Treks this year

Now that I look back this year we seem to have done quite a few treks. I am going to attach the link from the website of a Zurich blogger (who captures it so much better that I would ever) wherever we have undertaken the same trek.. (I usually look to her website for inspiration so those will be quite a few...) 

1. We started with the Klangweg : http://mummysdelight.blogspot.ch/2014_08_01_archive.html

I wrote a post about this myself! This is a 3 km trek with musical instruments every 300 m or so for the children to bang on.  

2. Stoos Panorama weg trail :  A lovely trek overlooking the Lucerne lake..

 http://momstotszurich.blogspot.ch/2007/06/stoos-panoramaweg-trail-ch-sz.html

I ended up going on this trek twice. The first time we went with the kids - we took the chair car up and trekked down. Took 2 hours through some tricky snow covered spots. The second time I went with a friend and we trekked up and down. Much faster without the kids, it took 3 hours to go up and down! This time tricky spots walking pasts cows in the mud. 

3. Children's Adventure Trail at Murren. 

http://ciaobambino.com/kid-friendly-hiking-on-childrens-adventure-trail-murren-switzerland/

We had gone with some friends to Murren for a weekend and when they went up Jungfrau we decided to do a hike in Murren. This hike had the most amazing view of Jungfrau, Eiger and Monch

How have we kept busy?

This year we decided not to travel anywhere over the Christmas break. As you may have read in the previous post the hubby wants to make it a sporty holiday so we are here in Zurich over the 3 weeks long break. The task of keeping the girls entertained for 3 weeks seemed daunting but its not so tough as I'm finding out...
The first week the hubby was still working and I was able to take only two days off. The days zipped past as below...
Saturday we went to watch Penguins of Madagascar (loved the movie) and Sunday we took the girls to the Zoo.
Monday the girls were with my friend (who daughter is in the same class as S) and then S had ballet. Tuesday i was off from work, and the girls had their ice skating lesson in the evening.
Wednesday we went to Fomel Fun (an indoor play area) with some of their friends.
Thursday the nanny was with them since I was at work, and after A had ballet and then the English lesson.
Friday was a relaxing day at home after the many days of activities!

The second week was also quite action packed!!
Saturday I took the girls for a trek at Uetliberg mountain- this was the planetweg trek with the solar system proportionately represented over a 6 km trek. The girls walked for 2 hours and i was quite impressed. We stuffed ourselves at Mc Donalds after and came back for a long rest.
Sunday we went scootering at Zurich horn park, lunch at Frascati (our favourite Italian place) and then for a long walk through old town Zurich. Came back home and rested and then out for dinner to a Thai restaurant i wanted to try for ages.
Monday and Tuesday of the second week I was working but the hubby was off. Monday morning he took the girls to rent their skis for the season and in the evening we all went swimming.
Tuesday morning he took the girls ice skating to the Dolder and in the afternoon we lazed around at home.
Wednesday we spent the whole day driving to Laax for our first skiing of this season and were pretty exhausted at the end  of the day. It was also Christmas Eve when we returned so Santa had to visit at night.
Thursday : Christmas morning. Day of opening stockings and relaxing at home! Girls were thrilled to see their stockings filled with little goodies (which the hubby has been shopping over the last two months) and S spent the morning trying to solve the Rubik's cube with the hubby
Friday : We went to the Technorama Science Museum. Its a wonderful museum where scientific concepts are taught through puzzles, games and experiments. I learnt as much as the girls. We went there a year ago as well and this time i felt the girls understood more and as they become older I think they will appreciate it more and more..

The third week was wonderfully snowy and no less busy...
Saturday : We woke up in the morning and the whole city was covered in snow. It was just beautiful. It had snowed the whole night and there was a thick layer of snow on the ground, on the trees and covering all the houses. It was amazing just to stand at the window and watch. We went swimming again, and as expected the pool was nearly empty as all the others were out enjoying the first snow! We had a long swimming session followed by lunch at the pool and a good siesta at home after! (ok siesta only for the hubby and me, the girls refuse to take naps in the afternoon these days)
Sunday : I took the girls to watch Paddington. One of the girls in S class (Z) also joined us alongwith her mom and it was a fun kids outing of movie followed by a pizza lunch. A did not enjoy the movie so much (she prefers animated movies) and got grumpy halfway, but S and Z kept giggling throughout!
Monday : We went skiing to Hoch Ybrig. Me and S had lessons for the first two hours and then the hubby. We went to the main Hoch YBring (and not the smaller one we had been going to) and we went on the blue slope at the top. I really struggled to come down - unfortunately I think i have not got skiing down so well yet and I am very nervous to make turns on slightly steep slopes, so we came down a lot slower than expected. In addition on the second trip up, there was a snow blizzard and was hitting our faces very hard on the ski chair lift up. S and I were freezing when we reached the top for the second ski run down and visibility was quite bad. We somehow made it down and scrambled to the warm kindergarten where A and the hubby were. S and I took one hour to warm up !! The hubby did well in his 2 hours with the teacher - he managed to go 5 times on the blue slop, in the same time it took me and S to go down twice...
Tuesday : We took the girls to the Connelli Circus. S and I liked it, but A got bored half way through and the hubby did not think much of it. I agree it was not a patch on the Russian circus i saw in India while growing up, and the we didn't understand much of the jokes since they were in German, but the acrobatics and dances were nice and I thought it was a fun outing and something out of the ordinary for the girls to see. There were no animals (not allowed in circus performances here) so it was quite different..
Wednesday : I had to go to Berne to submit A's passport at the Indian embassy for renewal and that took the whole morning and half the afternoon. The girls stayed home with the hubby and helped clean up the house for the 'New year's party' in the evening. We had a party at home for New Years Eve after ages. Not much of a party actually  -two couples came over with their kids. One of them is in S class, so they had a blast. We finished dinner late, just in time for the 12 o'clock church bells. The girls did some hand sparklers in the balcony and the adults had some champagne, and we finally settled down to the watch the New Years firecrackers from the balcony. The fireworks are burst over the lake and we had a good view from our living room window. It was quite an amazing display which went on for 20 mins and included hearts and smilies!!
Thursday : We took the girls sledding to a slope near the Dolder. Our neighbour had told us about this place but we had never been there before. It was a lovely long slope and the girls had a lot of fun going up and down. The view was also great- it was part of the Dolder woods which was covered fully in snow. We had lunch at the Diegenried restaurant afterwards, which also has a lovely view of the snow covered woods..
Friday: We went ice skating at the Dolder ice skating rink. It has a Christmas tree in the middle and we have to ice skate around it. After some time it got very crowded (think its very popular compared to the KEK where we usually go).
Saturday : We again went skiing at Hoch Ybrig. This time we were not troubled by snow blizzards, but the previous evening it had rained at Hoch Ybrig and the slopes were quite icy and slippery. S and I went on two different blue slopes, but to be honest i sucked at them both quite badly. At one steep part I was too nervous to ski down so i took off my skis and slid down on my bottom! While S came effortlessly down the slope doing turns. So much so, that the next time the teacher helped me down the steep slope and we let S come down on her own. Needless to say I was quite embarassed, but I've realised that skiing is really not my cup of tea. I don't think i can progress beyond the blue slope and I think I'll just be happy coming down gentle easy blue slopes and leave the red slopes to the hubby and S! S enjoyed skiing much more this time (since there was no snow blizzard attacking us!) but she wanted to relax in the kindergarten with A while the hubby had his 2 hour lesson in the afternoon.
Sunday : We are just relaxing and enjoying the last day of the holidays. I am quite tired after the skiing and so are the girls and want to take the day to just prepare for the coming week - no more getting up at 8:30! no more afternoon naps!
Sigh it will be back to the old grind.
Happy New year everyone!

Running and a sporty holiday

The hubby has decided to run the marathon this year (Zurich marathon in April 2015). I'm inspired and am planning to run the city run of 10 km on the same. I've been lucky to find a friend (another mom at school) who can run at the same pace at me and we've been able to run 10 km in the city a couple of times over the last 2 months. After running on the treadmill, I haven't found it that difficult, but I must admit we run pretty slowly (we cover 10 km in 1 hr 10 mins as against 45 mins of the running club at school). But that's comfortable enough for me. We also talk continuously so that helps take my mind off any aches and pains - today i tried to run alone and after 2 km i had to alternate running and walking - I find the treadmill much easier.
My friend and I are thinking of taking part in a few city runs this year - definetly Zurich, maybe Lausanne, Fribourg, Greifensee, keeping fingers crossed.
Anyway this year for the winter holidays we (the hubby!!) has decided not to travel anywhere and we are going to make a sporty holiday of it. So everyday either running, skiing, swimming or ice skating!! Sounds like a plan. I have to admit that I am not too keen on the skiing part - I am still scared on the blue slopes and he wants to try red!
Anyway this is a welcome change and I think its nice for the girls to see us be so involved in sports. S likes skiing, swiming and ice skating and A likes the last two. Being here in Switzerand, if you don't like winter sports its difficult to find stuff to do in winter with the snow, the days getting dark at 4 pm and the very few options for indoor entertainment (as compared to the States). 

What i can learn from the kids

Over the last few weeks I've been struck by some of the things i could learn from the girls

1. Absolute honesty : I remember when i was young I used to be 100% truthful, no white lies, always believing that its nothing but the whole truth. Over the years, while i try to avoid situations where i have to lie, I do indulge in some white lies to 'soften' the situation. But no so with the girls. One day at ice skating they split up the groups and S was put in a separate group from her friend. I knew she would get upset so i took her aside and explained to her that since they are at different levels they have been split and S has been skating for longer than her friend and is better so is at a higher group. My mistake. When her friend came and found that she was in a different group she got upset and what did S say? I'm better than you so I'm in this group. And i was like, crap. Of course her friend's mum and I intervened and got them together into the same group but afterwards I was trying to explain to S that sometimes its better not to be so truthful, and that one has to also be modest and judge the situation. I don't think she got it.
In another example, we were trying to sneak A into a cinema theatre (they allow only 6 years plus, even for kiddie cartoon movies!!!) and were trying to prep her to say that she is 6 years old if someone asks and we knew it was a losing battle the minute we started. She refused to speak or would give some funny answer!

2. Kindness and thought for others : S and I were baking muffins for her end of year christmas party at school and she insisted on making one with no chocolate chips for a boy in her class who is allergic to chocolate, and another with only 3 choc chips for her friend who doesn't like chocolate. Its amazing to see S being aware of people's different needs around her and trying to accomodate them. I think that stopped for me a long time ago!

3. Kids pick up on a lot more than you give them credit for : The hubby has a habit of coming home and relaxing reading his IPAd after work while the girls are having their dinner. I am usually doing the dishes or sorting out their school stuff for them at this time. I don't mind since I work part time and have the time from 3 pm to 7 pm to relax a bit (gossip with other moms/run on the treadmill etc) but the other day when i was parking the car and about to go into the house A said, Daddy must be at home doing his IPAD while you have to do all the work!!! You can be sure I mentioned this to the hubby many times :)

In other updates, I had a lovely spa weekend with some of my friends last  weekend. We went to a spa hotel in Flims. Some great massages and lunch/dinner/treks and quality time without being interrupted by the kids. I am now refreshed and ready for the next year of bickering, complaining and whining!