Fall Visit from Grandma - Oct, 2014

We loved having Grandma Gail visit us this Fall, despite the fact that I also happened to dislocate my pinky toe AGAIN, the morning after she arrived.  I'm actually astounded that this keeps happening!  This time was once again, on the beloved high chair (we should really get rid of it!)  Anyway, somehow we still managed to do a few things together and I'm thankful that the injury happened when Mims was here and just before a long weekend so that I could slow down and recover a bit.  I am also grateful to all my friends and James and Mims for stepping up and helping me out with getting kids to school and back and everything else!  

So back to Mims visit.  We actually had really good weather for most of her stay!  Hurray!  I was also so happy because she did a Family Virtues Workshop for me and my friends, which I think was really meaningful for all of us.  We are at least now working on a shared languaging, which is so helpful.  Meanwhile, thanks to a long weekend we had a chance to take Mims up to Luzern for a day trip.  It was cool but ended up being a lovely day, and we did all our favorite things - Lunch at hotel Balance, Berliner, Bretzels, Tidbits for take away dinner, and a good amble about the walking area!  Oh and Starbucks!  

Mims, James and the kids also went to the Bellinzona castles and had a great time.  Unfortunately I can't seem to find any of the photos...During the week Eowyn, Mims and I went downtown for a morning so that Mims could get her haircut and then just a wander around.  Generally it was good times.  I love that the kids are more open to having Grandma do things, and things are slowly improving so that Eowyn is willing to be a bit more friendly with her!

Enjoying a new book with Grandma

On our drive up to Luzern

Sunny mountain views 

Luzern is a pretty city

Cheeky Liam

Our Starbucks stop in the late afternoon meant Gelato for the kids!

The old bridge

Great Daddy moment on the river 

Watching the swans

Almost a perfect picture (thanks Eowyn!)

Wandering around the old town is always better with a balloon

Admiring the buildings

Nothing better than a sleeping babe!

Last bits of August and school starts again

After a fairly dismal rainy August we are back in the swing of things with the new school year.  The weather, surprisingly, has improved somewhat.  I still feel like we were short changed on summer, but such is life.

August was a busy month of preparations.  James getting back to work and getting ready for the school year, and Liam getting ready to go back to Asilo.  We did let Liam go to the second session of TASIS summer camp CDE program, which is 3 weeks long, and he had such a good time.  I think it helped a lot since the weather was so bad, to give him new fun things to do.  He was in a "minnow" and got to be part of a little Italian class and that was a good reminder for him before heading back to his regular school.  They did go on some fun outings to Swiss Mini and a farm where they made their own cheese.  They also made pizza at school and had a little Renn Faire. He did a fair amount of art and sang songs and such.  All in all it went over well, in part because his best friend Drake was there, and in part because people spoke English and that made it easier for him. Of course Eowyn wasn't a fan of all this.  Poor girl was stuck at home with me, running errands and other fun things.  We did do some fun art projects and such to keep ourselves busy, and we even had a mini weekend away for James' father's day/birthday gift.

Liam heading to CDE summer camp - first day! Eowyn didn't want to let go!

Open morning for us to see his camp and his Italian class - Eowyn was very interested

Closing day of summer camp - they had a little singing presentation with the whole CDE

Just before the crazy orientation stuff began we took the kids up to Splash and Spa as a last family day together.  It was so nice - especially with the kids much more confident in the water.  We all had a great time.  Unfortunately we were having so much fun I forgot to take photos!

Since then I've had a lot to get organized, and it's been just busy in that way things are before a rhythm sets in.  We are just now beginning to find a rhythm.  Liam is back at Asilo and his second year seems to be going better than the first.  With some of the older boys out of the school he doesn't have as much aggression coming out, which is a relief.  His camp had him stay till 3pm every day, so he got used to that, and has asked if he can stay at asilo till 3:30pm.  I still feel like it's a really long day for a 4 year old, so I have agreed that twice a week he can stay late.  This way he still has a nap time on the days he comes home early.  They do have nap at school, but it's short, and I know he isn't sleeping.  I thought he might be done with naps entirely, but what we saw when he was at camp, was that as the week went on and he hadn't napped he was just not able to keep it together.  So we are back to resting properly at least when he's home.  He now has all his younger friends at school with him too, which is really sweet.  He naturally tends to watch out for them and do things for them, which I love to see.

Otherwise I have started doing a few workbook things with Liam to try and give him a little bit of learning.  If he were elsewhere he'd be in Pre-K or K and they would be working on things like writing letters and such.  Unfortunately the Swiss system keeps it very much just play at his age, and doesn't allow for the curiosity that kids have to be explored.  Anyway, he's not super gungho but he definitely likes to work on things from time to time.  I also recently got Eowyn a couple of books she could "work" in too, so she can be just like him!

Liam's first day back at Asilo - he is still a Medio and Cristina is gone so it's Simona most days

My work this year is a bit different.  Somehow I managed to add a second parent class a week and it has been very well received.  This was the first week, but I have around 20 people in each class (some are doing it twice a week).  I'm really excited about that, though a bit disappointed to have lost my privates to those classes!  I am also subbing from time to time at the Yoga Roof - a yoga studio down town.  They approached me, and I felt like it would be nice to extend myself past what I do at TASIS a bit.  I am grateful that my summer was as full of yoga for me as it was.  Even after I got back I made it to class 2 or 3 times a week here - a real record for me!

Eowyn is now potty trained and sleeping in a big girl bed!  We transitioned her to her big bed near the beginning of August, just after our weekend in Piemonte.  The potty training started around the same time but the first week we were not very proactive.  It took about 10 days for her to get into the real swing of things, but after a few random attempts at going on the potty, I told her she could start wearing her undies.  It really did the trick.  She had a few accidents with peeing the first day or two and then we've only had 1 other pee accident since then, and it's been a month!  Unfortunately pooping isn't going quite as smoothly.  At least she isn't point blank refusing to poop on the toilet (like Liam did!) She will go on the toilet regularly.  The problem seems to be that she can't tell she needs to go until something is already out.  It's normally small, but it happens quite often.  We've definitely had many days with no accidents in that department, but it's not quite resolved yet.  None the less, we are very proud of her getting through this next phase, and not a moment too soon!  She was almost out of our imported diapers!  Oh, and she has been wearing a diaper at nap time and bed time, but never seems to use it at nap time, which is awesome.  She even woke up one day from her nap and said "Mummy you didn't put a diaper on but I didn't pee in my bed!"
So now we will see what the next few months bring!  I foresee wet diapers at night for a while yet, but there are worse things.  So many changes happening these days!

Eowyn spends a lot of time in the bathroom these days now that she potty trained!

Cool Cat!

Favorite Eowyn words that I can't bring myself to correct:
Snoodie - smoothie
backwehrds
Elavin - Evalyn

Postponed Papa's Day in Pieomonte!

For Father's Day this year I wanted to take James on a trip to Piemonte to this beautiful villa I found - Villa Pattono!  Because of the timing of things, we were in Greece for the actual day and of course had our big Canada trip right after that, so we planned it for August after we got back.  To make it even more fun we decided to invite the Doves to come with us and enjoy a long weekend there.  We left Friday at lunch and were there by mid afternoon, and then had 2 nights to have a good time.  The villa itself has been so beautifully restored.  It's exactly the type of place I like.  It also happens to have a wonderful spa and an amazing heated outdoor pool.  The weather was decent especially in comparison to Lugano, so we truthfully spent more time at the pool than anywhere else, because that was what the kids enjoyed doing most!

Liam 

Having a snack post swim!

Liam and Stirling Monkeying around at the villa pre-dinner

 We had a really wonderful dinner the first evening at an Agriturismo farm called Costa dei Tigli, in the town of Castigliole d'asti.  It was a little family run place and we were the only ones there.  The kids were playing outside on a little play set and we had a chance to sit and enjoy the many many courses of delicious food that came out.  The kids managed so well despite being up till 10pm.

Dinner at Costa Dei Tigli - the kids playing just in front of us

Breadstick buddies 

We had probably 8 different appetizers to try and were practically full before the primi and secondi!

As the night grew long, the kids became a bit wonkier!

 On Saturday we went into the little town where we had hoped to go into the castle that is there.  Unfortunately it was closed, so after trying to walk around a bit we realized the kids would just be happier to go back to the villa and swim.  James, Gavin and Gavin's dad went wine tasting during nap time, and then we spent more time by the pool.  Our dinner the second night was a bit further away and truthfully not quite as impressive as the first meal, but still lovely as we got to sit outside and enjoyed company and good food.

The Castle in Castigliole d'Asti

Peaking into the local butcher

Walking around the castle trying to find a way in!

Checking out the almost ripe grapes at Villa Pattono

Amazingly enough none of them picked the grapes

Some pool time - the pool was heated to 30 degrees and it was warm out, so it was easy to stay in for hours

The loft bedroom in our suite (we were upgraded because they were out of space)

Another guest brought his kitten with him and the kids were loving it! 

Enjoying some sibling time in front of the villa

Sunday morning after the lovely breakfast the villa provides we had one more swim before checking out and heading into town.  There was supposed to be an interesting market but it turned out to be a bit jankety.  So we stopped in at a local restaurant for a quick lunch and then got on the road to head home.  I love that the trip is just over 2 hours.  It makes it the perfect distance for a weekend getaway!

Canada Trip - Summer 2014

We had a wonderful month in Nanaimo this June/July.  Although the trip over was long, the kids did really well and managed to make it through 24 hours of travel with very little grumbling or crying.  They even managed to nap on the Toronto-Vancouver flight so that they weren't totally at their wits end when we still had the short Nanaimo leg to go.  I'm so glad we were able to fly into the airport there!  

Nearing the end of our first 8.5 hour flight and still cheerful!

What was good too, was just being in one place and kind of going about everyday life stuff, rather than the normal mayhem of traveling from one place to another when we head States side.  The month flew by, but was filled with sweet every day things, as well as a few nice outings.  We had good weather over all (a few cooler days and some very very hot ones!), and managed to spend a good amount of time outdoors.  Two of my favorite things about our time was seeing the kids playing together.  Liam and Lua were super tight and seemed to be able to play all the time from the time the woke till we forced them to separate at bedtime.  We had very few moments when they didn't get along.  Leo and Liam found times to do things together too, so it was a nice mix.  On the other side of things Eowyn and Ava had a bit more of a fiery encounter.  Given that they are both feisty ladies it was humorous and sometimes testing to have them goad each other and set each other off.  We had many moments of one or the other lying on the ground screaming, but all in all they did improve as time went on.  My other favorite thing was getting to go to yoga 5 days a week (even if it was Moksha hot yoga!)  It made me feel like a whole person again, and was well worth the 5:20am wake ups on the mornings I went to 6:30am classes!  

Peaceful breakfast with these two monkeys

On our first weekend we took a morning to go to Rath Rover (I never remember the name!) beach.  The kids have such a great time with all the mini crabs and the huge expanse of beach with very shallow water pools.  It's safe and easy to watch them.

Lua and Liam off in their own world

Eowyn doing her own digging work (and our picnic site in the background)

The view of the beach

This is how the back of the car looked whenever we went out - Eowyn and Ava were in the middle row

 We were lucky to get Leo, Lua and Liam into swim lessons for a 10 day intensive, so for a week and a half we had that as our morning routine, and it gave all of them a chance to swim for an hour each day.  Liam did so well in his little Salamander group.  By the end of the classes he was happily putting his face all the way into the water and even pushing off and floating in a rocket ship!  I wish we could keep up the momentum here, because it was so good to see.  Eowyn and I just did free swim while watching him.  We also did lots of bike riding at the house and also at a playground by the pool, and visited the library a couple of times a week.  The kids LOVED the library (who doesn't?!) It was their first exposure to a place that allows you to just take as many books out as you like!  And then switch them in a few days when you've read them all!!!  I can't wait to have that resource for them again.

First day of swim classes at Beban Park pool

Liam's first swimming class with his teacher Janice

Practicing trying to lay back in water

Pancakes for dinner when Nass and I were off at a yoga class - treats all around! 

Shirin and Farbod came for a short 4 day visit, which was really fun.  We missed having Sonja there this year, but she was busy with sweetest Chiara who had just been born.

For James' birthday we did a little day trip to Saltspring Island just 40 mins away.  It was a bit of a rainy day, but still it was a sweet outing that included a lovely lunch at a restaurant around a live tree, and wandering around the cute town and the open market.  The afternoon was topped off with ice creams before heading back for the drive home - with all the kids sleeping except Liam!

The pair at Saltspring Island - the sweet restaurant

Eowyn with birthday boy James

Post lunch views of the harbor 

Family photo time 

The ice cream selection process took a while - Lua needed to be convinced to not pick Rose flavored ice cream!

My kids are easy - just a simple chocolate ice cream will do the trip!

Handsome lad!

Back at home - days filled with daddy rides

Farbod tries his hand at story time - practicing!

 The day after James' birthday we also had a little bbq at home for him including birthday cupcakes which pleased the kids to no end.

Funny face Ava

And funny faced Lua and Liam!

Lua and Liam playing in the sprinklers on a warm morning

The week after Shirin and Chap left was really hot, with 35 degree Celsius weather.  Iman came for a visit the following weekend, so we went in search of a cool lake and some shady woods.  We wound up not too far from home (maybe 30 mins drive), stopping at a lake off the road just before Cathedral grove.  The water was gorgeously clean and it reminded me a lot of the lakes and mountains here in Lugano.  We had a lovely and very refreshing swim.  The water was definitely chilly, but with such warm days it was welcome.  And after a good swim we headed up the road to Cathedral grove for a nice walk in the forest.  It's so beautiful in there! We even fit in a lovely and tasty lunch at the Cactus club.  Since it was so hot no one minded that we were sitting outside!

Lunch at the Cactus club with some phenomenal Ceviche

Gorgeous mountains into the lake

Eowyn and Liam venturing into the water

The kiddos at the forest 

Walking and snack bags

Thanks to Iman for getting one photo of the two families - and it's a good one!

Sun light in the trees 

Sister love and sweet Ava 

Mama and Eowyn watching the rock throwing 

 We also went to a water park a couple of times where we met up with other friends of Nass and co's.  It was a nice set up with a big piece of grass to run around on (we even got to fly a kite!)  They also had this interactive science fair and the kids got to paint rocks and do other little games.

Rock painting at the water park

 We took a couple of mornings to go to Pipers Lagoon which I just love.  It's so close by and such a peaceful place.  The kids are so happy running about and climbing on the driftwood and such.  We could just sit and watch and enjoy a picnic.  I love that it's a morning's outing and doesn't take a whole lot of production to get to it.

James walking down the beach at Pipers Lagoon

Miss Eowyn

Playing imaginative games on the driftwood

Sunset in the garden 

We managed to get Eowyn in for her first haircut and in fact got both kids hair cut for the price of Liam's here!

 We are lucky to have such an easy relationship with Nass and Erfan.  It was certainly hectic at times with all the kids, but I think we all worked well together to make sure everyone had time to themselves and time to go out and enjoy themselves.  I made it to a number of movies this trip - some with Nass and one with James.  We had a little date night of delicious sushi - Bowser roll I won't forget you!  And a movie after.  It happened to be our first 3D movie ever - Xmen something or other!

3D glasses yo!

See, sometimes they do get along!

On our last weekend we decided to go to Victoria for a few hours for brunch and a visit to the Victoria Museum.  We had hoped to try Nass's favorite brunch place but it was too packed, so we ended up at the same place we went to last time.  I think it's called 10 acres?  The food wasn't as great this time around, but it was still nice.

Brunch time in Victoria

Me photobombing the cutest picture of my kids! 

Great exhibits at the museum - the kids had a great time

We loved the old town that was remade - the kids sitting in the movie theater

On our way back from Victoria we stopped in Duncan to have dinner and spend time with the Richmonds.  It's been ages since I've seen Anisa and her family, but they were visiting and so was Laika with her boys, so we had a good time seeing all of them.

A lot of the kids, but not all! 

All the kids surrounding Anisa and Laika

Here are just a few cute photos from other days at home.  

Ava  

Eowyn

Sunrise on an early yoga morning - such a great way to start the day

catching a moment with these two - they really are so cute

Cousin love!

Anisa, Laika, Nass and I the day before we left

It was hard to leave, for sure.  But I think it helped us so much to get a feel of the place and really imagine ourselves there.  James and I had the chance to take the car and go and see houses sometimes or check out an area, and I think it helped a lot to feel a bit independent and get to know the place.  James also got to meet Chris and talk with him, and so we left, but with the hope that maybe, just maybe we could be heading this way again soon.  Maybe even to stay...

So grateful to Nass and Erf for their hospitality and for just the most wonderful time together.