Life in Texas: October 2009

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fun at the Vogelpark

Last Sunday after church we took Cade to the Vogelpark in the town next to us. A Vogelpark is the German word for bird park. They have lots of birds from all over the world. The park is outdoors and the smaller birds are in huge cages and the big birds are in fenced-in cages. Collin and I have been wanting to visit this park since we found out about it. Sunday was such a beautiful day so we decided it was the perfect time to go. We had a good time and Cade enjoyed seeing and hearing all the birds.

Outside the Vogelpark

Eggs from various birds at the park

Cade and Marisa in front of a big bird cage

Cade and Collin in front of the big open area

Family picture

Cade laughed and smiled a lot while we were there

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

4 Months Old

Cade is 4 months old today. He has grown so much these past 4 months it's amazing. We took him to his 4 month well baby doctor's appointment Friday. He is now 18.6 lbs and 27 in. long! The doctor said he looks great and he is a strong and healthy boy. The doctor also said we should start him on solids soon because most babies over 18 lbs cannot get enough food from breast milk. That made me sad because I really wanted to breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months of Cade's life. The doctor told me once he starts waking up in the middle of the night that we should begin then. Right now he sleeps on average 11 hours a night with the longest stretch of 7 hours between feedings. I read that for many babies sleeping 5 hours straight is considered sleeping through the night. I have felt more rested since he started sleeping longer. We went ahead and bought some rice cereal and several organic jars of baby food to have on hand. However, I'd really like to wait as long as possible before starting solids. If I can make it another month that would be great. I also don't want the poor baby to go hungry, so if it is sooner than another month or two then we'll give him baby food.

We recently sat him in his high chair at the table. Usually we either take turns holding him or put him in his car seat while we eat. The other night we decided to try his high chair since he's sitting up really well now and we want him to get used to it before we start feeding him solids. He seemed to like it.

Cade has also refused to take a bottle since we returned from our trip back to the States. So we tried a sippy cup with breast milk and he enjoyed holding it and drinking from it.

Cade has been smiling and laughing more. It's so much fun to watch him grow and learn. He has the cutest smile but once you bring a camera out he stops smiling and stares at it. We try and take pictures when he's not looking to get one of him smiling.

Here are some new pictures of our sweet little boy!

Cade and his tiger

Flying with Dad

First time to drink from a sippy cup

Sitting in his high chair

Just being cute!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Long Weekend in Switzerland

This past weekend we took Caden to his 6th country. We traveled to Switzerland and visited Interlaken and Spiez. This was our first time to visit Switzerland and we thought it was beautiful. We stayed in Spiez but spent most of our time in Interlaken. We stayed at a very European bed and breakfast and decided to pay for half-board for Friday night. Half-board just means you want dinner in their restaurant. We had a 3-course dinner which included spaghetti and tomato sauce, fish and potatoes, and ice cream for dessert. All for the price of Fr. 22 per person plus our drinks. I ordered water and it cost Fr. 4, which is around $4 for a glass of water, no refills. You would think in Switzerland water would be cheaper than beer and wine, but it's not. Even soft drinks cost more than most of the beers, wines, and soft drinks.

One of the most disappointing things about Switzerland is the inflation of the Swiss Frank (Fr.). Although the Fr. is comparable to the U.S. dollar when you convert your money most items cost at least twice what they would in the U.S. For example, there is no dollar menu at McDonald's. A happy meal costs Fr. 6.90 and the value meals cost Fr. 11.90+. So if Collin and I wanted to eat at McDonald's and both get a meal we would spend close to $25 for two meals. So we decided not to eat at McDonald's and go ahead and splurge a little more to eat real Swiss food.

We arrived in Switzerland Friday around 11am and had a nice lunch. It was raining Friday so we mainly drove around and explored the cities by car. We drove up several mountains and got our "bearings" so to speak. Saturday we woke up to more rain so we canceled our plans to visit an outdoor museum and went to the mall and had lunch. We had hoped there would be several restaurants in the food court but there was just one. The food was okay. That afternoon the weather cleared up and we walked around Interlaken and ended up eating at the Zum Baren, an old Swiss restaurant. The restaurant is over 200 years old and was built in the 1700s. I ordered cheese fondue (fondue is famous in Switzerland) and Collin ordered a meat and veggies dish. I was hoping for Fr. 25 I would get more than just a pot of cheese. But for that price I only got a pot of cheese and cubes of bread, which is typical. Thankfully, it was the best fondue I've ever had.

Sunday was a beautiful day so we drove around and went to the Trummelbach Falls. We hiked up a mountain to see 10 glacier-waterfalls inside the mountain made accessible by a tunnel-lift and illuminated. The Trummelbach drains the mighty glacier defiles of Eiger, Monk, and Jungfrau and carries 20.200 tons of boulder detritus per year. Its drainage area is 24 km2, half of it covered by snow and glaciers. Up to 20.000 liters of water per second. The only glacier-waterfalls in Europe inside the mountain and still accessible. It was an awesome experience. Here are some pictures from our trip.