Housebound

Bea off kindergarten today with fever and nausea, and he spent most of the day in bed. It's seems to be doing the rounds and many of his friends have already had it. Probably means he has to miss the kindergarten Waldmorgen tomororw if he's too weak to make it up to the woods. Poor Bea. Ili is still fighting fit and emptied our pet tadpoles on the toilet floor today, took us a while to find the last one, which turned up swimming around in the loo!

Allotment planting and grill

Bea went down with a sickness bug today so he slept after lunch, and we thought a snooze in the hammock at the garden might be a good idea when he woke. So, in glorious sunshine — it's really spooky, just like summer — we did a little 'work' at the garden. When Bea wasn't resting in the hammock, he helped plant a few more onions and raked his cucumber patch. Ili spent ages picking the primroses and making her 'soup' and got stuck into some sausages when we had a little dinner bbq later on.

Bea raking, watering and Ili with her soup!

Ili at the market

Ili helped me hunt for veggie seedlings this morning at Bürkliplatz market. Hopefully she'll also help me plant the broccoli and lettuce we bought — and the lavender we chose for France. It was a beautiful quiet morning, and we really took in the atmosphere of the old town. This afternoon, we met with Bea's friend Viktor and took the bikes to the school playground for a spin. This evening, we had Giulia — Elena's daughter— over for dinner, and all practiced our German.

Ili at a fountain, near the Fraumünster.

A beautiful day for biking

This is how the city looked this morning as I took Ili on the front bikeseat down to the Bürkliplatz market, meandering through the old part of town.

Rocket park

A Monday afternoon with Antonia, but all the little ones were too tired to head to the zoo as planned—daylight saving plus a weekend of parties took it's toll—so we walked in wonderful sunshine to a less-frequented park nearby which has a cool rocket theme.

Party number two

Bea's second birthday party of the weekend as his buddy Zinnia celebrated being seven. They had games in the Hof, and a grill.

A knight party

The first of two birthday parties this weekend: Bea started the day at Vincent's 'knight' party—apparently, he really digs them! The small group of four boys (accompanied by Vincent's papa) started off in town at the Landesmuseum to see the medieval knights' armour, before walking back along the river up to a picnic and grill spot, then back to Vincent's place to smash a pinata, battle with swords, watch a movie and scoff popcorn. I'd have been happy if my day was as social, but took the time to dig a little at the garden in peace. Papa and Ili came along later, and we met with Jake (who gardens the neighbouring allotment) and his little girl Emily.

Bea with his Knight's outfit after the party.

Emily and Ili at the garden.

New friends

We had our second meet up with a friend from Ili's Spielgruppe this afternoon—Maia—and met with her older brother, Niko who is just a little older than Bea. The boys got on like a house on fire, while the girls continued to eye each other up. Before we met, I took Bea and Ili in Irchel Park to the Neubühl for an ice cream and Bea dragged Ili through the bushes as part of a short cut.

Dance dance dance

Thursday morning Bea has 'Turn' (gym), and in the afternoon his movement and music session.

Big wheel in Zürich

There's a ferris wheel at the moment perched by the side of the lake and I was quite surprised when Bea said to me the other day that he'd like to go on it. So today—being totally glorious weather—seemed a good time for a spin. Papa looked after Ili, who was adamant she was not getting on, while Bea and I had great views across the lake to the mountains one way, and in to town (including the church by his school) the other.

First 'official' day of spring

The warm weather returned and the excitement of the afternoon was a visit from my cousin, a pilot working for British Airways who was flying in to Zürich. Bea had his airport book ready and wanted to ask David lots of questions about flying, and we waiting in the sunshine eating ice creams on the roof thinking of all the things we could ask him. As it turned out, the chat ended up more about family than flying, but Bea and Ili still enjoyed meeting him. 

Rushing in the rain

A soggy afternoon in Zürich. While Bea was at Antonia's (he came home with some Easter crafts that they'd made), Ili and I did some chores in the rain. She is still whizzing around on her scooter, and we're working on getting her to STOP!

Ili at Spielgruppe

Gone fishing

One man's trash is another man's treasure, and we grabbed some old fishing gear today off the street that was destined for the tip. In fact, it was Bea that spotted it while I was busy stacking some old terracotta pots in the pram. So we trotted down to Zürichhorn today where we've seen fisherman trying their luck, so that Bea could catch a whopper. There was one chap fishing, and we asked him how we could string together the gear we had, and he laughed—in a nice way—telling us our gear was much too big for the tiny fish at the moment, and he took out a float and some line of his own, and a couple of wriggly maggots, and tied the line to Bea's wrist — Bea was very chuffed. Didn't catch anything, but it was a nice way to spend the afternoon. We watched a few games of boules by the lake too.

Ili throwing pebbles; Bea and Ili checking the line;
watching a game of lakeside boules; Bea with his new fishing gear.

Coffee in the sun

Ili and I met with Elena and daughter Giulia for coffee outside up at the Rigiblick Theatre Cafe as the warm week continues. Giulia will start with Bea in Kindergarten this August. Bea continued with his movement and music session this afternoon, and the warm weather even tempted us up to the roof terrace.

School's out—snow's in

It was a teacher training day today, so I took Bea and Ili out of the city and headed to the mountains to one of my favourite child-friendly resorts Braunwald to play in the snow. Complete blue skies and warm sunshine meant we could hang around, happily messing in the snow without freezing our butts off, and after lunch we were just experimenting with our sledge (trying to see how we could go three up) when papa arrived to surprise us. Bea and Ili were more shocked then surprised, perhaps because he looked like he'd just stepped out of the office (he had), but it made sledging a whole lot more fun (and possible). We did a couple of sledge runs all together, and then Bea and papa did a fast route while Ili and I enjoyed the sun up top. We revisited the cute mountain hut on the Zwäärg Baartli walk that I took Bea and Ili to in the summer, and then sledged down, stopping for snowballs and snowmen. The sun shone until it disappeared behind the mountains. It was a beautiful day.

Ili in Irchel Park

Totally glorious day, and in the name of recycling we took a huge bag of bread to Irchel—aka 'duck park'—this morning. Ili had a ball, circling the ponds, chasing ducks and running away from mama. I spotted some frog spawn too, so on a day like today, there was only one place to head this afternoon (see post below).

A frog frenzy

We took a leisurely walk up through Züriberg woods on the hunt for some frog spawn for Bea this afternoon. Had fun with a butterfly on the way up as a red admiral kept repeatedly landing on Bea and Ili as they were trying to capture it, which tickled them both. When at the pond, it wasn't long before we saw a gross amount of frogs 'making babies' while the sun shone with their heads poking out of the water. The frog chorus in the silent wood was very mesmerising. Bea and Ili loved 'discovering' the frogs as they hopped from the undergrowth, across the paths, and headed to join the calling frogs in the pond. Bea's mission was to bag some frog spawn from the army of frogs bubbling away a couple of meters from the edge of the pond. The frogs eggs are now safely at home as mama managed to tow some in with a stick. A great afternoon, and amazing that such a place exists so close to the city.

Bea and Ili on a frog hunt.

Ili touching the frogs; Bea and his frogspawn;
Ili with a butterfly on her shoulder.

Day out on Felsenegg

We took the bikes today to the Felsenegg — only a 20 minute train ride from the city center and a short cable car ride up — where it's greener, fresher with lots of space for some biking and a little farm for the kiddies on route. We started off with Ili insisting she would run, rather than sit on her bike seat, so as papa and Bea rode off towards the farm, she ran along beside me on my bike until I could persuade her to hop on. So much energy! The farm was cute, and we stopped afterward in a nice spot on the edge of the woods with a great tree swing, and lapped up some sunshine. A later stop was the less healthy option in the restaurant for chips and a cool beer overlooking Lake Zurich before heading home (with a great view of the mountains beyond). While cramming the bikes into the cable car to head back down, poor papa didn't manage to squeeze in before the automatic doors shut and we set off without him. He ran down carrying his bike and we met him at the bottom.

Parent-teacher meeting

We had the first parent-teacher meeting today, which we expected to be a brief, informal chat. But after having a brief, informal chat, Frau Da Mutten delivered six pages of assessment questions that she'd completed on a scale of one to five. Very thorough indeed—and she'd scored him top on almost everything. She had nothing but high praise for Beathan, and it was very touching to hear her say how important she considers he is to the group, and how she wishes they could all be a little more like Bea . . . and she recognises he's pretty smart too.

First day at Kindergarten, 22 August 2011.

Off to Kindergarten

The boys on their way to Kindergarten (Lois, Severin, James and Beathan).

Out for lunch

Quiet day today as Bea went straight from Kindergarten to a friend's house (Vincent) for lunch and afternoon play. Ili and I had a cosy and 'tantrum-free' day at home together.

Afternoon walk up on Züriberg

After a visit to Viktor's place (who then headed off to Judo), we took a walk up on Züriberg. First point of interest—being right next to the zoo—was a stork in the middle of a newly ploughed field. Bea immediately started to gather sticks to give to the stork for her/his nest-building activities, and then he proceeded stalking the stork across the field.

The little white dot below the restaurant, is the stork.

Sunflowers and popcorn

We can't wait for spring so we planted our sunflowers this afternoon, then made popcorn while Bea giggled (see video below).

New friend for Ili

I'm on the lookout for a good playmate for Ili. This morning I'd arranged to meet up with Miya, who has just started in Ili's Spielgruppe. Miya watched Ili on full energy run around the park — she was everywhere — with her trousers half-down exposing her butt. There might be a possibility to make friends, but Maia has to catch her first! Her mother is really nice (studied languages in Edinburgh, also has a son who is the same age as Bea, and has just finished penning her first novel). I'm sure we'll meet up again.

Ili on the way home from her playdate.

Birthday supper

We all ate out tonight at the Lindenhof (which has a cool microbrewery). There were some great Indian curries on the menu (the chefs are Indian) and as I have been craving spice for sometime, it was just perfect. I actually have some curry packs on order from the UK, but considering Bea's Christmas presents got unpacked, repacked and bundled on to me with a customs bill compliments of Border Control, something tells me they might be stuck at the border too. Wonder if they are smelling yet? Bea and Ili tucked into the German equivalent of pizza—with chips—tonight, and Ili ended up in chip-heaven and fell asleep at the table in a state of ecstasy. All happy.

Birthday morning

Bea was excited to deliver his card this morning, made with Papa in the office for what seemed like half a Sunday. It was a very funny and sweet montage of me with a huge flowery hat, and a cake on my head. Thank you Bea!

Have wheels, will travel

We will certainly move a lot faster now Ili has got to grip with the little scooter (which was a 2nd birthday present for Bea from Antonia). We had a couple of small trips out with it last week, but today she really managed to steer and there was no stopping her!

Bea and Ili set off for a Sunday peddle.

Swimming with papa

Papa took Bea and Ili swimming at the Warmbad Käferberg, and met with friends Ryan, Hil, and their two children.

Wake up and smell the flowers

We were lured by the lake again this morning which looks so beautiful when the infamous winter Zürich grey lifts, and headed to the regular Friday flower market at Bürkliplatz on the lakeside. Lots of vibrant spring flowers and herbs, and a bustling atmosphere (by Zürich standards). Ili enjoyed rubbing, smelling and picking the herbs before I whisked her away from any disapproving eyes (after she had had her fun, of course) and we sat by a very calming lake again (see video below).

Bürkliplatz flower market.

First spring visit to the allotment

Ili and I did a little gentle digging at the garden this morning, but still NO raspberries for Ili—she is always so disappointed. To make matters worse, the water is still switched off so she can't mess about with the water butt and her teapot.

Bea started a music and dance class today run by a friend (James's mother), and he seemed to enjoy it a lot. There are two other boys and three other girls from his Kindergarten class.