More Spring

The weather here is rocking pretty wildly between feeling like summer and then back to winter. Still, the trees are all in blossom and the gardens are looking great. We've been getting back into walking all around our lovely neighbourhood.

The local goats always like a visit from Benjy and Flynn - I think it's the hysterical laughing/screaming when the goat's face comes near to their grass-offering hand

We especially love walking up in the hills and farmland. The cherry tress are all in blossom and the fields are looking very pretty with their multi-colours.

Warmer weather also calls for a BBQ

Our friends, the Salchli family came over for the inaugural BBQ

Sebastien and Flynn are great pals

Time to pull out the shades!

Our lawn has sprung with wildflowers, looks very pretty!

Unbeknownst to us, the flower beds were full of spring bulbs which have suddenly made their spring debut

The Spandau Family Come to Visit

Our good friends from Singapore, Charlotte and Dietrich, have moved to Germany and are only a couple of hours' drive from us in Basel.

They came for a weekend visit recently and we had great fun catching up and watching the kids play together. The kids spent quite a bit of time 'being animals' ...

Here Elias appears to be a seal, while Flynn is doing a ferocious growl - most probably a lion, I should think.

We went to a local restaurant in the woods, Waldhaus, where they have a playground outside. This is fantastic for tiring out the kids so to (hopefully) ensure a calmer mealtime.

Double trouble!

The weekend flashed past and before long they were off home! The kids played really well together and a great time was had by all. We can't wait to visit the Spandau's in Heidelberg soon!

Spring Frolics

The seasons change mega fast here! The first two weeks of Feb we had snow everywhere, then two weeks later - all gone and the temperatures suddenly went from -6 ish to 15 degrees highs.

With the sudden change in temperature spring quickly staked its claim - with daffodils, tulips and all sorts of spring bulbs suddenly appearing out of our barren flower beds. The snow had pretty much killed all the flowers and some shrubs off - but they were only pretending to be dead - new leaves and shoots are now sprouting everywhere.
And with the warmer weather, all sorts of wildlife has started to return to the garden - squirrels, birds, Flynn and Benjy!

Mornings are still chilly (around 2 degrees) but the afternoon reaches 20-21 some days now - perfect for one's afternoon snack outside

Like me, the boys love to potter in the garden and have enjoyed seeing the spring flowers appear in the flower beds and on the lawn

 

Benjy can't decide whether he prefers the wildflowers...

...or the daffodils

In any case, spring is a good excuse to bust some moves on the lawn!

And there's plenty of earth that needs transporting from the veggie patch onto the path

Finally, after a hard afternoon's work, Benjy likes to kick back on the patio with a good book

We had our first BBQ of the season yesterday and it was great fun! First of many I think.

Weekend in London

As part of my birthday present, I had another weekend away, sans kids!

This time is was London to visit my brother, Shaun. I had such a great time! I spent all Saturday in the West End, shopping, then lunching with Shaun and Julia, and then we spent the afternoon wandering around London and enjoying the spring weather (no coats required).

Julia is working in London, so it was great that she could spend the afternoon with us

Spring has sprung!

On the Friday night, Shaun, Maria and I went to a beautiful country pub for dinner. Then on Sunday, Shaun and I went walking in the woods and hung out at his place. It was a great relaxing weekend!

Oberwil Fasnacht

Flynn's pre-school is in Oberwil, about 15 mins drive from us. They also have a Fasnacht parade that his school participates in. So Flynn's class dressed up as butterflies (as their class is called Die Schmetterlinge/butterflies) and he was part of the parade.

More Waggis playing ommpah music

So many cool masks

"Hey look at that one mum"

"And that one!"

"Gees mum, this is awesome!"

Flynn also thought it was awesome to be throwing confetti at people (and eating lollies from the confetti-lolly cart)

"Gees mum, this is awesome!"

Skiing Flynn!

This winter we had limited time to get in a decent ski holiday, due to Blake's travel, but we managed to get a long weekend and a few day trips in. Finally we managed to get to a slope in time to sign Flynn and I up for our first ski lessons! We headed to Feldberg in Germany, which is 1 hour, 15 mins away. We have a babysitter that the kids know well now, so we had her look after Benjy until mid-afternoon.

I have hung up my snowboarding boots and am keen to become a skier, mainly because it's so much more versatile a sport. I would also like to get into cross-country skiing, for which you need to be able to ski, funnily enough.

Here's Flynn taking his first tentative slides on his skis. He was super-brave although he was feeling a bit anxious about it. He was the youngest in his class but had a fantastic teacher who took extra time to make him feel comfortable.

Look at sweet little Flynn! - second from left

Blake stayed near Flynn while I headed to my first class. It was the most beautiful day and really warm - so warm that I had to ditch my hat, jacket and gloves! Granted we were particularly warm due to the fact that we had to duck-walk up the hill after each time down. Though that part was pretty exhausting, it was a lot of fun and I can't wait to get more skiing time.

A view of the beginners area, ski conditions were absolutely perfect!

The weather has warmed up so much now that the nearby slopes are no longer skiiable. There are several resorts that go through into April, but we're talking high-mountain runs - possibly not the best for Flynn and I after one lesson. Looks like we'll be waiting for next year to go again.