Like always, the end of the school year was a bit of a mad dash and a blur activity. We seemed to have people coming and going for most of May and June this year, so there has been the added excitement of someone else in the house with us for quite some time. And of course there were good byes to be said, accompanied by social events to spend time with people.
The good byes at TASIS this year were a bit tough. I still haven't processed that the Millers are gone, and of course saying good bye to my friend Arrington was rough to say the least. We also said good bye to Lauren and her family, which is a shame as they were only here a year, but were great to hang out with. And then there was Josh Keith (though we will see him in NYC when we go!), the Bendels, and not TASIS related, but our dear babysitter for 4 years - Callie. We will really miss having her here and helping out with the kids. As it turned out, she ended up staying with us for a week after all her graduation stuff, which worked out to help us after Mims left and when there were some of the end of year things for us. It was also when our cherry tree finally ripened and what a great loot we got from that tree this year!
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| Last hang out at Lauren's place - Eowyn, Lauren and Lilly, Cassidy and Jamison |
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| Cherry picking off the patio |
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| Our last day with Callie before she left for her African adventure |
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| Cherry loot |
Liam got this awesome puzzle (with 200 pieces I think), of the map of Europe for his birthday. We had kept it in a cupboard for a few months because we thought it was a bit advanced for him - it says 7+ on it. But he wanted to try and do it, and after the first few times when mims was here, he is getting really good at doing more and more of it on his own. It's quite impressive to watch!
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| Liam and his puzzle! |
As Liam's school year started to wind down they had another little spectacolo to highlight the "grandi's" who are moving up to the elementary school. Liam's roll, because he's just a medio, was small, but still fun to see him in his school again. He was a farfalle - a butterfly! They also had a potluck lunch outside afterwards, so it was nice to see some of the other families and see the kids playing together. Unfortunately James didn't make it, but Eowyn and I took photos and videos to show him afterwards!
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| Our little Farfalle! |
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| Eowyn in her BAPRIBAP senegalese dress! |
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| The Miller boys sharing a swing |
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| More sibling care |
June 6th was also our end of year faculty event. This year it was held in the Skipper's garden and there were a huge number of kids roving around. Some of them were decidedly rough and tumble and we spent much of the time fielding Eowyn and Liam away from the brawls and towards other stuff. The event itself was underwhelming with no dinner served and very dull farewell acknowledgements for those leaving, but it was nice to see some people one last time. Anna also arrived from NYC that morning, so we dragged her along to keep her awake!
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| Kiddo madness |
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| Helping Liam climb a tree seemed less dangerous than letting him run with the bigger kids |
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Trying to get a photo of a lot of the littles at TASIS this year!
Lilly, Delaney with Evalyn, Greer with Holly's baby, Nathaniel, Eowyn, Jamison, and Iona with Maddux (and Alexi) |
So basically 3 days after Callie left Anna arrived for a 2 and a half week visit. Her first time in Europe! We were glad to have her and only wished we could have showed her a bit more. Unfortunately, even though school had ended James was still caught up in meetings for the week after, so she was stuck hanging out with me and the kids for much of that time. We did manage to do a day trip into Milan on Saturday though, so after much traffic and 2 hours drive we made it in and had quite a lovely day around the Duomo. The plan had been to go early and be back around naps or late naps, but because of the traffic we ended up getting there later and just staying till dinner. Thankfully both kids took a nap in the strollers so we didn't have meltdowns!
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| Anna and James and the duomo |
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| Eowyn pushing Liam! |
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| Asleep! |
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| More nap time! |
James took Anna on the percorsa vita walk with the kids to show her some swiss nature. The kids had a blast doing various obstacles and finding wild strawberries to eat!
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| Cheese! |
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| Liam leaping over logs |
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| Wild Strawberry Picking! |
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| Goofy time - Anna with the kiddos |
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| Taking a drink from the fountain on the way out |
We also had one last BBQ with the Millers before they left. We're so happy for them to be moving on to things that they are excited about, but sad to see them go for our own sake. The kids were really funny - trying to play Uno (which was Liam's first time and Eowyn had no clue what was going on!)
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| A riveting game of uno |
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| Sad face Josh |
Other random things we did with Anna before we left for our week in Greece (with her!): a trip downtown to see the park, lake and the walking area
A work dinner for the administration with family invited along - Birrificio pizzo and melting down children!
A visit to the lugano lido and the UBS pool on some hot days!
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| UBS pool - Eowyn snagged someone's toy! |
Playing at the square one last time with Cassidy and Jamison.
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| The "bus" game |
I will post a separate one for our trip to Greece, but just to finish off Anna's visit, when we got back James took her to walk from Corona up San Salvatore. The kids went too, but Eowyn ended up in the pouch (or as she says "the couch") for most of the time. The views weren't so clear at the top, but it's a pretty good walk!
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| Anna and Liam |
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| Sibling love - holding hands! |
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| At the top with daddy |
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| Cheeky chimps! |
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