Kiddie 2 yr old party

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More pics

Mary Molloy's 2nd Birthday

My computer has been down so I have not been able to post any pics of MM's 2nd b'day. It is so crazy to me that it has been 2 years since she was born. Both b'days in Zurich! Crazzzzzzzzzzzy!

We had a great Sunday as we celebrated her b'day a day earlier with our neighbor Amy and our other friends Andrea and Ben. All adults which meant the b'day girl was the center of attention.

Amy was so sweet and got her a dress up set...holy cow she loves it! She danced all evening for our guests. I think we adults had more fun than she did but it was a blast.

This Saturday we are having a little b'day party in the park with her 2 boyfriends Colin and Layton....they a turned 2 within a week or so of eachother.

We miss everyone and are looking forward to getting back and catching up with you all!

Rainy Lunch

Okay a story from Mindy:
We awoke all excited about our lunch date with Andrea. We were going to sit outside downtown with MM and have a salad. Great!
I was running late...of course and it had started to rain. We decided to go to the italian restaurant next door....they had a high chair so all was good. MM ate some of our pizza....we had a glass of wine. It was nice until MM started getting a bit nasty. She wanted to get down and take her shoes off. Nice....we really are from the south since I let my child walk around a rest. with no shoes. Ha!
Anywho, we finished and said our goodbyes....Andrea went back to work and MM and I next door to Coop City to do some grocery shopping. We finish and head outside to a massive rain shower. NICE!
No umbrella...not that I could carry it anyway since I had to push our stroller through the tram lines up and down curbs. Running in the rain we make it under the cover at the tram stop to catch the number 8. Now the rain decides to pick up with the wind...nice.
The 8 comes and no one is getting on that can help me and for some reason I decided to buy everything heavy i.e. potatoes, wine(of course), etc. So I hoist MM into the tram all while getting soaked. MM has a rain cover so she is enjoying that mommy is getting drenched I am sure.
2 stops later we reach our stop and luckily a gentleman offers to help me with the stroller...great right. Well yes until my grocery bag breaks...nice. We manage to pull it all together....still raining and wait to cross the crosswalk. Another exciting moment was the cars splashing massive puddles all over me...once again MM was fine since she had her rain cover....she loved it!
Soaked from head to toe carrying a broken bag and trying to push the stroller we eventually make it to our outdoor stairs. MM gets out...barefoot and walks up as I carry the soggy bag along with a bag of potatoes....just as we get to the door the bag of potatoes break. NICE!! Seriously??
In the door we go after picking up all the potatoes....in the rain.
Oh and now I realized I must go back down and get the stroller out of the rain and carry it up to our apt landing.
THE END!
NICE!!!!

Summer Days

Hello All! I hope you are having a good week. This week thus far has been fairly quiet but HOT! We have been up to 90 almost everyday and again with no AC.
Yesterday we went to our Moms N Tots get together. We used to meet at the church but now that it is summer we go to different outdoor places around the city. We went to the pool in Zollikon which is just down the lake a bit from our house. A tram and bus ride away.
Let me say that this was the most amazing facility I have ever seen. There were 4 indoor pools, 1 with 2 massive slides. 4 outdoor pools. It was by far the cleanest pool(go figure it is the Swiss) I have ever been to and they had a lot of grassy areas in the shade so you could lay out your blanket and have a picnic too. So fun. The other moms played in the baby pool...which was nice but I wanted to play in the big pool. So MM and played in the big pool...she loved it and I think I loved it even more!
Other than that life is pretty quiet right now. Today MM and I are meeting our friend Andrea down at the lake for lunch. She works nearby and is going to meet us.
It is supposed to rain later today which I am kind of excited about...maybe it will cool things off!
Over and out from here and I hope all is well with you!

My complaint of the day- only 1 I promise!

Okay- While my parents were visiting the weather was beautiful...sunny breezy and cool in the shade
My complaint.....they need some AC here! I am way too American but there is no place to cool off. We have to walk everywhere which makes you sweat and then you go into your flat and it is so hot! Trying to manage the location of the fan, closing shutters to keep out the sun....ugh!
I have sweat more in the last 3 days than you could ever imagine. The best place to go cool off is the grocery store. SAD!
My poor parents were sitting on the balcony to catch a breeze soaking washclothes in ice water for there necks! It was hysterical. I guess you had to be here to get the jist but I had to file a complaint with someone....Thanks for listening!! Love and miss you all!

More Pics

Pics from last couple of weeks

Its Been a While...sorry!

Hey!!! Well it has been forever since I blogged but we have had visitors since late May. It started with Chris's parents visiting. It was so great to see them and Mary Molloy was so happy! Chris's parents took a side trip to Lake Como and had a great time. When they returned we headed to Paris while they watched MM. Chris and I spent almost 3 days in Paris....it was awesome and a nice break! We saw as much as we could see in a short amount of time. The weather was cool and overcast which was probably best since we walked the whole city! Chris and I were so tired from all the walking but it was good for us since we ate our way through the city!
We returned and enjoyed the Stricklands for a few more days.
We had a week with just us and then my parents arrived and just left yesterday. It was so much fun and we had a ball visiting with them. We took them to Mt. Pilatus, Rhein Falls, Lausanne(where my mother went to school in 1964 -65). We did a lot and they just soaked up MM. I miss them already.
We will be heading home in mid September...for good! So excited to get back and see you all!!! I will be sad to leave all of our new friends here in Zurich....it went by so fast!
We love and miss you and can't wait to see you in 3 months!

Good Friday to all! Okay here is my corny entry for today:
What I love about Switzerland?

I love the amazing flowers and smells in the spring here. It seems so much more vibrant than at home. I guess that is because the temperature is so mild here. Mary Molloy and I were walking to the store this afternoon and the little gardens along the street are so amazing and smell so great! Probably my favorite thing about spring here in Zurich. We went to Junker Farms today with a friend and her daughter. The farm is about 20 or 30 minutes outside of Zurich...so fun! Mary Molloy got to pet a baby goat...so cute! We saw and fed the bunny rabbits, jumped on the trampolines and played on the playground. It is such a quant little place...they had there own market and everything was as fresh as you could possibly get it. They also made there own hand cream so I bought 7 bottles of it...yes 7? We lunched at the picnic tables and then headed back to the city. It was a great day and we had sooo much fun.
I have missed everyone back home a lot lately and today was a nice change having met a new friend and enjoying what the rest of the world has to offer.
I am blessed to have this experience and when I get sad about missing everyone that is what I tell myself!

Love my alone time!!!!

Okay! I am a dork but I love it! Today I took Mary Molloy to Tammy's daycare. Tammy is from Israel not Alabama....funny that Tammy doesn't sound like a name of someone from Israel...but what do I know?!
Mary Molloy must know her tram stops already because when we came up to the Frolichstrasse stop (don't even try to pronouce it...I have been corrected so many times!) which is "Tammy's stop" she yells, "Tammy". She loves her.
Anywho, I am getting off track here. I decided to do some shopping alone for once and then I went to the cutest little French bistro in old town.....it had down pillows to lean against...so fun! I would have taken a picture but this wasn't a place you did that sort of thing as no one was speaking English...and there were some fancy folks in there. So I sat there sipping my sparkling water (yes we drink sparkling water now....it is good..you have to try it!) and I had a glass of wine with my tomato soup and salad. It is nice to eat alone and relax....BUT I think the waiters were laughing at me. They kept walking by and smiling and I must say that is the only thing strange about eating by yourself....you end up talking to the waiters a lot. It is like getting a massage and having someone talk to you the whole time.(That always happens to me...I end up knowing the life story of the therapist! Ugh!)
On my "alone days" I always have the intention to go buy myself something but end up drifting towards the children's stores and MM gets the prizes.
That is about all I have to report here.
Chris's "go-live" as he calls it(whatever that means) was Monday and all went well. He is back to his old self! It is nice.
Okay I am done...sorry to ramble.
Take care-

Rain Rain Go Away!!!

So it has been raining now since Saturday and it is cold. Lovely! MM is so bord....I have resorted to having dance class with her. Taught by me which is hysterical and scary. So I thought I would share a "fun fact" with you all: you can't get normal canned soup or brown sugar here to name a few BUT I was informed about a online store "American Food Avenue".....as I was so excited to hear the news I rushed to my computer to place an order only to find that 1 can of Campbells Cream of Chicken Soup costs 3.20 fr which is essentially $3.20 since the dollar is so weak! FOR 1 CAN!!!! Got to love those Swiss!
Mary Molloy is very entertaining these days: She likes to color, pretend cook, and likes giving kisses and hugs. She also likes saying hello to strangers and noticing every clock in Zurich which is a lot. She yells CLOCK but can't really pronouce her L's so it isn't a very pretty word that she is yelling all over town. Thats all for now folks...catch up with you all later when there is something worth mentioning! Cheers.

Pictures from Missy's visit

We had a great time with Aunt Missy! We went to Grignan, France...one of the many wine regions. We relaxed and had great weather. MM got to eat chocolate pastries and drank wine! Just kidding...it was juice. We tried Rose wine for the first time. I thought it would have been sweet but it was nice. Chris and I ate pigeon...yes the bird. I keep apologizing to all the city pigeons telling them I am sorry I ate their friend. It was okay...won't eat it again...but I felt very French!

MM playing with Lydia

Mary Molloy had her friend Lydia over for a playdate. They have lots of fun together and are very sweet.

Most updated pics but still old

Hello all! Okay I am new at this blog thing so forgive me.

So, what is happening here? Zurich is AMAZING during the spring or I should say May, since we had a ton of rain in April. We go to the park all the time with other little ones and have playdates a lot. We went to the park next to the lake for mothers day and got mooned..yes mooned. A family was setting up shop with kids etc...and a DAD dropped pants...I saw hairy ass and put on his swimsuit. We are definitely in Europe. Chris and I were laughing so hard.... it was the best mothers day gift ever.

Mary Molloy is good, tough but good....when I am exhausted and want to let my guard down I remind myself that being consistant will pay off in the long run...or I hope. Daddy is such a pushover so Mom is always the bad guy. Oh well!

Chris's "go-live" is in Basel on Monday so he is in Basel tonight and tomorrow. I got a babysitter for tomorrow night whether he makes it home or not. I have planned to go to dinner with some friends but if everyone bails I will still will go to a quite dinner by myself...it is fun. Hard to do the first time but once you do it ..it is kind of addictive.

Cheers-

Mindy

Spring in Zurich

MM likes to swing on the balcony. She is very happy and we don't have to fight over the swings at the park! Basically we spend lots of time at the park and having "playdates" with other tots. Other than that life is quiet.