Signal de Bougis

So we made the most of this beautiful weather and the fact that my Nan is here and went for a bit of a day out, to Signal de Bougis. It's on top of a mountain/hill about half way between Geneva and Lausanne and the view is absolutely spectacular across the lake and with the French alps in the background. It has this massive outdoor (and indoor) playground, animals, boats, electric cars and even an artisan wood fire bakery. It's rad. I didn't get any pictures of the view, but two clips of Max' first go as a racing car driver. He should stick to the skate board. You can clearly hear who had the most fun. All I can say is post-baby-pregnancy-bladder + watching Max on this vehicle = not good.





I'm ready. Shovel and all.

Nana is the best.

And Mami the best captain (not, we were just going in circles).


Need to be fed and watered. No sugar ice tea and no fat no salt organic fries. My ar*se :-)

And done.

Neutral Switzeralnd my a*se

So neutral they have girls walk around with machine guns on their backs on a Saturday morning. Is there a new gun pilates stretch class trend I have missed out on? Her T-shirt read "I like fruit". Well at least that's something.

Gummibärli Thief

This is what I have found on several occasions. I do appreciate my son's independence and ability to "problem solve" and find solutions. Never mind the obvious dangers, or the mental noise created by pulling that chair across the whole flat. We found him in the kitchen the other night trying to open a drawer in the dark to get another dummy as he "lost" the other one during his sleep. He can also go to the toilet all by himself and says that "I can do it MYSWELL Mummy" to absolutely everything, so I think he's going to move out soon. All he needs is a job. Pro skater probably.

Best work lunch ever.

Met Murielle and Max for lunch today in the park and it was brilliant. The perfect way to brake up the day.

Taught Max to roll down hills.

Kind of.



R

At the fair

Forgot to mention that I took Max to the fair last weekend. Apart from not being able to drag him away from it, the only other problem was that he was too young for most things he wanted to go on. Most rides were for over 3's and he was gutted.

There were a few rides that would take him and this is a clip of one of them. I'm not sure if there was an age limit but after it got going I did start to wonder if he was a bit small. And so did he I think.




But he survived. And needless to say, wanted to go again.

R

As Murielle won't put these up...

... I will. We drove over the mountains to see Grosse Papi at the weekend and stopped off to admire the view. I didn't get many pictures of the view but I did get these...

As a dad...

... There's nothing better than carrying your boy on your shoulders... Until he starts licking your head.

(By the way... film below... proudest moment yet)

I know it's the wrong way up but you'll get the gist... Better than getting a motorbike.

Ice Cream!!!

Max and I went to the world's most stylish ice cream parlor in Carouge (as in the most stylish in the world of Carouge, which is to me the world now). I never thought one could have so much fun in 20 minutes by simply looking at ice cream (glacé!), pointing at ice cream, ordering ice cream, licking ice cream, dripping ice cream - and then eating the biscuit. Seriously I've never laughed so much.

We walked in (it was packed, it was a lovely day), Max pushed his way through everyone's legs screaming "I WANT PINK ICE CREAM!!" - and more "MUUMMMMMEEEEYYYYYY, I WANT PIIIINKKK ICE CREAM!!" until the whole shop was in stitches.

Well and what happened after you'll see below:

Murielle's at French class again so...

... I'm back on the blog and thought I'd post a few pictures from last weekend, when we had the Boyles over from London Bridge.

Unfortunately I only managed to get my camera out for about an hour and didn't even manage to get a picture of Matt or Regina. But here's one of Max and Dexter, their son, when they weren't arguing over who owned which toy. You'll notice Max is clearly teaching Dexter to read.

Even though it was quite windy on Sunday the sun was out, so the Penguin chairs came out. Then Murielle and the cheeky dwarf rock star came out.

After relaxing in the sun for about 15 seconds Max then decided to do some Tai Chi in the garden...


... Before stealing some stuff out of another kid's house and legging it away as fast as his shorter than average legs would take him.


(you can click on the images to make them bigger).

Anyway, must get off the computer before Murielle gets back and tries to edit this post, or correct my spelling.

Bye for now,

R

Stones Visit

Ah, how excited we were: the Stones were visiting for Easter. Jamie (Rick's other wife), Anna (the lass), Katie (Max' best friend and hopefully future wife) and Evie (Pevie, ever so worried and ever so cute). It was very special to have our very good friends visit us in our new home. We had the best time ever, it was a big, fat Standley-Stone love up. Anna really looked after me and made me realise that I actually am pregnant, telling me to rest more, not overdo it, put my feet up and not beat myself up for being demented and weird for no apparent reason. I can't ever thank you enough for that Anna Stone! Anyway, here are some pictures of our fab time together. Thanks for visiting, we love you.

Well you didn't think Max would go without red nail polish when Katie and I were having ours painted. It's just a phase, Granddad!


In the botanical garden. Once Max heard there were flamingos there (and those of you who know what they mean to him will appreciate this) there was no stopping him.



Future wives.

Graffiti Playground

Fête du Printemps (Spring Festival)

So, this is how it goes: this is a tradition followed in some parts of Switzerland. The most famous being the "Sächsilüte" in Zurich. This is the same concept on a smaller scale. On the left is winter. Grey, limping, horrible, big and nasty. On the right is pretty Miss spring. A big fire is started to burn winter (and spring, not sure why...) and the quicker winter burns, the better and longer the spring/summer is going to be. Makes sense, doesn't it?

It was really exciting to be part of a traditional festival in our new home. Everyone was cheering like mad when winter was burnt and all the kids went crazy.

My Buebs. Max is not sure about the goings on.

Winter is literally being burnt out of town. It burnt like a b*stard. And too right, it was a nasty, long, cold and grey one!



Yep. All gone. Bring on le printemps (spring).

Crêche (Nursery)

Max is relaxing before his first day at creche. He goes three afternoons a week, Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from 2-5pm. A few precious hours for me to run some errands that are "challenging" with Max and a great time for him playing with other kids - and frankly getting a break from me too.

That's his little box with his name - he is a nut, bless him - it reminds me of my early school days, I had a box too but cannot remember for the life of me what my "symbol" was. Somehow I remember a white daisy. Oh and these are his slippers. Les pantouffles. Too funny. He chose them himself.

That's the entrance. His carer is called Nathalie. I taught him to say "bonjour Nathalie", which he says all the way there (boooshuuu da Nathalie!) and then refuses to say anything when we get there. When she asks him anything in French (they only speak French), he just nods knowingly. I doubt he has any idea what they say.

Espace de vie enfantine - literally means "space for small children's lifes". Cute.

Shmo in a Cupboard

I love these pictures. He looks so naughty and lovely and wild.