa Claus) in the forest. Here, Santa Claus does not come down the chimney on Christmas Eve to deliver presents. It's the Christkind that delivers presents on Christmas. Instead, Samichlaus meets the kids on December 6 and brings them bags of candies, chocolates and nuts. Anyhow, Mariah was sick, so I stayed home while Rob took Anna up into the forest to meet Samichlaus. Here she is in pink, listening intently to what Samichlaus has to say. The guy to Samichlaus' right is Schmutzli. He is sort of the bad cop in the routine. If the kids are not good, Schmutzli will carry them off in his bag. (A little more threatening than coal in the stocking!)

Hi Santa!

Anna at the big bonfire. They apparently had candles lighting the trail up to the bonfire gathering place.

Anna with her church friends.

Anna with her little buddy, Kelsey.

O Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree and decorated the house for Family Home Evening tonight. Mariah was thrilled. She has been pointing out Christmas trees all over the town and was excited to have one at home.

Anna Claire figured out quickly how to hang the ornaments.

Anna, of course, made sure that Mariah knew how to correctly space the ornaments.

Let's Make Cookies

Today is Thanksgiving -- but we're not doing much for it this year. It's not a holiday here and, with my back problems, I just did not have the energy to make a huge Thanksgiving meal just for our family. Instead, we were thankful by thinking about Christ and Christmas. We made yummy gingerbread Christmas cookies. I'm afraid that most of the frosting wound up in the girls' mouths, rather than on the cookies.

A display of our masterpieces.

Let It Snow

It snowed again all last night and this morning. So the girls bundled up to go play in the snow. Daddy built a really great slide -- that lasted until he slid down and took all the snow with him.

Here are the girls messing around in the snow with our neighbors.

Little pink bundles.

Let's Play!

Anna Claire has been taking a dance class where she is learning lots of different dance moves. She comes home and does dance recitals for me.

Anna is even teaching Mariah some of her moves.

A favorite pastime for both girls is building forts. They get more elaborate each time.

Today we went to a really fun park in Halbinsel Au. Afterwards we had real American burgers at a 50's diner nearby.

Here is my dream treehouse -- over 5 trees!

The rickety bridge over to the slide was just that -- I feared it would not hold my weight. But the girls had no fear.

Wait for me, guys!

Inside the giant fish. Mariah kept calling it "Jonah".

Clever. These old ski gondolas from Davos now make a perfect "train".

How did Daddy get up that high?

Wheeeee!

We hiked down a little trail that leads to the Au harbor. Mariah skipped past the horses.

Hi! It's getting cold out here.

Happy Halloween!

Although Halloween is not really a big holiday here, we managed to get to two Halloween parties. One was a carnival with booths, put on by the expats of our stake. I helped with a booth where the kids made thumbprint cards. Meanwhile, Anna Claire and Mariah went around to all the booths and then got to do a little trick or treating. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. But Anna Claire was a fairy and Mariah was a bumblebee (hand-me-down from last year). And, per Anna's request, I was a "nice" witch. We also attended another fun Halloween party right here in Horgen. Again, I didn't get any pictures except the one below. As you can see, Anna Claire had a blast.

On Halloween night, we finally carved our pumpkin. The girls helped to clean out the "gunk" while Daddy carved.

Anna Claire and Mariah with their little masterpiece.

First Snow!

We had our first snow of the season last night and it's only October! I'm expecting a long winter. The great thing about where we live is that there are loads of hills right in our back yard. I took the girls out sledding today with their friends Ella and Charlie.

The Amalfi Coast: Driving it!

In mid-October we took a fun-filled 5-day break in the Amalfi Coast, Italy. We splurged and stayed in the Sorrento Hilton, complete with a huge indoor swimming pool. The weather was sunny and 70 degrees the entire time we were there. The first day there we decided to drive the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento to Salerno, passing Positano and Amalfi. The coast was picturesque -- just as one would imagine it. However, the driving part was horrendous. The narrow, windy route was crowded with cars that followed no traffic rules whatsoever and huge tourist buses, which were impossible to pass. I can't imagine what this place must be like in the summertime. I think we came the right time. I still found myself gripping my seat with terror much of the route.

Mariah and Anna Claire practicing their driving skills before they hit the crazy Italian streets.

A view of the town of Positano (I think).

The town of Amalfi.

Our attempt at a timed family photo in Amalfi.

We stopped for lunch in Amalfi--love that yummy Italian pizza -- especially the Napoli kind. The girls enjoyed chocolate gelatos by the fountain. (Thank goodness for water to wash hands and faces.) If you look in the right-hand corner, you will see that this is one of those "fertility" fountains.

Playing in the Mediterranean Sea.

Mariah's first dip in the Mediterranean, saggy diaper and all.

The Amalfi Coast: Pompeii and Paestum

So, one of the real reasons I wanted to come down to the Amalfi Coast was to see Pompeii, the Roman city that was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. Pompeii is quite the site -- it's impressively enormous and overwhelming. We actually only saw a tiny part of it because it was extremely hot and the girls were not particularly cooperative.

Here are Anna Claire and Mariah overlooking the old Roman Theater.

Rob and the girls in the main forum, with Mt. Vesuvius looming ominously in the background. Is that smoke I see?

Mariah saw so many statues that she thought she could be a statue too.

Just a couple hours south is Paestum. Rob rode his bike along the Amalfi Coast and met us there. Paestum has the best-preserved Greek ruins north of Sicily. The setting is absolutely stunning. Grandiose Greek antiquity tucked away amidst green grass and wildflowers. One thing you can't really see in this picture is the huge swarm of MOSQUITOES above our heads. This was the downfall of Paestum and also the reason why the ruins are so well preserved. The city was abandoned due to malaria -- and not resettled because of the same threat.

Mariah and Anna Claire weren't really interested in the awe-inspiring architecture behind them. They just wanted to collect bouquets of wild flowers. But what a magnificent backdrop!

Here is another amazingly well-preserved temple. It's hard to imagine the scale of these behemoths.

We're making flower bouquets for Mommy. Who cares if this wall was built 2500 years ago!

The Amalfi Coast: Capri

Our day trip to Capri completed Amalfi Coast trip. Sorrento is only a 30 minute boat ride to the enchanting island. I must admit that, since I started drinking Capri Sun as a child, I've wanted to know about Capri. The view of it from the ocean is actually quite stunning, but Rob and I were not so impressed with the island itself.

The most fun thing we did was to take a private boat ride over to the Blue Grotto. The cave is unique because the way the light falls into the cave makes the water look neon blue. We paid a load of money for a 5 minute peek at this strange phenomenon. We had to enter the cave lying on our backs in a rowboat--the entrance is so small. Then, the boatman rowed us around while singing a dissonant "O Sole Mio". The girls' description fits it best: "dark" and "blue".

We're on our way! Anna Claire and Daddy on the boat.

Mariah and Mommy on the boat -- Mariah wanted to wiggle right out into the water.

Anna Claire and Daddy near the Blue Grotto.

After Capri, we returned to our hotel for fun in another Blue Grotto -- the Hilton's immense indoor pool. To Anna, this is what Italy is all about -- swimming.

Wägitaler Lake

We decided to picnic today at Wägitaler Lake. This is a comfortably rural mountain lake that Rob takes on his "usual" climbing bike route. We actually went biking as a family all around the lake the week before. However, I threw out my back doing it (at 5 1/2 months pregnant), which ended bike trips for me -- until after this baby comes. The backdrop is gorgeous -- bleached white cliffs surrounding green pastures. It's hard to hear the sound of anything here but jingling cowbells.

We set up this family photo -- but forgot to cut out Anna's camera!

Mommy and the girls.

Checking for fishies.

Smile at the camera girls!

Here's a shot of my almost 6 month pregnant belly. It gets bigger much more quickly with each pregnancy! I'm already ready for it to be over.

Throwing rocks into the lake with Daddy.