4th of July in Switzerland

This year, we had a 4th of July BBQ at the beach. We held it on Sunday, which was an overcast day so there was no one else on the beach, but it didn't rain so it was quite peaceful and nice. We had two other American families from church join us, who also had little boys so they all played together. This year, I wanted to improve on the flag cake I made last year by doing more layers. Last year's had 3 red stripes outside the blue flag area so I wanted to see if I could get away with 5 this time... making my way up to 13 in a few years. I actually ended up with two cakes this year: one for the 4th of July party that had the blue part of the flag on the circumference of the cake, and one that I brought in for the lab that had the blue part of the flag in the middle of the cake. To do this, I started off making cake batter using this recipe and dividing it into a 1/3 part (which received blue food coloring) and a 2/3 part which received red food coloring. I cooked the cakes using a small spring form pan and in turns as I only have one small pan. I put them in the refrigerator overnight, which is an important step!

The next day, I prepared this frosting to assemble the cakes. I also picked out the red, blue, and white sprinkles out of a container of assorted sprinkles but that is not necessary and if you're in the US, I am sure they actually sell red, white, and blue sprinkles -- a luxury we don't have here. Now I was ready to cut the cakes. For the red cake, I cut it into 5 equal(ish) smaller cakes. I then cut the blue cake into a ring and a smaller cake. Next, I cut 3 of the red cakes the same way as the blue one. If I had a larger cake, I would have only done 2 of the 5 that way but since it seemed like the flag would look not proportional with the frosting, I decided to do 3. I think if I do more layers, I will need to get a larger cake pan to keep the rectangular shape of the flag...or just not worry about it like this one.  Once everything was cut, I started to assemble it using the frosting. I actually put the cake in the freezer between each layer to harden it up so that it could stand the weight of the next layer and so that the frosting "layers" looked tidy. I was careful to ease the blue and red circles into each other without breaking anything as some of the red circles were quite delicate. In the end, I frosted the outside of the cake and added my sorted sprinkles and then returned it to the freezer until I needed to take it to the BBQ/work. 

At the BBQ, I removed it from the container and made sure it looked ok and then had the honor of cutting it (ignore my odd facial expression). 

And here it is on the inside! I was very happy with the way it came out. I wouldn't say it was the best tasting cake in the world (to me) as it was a standard pound cake with frosting but the design was super fun and everyone enjoyed it!

Italy: Milan and Venice

During Ascension weekend, we decided to go to Italy. We chose Milan and Venice because we knew we could take the train for relatively cheap and it was relatively close (3 hours to Milan and another 2 to Venice -- theoretically but we stopped once between here and Milan and there were delays which made it quite a bit longer). Unfortunately, like half of Switzerland had the same idea so it was not a particularly nice train journey and on the way home (the long travel day going from Venice all the way back home), Chase had had enough and had a small breakdown on the train during which the lady next to me turned and asked what in tarnation was wrong with him (except in French and not kindly...). Anyway, getting to Milan is doable (especially on the direct and pricier train), but Venice is a bit too long so if we were to do this again, we would think about flying back.

We had a wonderful time and although we had a relatively short time there, we really got the most out of it. In Milan, we stayed right near the Duomo (actually next to the Galleria), which gave us the chance to visit it and the museums associated with it the first day. Here I have to say that the museum associated with the Duomo was surprisingly awesome and enjoyable. We also spent some time walking around Milan and going to some of the parks and churches around there.

Chase was not into photos in Milan...

In Venice, we stayed not far from Piazza San Marco. We had quite an interesting time finding our hotel (which was marked incorrectly on Google) while Chase was napping in his stroller and we had to carry him over what seemed like a bazillion bridges. We had a great time walking around the area in Venice and watching all the canals. We saw quite a lot of churches and walked through many small alleys and interesting courtyards.

This was taken right when we arrived in Venice. Chase just sat down and stayed like that observing the boats. This is something he does quite frequently: just sit down in the middle of situations and observe. It is very odd to me but is something that Nate used to do when he was young. 

Nate and Chase near the Grand Canal, and Chase and me in front of Doge's Palace -- both spots are actually quite close to each other but the pictures are exactly taken 180 degrees apart. 

The second day in Venice, we took the boats to the islands outside: Murano to watch glass being made; Burano which is known for its lace, but actually has fewer tourists and beautiful colored houses and we had the best lunch there, and Lido for the beach. We really enjoyed the islands, especially the less touristy ones like Burano and were nicely surprised by Lido as we hadn't planned to stop there but Chase loved being at the beach. We visited the glass museum in Murano which was also surprisingly delightful.

Islands off the coast of Venice: Murano, Burano, and Lido. 

Having traveled with Chase a lot, this trip was probably the easiest one yet as he was old enough to sometimes skip his nap, was ok enough eating food (helped that it was Italy where there was plenty of pasta for him to eat), and was interested enough in museums and sights. Although I traveled with my parents around Europe as a child (a little bit older than Chase), I don't remember much of it. I do remember when I went to Italy and Greece with Katie almost exactly 9 years ago, and we went to both Milan and Venice. It was really cool to compare what I remember of our adventures then and now. The general impression of the places was about the same but since our trip was very budget-oriented as we were college students, I felt like I got much more out of it (even with Chase in tow) now as we had more freedom to go places and stay closer to the center of the locales we visited. 

Olga in Switzerland

This spring, Olga came to visit for a week. She took a few days to go to Paris and spent some time going to nearby areas (Chateau de Chillon, Lausanne, Gruyeres with all three of us) but one day, we took the train to Luzern to have a real Oksana and Olga adventure. We left really early as it is a 3-hour trip to Luzern.

Once in Luzern, we did the walking tour, seeing all the bridges, clock towers, and the lion monument.

We then had lunch by the lake and decided to take the boat across to the lake to where there is a cog rail up to Mt. Pilatus. 

The day was just beautiful and the cog rail was really cool. Mt. Pilatus is quite a ways up and even in mid-May there was snow on the ground. 

As seen here, we were not quite prepared for such cold weather but there were some blankets up on top so we were able to keep warm while we looked out on the view. 

To get back down, there are two sets of cable cars. We stopped between the two and "hiked" a bit which involved taking "The Sound of Music"-inspired prancing pictures.

After we got back to Luzern, we took a train to Bern (halfway back to where we live) and explored a bit and had Raclette dinner there. A very delightful and Swiss day that involved many forms of transportation, nature, and weather. 

Easter in Ukraine

This year for Easter, we ended up going to Ukraine because it was close to my grandfather's birthday (for which my father was also in town). Other than celebrating my grandfather's birthday, we were able to partake in Ukrainian Orthodox Easter festivities. This included making lots of cakes (my grandmother made these) and putting them in a basket along with other food and bringing them to a church to bless them on Easter eve. Then, we went to a small historic church for Easter mass (this church is the oldest wooden church in Ukraine), after which we got together with my uncle and aunts' friends to eat the food in the baskets (and other food and drinks we bought for the occasion). It was a really cool event to be part of and one I had heard a lot about but never had the chance to participate in.

Top: cakes made by my grandmother

Bottom: our basket and the church we went for the basket blessing

Top: inside the church we went to for mass

Bottom: a picture of all three of us on Easter day taken by my father

Chase at 3 years old!

In April, Chase turned 3!!!

It has been quite a ride, but it does totally get better! His speaking has improved a lot in both English and French. He is very empathetic and kind, giving hugs and kisses to both us and his stuffed animals. He is very funny, although usually he doesn't mean to be. He loves doing puzzles, riding his bike, discovering nature (especially bugs and animals), and watching Peppa Pig and Pocoyo.

One thing that is obvious from the pictures is that Chase now has glasses! We noticed his right eye started getting cross-eyed around October of last year. We quickly had an appointment with the paediatrician, who referred us to an eye doctor here in Morges. Unfortunately, it took us a long time to get an appointment with that doctor, so we didn't end up seeing him until the beginning of January. They prescribed glasses for Chase, which he picked out himself. After a few more appointments, it was obvious that things weren't improving as fast as they would like, so they referred us to a special eye hospital in Lausanne that has a division especially for strabismus and deals with children. From there, they adjusted his lenses (twice) so that he has more magnification on the bottom than on the top (may be hard to see in these pictures). He also wears an eye patch for 3 hours a day on his stronger eye to train his other eye to be a bit stronger. Overall, it seems to be going well, although it is a long process. We were afraid that he wouldn't want to wear glasses and that it would be a struggle for both him and us, but he is actually very cool with wearing the glasses. For the patch, we started off with the sticker patches that they prescribed for us (and cost like 1.2 CHF per patch). Nate (through his mom) found cloth patches from Amazon in the US that go right around the glasses. We have been using these ever since, and they are much easier and nicer for him.

Due to Easter being the weekend after his birthday, we held his birthday party a few weeks later. Many of his friends (Ona, Elias, Maria, Bea, Antonio, Marko, Matti, Theo, and Dirk) from daycare and church attended the afternoon party. The party was held in a rented room in Morges (which is actually a really beautiful former church). I think he really enjoyed it as the next few days when waking up he kept asking "are we having my birthday party again today??"

Knitted Little Girl Dress

For Sakina's little girl, I wanted to knit something cute and practical. I decided on this sweet and simple dress (link to Ravelry where pattern can be downloaded for free). I wasn't quite sure on the size and decided to just go with the smallest option, knowing it would be larger because of the needles and yarn I was using. I guess I didn't realize how much larger it would actually be as at one point, Chase was able to try it on:

The finished product definitely turned out cute but it may end up being a tunic more than a dress due to the sizing and the fact that they live in LA, so not sure what time of year a knitted dress would be appropriate! 

Update: I received a picture of 5-month-old Sophie trying on the dress and it's still too large for her. Oops! At least she looked super cute in it anyway! 

Solo Trip to San Diego

In March, I took a solo trip to San Diego for Renske's wedding and Sakina's baby shower. I had a wonderful time hanging out with my parents and old friends. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Finally made it to the top of Potato Chip Rock with Olga. We attempted this hike many years ago, but it was during the summer and we had to turn back due to it being too hot. This time, we made it all the way and got the requisite pictures. So fun!

Since the dessert was in its "superbloom," my parents and I traveled north to experience all of the crazy wildflowers. We were just off the coast of the highway in this area, actually, but the fields were full of flowers. The pictures don't do it justice as it was amazing it person!  

Renske's wedding was wonderful! Olga and I had a nice time catching up with old friends and meeting new people in Renske and Ivan's lives. It was so fun to attend a wedding at Powerhouse Park, right near where we hung out as teenagers. 

Mika, Olga, and I helped organize a baby shower for Sakina (who had a little girl in May). It was nice to see Sakina showered with so much love from all of her friends. In this picture, we are all with our moms. This is especially special as we've been friends from 7th grade -- 18 years ago! Time passes so quickly!