Lunch at the Lac Noir

Sometimes it isn't easy thinking of things to do at the weekends. For a childless couple, it isn't so difficult. A typical weekend might involve a bit of shopping, lunch in a restaurant somewhere, maybe a stroll in the town, possibly a romantic meal together and an evening out at the cinema and/or bar hopping and night clubs.

For parents, it's not as simple as that. Whenever you consider going somewhere or doing something, you have to think of the kids first. "Is there a playground there?", "what can they eat?", "is it expensive?" and "will she like it?" are just some of the questions you have to ask yourself. You have to put yourself in the kid's place as well - museums and shops are boring for kids, so those are out. Restaurants can be tricky as well, as kids aren't great at sitting in one place for a reasonable period of time.

It's even worse when it rains. Unless you dress your kid up in waterproofs, most outside activities are out of the question. On those days, you have to pray for a break in the rain that lasts long enough to go outside for a while, and let the kid burn off some of their seemingly boundless energy.

Lac Noir, Fribourg

Fortunately, this weekend the weather was nice. The sun was shining and the forecast predicted around 20°C, so not too shabby. We decided to head over to the Lac Noir in the Swiss Canton of Fribourg, as we hadn't been there before and it would make a nice change of scenery from our usual trips to towns along the edge of Lac Léman.

The drive to get there was fairly long, although it may only have seemed long because Lydia got a bit whingy. We bought a CD of French children's songs, as well as French spoken versions of Pinocchio and the Little Mermaid. These were played on a loop during the drive, and for the most part kept Lydia entertained. From a personal point of view, I found the stories to be a bit repetitive at the third time of listening.

Scary Dolly

Lydia has quite a lot of toys (far too many if you ask me), and also a lot of fluffy bears and other assorted stuffed animals. She doesn't have a very long attention span at the moment, so she will generally play with a toy for a brief few minutes before moving on to the next one.

Each toy will be played with for a while, and then either be left on a table or the sofa, or simply be thrown away by Lydia (she has quite an arm on her, potential baseball player in the making).

The exception to this rule, however, is her dolly Dorothé. This doll used to belong to Chris when she was a little girl. It is a basic plastic doll that closes her eyes when laid on her back. She has an unusual haircut, with her strands of dark hair cut short all over, making her look like a kind of brunette version of Yazz (brownie points to those who remember that one!).

Lydia does not like Dorothé.

In fact, it might be fair to say she hates her, and is terrified of her.

I wanna be like you (ooh-ooh)

Did that make you think about Disney's The Jungle Book, with King Louie singing his orangutan heart out?

This article isn't about the animated classic though. Instead, it's about how kids want to copy those around them, particularly their parents. They learn through imitating others, so it's only natural that they want to do what we do.

Recently, for example, Lydia wanted to read a book that she found in a cupboard. The book in question was actually a paper-back recipe book, so not really something she would find interesting. Nevertheless, we read it together. I noticed that every time Lydia went to turn the page, she would lick her finger. Neither I nor my wife do this, so I can only presume she picks this up from her grandparents during a recent stay at their house. Quite a surprise to see she had learnt that as it isn't something you really teach a kid to do.

Grocery shopping

Another recent example was when I took her to the supermarket the other day to buy groceries. I picked up a basket and went inside with Lydia only for her to start complaining about something.

I asked her what was wrong and she pointed at the big pile of shopping baskets. It turns out that she wanted her own basket to carry, having seen us and other adults do this many times in the past, and not wanting to miss out on the fun.

I thought this was really cute, although I had to help her choose what to put in her basket (she immediately went for the chocolate aisle!).

I know everyone tells me that kids grow up too fast, and that's a saying that I believe rings true. My daughter is only 16 months old but wants to do things she sees adults doing. It's no wonder young girls want to wear makeup, as they no doubt want to copy their mothers.

Wonder how long it will be before Lydia wants to watch football and drink beer like her Dad?

Messy Eater

Here, in one simple photo, is the answer to the question, "Why should you not turn your back on a young child eating a bowl of cereal?":

Oh no!

I love the look of innocence on her face, as if to say, "No Daddy, I have no idea who spilt that milk."

Lesson learned; don't turn your back, or - better still - glue the bowl to the table.

Bimbadaboum!

Bimbadaboum - The 100% Family Festival

Earlier this year, whilst searching for activities to do with Lydia, Chris came across something called the "Bimbadaboum Festival". This is basically an event put on specifically for young children, with shows and activities to keep them interested. So, Chris booked us some tickets for the festival on Saturday 18th August. Under-2s get in free, so we only had to pay for 2 tickets (costing 66.- CHF).

I hadn't really read much into the event prior to going there, just the basic information shown on their website (www.bimbadaboum.ch), so didn't have any huge expectations. I knew that this was the 5th year of the festival and that there would be children's entertainers and some stuff for the kids to do, like little workshops for various crafts. In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by what we found there.

Happy 30th Birthday to ME!

The 14th July 1982 was the 193rd anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille during the French Revolution. It was also 201 years to the day since Billy the Kid was shot and killed. It was also, and perhaps most importantly, the day I was born in Hertford, England.

The Birthday Boys

Now, 30 years later, I'm married to the love of my life and we have a beautiful daughter, living together in a foreign country and speaking a different language. 10 years ago if you'd told me that would be my future I would have laughed in your face. I really hadn't ever planned to move outside of England, and had no interest in learning French. Just goes to show how much true love can really change your life.

To celebrate the big 3-0 this year, I wanted to have a party. A friend of mine in England, Dave, was born on the same day, and so we decided to have a joint 30th birthday bash. We rented a pub in a village local to where Dave lives (and pretty close to where all our family and friends live), and waited patiently for the big day to arrive.

Holiday in Cornwall

At the beginning of June we headed out for our much anticipated holiday in Cornwall with my family. Unfortunately, Cornwall is in England, and so we were greeted with traditional English weather for most of the week we were there.

Lydia with her bucket of seawater

I wasn't looking forward to the flight over to Bristol (see the article Travelling with Babies for my reasons why). I fully expected Lydia to be fidgety and restless, generally screaming us into insanity. To my surprise and delight, she was (almost) as good as gold. Apart from a mini-whinge, she slept on Chris, and so our flight passed without too much drama.

We landed in Bristol on time, then picked up our rental car and started the 3 hour drive down to St. Ives in Cornwall. Well, normally it would have been a 3 hour drive, if it wasn't for ridiculous amounts of traffic on the M5. We were crawling along bumper to bumper in 3 lanes of queuing traffic for what seemed like forever - after about an hour of driving we had managed to move approximately 20 miles away from the airport. With Lydia showing clear signs of boredom, we pulled off at the service station and had a coffee, giving Lydia her evening bottle of milk.

Having rested for around half an hour, we plucked up the courage to head back to the car. Fortunately, whatever was causing the traffic jam on the motorway seemed to have cleared, and we set off at normal speeds to finally kick-start the journey to Cornwall.

C'MON ENGLAND!

With the kick off approaching for the Euro 2012 football championship, I've been coaching Lydia to support her English heritage.

Lydia getting behind the boys from England!

Fortunately there hasn't been any conflict of interest with her Swiss family, as the Swiss national team won't be involved in the tournament (partly thanks to England beating them in qualification). I've therefore been free to drape Lydia in the St. George flag as much as I wanted to!

My little England supporter

We might have a weakened squad, and I can't really see us beating any of the big teams (Spain, Germany, Italy and Portugal, maybe not even France!) but Lydia and I are ready to give our full support to the English team.

C'MON ENGLAND!!

Now there's no stopping her!

On Saturday 19th May, Lydia took her first real solo steps.

We'd gotten used to her taking a few steps between objects or people, but this never lasted more than maybe 10 steps or so. We were constantly encouraging her to do this, getting her to practise at home and elsewhere. We had also gotten a bit tired of wondering when she would actually start walking on her own, given that we had been waiting for the day for so long.

All of a sudden, it happened.

A week in Nax

The Canton of Valais in Switzerland is a very nice place indeed. It's incredibly scenic, given that - as it's name implies - it is a valley running between mountain ranges. Rivers, lakes, quaint little towns and villages, and of course mountains, it is a photographer's dream come true.

It's also a very nice place to spend a week's holiday, which is exactly what we did in May.

Together with Chris' parents, we stayed in a chalet in a small village called Nax, approximately 15km or so from the Canton of Valais' capital, Sion. Nax has a population of around 400, and an area of roughly 25 square km (thanks Wikipedia!). What drew us to spend a week there was the setting.