5 Bikes and a Dog

Last weekend, we ventured out to our "permanent" house to collect accumulated mail. We figured the kids would enjoy biking around the neighborhood, so 5 Cassidys, 1 dog, and 5 bikes hopped onto the train. It was a bit crowded, but we made it. There are special train cars with open areas designed just for bikes and strollers. Lesson learned: Abbie can't pedal uphill, and she doesn't brake well on the downhill parts -- unless you consider slamming on the brakes, skidding to a sudden halt, and flying off the bike to be effective braking. She didn't seem to think it was a fun experience. Since there are only two elevations in and around Zurich -- going up or going down, we spent a lot of the bike ride actually walking. Everyone did enjoy hanging out in the yard of the new house. We had a picnic in the backyard and then wandered around town for a bit -- nothing was open since it was Sunday. We found a fun playground with a stream running through it and realized that if you keep walking uphill, you get a view of Lake Zurich.



The day before, we had tried to go car shopping. Funny thing about shopping for cars in Switzerland, both the BMW and the Volvo dealership were closed. Who knew that you could only buy a car during the work week? Actually, the Ford dealership was open, but John refuses to buy an American car in Europe. I can actually agree with his logic on that one. Jumping ahead, we did manage to make it to the BMW dealership today. We got to see the model we were interested in purchasing, and we were given a price sheet for it -- no negotiations on prices here, which is actually quite nice. We do get a corporate discount from John's company. We asked to test drive the vehicle, but we need to make a separate appointment for that. It's much different than the "What can we do to get you to drive this vehicle home today?" attitude that you get at car dealerships in the States. We can't actually talk about buying the car until we submit a leasing application. Chances are they won't approve it, because we don't have our final permit yet, but we figure it is worth a shot -- as does the dealership owner. Yes, we met with the owner of the dealership himself. After BMW, we ventured up the road to Volvo. Guess what? It isn't actually a dealership. They tried to tell us how to get to a real dealership, but we followed their directions and didn't see anything resembling a car dealership. By that time, it was almost 12, and we were told that the dealership would close for lunch from 12-2, so we just got lunch and called it a day. We're trying to talk Abbie into visiting a dealership we've heard is open tomorrow, but for some reason she doesn't want to shop for cars on her 6th birthday.

Other highlights from the week:

• Moving into our "permanent" housing
• Having the landlord bring champagne, sparkling cider, and crackers to celebrate the move
• Seeing Abbie hug the landlord and watching the landlord's face light up when she was previously very nervous about handing over the keys to the home she had lived in for 35 years
  
• Watching from the window while the school bus picked up and later dropped off the kids in the driveway
• Starting soccer practice with the school teams (C.J. and Brendan)
  
• Going to Germany for a field trip (C.J.)
• Having 2 days of team building activities -- hiking, making metals, building fires, foraging for food, etc. -- instead of regular classroom time (C.J.)
  
• Ordering groceries online -- and not having to carry liters of milk, Pepsi, apple juice, etc. home from the store
• Letting Lucky out in the yard at 11pm instead of having to take her for a walk around the block -- in the rain
  
• Unpacking, knowing the stuff wouldn't have to be moved again for a long time
  
• Walking around the house, planning where the furniture would go, making a list of immediate purchase needs -- like a "closet" (a.k.a. wardrobes) for the master bedroom
  
• Getting phone service
• Giving the kids Nutello on fresh baked breads and having them declare it far superior to peanut butter
• Getting a birthday party invitation for Brendan, knowing that he was most worried about meeting friends
• Seeing Brendan and C.J.'s look of disbelief when Abbie stated, "The worst thing about school is that there are too many recesses."
• Getting THE call that our sea shipment will be delivered next Wed-Fri!
  

The kids still seem to be adjusting well. C.J. is worried that he won't get to attend as many birthday parties as he did at home. Brendan is worried that his school soccer team is too small, they'll play the same kids every week, and he'll never get to travel. Abbie can't decide which present she'll open first tomorrow morning -- they're all just "too beautiful" and look "soooo special!" Oh, and she's a little worried that her mom won't figure out how to bring a birthday treat to the class on Monday. Apparently, she's had a few conversations with her teacher about it.

Not enough pictures in this post? Here's link to some photos from the outing: 5 bikes and a dog pictures