Monthly update: Family trip, Elliott is 8 months, and a night away!

Two weeks ago we set off on a family trip to Croatia and Slovenia. We were also joined by some friends, Luke and Jane, from the States who spent 2 weeks travelling around different parts of Europe. We were excited to see these two countries despite the 9+ hour car drive and the realization that a week trip with two little ones in tow isn't really a vacation in the relaxation sense.  We usually use the websites vrbo.com or homeaway.com to find nice apartments or houses to rent as they are much more practical for families, than hotels.

An old church on our hike in Croatia

Hiking in Croatia

peeking through the kitchen to the pool

Yummy.. beef!

Luke and Jane getting ready to enjoy dinner

Doesn't that look relaxing!

Fishes in Croatia, such clear water!

The town of Krk, Croatia

Plitvice Lake Park

We loved our little house in Croatia, it was about 15 minutes to the coast, and a fairly central location for where we wanted to go. We spent 5 nights in Croatia and overall we liked it, but it was a bit too hot for us after a hot summer in Switzerland. Then we drove 3 hours to Slovenia and stayed there for another 3 nights. We really loved Slovenia and are hoping to go back with friends or family next year. It was beautiful, even in off and on rainy weather, cheap, clean, people were friendly, and most everyone we encountered spoke english or german. Our drive home from Slovenia was the only sunny day and it was just such a beautiful landscape through Slovenia and then Austria. Definitely recommend a visit, plus we heard lots of American english there!

Castle in Skofja Loka Slovenia

Medieval town of Skofa Loka

Mini representation of skofa loka

View from our hike above the castle.

Elliott loves "Hiking"

 

Hannah at Lake Bled Slovenia

Lake Bled

Ljubljana

Amazing lunch in Ljubjana, Slovenia's capitol

E and I enjoyed a hike in Slovenia while everyone else was at Lake Bled

Then the Friday after we got home from our trip we got 25 hours child free! After Elliott's birth John's co workers got us a gift certificate to a mountain hotel, more like a bed and breakfast. It included a candlelight dinner and breakfast. We were so thankful that we got to use it this year. A family from church watched the kids, at their house... they did good, but I think Hannah was a bit stressed at first. They kept them all day Saturday so we got to do a nice long 6 hour hike. It was all in all a great time.

Candle Light diner

Action shot

Then on Wednesday Mr. Elliott turned 8 months. Sadly he came down with a cold on Tuesday, but now two days later he seems to be slowly on the mend. It is just so sad when babies can't breath through their nose, thus can't fall asleep easily! His personality is starting to come through a bit more these days. He seems to be much more cuddly than Hannah, a bit more affected by teething (boys usually have lower pain tolerances I have decided... usually true of my therapy patients), and likes to giggle at his sister. He has started to stand up on anything he can pull up on, including his crib, and you can tell he really wants to walk... Slow down little man! Since he is on the move we have to teach him boundaries with things like Bear's water bowl... we don't want water everywhere. But, if we try to hold his hands and count to 10 and then explain why it is no touch, he smiles at us and goes for it again.... He is going to be a difficult one :)

Hannah's new toy

Can you tell which one I helped with?

Elliott 7 months

Swimming, our favorite activity during this hot summer

Elliott has made it past the half year mark! I thought it seemed like he was at a stand still with developmental milestones between 5 and 6 months, but in the last few weeks he has started to change quite a bit. He is proving to be quite a bit different than Hannah, but also similar in some ways... like they both love/d to eat at this age, fairly flexible, and content going on walks, hikes, bike rides as long as we are moving. He is definitely less cautious, loves the weather, meeting his motor milestones quicker, and likes to be on the move. 

What Elliott is like at 7 months:

°Sleeps through the night, usually 11.5 hours in a row

° takes 2-3 naps 1-2.5 hours in length... he has just started to have really good naps and now they are re doing the kitchen in the apartment next to us, which is LOUD, aka hard to sleep with the noise... the is the biggest downside to apartment living!

They both love bear

° Started to crawl, very slowly 3 days before turning 7 months

Love the uncoordinated crawling

Elliott's adorable crooked smile

° Eats 3 solid meals a day, nurses 4-5 times a day plus a bit extra in a bottle at bedtime. He isn't too good at picking his food up and getting it in his mouth so he is mostly spoon fed. But with his 6 teeth he can eat some normal food... like spaghetti for dinner tonight!

Love oatmeal and apples for breakfast

° He has been working on getting his 7th and 8th tooth forever, but they are not through yet!

° He loves to be outside, doing anything... a true Patton!

He loves watching sister... She is so cool!

So much fun swinging 

Hannah: 3 years old

 

Our little baby Hannah turned three years old last week.   She is definitely no longer baby Hannah, but the title has stuck.  This post will mostly include pictures of Hannah at this age.  Currently Hannah enjoys playing with friends, if they are familiar ones. She is always asking to go play with a few of her friends here, whose mom's I am also friends with.

Eating in Annecy, France

 

 Hannah is definitely going through a shy stage, not wanting to talk to people even if she knows them well. I am hoping this is just a phase and I also think going to two playgroups a week, in German, this fall will be good for her to meet new people.  Hannah is very creative with her play. She plays well independently making up stores or situations, which is quite entertaining!  We hope she continues to build her imagination as she grows up.  She is also quite patient in her play, dressing and un-dressing very small dolls, not getting to frustrated when a particular shirt is hard to get on.

Birthday party fun

Looking like a big girl in overalls

She is still quite a cautious little girl, definitely not wanting to get her eyes wet when swimming, but she has been doing quite well with her run bike. And she often surprises us with how much she wants and is able to hike. Hannah is also quite emotional at times, usually joyful, but when she is upset or woken early from a nap she lets us know by crying quite loudly. Speaking of sleep this girl still loves/needs her sleep, 12 hours at night and 2-3 hours during the day.... pretty sure she sleeps more than Elliott :)

Wearing daddy's hiking hat

Her new whiteboard for drawing

Recent outdoor adventures

This past month we have gotten out on a few outdoors adventures, a few together thanks to having babysitters or hauling the kiddos along, and a few alone.
A few weekends we set off on our first real hike with two children in tow.  It is quite an accomplishment just remembering everything we might need for both kids, let alone the actual hiking. We hiked up from Aecherli pass  to Arvigrat, and it was quite a steep incline. John has to do much more work carrying Hannah when she is done "hiking", but Elliott is not the lightest these days.  All in all the 3 hour hike when very smoothly, except for me thinking about how sore my legs were going to be for our next adventure that was occurring in just 2 days....


John had to use a vacation day by the end of June that he had carried over from 2014, or he would loose it. Our friend Tammy was able to watch H and E, so John organized a bike ride for us that would go over two mountain passes. He has always wanted to do a bike ride like this together and this was our chance. I did thankfully get out on my bike more than normal the 3 weeks before our bike ride, as I was quite nervous for it. The first pass that we rode was Klausenpass, and it was my type 1400 meters of gradual climbing over 24 km or so.  I really did enjoy this pass, I was tired, enjoyed it.

Then from the top we rode down into the town of Glarus, where we had lunch and I had to decide if I had enough energy to continue or if we should take the train back.  I knew we wouldn't have many opportunities to do a ride like this together, so despite the heat and my fatigue I decided to continue.  The next pass, Pragel was only 1,000 meters of climbing but was quite steep at the end.... I was very happy to reach the top! Then to my surprise the first half of the descent was VERY scary for me, steep, windy, and bumpy.... and my hands were so tired that I couldn't squeeze the brakes too well.... I was just praying for safety!

 Thankfully we made it down safe and arrived in Schwyz with 2 minutes to spare for our train ride back to Altdorf... and of course finished it all off with a beer by the lake.

Our daily view and a perfect spot for a beer after a long ride

Last weekend John woke up at 3 AM on Saturday to ride three passes on his bike, Furka, Susten, and Grimsel... yes he is crazy!  He was getting a good training ride in for next weekend. He will be doing a 3 day bike tour through the mountains, sounds very intense to me!

I also got up early on Sunday, I am trying to get up early 1-2 times per week to get my workout in, to do a good long hill run. It was a 90 degree day, so running at 6 AM was the best option anyways. I did a run partway up the Buochserhorn and made it into a loop totally 1:45 of running, my first longer run since Elliott!  Now off to eat some more ice cream!