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Throwing away trash in Switzerland is, like everything else in this country, very organized and kind of expensive.  Regular every day trash has to be put in special bags issued by each county, purchased at the grocery store for a bargain price of 18 Swiss Francs for 20 bags.  This is the price in my county, I don't know how much they cost in downtown Zurich, for instance.  The price was lowered about 18 months ago, they used to be slightly more.  They were also thicker and you could shove more in them.  Now the plastic they use is thinner, and rips kind of easily if you try and stomp the trash down too much.  At least once a month, we toss out a bag that has been taped back together, or has a gash in the side somewhere.

If you put trash out for pick up not in one of the special bags, it will not be picked up.  If you try and slip a non-official bag into one of the big dumpsters, they will go through the trash inside the bag to figure out who you are, and then issue you a nice, fat fine.  It sounds kind of extreme, I know, but there is no trash removal tax or fee that they bill you for here.  You pay to dispose of your trash one bag at a time.  Make more trash, pay more.  Recycle more, and pay less.  Seems pretty fair when broken down like that, at least to me.

Anyway, many towns also organize a once a year giant trash pick up day.  Sometimes this means you can just pile up stuff you want to get rid of onto the sidewalk and they will come by and pick it up in their huge dump truck.  In our town, you have to take it to the dump one town over, but they issue us a certificate to waive the usual entrance fee and give us an additional 100 kilos free.  This sounded like quite a large amount to me, especially since we tossed stuff twice last year, so how much could we have left, right?  I even briefly considered offering to toss stuff for my neighbor since she has more to get rid of than I do, but decided against it at the last minute. 

We enlisted the kids to help us bring down all the old furniture from out of my craft room.  ( I am redoing it.)  Plus there were a few large toys they had outgrown or that were broken beyond repair that we also tossed.  The car slowly filled up with bits and pieces and I was very glad we only had our own stuff to deal with.  We couldn't have fit much more in there.  The most sentimental item we got rid of was the high chair.  I still remember going to Burlington Coat Factory in Provo/Orem with Chris and a super tiny Nicholas and looking at all the different high chairs for sale back in their baby section.  We were kind of strapped for cash back in those days.  Chris was in graduate school, which means he wasn't working, and I had quit work after Nick was born, so we were living off of a very small savings account and student loans.  And now we were looking at a major purchase. 

We hemmed and hawed about which high chair was the best, and were naturally leaning towards the cheapest just because of our financial situation.  But Nick was such a small, delicate guy and we couldn't imagine sticking him in one of those hard wooden chairs.  Our Aunt Michaela had highly recommended her high chair to us, a Peg Pereggo.  But of course, it was the most expensive one there.  It did lots of cool stuff, like tilt back so when your kid falls asleep eating, you just let them finish napping right there in comfort.  It was padded all around, easily washable, adjusted easily up or down and had locking wheels to move it around quickly and quietly. We decided to go ahead and get it, and we have never regretted it once. 

That thing went through a trans-atlantic move, all 5 kids and didn't even need the padding replaced until the very last child.  But now Alexandra is too big for sitting in a high chair.  She eats at the table like the other kids and the high chair is relegated to a lonely corner of the dining room.  So, we packed it up and tossed it on dump day, along with 160 kilos of other junk.  But we had to get one last photo of our faithful, trusty friend.

  

The last few days of fall vacation, Noah spent on the couch, sick with a fever.  He didn't feel like eating anything for several days, and was really looking gaunt and pale by the end.  He wouldn't even drink much peppermint tea, which is his favorite beverage of all time. 

Alexandra was very worried about him and played nurse for as long as I would let her.  Sometimes her bedside manner got a bit rough and I would have to distract her in another part of the hospital. :)  Fortunately, it never get very serious, and no one else got whatever it was.  Phew!

Sophie has had a loose tooth in the front for a long time.  I am always hesitant to pull them out before they are ready, because I don't want to hurt my kids and deal with all the blood and screaming that always ensues.  So, I just let them whine about it to me for weeks on end because they can't chew on that side, can't bite their apple, etc.  I am just happier that way.  But when her tooth finally came out, she was very relieved and happy.  Aren't these kinds of smiles just the cutest?

On the Sunday Liz was here, she treated me to an afternoon off.  She and Amelia did all the cooking and washing up, and even entertained the kids for a while by baking cookies with them.  What a super nice treat. The original plan was to go to the grocery store with Amelia and Simon and have a little adventure trying to figure out what the ingredients they needed were called, and see what things we have that they don't, and vice versa.  Unfortunately, the drive back from Ballenberg Open Air museum took much longer than they had planned on, and the stores were all closed before they got here. 

So they went shopping in our food storage instead, and ended up making delicious chicken noodle soup.  With homemade noodles, I might add.  Her recipe is just slightly different than the one I make, and I liked the extra flavor the carrots and herbs that she used gave to the soup.  I will have to keep that in mind the next time I make it.  Of course, any meal you don't have to cook yourself always tastes extra delicious to us moms.  :)

Liz had brought us tons of full little Halloween and Thanksgiving treats and decorations, knowing that we can't really get those kinds of things here.  She and Amelia set the table really fancy and placed a treat bag on each of our plates filled with Halloween stickers and Halloween peeps!  I LOVE peeps, and was so excited to see them grinning back at me in all their orange sugar gorgeousness.  (There were pumpkins and ghosts.)  There were also adorable felt cat and witches masks, as well as a few turkey hats for later.  And did I mention the 3 HUGE bags of candy corns she brought over?  The kids seriously thought they had died and gone to heaven.  A lot of American stuff they don't miss, because they have never lived there and so don't know that it even exists.  But thanks to their papa, they know about candy corns and crave them just as much as he does.  We have been doling them out in increments of 2-3 ever since, and still have a healthy stash leftover to make the turkey cookies at Thanksgiving like we did last year.

The chocolate chips cookies she and the kids made for dessert were the.best.ever!  Chris says the next time they get our name for Christmas, all we want is the secret recipe!  :)  He ate so many, he literally got a stomach ache, they were that good.  I had to set aside a few for the children for the next day.

Liz is definitely a very fun Aunt, and the kids will remember this visit for a very long time.  I am so glad she and Simon could come over and make these memories with us. 

While our niece, Amelia has been staying with us, she has been communicating with her family back in the US primarily through Skype.  This is very nice and she really looks forward to their chats, but it isn't the same as actually being with your family.  And she is, after all, only 10 years old.  So she was very excited to find out that her mother and brother were coming out for a visit in the beginning of October school vacation.  The first day here, we took them to the nearby animal park where you can see many different kinds of native Swiss animals in their natural habitats.  We figured it would be a good way to help them stay awake and get over the jet lag faster, especially since they were only here for a total of 6 days. 

We like this park because of the fun playgrounds, and the walk through the forest is very relaxing.  Of course, then we tried to take a short cut and ended up taking a really long cut, making the walk more torture than fun for the kids towards the end.  Unfortunately, my camera was MIA so I have no photos of the event. :( The highlight was seeing the bear take a swim in his little lake.  We decided that teddy bears really do look just like the real thing, just smaller. :) 

Another day we went to Appenzell together and visited the cheese factory there.  We also had delicious Appenzeller cheese fondue in the restaurant attached to the factory.  Soooo good!  The kids want me to try and make it that way at home, it was so yummy.  There was also a recipe on the napkin ring for quiche using Appenzeller cheese.  I haven't tried it yet, but I am sure it will be delicious.  Anything made with cheese that good has to be tasty. 

We headed over to the little town afterwards, planning on doing a bit of sightseeing and some shopping.  There were a lot of cars there, even though it was in the middle of the week.  I suppose because of it being the school holidays.  At any rate, we were having trouble finding a parking spot.  I found one that was kind of small, and signaled for Liz to park there while I drove around the corner to a bigger parking lot, hoping to find a spot there.  It was raining, making it a big hard to see, so I had Sophie and Sarah keep a look out and tell me if Liz had taken the spot.  They said no, so we continued driving over to the other parking lot.  Just as I was about to cross the street, Sophie called out that rather than following us and going straight, Aunt Liz had turned right.  They were very upset and worried about poor Aunt Liz getting lost, as was I.  She had no cell phone, didn't speak German, and had never been to the town before, ( I don't think.) 

Instead of parking, I pulled around and retraced our route, this time also turning where Sophie had seen her leave us.  We did see a large parking lot over there, but no sign of her or their car.  We drove back, parked, got out and walked back that direction, hoping to run in to them trying to find us.  No such luck.  We kind of pulled off to the side and said a little prayer.  We didn't have any new ideas of where to look for them, but did feel very peaceful that it was all right and they were okay. 

We decided to go ahead and walk through town a bit, looking for them along the way. After going down the main street, playing in the bubbles at the toy store, and walking back to the parking lot, we had a breakthrough.  Sophie and Sarah started screeching that there was Aunt Liz's car very close to ours!  We ran over and looked inside to be sure.  Yep, there was Amelia's sweater on the seat!  Hurray!  We found them at last!  We stayed by their car and in a little while they came walking over to us.  So glad they weren't completely lost or stranded somewhere.  Turns out, Liz did take that original parking spot I pointed out to her, the girls were just watching a second car that looked a lot like hers a big farther back.  That is the car that turned the wrong direction, not Liz.

We decided to explore the town again, only this time together.  We also stopped at the bakery and got some dessert.  The girls each picked out an Edelweiss necklace to wear with their Austrian Dirndls and naturally, everyone chose a postcard or two.  It started to rain again, but it wasn't too bad, more like a heavy mist.  The ride home did take a bit longer, as there was quite a bit of traffic and the rain slowed things down as well.  The kids were really sick of being in the car after that and completely rebelled the next day about going anywhere.

Liz, Simon and Amelia did some sightseeing on their own, which was nice, since my kids were being such party poopers.  Plus it gave Amelia a chance to just be with her family, which I am sure she enjoyed.  

Take a close look at the picture below.  See that little dark line on Alexandra's finger?  It is a bit of hair wrapped and twisted around her finger.  She does this when she is drinking, when she is sad, when she is watching tv, when you read her a story.....Pretty much any time her hand is empty, it is up in her hair.  The really cute part is, of course, that she doesn't really have that much hair to begin with.  But ever since it got a big longer, she has done this.  Sophie also did this a lot when she was younger.  They may not look like me, but they sure act like me. :)

In our town, just at the bottom of the hill we live on, there is a residential care facility for severely mentally disabled people.  Other people who are also mentally disabled, but not in need of 24 hour care, come and work there during the day and then go home again in the evening.  They have a huge nursery where they grow and sell lots of different kinds of plants, and a garden shop where they also sell flower pots and garden decorations, most made by the people who work there.  I love going in that store, as there are some truly beautiful things on sale, and I just love to admire all the hard work and time that went into making them.  As someone who does a lot of handicrafts myself, I totally appreciate that the 2 foot quilted heart pillow is a good deal at only 50 Francs, you know?

Anyway, every few years they also have a big "fest" or party.  It is a fund raiser for the facility, as they set up a large art gallery and several food stands, but it is also a way to bond with the community and get to know their neighbors better.  The last time they had the party, was 3 years ago, when Oma and Opa were here for Nick's baptism.  We all went down and had a marvelous afternoon.  So, this year, when I came home and announced that I had seen the sign advertising the Goetschifest, they kids let out a huge whoop and holler and proceeded to ask me every day, how many more days until the fest.

This year there wasn't any horse riding available, which made the girls all kind of sad, but there were several other fun booths and attractions for the kids.  I can't say which was their favorite, because they had so much fun at each one, but definitely the most anticipated was the ride on the train. 

Underneath the mountain we live on is an old abandoned coal mine. (I know! So cool, right?!?)  It was last used during World War II, when supplies from other European sources were cut off.  The engine they used to haul out the coal is still in working order and every time they have a fest they haul it out along with a couple hundred feet of track, lay it down in the nearby cow pasture, attach a few passengers cars, and let everyone take a turn riding it.  It is amazing how strong that little tiny engine is.  It doesn't go very fast, but the kids love waving to the cars and bike riders on the street above as they pass by.

We walked over after lunch and stayed so long playing that, of course, we needed to replenish our energy supplies with a couple large helpings of made-to-order fries and drinks. :)  After that, they were ready for another couple jumps in the bouncy castle,

and one more ride on the human-powered carousel.  We also had a very fun time playing a game of soccer on the "Foozball" table, which just cracks my kids up.  I don't know how to pronounce what they call it in Swiss German, so I just call it by the American name.  They think it is hilarious because of course, it is just a mispronounciation of the word Fussball, or soccer, in German.  A whole new world of humor opens up to you when you grow up bilingual, apparently.  The Foozball table, was right outside the room where the girls were waiting in line for the face painting.  They came out with some beautiful designs, and the ladies doing it were super patient and hard working.

Just as we were really, REALLY leaving, we decided we all needed one more ride on the conveyor belt slide.

  In the spur of the moment, I hopped on with Alexandra, in a rather awkward position, and ended up jamming my shoulder as we came to a stop.  It didn't make a sound, but it hurt so bad, I literally couldn't move for a few seconds, and most definitely couldn't raise my arm at all.  I finally managed to pick up Alexandra and move out of the way of the other oncoming sliders.  But man!, it hurt for the next couple of days.  Just another sign that my body is definitely aging, even if my mind isn't.

We walked home through the forest, saying hello to the horses, dogs, sheep and llamas on the way.  It was a wonderful, fun filled day, and we can't wait for the next "fest" to happen.

On Thursday, the kids woke up to a special treat, Nick's birthday cereal.  This year he tried something that was new in the grocery store in Germany.  Basically it was Cookie Crisp cereal, but we had never seen anything like it over here before.  Of course, they loved it and are trying to convince the next birthday kid (that would be Chris) that he should pick it for his birthday. Hah!

I meant to bake brownies the night before, but ran out of time.  So I baked them in the morning and brought them up to school during "grosse Pause" or big recess.  I had especially brought extras for all the kids, and so I made sure Nick passed them out to his siblings and not just his classmates.  He was having trouble finding everyone from class, though.  In fact, he had looked so long that he kind of gave up and gave away a brownie to Rico, a little second grader that had been following him around the entire recess, gazing longingly at the Tupperware container full of brownies. :)  Finally, Nick got the inspiration to go look over on the soccer field, and that is where everyone was.  But since he had shown pity on little Rico, there weren't enough brownies for all his friends.  Fortunately, one of the brownies happened to be a bit on the large side, so two boys just broke that in half and shared it. 

I love this Swiss tradition of bringing treats in to share on your birthday.  I know I used to do it growing up in America, as well.  But I keep reading about how home baked goods are not allowed in the schools, only store bought, chemical filled junk, and that just isn't as much fun in my opinion.  Even Chris brings treats to work on his birthday!  Alexandra loved hanging out with everyone during break, and all the attention she got from the kids' friends.  Very few have younger siblings at home, so she is really something exciting to those kids.

My little Nicholas is becoming quite the cheese buff.  He loves trying out different kinds, and definitely likes the smelliest cheeses the best.  "The smellier, the tastier."  He also loves potatoes.  So we ate cheese and potatoes for lunch and dinner in varying forms.  For lunch I made potato cheese soup from Ruby Tuesday restaurant.  I realized my efforts were worth it when he proceeded to eat 3-4 full bowls of it!  And yes, he is growing.  I have to buy him new shoes every couple months, he outgrows them that fast. 

After lunch the birthday boy headed back to school. I used the free afternoon to bake his requested birthday cake, oatmeal with no frosting. I also wrapped his presents, and cleaned up a little.  For dinner, he wanted raclette.  You know, melted cheese over boiled potatoes.  ay yi yi, but he was so happy.  It reminded me of the year my brother wanted nothing but potatoes for dinner.  I think we had hash browns, fried sliced potatoes and mashed potatoes, if I am not mistaken.  At least fried and mashed, I know.  Too funny.  It is such a simple way to make the birthday kid feel special, I am so glad my mom came up with the idea in our family.

After dinner we opened presents.  Nick received several new books and a gift certificate for a watch of his choice, up to a certain limit.  Still haven't made it to the store to pick one out with him, though.  Must make that a priority this weekend.  Happy birthday, Pookie Bear!  You are such a good, big boy. 

Since the beginning of this school year in August, the girls have been taking swimming lessons every Wednesday evening, two towns away.  We found this teacher through our church friends who live in the town.  This teacher had already taught her oldest daughter and done a great job, so she told all the rest of us about her.  There are currently 6 kids from our ward taking swimming lessons from this same lady.  What I really like is her relaxed approach to advancement.  Meaning, she doesn't make you stay the entire semester in the beginning class, just because you have never been to her class before.  She took the first two lessons, evaluated all the kids and then decided if they should be in the beginning, intermediate or advanced classes. 

On her recommendation, we pulled Noah out completely, to wait for next year, and Sarah and Sophie moved up to the intermediate class.  Of course, this means that we aren't in the same class as all the other church kids, but we do see them leaving as we are coming most days.  The girls love it and have made lots of progress.

  The time is slightly inconvenient, as the class starts right when we are normally eating dinner, but I just feed the kids a bit earlier, and it seems to work out okay.  I always bring Alexandra with me, as there are a few minutes between when I have to leave and Chris arrives home from work where the kids are home alone.  Having Amelia here as another big kid to take care of Noah has really been a huge help.  Together she and Nick made a good couple of short-term babysitters.

Alexandra always manages to find lots to entertain herself with. This generally involves empty out the entire contents of my purse, examining each item with utmost scrutiny, and then placing them all back inside.  

I cannot believe how well behaved she is, just hanging out on the bench with me while the girls swim.  Her favorite part is when they are finished taking their showers.  In the changing room, they have these nifty blow dryers mounted to the walls.  You pull them down and stand underneath them, and they turn on with a motion sensor.  It isn't hot air, just warm, and it doesn't blow too strongly, either.  So, Alexandra always likes to go stand and "dry" her hair with the girls.  She has even been known to run over to the drain the middle of the floor, rub her hands in the water there, rub it on her head, and then run back to the blow dryers so she can dry her hair some more.  Maybe I should be grossed out that she does that, but instead we all just laugh.

So, we are skipping ahead almost an entire month here, but come on, that still makes me a month behind on this blog.  So I am skipping over the usual stuff and getting right to the "events" in an effort to get current before the end of the week.  (If I actually achieve this goal, I am going to buy myself a new something. Not sure what, yet. Either shoes, a purse, or a new sweater, I will keep you posted.)

We celebrated Nick's birthday with his friends a day early this year.  He wanted to have a zoo birthday and Wednesday is the only day all the school kids have free.  He was fine with it. A party before is much better than a party after, I have taught him well. :)  Due to space limitations in our car, and the fact that the particular zoo we were going to is a good 30 minute drive away, he could only invite 5 kids.  Naturally, being that he was turning a mature 11, no girls made it to the short list.  Unfortunately, one of the boys ended up getting sick the day before the party, and couldn't make it.  Noah was more than happy to take his spot at the last minute, and super excited to get to hang out with his big brother and all his big friends.

I had said on the invitations to please arrive no later than 1:15, as we were scheduled to begin our special tour with the zookeeper promptly at 2.  I was counting on Swiss promptness and a desire for following the rules to help me out, but sadly, they let me down.  One super Swiss boy showed up about 15 minutes late, effectively using up all the buffer time I had built in for my self.  And I still needed to stop at the bank and pull out cash to pay for the party.  (This zoo doesn't take any kind of plastic!)  It was right on the way, so I hadn't done it earlier in the day, and boy was I sorry now.  I sped like a mad woman, but slowed down everywhere I knew there was a camera.  About 2 weeks later, we received proof in the mail that I missed one. :(  And of course, there was no parking right by the entrance, we had to go clear around to the annex parking, and then walk back.  I made the boys all run, so as not to be any later than necessary, and we all went through the ticket line huffing and puffing and wheezing like a pack of asthmatic hippos. 

Fortunately, the zookeeper was very kind and stayed with us a little longer at the end, to make up for the time we had missed in the beginning.  I gave her rave reviews on the survey they asked us to fill out at the end.  This private tour was seriously worth every single penny.

  She told us really interesting facts about several different animals, including things that even the *Walking Encylopedia of Animal Facts didn't know.  There were also games to play by all the animals that helped us to understand their lives better.  Things like putting some frosted plastic over your eyes and then walking around trying to see through that like the wild boars, or rubbing red clay dust on our necks just like the Swiss vultures do to show who is the strongest/bravest of the pack. 

We also got to listen to the difference between the aforementioned Swiss vulture feathers as they fly through the air, and an owl's feather.  Those vultures are loud!  And huge!  No wonder people used to call them "Child Snatchers" , although actually, they only eat bones from a carcass, not live animals, which is why little cute bunnies share their enclosure.  And even though in the books Hedwig is a girl snow owl, in the movie they used a boy because they are all white and look prettier.  And if you don't know to what I am referring, are you sure we are friends and you should even be reading this blog? :)

After the tour ended, she brought us to the restaurant in the zoo, where they had a table in the back all decorated and ready for us.  They brought out a birthday cake and drinks for all the kids, and we had a very relaxing snack. 

Now those of you not living in Europe may not appreciate how nice this was, but believe me, I was very shocked and very pleased.  The lady who delivered the cake asked us what we wanted to drink and I told her.  She brought us two bottles and then said, to please help ourselves to however many more bottles we needed from the cooler, and pointed to where it was located.  I about keeled over from shock.  Generally, when you go out to eat anywhere here, and order even a glass of water, they bring you a little bottle, or fill your small glass 3/4 of the way up.  If you want more, you pay for a whole new bottle or glass.  Refills do not exist, and carte blanche access to a cooler full of drinks is one step away from total anarchy, but I promise, it really did happen.  I have 6 witnesses.

When we had polished off every last sticky Smartie (kind of like an M&M, and they were all over the cake, even though it was lemon flavored), we went out to enjoy the rest of the zoo on our own.  The restaurant is right by a large playground and we spent a good 30 minutes enjoying all it had to offer.

  One boy ended up giving himself quite a huge gash on his arm, but the restaurant had a very capable first aid lady on duty, and she patched him up so well, it looked like he had broken his arm when she had finished.  All he needed was a little sling to complete the look. 

The weather was so perfect, we ended up staying in the park for another 90 minutes, stopping to play all the trail games along the way.  Finally we decided to visit the bears and then head back home.  But then the boys saw it, the water fountain, and it proved to be too much of a temptation to pass up.  First they started out just walking around the edges,

then they took their shoes and socks off, then they rolled up their pant legs, and then they abandoned all pretense and ended up lying complete down in it.  I have no picture of this last development as I was too busy running over to them to stop the next crazy kid from trying it.  I mean, sheesh, I didn't bring towels with me, they were soaking wet, it was getting kind of cool and windy and we still had a long walk back to the car and a long ride home.  As it was, they still all ended up mostly soaked, but at least I felt like I had tried to stop them. :)

After gazing at the bears, one of which turned out, on closer inspection, to be a tree trunk, (Darn messed up retina), we realized that our car was just on the other side of the fence.  But there was no exit.  We briefly considered climbing over the chain link fence, but then realized that Noah would never make it up and over, so we resigned ourselves to walking all the way back to the real exit, which was in the exact opposite direction of our car, and then walking back around the outside of the park to our car.  Seriously, it took like 25 minutes of walking to finally get back to where we had been on the other side of the fence.  That they really need to remedy.

We had spent so much time in the park, that there was no time to stop back home and open presents before I needed to take the girls to swimming lessons.  I hadn't wanted the boys to carry them around during our tour, so told them to leave them in the car.  And that is where we ended up opening them.

Kind of lame, but the boys were old enough to think it was more funny than anything else.  It was a great afternoon, spent with some very charming young boys, and I am so glad we did it.

*also known as the birthday boy, Nicholas