We're official

It took about a month and a half (after submitting our paperwork) to receive our residence permits. You need to have one of these to get a cell phone, license plates for your car, etc.

Ruby holding her residence card

I used to complain about the DMV in the States, but it is nothing compared to the DMV here. It took about 8 weeks to have our van inspected and approved to drive here in Switzerland. During that time we had a rental car. From the picture above, you can see that it was small enough that I could almost park sideways in a parking stall. Luckily, the kids fit fine in the back seat and it got great gas mileage. For a brief moment, I considered selling my van and buying a car just like it.

When our car was finally ready, Pete was lucky enough to go to the DMV to pick up our new plates. The catch: we had to surrender our California plates. This was fine with us, but Pete had no screwdriver to remove the plates, and the DMV wouldn't let him borrow one of theirs. Fortunately, Pete does not give up easily. With a coin in hand, he was able to remove the screws holding our plates in. Voila!

Edward's 50 Year Celebration

A little over a week ago, Pete's company had a party for employees and their families. There was a magician (which we found out are really popular here), a balloon man, a band....it was really fun. They had also set up these canvas squares for adults and kids to paint on. Pete's company is currently building a new office, and when it is finished these painting will be hung inside. Alex and Pete each painted one, and I helped Ruby.

Alex and Ruby concentrating on their paintings

Ruby and Alex with Clemence and Basile

Captain Ruby

En Garde

Unfortunately I filmed the wrong way. But you can still take a look at Ruby's dancing.

Freedom

We live on a great street. There are at least 20 kids (ranging from 4-13 years old), and whenever it's not raining you can see them playing out on the street. They play soccer, hockey and hide-and-go seek. They also ride bikes and razors, complete with homemade jumps.

The amazing thing is that you rarely ever see parents watching them, even the younger ones. When we were first here I often spent a lot of time outside watching the kids. After a week or so I would resort to checking on them every 15 minutes or so. Now I only come running when I hear crying...usually after Ruby has crashed.

The kids love their new found freedom and I'm sure when we move back they will have a hard time being reigned in by the mommy police.

PS-They took them off for the picture, but I do still enforce the helmet rule. I'm guessing it's not a law here because a lot of kids never have them on. Especially with the number of times my kids crash (usually into eachother), I find helmets are a top priority.

Going green?

Pete has used a lawn mower plenty of times, but this is his first experience with one that plugs into the wall. When gas is being sold for roughly $8 a gallon, I guess the last thing you want to do is pay for gas to fill up your lawn mower. Obviously the plug isn't long enough, making an extension cord a necessity.

Euro2008

Soccer fans are probably already aware that the Euro Cup is taking place right now in Austria and Switzerland. In Geneva they have a "fan zone" and last Saturday we went into the city to check it out. It reminded us a lot of the Olympic Plaza in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Games. You'll have to excuse the lousy pictures. Our regular camera had a dead battery (whoops!) and so we used our old one.

Alex and Ruby are standing in front of the stage that they use for concerts.

They also have 2 gigantic screens where fans can come and watch the games that are being played in other cities.

Behind Pete you can see all of the food tents and tables set up.

They had food from every country there.

Pete and I feasted on falafels and doner kababs while Ruby and Alex had a meal of fries, donuts and Fanta. They are still getting used to the food here.

Ruby and Alex getting their faces painted
Swiss pride

While we were there, we went to Old Town Geneva to check out St. Peter's Cathedral. Originally Catholic, it was built from 1160-1230. When it was transformed into a Protestant church in 1536, they removed all of the Catholic decorations except for the stain glass windows and the stalls.

A spire from the Cathedral

Alex in front of the Tomb of Henri de Rohan

(the head of the Reformed Church in France in the 16th and 17th centuries)

Pete, Ruby and Henry inside the Nave

A view from outside the Cathedral

Checkers anyone?

Tagged....sort of

So I have to start off by apologizing to all the people who have tagged me and have gotten no response. When I saw this tag on my friend Kirsten's blog, I decided to give it a try. I've been wanting to talk about a few of these things anyway, but thought it might seem a little weird to put a picture of my toilet on this blog for no reason.

Reality Tag

Rules: You have to take a picture of the following in your house, AS IS, right now. Then post them!

1. Fridge:

At about 23x51, my fridge is ginormous.
You will notice the milk in the door is sold in 1 liter bottles which fit perfectly. We love the cheeses and yogurts, but my favorite thing in here are the apricots. That little white box up on top is our.....
...freezer!

You won't find any Costco size bags of chicken or gallons of ice cream in here.

2. Closet

I don't know if it's Switzerland or Europe in general, but our house has no closets. We purchased and put together a couple of these babies from IKEA. As you can see, most of our clothes are now folded instead of hanging.

3. Sink:

Nothing too different about our sink here except for the fact that it only has one side and no garbage disposal....2 things I've been able to live without just fine.

4. Toilet:

Our toilets here are very colorful.
To flush the toilet you push in the white thing above it.

Gives a whole new meaning to "jiggling" the handle.

5. Favorite shoes:

Any that the kids can put on without help. You can see our rainboots that we never would have used in California.

6. Favorite room:

The kitchen, duh, that's where the chocolate is.

The runner up is: Alex and Ruby's room in the attic. It is big and all of the toys are up there. We have a gate in front of the stairs so Henry can roam around up there while I get chores done....if he has a friend to keep him company. You can see the lovely tent we built.

7. What my kids are doing:

It's not raining (yeah!) so they are playing outside.
Ruby has learned well. She's on the phone with a baby in her arms.
Henry loves to play outside, especially if the kids turn on the faucet.

8. Laundry room:

I heard all sorts of horror stories before I came of washing machines that only hold 4 articles of clothing and cycles that take 4 hours. So I was happy to find that my washer and dryer are similar to the ones I had in the States.

The laundry room is a little creepy though. It's in the basement and the first week we were here a gigantic spider in the sink almost gave me a heart attack.

9. Self portrait:

You didn't really think I was going to do this alone did you?

Happy

"Aaaargh"

Sad

Surprised



10. Dream Vacation

Tahiti has been high on my list ever since my best friend went there for her honeymoon.

Doesn't it look peaceful and relaxing?

The runner up: Montreal in the fall
Pete went here on his mission, and ever since I saw his pictures I thought it would be a really cool place to visit.

Thanks for indulging me. Tag, you're it!