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.

Mims and Eowyn on the beach at the Lugano Lido

Cassidy, Liam and Drake daringly venturing in the freezing water

Eowyn and Liam having a blast in the kiddie pool

Spring in Lugano and a visit from Grandparents!

For our second week of Spring Break we got to enjoy time with Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Jim and see some of the beautiful places right around us in full spring time glory.  We had a really decent week weather wise, though obviously much cooler than Egypt!  I love spring time here when the sun is out, because you really see just how beautiful the views are.  The greens are so lush, and the mountains are always gorgeous contrast to the sky.

We're grateful that James' parents were willing to extend their time in Europe to have some time with their grandkids.  It's nice to have these times in person to make sure the kids know their family and not just through a computer screen!

We took a lovely day trip to Como with James' parents and the Millers.  The weather was perfect and we had a chance to wander around the old town and lake area, have some tasty sushi for lunch, and gelato for dessert.  The kids had a great time in the playground along the lake and also chasing pigeons in the piazza.

Views of lake Como

Everyone but me! 

Eowyn enjoying a playground with a real view!

Chasing pigeons in the piazza!

Josh making Eowyn giggle

James chasing the kids! (or maybe they were chasing him?)

Beautiful wisteria in Como

We had a few colder days where we hung out more at home.  I just had to put in this photo of Eowyn in her poncho, because it's too cute!

 Towards the end of the week we had another amazing day so we head up to Corona to the azalea garden which was really in full bloom.  What an amazing view!  They also happen to have an awesome playground complete with a mini zip line for kids (and adults) amusement!  We brought a picnic lunch and the Dibberts joined us for a lovely morning of fresh air and fun.

Liam doing some rock climbing in the playground in Carona

Eowyn running the gauntlet

Cassidy and Liam hanging out on some modern art

Cassidy and Liam looking out at the view 

A family picture for once!

The view 

Coming down the hill - a view up to see all the flowers - amazing!

On their last morning here we took Grandma and Grandpa to a plant market in Stabio to buy our tomatoes and some swiss chard for the summer.  We normally go to the very big market, but this one was so sweet.  It was held in a garden that was set up with vegetable beds, an amazing chicken coop and a hutch with rabbits (including some babies!)  We wandered around enjoying the chilled out vibe of a place so connected with the planet.  I always feel great in these kinds of places, and I think the kids do too.  We spent quite some time watching the chickens, and Liam and Eowyn both touched a baby rabbit.  And we came away with our seedlings to plant!  

Watching the chickens

Spring Break in Sharm el Sheikh

What a blissful week we have just gotten back from - 90 degree weather and not a cloud in the sky!  As much as James and I love adventurous holidays, the truth is, with two toddlers, city breaks are not exactly restful.  We are definitely at a time in our lives when the all inclusive resort has great appeal.  And that's exactly why we had a perfect week in Egypt.  I'm sad to say we saw nothing of Egypt itself, but the Hilton Sharks Bay was a good fit for us, and to make the trip even better, we went with the Dibberts.  Nothing like built in friends and no work to be done!  Our days were filled with sun, swimming, food, drinks and sleep.  Perfect!

We flew through Cairo without much curfluffle on the way there, though I must say that the Cairo airport is a mysterious and dysfunctional place.  We were shuttled around from one cue to another with tons of people standing around but no-one really working.  At any rate, we got to our destination safe and without any major happenings, so no real complaints here.  The way back was a different story - 5 hours delay in Cairo!  YUCK.  But still not enough to erase all the good our vacation did for us.

The Hilton Sharks Bay is a huge resort, and divided into a deluxe and regular side.  Even though the regular side was under renovation, we hardly noticed as we were staying in a lovely two room suite on the deluxe side, with a balcony overlooking the middle of three giant pools.  The set up was genius.  The middle pool was built with a beach area along the edge of the pool which tapered into deeper water much the way a beach does into the sea (only there was no sand in the pool.  So you have all the advantages of playing in the sand, with none of the hassles for kids.  They were in heaven because they felt super confident and safe to play in the water without us standing over them supervising every step.  We could lay under umbrella shade on lounge chairs sipping mango juice while the kids went nuts.  Perfect!  And the pool had a fun water slide on the other side which the kids liked to do with us (sitting on our laps).  There were two pool bars in between the 3 pools, so snacks and drinks were always at hand, and our room was near by so we could easily head in for nap times etc.  The food wasn't as bad as I had thought - in fact most of the time I found the buffet to be great - especially in terms of more middle eastern cuisine.  I loved all the cucumber, tomato, yogurt, hummus etc!  What always makes it even better is that I didn't have to cook or clean up for an entire week.  That's worth a whole lot to me!  The kids also just loved being with Cassidy and Jamison, and we certainly had a good time too.

The Red Sea and beach area was on the older side of the hotel, so we could either walk the 10 mins to get there, or take a quick shuttle bus down (which the kids loved!) We only went a couple of times with the kids because they were, quite frankly, way happier on the pool beach, and more able to play and get into the water (the sea had barriers so you couldn't go out far from the beach because of the coral, so you had to instead walk out on the jetty and jump in where it was deep, if you wanted to swim and snorkel.  I'm glad I got a chance to snorkel twice, and I was impressed with the coral and fish life there (it didn't look like it would be much of anything, but turned out there's a whole lot more down there!)

So we had a happy week.  You learn that when the kids are happy, the parents can be happy too.  Too bad about the trip home, but even that wasn't the end of the world.  11pm arrival was a bit tough!

View from the main building on the deluxe side of the resort down to the other reception

Afternoon visit to the sea

The private beach and terraces overlooking the se 

View from the jetty of a happy afternoon

Moon rise over the desert

Heading over to dinner after our first day in the sun 

The pool beach - a perfect set up for the kids - Cassidy and Liam 

Eowyn felt very confident in the water and would wade in up to her shoulders in depth

Post nap ice creams and hanging out by the pool

The family - late afternoon on our second day

Horsing around in the water - Liam getting tossed about (the two windows on the second floor right by liam's head were our room 8112)

Eowyn's turn to fly high!

Coming down the water slide with Eowyn

The towel art was something else - everyday another character!  the kids loved it!

Eowyn taking a ride on mummy's back 

Daddy and kids 

Sweetness

Dibberts at lunch at one of the pool bars

Another day, another towel creature

Wednesday's afternoon visit to Soho Square (our only excursion off the hotel premises) And we ended up with Movenpick ice cream - ironic no?! 

Eowyn chose mango ice cream and ate it too fast - her first experience with brain freeze!

Bizarre bronze animals were everywhere in the shopping area - Liam and Cassidy getting cozy with a hippo

Riding the hippo - Carolyn, Cassidy, Liam 

Eowyn has a go with James watching out

browsing the tourist shops

Eowyn and the lion 

Liam and tiger?

Family photo in front of the mini golf area

sunset

Sunset and mountains

Family sunset shot

The resort, the mountains and the gorgeous sky

love those eyes!

Little lady

funny faces with monkey towel man

All 8 of us on our last night on the terrace of one of the bars