Brooks and I dropped Chance off at Fall Break Soccer Camp and then headed out for a stroll around the lake and stopped for some groceries on the way home. Brooks was bundled up in his winter baby burrito outfit, great for the cold morning that we were venturing out in to. It kept him snuggly warm and in dreamland until we entered the grocery store, in which I guess the heat from the extreme insulation woke him and by the time we were checking out, we were causing a scene. Swiss don't tend to like noise from crying babies, nor do they know how to refrain themselves from staring or commenting. The checker said something to me directed at the stroller that was making lots of noise, so I grabbed Brooks from it and immediately he was all smiles. But that left me to one handedly load the stroller bottom full of groceries which was not an easy task, not to mention my slowness was now holding up the line. We get outside and I put smiley baby back in the stroller in which he proceeds to scream again. Several attempts to take him out and calm him would always elicit the same response: immediate calm upon being held, immediate screams upon being put in the stroller. It made me laugh cause this past weekend I insisted on bringing our massive stroller to the Schwarzsee, it basically takes up the entire trunk in our tiny car. Ryan tried to convince me that we didn't need to bring it, but I envisioned Brooks in the stroller as we hiked around the lake or up and down the mountains. So Ryan sweetly obliged, and much to my dismay Brooks would of course, only be a happy baby when hiking the lake and down the mountain in the pouch. I'm sure Ryan was secretly cursing me as he had to load that whopper of a stroller back in to the trunk when the weekend was over.
So yes, this past weekend we went to the
Schwarzsee, a tiny lake in the middle of somewhere....east of Interlaken. Our friends Josh and Katherine that live in Geneva met us there, we had been planning our get together for sometime now. Brooks will soon have a little friend as J&K are expecting a boy in February.
Our trip to the lake was much needed to say the least, with all the sleep deprivation and constantness going on at home, and the endless working hours for poor ole Ryan, a weekend away was good timing. Around here I'm getting a taste of what it's like for couples who have one spouse working the day shift and one working the night. You pass in the hallway on your way out the door and that's about life for us right now. We basically see each other sleeping.....Ryan gets home and I am asleep and I get up to work the night shift, and he's asleep. Back to the Schwarzsee......
Saturday morning we headed out in our little red put put....that can barely keep up with the 120 km/hour speed limit. I kept looking down to make sure Ryan really was in 5th gear the engine was screaming so loudly at 117 km/hour. The drive was gorgeous, making me nostalgic and not wanting to move back. How can I leave this place, it's too gorgeous. I don't think I could ever tire of the Swiss scenery, and this time of year it's just striking with all the orange red and brown amongst the super bright green of the grass. It's really indescribable and I just kept telling Ryan over and over how beautiful this place is. We have less than 6 months here and seeing colors like this make it so hard to fathom leaving.
Another thing hit me as we were driving: that we have 2 boys now, both in the back seat of our car. I couldnt believe that I now have 2 kids. My family is complete and it's a milestone that seemed so far away, and here we are. I think Im getting old.
I really didnt know what to expect, I was silently thinking please oh please let this be just half as nice as the Oeschinensee where we had gone with J&K last summer. Rain followed us in to town and the lake looked small and meager. Despite grave weather we set out for a hike around the lake and with it the skies started to part and the beauty of this place began to reveal itself.
Before setting out, Chance got to play in the rocks at the water's edge, building a damn and occasionally throwing a rock at a duck or two when we weren't looking.
The 4km path brought us around the lake, thru a little leprechaun forest, past a river and back to our hotel on the waterfront.
Along the way Josh and Katerine got to hear me ramble on about all the woahs and wonderfuls about becoming first time parents.
We had a nice dinner that evening after a little swim in the indoor pool at the hotel. Brooks was such a trooper thru it all, just happy and easy going. He was staying true to his new name "Baby Lama", named after the comment that the baby osteopath made (who sees babies all day long). Brooks was so hungry at his last appointment but hardly made a fuss about it, and she said he was the most peaceful baby she had seen.....then she said "you know, they say the Dalai Lama was like this as a baby". And hence Brooks' new name "Baby Lama" came to be.
Sunday we awoke to my favorite thing of any traveling.....BUFFET BREAKFAST. Then we took the chair lift up the Rigisalp to a great little panorama restaurant where Chance zipcorded on their playground. The boys then set out on monster scooters careening down the mountain.
Meanwhile Katherine and I sipped on some delicious anise cinnamon tea that the man talked us in to, supposedly a house special. Katherine had two.
They returned back again to the top to have lunch with us and gave us a head start to hike down the mountain. Then they came zooming past us for their second trip down.
Down at the bottom we all called it day. We can't wait until February to meet the newest little Bothager. Until then J&K!
So yes, this past weekend we went to the Schwarzsee, a tiny lake in the middle of somewhere....east of Interlaken. Our friends Josh and Katherine that live in Geneva met us there, we had been planning our get together for sometime now. Brooks will soon have a little friend as J&K are expecting a boy in February. 
Our trip to the lake was much needed to say the least, with all the sleep deprivation and constantness going on at home, and the endless working hours for poor ole Ryan, a weekend away was good timing. Around here I'm getting a taste of what it's like for couples who have one spouse working the day shift and one working the night. You pass in the hallway on your way out the door and that's about life for us right now. We basically see each other sleeping.....Ryan gets home and I am asleep and I get up to work the night shift, and he's asleep. Back to the Schwarzsee...... 
Saturday morning we headed out in our little red put put....that can barely keep up with the 120 km/hour speed limit. I kept looking down to make sure Ryan really was in 5th gear the engine was screaming so loudly at 117 km/hour. The drive was gorgeous, making me nostalgic and not wanting to move back. How can I leave this place, it's too gorgeous. I don't think I could ever tire of the Swiss scenery, and this time of year it's just striking with all the orange red and brown amongst the super bright green of the grass. It's really indescribable and I just kept telling Ryan over and over how beautiful this place is. We have less than 6 months here and seeing colors like this make it so hard to fathom leaving. 
Another thing hit me as we were driving: that we have 2 boys now, both in the back seat of our car. I couldnt believe that I now have 2 kids. My family is complete and it's a milestone that seemed so far away, and here we are. I think Im getting old. 
I really didnt know what to expect, I was silently thinking please oh please let this be just half as nice as the Oeschinensee where we had gone with J&K last summer. Rain followed us in to town and the lake looked small and meager. Despite grave weather we set out for a hike around the lake and with it the skies started to part and the beauty of this place began to reveal itself. 
Before setting out, Chance got to play in the rocks at the water's edge, building a damn and occasionally throwing a rock at a duck or two when we weren't looking. 
The 4km path brought us around the lake, thru a little leprechaun forest, past a river and back to our hotel on the waterfront. 
Along the way Josh and Katerine got to hear me ramble on about all the woahs and wonderfuls about becoming first time parents. 
We had a nice dinner that evening after a little swim in the indoor pool at the hotel. Brooks was such a trooper thru it all, just happy and easy going. He was staying true to his new name "Baby Lama", named after the comment that the baby osteopath made (who sees babies all day long). Brooks was so hungry at his last appointment but hardly made a fuss about it, and she said he was the most peaceful baby she had seen.....then she said "you know, they say the Dalai Lama was like this as a baby". And hence Brooks' new name "Baby Lama" came to be. 
Sunday we awoke to my favorite thing of any traveling.....BUFFET BREAKFAST. Then we took the chair lift up the Rigisalp to a great little panorama restaurant where Chance zipcorded on their playground. The boys then set out on monster scooters careening down the mountain. 
Meanwhile Katherine and I sipped on some delicious anise cinnamon tea that the man talked us in to, supposedly a house special. Katherine had two. 
They returned back again to the top to have lunch with us and gave us a head start to hike down the mountain. Then they came zooming past us for their second trip down. Down at the bottom we all called it day. We can't wait until February to meet the newest little Bothager. Until then J&K! 
