Eins, Zwei, Drei! (1, 2, 3!)

1

We celebrated the official end to Christmas this past week. Three Kings' Day was on January 6th, also known as the Epiphany. Landon was our king for the day when he found the small king trinket in the Dreikönig cake that we bought! The bread was a crown shape of 6 rolls with 1 in the center, and whoever found the king got to wear the crown.

2

3

This weekend was unseasonably warm so we went to Dreilandereck, which is the "Three Countries Corner" or "Border Triangle". It is in the Swiss Port of Basel where France, Germany and Switzerland meet. The kids enjoyed being in different countries than us, even though they were only a few steps away. 

We've been here over four months now, and in many ways we still feel like we're on a vacation. We are able to explore so much here. However, for me, the New Year has brought a sense of routine and permanency. We're not here forever, but now we feel more settled. Landon and Willem are established in their school. Landon has started local swim lessons. And, we finally subscribed to local television. (You're either thinking -- "why did you wait so long?" or "why now?") When we first moved, I felt like t.v. was the last thing we had time for. Plus, I thought that if most of it were in German, then it would be a waste of money. But we actually have quite a few English channels (~20) from the UK. And now that I have some basic German knowledge, I feel that I can watch the Swiss weather or news and get a sense of what's going on. It may even help my language lessons. And it just feels like home to have some shows available in English -- like How I Met Your Mother (old episodes, but it's one of my favorites), Jay Leno and Arthur for the kids.