The summer still hasn't arrived here, and for the first time in as long as we've been in Lugano, we actually can't claim to have better weather than most places. The rain persists, and on the days it isn't raining we catch that glimpse of what we are much more used to. I guess it makes it easier to know we are spending 6 weeks away this summer.
Our two little sassers continue to delight us in so many ways every day. We love seeing how they are connecting with each other more. Eowyn with her kisses and leaning her head on Liam. Liam showing Eowyn how to do any number of things that she probably won't master for quite some time yet. One of their favorite times is still bath time. They somehow have such fun no matter what else might have been going on before. We play a lot with the letters (thanks Nass - those are still the number 1 bath toy in this house!), spelling out words, making towers of letters up the wall, finding the letters we call out, and for Eowyn, eating them! They also enjoy have some occasional splash time with the curtains drawn where they just both go crazy splashing as much as they can. Eowyn is pretty fearless in water and already goes on all fours and kind of swims around. So so cute to see!
April 20th
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| Bath time funny face |
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| Just the cutest little belly lady! |
We also recently made it to see some art, for the first time here in Lugano - well maybe my second. It was actually a fantastic ceramics exhibition of contemporary ceramics from about 40 different artists. I just loved seeing the work especially having been in the world at one point. The kids enjoyed it too, though we were terrified to let the run around as everything was obviously so delicate!
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Note that Liam is wearing his winter jacket on April 21st!
We really did have such high hopes for the spring, including making use of our new expanded outdoor deck. Unfortunately we've had few opportunities to have people over and enjoy the outside because of the rain. We had a few people over for after school drinks and with Oliver and Calvin in the mix, this is what happened!
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Poor Tim was willing to play with them for a few minutes and they all latched on and made him the pied piper! Somehow at some point they buried him in toys.
May 4-6th Saba and Nava visit
Our early May highlight was a visit from Saba and Nava, who we realized we haven't seen since before Liam was born. That just seems so weird! At any rate, they managed to coordinate their visit for the same long weekend, which we also had, and we had an absolutely lovely time. The kids warmed to them pretty quickly even though they have never met. Of course Liam took a bit to get their names down, so there was a lot of "I want this one to sit next to me!" pointing at Nava or "that one can come" referring to Saba. Thankfully after 3 days he had them figured out.
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| A beautiful early morning hanging out on the patio in pjs! |
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| Bathrobes out to keep warm - what's cuter than a baby in a bathrobe? |
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| Two babies in bathrobes! |
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| One of those precious moments when you're so glad your kids have each other |
We had a lovely, non stressful agenda to our weekend that mostly involved hanging out between meals or snacks. One such lovely snack was some yummy pastries with a hot chocolate at Al Porto.
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| Playing hand games with Saba and Nava |
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| Lovely Nava |
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| And Saba too! Wow, who's that handsome little boy!? |
After our cafe break the rain stopped and it was beautiful out. Perfect for a walk through town and along the lake into parco ciani. The kids love seeing the ducks and swans, and Liam was so enchanted with all the beautiful flowers he accidently picked one (and then felt terrible when I told him we can't pick those ones!)
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| Cousins by the lake |
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| Remorseful Liam |
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| Always the dancer - one of the things I love about Saba! |
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| What a cutie! Eowyn loved being allowed to just walk along without any real restrictions - she has grown so confident in her walking now! |
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| Wisteria background - Sometimes Lugano looks fake with it's perfect flower beds and everything in blossom! |
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| Here's a perfect example - azaleas in full bloom, warm weather and great company - that's what we've come to expect from Switzerland! |
And after a lovely day in town - more sunshine and dinner at the Bellavista!
On Sunday we took advantage of no rain and hiked up into the percorsa vita. There's a lovely wooded area with a picnic table where we enjoyed our lunch and the scenery. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse and we just managed to get home before the rain came in.
I'm so grateful for Saba and Nava's visit. It still feels like despite being here 6 years, very few family members have actually come to see us, so I'm always glad when someone new makes it. Despite all the years since seeing these two, it feels like old times. Love you guys! We are now looking forward to hopefully getting together again, but this time in the Hague!
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| James and his daisies - collected by Liam of course |
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| Walking the percorsa vita |
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| Silly daddy wearing Eowyn's hat! |
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| And the main event - food. Eowyn reaching for Nava's sandwich |
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| Smiley Saba Joon! |
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| As it got cooler we took extreme measures to keep our kids warm - Eowyn in James' t-shirt |
Mother's day turned out to be another beautiful day, and thank goodness, as it was our school Arts Festival Weekend. We had a fun morning exploring the art stations. Liam tried his hand at jewelry making (aka threading beads onto a string), and a bit of ceramics. Unfortunately things got under way too close to nap time and so we had to get the kids home before meltdown. We did manage a quick family portrait just before limits were reached.
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