Old photos - trip down memory lane

Over the time, we've put our photos online at different sites. I've just been looking at the photobucket site that we no longer use.

Really not good to spread these precious memories all over the place...better in one spot.

One of my favourites is the Charlotte on the Couch photos!

The NYC trip

....was fantastic, of course! We did so much - walking, eating, shopping. Saw 2 plays (I love, you're perfect, now change and Altar Boyz) plus was part of the audience for the Fox news show Day Side (if you click on this link, and scoll down to where it says 'American Idol' Castoffs, then play the video of Chris Daughtry, you'll see the back of my head at the 3.47min mark!!).

The weather was a bit unpredictable...rain showers caught us out a couple of times, but on the whole the weather was ok. There were days we walked 40+ blocks so quickly warmed ourselves up.

Food experiences were phenomenal. We'd done research into some Best Of...lists so chose places from there, plus the guidebook and other recommendations. Some of the places we ate at were Empire Diner, Egg in Williamsburg Brooklyn, Freemans, Michael Jordan's Steakhouse, Brooklyn Diner, Ruby Foos, Righteous Urban BBQ (and all the pics are at our dropshots site).

The hotel (Fitzpatrick Grand Central) was excellent and our room (308) was big enough, clean and comfy. The bathroom was especially spacious. I often got up first, had a shower and by the time I got out Jen had ordered a pot of coffee, pot of tea and pot of hot water...perfect start to the day! We always packed our umbrella's, cameras, guide book and print outs but after that we tried to carry as little as possible. Bought water during the day and never went hungry! We only used the subway towards the end (to go out to Brooklyn on Saturday, then the next day to get to breakfast as we were in more of a hurry), and Al (the Big Apple Greeter) had given us a Subway ticket with 2 rides on it that we used to leave him on Wednesday to go to lunch at MJ's Steakhouse back at Grand Central station.

Did lots of shopping but didn't walk into one bookstore (I am too much of a cookbook addict, plus they're just too heavy). Shopped at Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy and Sephora one day. Another day had our make up done at the Benefit counter at Macy's and spent big there. Did some boutique shopping downtown over a couple of days (by-passed the vintage stores as too much hard work...there were so many of them) plus in Brooklyn.

Flights there and back were ok...daytime flight going, overnight returning. Arrived home on Monday, felt tired and headache-y all week, only felt well again on Saturday.

Jen and I haven't planned our next trip as we're not sure where we are going to be. But they will definitely visit us in Australia so maybe that will be the next rendezvous?

Lily without training wheels

On Sunday we were planning on taking the girls to the little park for lunch (stop off at the boulangerie on the way, standard Sunday procedure). Only got as far as downstairs in front of the fountain as Olivia, Lily's friend from school, was there and Lily really wanted to play with her. So MK ran upstairs to get Lily's bike so she could ride with Olivia. Olivia's a bit older and doesn't have training wheels on her bike. So between them they decided that Lily shouldn't either. So MK went back upstairs to get the spanner to remove the training wheels.

Lily was very wobbly and unsuccessful, but she was trying. Eventually Olivia left and we went back upstairs (Charlotte's nap time).

Later in the afternooon MK took both girls outside again for bike-riding in front of the fountain and this time Lily nailed it - riding without training wheels!

Since then she's been keen to do it, so we've been out in front with her most days. She does laps of the fountain really well.

And to think MK didn't ditch his training wheels till 6.5 years old!

Photos (including NYC)

I've loaded all my NYC photos onto dropshots here . Plus we'll continue to add photos to this site on a regular basis (hopefully).

*All the date/time stamps on the NYC photos are set to Swiss time. Substract 6 hours for NYC time.

NYC - we're here!

Here I am on the free computer at the Vistor's Centre at Times Square! It's bucketing down with rain and we're re-negotiating meeting Al tomorrow. Too wet to continue today so he's leaving us now and we'll see him tomorrow when the weather is hopefully better.

Flight yesterday was good, and I got in earlier than Jen so I made my way to her Terminal. Waited for an hour and met her off the plane. Was very exciting!

Caught the bus into town which worked and found our way to the hotel easily. Room is perfect - big, clean and comfy. We went for a walk and ate at Comfort Diner (once we found it). Had meatloaf and mushroom pancakes.

Went for a walk, bought groceries and had my broken nailed fixed (silk wrap).

Slept well!

NYC today!

I'm all set...bags packed (not taking much - there's even room for two empty bags within my suitcase!), dressed, MK's taking the girls to school/garderie. Now just waiting...train at 9.20am to Lausanne then connecting train to the airport. Flight at 12.15pm, Swiss direct from Geneva to JFK, arrive 2.45pm (6hours behind us).

Spoke with Jen last night. She's going to over to my terminal and if we don't meet up when I come through the gates at Arrivals, we're going to meet up at Krispy Kreme! Probably before that though, we'll phone each other. But meeting at KK sounds more NY!

By tonight we'll be eating dinner somewhere in Manhattan. Wow.

Mother's Day - worked my a*se off!

MK is on day shift this weekend (6am-6pm) so it's been the girls and I. And today they were superb, doing their own thing, playing, talking on Skype (Lily), watching tv, playing on the computer (Lily). Brilliant as I had so much to do. And this is what I did...

*baked 2doz Little Pear and Cinammon Cakes
*baked 2doz Vanilla Cupcakes (for an order pick up tomorrow morning after I leave)
*made Vanilla Buttercream frosting and decorated the cupcakes (now all that's left is for MK to do the writing)
*made Mars Bars Slice (made it for Lily's party last week and took it in to David's...he said it was gone within a day. Made it again for this week as it's easy for him to pick up and store till Tuesday)
*made Pasta Bake
*spoke to Mum (in Cobar on the phone)
*Skype-ed
*took the girls to the little park for lunch (picked up at the boulangerie on the way)
*cleaned the bathroom

Haven't packed yet, but that won't be too hard...easier for one than three.

What a day...I'm knackered!

Charlotte is 2 1/2 today!

Our sweet, funny, happy baby girl is halfway between two and three. God we love her. She has a great personality, loves to laugh and play. And amazingly, hasn't hit the terrible two's yet touch wood. She's smart and talks up a storm.

She loves playing 'catch' with a ball, riding Lily's Barbie scooter, playing with Barbies and Polly Pocket. She still loves her Raggy and her soft toys. She is very affectionate and will say out of the blue 'I love you'. Anything she really loves she'll give a good ol' teeth-clenching squeeze to.

She loves cereal, porridge, red pepper, plain yoghurt and salmon. She'll happily eat brocoli. She can be a bit fussy ('like it' in a certain tone clearly means she doesn't like it) but there is usually something around she'll eat.

She loves garderie and going to the park. She loves TV, especially the Wiggles (she calls them 'Wake up Jeff') and playing with Lily. She can get a bit rough, but distraction sometimes works.

She loves you pulling funny faces while dressing her in her pj's at night, and will say 'this' and then pull the particular face if she has a request. She says 'Maman', 'bonjour' and 'voila' in context. And just recently I've heard her say 'Aha' which sounds a bit Alan Patridge-esque.

She's a Daddy's girl and a Mummy's girl. And she loves her big sister.

Getting closer

Today I did a sh*t load of grocery shopping in preparation for my week away. It was good timing as Migros had 10% off everything in store today only. And like last Sept I've written down lunch/dinner and snack ideas for MK. This weekend I'll do a bit of cooking (pasta bake, soup and maybe some more mini muffins) but the majority of the food is *gasp* pre-packaged.

MK emailed me the info for JFK airport so we can work out where Jen and I should meet on Monday afternoon. Looks like I either head to Terminal 6 or she heads to Terminal 4.

And while looking at this stuff, I clicked on a link for the weather. They're forecasting rain in NYC for the week ahead. Grrrrrrrr.

edited to add: I also rang my GP and asked him for sleeping tablets for the plane. Same ones I had for the California trip last Sept (Temesta). The receptionist faxed the prescription thru to the pharmacie downstairs and I was able to pick them up an hour or so later. Good service.

Countdown to NYC

I have my USD's, booked our Big Apple Greeter (next Tuesday morning Al will be showing Jen and I around NYC on foot), we're on the waiting list for a reservation at Per Se, the hotel is sorted, and I have been reading page after page of restaurant reviews on the net.

I've gotten tips from friends who are familiar with the city and I've been reading my Time Out New York guide book. I've been given a great map that shows you where all the great shops are.

Too, too exciting!

Follow on to Apartment living...

The next morning the wife of the old guy downstairs knocked on our door asking to speak with me. She is so lovely, she was apologising for her husband (in French). I think she was calling him crazy! Anyway, pas probleme as far as I'm concerned. I tried to tell her that between 6 and 7pm we'll keep the kids shhhhhh.

Apartment living arrggghhhh!

There is an elderly couple who live directly below us. She's lovely, he's nice but hasn't been well. She speaks a bit of English and we get by on my limited French, he mainly speaks to the kids in French. He's complained before about the noise of the kids running in the apartment (must travel straight into their place) - the first time was when Nina, Darren and Emma were here and the three kids were running around. But it was about 6pm and a bit hard to swallow...

The other night after dinner the four of us were chasing each other thru the lounge/kitchen/dining area loop. Doorbell rang, MK and I scuttled off and Lily went to answer it. No one there, but she did say she saw the man from downstairs getting into the lift. Considered it a warning and quietened down.

Tonight, doorbell rang again but this time Lily was on the toilet, I was washing the dinner dishes and it was only Charlotte bopping about (and it wasn't much running, from memory). When I answered it, it was the man from downstairs and he went off. All in French, very cross. Ahhh, what could I say except the appallingly bad grammared 'seulement Charlotte' and 'je desole'. Crap, we weren't expecting that one. But I think it was the other night that set him off so it didn't take much tonight to really get him going. And he was going.

Shitty way to live, always worried about the kids running around. But there is a pattern...all the complaints have come in around 6 and 7pm. So maybe we just be extra careful at those times. Shame, as after dinner and before bath is a good time for the kids to burn some energy.

Taste of summer

After a long, cold winter we got a good taste of better weather last week. All came to an end on Friday afternoon, though, with rain. And it hasn't improved since then...cool and showery this weekend.

But other than not being able to go for my walks (and god knows I've needed it after the baking frenzy caused by Lily's party on Wednesday and the research needed for Thursday's baking class) I've enjoyed being given a second go at the cooler weather. If nothing else, it's meant I've been in the mood to make soup and chilli. And that's a good thing.

On an unrelated note, Michael and the girls are returning the dvd that we rented last night - Brokeback Mountain. I can see why it would have been better to watch it on the big screen. Good movie, but probably didn't have the impact that friends have told me about.

April 2006 photos

Wow, it's been so long

I loved my blog. Then it betrayed me. And I lost faith. No, I lost trust. So I stopped and haven't gotten back into it.

Same thing happened with the Lausanne Ex-pats message board. I put so much into that. Until it was wiped out (all of ezboard was attacked). Then I lost interest and never went back.

I wonder if I'll get back into my blog?

So much has happened since my last entry it's impossible to know where to start. Well, impossible to remember it all which is even sadder.

Went to Rome and had a brilliant time.

Lily and I went to Cambridge and stayed with Christine, David and baby Sophie and had a great time.

We all went to Frankfurt and had a ball.

I've been giving baking lessons to two women who keep booking extra lessons in.

Mum came for a visit.

Charlotte had her first haircut, at David's with Ma Ma taking photos (same as for Lily's 1st haircut).

Lily now goes to school four mornings and four afternoons a week (Mon and Fri afternoon were added after Easter).

I've been doing Weight Watchers Online.

Poppa died April 25th (Anzac Day).

And in two weeks time Jen and I will be in NYC!