Last week was the annual Fasnacht festival here in Bern. Lots of confetti and costumes and marching bands! You can google it to hear about the history. For us it meant heading downtown Friday afternoon for the kinder parade. We went with some of our new Swiss friends from Jackson’s school. That was fun to hear about how they went as children. The kids had so much fun seeing all of the other kids dressed up. We marched with the bands through the old cobblestone streets and ended at an area near the cathedral where they had games set up for the kids.

Here are a few photos. We avoided the “grown-up fasnacht” knowing that it would likely be scary for our kiddos. The kinder parade was just enough for us! The boys came home EXHAUSTED! They both crashed early that night after skipped naps and so much excitement.

my super hero….the theme was Zoo animals but he wanted to be a super hero

and our little dino just could not make sense of being taken out of his bed early to get a costume on!

Jackson and Ella..she is Swiss but her family lived in Houston. Such a sweet family.

superhero reunion

only in Switzerland…(this may be the name of an upcoming blog series. I am working through some culture shock before I launch it. I don’t want to get myself sent out of the country!

we saw at least 50 Pippy long stockings during the afternoon….brings back so many fun slumber party memories. I had no idea the Swiss loved her so much!

not a great picture but the only one of the 3 of us! Should have gotten one pre-parade. My super hero and dinosaur were fading!

We got our fill of confetti until next yr!!

Spring is still taunting us in this neck of the woods and we are taking advantage. Saturday I hiked up the Gurten with 2 girls from church and the boys met us at the top to play at the park. Yesterday we met friends at the Rosengarten overlooking Bern for a picnic. We have had lots of outside time! In a few minutes when Owen gets up we are heading out again. Going to enjoy it until my allergy-fogged contacts start screaming!!

Bonnie, Leigh and Katie Jo arrive on Wednesday morning and I can’t wait! I last saw Bonnie in July of last year. Too long! We are going to make a big pot of Swiss fondue for Bonnie and I may just have to make a trip to the chocolate factory so she can get a good taste of Swiss chocolate and get a good view of the mountains.

Not sure what we will do next year when all of our near and dears have already visited us here. I have SO enjoyed having so many guests and it has made this house feel more like home.  We may have to build a budget line in so I can hop “home” now and again. I am still holding out hope to go to my cousins wedding in July but with tickets a whopping $1700 a piece my hope is dwindling.

I need to post on the fastnacht parade from Friday but the camera and the computer seem to be in opposite ends of the house so that will have to wait! We had big fun and were completely wiped out! Stay tuned!

This is my question for anyone I encounter that has lived in Bern longer than us. My Colombian neighbor that has lived here for years swears it will still snow again. The Swiss say we can count on another snow by April or even into April. What???? Let’s hope these snow-loving people are so wrong. Because I NEED Spring. Yes, I said NEED. I need some regular sunshine and time outside of this house. And so do the boys. We have had some really nice days this week and we have gotten out each afternoon after nap.The gardeners came and cleared out the old grasses and plants, revealing tons of tulip, daffodil looking plants! So exciting! I keep telling myself that the gardeners would not have cleared the winter plants away until winter was over. Right?!

Earlier this week when the weather looked promising we dug out some outside trucks and the t-ball set Aunt Sara and Uncle Thomas sent Jackson a while back. Spring training you know. Well, Owen, in case you all weren’t aware has some very promising baseball skills. The fact that the boy knew how to hold the bat, place the ball on the tee, followed by a vigorous and well-aimed effort to hit the ball off the tee, is amazing to me! Walking has given him a whole new lease on life.  He feels so liberated to try to keep up with Jackson.

sneaky guy

Jackson is also loving the spring fling. He is out the atrium door before I even know he is gone. Often half in pj’s and without shoes.   He is in teacher mode with Owen these days, showing him the ropes on the big boy bike, ball throwing and rock skipping. Owen is usually receptive. Usually.  Jackson is also staying busy with his English playgroup. We added a morning last week so he now goes Wed and Fri mornings. He loves it. This week they have been preparing for Carnaval that begins this weekend. We will be going to the kinder parade tomorrow afternoon. Pictures of that to come I am sure! Below is his clown mask he made!

On Valentine’s Day, the O’Leary chicas along with 2 friends came to visit for the week. We had such a fun time.  The boys got spoiled rotten by all of the attention. We walked by the river, shopped, toured Bern, Thun and a couple of towns in France, ate, laughed hard, and had a wonderful time!

One of my memories of living with Annie was of her making her famous devil dog cookies. They were awesome! So for her visit I made heart-shaped red velvet whoopie pies! They turned our better than expected. I was sure they would look like big blobs. And I had about a 4th of the food coloring I needed. So mine were hot pink and not so red but you get the idea.

here was the recipe I used…

http://annies-eats.net/2010/02/08/red-velvet-whoopie-pies/

Enough about the treats..here are a few pictures from our time. I haven’t uploaded them all yet.

So fun to have Annie, Suzanne and all of the girlies here! Wish we all lived closer! Still having some withdrawl!