Boricua en la Lima

This weekend was officially our last summer weekend as the weather is getting noticeably colder and Gabi starts school this week. So we went to Montreux – a beautiful town on the opposite side of the Lake where supposedly the biggest jazz festival happens every year and, as we later learned, was also home to Freddy Mercury for years. We arrived Thursday evening just in time for dinner and to get a glimpse of how beautiful the town is. However, Friday morning was chilly and rainy and I had to work so we just did a little bit of shopping around in the nearby clothing & toy stores. The kids were pleased with that of course, and Sebas, as usual, left the toy store with only Toy Story related items. He also left the clothing store with either Toy Story or Cars related clothing. That one has a one-track mind! On Friday afternoon when the weather cleared up and I was ok to stop working, we went to Chateau Chillon , a beautiful castle that served as the main fortress for the surroundi

It's been getting cooler than I would like it to be which sadly means the days of summer are coming to a quick end. I guess that's another thing I'll miss about Cincinnati, having warm weather way into September and even being lucky enough 4 years in a row to have awesome weather for my daughter's birthday part in late October. I've told we will have no such luck here, which also means I gotta find a place to have a birthday party for a 5 year old who unfortunately only has 2 friends so far! Hopefully that changes pretty quickly once she starts school next week. But anyway, we went to Geneve Plage (or Geneva "Splash" as Gabi likes to call it now) on Saturday and then to Excenevex Plage on Sunday just trying to soak up the last few rays of sunshine while it's still warm enough to wear a bathing suit. Gabi is officially a different color now and Sebas is a slightly less pale shade of pale. It's too funny how to people who look so much alike can have

We traveled to Madrid on Wednesday morning and drove about 2 hours to Salamanca to a house my father was renting for the week.  We had a nice time walking around the town of Salamanca and eating.  However after about 2 days I couldn't have any more jamon iberico -- total overdose!  I am now in full iberico detox mode. As well as in wine detox mode.  On Friday we traveled to La Alberca, a town about 1 hour from Salamanca. This is where my sister's wedding was on Saturday afternoon.  We had a wonderful time and the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  We are back home exhausted but happy to be "home" for a few more days.  On Friday Aug. 27th we are going to Montreaux just for the weekend.  Then afterwards no more travel until October!!!! Also Gabi is in summer camp this week again so at least she's happy she's got stuff going on. Especially because she made a few friends during the wedding and I would've felt back if she went back home to be bored without f

This weekend we went to Disneyland Paris.  We took of Wednesday night after work, spent the night in a beautiful little town in France called Auxerre, and then drove the rest of the way early Thursday.  We literally spent every waking hour at Disney.  We would be there when the gates opened and would be there until around 9 pm when we couldn't take it any more and then we'd go back to the hotel lobby for a beer (or a milk depending on your age) and then hit the sack to do it all over again the next day.  However, I felt that this time was so much more fun than the last time.  Maybe because Sebastian is a little bit older and he therefore enjoyed it a lot more (although he was terrified of most rides in the beginning and then he started losing the fear as time wore on) or because the park is smaller and we were able to do a lot more (met a bunch of the characters, saw the different parades, rode the rides a bunch of times, etc.).  Or maybe because this was the second time for us

No beach pictures this weekend!  We did have a nice time at the pool Saturday afternoon and got to the beach ready to go un Sunday around 10 am, but Gabi got bitten by a bee while building a sand castle and I didn’t know if she’d be allergic or what given it’s her first time so we decided to leave for a clinic not knowing if we had to remove the stinger.  The only clinic that we’ve been recommended is close to our house so even though it’s a 40-45 min. drive to the beach we came all the way back to the clinic as we didn’t want to risk it.  Turns out the stinger wasn’t inside, so she just got a prescription for an anti-biotic, and anti-inflammatory and an anti-histaminic (so many ANTI’s!).  By the time we got out of the clinic and the pharmacy (there’s only 2 pharmacies open on Sundays and they’re both pretty far from home) we were starving and it was too late to go back to the beach.  We had to make do with the food at home (it was the Swiss Independence Holiday so practically NOTHING