At last another day of sun. It's amazing what a little sun can do. I need to remember this when we move back....the endless days of winter grey, it's so depressing! It was so nice to walk the lake today and have to squint!

So the Chance quote of the day was:

(we are in Chance's class room changing him for athletics after school, and his friend Lavinia is there)

CHANCE: Go somewhere else Lavinia, I am changing now and you can't look.
(She does something else and he changes his pants. Then she comes back as we are changing his shirt)
CHANCE: Don't look Lavinia I am changing my shirt.
ME: Oh it's okay boys can change their shirts in front of girls......you swim without a shirt on at the pool you know.
CHANCE: Well, okay Lavinia but if you watch you are going to see some really big muscles.
(He takes off his shirt and flexes really big for her)
LAVINIA: WOAH CHANCE, you really do have big muscles.
CHANCE: See, Lavinia, I told ya you'd see em.

13 days, inexcuseable

That's right, it's been 13 days since my last post. I keep looking at the short cut link to my blog page up at the top of the internet explorer, thinking that I better write something, just something. But ever since I started FaceBooking, my mouse just some how gravitates to the FaceBook ikon instead of our blog. Well that, and basically there's just nothing too exciting to put on here right now. We've been hit by the flu, barely survived that, and now it's just back to the daily grind of commuting hell. We spend the weekends recovering and doing nothing, so really there's nothing to write. But there will be in a couple weeks, so be on the look out for some exciting times ahead.

Quote of the Day

"Mommy, you know what my favorite countries are? Zurich, Texas, Austria, and Switzerland."

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Close your eyes. Envision stepping in to a very cold restaurant freezer, and then staying in there for awhile. This is how life in Zurich is right now. Every time I leave the house, it's like walking out into the ice age. Actually, speaking of ice age, I think global warming might be currently on hold in Zurich until after winter when I am sure it will resume. It's been below freezing for as long as I can remember and it's so cold that I have to maintain a steady stream of hot tea going in to the mouth to keep my body warm! At least yesterday and today there has been sun. We were beginning to doubt that it would ever come back, I really think it's been several months since we have seen it shine on Zurich. Clearly all this weather and darkness is making me a little grouchy!
Today Ryan and I had lunch. I was supposed to "buy" since I won the poker winnings from last nights game we played in bed before going to sleep. Ya, I smoked him. Finally I won something!
Chance has been cute this week. He seems happy to be back at school and eagerly ran in to play with his friends hardly saying goodbye to me. Coming home yesterday was difficult.....I want this residual snow on the ground to go away so we can actually walk to the tram without stopping 52 million times to throw snowballs off the bridge and watch them crash. Maybe today I'll just let him throw away and time it. I guess I should let him show me how to enjoy the little things in life, especially snow since when we move back, we won't see very much of it anymore.
Last weekends quote of the day was...
Chance: "Santa brings presents to nice kids"
Me: "And what about the kids that don't act nice"
Chance: "Well, Santa calls his boss and he comes and takes them in to the forest. (He's talking about Schmutzli). They have to stay there without food until they are nice again"
I have to keep eating up all this lovey-ness that Chance is exhibiting these last 2 weeks. He's just a delight and I am loving his willingness to cooperate!

Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa

Chance doesn't start back to school from the Christmas holidays until Monday, so I've been trying to fill our week with some special mommy and Chance time. Actually I am totally eating up this phase Chance is going thru where he tells me incessantly that he loves me, and continuously comes up to me giving me kisses. Maybe he drank some like-your-mommy potion while I wasn't looking, cause this isn't usually the case. Usually I am not on the top of the list, nor is Chance all that pleasant to be around 100% of the time, but in the last week I have genuinely enjoyed our time together.

So all day yesterday I made a big deal out of seeing this movie together. The English version was only showing at 6:30 p.m., so I played it up as being able to stay way up past bedtime. He even got to have M&M's which for him is very rare, given all his allergies. He was so excited about the M&M's that he sat in the movie seat with the bag open in his hand just touching them and looking at them until the movie started. Then he ate one by one VERY slowly, and then told me to tell him when the movie was almost over cause he wanted to save the rest until the end. It was like eating gold for him. During intermission (there is intermission at movies over here), we went next door to get Movenpick ice cream (better than Blue Bell I'd have to admit). My love for mint chocolate chip ice cream has been passed down thru the gene pool cause the kid goes crazy over that stuff.

Movies here are so cool cause you book your tickets and seats online and so there is no rush to get to the movie early. There is no race to get the best seat cause you have already picked it out. And if you choose to buy your tickets at the box office, you have to choose your seats from a tv screen before purchasing them. This eliminates so much stress. We got to the theater about 15 minutes early and had to wait outside until 5 minutes before to be let in. The intermission is so great.....about 15 minutes long to go pee and buy some goodies. And I must say that the theaters are spotless and don't stink of rotting popcorn and sticky floors like the ones in the US do. Funniest thing is that the Swiss like to stay until all the credits are done rolling, so if you want to get out of your seats beforehand, you are a little stuck!

Christmas in Austria

We're back from the Achensee, with tears in our eyes. I never wanted to leave the paradise that was our week over Christmas! Since mom was delayed a day, we picked her up from the airport with bags-a-loaded and headed straight for Austria. Chance helped keep Mimi awake for most of the day despite jet lag and little sleep. I looked back a couple times on our 5 hour drive to see her head bob once or twice, but that didn't last long sitting next to Chance! Ryan was excited cause the car rental place gave us an Audi....I was expecting the usual jalopy but somehow luck was in our favor, or should I say Ryan's. For those of you that don't know, the boy dreams of his S5, and while the station wagon was not quite that, at least he was able to start wooing me in to believing that an Audi was the car of our future. The night before our departure, the snow storms came and made driving for us a little difficult. I was so glad Ryan was driving through the maze of windy roads in the pouring snow. We did alright on the manicured highways until we reached the final town, in which we were supposed to ascend over a mountain to our resort. We had seen signs all over for "Ketten" but not knowing what it meant we pressed on....soon to be sliding backwards with no traction. We we're going to make it. We turned around, rather we drove backwards down the hill until we could turn around without sliding off the road to as gas station to ask about snow tires, otherwise known as "Ketten". Luckily the man didn't have any to sell us but knew of away to the resort via main roads that would be flatter and without snow. So we made it, and stepped out of the car to a week of paradise at the Sport Hotel Achensee. The hotel was amazing. My friends all rant and rave about the Kinderhotels but I didn't know what to expect. It was beyond 5 star to me. We had a nice suite with a bunkbed room for mimi and Chance and our room looked out on to the ski lift.....it was so close to us that we shined Ryan's new flashlight from Christmas on the lift from our bedroom window. This place thought of everything for the kids..from stools and small potty seats in the rooms to early dinner "Kids" buffet and a kids club that Chance begged to go to every night. Most every evening Chance would eat with the kids at 5:30 supervised by the kids club teachers and then would be escorted down to the kids club to play and have fun while we ate our 2 hour dinner of amazing food. I've never been to a hotel like this before! Sunday and Monday Chance tried out ski school. Not sure if it's age, personality or mothers-side genetics but that didn't last long before he called it quits to the skiing and opted for swimming in the indoor pool or sledding with mom. Chance woke up the morning of his birthday saying "I'm 5, I'm 5, I'm really really 5!" It was so cute, I wish I had caught it on video. The birthday morning started with opening presents and then we headed down to breakfast, my favorite meal of the day....to overindulge as usual. The table was done up with streamers and balloons and the hotel brought out a cake for breakfast with a firework on top! Later in the day we celebrated again with a cake I had made and then in the evening at the kids club they had a party for him there. I hope he felt celebrated!

Christmas Eve we took a day trip to Austria to see the town and the last day of the Christmas markets. Mimi went wild at the markets going from stand to stand to see what was on offer. All the streets were decorated so nicely and it really helped us get in to the spirit of things! That evening we returned back to the hotel lobby to await Santa's arrival. It was magical. We could see the snow falling outside the large lobby doors. The kids were all gathered around the front of the lobby singing silent night and other songs in German. The lights were dim....and then he appeared. A horse drawn sleigh pulled up with Santa on the back, like out of a book. The hotel had all the parents leave a gift at the front desk with your kids name on it....and Santa passed one out to each kid. Chance was up front the whole time right near Santa patiently waiting for his name to be called. It really was like out of a book. And then he drove off on the sleigh!

Christmas morning we opened all the gifts Santa had brought throughout the night in our hotel room. The hotel was so nice to give us our very own decorated full size REAL Christmas tree for our room, it was fantastic! The rest of the days were great for all....Chance and I sledded, Mimi swam and Ryan skied. Mornings Ryan took some ski classes so he could improve his lightening fast speeds in his new boots, and in the afternoons he joined me for some cross country ski lessons in the mountain valley. I have to say, I really took to it.....well took to liking it. I wouldn't call it good skiing but still it was fun. I took a lesson the first day without Ryan thinking I'd get a little ahead of him, but on my second day Ryan smoked me from the get go! He got some pretty good footage of me falling down the hill but I am still contemplating posting that video! Ryan talked me in to the Sauna one night for my first time. Thought I was going to melt or dye of heat inhalation, but after a couple minutes it was kinda fun. There was an ice grotto room which was so neat.....very cold inside but after the sauna we could sit there in bathing suits without feeling cold! All week at the kids club, the kids were working on a performance which we went to go see on Friday night in the theater at the hotel. Chance had a couple great roles. We're working on the video but it should be posted HERE soon. The last day we wiped our tears and daydreamed about how quickly we could get ourselves back to this place. We stopped over in Innsbruck for some lunch and a quick look around. We thought it to be even more charming that Salzburg!

And this past week we've been laying low with colds and coughs, but enjoying Mimi being here with us and relaxing. Mimi flies off Sunday back to Austin. We'll see her soon in May for the big Drandrea shindig.

White Christmas Update

There's been a lot going on in the last couple weeks, and I've been a post slacker! My mom was supposed to arrive today but her plane was unable to get out of Austin cause of fog, so she will come tomorrow. I'll have to ask Pappy about this......why does fog hinder flights? Planes can fly through the dark, why not thru the fog?

Here in Zurich, it's been a very white Christmas season lately. Since we didn't get much snow growing up in Austin, everyday that I walk outside and see it is like seeing it for the first time. It's so beautiful how it lays across the tree limbs, blankets the ground and makes the forests sparkle. Check out my favorite Japanese Maple tree that you see when you walk out my front door. It's normally bright red with leaves! Yesterday we were walking to school and I could open my mouth and it just poured in (luckily the Swiss air is fairly clean, no acid snow here hopefully!). Chance loves it too, which makes morning commutes interesting to say the least. We are constantly stopping to stomp, roll or jump in the snow, touch it, throw snow balls, you name it. I've finally realized the importance of having him wear snow pants on top of his school clothes. Funny how it's taken me awhile to figure that one out! We're on the platform here just having gotten off the train on the way to school...

Here's a little taste of our commute. Chance is standing just outside the train station where we get off to walk down the long side walk to school. You can see the edge of his school building in the top left of the picture...it's a long walk when you're constantly trying to get the munchkin to stop playing and start walking!

I thought this picture of a stream that we walk past was so beautiful.

Yummy. Just don't pick up the yellow snow.

Last Friday, Chance had his school Winter Show. He had a very small part in which his class sang a couple songs. There was a story line that went something like...the kids were mad cause they couldn't have a snow ball fight, so they sang this song. Sorry, you'll have to tilt your head until I can figure out how to rotate the video. Chance is in the red and black hat.

After the show, we jumped in our rental car and headed for Geneva to spend the night with our friends Josh and Katherine.

Saturday morning we drove to Chamonix. Josh and Ryan headed straight for the slopes and Katherine, Chance and I attempted to stroll around the town. We did some window shopping but mostly tried to keep Chance out of too much trouble. Saturday night we went to a very nice dinner and Sunday were hoping for the beautiful weather that Saturday brought. Much to our dismay Sunday was very windy and so basically the whole town shut down. Katherine and I had high hopes of trying out snow shoeing, but after our Saturday inquiries about a guide, we decided otherwise. We asked about hiring a guide vs doing it ourselves, and from what we could make out from several people's broken English......there was quite a risk of avalanches. I thought it best to preserve my life and not go with the risk of death. But the bad weather wouldn't have let us go anyway, and I was also disappointed that the lift to the Mont Blanc panoramic was closed. So we made it all the way to Chamonix to see Mt. Blanc and I never got to see it! So it goes I guess. But it was still fun to see our friends and get out of town for the weekend.
We wish everyone a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!! WE love you and miss you!

Rescue Mission in IMAX

My cousin Lee DePalo is a colonel in the Air Force and recently lead a rescue mission training in which IMAX was there to film. We are looking forward to seeing the movie when it is out in the theaters, and are proud of Lee for being in charge of it all!

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Strange Santa Encounter

As a little background information to this post.....in Switzerland Santa doesn't come on Christmas Eve to bring presents.....instead he traditionally makes his appearance around town and to schools on December 6, St. Nicholas Day. This man is known as “Samichlaus” – the Swiss-German name for Saint Nicolas. And Samichlaus doesn’t work alone! His helper is a hooded man named “Schmutzli”, who is usually dressed in black or dark brown and sometimes is covered in what looks like coal. Think...grim reaper. Even adults get a little creeped out by him. So if your wondering who brings presents on Christmas, it's the "ChristKind" and angel that is the image of baby Jesus.
Swiss tradition has it that parents often coordinate with the local Samichlaus-Schmutzli team, providing inside information regarding the child’s behavior over the past year. Samichlaus then makes a note of these points in his “book” and gently reminds the children of their dirty deeds from the last year! Supposidly if the child has been bad then Schmutzli has to get involved. Covered in what looks like coal, he may leave a grubby smudge on a child’s cheek or hands. In the olden days, he used to scoop up bad kids, stuff them into a burlap sack and carry them out the door! And I guess it's still used as a threat! Then, before Samichlaus says goodbye until the next year he gives the children traditional mandarin oranges, peanuts, chocolate and gingerbread.

So I got all this information from a website but had never experienced it first hand. Last week my neighbor stopped me on the street as I was coming and she was going and told me that she had hired SamiClaus to come see her little girl, and that afterwards he'd make his way down to our apartment and see Chance too. So we were all geared up for a visit from Santa. Chance was so excited, until the door opened. It was the worst Santa costume you could have ever imagined, and to Chance's dismay both Santa and Schmutzli were girls. Then to add more to the already devastating sight, they proceeded to sing us a song. Hmmm.....how about Jingle Bells, We Wish You a Merry Christmas.....ANYTHING Christmas related in Swiss German? No, just wait......you just have to see it for yourselves. Ryan and I are still shaking our heads from this encounter. Later we asked Chance if it was the real Santa....he said no, it was Mrs. Claus.

Gobble Gobble

Somehow I let Thanksgiving come and go without a post. I've got to say it has become one of my favorite celebrations while here in Switzerland, perhaps cause it is one of the only familiar traditional celebrations just like we do it back home. Since we are away from our own families, we have all come together on special occasions to act as a family away from home. Thanksgiving is made so simple, with the host making the turkey and the guests bringing the rest. No one is really over worked cause we each bring 2 or 3 things and the feast is made! We had such a lavish dinner, it couldn't have been better. I am definitely taking this potluck idea home with me for future Thanksgivings once we are back in the US!