Boating at Balexert

Our local mall has a huge courtyard that they use for weekly exhibitions.  About fifty percent of them are targeted at children.  I don't mind because they are generally free, fun, and keep them distracted from those coin-op shake machines shaped like motorcycles and spaceships.  I despise those.

For two weeks we were able to enjoy the boats you paddle with pedals.  They were contained in a inflatable pool that contained one foot of water.  Very entertaining.  And a little bit pathetic.

Genova

We headed to Genova, Italy for the Fourth of July.  We thought it would be novel to  visit the birth place of Christopher Colombus.  Really it was hot and stinky.  I served for one month in Genova with a companion who didn't leave the apartment.  I hardly have any memories of the city-except for CC's house.

Here is the corner of the house.  Henry took the picture.  He wasn't interested in being in any of them.

This was a lovely tribute to the man.  It stood about a hundred meters from the train station and 10 meters from the bus station.  It seems to be the gathering spot for Hobos.  In contrast the man who liberated Genova had the most beautiful garden surrounding his statue, but I didn't catch his name.  
After our sightseeing we headed down the coast.  We had a delicious lunch.  The kids ordered the ever popular spaghetti noodles with butter.  The chef loaded on the butter.  They couldn't have been happier.  Henry didn't leave a noodle in the bowl.  That seemed to take care of the grumpies he'd had.

We visited a local beach and hung out with the locals.  Ansel made quite a splash with his blonde lockes-that and his fearless swimming techniques.  The water was amazing warmer than our favorite pool in Geneva.  A wonderful introduction to the ocean-and a refreshing break from the heat.

Before we left we had to have some gelato.  We found a great little place near the restaurant.  Having eaten my fair share of gelato, I don't like to eat just any old gelato.  It has to pass certain requirements:  A. Be "arteginale" that means that is made there and is usually a good sign.  B. It should look soft.   If it passes those two tests, we can go in.  Not too tough.  After filling up on the usual chocolate, strawberry, lemon and coconut that we all tried Greg was stricken with curiosity to try lilac.  He went back for a cone of the stuff.  It was wacky-like eating a bar of soap without the soap.  After one lick I went back for more confused, my brain was waiting for the gag reflex to kick in, but it never did.

Like lilac ice cream our trip was enjoyable, but doesn't need to be repeated.  The drive was beautiful.  And really, even hot stinky Italy doesn't disappoint.  There is a bit of a sting looking at our family's blogs and seeing them enjoying the local parade and relaxing in Nana's pool.  I love the Fourth of July for that.

It's Been A Year!

It's been a year since this was our only seat in the house.

To celebrate we bought a couch.  It will go on the opposite wall in the same room as this picture. . . when we figure out how to get it from it's point of purchase to our house.

Here's how we did it a year ago.

We spent hours with those little wrenches from Ikea.  

With the house put together we'll spend this July swimming and barbecuing instead.

One of my first memories when we arrived was how hot it was.  I was surprised Geneva got so hot.  The heat of the sun wasn't helped by the modern aid of air conditioners.  It made us very irritable.  (well that and jet lag).  I didn't know how we would make it through the entire summer.  

We soon learned that Geneva summers aren't hot forever.  70 degrees is perfect when there isn't air conditioning.

Now here we are same week a year later and Geneva is again going through a little hot spell.  I'm surprised how well we've adapted to not having the luxury of cool air-except what is produced from a little fan.  

Picnic at the Mission Home

A mass exodus is about to take place in the Geneva Ward.  Sadly we will be saying goodbye to nearly 60 people.  Ouch.  Before they all left we had a terrific activity at the Mission home.  The yard was large enough to let the kids run free.  The house was built in the 60's by the Iranians.   Once it was built they felt it wasn't grand enough to meet their needs.  They actually built twin homes facing each other.  The one you see in the pictures is used for offices and missionary apartments.  The other is the Mission President's residence.  President Peterson told me that President Hinckley took a nap here in the 80's and after requested the property not be sold.  Many properties have been sold, luckily we still have this beautiful place in Geneva.  Thanks President Peterson, we had such a lovely time with so little effort.

My kids love the elders.
Nothing like a great game of "Red Rover."
We invited our friends JiSoo and Sung Yoo.  They brought their friends.
I got to man the barbecue until some men arrived.  Why is it men always control the barbecue, but not the stove?

Hannah Montana's Geneva Fan Base

Elsa has two passions, dancing and drawing.  Both of them seem to put her into an alternate universe where no one else should dare enter.  She's very happy there.

While I was in Chicago my friend Michele introduced me to Hannah Montana.  Of course, I'd heard of her.  We even watched the show while staying at Euro Disney.  To our surprise, we liked it.  Michele's daughter and Elsa's dear friend Brynn, sent us home with the soundtrack to HM's latest film.  Elsa couldn't stand it.  Suddenly the floor was no longer enough to feed her passion for dancing fame.  Here she is posing on her newly built stage.  

Standing ovation please.

Pickin' Berries!

I love to tell new people I meet about being a child growing up in Oregon.  The fresh air, the unpredictable weather, the child labor force.  Before the migrants from Mexico came up to pick strawberries, they sent the children out.  School ended in time for berry picking to begin.  The bus would pick us up at 6:30 in the morning, luckily we were at the end of the route.  We'd unload with our sack lunches and then be assigned a row to work in.  I remember sitting with my best friend and chatting the hours away.  Mostly daydreaming about what fabulous thing we'd buy with all of the money we were making.  We'd work until about 2:00 PM  and then they'd take us home.  This routine would last about two weeks, three if we were lucky.  The last day they'd drive us to Dairy Queen treat us to lunch and ice cream and give us our cash.  My grand total, usually a whopping $100.  Those were good times.  Such a shame the children today can't earn their own living for a couple of weeks.

These memories flooded my mind when I drove past a local u-pick berry farm.  There was no doubt what our free Wednesday morning would now include.  I knew they'd love it. . . they did.  Henry who is Mario Kart obsessed sums it up best, "Mom, I even enjoyed this more than Mario."  Of course he did!

In all of my excitement to be the first ones at the farm (I wanted them to have the thrill of putting their chilled hands into the dewey leaves), I left my camera at home!  Such a bummer.  However, here is a record of our loot.  We managed to eat half of those berries fresh!  Including two strawberry pies.  The other half is now some very delicious strawberry jam.

Mom's in Chicago

Last week was fun-filled for the Christensens!  I flew to Chicago on the 10th to attend to some landlording.  Luckily, more of my time was spent with wonderful friends and lots of shopping.  I had such a fabulous time.

Greg stayed home with the kids for three days and the weekend.  I think they had a pretty swell time as well. . . (maybe he'll update this post with the events in the photos)!

Hi. This is Greg with an explanation of the pictures. These first two were taken at the Nyon beach/swimming pool where Henry and Elsa spent the early afternoon collecting shells and the late afternoon screaming at Ansel for dumping them back into Lake Geneva when they weren't looking. (That white mountain in the background, by the way, is Mont Blanc. It was an incredibly clear day.)

The pictures below are from a picnic we had with friends. 

Events at this picnic that were not photographed include:

1. Elsa pooping her pants.
   
2. Elsa finishing the job on the grass while I tried to change her into Ansel's backup underwear.
   
3. Elsa stepping in her own poop once she had Ansel's underwear on.
   
4. Ansel pooping in his pants after Elsa had donned his backup underwear.
   

Good times. Good times.

Ascension in Yvoire, France

The kids had Thursday off for Ascension Day. We decided to visit a midieval town in France, just minutes from Geneva. I had pretty low expectations. Someone had told me it was boring. The first thing we did was take a forested trail down to the lake. It reminded me of day-trips to the beach from my youth. We walked along the rocky beach, skipped little rocks, and climbed on the big ones. The kids were having the best time.
We walked around the castle and then through the ancient city. The streets were lined with boutiques that sold lovely things like hand blown glass (the blower was looking at us through the window), art, and homemade gingerbread. There was also a sensory garden. I can't wait to go back and see, hear, taste, feel, and smell what that is like.

Vevey, Switzerland

Have I mentioned that I think it's a pretty good thing we live in Switzerland? Saturday morning Greg woke determined we were going to have a great day and go on a little trip. Honestly he was the only one with that thought. The rest of us were barely along for the ride. As it turned out. . . 20 minutes down the road he'd nearly given up on all of us. That's how we ended up in Vevey!
We parked and he pulled out a most amazing picnic-which he bought groceries for and prepared entirely on his own. The picnic included the most delicious chocolate eclairs. I believe they were my first eclairs since we've lived here.
After eating, we were all starting to feel much much better. The day was beautiful and Vevey has a beautiful park that we enjoyed for a couple of hours.

That's why I'm glad we live in Switzerland (and married to Greg). We'll do Basel another day.

Amelia

Amelia was here last week. Yeah! It was such a great time being with Aunt Amelia. We kept very busy. Here are some pictures of our day spent in Lyon, France.
This is how Henry and Elsa enjoyed the Textile Museum.


This is how they enjoyed the ruins.


Here we are crossing the pedestrian bridge.

This is why I think Lyon is funny. A mini Eiffel tower. Serious.

This is why I don't intend to spend too much on a badly needed new camera. Any suggestions?

We love you Amelia. Thanks for coming.

Annie Was Here!

Annie came and I haven't any pictures. I just wanted to document how much we enjoy visitors. Annie why didn't we take any pictures?
She brought us a cupcake pan that I am so grateful for. Sarah and Alma are probably thrilled too. I made banana muffins in my new pan. I didn't spray it-they don't sell non-stick spray here-and not one muffin stuck to the pan. It's that nice. We have gone way too long without a muffin pan.
Annie you rock.

Sunday Walk

A couple of weeks ago we decided to enjoy our Sunday morning at Lake Divonne in France.

The kids enjoyed the meadows, flowers, bike paths, the prospect of going to the beach, and the boats. Henry brought his scooter, Elsa brought her bike and Ansel brought Elsa's old scooter.

Then Elsa fell down a hill and Ansel wet his pants and it was time to go home.

Fits.

I embrace every aspect of my children's lives including the "terrible twos." Ansel's tantrums are mild-he doesn't kick or throw himself on the ground. In fact they are quite endearing. Runny nose and all.

Paris and Disneyland

We went to Paris and Euro Disney for Spring Break. Of course we had a wonderful time. Euro Disney was more fun than we expected. We kept hearing that it was expensive, but we got a fabulous deal. People complained that it was crowded, but Disney knows they're popular and makes every effort to ease the pain. We were totally entertained. We had also heard that it was smaller. My kids are too young to care. It was a great Disney experience again. To enjoy comparisons by Greg click here.
We spent four days in Disney and one day in Paris. Does that seem crazy? We'll go back to Paris, of course. However, we did pack a lot into that one day.

Henry at the Louvre. We did go in and see the Mona Lisa and a few other works. The crowds were much more daunting than Disney and not nearly as well managed. It sort of burned the kids out quickly.


Greg is really great at turning food into fangs. Ansel was making monster noises, but the picture doesn't capture that.

Guess where we are.

Mike L. poses with Henry and Ansel. They had scream monitors right next to this statues. Children swarming to see if their scream could go off the charts. It was the most awful part of our Disney experience.

Paris Disney's castle was quite enchanting.

Small World was also newer and included more of the world. The boat ride was Ansel's fave.

Henry's Gag

A few weeks ago Henry attended the Geneva Auto Show with Greg.  He had a great time hanging with his Dad, and sitting in some cars.  He likes the glitz.

Apparently he enjoyed this red Jeep the most.  He's been telling anyone who asks that he bought it.  The price varies.  Last time I heard he got a steal of a deal $200!  It is being kept in a safe place until he turns legal driving age.  That would be 16 in the States but 18 here.  He's concerned about that difference.  Maybe his garage holding fee jumps after 10 years.

I didn't think much of his "joke" until I heard him tell Elsa about the Jeep he bought.  His presentation is flawless, he doesn't even smile.  I think he might even be convincing himself that he bought that red Jeep.  Elsa doesn't want to believe him, but is thrown off by the fact that his story doesn't vary and he's totally serious when he talks about it.

I wonder how long he'll keep this gag going?

Trusting The Dishwasher

I've always been intrigued by the dishwasher. I have total respect for its function. After three years without one, I vowed I'd never complain about emptying it, because I'm just so grateful to have it.

Growing-up doing the dishes was a process.  You scraped then washed with soapy water then rinsed THEN put the dishes in the dishwasher.  I never even questioned the process.

Not even when I left my house for college.  That's when I realized casseroles were indeed a viable meal not just a Mormon joke.  Admittedly sometimes I try my hand at a casserole.

After watching others do dishes and really thinking about the job of the dishwasher I decided to drop a step - the soapy water.  I still scraped and rinsed and scraped and rinsed repeatedly until there was nothing left to scrape or rinse.  I felt pretty good about this for a long time.

About two years ago I read an article on going green.  Growing up in Oregon these articles are typically second hand.  No new info, I've been doing their recommendations for a lifetime.  Imagine my surprise when I read that a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing!
Since that article I've considered dropping another step - the rinsing. I thought about it for two years, but couldn't trust my dishwasher to get the dishes clean and sterile.

Recently after considering how I could simplify my life I decided to drop the rinse. I put a couple scraped only dishes in. When I unloaded, I couldn't remember which ones weren't cleaned before I put them in the dishwasher. All of the dishes came out sparkling.

Little by little I've spent less time and used less water prepping my dishes for the dishwasher. It has earned my trust.

I still can't run it unless it is totally full. I know and love lots of people who can/do. However, that really isn't a problem considering my mini dishwasher.

Locked In!

Our car's keyless remote has been acting a bit strange lately.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it works when it shouldn't.  That's how Ansel got locked in the car today.  I set my keys on the driver's seat, like I've done for about five years.  Apparantly the pressure of the fall locked the car.  I had no idea, and when I shut the door to go to my seat, realized I'd locked myself out and my little boy in.

For the first five minutes I wasn't panicked.  The store security will just get their slim jim and me and Ansel will be on our way.  

Ansel wasn't worried he had an entire bag of groceries to dive into.

Then the security arrived.  He acted like he'd never had to deal with this in his life.  The child in the back seat was entirely new.

He went back in the store for reinforcements.

I began to be puzzled.  Maybe I've misunderstood.  My French is pretty rudimentary and he was speaking pretty fast.

An older couple saw my plight and came to give me support.  Plus, they spoke English.

Two new security guards arrived, both shaking their heads.  I'm still calm.

My feisty translator informed them they must call the local dealership and send them to get us out of this mess right away.  The security guards seemed like they obeyed, but I couldn't believe what they came away telling me.  We would have to break the glass to get into the car.  My car is too secure to break into.  What?

Fifteen minutes have passed and Ansel is starting to get hot.  My fan club surrounding me is getting bigger and questioning my sanity.  How could she possibly not know she locked the doors?  Why wasn't she holding the keys?  Why doesn't she have any friends?  Why does she not even know how to get a hold of her husband?  It's shocking.  But. . . they all stayed.

Twenty minutes later we get a hold of Greg.  (I remember I do have a friend who is also smart enough to use the internet.  Apparantly the store wasn't.  She quickly located Greg's work number and gave him a call).  But it's really too late to try and locate a spare key.  Ansel has beads of sweat forming on his neck!  The sweltering 60 degrees is still way too hot inside the car.  

The fire truck and police arrive in five minutes.  The passenger's side window is broken.  They scoop up Ansel with urgency and care.  Then pour a bottle of water over his head.  He's just fine, but keeps telling me the firman broke glass in his eye.

I'm still not quite sure what that means.  There is definitely glass everywhere but none of it near his little body or beautiful blue eyes.  I'm so grateful for that.

My new friends stick around to make sure we're all right and even clear the glass off my seat so I can drive home and pick up my kids from school.  Their bell just rang.

Ansel's been tagged.

Elsa definitely is our artist. She's never without a notebook and a pen or set of markers.

The downside of housing such an artist is we end up washing more walls, and the way she stylizes our couch cushions with permanent ink. We thought she was getting better and taking the "world is my canvass" thing a little less literally...until she tattooed her little brother.

I'm not sure which is funnier: the fact that she placed this so perfectly between his shoulder blades, like Ansel sauntered into a tattoo parlor and asked for it, or the V-shaped angry eyebrows.