Happy Birthday Maisie!

12

Can you believe it?  

We had a super fantastic party for Maisie at Parc Aventure which is a park with lots of cool and difficult obstacle courses in the trees of a Swiss forest.

It was a shared party with her school friend Georgia whose birthday is on the 25th.

First the girls harnessed up and listened to the rules

Then they were on their way

here are Georgia and Lacey climbing up...

 Maisie on the first platform

 Georgia on the suspended bridge

and Maisie on the zip line!

I was impressed with their skills, balance and bravery.

After all the hard work they were rewarded with cake (made by Georgia's Mom) and snacks.

Maisie made a pretty sweet haul on the gifts as well.  

She's already planning for the big 1 3 next year.  

Help me.

Layla's first hike

I took the new puppy along with my hiking group last week.  We went to Creux du Van in the Jura mountains of the Neuchâtel region.  The hike was about 12km (8 miles) and took us about 4 and a half hours.  Layla did it all except for the last hour when I wrapped her up in a makeshift sling and carried her.  And she loved every minute (as did I).

 

The formation is technically a cirque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cirque and is 1400 meters (870 feet) wide and 150 meters (500 feet) deep.

The climb was tough but worth it.

We even got to see one of the Ibex who live there.  He was just hanging around on the stone wall and didn't seem to mind the hikers or dogs.   Turns out their poop is irresistible to dogs.  Layla had her first bath when we got home.  Yuck!

Layla!

here's winking at you, kid...

Here's the newest member of our family, Layla.  We just got her today and we are already in love (and exhausted).  She's a Yorkshire Terrier mixed with Miniature Pinscher and pure sugar.  We're looking forward to lots of good times and adventures with our new best buddy.

Oh, and there's a kid here too who is going to be 12 this month

She likes clothes from Target, Gap, and Abercrombie  (size 14 (slim if possible)) and she loves snack food like Goldfish, Cheezits and Reese's PB cups (HINT HINT).

Spring Break Barcelona

 I haven't been to Barcelona since Michael and I were there as college students in 1994.  OK, I was a student and Michael was hard at work but we were still young and it was a very long time ago!

The city is still lovely with amazing architecture, old and new.  The only thing that seems to have changed is the amount of tourists swarming all the Gaudi sites.  Here is a photo of Casa Milà that I took as we drove by.  You can see the ridiculously long queue at the bottom.

and this is Sagrada Familia.  We waited in line for 45 minutes before hearing sirens and seeing smoke.  Some deranged person had set fire to the sacristy.  You can read it here:  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13131352

Even Parc Güell was packed with people but it was a beautiful day so who could blame us touristy types for trying to enjoy the sunshine in such a cool place?

We checked out Mercat de la Bouqeria and drank some delicious smoothies

and checked out the jamón ibérico

 

The least crowded tourist spot on our itinerary was Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion

We ate tapas at Tapas 24

and ended the week at El Meridien Ra in El Vendrell

a great beach resort and spa.  The weather didn't cooperate with our plans so we spent most of the time indoors or on the hotel patio but it was relaxing.  Maisie and I took our shoes off and walked on the beach but that was as close as we got to sunbathing.

Another fun trip.

We're home now in time to celebrate Easter in Switzerland.  I think this is the first year that we haven't had an Easter picnic or Easter egg hunt.  Guess my baby is getting too old for all of that.

Happy Spring and Happy Easter everyone!

Basketball Star

Maisie had a Sports Day at her school this past weekend.  Her class needed a 5th for their basketball team and despite never having played before, Maisie stepped up to fill the spot...

and..

(that's her, all elbows, in the green)

sank the winning basket in their first game!

here she is (in green with her year older doppleganger in blue on the right) riding the pine waiting for the second game which didn't have as good a result but her House took home the first place trophy at the end of the day.

Fortunately there are no photos of me playing in the Parents vs. Teachers game.  We were doing pretty well in the first half but had our butts handed to us in the second.  Maisie said I didn't embarrass her too badly though so I consider it a success.

Making it look easy for 51 years

March 4, 1960

I love this photo.  It's of my Mom and Dad on their wedding day.  

I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing but they led me to believe that being married was easy; that you just fell in love and everything worked out.  I know differently now which makes me all the more proud to have such a great example of enduring love in my life.

Happy 51st Anniversary Funny and PJ!

Skating with old friends

At the first of the year we had a get together at the ice skate rink with Maisie's old friends from her primary school.

As girls will do, there was more chatting than skating but it was lots of fun!

Here is Maisie being pushed in a learner's chair just for fun and below is a group shot.

Not the greatest photos but I just wanted to let you know that we're still alive and enjoying what little bit of Winter we've had so far.

I was able to snowshoe a couple of weeks ago while there was still some snow at a reachable altitude in an area called Rathvel 

The visibility was not so great and it was very windy but I love being outdoors so it was worth it.  

I'll try to take more people photos for the next post.  Maisie is growing up so quickly and I don't want you to miss any of it.