School Starts (SOOO Early!)

We returned to Zurich just in time to get ready for school. Oma and Papa flew in from Rome, and we had a few days of nice visits with them before they headed home. On Sunday, we had a relaxing dinner at home, while Jack and Kate played with their playmates - Jack locked Papa in his room with him, and Kate indulged in painting with Oma.

On Monday, we all spent the day at the lake, and enjoyed a really nice picnic next to the water. Afterwards, Papa and Jack hit the rest of the parks in the Seefeld area, while Oma babysat Kate during her nap. It gave me a much-needed chance to run some errands and get in a nice run before dinner that night... That night, Jay and I took Oma and Papa to Tao's, and had wonderful weather for sitting outside and enjoying a beautiful summer evening.

Tuesday was Kate's first day of school, and she was very excited - mostly about wearing her "fancy dress" (my NAME dress, as she calls it). She was also excited to show her teachers (and her friends - thankfully, all girls!) her big girl underwear... all new developments since last Spring. This year, she is in the same classroom but she has new teachers - Judith, her German teacher, is from Germany, and is wonderful... and her English teacher is none other than Teri, our babysitter and travel companion. So she felt right at home from the beginning.

That night, we had a relaxing dinner in - and then had to say our sad good-byes to Oma and Papa, who were leaving the next day.

Jack's school opening was delayed for a week due to construction, so he and I had the treat of a few "date mornings" - time alone that we had not really had for the past few years. It was really fun but I think I exhausted him - on the first day, we managed to get his haircut, buy new school shoes, grab coffee and a vanilla donut, tour the art museum and share lunch at Globus - all before noon! And because we were stroller-less, we took advantage of being able to jump on and off trams and buses to get the quickest route - we counted that we had been on 10 forms of transportation before we picked up Kate at noon. :) But I think he liked the "adult date." The next day, when I asked him if he wanted Chicken Nuggets at McDonald's - he asked if we could go back to Globus to get the peanut chicken satays instead.