Mother's Day

Here is a quick shot of the four of us after church on Mother's Day. (The little girl in the bottom left corner is our youth pastor's daughter. She had been playing with Lily and was not happy when we took her away for a picture.)

I would like to say that we had a wonderful day relaxing and spending time together, but that was not the case. On our way home from church we suffered a flat tire which resulted in parking on the curb, walking to the bus stop, waiting for a train, riding to Horgen, walking to the house then sending Jared back to take care of the car details. I was just relieved that the tire was the only thing damaged......and not the cyclist who swerved into our lane!!

Jared joins the IPC church council

This Sunday was very special in that Jared was officially installed as a member of the church council. He will serve as treasurer for the church for the next year. All of the new council members were called before the congregation Sunday morning to introduce themselves and to pledge to serve the Lord and the church in their respective positions. Here are a few pictures :

A Weekend with Kashif

It is rare that friends from home come to visit, so we were honored to have Kashif Khan spend the weekend of April 21st with us. Kashif is a friend of Jared's from KPMG Atlanta and he stopped through Zurich to see us as he was on his way back to Atlanta from Pakistan.

We had a wonderful weekend just taking in the sites around Horgen and the Zurich area. The girls were especially happy with our trip to the Knie Kinderzoo in Rapperswil and our Sunday afternoon hike in Au.

Thank you, Kashif, for taking the time to visit us!

Quick trip to Paris

After recovering from our trip to Greece, we decided to make a quick weekend trip to Paris to see my cousin, Donna, and her family while they were visiting France. We took the train over on Friday afternoon and came back Sunday which only left a little bit of time to visit, but seeing Donna, Joel, Monica and Logan was well worth the trip.

We spent the morning walking and talking, mostly catching up on all the activities and happenings in the Bernstein family and letting them get to know our girls a little bit. It had been over 3 years since we had seen Donna and Joel, so it was nice for me to be able to introduce Mea and Lily to them. It was a wonderful treat to spend time with family and Paris couldn't have been more beautiful.

Greece: March 29-April 9

Since I have always wanted to go to Greece, Jared was so kind as to make that wish come true by taking us to Greece for a spring getaway. We had wonderful time visiting Athens and spending a week on the island of Santorini. I have to admit that as big and dirty as Athens was, it was still a great place to visit----an unexpected highpoint of our trip. While the scenery was beautiful and the people extremely nice, we were surprised to have very chilly weather during our time in Santorini. Another downer was that both girls got sick while we were there which resulted in a trip to the village clinic and a lack of sleep for us all.

We had a great time being together playing on the beaches, visiting markets, exploring the island and eating a lot of wonderful food. (I personally came to love mousaka and I think I ate tzatziki and cucumbers everyday.) Mea seemed to enjoy playing on the beach but at first she wasn't quite sure what to do with rocks instead of sand....we ended up building rock towers instead of sand castles.

Greece was quite a lovely place and I hope to visit there again.......maybe without the children!

Saying Good-byes

Here is a picture of Kacey, me and Amanda at a going away apero for Amanda and her husband, Aaron. Seeing this picture made me reflect on what it is to live in a different country and to appreciate the friendships I have made................

One of the hardest parts of living an expat lifestyle is having to say "Good-bye" to friends who have played such a crucial role in my Swiss experience. However, a huge part of living so far away from family and all the friends back home means that your new friends become your 'family'. You jump right into these new relationships because your time is limited and there's no point wasting what little time you have on small talk and mindless chatter. They are the ones who throw surprise baby showers for you, who come and cook supper and take care of your kids when you are sick, who help you look at apartments--- with two children in tow while your husband is out of the country--- in the thick summer heat AND while using public transportation. These friends become your lunch buddies, movie buddies, recipe advisers, therapists, free referral services and so much more. Sometimes they even brave the unknown and spend their Christmas holidays with you (and your children) in another country............pretty amazing!!

Our family has been in Zurich for almost 2 years now, and the 3 ladies that befriended me my first week in town have now all moved on to new places: Susan, my very first friend, is back in the NYC area; Shannon is now in Hong Kong; and now Amanda has moved to Munich. Thanks ladies for the friendships and love.

Arosa

Here are some pictures from our KPMG TS weekend in Arosa in early March. We had a great time getting to know many of the other families in Jared's group. Mea and Jared were able to get out on the slopes on Saturday for Mea's first ski lesson. (Mandy hung out at the hotel and read books and napped while Lily caught up on her sleep.)

Happy Baby

Since I was a bad mommy and didn't take many close up pictures of Lily at her birthday party, I decided to try and snap a few shots during lunch earlier this week. She is smiling just enough to show some of her teeth and the slight dimple in her left cheek. I think Lily is a doll, but then again I am very biased.

Saying Good-bye to Jacqui

On January 11th, we treated our Kiwi babysitter, Jacqui Dibley, to a "good-bye" lunch in Zurich. We met at the Bellevue Brat stand, ordered lunch and then walked to the lake to eat and feed the ducks.

Jacqui was in Zurich for a year both living and working with a family in our church and she came out at least once a week to take care of the girls while I ran errands. The girls loved her very much which made it even more difficult to see her go. The upside is that now we have a friend in New Zealand whenever we want to go visit! Thank you, Jacqui!!!

Lily's First Birthday

Hard to believe that it has been one full year since Lily arrived on the Kelso scene. She is such a sweet girl with the most beautiful smile. It is fun to see her individual personality developing and to watch as she interacts more and more with Mea.

For her birthday, we had a joint party with Charlie Little who also turned one on January 21st. There were 22 guests (8 of those were kids aged 3 and under!!!) at our house and we enjoyed an evening of hamburgers, baked beans, salads, cupcakes and cake. Enjoy the pictures.

Winter's First Snow

It finally snowed last Tuesday night, January 23rd. Mea was so delighted to wake up and find snow on the ground. I didn't get a lot of pictures of our house or surroundings, but I did get a few of Mea in the backyard playing and building a snow.....creature?? (Blue potato eyes and a carrot nose...not a handsome fellow for sure.) As much as she HATED snow last year, she seems to love it this year. She even got to go sledding at the Uetliberg on Saturday with Jared and that is all she has talked about this week. Since the snow has almost completely melted away, she asked this morning, "When is the snow coming back?"

Where do I begin???

I have to apologize for letting so much time pass in between posts. We have had so much happen since the Jucker Farm posting and to get up to date, the best thing I can think of is to start with the most recent happenings and then work backwards. Please hang in there with me and enjoy this series of random postings.

Jucker Farm--October 28, 2006

Sorry that I have let so much time pass between posts on the blog. We have, as usual, been quite busy enjoying our time here which has made finding time to post very difficult. Anyway......

We have been so blessed to have a beautiful autumn this year, and we've tried to make the most of the wonderful weather by getting out as much as possible. Today's adventure led us to the Jucker Farm in Seegraben, a small little town not too far outside of Zurich. Jucker Farm is known around here for their huge pumpkin selection and their "farm-art". We had a great time just being outside checking out the produce and sculptures, and Mea loved jumping on the trampoline, climbing haystacks and just playing in the leaves. Here are a few pictures........

Fun with Honey

Jared's mom, known around here as 'Honey', is staying with us for about three weeks, and to get her trip off to a good start we decided to take a Saturday daytrip to Colmar, France. Beautiful little town in the Alsace region of France only about 2 hours by train from Zurich. We were blessed with wonderful weather, good food, and for the most part, happy little girls. Enjoy the pictures and check back often to see where else we visit with Honey.

Ballerina Doll

When I was a little girl, I had a battery operated ballerina doll that would kick out one leg and spin on her tip-toes (or on point or whatever) when you pressed the knob on the top of her head. Now I have a real ballerina doll who loves to dance and spin and show off her new found skills. (Too bad I can't take out her batteries when I need a rest!!) Anyway, Mea is loving her dance class and enjoys the time with the other little girls while I get to enjoy watching her grow and mature on so many levels. How sweet!

Busy Days

Now that we are all settled into our new apartment in Horgen, our days have starting filling up with all sorts of fun things. For example, just last week we had Mea's dance class on Tuesday, Bambino's Indoor playroom with Moms-N-Tots on Wednesday morning, dinner with Kacey and the Coys Wednesday night, a housewarming on Thursday evening, Predigerkirche Vespers and dinner on Friday night and a Saturday morning breakfast picnic in Einsiedeln. Whew!!! Even though it was a great week, I can honestly say that too many days jammed that full of activities can really wear a mommy out! Anyway, here are some pictures from our Saturday morning breakfast picnic. I hope you enjoy! And, yes, Lily was there too, we just didn't get too many pictures of her out of the stroller!

More Prague Pictures