Flynn´s Birthday!

 

Our beautiful boy turned six on November 20th!

 

 

 

Here he proudly shows us his two grown-up lower middle teeth

 

 

 

 

The morning started with present-opening of course

 

Flynn was a very happy chappy and loved all his presents and cards!

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

"Hey Benjy, have you seen my remote control?"

 

 

 

 

Then time for cake no.1

This one was a lemon-coconut cream cake, with macaroons on top!

 

 

Then he had kindy in the morning (with chocolate cupcakes) and in the afternoon I took him to a children´s theatre production of Cinderella. He loved it and after it was over asked, "when do I get to do that?" (ie the acting)

 

 

Then at the end of the week, was his party at Nepomuks Kinderwelt, an indoor adventure/play centre.

 

 

 

Blake´s favourite way to relax and unwind in the weekend

Lunch was the typically well-balanced nutritional fare of kids´ menus, but the kids loved it

 



 

Followed by some ferocious fun

 



Mum refuses to be beaten, even by a three-year-old

 





Dad breaks free of the peloton and soars to victory. Flynn never doubted they would win



 

 

Multi-talented sports fiends try their hand at Formula One

 

 

Jumping for joy!

 

 

 

 

And now time for cake.

 

 

 

 

 

Ready....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set...

 

Blow!!!!!

 

 

 

Despite being in the middle of a desperately busy week (the week we moved house) we really enjoyed our week of Flynn Festivities and we love our beautiful big six-year-old birthday boy!

 

 

 

Autum Fair



I often rave about the fairs here - they are highlights of the season for us all! This autumn has been absolutely beautiful, with warmer-than-usual temperatures and the last few weeks have seen many blue-sky, sunshiny days (though now the temperatures are more like -1).


The week of the Autumn Fair was warm! Last year we were wrapped up in thick coats, hats and gloves. This year was too warm for coats.


We started out with some pony rides. Benjy was a little tentative at first...

 

 

 

 

But it wasn't too long before he was yeeeeharring and doing cowboy stunts

 

 

 

 

Flynn took it easy, having been there, done that



"Hey mum, what's that?"

 



 

 

Soon they were all in a flying-pumpkin-thing

 

 

Our friends, Charlotte and Dietrich were staying for the weekend, so it was a fun outing for us all!

 

 

Plenty of car rides for the boys

 

 

And beautiful stalls selling high-quality, highly-priced, handmade wares.

 

And of course, plenty of food stalls to complete the enjoyment, aye Flynn.

 

Halloween

 

This Halloween we went trick or treating with friends who live in an Expat community. I have never seen anything like it - there were droves of kids and every household participating!

 

The traditional Swiss areas, like ours, are not so enthusiastic!

 

 

The boys start practising their scary faces

 

 

 

Benjy perfects a devilish cape-swish

Then time for Makeup

 



"Hold on, isn't make up just for girls?"

 



 

"Well as long as you're sure it makes me look manly"



 

 

 

Benjy needs no persuading to get his `walking-dead` face on

The New Old House

 

Finally I have downloaded all the photos of our new house! It´s an old one, built in 1931, but it was fully renovated in the 70´s - and nothing has been changed since. It´s structurally sound but needs interior redecorating plus some touching up on the outside (and a lot of work on the back garden including re-hedging).

 

Ownership came through on October 1st and since then we have been pretty frantic trying to paint the entire interior before the carpet guy came in. The carpet guy is now busy laying carpet and we can chill a bit before getting back in and getting on with the rest.

 

Also due this month are the gas heating guy to replace the entire heating system, the roofer has been and done some minor repairs, and the kitchen will be replaced before Christmas (hopefully).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View from the end of the back garden, we plan to make some major changes in the garden next year

 

 

 

View from the patio, looking down to the end of the back garden

 

 

 

The lounge, before the nice furniture of the previous owners had been removed

 

 

 

 

Dining room

 

 

 

Kitchen, in soothing tones of red and brown.

Our new kitchen was supposed to have been done before we move in (Nov 25), but is now delayed until Dec which will be highly inconvenient. We are knocking some of the wall between the kitchen and dining room out, but as it´s a supporting wall, we can´t do the whole thing (without spending a fortune).

 

 

 

 

Bathroom (toilet and basin) downstairs

 

 

 

 

Stairs and bedrooms all being re-carpeted at the moment

 

 

 

The cellar has some useful rooms off this main area

 

 

 

 

We are turning this one below into a useable room (ie, spare bedroom/kids TV room). In this pic you can see they used it as a store room, but there is another room for storage also.

 

 

 

The laundry -  which has a shower in it!?

 

 

 

 

The main bedroom, which is quite small but has a nice balcony

 

 

 

 

The lovely upstairs bathroom, with shower, bath, toilet and bidet. The bathrooms will be replaced next year.

 

 

 

The boys´ room

 

 

 

Study

 

 

 

Mischief

 

 

 

The Attic

 

We´re not sure about what we will do with the attic. We may eventually add an ensuite, depending on costs and logistics. But we will first live in the place and see what we think next year.

 

The window frames (wooden) will be needing replacement in the future, and the under-roof  insulation is not up to today´s standards, but the electrics and plumbing are fine at least!

 

It will be cool to finally have our own place and we are even thinking of getting a dog once we´re settled! Now, what kind of dog should we get?