Easter in Italy: A Day in Siena

We planned an Easter trip to Italy, hoping that we would find sunny weather and good biking. Instead, we woke up Friday morning on the day we were to leave to a huge snowstorm. Unbelievable! It's the first time that it's snowed this year in Morges! Anyhow, we finally decided to brave the storm about noon and drive to Italy. Unfortunately, Italy was hitwith snow and storms too, so all our biking and swimming plans dissipated quickly. But, hey, it's still Italy, so we still had fun.

I must mention our lovely accommodations. We found nice, cheap "trailor park" lodging just outside of Florence. It looked okay on the website. But I realized something was fishy when I discovered (fortunately just before we left) that we needed to bring all our own linens. Anyhow, it was freezing and the trailer's gas stove barely heated a 2-foot radius, which meant that the girls slept in our tiny kitchen and Rob and I shivered all night in our tiny bedroom, complete with a lovely rock-hard mattress. By the way, the place was four-star -- camping, that is!

The next day we made a trip to the old town of Siena. The town is surrounded by a fortress and cars are not allowed inside, so we had a tough time trying to find close parking. But getting to the main Piazza was worth it. The place is huge (big enough to have a famous horse race around it) and perfect for little kids to run around. Chasing pigeons seemed to be the favorite pasttime for Anna Claire and Mariah.

On the steps of the Duomo.

Good Times!

The weather was beautiful the other day so we decided to walk along the lake and hit the beach. The girls dug around with sticks while I basked in the newfound sunshine.

Anna Claire strikes a pose.

Reading time on the rocking chair. . .

Bathtime. We're finally reaping the benefits of having two girls close in age. They have loads of fun together. Mariah wants to do everything her big sister does.

MORGES TULIP FESTIVAL TIME!

It's been a late spring so the tulips haven't bloomed much yet. But the girls still had fun running around it.

A Day at the Park

Happy Ides of March! The weather this morning was gorgeous so we took a little family trip to this gigantic park called Signal de Bougy. It's got loads of play structures (the fun, risky ones that they don't build in the U.S. anymore for liability reasons), a miniature zoo, and bumper boats and cars -- my favorites.

At the duck pond -- but where are the ducks?

The bumper car section was not open when we arrived, so Daddy got to push the girls.

Again, Daddy, again!

Okay, Daddy, this is a little bit scary but it's okay.

("It's okay is one of Anna's favorite phrases. She often says it to me when I'm stressed out -- "It's okay, Mommy.")

Daddy's Birthday!

We celebrated Rob's birthday today. I think the whole event was more fun for Anna Claire and Mariah than for Rob. Anna Claire has a new book with loads of pictures of cakes. She picked out the cake that she thought Daddy would like -- a basketball cake, because Daddy used to play basketball. It also kind of fit in with the gift the girls gave Daddy -- a new, real-sized soccerball. (Yes, this is a little self-serving because it's so that Daddy can kick the ball around outside with the girls.)

Here's the cake. We burned out on chocolate after just a couple pieces so we had to give most of it away.

Anna Claire proudly displaying her masterpiece. If you look carefully, you'll see she just stuck her fist into it.
Happy Birthday to you. . .

Happy Valentine's Day!

Earlier this week I had to go to the hospital for 24 hours for a little surgery. That was rough on the kids. So this week we've done lots of fun activities to make up for it. On Wednesday, we made Valentine's Day cards for Daddy and the grandparents. Next, we had a special Valentine's Day picnic (outside on our balcony). Anna Claire set out all the plates and food and poured water, while Mommy made sandwiches. The girls love doing these picnics. Anna Claire sets out everything nicely and Mariah happily messes it all up.

Valentine's Day (and evening) itself became a family occasion this year, mostly because I neglected to get a babysitter and Rob has been working crazy hours. The girls and I made chocolate heart cookies and when Daddy came home, we frosted them with pink and chocolate icing and loaded them with M&M's. The M&M's ended up mostly in Mariah's mouth, however.

Mmmmm, this chocolate stuff is almost as good as the green beans I just devoured!
Yum. . .chocolate to my heart's content.

Afterwards, we had a family Valentine's dance. That was the best part! As you can see, Anna Claire got a new dancing outfit. Mariah got to share some costume jewelry, but she mostly chewed it up. (She was a big chocolatey mess so we had to strip her down.)

Past Blast

My friend Tzili came to visit this weekend. She's a friend from my joint-degree program and is an amazing advocate for women's and children's rights. She came to Geneva to present a paper to one of the UN committees and then spent the weekend with us. She dragged me out of my children-crowded world back into the world of law and advocacy for a couple days. Here we are in front of the oft-visited Chateau Chillon.

Dance with me!

With more days cold and rainy lately, we are spending more time inside. The girls love to listen to music. Both of them drag out all our instruments (including the toy violin rented from the Ludotech) and jam to the beat. Mariah climbs up on the coffee table and bops around. The other day, we were listening to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" while Mariah napped. Suddenly, I heard a little voice singing to the music, "La la la la la la la la. . ." Mariah had woken up, heard the music and was singing from her crib. She's destined to be an opera star!

Hangin' out on the sofa.

Anna Claire can't stop dancing to music either. She puts on her little swimming suit (which has a skirt like a tutu), pulls on her sparkly tights and her "glass slipper" shoes (some dressy, white shoes from back when she was a flower girl), and twirls and leaps around. I need to get her some real dress up!

Mariah's Birthday!

We celebrated Mariah's first birthday today. I can't believe it has been one year since she was born. So much has happened, yet it seems not long ago that she was a tiny new born. She has already taken a few first steps. Goodbye baby, hello toddler! Mariah is picking up new words almost every day. Starting with "uh-oh" and "bubble," she moved on to "Da-da" (why is he always first?), "Ma-ma", "duckie", "ball" and, of course, "Nana" (which usually means her favorite sister Anna, but also means the fruit when she's hungry).

Actually Mariah adores Anna. She speed-crawls around the house calling her name. In the mornings when she wakes up before Anna, she'll crawl over to Anna's door and push it open, waking up Anna Claire while happily chanting "Nana, Nana".

We had as much fun getting ready for Mariah's birthday celebration as having it. Anna Claire has figured out that birthdays are fun even if they're not hers. She helped me decorate Mariah's cake and make her birthday crown. Mariah absolutely loves duckies (we see them in the canal and the lake almost every day), so we made her a duckie cake. It was easy. I just created a little pond and added tiny rubber ducks, Swedish fish and gummy frogs. (I had to make the pond green, though, because I couldn't find blue food coloring here. Hey, most ponds have algae, anyway.) When Mariah saw it she screamed "duckie, duckie, duckie". Aaaaah! I love how babies are so easy to please.

Mom, inspecting her accomplishment, with Mariah thinking, "Quit taking my picture and just let me eat the thing!"

Mmmm, delicious! And this time I can make as much mess as I want!Time for presents: Hey, Nana, that's MY phone!There you go. Hello, how are you? Gotta go!I must say that Mariah's big birthday gift was a bit of a disappointment. Not for her, but for me. I bought a little toy lawnmower in the US (it doubled as a learning toy, so I needed it in English). Anyhow, I thought it would be like those cute popping vaccuum cleaners, and also could serve as a little walker for Mariah. Well, the handle doesn't stay up by itself, so it doesn't work like a walker. And the thing is soooooo loud (the part that doesn't turn off) that it will bother the neighbors below. What a waste!

Christmas and New Years!

The run-up to Christmas this year was crazy, due to our move, but Christmas day and onwards was quite relaxing. (We just decided to go easy on the post-move-in organizing.) We did a little sight-seeing and a little skiing. (Rob and I hit the slopes for the first time with our new ski equipment.) It was so much fun to have CK with us to help out and hang out with us. She brought a little bit of "home" with her. Plus, the girls absolutely adored having Aunt CK around. (By the way, CK is my fashionista sister who designs her own fabulous line of dresses. You should check it out at http://www.shabbyapple.com/.)

We had some friends (Nathalie and Andreas and kids) over for Christmas brunch, which gave me incentive to at least clean up the place and make a decent meal. Actually, I made Rob's family's traditional Christmas casserole again. CK helped me prepare it, but it had everything in it that makes her sick -- eggs, cheese, sausage, croutons, cream, cream, cream. Yep, it was delicious! Unfortunately, instead of serving fizzy apple juice, I accidently bought and served fizzy apple cider (which is full of alcohol). I discovered this, to my horror, only halfway through the meal when Rob took a sip. Fortunately, none of my guests (nor their children) had been drinking it except one person, who drinks alcohol anyway.

Unfortunately, the weather here has been pretty dismal -- with the inversion effect over the lake (something I'm no stranger to as a Salt Lake City girl). So we drove up into the mountains above the cloudy soup to show CK the stunning view of Mont Blanc (just across Lake Geneva).

CK and I also did a whirlwind tour of Chateau Chillon, the picturesque castle near Montreux.

Braving the cold weather to hit the swings!

Sledding!

Exploring a snow cave. I know they look grumpy, but they really were pretty happy until their hands started freezing.

Daddy and Mariah after a fun run.

The two snow bunnies.

Wooh hoo!

Christmastime in Paris

BONJOUR PARIS!

Just two days after we officially moved, the whole family hopped on an early morning train for a few gleeful days in Paris. We met my sister CK there and had a fabulous time touring the place. I must say that most of my previous Paris experiences have been negative, but they've been getting better and better and this one was the best. I think it's because every time I've been to Paris before, I didn't speak any French, which doesn't help with the proud Parisiens. Although my French is not great, it was nice this time to at least be able to get around the place by speaking the Parisiens' language. Another smart thing we did, was to lower our expectations and limit our plans. Rob wanted to see only four things -- the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and Versailles. But, surprisingly, we also made quite a nice walking tour of the city by default -- we were forced to walk in order to get the girls to nap in the stroller. I must say, the lights of Paris at Christmastime are magical -- and classy. (Even the flashing lights of the Eiffel Tower somehow escape the tackiness associated with similar lights in Vegas.)

Our hotel was nicely located near the Hotel des Invalides and the Eiffel Tower -- so we headed off to the Eiffel Tower (Anna's favorite) first thing. Of course, we couldn't just take the traditional photo--and this was the best view of the Tower!

Anna Claire with her stylin' Aunt CK.

Here we are strolling around the Louvre. We went on a Friday evening, which was a perfect time to avoid the crowds. However, we didn't avoid the picture-taking tourists. Anna and Mariah became tourist attractions themselves, with at least a handful of people stopping to snap photos of them. Strange, because they won't even pose for us!

Anna Claire, pondering the grace of Winged Victory.
The Mona Lisa was nice, but this place is HUGE and I'm exhausted.

This is the way to tour a museum, being carted around by Daddy!

VERSAILLES!

I love it! Miles and miles of park and lots of gravel to get my hands into.

The gang in the Hall of Mirrors. Mariah is more interested in a piece of cheese than in all the glitz and gold.

Anna Claire got most of her historical information from the audioguide.

Sisters -- in front of Notredame.

Chillin' outside Notredame.

Moving Chaos

Believe it or not, we are in the middle of moving again. Yes, this will be the 7th time we have moved in our 4.5 years of marriage. I just wanted to tell the world (as I do each time) that I hate it! Moving isn't just the one or two days our stuff is actually getting moved, it includes all the packing, sorting, tossing and determining whether strange bits and bobs lying around the house are just junk or some absolutely essential camera part. And afterwards, it includes the unpacking, settling in, multiple trips to IKEA to purchase and assemble furniture pieces with incomprehensible directions and infinite trips to the garbage dump. Despite all my experience, I'm not good at it, and I certainly seem to collect a lot of junk. Just ask my husband!

Anyhow, we have to do it -- and the reward is that we'll be settled into our own sunny apartment surrounded by our cheery old furnishings (that have been languishing in storage the past year) and, most wonderfully, our own temperpedic bed. Aaaaah, it almost seems worth it. But I must tell you not to expect a Christmas card from us anytime soon, what with all this moving stuff!

Our trip to Santa's Village

Yesterday, we took a cogwheel train from Montreux to Rochers-de-Naye to see Père Noël (Santa Claus). It really looked like we were headed for the North Pole. As we headed up the mountain, the green grass quickly changed to white snow. At the top, we wandered through a grotto filled with Santa's elves and reindeer, before finally reaching Santa. We were happy to discover that Santa spoke four languages -- French, English, German and Italian. (Only in Switzerland.) Anna Claire was a little scared and refused to sit on his lap, but at least she posed for the picture (sort of). Mariah missed the whole thing. After screaming the whole train ride up, she finally crashed from exhaustion when we arrived.

Anna Claire with her friends Mason, Leo and Elin.

Check out the stunning views from halfway up.