Little lizards

Here's Bea and Ili with one of their "captives" at the garden this weekend.

Day out to Fürenalp, near Engelberg

It was a holiday day today (Ascension Day) so work/school was out, and although we'd planned to go camping in Italy for a long weekend, we settled for an easy day out in the hills. When we got there however, we wished we hadn't! Weather was freezing, and we were unprepared after leaving a warm Zürich, and I had to borrow a jacket off one of the cable car staff (literally off her back) before I could even contemplate the walk to the Stäuer waterfall that we'd chosen to do. The cable car tipped us out in the clouds and we immediately got hailed on. But the 10 km walk ahead of us was all downhill and the kids didn't seem to mind the rain so we left the comfort and warm coffee of the restaurant (with park), and carried on regardless . . . .

There were quite a lot of spring flowers to see already, but a lot of the gentians were shut tight in the cold. These ones weren't . . .

The Stäuber waterfall was only 3 km away from the start, and Ili was off like a rocket (doesn't like anyone to overtake her!).

The waterfall was impressive, but too cold to hang around for long. And as we headed downhill the walk followed the river and tributary streams until finally the sun came out and we could at last see beyond the cloud and were able to spend some time boulder hopping and making pools. The world changed . . .  we thawed out, Papa could forget he had only had shorts on, and the views were awesome. Found a great spot to make a pool. . . .

Ili tests her balance . . . and does her Heidi impression.

Stopped further downstream to build stone towers. .  .

After walking through the woods, about 7 km into the walk, the meadows at the bottom were particularly beautiful. . . .

. . .  the kids collected beetles, caterpillars and other beasties on the way (Bea will take the caterpillars to school as they have a butterfly theme), and we even saw a marmot! Both children walked amazing over what was just short of 10 kilometers, on often rocky terrain, without a grumble.

Too many little critters

We've been sharing our kitchen space for too long now with what have become teeny weeny hopping frogs—thanks to Bea's and Ili's obsession with tadpoles—and it was way time they headed back to some outdoor space. So, the kids tipped all eighty into our garden well this evening. 

Wild strawberry picking

Bea and Ili have started to spread their wings and meet (terrorise) our neighbouring gardeners. Here they are helping themselves to some wild strawberries this afternoon (they did have permission!).

Garden pool

Ili had a friend over today while Bea was at a friend's birthday party (yet another party), and we all went to have a very relaxed, and warm evening BBQ at the garden.

First front tooth out . . .

Bea finally lost his first front tooth today, so it's all gaps and gums at the moment!

First outdoor swim of the season

Headed to the swimming baths and took one of Bea's friends along today (after piano lesson). The water is still too cold for our local one (Allenmoos), so went to a different (rougher!) part of town for the pool that's heated to 24 degrees. Still felt cold to me, but it didn't stop the boys from swimming. In the picture, Bea has just come down the water slide (he's the one on his knees).

Maria

Not sure if I've mentioned it on the blog, but since February this year Ili has spent time with a Swiss-German babysitter, Maria, every Monday morning for an hour, and then again on Tuesday morning where another mother and I share Maria and both girls play together (all in Swiss-German). Ili loves Maria, and hid her shoes so she couldn't leave the other week! It's all to help with her language before Kindergarten. And was such a nice day, I skipped my German evening class and we had dinner out at the new garden. The kids love it there and have already seen lizards, slow worms (blind snakes), grass snakes, birds  . . . .

Back outside

Recently felt like we've been in winter hibernation again, but the sun came back this week and many of the kids have been back out in the Hof to play. Ili is still a little shy (due to the language), but she loves Tilia (left) who should be in her Kindergarten class (and we find out which Kindergarten Ili will go to in a few weeks).

New allotment!

We've got a new allotment! It's up on Zuriberg not far from the edge of the forest where we've wanted one for some time, so offers much more space for the kids to explore. And it has a little hut, so we've somewhere to dine out! Yippee! Took Frith and Ili to see it for the first time tonight (Bea and I inspected it yesterday), and everyone loves it! It already has lots of soft fruits, a cherry and a plum tree.

St Gallen and the kittens

We spent most of the day at friends in St Gallen, which is about an hour from Zurich near Lake Constance (they moved out of town to get a house with generous garden), and the highlight for the children was definitely the week-old kittens they had. They were totally potty about them, Ili in particular couldn't put them down.

Saturday circus then pedalo

There was a free elephant performance early Saturday morning at the circus in the center of town, and the kids were keen to go. They loved it, we found it horrendous. It's no life for an elephant. Never again. Luckily, it was a beautiful day so we walked lakeside and took a pedalo out on the lake which was infinitely better. The kids did a spot of tree climbing after by the lake too. In the evening we had a joint birthday party of friends turning 50! Wow, we felt old.

Hair one minute. . .

Time for the snip!