Meeting Santa

Matthew met Santa on Saturday...he was mesmorized, not sure what to make of him, and then seemed to relax.  Just wait until he realizes the goodies Santa brings... :-) 

Who are you?!?!

OK, maybe this guy is OK...

The eternal attempt to get 3 children smiling and looking at the camera.

Our Elf is back!

Our Elf, Sprinkle, has returned!  He was sitting up on our dining room light when we came downstairs this morning. The boys are SO excited!!!  (Here's hoping he has the hoped for effect on them!). 
Nathan has been VERY concerned that Sprinkle and Santa wouldn't be able to find us here in Switzerland, so Santa sent a note with Sprinkle to reassure him. 
Sprinkle also arrived bearing Lego and Mega Blok advent calendars :-) 
Let the Christmas season begin!
 

 

 

Happiness is...

...first kisses from your baby...

 

...and for a 3 year old, good old Mac & Cheese :-)

So often, it's the little things. 

Catching up...

I am woefully behind on updating our blog...but rather than try to get caught up all at once, I'm going to get posting again from today, and will backfill the entries as I can.  So...moving forward...

We woke up to snow today, which we were excited about...but were far less excited about a day of freezing rain.  Yuck.  It looks like winter is about to make its appearance here, after high's in the high 40's and low 50's for the last couple weeks, Saturday's HIGH will be 26.  BRRRR!

Matthew was excited to hear I'm posting again, so wanted to show off his latest trick, waving!  In the last few weeks he's starting signing "more", "all done" and "night-night" and is shaking his head "no".  He's also starting saying "mama" and "dada".  It's so fun to see him starting to communicate!

Back to the Transport museum

Of course we had to take Pop-Pop to our new favorite place (move over Please Touch museum!) - the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, aka the Swiss Transportation Museum. Since the weather was nice today, we spent more time at the outdoor activities. The boys loved the construction area and couldn't wait to take Pop-Pop inside the big plane. Given how much work Dad has done with the aerospace and transportation industries, he may have been as excited as the kids :-)

Teamwork!

Getting the job done

On the hamster wheel

And my big milestone of the day...I got to go to the grocery store all by myself for the first time since we got to Switzerland!!! (Thanks, Dad!)

After getting the boys to bed, Dad and I enjoyed a nice night of cooking together, sharing a bottle of wine, and chatting...something we rarely get to do these days.

Meeting Ethan

Dave left a day early for the US so he could swing through VA to meet our nephew Ethan.  Needless to say, I'M JEALOUS!!!  :-)  What an adorable little guy!
   



 

Proud Pop

Sweet Baby toes

   

Family of Four

Big sis

   

Dad's here!

Pop-Pop (my dad) has arrived!!!  We are all so excited to see a face from home and for him to see our new house, new city, everything!  The boys literally flew into his arms when they saw him at the bahnhof.

Dad will be here for 10 days, acting as my saving grace with Dave leaving for the US tonight for the week and the boys being on holiday.  A busy day...we got Dad back to our house, dropped off his stuff, then headed off to an electronics store to buy a new TV and have lunch.  That got us back in time to get Dave turned around and off to the bahnhof for his train to the airport.

It was a beautiful day, so after some naps and quiet time, we packed the kids up and walked down to the Rathaus Brewerei down on the lake for some fantastic Wurst and Bier.

Weinfachmesse (aka Wine Festival)

Last night I went to my first Living in Lucerne event - the Luvina Weinfachmesse. It was a wine festival at the Schweizerhof Hotel, with about 30 wineries and over 1000 wines to try! We were first met by the president of Luvina, the local Luzern wine association, who explained a little about Luvina and the event. Then Living in Lucerne had arranged for English tasting sessions a few of the stations. The first had wines from multiple countries, and the second was all wines local to the Lucerne area. Definitely a fun night and a great chance to meet some more expats. And after two months of emails, I finally got to meet Joy, who runs Living in Lucerne!

At the end of the night I had another "I live in the city now" moment as I walked home from the event. Still getting used to the change :-)

Ethan Garrett Ege

We welcome to the world our nephew, Ethan Garrett Ege, born today.  We are so excited for Peter and April, and big sister Emilia, and can't wait to meet the newest member of our family!!!

Just hanging around

With Nathan in school full days, Alex, Matthew and I have a bunch of time just hanging around...especially on the rainy days!
   

   

Getting back in the groove

We're starting to settle in more to our life here in Luzern.  After two weeks, we have our internet up and going, our phones working (including still having a US phone number that rings here in Luzern - thank you, Vonage!), and we hosted our first dinner last night for another family who is also new to Luzern.  They are a Dutch family and they have a son in Nathan's kindergarten class and a daughter in Alex's preschool class (and another daughter in 3rd grade). We had a pizza and movie night for the kids and then we sat down to enjoy a fun dinner.  Definitely not like our nights with our old friends, but good to be starting to have those nights again.

Friday night we had a great night out!  The welcome committee for the boys' school hosted a Welcome dinner for the beginning of the school year, and Dave's assistant was nice enough to offer to watch the boys so we could both go.  After a rough departure (Nathan had a hard time with us leaving), we had a really fun night and enjoyed meeting a lot more people and learning more about the school, the Parents' Association, etc.  Who would have thought we'd have a night out so soon!?!?!

It POURED today!  There is a carnival going on in town that we were hoping to take the boys to, but instead Dave took the two big boys back to the Transportation Museum (they've asked EVERY day this week!) while Matthew napped and I did stuff around the house.

Missing Mom

A tough day in the Estes world…6 years ago today we lost my mom.  It’s hard to believe it’s been that long already.  I wish more than I can say that she were here to see us all today - Dave and I with our three amazing boys, living in Switzerland; and Emily married with two beautiful daughters.  Our lives have changed so much in the last 6 years, and yet every day I hear her in the conversations I have with my boys, in the funny little “mom-isms” I can’t help but use too, and in my thoughts as I wind my way through the labyrinth that is motherhood.  She taught me everything I know about how to be a mother…I just wish she was here to see it all come to fruition.  Mom, I love you so much and miss you every single day.  I know you’re keeping an eye on us and keeping this"mommy train" on the tracks…thank you!

I posted this last year to Facebook, but am going to post it here again today since it reminds me of my mom every time I hear it.  These are the lyrics to the song “Always Remember” by Train.

"Always Remember"

Train

Always remember I'm by your side
Such a shame that you had to go
So much more that I'd like to know
So many things you forgot to show me how to do

When times are hard I forget your gone
I go to call you before it dawns on me
That you wont be there now
But I still have these words that you gave me

Always remember I'm by your side
Always remember I'm by your side

I got two kids of my own now
They grow up so fast
And how I wish you did not miss that part of who I am
But I keep doing all that I can do
And I will smile when they ask about you
And I will sing to them every day 
With voice and the words that you used to say
Will change the world one day

Always remember I'm by your side
Always remember I'm by your side

And while they grow up you will show up
In things they do and say
Like a reflection to a connection 
Of who they'll be one day
They will learn to get their wings 
And fly through the changes life will bring
So on 
And it will go on
And you will go on

And they will sing with the voice that you gave them
Always remember I'm by your side
Always remember I'm by your side
I'm by your side
I'm by your side

Alex on the bus

I wasn't sure how Alex would do on the bus this morning, but he LOVED it! He popped right into a seat next to Nathan and Nathan helped him get buckled in and off they went.  He was so excited!

Ironically, after getting the boys on the bus, I came back home, got Matthew and myself pulled together, and followed them over to school for a Parents' Association meeting.  The boys had no idea I was coming to school, and I didn't want to disrupt the bus riding so early into it, so I just went over 20 minutes later :-)  The meeting was good, I met some more parents and started to get a feel for some of the other activities that will be going on through the school in the upcoming months.  First up is the Halloween party and "Trunk or Treat" where everyone decorates their cars and the kids got "trick or treating" from car to car.  We brought over a couple of Costco bags of American candy to donate to the cause!

And…right before we left, the cable box arrived!  Dave quickly set it up and left it to initialize, etc.  And guess what?  It doesn't work!!!  But, of course, I have no cell phone or internet to be able to let him know.  Sigh…

On the other hand, we got some great news this afternoon - our air shipment is being delivered tomorrow!

Riding the bus

Nathan’s integration into Kindergarten is complete - he gets to ride the bus!  As of this morning, they have added us to the bus route for school.  We walk to the end of our street, through a little pedestrian gate (that thankfully the stroller fits through!) and down the opposite street to the bus stop.  It’s about a 5 minute walk, and the pickup and dropoff are at 8:05 and 4:20 (16:20), respectively.  There are no busses at midday, so I’ll still pick Alex up on Tues, Wed, Thurs at 12:15, but it helps SO much to not have to pack everyone up and drive to school every morning and afternoon!

As soon as the bus door opened this morning, a little girl in the back yelled “Nathan is on our bus now!!!”  It was very cute, and Nathan likes having someone from his class on the bus with him.

I stayed home with Alex and Matthew until 1:30 waiting for the cable box to be delivered…but it still hasn’t come.  Argh.  We finally gave up and went for  walk down to the Old City.  It was a beautiful day, so we walked for a while, got some groceries at Migros (the other grocery store), stopped at a playground for a little while, and then came back home to get the groceries unloaded (and Matthew’s diaper changed) before going down to meet Nathan at the bus stop.  Tomorrow is a Luzern bank holiday, so none of the stores in Luzern will be open, so I had to make sure to get dinner for tonight and tomorrow night!

The Transportation Museum, Part 1 of ???

We made our way to the Swiss Transportation Museum here in Luzern today – WOW, could there be a better museum for a trio of boys???  It was amazing!  We got a membership and will definitely be regulars there!  Trains, planes, cars, gondolas, hands on exhibits, an area to rent different types of transportation – bikes, scooters, etc. – a Planetarium…it just went on and on!  We could spend days there (and if we total up the hours spent by the time we leave Luzern, I’m sure it will be days worth!).  The boys loved it and it was fun to spend a few hours just having fun as a family after how crazy these last couple of months have been.

Our first weekend

We woke up to a rainy morning.  Dave and the boys spent the morning putting together the IKEA furniture we got last night, the boys loved helping out!  And Alex turned out to be very handy with the little screwdrivers!  By noon the cable box still hadn't arrived, and we found out that the post is done by noon, so it looks like we’ll have to wait for Monday…

Our plan was to take the boys on an adventure, but after a quick trip to pick up our second rental car, it was clear that we all needed a quiet afternoon (and I wasn't feeling well, so a nap was definitely in order for me!).  So it was a rainy Saturday afternoon of movie watching, with a quick trip down the hill by Dave to grab some groceries before the stores closed at 4 and wouldn't open again until Monday!

We finished off the day with a walk (in the rain) down to the local “Pizza & Kebap” restaurant for dinner.  We were very proud of the boys, everyone just put on their jackets and boots and off we went, with no complaints about the walk or the rain.  We think we've found our new favorite local restaurant – the boys loved the pizza and the kebaps were fantastic!!!    

Morning coffee with the moms

After dropoff this morning, the Kindergarten moms got together for coffee at Pilatus Markt.  It was great to have some time chatting with other moms who have recently made this same change.  It’s a lot to go through, and it helps to have resources who have done it too.  After coffee I met with Nicola and she helped me with some questions we've had, gave me information on some childcare options for Matthew, and went through the Coop with me to show me what some of the different things are (which cleaners are for stainless steel, how to get the shoppers card, etc.).  My French has been helping me a lot with reading labels, but not enough for some of those details.

We heard this afternoon that our cable box was returned to the cable company as undeliverable.  We’re guessing they tried to deliver on Monday, before there was a name plate on our mailbox.  They've told us they’re putting it in the Express Mail to be delivered tomorrow.  

Paying it forward

The view from our bedroom window - first snow of the year in the Alps!

After dropping off the boys this morning, we met with another Merck West Point family moving here to Luzern.  It was funny to be on the other end of a “what you should know about moving to Luzern” coffee chat – we just did the same thing with another family a month ago when we were here house hunting.  After only 5 days, it was pretty amazing how many questions we were able to answer, especially about the moving process…but we’ll be a much better resource to them on Luzern itself by the time they move in December.

We took our first walk down to the local Coop after school today.  The boys loved the walk (although, yet again, I was reminded why I do NOT want to be in a grocery store with all three boys!), and I love that it’s so close!

Still no cable box…

Alex's First Day of School

We took Alex for his first day of school, and he jumped right in.  He's going 3 mornings per week for now.  We may increase it later, but for now he's having some separation anxiety, so we're keeping it to a minimum. He LOVES that there is a play-doh table, a sand table on their balcony, a "construction room" full of blocks and trucks, and a "drama room" with a kitchen, dress up costumes, etc.  There are six children in his class, 4 boys and 2 girls.

Nathan headed off for Day 2 (and his first day of “real” school) with a smile, and was greeted by lots of new friends.  He knows his routine already and I think we've almost ironed out all of the different things we need to bring on each day for school and activities!

After dropping the boys off, Dave and I headed to Pilatus Markt in search of coffee, a coffee maker, and groceries.  Pilatus Markt is a mall, but instead of being anchored by a large department store, the main store is a huge Coop - one floor is Coop Bau & Hobby (it's like Home Depot and Michael's rolled into one), 2nd floor is the biggest grocery store I've seen here, and the 3rd floor is a Coop City, which is like a department store.  There are also a number of other small shops in the Markt - H&M, shoe stores, electronics, optician, bakery, etc.  And finally, success!  We got a N'espresso machine, so tomorrow, we will have coffee - and not just coffee, espresso, cappucino, and lattes too!

Our cable box was supposed to have arrived yesterday, hopefully it will come today.  Until then, we have no internet, phone, TV, etc., and I can’t use my iPhone over here without it being ridiculously expensive.  So for the time being, when Dave is at work, I’m completely incommunicado; once he’s home, I can use his iPhone to check my email, etc.  

Nathan’s first day of Kindergarten!!!

We all took Nathan to school, and he was greeted by lots of new friends and two wonderful teachers.  His class is approx 15 kids from all over the world.  What an experience this will be for him!

And he had the coolest first day of Kindergarten EVER!  Last week we got an email from the school telling us that on Tuesday, the Kindergarten, 1^st and 2^nd grades would be going on a field trip to hike up to the first gondola stop on Mt. Pilatus (the closest of the Alps, just on the other side of the lake), have a picnic lunch, and then take the gondola back down…and would Nathan like to start school a day earlier than planned so he could join the field trip!  So his first day of Kindergarten was hiking in the Alps – WOW!!!  He had a great time and all the parents who were chaperoning commented on how well he did on the hike and how quickly he integrated into the group.

He's in the middle with the blue backpack, moving right along with the group to get on the bus for the field trip (and those are the cool little school buses!)

Dropping Nathan off was a little rough, I can’t believe my big boy is in Kindergarten!  I didn’t actually cry, but I was awfully close J

Taking Nathan to school was my first time driving in Switzerland, and it went well, but I definitely have some adjusting to do!  The lights are different, but easy to get used to, but there are yellow cross walks at other points in the road, and pedestrians just go, regardless of any cars coming, because they have the right of way.  Must look out for those crosswalks and not hit any walkers or bikers!!!  The speed limits are also very strict (they give you a 5km/hr grace, but no more), but are only posted if they are an exception to the “Generale” limits – 50 in towns, 100 in country, etc.  So you have to know…and keep an eye out for signs indicating an exception, and then for the end of the exception.  It reminds me of a game of Milles Bournes – Limit…End of Limit!

After dropping Nathan off, we took Dave and dropped him off at his office, went to the hotel to turn in the keys and officially check out, and then went to the Löwencentre to have some lunch and do a bigger grocery shopping.  Alex wasn't so excited about the lunch options and ended up having a fruit cup and a donut.  Oh well, he’ll adjust to not being able to get chicken nuggets everywhere we go!

We picked Nathan up from school, and he was very tired but full of stories from his hike – he loved it!  I ended up being a little late to pick him up, the traffic through Luzern was worse at 3:00 than it had been at 8:15am, and then the parking at school was terrible.  And I had to wait for a spot in the school lot (rather than parking on the street) because Matthew was asleep in the car and I wanted to be able to leave him there sleeping.  But all was well, and Nathan was fine, but glad to see us.

After school we had a VERY important errand to run – the N’espresso store – we NEEDED a coffee maker!!!  It had a been a VERY rough morning with no coffee after a few long days!  We headed into town on our way back from school, and went through a bakery to get each of the boys a snack before going to N’espresso.  After getting what they wanted, I asked the woman what would be a good loaf of bread to have with spaghetti – there were SO many choices – and was told “we don’t eat bread with pasta”.  Um…ok…but I’d like to have some bread with my spaghetti.  I was definitely getting to the end of my rope not being able to communicate well…and having cultural differences on top of it.  So I picked out a loaf and we left.  Across the street, at the N’espresso store, I took one look at the dozens of different machines and knew I was going to have to wait another day to get a coffee maker.  The choices were WAY too overwhelming for how tired I was!  So I got some information and we headed home.  I was toast.

We enjoyed a first home-cooked meal in our new place, spaghetti WITH garlic bread J and got everyone to bed as early as we could.

Whew!

Needless to say, it was a rough morning after a night of not much sleep.  Thank goodness for the N’espresso machine in our hotel  room!  We took the boys down to a café for some breakfast and got ready for a crazy day…

10am – Dave and Nathan went to pick up our rental car.  We got a VW Sharan which is perfect since it’s the car we’re thinking we’ll get to have here (Euro minivan)

10:45 – Meeting at the apartment for a walk through and to get the keys.  We were late since we hadn't figured on Dave needing to stay downstairs with the car and me needing to get down to him with two car seats, a busy 3 year old, and a baby in a stroller.  We made it, but it wasn't pretty!  The walk through went well and the boys were very excited about the new apartment!  After the way the previous night went, we decided we would absolutely go ahead and get moved in so we could all sleep in our own rooms tonight.

Here's our new house - we are renting the first and second floors, which have a yard off to the side.  The basement has a studio apartment, and the third floor is another apartment.  We're thrilled to have such a great place and are excited to get settled.

12pm – Registration appointment.  We all had to go with our Realtor/Relo specialist Nicola to get registered.  This involved some paperwork, showing our birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, visas, lease, etc.  Nicola took care of it all, we just had to be there, thank goodness!  But, of course, this isn't the end of the registration process…next we are given an appointment time where they will take bio-metrics of all of us, and then they’ll send us our registration cards.  This wouldn't be a big deal except that there are a number of things you cannot do here until you have your registration card – you can’t open a bank account (although Merck has a work around for this), get a cell phone plan, etc.

1:30 – Furniture delivery.  We grabbed quick sandwiches to eat on the floor of our empty apartment, and the rental furniture that Merck provides (until our shipment arrives) was loaded in.  It’s great, basic furniture that will get us through for the 6-8 weeks – kitchen dishes, pans, utensils, etc; dining room table & chairs; sofa, coffee table, TV & DVD player; beds, dressers, hanging rods for bedrooms; and a crib, changing table, and high chair for the baby. 

4:00 – Appointment at the bank to open our account.  Merck has a relationship with UBS that allowed us to bring a piece of paper from the morning’s registration (letting them know we've registered but haven’t received our cards yet) and open up bank accounts.  We were running late (again, NOT good here in Switzerland where everything runs ON TIME), but aside from antsy kids who were done sitting through appointments (can you blame them?), everything went smoothly.  We had told the furniture people that we’d be back in about an hour, but by the time the appointment was done and we got back it was 6:30.  Thankfully they had finished up and left rather than sitting waiting for us.

And then we had our first “DOH” moment.  We had NOTHING at the apartment – no food, no toilet paper, nothing – and now it was past 6:30 so all of the grocery stores except for the one at the train station had closed.  Here in Luzern, everything closes at 6:30 during the week and 4:00 on Saturdays, except for on Thursdays, which are “late shopping nights” when stores stay open until 8:00.  There is almost nothing open on Sundays.

So exhausted and hungry, we made our way back to the train station, and gave into Burger King for dinner (ack!).  Then a quick trip through the Coop (grocery store) for some basics and we were headed home. 

We got back, got all the beds made, and finally were ready to get the kids to bed.  It was almost 10:00 and was a school night for Nathan – the night before his first day of Kindergarten!!!

Whew!  Glad that day is done!

We made it!

What a site we were at the airport – 12 checked bags plus the 2 car seat bags.  Thank goodness for curbside check-in!  

We made it through security without any incidents, got some waters and snacks for the plane ride, and then waited to board the plane.  Nathan and Alex were so excited that we had to corral them to keep them from pushing other people out of the way at the gate – they wanted to be the FIRST ones on the plane!  We weren’t the very first ones on the plane, but we were among the first, and the the boys were great getting settled in business class.  They were SO cute in the big seats!!! 

(We are all definitely spoiled for the overseas flights now – for this move flight, Merck flew us all business class, but as we keep trying to explain to the boys, for the rest of our flights we’ll have to fly coach!)

When the flight attendants came around to take orders for dinner, we were shocked to hear Nathan order the fish – Mahi Mahi with lemon butter sauce!  (I ordered the chicken just in case we needed to switch).  But he ate it all, and loved it!!!  And it was so cute, when the first course arrived (some grilled chicken), he proudly announced, “this is my appetizer”. 

Matthew slept like a champ on the plane, with Alex close behind.  Nathan had a harder time getting to sleep because he was so excited about the little TV, all the buttons on the seat, etc.  But once he fell asleep, everyone slept well for a few hours.  Alex was adorable in the big seat flattened out into a bed, he got all snuggled up with his pillow pet and the blanket!

Once we got to Zurich, we had a quite a challenge getting three overfilled carts full of luggage plus the stroller and three kids from the luggage carousel out through customs.  No porters to be found…note for anyone else traveling with this much luggage (ha!), call ahead to see if you can arrange a porter!  But we slogged through, each of us pushing 2 things, going a few feet with one of them, then coming back for the other.  We looked ridiculous to say the least!!!

One of our biggest concerns was the van that would be picking us up, the Swiss’ idea of a large vehicle is not quite the same as the American’s J  To get to the airport, we had a 20 person van pick us up, and we were sure that on the Zurich end we’d have a van, which would barely fit all five of us with a few bags, never mind everything we had.  So we were thrilled and relieved to find that our messages about needing a BIG vehicle had been heard, and they came to pick us up in a minibus which had plenty of room for all of us and our stuff.

The bus took us to our hotel in Luzern (with a quick potty stop about half way, can’t go anywhere with small children without having to stop!) where Merck has a residence apartment that we were able to use for a couple of days.  Luckily everyone crashed for a few hours, then we headed out to show the boys Luzern for the first time.  It was a beautiful day and we took a nice walk and then took the boys to an English Pub for dinner where we knew we could get chicken nuggets for the kids and some beer for us J  After a long day, convincing the kids to eat anything else was definitely not worth the effort.  We finished off the evening with the kids’ first taste of gelato, then headed back for everyone to crash…with Matthew in a Pack & Play in our room and the two boys in the living room (and everyone jet lagged!), we just hoped we’d get a little sleep…but no.  Matthew and Laura fell asleep quickly and early, but Nathan & Alex had a hard time settling down (it was 6 hours earlier back in Philadelphia).  Dave finally got them to sleep and then Matthew was up…and then Alex…and then Matthew…and it just continued like that…ahhh!  Finally Dave took Matthew for a midnight stroll along the lake and I got Alex back to sleep.  Nathan slept through it all.

Here we go!

The air shipment and shipping containers have left, the house is completely empty, we're wrapping up our goodbyes...and in 1.5 hours, a car comes to get us to take us to the airport.  There are lots of mixed emotions...sad, anxious, and most of all, excited!!!

Saying goodbye

Some final playtime with good friends.  We're going to miss you guys!!!

Baptized

Another thing on the to-do list before moving to Europe was to get all of the boys baptized. This was done in a beautiful service at Wayne Presbyterian church on Sunday, September 16. And we love some of the great family pictures we got that day!