Some big life events

This morning, as I was hurrying to get out the door and reach daycare on time, I asked Catalina to put her jacket on. I was gathering all the bags and boxes when she exclaimed all happy: "look mommy, I zipped up my jacked by myself!" And indeed her tiny fingers managed to align the two zipper parts and   do the job on their own. I smiled, told her the customary "good job, let's go" and then looked back to see if she's coming. My darling girl had the widest smile on her face. She started walking next to me, while proudly announcing that she'll tell her best friend she zipped up her jacket; and then tonight she'll clean up all her toys and then tell daddy she zipped up her jacket, all by herself!

I realized then that I had just witnessed a great and wonderful moment in my daughter's life. One of those "milestones" that are so popular. It's just that my daughter couldn't care less when she first walked, when her first tooth came out. For her, it was a struggle to zip up her jacket and she finally did it. Under my watch :) Small achievements make for such big events!

Best day of the year

It just happened this year that for Catalina's real birthday we were in Switzerland. 9th March holds so much emotional load for me, but after all the parties we had I was decided to keep it in my heart and in my mind, to let my beautiful child enjoy her day.

To take all this, day by day... Our first day in Switzerland we went to a small town, Chur. European in all its might, Chur is a lovely place surrounded by the Alps.

We were tired, Catalina wanted to be in the hotel so we checked in early. We were jet lagged so Marius and I were not able to sleep at all that night. Of course, the amazing coffee we had in our hotel room, or the fact that we had a romanian TV channel on TV did not help with the zzzzs. But we had a fun vacation night and waited (impatiently) for Catalina to wake in the morning so we can go for a picturesque train ride.

After a memorable breakfast, we got on the Bernina Express. This is a vacation train that takes you through the Alps, through more than 50 tunnels and on top of several beautiful bridges. Among tall mountains, beautiful lakes, glaciers and cute little towns, one can spot various castles, skiers and of course, Switzerland's stamp, the cows :).

We had to step off the train and take a bus for a while, as there was a skier's event that blocked the railway. Yes, in Switzerland skying is a priority for big and small.

Getting close to Italy!!!

The end of our trip was Tirano, Italy. We had a 2 hour layover in Tirano till the train back, so we decided that pizza is the most important thing we wanted to experience. We were not disappointed at all, along with a good glass of wine we had a delightful italian lunch.

The trip back was also beautiful, but we were exhausted. Catalina and I took short naps while Marius took some more pictures. From Chur we took 3 more trains to get to our final destination: Brunnen. We slept like lambs and woke up to the best day of the year, March 9th.

This gorgeous girl is 5 years old!!

We found a very nice playground near the hotel and we spent a big chunk of the day watching Catalina play. She had fun, she was the only one deciding what's happening next, what kind of fun she'll have. It was payback from all the craziness that surrounded all the other parties she had.

Marius left for his work meetings in the afternoon and I had the evening alone with Catalina. It was quiet, and lovely, and we had an absolutely perfect time. Whatever we did not have for all the parties, we had that evening and that night.

Beautiful Brunnen

Catalina's birthday dinner, quoting this cutie pie :" the best burger ever" 

we were measuring our shadows :D. This 5yo is quite tall!

Back to the hotel we started the evening with a hot, fun bath. The hotel had nice bathrobes and Catalina  felt like a princess! She was so, so happy! So many smiles and giggles!

ready for celebrating once again?

The silly begins!

It got wild and crazy from here on. We had cake and wine and we danced and we laughed. Catalina had a make-up candle from a spoon and she was so much happier to blow into a spoon than in all the fancy candles we had for her cakes. The smiles tell the story so much better than any words could! That was the true celebration for my funny little girl. Happy birthday to an awesome piece of sunshine, and may we all enjoy her smiles forever and ever.

The rest of the vacation was quiet and (not by choice) uneventful. The second day Catalina wanted to revisit the playground. Mommy was kind of tired and was on board with anything that did not involve deep planning.

Spotting this little town on top of the mountain brought us later some frustrations...

Silly

After coffee and ice cream I convinced Catalina we should go on a hike. She got tired pretty fast and I had to carry her on my shoulders for a good part of it. The view was all worth it!

 Catalina was especially upset that because of the hike she cannot stay in the hotel room and play with her cats (some silly app on the phone). Who do you think crossed our path on our way back? A big fat ginger cat. This put a smile back on my kid's face :)

To continue our surprises...We were having dinner at a pizza place nearby. Who do you think came to pay us a visit while we were eating?

And this is how my darling girl smiled for the rest of the evening!

Next day (3rd day of our Brunnen stay) we decided on a boat trip, followed by a trip on top of the mountain with the cable car. From there we were told we can rent a sled and reach like this another top of the mountain from where we can take another cable car down to a different town. I was excited for such an adventure, as the views from the top of the mountain were supposed to be spectacular.

Silly mommy who does not look around when plans things. It was a foggy day on the lake

We were rewarded with some more picturesque views, cute little buildings on the lake.

And then we reached the longest cable car in central Switzerland! I was excited, hoping that somehow, on top of the mountain we'll have sunshine instead of clouds.

Beautiful scenery from above

And then...we were in the clouds.

I am not a person who quits easily. I was determined to go on a slide adventure on top of the mountains. This was pretty much Catalina's face for all the time she convinced me NOT to rent the sled.

My mom is crazy! How do I escape??

 I got some smiles from her, we on we went on our mountain hoping!

We didn't get far, we walked less than half a mile. At some point the fog was so thick all I could see was blur, if you can "see" blur. I couldn't even see the orange marking poles, so I started remembering all the stories about hikers who get stranded on a mountain and cannot be rescued. So, I finally listened to my daughter (and my newly functioning reasoning) and headed back.

Do not be fooled by the pictures, none of us was smiling inside...

And we headed once again in the mist, hoping for clear view on the ground

To say I was disappointed is to put it very mildly. I wanted a mountain adventure and all I got were 10 minutes of walk in deep fog. So, we went back to our hotel room and I started planning for my true, amazing and eventful mountain trip. While mommy was taking a nap, Catalina decided to have some fun with the chocolate gifts we got.

 So, back to the grocery store !

After our beautiful hike the day before I was thinking of going back, but continue all up the mountain  to a small cute town that promised to have many kid friendly adventures: a hill where you can sled, another cable car, coffee shop with amazing pastries and many many other. So, I decided that this is what we'll do: we'll hike up the mountain, have as much fun as possible in the little town, then return by bus and have a nice warm dinner. I stuffed my backpack with several changes of clothes for Catalina, with snacks and water. Few toys to ensure some fun on Catalina's part for the hiking portion (I estimated around 2 hours). Catalina was not excited to go hiking again, but mommy convinced her we can tell many beautiful stories to her friends (some wooden toys that kept her spirits high).


Once again, the scenery did not disappoint. I was filled with a desire for adventure and good fun, so everything around me seemed to shine. Or maybe it truly did shine...

The hike was long and tiring. We got to some parts still covered in snow, that were slippery and just a tiny bit scary.

 Catalina lost her good spirits pretty soon. To her credit, she did hike by herself most of our trip.

We were finally there!

on top of the mountain, 5 minute easy walk to the small town, when I decided to have a short rest, to drink some water and take my wallet out to have it easily accessible for all the fun activities we'll do. Right there, when our legs almost gave out, I realized that my wallet was back at the hotel, that I did not have one penny (or swiss franc...) to pay for anything. Not even for the bus to take us back to the hotel. I wanted to cry, but I was afraid Catalina will get scared. So I told her in the most calm, loving voice I could that mommy is stupid and forgot the wallet and we can't have any of the promised fun AND that we can't take the bus back, we have to walk back the same way we came. I expected her to cry and scream and throw a well deserved tantrum. Well, my little angel told me: "you are not stupid, you just forgot the wallet. Let's get a move on, go back to the hotel and have fun".

So, I did not cry, but we walked back and even had a small snow fight :)

My cute little dwarf

This ended my desire for any mountain adventure. We had a nice, quiet dinner, went to bed, just to wait for our last day in Brunnen.
Next morning, while waiting for Marius to finish his last work events we went for another visit to the playground. We both had fun. It was one of those quiet moments when you can hear your own thoughts and you can appreciate the beauty around you. When you look at your kid and see how perfect the world can be.

We then packed our suitcases and left for Zurich where we had to spend the last hours of our swiss vacation. We were all tired, but found some energy for a last trip in the city.

Back to the hotel, then the airport, and back to USA. Home sweet home indeed. But I have to say, Switzerland will stay warm in my memories as the place my sweetheart turned a whole five years old!