Rodina

Family
La Familia
Familie
La Famille
Rodina
etc.

During the week my Mom came to visit me in Prague, we paid a visit to her cousin Astrid, who lives outside Zurich with her family. Astrid was raised in France, her brother is Kai, Astrid and her husband Jean-Edouard, live in Zurich for his job with FIFA and have 3 daughters. Leonore is 5 years old, Celia is 3 years old, and Diane is 5 months old. Needless to say, they have their hands full! I feel it's somewhat noteworthy that Leonore loves the color pink and Celia loves the color blue.

The first afternoon was relaxing, we stayed in and read books with the girls. Leonore immediately began chatting with Mom and I. Celia took a while longer, she was also shy each morning after, but only for a little while. Diane was yet another beautiful addition to the family, she's so cute! I've seen all of Astrid's children as little babies, and each of them have been so amazingly adorable. Mom brought the girls new books, Leonore and Celia were thrilled and Leonore practiced reading with the new book (and she's five!). I wish I had gotten a picture when Mom had Diane on her lap and Celia and Leonore were crowded around her while she was reading. One of the other good moments was when the word "smart" was mentioned in one of the books to which Leonore says (matter of factly) "I'm very smart." It was really adorable and shows a lot of her personality and how confident she will be.

At one point while I was holding Diane (or maybe I was cooking? Doesn't matter) Astrid mentions that I'm old enough to be Diane's mother. I don't remember my exact reaction, but I realized she was right. I think the notion of being anyone's mother scared me. I adore Astrid's girls, but can't imagine motherhood.

Once the girls were in bed, Astrid finished the dinner intended for the grown-ups, a wonderful pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon and sage leaves on a bed of apples. The dessert was lemon tart (which I helped to make, yay me!) and it was probably one of the best desserts I've ever had. I've even tried to make it since then, but it was not tart enough and was undercooked. Anyhow, Jean-Edouard left early the next morning for Paris to attending the Rugby finals, so it was very much a girls weekend.

Friday morning, Astrid dropped off Leonore and Celia at school and we then headed into Zurich. Astrid led us around the center of Zurich, Mom and I taking pictures at every turn. It was a clear day, but very cold. Astrid took us to a chocolate shop that has tons of frilly decorations. We also went to Globus for lunch, it took us a while to find seats where we could be near the baby carriage. Diane slept most of the time, all bundled up in her stroller. She looked like a snuggly caterpillar because you could only see her face.

After visiting Zurich, Astrid went back ahead of us to pick up the girls from school. I believe we had raclette for dinner this night. I convinced Astrid it would be a good dinner because of how easy it is and how much I love love love raclette! For those of you who have not yet experienced this dinner, I think it is fantastic. I forget if I described it already, no matter, you essentially melt raclette cheese and eat it with potatoes, bread, and cold cuts. Very very delicious.

Saturday, Astrid decided to take us to a small midieval town called Stein am Rhein, about an hour from her home. It was a village with paintings on most of the buildings and along the Rhein. There was a large castle overlooking the town from the large hill behind it. The Rhein was particularly clear and beautiful. It was yet another clear but cold day. We ate lunch there as well, but it wasn't long before Leonore and Celia got bored. I guess that's part of the fun of younger children, trying to entertain them. As I said before, I don't see myself as a mother anytime soon. Given their lack of enthusiasm over the village, it was really fun to see them at the Rheinfalls.

We went to the Rheinfalls after the village, about a half hour from the village and back towards Zurich. On the way, Leonore blew up a rather large pink balloon. The balloon ended up about the size of Leonore, definitely a 30 minute effort. The amount of effort to blow up the balloon made it all the more tragic (and hilarious, I'm sorry, but it was) when Leonore ran past a bush and popped the balloon. It was so terrible! She was so sad, I couldn't bear to look at her, particularly because it was funny and I didn't want to make her more upset.

Anyhow, the Rheinfalls are the largest waterfalls in Europe, volume-wise. I didn't expect the girl's to be as excited as they were, but they really enjoyed this leg of the excursion. We walked all the way to the bottom of the mountain, where there are several places to view the waterfall up close. There were several instances when Celia and Leonore wanted Mom and I to lift them up so they could see over the taller ledges. The waterfall was extremely loud and the closer you got, the wetter you got. Also, the closer I got, the less I realized how cold I was. It was definitely an awesome sight. I was really impressed when we went back up the mountain and Leonore didn't need me to carry her once.

When we were on the way back home, poor Diane was crying the whole way back. Astrid says that she's not a big crier, so she was concerned. I remembered that this was about the age some babies begin teething (I remember because I just missed it with Celia) and Mom suggested I run my finger over Diane's gums (don't worry, my hands were clean). Sure enough, Diane had a tooth coming in the front. It felt interesting to try and make her gums feel better and to feel someone's first tooth. She actually bit my finger a few times, she's got quite a bite to her already. What was really adorable was when Diane was upset during part of the car ride and Leonore made silly faces to distract Diane. It's incredible to see the kind of connections sisters have at such a young age. Leonore gave Diane her undivided attention for at least 15 minutes, she's definitely an excellent big sister. Diane barely cried the whole time Leonore was playing with her.

We didn't end up going anywhere else, but honestly, it doesn't matter. I just love spending time with Astrid and the girls so much, there's not really a need to go out. It was great to catch up with Astrid and see how much the girls have grown since the last time I saw them all about 2 and a half years ago. It was also interesting to see how well the girls bonded with my mother. I guess I forget how wonderful she is with kids because Andrew and I are so grown up. Mom's just such a natural. She didn't lose that touch of being motherly and engaging with youngsters at all.

Sorry there's still no pictures :(