It’s Friday in our neck of the woods…some of you are still fast asleep but it’s definitely day time here!   We have had a packed week with what feels like a dozen play/coffee dates and lots of chipping away at the cleaning of the house before move out.  We have a busy weekend ahead and then next week we pack suitcases, clean the house, hand over the keys and head to temp housing until we fly out a week from Monday. Follow that? Me either. Just learning to roll with it. My roll isn’t so smooth though.   Here are some happy summer pictures to leave you with this Friday!

yum! looking forward to our blueberry bush at our new home

jackson’s collection on our front door step..he’s been working on this for over a year. he finds so many treasures!

couldn’t resist, consider it wages from laboring in the fields

the “fill a bag” deal at the store last week was everything you need for ratatouille!!  Reminded me of my mom!

not sure what this poor farmer boy is doing. but he sure is cute!

house work is underway. Not enjoying 10 pm phone calls with the contractor but pleased that something is going! So ready to see it finally and make it our own.

Back to our little series that is probably boring some of you to death and hopefully encouraging some of you that might be facing a move soon!  Maybe I will put up some pictures later to suffice for those who are bored.

If you are in the Foreign Service you know what a UAB shipment is, for those of you that don’t it is our air freight shipment that includes all of our must have’s for the last weeks after our household goods are gone. The UAB shipment requires strategy in order to have what you really want and need.

Things that are great for that essentials shipment…

College kitchen kit. Before our move to Bogota I was shopping in Target and found their “college kitchen kit”. It was made up of a super light weight pot and pan set, a colander, plastic measuring cups and spoons, and a set of cooking spoons. It was perfect for all of those few week time periods when we need something to use but we don’t need anything heavy or fancy.  I looked on their website to link you to what we got and can’t find what it would be called…so as you browse target and walmart type stores (*again not being paid by them*) check out the college sections and score yourself a cheap set. The embassy here, as well as in Bogota provide us with a Welcome Kit that has basics like 4 dishes, forks, basic cooking stuff and linens. This is super helpful on this end but won’t help with when we arrive in DC so we still need those basics in our shipment.

grill pan! (*again, not being paid to advertise* although after typing it 3 times so far in this post it makes me wonder if someone shouldn’t be paying me something to brag on them*) We have one of the Nathan’s Grills. Another Target find. But here it is on Amazon. Look in the “As seen on TV” section….admit it you have always wanted to buy an “as seen on tv” product. Now is your chance. It is a grill on one side and a griddle on the other. During the weeks of transition you have a zillion easy meals you can make when you don’t have a grill and you are missing 90% of your pans. There are obviously fancy grill pans out there but this one is light and fits the bill for being practical but not taking up precious weight.

clothes. Yes there are clothes around the world but if you have favorites stock up. Often they are different enough or expensive enough that you won’t shop much unless you are stateside.  For both Switzerland and Bogota we heard that kids clothes were  expensive so I bought basics for the entire 2 years…knowing that at times I would be off a bit on seasons or sizes but so far for both tours it has worked out.  And it has saved us so much money. For UAB I normally bring enough that if our shipment gets delayed or something else happens that we have enough to get us started in the next season if it is approaching. Also remember to check if you will need coats, snow gear, etc when you arrive.

Toys, if you have kids, of course. With toys we normally save out the things the kids will be crushed without like their teddy for bed. And this time around we saved a box of legos, a pirate ship, coloring books, crayons, a ball, playdough that we can just get rid of when we go and a friend lent us a few toys to borrow.  I focus on bringing a variety because when boredom hits it is more helpful to have different things than lots of the same. The boys love their train set but obviously a wood train set isn’t a practical choice when weight is limited. That goes in the long term shipment along with the rest of the toys. On the plus side it feels like Christmas when the toys arrive at post.

Bedding I normally put our duvet cover and the boys bedding in our UAB. I might be strange but for some reason this makes it look more like home and especially for Jackson it makes him feel like his bed is normal.  I want things, especially with bedtimes to be the least disruptive as possible.

Pictures I add a picture frame or 2 with family pictures or fun memories. When you are transitioning through temporary housing it is sometimes nice to have a few familiar things and to have things that remind you of your former home. You could even just bring a few things to put up on the fridge if you don’t have the weight or space for frames.

Favorite cookbook...although you can find so many recipes online bring along a cookbook for those annoying weeks when the internet isn’t set up and you are tired of borrowing your neighbors computer.

“Must have bag”…we normally have a ziplock with scissors, tape, pens, clothes pins, mini sewing kit….

Holiday specific stuff– we tend to plan out moves around someones birthday, not really but it normally happens that way.  If you have a special banner or some small tradition keep that in your UAB so that the birthday boy or girl will still feel the love and not just feel how different a birthday is during the move! Likewise if you know you are arriving at post during a holiday time and your household goods won’t be there toss in some festive paper plates, etc. When culture shock is setting in and you are missing the holiday with friends and family back home you will have a bright reminder of home.

Car seats- if you aren’t traveling with your car seats remember you will need them when you land!  Same thing goes for travel beds, etc for kids.

Medicine make sure you have the medicines and things you use on a regular basis. Seems each time we travel one of the kids gets sick or we are in need of bandaids, pepto, etc. Make sure you are stocked. If you are going stateside you know you can find a 24 hour pharmacy but overseas it can be tricky to find things quickly when you first arrive.

obviously you will need basic linens like sheets and towels, an extra blanket or two if you are going somewhere cold, pillows, and all of that must have baby stuff but the above are just others in addition to the basics.

If all of this talk about packing makes your blood pressure rise, just do what Owen does when he needs a break.  Seems to work like a charm…

This past weekend we spent our Saturday with our neighbors. We started the morning with some semi-successful strawberry picking and ended it with a big pot of Hungarian goulash over a fire pit and kids playing in the sprinkler.

you can barely see the mountains in this picture but they were visible yesterday!

Great job Scott and Erika! So yummy!

watch out world, Owen discovered the water guns!

snake bread (stick bread) over the fire

Strawberry Rhubard hand pies…from last weeks post (Southern Living)

{This must be catch up week around here! Sorry to bombard you with so many post but I don’t want to fall behind!}

Switzerland has no doubt given us a wonderful place to host family and friends. I never could have imagined how many people we would have and it has been such a fun season. Tiring no doubt, but fun.

Our last visitors at Swiss Chalet Kolb were my cousin, Josh, Jordan and Justin Strong. They were on their way back from living in Thailand and wanted to do a bike tour around Switzerland. They spent  a couple of days with us here visiting Bern and it was fun to get to know them better since I haven’t seen them since they were my boys ages! Made me feel quite old!

notice  the metal table and fancy chairs! Temp furniture makes for fine dining with guests!

After they ate granola bars for their 4 bike riding days we made sure they made one last stop at a Swiss restaurant…

at the beginning of their fondue

by the end!

Our house was overflowing with boys. I for sure was outnumbered. My boys got ramped up in an attempt to get the big boys to give them attention…which was tough to do with soccer games on tv. By the last evening Seth was busy doing something so Owen asked Josh to help him with his ice cream. He then wanted to hold his hand. It was too funny!  Owen knows how to lessen the generational gap