Monkey Bean-Sprouts: More Spring Time Fun and Visitors!

We are relieved that this spring is more "normal" than last with less rain and warmer weather. We've actually done a lot more to make the most of the good weather by heading out on little outings with friends and visitors.

It's been a long time since James and I headed up Monte Tamaro, and we certainly haven't done it with the kids. We decided to make a little morning out of it and bring a picnic up with us and it was a beautiful sunny day. The only thing we didn't bank on was the fact that there was still SNOW on top of the mountain! So thankfully I brought a couple of extra layers and we managed it fine, but it was definitely not what we had expected to see in mid May!

Surprised to find snow at the top!

Merry go round trio!

A mountain of snow!

View of the mountains

Liam and Cassidy on the outlook of the church

Family photo!

Me getting to do the zip line again

Now that's a ride with a view!

Cheesy grins on the "Grondolo"

We also had a long overdue visit from Amu and family. I feel like we've been inviting them to come since we got here, and almost 7 years later they finally took us up on it and came for a weekend. I'm just sorry that it was such a long drive for them for such a short stay. It would have been nice to have an extra few days. Luckily we had mostly good weather, so we had a chance to walk around town and show them the lake, as well as a hike on the percorsa vita (which took longer than it should! but was fun). We ate out on the patio at Bellavista to continue our enjoyment of outdoors, and spent an evening on our patio watching the sun go down.

Sunday was spend hanging out around the breakfast table talking and catching up. I am so happy to get to know Sana and Parya more as adults, since we have had very few meetings over the past years. And also for Amu and Auntie Fariba to get to know James a bit more. We also got to show them around campus with arts festival happening before they had to head back to Mannheim.

Lovely picture of Amu in the park downtown

Sana-lein all grown up

Selfies photo - Auntie Fariba and Parya!

Walking the percorsa vita was quite strenuous

Family photo on the percorsa vita

In other spring news, we are so excited to be getting more fruit from our strawberry plant this spring. Last year I think we had a measly two and this year we've had more than a dozen. They have been beautiful and delicious - or so the kids say. James and I only managed to eat half of one each!

Liam with a handful of our strawberries

Mims came for her spring visit a bit later this year, and I'm thankful we finally had some better weather! The last few times have been pretty dismal. The kids have been going through some challenges these past few weeks/months, so unfortunately there were some challenging times during her visit, but I still think that having Grandma come through regularly keeps them really familiar with her. Eowyn definitely has been a lot more particular about who can do things or not, and by who, it really ends up just being me. I feel a bit drained by it for sure, but I am reminding myself that these are just particular phases in these little beings' lives. Liam is still very much testing boundaries and feeling out the defiant thing. Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by it, as it seems like if it's this hard at ages 4 and 2 what will the teen years be like? But then I remember that James is an expert in teenagers so we'll be all set, right?!

During Mims' time we of course had a morning for her to visit Deborah the wonder hairdresser who works miracles. This time Eowyn had to come too because our babysitters had all left already, and amazingly she managed to hang out in the salon for the whole deal - (not a small feat since it was 1.5 hours!) We made a morning of it and had lunch out at Etnics and did a bit of wandering around town.

Mims all spruced up with a new haircut!

Look how shiny and smooth the back looks!

Over the weekend we had great weather and managed to finally take Mims out to see some sites. I had no idea she'd never been to Como, so we went for a morning and lunch to show her around a bit. We came across a mini train near the lake so we let the kids have a treat and ride on it. Unfortunately Eowyn was too young to go unattended so I had to go too. 6 laps later I was fairly nauseous, but the kids were loving it!

So we have definitely allowed special treats into the kids lives at this point. Gelato is one of them. But what I've learned is that one ice cream each is just a ridiculous amount, so I get one small ice cream cup with 2 flavors, and then I ask for 2 cones and put a small amount on each cone - enough for them to lick and enjoy for a bit, but not enough to go into a sugar coma, and normally there's enough left in the cup for me too! Win-win-win!

Train ride in Como

Photo by the lake

Liam monkeying around in the playground on the lake

Eowyn

Mims with a beautiful view of the mountains and lake Como behind her

A shoulder ride nap for Liam

Lunch at our favorite pizza place in the old town

The kids were being so cute - Liam giving Eowyn hugs and Eowyn playing peek-a-boo!

Rounding out the day trip with gelato - can you tell how pleased they are?

On sunday it was supposed to be another 78 degree day so we planned to go to the Lugano Lido for some lake and pool time. It was a bit cooler when we arrived because of some weird clouds sitting over the sun, but the kids had no problem splashing about in the 16 degree celcius water! We were joined by the Dibberts, Diloughrey's, Loves and Walser, so the kids had plenty to do. We started off playing in the sand by the lake, and later as the sun came out more we headed over to the kids pool and set up there so we could watch the kids in the water and have a picnic lunch. I'm amazing how much more confident both Eowyn and Liam have become since we were there last summer. They are fairly independent and don't need us to hover right over them, which is of course great for us.