Lots of Goodbyes

Today is a big day for us, a bit emotional as we say goodbye this afternoon to the Hogan family and also today is Chance's last day of Kindergarten. So it will be full of emotions today for Chance as well as he says goodbye to lots of friends at school who are moving on to new countries and new adventures. I guess being at an international school is much like living on an army base, there's tons of coming and going.
I can tell that the baby is coming in the next couple months as I am desperately trying to get all my projects current, the main one being our scrapbook/photo album of our experience here in Switzerland. In doing so, I am just amazed at how little Chance was when we first arrived, just over 2 and a half. Look at the little guy thenIt's really hard for me to believe that my little guy is now a 1st grader. Am I old enough to have a first grader? Here he is this morning before school.


So to me, today starts the beginning of the end as we know it here: The Hogan family is moving away tomorrow (Cyndy, Gabriella and Joe) and it marks the beginning of a mass exodus from Zurich that will happen throughout this next year. We have grown so close to all our friends here, and the group of friends that we have made here are a much tighter group than we have ever had before. We all look out for each other, support each other, we are each other's family since we have none here of our own. We've shared birthday's, Thanksgivings, vacations, and sunny Friday afternoons with these people. It's been such a blessing and now it's strange that for most of us, this year marks the end of our journeys here.
This past month we've had lots of goodbye parties for the Hogans, starting with a fun girls only dinner at a great restaurant Taos.

And then we got to have a family party for the Hogans at Jane's house the other weekend. We finally snapped the photo I've been waiting for to remember us all, here we all our, our family away from home. Unfortunately Jen's husband Mike was out of town and didn't make the photo.

And of course all these goodbyes are making me sentimental of Zurich itself, and so I've started me a list of all the things I need to buy before we move back home. First to be scratched off the list this week was the SBB Mondaine clock. This is the clock that is at every train station, tram stop, basically all over town. My life has been ruled by this clock and the Swiss public transport's punctuality, I thought it fitting to have one now for my own home!

Back from Texas

We've been back from Texas for 2 weeks now and finally have our ducks in order enough to post all the details about our 3 week trip back to Texas. It was so nice being back and seeing much missed family and friends.

This trip for me was that of reflection. It will be my last trip home until we move back at the end of next April and being home made me and Ryan realize that when that time comes, we will definitely be ready to move back and start the next phase of our life's adventure. There's something about being away for a long time, that when you return to the place of your roots, you realize that your culture runs deep in your veins. It's some kind of unexplainable familiarity that I felt when I was home. I could feel my own culture that I couldn't feel when I was living there and hadn't yet experienced living anywhere else. It was nice to be home and in that familiarity again. We are definitely Texas people and will always be most at home there.

We also realized while there that Chance really only knows Switzerland as his home. We were at Zilker Park having snow cones, and he sees a squirrel for the first time and shouts, "Look Mommy, there's a skunk"! And then one day we are driving down the road and he sees a yellow school bus (which he has only seen having one in his hotwheels cars) and says "Mommy, is that a REAL school bus?" It was so cute!
We arrived one week before my brother's wedding, which gave us ample time to get over jet lag, relax and bit and help get things ready for the wedding. We were able to spend a day at Zilker Park, and Chance was able to ride the little train with my mom (which I did as a little girl!).

We had Andrea's mom, sister and her boyfriend over one night for dinner which enabled us to get to know her family a little better before the wedding.

Umpa took us out one day to his brother's lake house so that Chance could go fishing for his first time ever, and he was delighted to catch a bunch of fish.

And then there was the wedding weekend, which was so nice to have all our friends and family in one place. We got to see many of our parents friends that we hadn't seen since our wedding 8 years ago, and it was also nice to have our family all in one place. The rehearsal dinner was a night to remember for sure. Chance had told us all along that he was going to give a toast. He wouldn't disclose what that toast was going to be, which made us a little worried to say the least. I knew somehow that he'd either chicken out, or get up and say something goofy cause he was embarrassed. So right before the well-anticipated moment, the kid informs us that he has not only one toast, but two, and still won't disclose what he is going to say. We knew this was about to be a disaster until....well just watch for yourself. He brought tears to our eyes with his composure, confidence, and unknown speaking abilities. There was a little funny party in the beginning however when he tells this poor mom trying to sooth her fussy baby to sit down! Sorry, I took the video with the camera turned to the side, forgetting that you can rotate video on the computer - just cock your head!

The wedding itself was gorgeous, on the edge of a cliff overlooking Lake Travis. It rained a little during the ceremony, but it made it memorable nonetheless and Andrea and Drew's happy spirit didn't let a little rain get in the way! My boys looked so cute in their tuxes!

The week following we went up to Dallas to spend our time with the Baganz family. Ryan's brother's family all came in from Florida, and so all 3 of Ryan's sibblings were in one place. Ryan hadn't been back home since X-mas 07 which was a long time! The last day we hired a photographer to take an updated family portrait since we had all the Baganz family in one place at one time.

The boys got to do lots of fun things like race car driving and fishing again, and as usual we ate our way thru restaurants and lots of hefty evening family meals.


Chance was in heaven when all the cousins brought their nintendo DS's so that they could play eachother in Mario Kart.

So returning back to Zurich has made me start the final phase of this journey. I'm definitely slowing down towards the end of this pregnancy, which will make summer long and hard having to keep an active boy entertained. Hopefully we can enjoy our last summer here. I've gotta say, I do love the cooler summer weather. Texas in May was already just too hot for us. We'll need to work on changing our blood back to tolerate such extreme heat before we move back!
We've uploaded the pics from Texas into 3 sections (in the right hand column)....time with my dad, time in Austin and at the wedding, and time in Dallas. The actual wedding pictures can be seen on the photographer's website under "recent weddings....Andrea & Drew".

TEXAS, Here We Come

Here's a little preview of us at my brother's wedding next week. Picture is compliments of the groom himself.

CAUSE FOR MASSIVE CELEBRATION

Today is BIG. We've had this little thing for over 8 years, nagging at us monthly for money, called a student loan. And today, YES, IT IS TOTALLY PAID OFF. It feld so good to hit that little button on my bank's Bill Pay. Good riddance. I now can afford to pay for diapers. Ryan, you're education has officially been paid for!

Relating

I've kept a link to this blog site that my friend turned me on to awhile back. I don't know the lady that keeps this blog but I really like her writing style although it's not for the weak or highly sensitive I've gotta warn you. I mention this cause she's also pregnant, about 10 weeks ahead of me, and I am really relating to her at this point in the pregnancy. Everything she mentions seems already to be me...the bad part is that she is 34 weeks along and I am ONLY ALMOST 24 weeks along and falling apart to the point that I feel 34 weeks along and sadly look it too. How many more days of this do I have to endure? 119 I think. I think I can, I think I can. Please can this baby be just a little early?

A little game

I'm bored, I'm waiting for my friends to arrive and I am thinking they are lost in Zurich with no cell phone. Baby is wondering when we are going to get lunch, so to take my mind off the never ending thoughts about food, I'm going to see how long it takes Ryan to notice this post. This picture I took of my hunk of a husband this weekend made me think of some childhood stories that his sisters like to tell.

Starting timer now... 12:26 p.m. May 6. Ready Go.




I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt
So sexy it hurts
I'm too sexy for my car too sexy for my car
Too sexy by far
And I'm too sexy for my hat
Too sexy for my hat what do you think about that

I'm a model you know what I mean
And I do my little turn on the catwalk
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah
I do my little turn on the catwalk

Sunday Fun with Friends

Sunday was gorgeous and we were given an invitation from some friends to come out to their house along the lake in Pfaffikon and enjoy the day with a BBQ. 2 other families came along. I know all the moms from working on the board together at school, and all the kids are in the same class at school, so it made for a great day of fun for all ages.

I love the cultural exchange that get togethers like this bring. We were there with a Finnish family, a Dutch family, and a Dutch-Danish family. We got to try "frikandel" a Dutch type sausage that they split length-wise and fill with ketchup, mayo and chopped red onions. I have to admit that I was glad it was smothered in sauces cause the actual looks of the sausage is quite gross....but it tasted pretty good.

No, this picture was not taken in Switzerland, I pirated it from the web. The give away? Do you see any cars over $50K in the picture?

Our Finnish friends homemade a cinnamon roll type specialty from Finland called "Korvapuusti" meaning something to the effect of "ear lobes" from the shape they make them in to. Me and baby ended up eating our fare share to say the least.

The BBQ was very diffferent than we are used to in Texas. We started eating at about 1:30 and didnt stop until about 3:30 with rounds and rounds of meat, potatoes and salads. We then took the kids for a walk around the lake and saw some fantastic views of the Alps in the distance.

Along our walk, I even got to see a "Stracciatella" Chicken (also known as "chocolate chip") wearing a very nice English-day-at-the-races style head dress. This put me in the mood to go back and load up on ice cream.


Then it was back to the house around 5 p.m. for dessert and coffee (yes, the ice cream I had been be salivating for since seeing my chicken friend). Us Americans who dine with the old folks around 6 p.m., were then wondering....are we supposed to eat dinner again in just under an hour?

And no day is complete without a bunch of goofy boys either.

Check out the pictures column for lots of pics from the day!

Weekend Fun with the Bothagers

Our good friends Josh and Katerine came to visit us from Geneva this past weekend. I had my fingers crossed the entire week prior that the weather would cooperate so that they could see Zurich in it's prettiest. And it did, yeah!

Before Josh and Katherine arrived, Chance decided to set up his "work"....it was so cute. He laid out paper, pens, his "computer", calculators and his "work clothes" and then proceeded to make himself addition math problems and type them in to the calculator.


We set out for the routine Zurich tour, first taking the train up to Uetliberg, the tallest point in Zurich, so they could see Zurich from the top. It was such a clear day that we were very fortunate to get such good clear pictures of the Alps. I hadn't see the Alps for months!

Afterwards we ventured down towards the lake where we ate at a beer garden on the water and soaked in the evening sun. The next day we went to see the Zurich marathon and trompsed around old town, eating lunch at a kebap place. Ryan was able to snap lots of great pics of Zurich while we were out and about, which I've posted to our photos. Chance was quite the poser that day, which luckily kept him occupied. He was such a good sport about getting dragged about all weekend!

Josh snapped a family photo of us while we were down strolling the lake, and the first thing that came to mind as I was looking at these pictures, was HOLY BELLY BATMAN. Perhaps these Euro moms that keep telling me how BIG I am, actually have some truth to what they are saying. Maybe I should wear a sign that says, "no, I am not due tomorrow".

At lunch in the old town, we looked up to see an advertisement for a hotel, and I just had to take a picture to prove that yes, there are cheap hotel rooms in Zurich, but if you stay there you might just get a little stinky.


Click HERE to see Josh and Katherine's pictures.

Thumbs Up, Mom and Dad

Today we went for our 21 week check up....only 132 more days to go. At the rate that my belly is growing I am hoping that we can cut that number down just a little bit! These very frank Euro moms keep telling me how "BIG" I look already... I've grown to appreciate the American superficiality of "oh you look so great", it's just so much nicer even if it isn't true!

So on for the more important info. We had the very thorough sonogram today, which I don't remember having with Chance. First order of business.....The baby is DEFINITELY a boy! We can rule out any previous question, guess we better start thinking of names!

The technology was amazing. First he measured the head, which everything was right on target, good shape, already very brainy. The doc checked out what he called "the small brain" which was somehow lost in translation as to what it is really medically called, but he was meaning the part of the brain that attaches to the neck...to rule out any spinal deformities. Then we saw the 4 chambers of the heart pumping, and the shape of the aorta. Then the kidneys, the stomach, bladder (it was full of water!), and spine all looked great. We saw each bone of the legs and arms and each of the little fingers and toes. They're all there!

It was hard seeing much on the 3D imaging this time. I guess to really see the face the baby has to be face out with lots of fluid in front of him. He was face down so all we could see was his little shoulder and back, and part of the back of his head. His backside sure was cute even though he was a little camera shy! At the beginning of the appointment he was head down on my right side, and then by the end, he was head up on my left side. I didn't realize he moves SO much.

So all in all it was a great appointment! Can't wait to meet the little guy.

Yeah For a Fast Approaching Summer

It's time yet again for the Burning of the Boog. Sometimes you just have to wonder about these strange Swiss traditions and the trauma it inflicts on the kids. First you have Schmutzli, Santa's evil helper that takes bad kids in to the forest in his napsack and beats them with his stick. And then there's the burning of the boog, kinda like our groundhog day. At least our groundhog day features a cute little groundhog that peeks his head out. Well here in Zurich it's a different story.

We ventured down to the lake yesterday with Chance, Ava and Gabriella and moms to see the Sechselauten parade and there at the head of the lake was the giant snowman atop a huge bondfire, ready to be burned at the stake. Chance just didnt seem to understand why anyone would want to burn Frosty the Snowman. But they do, and the faster his head explodes, the quicker summer will come. The moment the Swiss are looking for happens in the video at 2:54. It took under 13 minutes this year.......bring on summer baby, I am done with this drab winter stuff!