Trip to U.S.: Boston

A week after our crazy move, we took off for a whirlwind trip to the U.S. Our first stop was Boston, where Rob had his 5-year HBS reunion. It had almost been that long since we had been to Boston. As usual, our kids did not sleep a wink on the flight, so we arrived exhausted. And, though I didn't realize it at the time, I was suffering from severe anemia. But we trudged forward and managed to make it to some of the reunion events. It was fun to catch up with old friend again! I think everyone at HBS thinks I'm always pregnant. I was pregnant Rob's second year there and here I am, pregnant again!

We took the kids to see HBS and Soldiers Field Park, where we lived when Anna Claire was born. Literally, right after we took this picture, a huge storm hit (like a tornado or something) tearing up a bunch of the trees by Rob's sister Cara's house -- one huge one hit their neighbor's roof. We rode out the storm in the car at the HBS parking lot.

The great thing about Boston is family. We stayed a couple days at Rob's sister's house and several days at my sister's house. The kids were basking in cousins! Cara has 5 kids and Margaret has 4, three of them the exact age of our kids. Fortunately, Margaret and Cara took over for me when I was suffering from utter exhaustion. And the kids were just happy to get so much attention from cousins. Cara even took me to get a pedicure -- something I don't believe I've done since I've had kids. (What happened to those days in NYC when I'd go once every couple weeks?)

When I wasn't sleeping from utter exhaustion (thought it was the jetlag, but now I know it was the anemia), we did some fun trips, including one to a little farm nearby. Tyler love the goat!

Here is Tyler with his cousin Isabel -- two toddlers enjoying the goats. They are just one month apart!

Mariah followed Peter behind one of these "show your face" things and got stuck!

On the hayride - William, Mariah, Peter, Anna Claire and Tyler.

We met up with Cara and her kids for ice cream at a local farm dairy. Anna quickly discovered this tree.

And Tyler, as usual, went for the ball!

Here is little Anna Claire, outside the dairy place. They give the largest servings of ice cream I've ever seen!

We also met up with Cara and her youngest three, Ben, Andrew and Claire at a Children's museum. Here are Anna and Ben enjoying the bubbles.

Tyler and Andrew could have spent all day in the water.

Trip to U.S.: Salt Lake City

After a week in Boston, I flew with the kids to Salt Lake. (Rob was working in California.) Margaret flew on the flight with her 4 kids too. Initially, we thought that flying together would help us -- but it was crazy. Two moms with 7 kids age 7 and under! I don't think the other passengers were too happy. Of course, Margaret's kids all fell asleep while mine just got more and more hyper until the flight ended. Rob, who worked like crazy the entire time he was in the U.S. -- no break for him -- met us for the weekend. We met up with Rob's sister Tiff and her family at my brother's condo in Solitude for the weekend. It was cold and even snowy! (Can you believe it's June?) But lots of fun. And the kids were happy to discover even more cousins -- Tiff has four kids. (The greatest joy of this entire trip to the U.S. was that the kids got to see almost all of their cousins -- all but two!)

Despite the cold, we hiked around a beautiful lake and swam in a steamy pool in the rain. Lots of fun!

Anna with the boys. Jacob, Jared, Nate, Sam (Baby Jane is not in this one.)

Back at Grandma's and Grandpa's house the kids had no end of entertainment. Swim. Swim. Swim. Tyler found this little car and I kept thinking he was going to dive into the pool with it.

Margaret had the brilliant idea of getting swim teachers to come teach the kids to swim during the week, so the kids had swim lessons each morning. The great thing about my parents' pool was that we could crank up the temperature to as warm as we liked -- instead of shivering in a half-heated Swiss pool.

Here is my attempt to get a picture with all the kids. They were having too much fun to pose!

Hi guys! Come on in!

Daddy joined us the day before the wedding and had some great fun with the girls in the pool.

Anna Claire, getting ready to show off her new swim tricks.

Trip to U.S.: CK's wedding!

So the big reason for our trip to the U.S. was to attend CK's wedding. (I told her she had to do it before I was 32 weeks along in this pregnancy, or they wouldn't let me travel overseas!) She is the final person to get married in my family -- 7 kids, all married! The day before the wedding, I finally got to meet her fiance, Carl. He is a wonderful guy and I think they are very happy together. What a joyous day!

The luncheon and reception were beautiful -- with special food, of course, for allergic people like CK (and half the family). Margaret, Rachel, Ashley and I sang at the reception and our last-minute practices actually worked! The reception was a typical Woolley reception with good food and dancing -- only this was higher class than the other ones. I got to catch up with some old friends while there, which was a treat (especially because my anemia prevented me from meeting up with any other friends while in town).

The only downside is that my dad didn't get to come. The Church doesn't allow mission presidents to come home -- even for weddings. But my dad, always trying to figure out a solution, had his company set up their huge videoconferencing screens out on the patio for the reception. So he was able to chat with wedding guests by videoconference all evening long.

Here is the happy couple, just leaving the Salt Lake Temple. Doesn't CK look gorgeous? One would only expect perfect fashion from a fashion guru like CK.

The rest of the reception went more like this. . . Yes, beautiful, carefully-planned decor, flower-girl dresses out of a magazine, and fancy flower wreaths. But kids will be kids! Not quite the perfect angels they are dressed to look like. Poor CK!

This was our attempt at a family photo!

The kiddos.

Tyler and Mariah, being silly as usual.

Cousin Princesses! Anna Claire, Gretel, Gracie and Mariah.

Mariah doing her princess pose.

I spent most of my time chasing after Tyler. He kept running toward the pool!

Tyler and Isabel making mischief.

Can you tell that these cousins enjoy themselves?

Tyler's tuxedo was way too big -- so I ducktaped the pants. He still looked cute!

Cousins! Tyler, William, Mariah, Peter, Anna Gretel, Gracie, Joshua.

I don't have any good shots of Mom, but you can she that she was running around the whole time, making sure everything was working properly. Tyler is in the background trying to decide whether he wanted to be a part of the picture posing.

Look at all the bridesmaids!

Tyler chillin' with Daddy. This moment of peace did not last long.

Bonjour Nyon

We made it. We did the move and we are here in Nyon, just about 10 minutes outside of Zurich. On the day of the move, our neighbors were having a neighborhood block party. Rob was out-of-town, but I got to meet many of them. They are so nice. And we have 22 kids living just on our block. I need to improve my French so that I can have better conversations!

Nyon is a beautiful town on Lake Geneva, with lots of cute shops, restaurants and a beautiful castle. (Sounds a lot like Morges, huh?) Here we are standing on castle grounds overlooking the lake.

Tyler is just happy to be anywhere where there are cars. Vroooom! Vroooom! My girls weren't huge car lovers. Where does this come from?

Farewell to Zurich

We have all had a lot of farewells lately. Waedenswil has been a wonderful place to live and it is hard to leave. Believe it or not, the 20 months we lived here was the longest stint in one place since our marriage. We have made many wonderful friends and feel privileged to have been a part of the fascinating Swiss German culture. But, it's time to move onward.

A few days ago, Anna Claire said goodbye to her classmates in kindergarten and her wonderful teacher, Frau Sciarra. They used the time to celebrate her birthday as well. An entire hour of the morning was dedicated to the farewell/birthday and the entire time was fraught with tradition. For part of it, Anna wore a special farewell cloak. Each of the kids came and gave her farewell wishes. Then, they played special "birthday" games.

As part of it, Anna had to lead her classmates in a dance.

Here is Anna, dancing away.

The birthday cake (this plastic dancing cake) even danced a song for her.

Sprinkling good luck dust on Anna and the cake.

Mariah said goodbye to her friends at her Spielgruppe (pre-school) too. They painted a beautiful pot for her and filled it with gorgeous flowers.

Goodbye friends!

Tyler didn't do many farewells. He's happy anywhere. Don't you love these overalls?

Rob and I said our final goodbyes to Zurich. Here is one of my favorite streets to walk down. I always feel like I'm living in the 19th century when I see this.

Farewell Grossmunster Cathedral.

Farewell lakeside where I love to walk and run.

Rob said farewell to his many beloved biking paths.

One last day at the park

We spent one last day at the park today before the big move. There are lots of things we will miss about this area and Schoenegg Park, with the longest slide I've ever seen, is one of them. It was fun to have some family time before Rob takes off to Paris and the rest of us do the move!

Anna Claire and the perfect pose above Lake Zurich.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Today we had a big birthday bash for our 5-year-old Anna Claire. We decided to do a Spring Garden Party theme. Here is my happy Anna Claire. I can't believe I've got a 5 year-old now! She is a wonderful, responsible big sister and we love her tons!

Of course, in line with the them, I had to make a flower pot cake. But I was cursing myself that I caved in and used chocolate cake. I have to goop on tons of frosting in order to avoid mixing chocolate crumbs everywhere. Fortunately, the crumbs make this cake look more like a real dirty flower pot! (And yes, this cake is three layers -- the top layer is slightly larger than the rest to form the lip of the pot.)

Our little garden spread. Oh, how I love spring birthdays.

Here is the birthday girl getting ready to blow out her candles.

Hmmmm. What should I wish for? New rollerblades?

Stuffing herself with cake. . .

We did lots of fun garden activities, mostly thanks to Chelsi. (Hooray! Chelsi is here for the summer. We are so excited to have her.) She is a fabulous artist. She did face painting on all the kids and helped them to paint flower pots. I just used garbage bags to cover the kids' clothes -- it was the cheapest thing. While the flower pots dried during the party, we planted flowers in each one so that the kids had a memory to take home. Chelsi also helped us paint goody boxes where we added flower straws, lip gloss, bubbles and magnifying bug viewers. We also played a bunch of spring games like Pin the Spot on the Ladybug and Bumblebee Musical Chairs (to flight of the bumblebee). Overall, I think the party was a success. Anna Claire loved it and so did the other kids.