In Summary

This pretty much sums up my last few weeks...

Fun in the snow!

We had a nice day hiking and tobogganing today. Monika, E, Alex and I took a gondola up Kandersteg in southern Switzerland. Early in the tobogganing adventure the combination of walking slowly along a diagonal slope and the lack of weight on the tobbogn (Alex) meant Alex took a tip onto his side. Fortunately, he was mostly startled and not hurt. Thank goodness! Anyway, he was really cool when we tobogganed down the hill at (controlled) higher speeds. We had an easy hike (while pulling Alex along) to a cabin by an iced-over lake called Oeschinensee. There, we stopped for a nice cosy lunch.

After lunch we walked on the lake avoiding the abandoned ice-fishing holes. Meanwhile, Alex completely passed out for almost an hour in the toboggan!!! We mummified his head to keep his face warm.

We trekked back - mostly uphill, to our starting point where we enjoyed some end-of-day-sunshine, with tea and chocolate before leaving.

It was excellent to get out on such a beautiful, mild and sunny day. I thought, "The sky can't be this blue, even with a polarizer!!!" By the time we were leaving Alex's feet were a bit cold but he was a happy chatter box in the warm car in traffic on the way home.

Crazy Basel

We've arrived in Basel.  As usual things are down to the wire.  Barely enough time to arrive and we're already on the go.  We arrived in Basel to our temporary accommodations and completed tons of paperwork.  Then we headed to Zürich.

We spent New Years in Zürich with Fred and Vivi.  We had a very nice time eating, catching-up and exploring the city together in the rain.  On New Year's Eve day we explored Zürich and went out for a delicious lunch.  We decided to pick-up some Champagne, wine, cheese and bread for dinner in the hotel room (while putting Alex to sleep) and then went to a hill-top spot (the University) to watch the fireworks at mid-night.  I was a bit stressed about bringing Alex out to a noisy party in the middle of the night and in the cold rain.  And as expected, he did wake up with a fire work burst but then his father held him and hushed him back to sleep.  We were able to watch the whole show and enjoy our Champagne midnight celebrations while Alex continued to sleep.  I guess this is what you do when you don't have baby sitting!!  On the 1st we took Fré and Vivi to the the biggest falls in Europe (volume).  Alex LOVED it!! Yes, he's a real water boy!! I think Fré and Vivi did too!  All in all, it was great to spend time with the two of them here on our side of the "pond".

We returned to Basel.  Since we've arrived it's rained every day at some point or another.  It's been pretty mild, and I don't really mind rain, so it hasn't stopped my explorations.  Today was the ultimate day for rain and stormy weather.

Our building has shutters and at 7am I thought it was a bit odd that I could hear non-stop shutter opening by neighbours. Usually I hear one then another open followed by the regular silence.  So after about 45 minutes later and with and E casually mentioning it was a windy day I connected the two.  Ahh... the penny finally dropped: the wind made the shutters shudder!

So Alex and I spent most of the day indoors while the weather was foul.  I decided to go for a walk with him at about 15:00 this afternoon when the weather seemed to clear.  There was a magnificent rainbow and some amazing and fast moving clouds in the opposite direction.

My pot of gold!

As I walked the weather was still moody and temperamental.  Umbrellas turning inside out everywhere made me give up on mine as I decided it was futile.  That and managing it and the stroller can be a challenge.  It was behaving like a sail more than an umbrella...

I found a nice bakery and got a 3 Kings cake for tomorrow (3 Kings day, or the Orthodox Christmas) aka Alexander's 1st birthday.  There were no cupcakes available and with meagre ingredients in our temporary home as of yet, no baking from Mom.  Anyway, I got the cake and when I came out of the bakery it was p-o-u-r-i-n-g.

I decided to return home.  It was about 16:20 and as I was arriving in our apartment complex.  Just then the sky darkened to night, thunder rumbled and lightning cracked... the wind picked up and the rain started to hurl.  Yes, HURL!!! It hurled everything it could at me and Alex.  Then it turned into HAIL!!  So here's me now holding my mushroom shaped umbrella trying to stay vertical when the stroller starts tipping over!! Yes, tipping over.  I put my body on the leeward side of the stroller to keep it standing while trying to keep upright myself.  I managed a peek at Alex to check if he was okay and he was still sleeping but now with a tightly scrunched-up face.  At this point I was stopped about 6 meters from our apartment entrance and someone yelled out from the daycare to offer shelter from the chaos.  A haven!!  But just at that moment the wind and hail subsided for a mere moment, so I ran to our door yelling out "Nein, DANKE!!!" As I found cover indoors.

Holy smokes.  That hasn't happened before!!

Tomorrow is Alexander's 1st birthday.  We will celebrate with 3 King's cake, put him in a crown and have him (try to) blow out a candle.  We are going to give him a set of building blocks - a lifetime of fun!  I'm hoping the cake won't be soggy, although it probably doesn't matters since Alex eats everything.  There is also a high likelihood he'll eat his blocks too.  Haha!!

Just something fun!

Brazil

Back: E, Du, Henrique, Gus, Fre
Middle: Cy, Tati, Vi
Front: Alex, Stella, Vale, Vivi

This trip came about suddenly as E had a project that needed him in Brazil.  Sao Paulo to be exact.  So when I heard, my cogs started churning.  E needed to be in Brazil for meetings which would book-end 3 weeks.  Meaning two Thursday to Sunday trips 3 weeks apart.  So I hopped aboard!  My visit bridged his 2 trips (came with him, stayed for 10 days without him and then left with him).  It was great to take advantage of this situation (3 seats for the price of 1)! And the opportunity to introduce Alexander to extended family. Fantastic!! Truly!

Arriving in Brazil this time was like taking a dunk into the everyday lives of my Family on any given hectic day.  This wasn't holiday time and everyone was busy beyond all recognition.   My family was as always, extremely accommodating and they were able to make lots of time for Alex, E and I.  We had a lot of fun!

My Aunt and Uncle were having an insane time preparing for my Uncles 2.5 month contract in Korea (with no more than a week to prepare), my cousins were busy with work, teaching, studies, significant others, babies, kids, health concerns, pets etc.  At least 3 items per cousin.  I just came in an stirred things up a bit more for them.

I was visited regularly by Gus during lunch times as he works near his parents' place.  It was a nice treat during the long days (alone with Alex).  The evenings were filled with visits from Fred & Vivi and Du and Sco.  There was also quite a bit of iPad training going on and my Aunt, Fre, Du and Gus each have one now.  It's great!

It was quite wonderful to see Alex interact with everyone so warmly and comfortably.  I am so happy for this!  Everyone had a lot of fun with him too and this warmed my heart.  Such a special time! (Love love love!!)  He was also a hit with the family dog Ragu.  I don't know who chased whom faster - Ragu behind Alex or vice-versa.  I have a suspicion that "Ragu" means "Dog" to Alex.  He calls out "GU" every time he sees a dog and almost cried in frustration in the park the other day when the dog didn't come running...  Either way, seeing Alex and Ragu was tons of slobbery fun!

There were quite a few events as well.  Pizza at Gus & Vi's after babies were bathed and asleep, play dates with Vale, Euro tour planning with Fre & Vivi, a baby shower, the second Singstar gala where Vivi & I kicked butt, some shopping at my Aunts' Atelie (I'll put a link here as soon as her site is up and running!!), visiting my Vovó, hanging out with my other Aunt & Uncle and of course, the reunion of cousins.

The reunion of cousins was quite a feat.  5/8 of us were there with significant others and kiddies.  What a blast!!  It was also a union of the 2011 harvest.  That being similar to the 1978 harvest.  In 1978 1 child was born to each of the 3 Anders siblings (my Mom, my Uncle Lindolfo and my Uncle Rodolfo).  Christina, Henrique and Gustavo respectively.  In 2011, Alexander, Valentina and Stella also (almost) respectively were born.  That's about as close a repeat as possible!  It was great.  We ate well, as is famed by the Anders clan, and we spoke tons.  It was a wonderful time!

On our last day we did all you can eat Brazilian BBQ.  MummMMMMmmmMMMmm!!! It was delicious!!!  We had a gigantic table, made a fantastic mess and were quite noisy.  What a wonderful time!

Again, I thank my gracious family for hosting us so warmly.

Back in Frankfurt

We're back home and it feels so nice!

Seeing family was great.  The 2011 cousins got to babble, stare and drool at each other.  And their parents did much of the same as well (hehe!)  I'll write more soon!

The first week back home was lonnnnng!  It seems that we're finally all over the jet lag and lack of sleep of the return flight.  So now we're trying to settle back in to our crowded home.  It's nice.

Autumn is in the air. Burrrrr!  The park is beautiful as ever and I missed it.

The fußsac (foot bag - like a sleeping bag) is on the stroller and the thicker hats are getting tried out in the cold.  They always end-up backwards on Alex's head somehow.

E's away for work again (Moscow), so hopefully it will go quickly and we can be cozy and together again very soon.

We went to see the All Black game on Sunday with some dear friends and had a blast as the game kept us all at maximum adrenalin the entire time.  What a great game!  Alex on the other hand, had enough after one half and slept through the cheers for the entire second half.

Next weekend we'll check out the Frankfurt zoo (Alex's first time) with some friends then get warm over sushi (perhaps the tea will warm us up...).

Alex is awake now, more blogging later.

Back in Frankfurt

We've just returned to Frankfurt.

It's been a month and I must admit, coming home feels good.  Although our home smells oddly earthy...  I suppose we were gone long enough for the earth to begin reclaiming our apartment as it's own?

We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family.  Really wonderful!  My heart has been warmed and I have re-found receding parts of myself.

It's gut wrenching to leave Canada again (as usual) but nicer and nicer to come back to my nest.  It was surprisingly difficult to leave Frankfurt in the first place, but I think it had more to do with my "omg-feelings-of-protecting-offspring... and oh-what-am-I-subjecting-him-to-so-early in life?" concerns... But the plane took off none the less.  We arrived in my home "town" in great shape and with minimal scathing as far as traveling with a baby.

We stayed with my Mom aka Vovó "Goopy", aptly named by Alexander.  We had friends visit us (mostly) due to Alexander's bed-time schedule.  In the middle of our stay, we visited Kingston and Montreal.  We had a great time everywhere we went (and stayed)!

The weather was stinking hot (avg.33...) and we melted.  Not the pounds though!  Alexander took to the new time zone within 3 days while we lagged behind.  He learned to get on his knees and is now on the move (oh dear)!!!  He's become quite the chatter box with words like "Gaa, Geh, Goo..." He also spent many a restless night while cutting his first tooth.  We suspected given all the drool, violent chewing and irritability.  And thus, we just found the wee-cerrated-inscisor (bottom right) last night but are giving full credit to Canada for helping him out over this month.

As we get back into our routine, more stories will come!

Full moon #1 ~ S.P. Brazil

Brazil. A big word for me.

Evgueni and I went to Brazil to visit my extended family. It was his first time there and meeting everyone. It was really wonderful for me to have him be there and to meet extended family, as they form a critical part of who I am. Everyone welcomed him warmly as a new member in our family. He really enjoyed himself as he told me, but I could also see this was true. He was quite relaxed and very much himself with everyone. Everyone had fun together, especially the ridiculous kind. It was a joy to see!!

Our arrival was celebrated with a ritual enjoyed at my Aunt and Uncle’s house since my 1991 visit: pizza with Guarana*. Once we were fed and caught-up a bit we were ready to rest-up for the New Years celebration.

Party central was my Aunt and Uncle’s place for a traditional Brazilian BBQ. Before starting, my Uncle Rodolfo, Fred, Evgueni, Gustavo and Ragu (the ever-loyal dog) set-up a waterproof shelter. I say shelter because it had an eaves trough system over the BBQ to prevent any interruption of the evening festivities.

Before long, Fred and Gustavo were at the grille preparing cheese skewers, sausages and the most tender and juicy beef ever. We dipped everything into my Aunt Paola’s deliciously crunchy farofa**.

Magically, Fred was constantly refilling my glass of Caipirinha***. In a serious way. So my recollection of the evening is spotty at best. I do remember having my wine glass topped up as well, so I actually don’t really know what was going-on.

I hadn’t seen Vivian yet so we were reunited at the BBQ. Then her parents, Roberto and Gloria arrived too. I’m pretty sure Edu was under the table as fast as I was because he had started making funny faces in each of my photos. Although, he could also have been dead sober and it wouldn’t have made any difference.

Eventually I stumbled over to check on Evgueni (I don’t remember where I went – I could have just been traveling mentally…) when I noticed that Fred was being liberal with E’s Caipirinha’s as well. Wow… Then more friends arrived. All the meanwhile we ate and ate and ate… There was a short-lived rainfall to satisfy the resident engineers that the meticulously calculated eaves design exceeded stringent testing.

We stopped eating at one point to celebrate something. It was 2010!! Before I knew it, my husband had a giant knife in-hand and was sabering a bottle of Champagne****. Then, more glass filling, drinking and eating… and then we celebrated something else: I specifically remember my Aunt pointing out the full moon. It was beautiful!

My attempts at photographing the full moon were unsuccessful at best since the moon moves more quickly in the southern hemisphere…

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaraná_Antarctica

** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farofa

*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caipirinha

****http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabrage