Our first official visitor!

Last weekend we had our first official visitor. Brian's brother Geoff just happened to have a business trip scheduled to Milan, Italy so he decided to fly out a bit early and rented a car and drove 3.5 hours to Geneva for a couple days. It was fun to have someone to "entertain". I can't wait for more of y'all to come and visit. The only bad thing is that we are still in the hotel so Geoff got the couch to sleep on. (We are moving into our appartment today and tomorrow but that is for another post later.) We took Geoff to a couple of local areas in interest but we didn't even scratch the surface. We drove about 10 min. and crossed into France and rode the gondola up Mount Saleve (also the name of our ward here). This is the view looking down from the top of right where the gondola comes up. See how steep it is? It was really nice cuz we had a great view of all of the Geneva are and even more. It was a bit chilly at the top but it was fun anyway. Poor Geoff kept saying that he was so excited for cooler weather here but when came right down to it, he was cold here. He has truly become a Texan. Brian, of course, got a popsicle while we were up at the top. Here he is with James, as James tries to take th popsicle stick out of his mouth. The next day, after church, we went to Annecy, France and walked around the lake. It was beautiful and not even an hour drive from Geneva. The lake was amazing looking and I can't wait to go back in the Summer. James even got to ride the carousel with Brian. He kept having a hard time figuring out where I was as I called to him while he zipped by. It was funny. On Monday, we headed out to the U.N. so Geoff could check it out. Then we walked the 2 blocks to the Geneva Botanical Garden where we walked around in the sun so Geoff could stay warm. James really liked "drinking" out of the water fountain. (It is drinkable water). After that we went downtown and got sandwitches and headed to the lake to eat. I took James home to nap but Brian and Geoff went walking around the lake and even walked all the way out to the Jet d'eau (Jet of water) that, unfortunately, was not working at all while Geoff was here. He will just have to see it next time he comes to visit. Hint, hint! Geoff was also kind enough to stuff his suitcase full of stuff for us from home. Mostly things that I forgot to get. And a few treats too! Thanks, Geoff! So, as y'all can see we are super-fun to visit. When you come we will pack your days full of fun and sights and whatever you want. So, don't be strangers! Hope to see you soon. Right after Geoff left, James decided to have a "Who can open their mouth the widest?" contest. I think he won. What do you think?

10 Months.

Can you belive it? James has officially been out longer than he was in. It took long enough. Unfortunately, I do not have any official stats this month. I didn't want to try to find a pediatritian until I knew where we were going to live and I could ask around for some recommendations. He looks healthy enough to me. I was actually expecting James to get sick pretty quick when we got here because of all the new germs that he has been exposed to (the plane ride, a new continent, public transportation and lots of people touching him all the time) but fortunately he has stayed his normal, healthy, happy self. He really likes to brush his teath like his "Edpa". (My dad is a dentist who refuses to be called "Grandpa". Instead, he insists that all the grandkids call him "Edpa". His name is Ed. I'm sure he will be happy to know that James brushes his teeth with a smile.)But that doesn't mean he hasn't tried to get himself into some trouble. He has learned a few naughty little tricks since we got here. First, he loves, loves, loves to climb on things. He has learned how to climb onto the super low coffee table here and from there he climbes onto the couch which he uses as a steping stool to get onto the table. He likes to play with the coins that we keep in the ash tray (gotta put it to some good use).I can't even turn around for 2 minutes without him getting himself into some precarious situation. Yes, he has fallen a few times (I haven't been able to get there every time). Mostly off the bed and couch but he is learning that the edge can mean pain so he is being a lot more careful now. But that doesn't stop him from trying new ways to get hurt. He also has learned how to climb up his stroller. This he cannot get down from on his own and so he just starts yelling for help. Mostly it is an urgent grunt that he makes. This usually happens when I am trying to get the dishes done and so I just turn around and help him down at which time he immediately starts trying to climb up again. Silly Bimmy.He has also pinched his little fingers in various cupboards and such here in the hotel. It is very hard for him to understand that if he wants to get his hand out he needs to stop pushing the door closed with this other hand. That makes him particularly mad. Don't worry, he hasn't lost any blood but he has had a few little bumps on the head that last a couple of hours.He has also decided that he hates the hotel as much as I do. When we come back from any sort of outing he starts to whine as soon as we walk in the door. See picture below for proof.I would too if I were a baby (Brian would say that I do whine about the hotel). Hopefully the situation will be remedied soon. James is growing and learning like crazy and he is happy as ever. Every day it seems he is learning new things. It is so fun when he discovers a new skill. It will be fun to see where he is next month....

Geneva Botanical Garden

Yesterday, James and I went to the Jardin Botanique de Geneve. It was the most amazingly beautiful day ever. This reminds me of the grass that Emily has growing in front of her house only it is gigantic. It must have been like 12 feet tall, at least. We left the hotel after James nap and made it to the garden by about 2:15 pm. We met Harmony and kids and had a blast. We rode the Carousel (we were on the second level in a lion). James just squealed with delight when the ride started and he could see everything moving around him. After the ride he made friends with a group of older people visiting from a home. He was really a charmer and was just giving out lots of smiles and laughs. He truly loves, loves, loves attention. And that may be an understatement. We always like to spread a little cheer when we can.Then we walked around the garden a bit. It is way huge and we hardly made a dent in it but it is open year round so we will totally have to go back again and again. Oh, and did I mention that it is totally free? Super! Anyway, we saw some birds and then we went walking to see the rest of the animals and found a tiny little fountain that has driking water.As soon as Harmony took a drink James just started laughing like crazy. For some reason it was totally hilarious to him when people played with or drank the water. He laughed for like 10 minutes straight. It was great. This picture is right by the fountain. James with Harmony's kids, Cado & Paisley.Then we did finally make it to see the animals. They have a huge area with more birds (like Flamingos and Peacocks) and deer and goats. James thought it was quite nice to sit in his stroller and watch them. This is looking back from the animals toward the carousel in the background. Beautiful!Then we went and sat in the shade of a big tree for a while and let the kids play. James, I hope, is starting to understand that grass is not for eating. He even crawled some more. Oh, and crawling is mostly reserved to grass at this point. He resorts to army crawling in most other situations. All in all it was a great day!James had lots of fun and was totally kept entertained by Harmony's kids. It was very relaxing, except for dragging the stroller up and down stairs on the bus there and back. If you are ever in Geneva, I totally recommend the Jardin Botanique de Geneve. We were also there on Monday and that day was fun too but James choked on a leaf, ate lots of dirt and grass. See him trying the dirt? Silly Bimmy.It was still fun. Oh, and he "accidentally" bit my friend Jennie's little boy. Oops. Now I am extra careful to make sure kids keep their fingers to themselves. It was a bit funny only cuz it reminded me of the Charlie clip from YouTube. If you haven't seen it then search for Charlie and you should find the clip. Quite amusing.

Bimmy Crawled!!

Well, today started like any other day. We got up went to the park and got in the swing and walked around for a bit. We got a baguette and a pain au chocolat (a croissant with chocolate in the middle. I may get fat on them.) Then we came home. Bimmy had a good first nap and after the nap we decided to meet Harmony (and kids) and a new friend, Alma, (and kids) at Lake Geneva for lunch. (This is the view we had. Yes, that is a huge jet of water shooting up in the middle of the lake. It goes really, really high and there is a sidewalk that you can walk on to get right up close to it. Geneva is famous for it's Jet d'eau and it's flower clock which I will get a picture of sometime.) It was really nice but a bit cooler than I hoped it would be. But I was prepared with a jacket for James. He really was fascinated with the grass. Well mostly with all the leaves and pieces of wood in the grass that he could taste. James and Alma's little boy are only 4 days apart so he may have a little playmate after all! We sat around by the lake and ate our lunch and then all of a sudden this happened.
I think it may have been the grass that prompted him to start crawling but whatever it was he was actually crawling. It was great. But I can totally see why he wants to keep army crawling. He is much faster that way than real crawling. Anyway, it was just a nice day and now I know exactly how to get to the lake from where I am currently living. Of course, I will have to learn all over again when we get into an appartment which I hope happens sooner than later. Anyway, I just wanted to share Bimmy's crawl with everyone. Oh, and here are a few other pictures that we have taken lately. Here he is in the tub the other day. He really likes to try and crawl out of the tub. Especially when Brian keeps peeking his head around the corner to "grrr" at him. He also loves to climb on the furniture now. He has figured out how to get onto the coffee table and from there to the couch and from there to standing an holding onto a chair. You probably can't tell but I reallly had him lauging his little noggin off in this picture. I kept going around the corner and then jumping out and saying loudly, "ROAR" with my hand up and waving. I'm sure I looked totally ridiculous but hey, it worked. Just another cute, smiley Bimmy picture.
Have I mentioned yet how much Bimmy dislikes the port-a-crib? Well, dislike is probably putting it lightly. Poor kid. He learned how to pull himself up in there too so there were a couple of hard days and nights until he learned to get back down as well. The poor kid just tosses and turns all night long in there and gets into the most ackward looking positions. The sooner we get into an appartment the better!
Can you believe that he will be 10 months old on Monday? Me either! We are headed to the Jardin Botanique de Geneve (Geneva Botanical Garden) when Bimmy wakes up from his nap. I will post some pictures later.

The Hunt Is On

We have officially started our search for an appartment here in Geneva. Thank heaven we have a relocation company to help with the hard part of setting up appointments and doing all the application paperwork. There seems to be a lot of hoops to jump through in applying for an appartment in Genva. They want to know everything about you.
Anyway, to get back to the point. we went and looked at 5 appartments yesterday. It was pretty much an all day process and James was a little trooper. I have to admit that I was both horrified and at the same time pleasantly surprised by what we saw.
Let me explain. The rents are outrageous and, as my new friend Harmony pointed out, there really is no rhyme or reason as to why one appartment (which is super ugly and nasty) costs more than another appartment (which is vastly superior). It is quite different.
We started of the day with a visit to an are that Brian knows very well. We went to look at a 3 bedroom place in an appartment complex that he lived in while he was a missionary! When the relocation guy driving us around didn't know which building it was Brian told him which one it was. I was very pleasantly surprised by this appartment. It overlooked a nice little garden area and had two large balconies. The only drawback was the little "unequipped" kitchen. (Unequipped means that I have to buy everything except cabinets. Including, Stove, fridge and dishwasher if I want one.) Other than that it really was perfect. It even has the most amazing view of Mont Blanc. Rent CHF 2420.
Next, we went on our way to the second appartment and the relocation guy got a call that it had been rented. He was quite irritated but it didn't bug me. It happens. So, we just went on to the next appartment. This appartment was pretty okay. It was another 3 bedroom but the bedrooms were significantly smaller. It did have a bigger living room so that was nice and it had an "equipped" kitchen. It came with a stove and a fridge. Think mini-fridge. Like the kind you would put in an entertainment room for beverages. Still it was okay and it was the closest to church and downtown of all the appartments we looked at. Rent CHF 2340.
Then we had a 2 hour lunch and James had a nice long nap. After lunch we headed out again to what the relocation guy called a "suburb" of Geneva. It really is about 10 min. from downtown by bus. Not far at all. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! It was only 2 bedrooms but they were enormous and it was completely redone. It was on a nice quiet street and has it's own private garage. It has a fully equipped kitchen, including a dishwasher and a large fridge (about half the size of a regular American fridge). And it had a balcony. Rent CHF 2600.
After the glory of that appartment we went on to another "suburb" and saw the nastiest little apparmtnet in the history of appartments. I could just see the disgust on Brian's face when we walked in. First off the elevator was scary. Even the lady that was there to show us the appartment thought that 4 peoople was too many for the elevator. Crazy! Needless to say the bedrooms were small and the kitchen was like something you might see in Verminators (minus the cockroaches). The only attractive thing was the rent. CHF 2150.
And last and almost least was the final appartment that we went to see. It was technically the largest with 3 bedrooms but they were very weirdly shaped. The kitchen was quite nasty in this unit as well and there were about 20 steps leading up to the building. Steps and strollers don't mix well. I can deal with a few but not that many. Just hauling James' stroller up and down the 6 steps here at the hotel already has my back hurting. So that was one that we didn't look at for long. Oh and the rent made it even more unattractive. CHF 3100!! Whatever! They are smoking crack!
All in all, we have decided to apply for 2 of the appartments and will have to hope and pray that we get accepted. I am keeping my fingers crossed because the process is very different than in America. According to the relocation expert, the owners get about 20 applications and then they pick who they want based on whatever they want. There are no explainations or anything. The housing vacancy rate is less than 0.5% here so they can be as picky as they want. Oh, and we probably won't hear back for at least a week. So then we may have to start the process all over again. I sure hope not but some people we know took 8 weeks and 10 applications to finally get into a place.
Oh, and we applied for the first appartment and the third appartment. Pray that we will get one! I know I am! Oh, and next time I promise some pictures of Bimmy.

United Nations

So, I just got back from a little trip to the United Nations European Headquarters here in Geneva. My new friend Harmony sent out the invite to go and check out the water feature that they have there. It just so happens to be at the end of the tram line that I live on so I thought that I would get James out for a couple of hours in the Geneva sun before it gets too cold for such outings.

Apparently the water feature sometimes doesn't run so our backup plan was to walk to the Geneva Botanical Gardens and explore them. I went there when I visited Geneva 10 years ago with my mom. But that will have to be an outing for another day as the water feature was on full blast today. It is one of those kinds that has the water shooting up out of the ground at random places and times.

James was very excited to see the water and he just started squealing right when we walked up. I dutifully put on his organic baby sunscreen and let him down to play in the water. He thought it was super cool except when he accidentally went over a jet that turned on under his head. It was funny to me but not to him. He didn't cry though just "ran" (army crawled) away as fast as he could. I think he had a lot of fun and we even got to have some pretty lively music as there was a very somber demonstration going on to the hippest music ever. As these demonstrators were solemnly marching around the square with the fountain we were in the middle playing and laughing and whatnot. You can see some of them marching in the background of the video.

It really was a nice little outing and I will probably do it again next summer when James can walk and really enjoy the water. Maybe sometime we can actually take a tour of the inside of the U.N. I will have to check into that for sure.

This is what James looked like on the way home. Apparently sunscreen is also a great gel for Bimmys hair. I just had to get a picture of him. Doesn't he look like the happiest, little, chubby baby ever? I think so.