So many firsts!

Having a little fun with her first
jack-o-lantern

The end of October and beginning of November were an exciting few weeks full of firsts for Emma! We celebrated her first Halloween, she saw her first snowfall, and she got to meet a few of her relatives for the very first time. Although Skype helps make all of our lives a little better when it comes to staying in touch, nothing can beat getting to see loved ones in person.

First up we were lucky enough to have Emma's Uncle Andy (Steve's brother) and Aunt Rachele pass through town for a few days as they were visiting several European countries. Unfortunately for them the temperatures plunged while they were in town and instead of being able to enjoy the beautiful fall weather, we had several inches of snow! The cold weather kept us inside quite a bit of the time they were here, but we couldn't avoid going outside and playing just a little in the snow since it was Emma's first. And lucky for us even when we were stuck inside with the cold weather we had one cute little girl to keep us entertained as well.


Emma & dad watching the snow fall

Emma wondering why it is so cold and white outside!

Rachele & Emma all bundled up for the cold weather!

While Andy and Rachele were here we also celebrated Halloween with many of our Zurich friends as we hosted a costume party. We secretly wanted to make sure Emma had a reason to get to wear her very first Halloween costume and since most of the Swiss do not celebrate Halloween we didn't know when else she would get to do so! It was fun to see everyone's creativity since costume shops don't spring up here on every corner like they do back in the U.S. during the month of October. We might have cheated a little by getting some costumes from back in the U.S., but we just wanted to make sure that Emma isn't disappointed when she looks back at her first Halloween costume!

Emma made for a pretty cute lion

Rachele, Emma & Andy

Uncle Andy I'm not Simba!

While Andy and Rachele's visit was much too short, it was better than nothing. We always enjoy an excuse to show people around Zurich and do a few of the touristy things that the city has to offer. As there really are not than many "sights" to see in Zurich we always put food near the top of our agenda for visitors. Hopefully we didn't disappoint by making sure they had a sufficiently large intake of cheese and chocolate during their time here!

Just a few days after Emma's aunt and uncle left town Emma's grandparents arrived! As with Andy and Rachele there was an adjustment period as Emma got to know these new people even though she had talked to them countless times on skype. While there are so many wonderful things about living here it is certainly difficult to know that Emma won't get a chance to see many of her relatives very often and as a result at every visit we know that there will be a time period needed to get reaquainted. Without a doubt one of the things we look forward to most when we move back is being able to see friends and family more often!

Emma & grandpa riding the train

Emma & grandma just hanging out

Grandma & grandpa showing Emma how to pull her toy - too cute!

Nevertheless, everyone (Emma especially) had a great time - I mean after all Emma's grandma and grandpa did bring a suitcase filled with toys and clothes pretty much just for her. It was a fun week to watch Emma bond with her grandparents and we even squeezed in a day trip to Liechtenstein and several outings in and around Zurich. Not to mention with Steve having been very busy with work and traveling out of town most of October it was a welcome relief for me to have some extra hands to hold, rock, comfort and mostly play with Emma!

Grandma, grandpa, Emma & the big leaf in Liechtenstein!

My parents enjoying the views from Uetliberg in Zurich

All of these visitors made us more and more excited for our trip back to the states over the holidays. There is nothing like spending time with your family and friends and we couldn't be more thankful for the time we had this last month. See you guys soon!

 

No one wanted to say goodbye - we cannot wait until our next visit!

Emma was a good sleeper... before she turned 4 months old



4 months happy!

Well Emma's almost five months old now, so I figured I better hurry up and recap her fourth month before I get really far behind! Emma's fourth month was the kick-off to what is sure to be several busy months ahead, and Emma decided to kick it off by kicking her good sleeping habits. At the end of September most nights Emma was only waking up once and I was thinking this wasn't so bad, well times changed once we got back from our week of travels to Austria & Hungary at the beginning of October and she decided that wasn't for her anymore. Instead we started getting up between two and five times every night - oh joy!

Fortunately aside from this "small nuisance" and a shift to short power naps throughout the day Emma continues to be fairly laid back and flexible. I can't fault her bad sleeping habits as I'm sure our travels and major lack of schedule play a large part in it. However all that matters to us is that she's healthy and happy and growing. Her four month check-up put her right again at exactly the 50th percentile for height and weight, but she seems to have quite a large head at closer to the 90th percentile (to my relief the doctor says it's a perfect shape)! I suspect it's because she is already coming up with tactics on how to manipulate her mother and father... Yet despite what seems to be a large head on her body she gained good control of it during her fourth month. And while there were no big tricks or things she learned this month it is becoming clear that she is quickly getting much stronger, more talkative, and smarter. Here's a look back at Emma's fourth month!



Smiles with my monkey

First day with a brand new toy - so much fun!

A little longer before those feet reach the ground!


Completely engrossed playing in her toy now that she can hold her head up...



Look ma - I can touch my toes!

I have to taste test everything in sight these days...

Practicing my "I'm adorable" look

Someone really doesn't like to lay on their back for very long anymore - her tummy is where it's at!

Superwoman!

 

Our little pumpkin goes to the pumpkin patch!

Olympic boxing

The Swiss aren't really into celebrating Halloween (although it does seem to be slowly growing from what we have heard), but they still seem to like their pumpkins. So we found the biggest pumpkin patch around, Jucker Farmart, to take Emma to last month in preparation for her first Halloween. It wasn't much of a patch in the sense that we didn't get to pick our own pumpkins. But it was fun nonetheless as each year they have a new theme and this year was the Olympics. It was quite impressive to see everything they constructed out of pumpkins and gourds. Emma might have been a little young to fully appreciate it, but we still had a great afternoon outside on one of the last nice days of fall weather.

Olympic weightlifter

 

First day in the big kid stroller

Bobsledding - this one was my favorite!

Wondering what all these orange things are...

Big pumpkins! Unfortunately we didn't get to see the 1st place pumpkin!

Dad with his pumpkin :)

The biggest waterfall in Europe!

The largest waterfall in Europe, the Rhine Falls, is literally in our backyard (less than an hour away), so we figured we better make a trip to see it last month. It was a beautiful crisp fall day so how better to spend it then out hiking along the Rhine River. Although the falls aren't comparable to Niagara, I still found them to be quite impressive and Emma found the whooshing noise of all the water to be mesmerizing. Here are a few photos from our day along the river and the falls...

Approaching the falls from the top...

Rhine Falls from above

You could take a boat out to this lone rock and stand in the middle of the falls!

View from the side of the falls

Not as big as Niagara, but still pretty cool

Emma was in a great mood that day - but I think she decided to eat her father's arm here...

Still laughing

Close-up!

Beautiful Abbey in a nearby town

The cows come home!

The Swiss love their autumn festivals - it's a reason for them to celebrate the end of the harvest season, kick off the start of winter, and most importantly bring their cows, sheep, and goats back down from the mountains to their farm for winter. These festivals run from the end of September to the beginning of November all over the country and they have many different themes and events. From wine & beer drinking, cheese eating, to alpine athletic competitions, and fresh food and craft markets to say the least there is something for everyone. We decided to venture to the small village of Seewis in mid-October to see for ourselves what this celebration was all about.

Although there were many things going on the entire weekend, the highlighted event was of course the parade of animals. And it most certainly did not disappoint! For being quite possibly the shortest parade I've ever been to at about five minutes in length, I would have to say that it was probably one of my favorite things I've done/seen/experienced in Switzerland during our time here! We could hear bells ringing for a good 20 or 30 minutes before we even saw any animals. And it's no wonder why - those bells were big and loud! Not to mention these animals were not just walking and trotting as they wove down the hillside as I had expected to see them do. Most of them were at a full blown run trying to get through town as fast as they could.

Sheeps & goats kick off the parade

Here come the cows - and when I said they were wearing big bells I meant BIG!



Emma was in awe every moment!

It quickly became clear that for the farmers that were dressed up in festive Swiss clothing and the cows with big wreaths of flowers on their heads and necks that this was no easy nor relaxing task. It was quite a handful to keep them controlled and on the path down to their farms. Just take a look at the videos to see for yourself. The first video shows the goats kicking off the procession and the second video shows the cows starting to get just a little out of control, I'm just glad the old man got out of the way before that last cow came through and took him out!

And after the parade was over - well you can guess what came next - the street cleaners! It certainly was an experience I will never forget, I just hope Emma can come back someday and see it when she doesn't need to cover up her ears because it's so loud!

 



Where's the clean-up crew!?



Overlooking the beautiful mountainside

Great spot for a family photo

Happy to finally be back in their own pasture

This cow was anxious to show off it's bell and wreath - can't even imagine how strong that neck must be!

Post-parade remnants...

The city of Mozart: Vienna

Overlooking Schonbrunn Palace

Finally, the third leg of our trip last month was the city of Mozart... Vienna. To say the least everywhere you looked I felt like there was something touristy related to Mozart - every souvenir shop had some Mozart related product, every street corner had someone dressed up as Mozart to promote something, etc. Although I perhaps have more interest in his music than the average person, I was still glad to see that Vienna had a lot more to offer than just Mozart.

Upon arriving from Budapest we took the afternoon to simply relax and introduce ourselves to the city center. We quickly found the main pedestrian throroughfare, which it seemed no matter what time of day was extremely busy with both tourists and locals as not only did it lead to and from many main tourist attractions but it also offered some of the best shopping in Vienna. Between the train ride, getting to the hotel, and figuring out where we wanted to go for the rest of the day however we somehow missed lunch (we rarely let this happen), so we decided that we would have to try some famous Vienna chocolate cake instead! We ventured to the world famous Demel Bakery to sample what was supposed to be the moister version of chocolate cake than to be found at the other famous chocolatier, Cafe Sacher. It didn't disappoint Steve to say the least, and I was happy sampling one of their many other enticing desserts. And even though Emma didn't get her own piece of cake, she seemed just as happy entertaining all the other nearby guests with her smiles and giggles.

Feeling very European at this famous Viennese cafe!

From there we took a quick peak at the small but beautiful St. Peter's Church, which surprises you a bit with it's hidden location. And after that we made our way to the much larger, grander St. Stephen's Cathedral. Like everything else in Europe it seems part of the exterior was covered in scaffolding, but it was beautiful nonetheless and the inside did not disappoint. However, the highlight of our visit to the cathedral was most certainly the tour of the catacombs. For some reason I failed to think about the details of this tour ahead of time, like that we would actually see skeletal remains...

St. Stephen's Cathedral

The next day we decided to tour the Hofburg Palace, which I found to be one of the most beautiful and intriguing palaces we have visited to date in Europe. We could have spent an entire day just looking at their family's china, gold, and silver collections, which was enormous to say the least.

Neverending gold collection at the palace...

Family photo in front of Hofburg Palace

Two of my favorite people at the palace...

With the summer like weather we spent the rest of the afternoon on our own walking tour past some other important buildings throughout the city including the beautiful Rathaus (city hall). And although it has been more than 10 years since I have visited Paris I would agree with others that say Vienna reminds them of it, but I think it was even more beautiful and certainly cleaner than it's more famous counterpart.

Rathaus

Our second full day in Vienna led us to the other large palace on the outskirts of the city, the Schonbrunn Palace. We skipped the tour inside since it was supposed to be similar to the Hofburg in many ways (it was after all the emperor's "other" palace), and instead chose to simply enjoy the immense gardens surrounding the palace and take in the great views of the city of Vienna. Here is a look at the gardens...

Beautiful areas to stroll throughout the gardens

Interesting fountain

Impressive tree trimming

Views of the Schonbrunn Palace and the city of Vienna

In front of the beautiful flowers of the palace

And as seems to be typical of the end of our trips we spent the remainder of the afternoon soaking in the atmosphere and cuisine of the city. We sampled sturm, which supposedly marks the start of autumn in Austria, as it is a low in alcohol semi-fermented grape juice from the first harvest. It was sweet, semi-carbonated, and came in both red and white - it doesn't get much better than that. We also enjoyed a wine garden and ate a dinner of tafelspitz (the "national dish" of Austria), which is basically just a boiled cut of beef in broth. Not bad, but I'm not sure I would classify it as amazing either. Steve and I both concluded it tasted like pot roast.

Finally, our last day of vacation left us only with a short morning, but we made the most of it by making our way to the historic Vienna Opera House for a tour before heading out of town. It was perhaps better than even going for a performance as we got to tour some private areas of the building (which the nerd in me found especially interesting after my work experience back at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis).

Private room for the emperor back in the day... now a very expensive rental area

Although we were sad to be leaving town and headed back to Zurich, it was one of the only really rainy and cold days of our trip, which made it easier to say good-bye. And to my delight we got to enjoy our first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season at Starbucks on the way out of town (evidently they only sell them in Europe in the month of October, trust me I was jealous as I read the facebook posts about all of you enjoying these back in September). One of the little things I miss about home that I have learned to savor when I get the chance. And although I miss many of my old favorites, it certainly is fun developing so many new favorites all over Europe!


Family photo on the steps of the Schonbrunn Palace