Rust -> Zürich

We gave ourselves plenty of time this morning to enjoy the yummy breakfast and the hotel playground before checking out and taking the shuttle to the train station. Last night our hotel was overtaken by conference attendees, and we were one of only three families with children in the dining room, so we got a little extra attention from the Europa-Park mascots.

Watching a little Pippi while we Daddy packs his bags

Getting home was just as easy as a train trip with two connections could possibly be.  The kids, who had been non-stop active for the last three days, were sedate and happy.









Ella wanted nothing more than to crawl into the last few chapters of the last installment of Harry Potter, but she obligingly studied her German dictation with Dennis, too.

Diktat is seemingly the Swiss version of a spelling test. Each week the kids are given a paragraph, which they're meant to study. Then, on test day, word by word, the teacher reads the paragraph aloud and the kids do their best.

This week's Diktat assignment.

Dennis patiently went over the words with Ella all weekend, and she totally knows how to spell Beobachtungsplatz ("Observation place,") and other convoluted 13-letter German words.

She's had enough on her plate this year, so we haven't worried much about her English spelling.  I suppose she'll have a little catching up to do when we get home, but we'll think about that tomorrow.

This year's letter to Santa: her heart's desire is a xylophone.

Squish!

A rare picture of Dennis and me, snapped by Ella

Our second train was running late, so we got to spend a long time in the station, watching the trains and running up and down the platform. But Ella was back to happily reading, and there are certainly worse places for two young boys to pass the morning.  We got to watch two trains couple: the service worker, unnervingly, stood in front of the train while the added car rolled toward them.  The boys were impressed by his style.

Alex and Joey also spent a lot of time cracking up at the streams of water that would sometimes trickle out from under the trains' WCs. "Somebody's PEEING!" Always funny.

We had an early start to the day: breakfast at 8:00, and our first train left at 10:30, so we made it home before school let out for the neighborhood kids.  I spent a little time walking to the grocery store, and we made murmurs about taking the kids ice skating or candle making, but, as often happens after a vacation, the kids just wanted to be home with their toys and books.

On our last vacation to Legoland, I'd gotten a little Christmas village kit for the kids, and Ella holed up in her room, putting it together, while the boys played with stickers and other little-kid art projects, easing into the evening and night.