GRATITUDE IS:

There are certainly times that being this far away is hard.  I miss my friends, the ease of reading notes sent home from school, (heck-reading the german directions to my second grader's homework assignment), "American" french salad dressing--which is totally different than "European" french salad dressing, understanding food packaging, cheap dry cleaning.  I miss picking up the phone and calling people-in English-who want to talk to me, having my own garage within steps to my house, friendly customer service people, ice, a regular sized refrigerator, and bread that stays fresh for more than one day.  I miss Target, and affordable kids shoes, and convenience food for the kids.  But most of all, I miss not being able to make it to special extended family (and friend) events like weddings, birthday parties, and retirements.  I was recently at a dinner party, and another expat who was there put it really well--all of the "big things" are good--our health, having such focused family time, the beauty of this country, being able to travel all over Europe…but all of the "small things" are hard--dealing with Swisscom and their impossible customer service, finding a new dentist, taking the kids to the doctor, identifying sour cream at the store, and having the products I'm used to cooking with at prices that are reasonable…There are days that I just long for everything to be easy and in English and familiar.  But, today is not one of those days.   And I am relishing in the goodness of the moment I am having.  The sky is cloudless.  The lake is shimmering.  The sun is warm, the breeze cool.  The boys are laughing in bed instead of falling asleep, and we had one of those days that make you feel like you want to every night as a parent…we dug in the sand, played at the park, walked along a long bridge to watch ducks dive in water so clear you could see them catch fish in the rocks at the bottom of the lake.  We had races, and played catch, and ate ice cream.  Their skin is bronzed from the summer sun.  Their hair is getting blonder by the day, and their laughter is full and sweet and carefree.  I just wish I could bottle up these moments to revisit them again when life isn't so simple and my boys aren't so young and adoring of their parents and full of innocence and happiness.  What I can do is revel in thankfulness for these days and not take for granted how lucky we are to have our health, our safety, our happiness and each other.  (Although we still do miss you all back home!)

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION

Ok, I realize that this is NOT the way you are suppose to blog...always retrospectively.  I've been held up because I really want to share a few stories from a fantastic Swiss trip we took at the end of the summer with some of our best friends who came to visit.  I just haven't made the time to capture it in writing (and for some reason I'm just hellbent on keeping everything in chronological order).  I fell behind with my blogging during the summer with all of the FUN and all of the TRAVELING (not expecting a lot of sympathy here), and it turns out that the "beginning of the school year chaos" is in fact a global phenomenon, and so now I'm neck deep in blog post stories and ideas I want to share--but haven't been able to keep up with sharing it.  I've said this before, but I'm really shooting to make some progress this week.  Now that I'm back into driving Isaac to school, I actually have 15 minutes in the car on the way home (with Levi strapped in and reading nursery rhymes to himself) that I can hear myself think. This is always the best time for me to reflect on my daily life and organize my thoughts.  Couple this with the fact that Chris is out of the country for another 10 days and I just might have a shot at getting a little caught up...famous last words.  (so I'm going to stick in one current random post, and then, in true Jodi-blogging-fashion, I'm gonna fill you all in on our little late summer Swiss Trip...soon, in the next few days, eventually...)

SAY WHAT?

Switzerland is pretty small.  It would easily fit in Wisconsin, and there would still be room left over in the cheese state.  However, small doesn't mean uncomplicated.  For example, there are four official languages in this country.  But, as if that weren't enough, there are also several dialects that are thrown in to make us Americans who only speak one language feel that much better about ourselves.   The official languages are: German, French, Italian, and Romansch.  Most Swiss people (around 50-60%, I think) speak German (dictated by region). However, the caveat here is that although everything is written in "high German", language is spoken in Swiss-German.  What is Swiss German you ask?  Well, it just so happens to be a dialect of German that, as luck would have it, changes based on which Canton (think county) you live in.  This means that Swiss people in two of the largest cities (Zurich and Bern) speak different Swiss German dialects!  It really makes tackling the language seem very intimidating and honestly, a little hopeless.  Thankfully, that only goes for Chris and I and our old, inflexible neuron circuitry.  Our trooper Luke at the local school hears instruction all day in German, but then on the playground hears all of his friends speaking Swiss German.  Talk about sensory overload!!   He seems to be picking both up, though!  The other weekend, at a dinosaur museum, we ordered some lunch.  They gave us our number, and we sat down.  Chris and I agreed on what we should be listening for in German, but after a few minutes Chris thought to ask Luke how you would say the number in Swiss German.  It was a completely different word, and sure enough, they called our number in Swiss German!  If it was just Chris and I, we might have been sitting there for a while…it's nice to know that we are putting all of our translation trust into our 7 year old.  Keep up the good work, Luker!   

PARIS

Chris and I slipped away for our delayed 10th wedding anniversary trip that we missed because I was VERY pregnant with Mr. Levi.  We figured a belated 10-year anniversary combined with our 11-year "golden" anniversary deserved something pretty special…and let me tell you, Paris fit the bill.  We arrived at night, and when we popped up from the underground Metro at the beautifully lit Pont Neuf bridge with the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the background I was shocked with how impressive it was.  The romantic charm of Paris certainly has not been overstated.  It is a magnificent city with architecture that delivers a visual feast that can rival the true delight of fine french cuisine.  Even better than the surroundings, was the company.  It felt so good to have some time to share with Chris.  Alone.  We kept laughing to ourselves as we wondered a few times if it was really that Paris is as cool as it seemed, or if Des Moines would have felt the same…because it was just so enjoyable and easy to travel with only two of us!  We walked well over 20 miles in two days.  We couldn't bear to go underground and miss out on the city…and more importantly we didn't want to waste the opportunity to embrace that we weren't carrying one kid, backpack, or stroller…we were diaper free, didn't have to keep track of any hotwheels or action figures or sippy cups.  We strolled hand in hand along boulevards and meandered through museums.  We enjoyed coffee and wine and long dinners.  Although our boys give us so much joy, it is always good for us to get away and enjoy some uninterrupted conversation.  I really love having my funny, loving, handsome husband all to myself.  I can't believe we've been married for 11 years already.  Thanks for being my best friend, Chris, and for loving me as I am.  Nothing could make me happier than spending my life with you.   

BIRTHDAY SEASON

It's always that darn intriguing paper...

The big ONE

On a boat ride with Grandpa on Lake Walensee

All of our birthdays are in late spring and summer.  Luke kicks off what we have deemed "birthday cake season" at the end of March and the rest of us celebrate in May, June and July.  It is also notable that if Chris "healthy" Courts has a nutritional achilles heel, birthday cake it is…so we all enjoy our cake that much more as we watch him truly enjoy a dessert.  With my Dad in town to add another birthday celebration to the roster (the day before Levi's), we pull a double header as we celebrate Grandpa Bruce turning 61 (hope you don't mind I put your age in here, Dad) on the 7th and our little prince Levi Ryder turning the big ONE on the 8th!!!  

Of the birthdays I've shared with my Dad, one of my favorites was when I turned 21 camping with my parents in the Grand Tetons.  My dad made me a G and T neat, and we enjoyed it watching a breathtaking sun set light up the sky over the mountain peaks.  Being able to grill up a tasty birthday dinner for my dad on our deck--looking out at the sunset light reflecting off of the Swiss Alps--has now been added to my list of birthday favorites shared with him.  I love you, Dad!  Thanks for being the person you are and the best Dad a girl (or five) could have.

As for the littlest man in my life, I have been caught off guard with how emotional I feel to see my last baby leave behind babyhood.  Levi is our sweetie.  He is pretty quiet, very flexible (with his first passport stamp at 5 months and A LOT of traveling since then I guess he has to be).  He LOVES to go places (he gets so excited if we say the word bye-bye, picture a dog catching a glimpse of his leash in anticipation of a walk).  His favorite toy is a ball--any ball.  He will toss them, chase them, even kick them for minutes on end…which is saying something for a one year old.  His hair is crazy out of control, but so wispy and blonde I can't bring myself to cut it.  He tends to be shy, but did relish in the spotlight as we sang him happy birthday.  He just didn't seem to know what to do with himself, but he was all smiles and a bit bashful.  He was scared to touch the sprinkles on his birthday cake, and would only eat the cake-no frosting!  It has been a fast year, little man.  But we are so glad you are a part of our lives.  You bring us so much happiness and a lot of laughs.  We love you, Levi!

WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND MOM AND DAD--TAKE TWO!!

After such a disappointing first 10 days of my parent's trip (due to the weather and two rounds of the stomach flu)  we were determined to make up for it and see as much of this little gem of a country (when the weather cooperates) as we could.  Over the next 11 days we accomplished driving three awe-inspiring mountain passes (spanning the entire central and southern section of the country), hiked along two gorgeous mountain lakes (Wallensee and Sisikon), saw and hiked along the longest glacier in Switzerland (the Aletsch Glacier), took a cogwheel train up to see the most famous peak of the Alps and enjoy some hiking (the Matterhorn), enjoyed a boat ride, toured two castles in Belinzona (in Ticino-the Italian speaking region of the country), revisited Luzern for a tour of it's old town and Cathedral, and finally toured home base-our amazing Zurich.  Phew.  I really think we made up for our slow start.  What I was most impressed with was my parent's willingness to just be spontaneous.  We stayed in what are called "zimmer freis", which are little bed and breakfasts.  They are privately owned by individual couples who rent out rooms for very reasonable rates.  They have bathrooms that the hallway shares, but here in tidy Switzerland I was pretty convinced that the floors of the first two places we stayed were cleaner than my own kitchen floor.  Even better, a homemade breakfast is included.  It makes for a very "locally flavored" way to see the country.  We were brave enough to book them on the run and were pleased every time!  

It felt good to see my parents…and, traveling with four extra hands to help with the kids was such a treat!  It really made sightseeing much more relaxing for Chris and I.  Above all though, my parents spoiled me with being tremendously helpful around the apartment.  It was profoundly evident how much they love me as they did everything they could to give me a break from my daily routine.  They were super-grandparents with the boys: playing, reading, doing crafts and teaching them how to birdwatch (among countless other nature-oriented activities).  They did tons of laundry, all of the dishes, and helped me clean the whole place more than once.  They helped me shop for groceries, and changed dirty diapers, and watched the boys so I could run some errands on my own.  And before they left, they took care of the boys so Chris and I could take a trip, sans kids, to Paris (more on THAT in a later post).  What a gift.  To lend insight to just how generous it was of them, it is important to note that Levi was: a) teething like crazy, and b) not yet fully weened.  For anyone who has spent time with a twelve month old who is going through weening AND teething, you realize that it is only your own mother who would volunteer to care for your baby during such a time and STILL manage to be supportive and encouraging of a trip.  Thanks so much, Mom and Dad!!

BARF-O-RAMA

Luke in his German speaking role

Warning *spoiler alert*…this post gets personal.  After trudging through rain and fog for the first week of my parents visit, we were all giddy with excitement at the thought of sunshine and mountain views...but the first sunny day also delivered a stomach virus to poor Luker. It hit him the night before his first German speaking part in his class play.  We thought at first it might be nerves, but as the night wore on we realized that it was indeed a very aggressive bug.  Although the virus hit him hard, it fortunately hit him fast, and he somehow rallied to recover enough to make his German theatrical debut.  As I watched him stand up there with perfect German coming out of his mouth I just had to smile with awe and pride. I couldn't believe that was my boy speaking fluent German-- it just seemed so surreal (and regretfully so confusing--I didn't have a clue what he was saying).  With Luke relieved to be through his performance, Chris scheduled to return to Switzerland from Korea, and the rest of us pumped to have sunny skies we planned our first mountain adventure.  But alas, our bad luck continued.  Chris arrived home with just enough time to take two sleeping pills in his attempt to get back on a normal sleeping schedule when the stomach virus hit the rest of us.  Within 15 minutes.  I've always wanted my husband to bond with my parents, but this was more than any of us could have bargained for.  With all four bathrooms being put to good use, poor Chris was left to manage a sick Levi AND Isaac as my parents and I had all we could handle trying to manage ourselves.  It was really a night from hell-the worst case scenario you just pray never happens.  And the only thing that kept me from crying was watching Chris tackle his worst nightmare (dealing with puke), half asleep (rubber gloves up to his elbows), soldiering through what must have been the most disappointing homecoming ever.  At one point with his eyes at half mast he mumbled, "this is a barf-o-rama, I'm so tired, I don't think I can do this".  But, he did in fact pull us all through.  His reward: waiting with the feeling of impending doom for the virus to hit him.  We calculated that it was roughly a 48 hour incubation period.  So, Chris bravely decided to come with us for a drive through the mountains and some easy "recovery" hiking to take his mind off of what was inevitably on it's way.  Our goal was to have him home BY the 46 hour mark.  He was a warrior, and pushed it to the limit…we were delayed in traffic, and Chris turned greener by the minute as I raced towards home.   We made it home at the "47:45 hour mark", and Chris was "man down" the minute we walked in the door.  Amazing, even the Swiss flu viruses are right on time!  I can only hope that after paying our dues of battling illness and braving the rain and cold, we are in for some excellent weather and healthy travels for the remainder of my parent's stay.