Superman

Here's a pic of Kai this morning, wearing a shirt that was Iain's when he was little. Isn't he cute?? =)

A day in Switzerland

Last night, Heidi and I had dinner in the strong gusts of an approaching storm. My fitnessteller almost blew away! Heidi is a friend of Allison and I from Allison's past life living in Zurich.

In the square at Rapperswil.

The fortress in Rapperswil, across the Zurichsee from Altendorf.

We stumbled across a boy's tournement of Swiss Alpine Wresting, called a "Schwingfest." About 100 competitors each fight six rounds on a thick bed of sawdust, all with the ambiance of blaring Swiss traditional accordion music called "laendler." The looser brushes the sawdust off the winner. For a video, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL0gjLk3-0E to watch Heidi's sister's boyfriend, named Reto (the wrestler wearing all white).

Cow bells are the prizes for the four top winners. Heidi's nephew Cornel won second-place in the competition.

The other prizes earned by the four top winners are adult rabbits (who end up invited to family dinner).

A ski-jumping venue with no snow. This isn't an impediment to the Swiss. They ski on top of astro-turf at 90km/hr. I didn't try because I wanted to come home in one-piece.

A welcoming cow.

Heidi, a living stereotype of true "Swissness" at her family's farm, where she grew up.

A Blast from the Past

This is from November 2008 when Audrey was 21 months old.

Thanks to Grandma for capturing this!

For Iain

Here's a little glimpse into your old life, dear. =)

For all others, this is Iain's last takeoff from San Diego.

Classic

I put the girls to bed last night and laid down between them while they went to sleep. Audrey was asleep in less than 30 seconds. Ten minutes later, pitch black, no movement, I hear a loud whisper:

Avery: Mommy! Mommy!
Me: Yes Avery.
Avery: At Germany, where Daddy has his work, um, maybe there's a pizza store and maybe Daddy's going to bring pizza home to our house.
Me: Yes, maybe Avery. I love you!

That girl can really make me smile!!

Jumping and Breath-Holding

So you can obviously see where we're spending most of our time this week! =)

Here's a video from yesterday afternoon of the girls jumping off the step in the pool and then Audrey jumping off the edge with her floaties. Believe me, this is a BIG deal! Also a video from this morning of her putting her face in the water for a couple of seconds. Also, a BIG deal, since before today she wouldn't put her face under the water for more than about a millisecond. Both of these things she started doing by herself without me asking her to try it, which is the third BIG deal of this posting. =)

The Girls Swimming

From this morning. Audrey's getting more confident in the water without her floaties, though today she has reverted to more pushing and less swimming. Still, great progress!

Swimming

Here's a pic of the kids in the pool today, which also happened to be Kai's very first dip. He loved it, though it's hard to go wrong with a pool that's about 95 degrees! =) Iain, we miss you and wish you were here with us!

Also included is a pic of Kai with Grandpa. I think they're good buds already.

Sesame Place

Here are a few pix of our trip to Sesame Place on Sunday. It rained during the first hour we were there and the girls were champs. No whining, just running and playing! And the rain kept the people away so we didn't have to wait in any lines. It was fabulous. And for this mom who has some OCD over her kids getting sunburned, a day of overcast skies was a beautiful thing!

Kai is 2 months and 5 days old

Kai turned 2 months on Sunday and went in for his check-up on Wednesday. He weighs an even 13 pounds and is 23 inches long. He is handsome as all get out and I will take a picture of him soon. =)

Happy 3rd Birthday Aves!

Avery turned 3 yesterday. Unbelievable! She is beautiful, smart, hilariously funny, a super story-teller, a water hose lover (don't get near her when she has one!), can sing Standing on the Promises with more spirit than anyone else I know, and is an amazing joy. Avery, we love you!!

She had a little party on Saturday (you can see pix of the Musical Chairs and Dora pinata below) and yesterday the five of us went to Sesame Place in Philadelphia. We had a super time and the girls rode every ride (except a couple of the water slides that they couldn't go on), but including the roller coaster (twice for Avery)! They also got to meet Elmo and Big Bird, and Audrey stood in line to meet Cookie Monster. Avery was willing to get her picture taken with the first two and didn't want them to touch her, but Audrey gave a high-five and hug to everyone.

In the middle of those two things, on Sunday, Kai turned two months old. Audrey and Iain put Kai's crib together, and here's a pic of the girls in front of the crib. Kai is such a sweet baby and as long as you feed him and change his diaper, he's a pretty happy dude. Life is so fun with these beautiful children!

The McConnell and Myers Girls And Kai

A couple of videos of the kids at Jill & Jeff's this weekend. We are super excited that they are moving to Florida but super sad at the same time that they're leaving Virginia! The first one is Kai smiling and the second one is the girls having fun!

Fun at the Park

Here are a couple of videos of the girls and Iain at the park yesterday, a video of Avery reading with Iain last night, and a video of Kai this afternoon. Pretty low-key videos, but I actually REMEMBERED to use the videocamera for once, so I'm posting them. =)

Cute Children!

From yesterday and today. Do they come any cuter? I think not!