We have a Six Year Old!

There was once a little girl with big ideas. She loved frilly dresses, glitter, and anything with a rainbow. She saw the world through her own special lens. It was a magical place. A place which understood the existence of unicorns and mermaids.

The little girl turned six years old today. Her parents couldn’t believe it had been six long years since she was born. They, equally, couldn’t remember the world before she existed. It must have been a much quieter, less colorful place.

The six year old wanted to celebrate. And she wanted to do it the only way she knew how… big!

So the week leading up to her birthday, she and her mom made rainbow cupcakes.

Great Value box cake mix was brought from a recent trip to the US. 
Despite all the wonderful chocolate here, cakes and cake mix is super dry
and does not come with funfetti!

And they arranged a party with all her friends at the appropriately named “birthday party playground”.

And of course, all her friends joined in singing to her.

And most importantly she had a glittery, sparkly, colorful, rainbow piñata.

Also purchased stateside. At the time, I debated if it was worth the space in my luggage
(and the effort to haul it through 4 airports in 4 different countries to get it here),
but the joy when she saw it confirmed the answer was yes.

The little girl was grateful for the fun and for all the love shown by her friends.

She went to sleep happy. Her mom couldn’t help but capture her last night dreaming as a five year old.

And she awoke to even move love from her family.

I didn't give her cereal for her birthday. Amazon doesn't deliver over here, so boxes are scarce!

And for the final round of celebrations, she got to pick all the meals for the day. So lunch with a strawberry smoothie from McDonalds, pizza for dinner at a little restaurant nearby and ice cream cones on the patio for dessert.

I hope the big six year old never loses her sense of wonder and excitement she shows every day.

We love you Charlotte. You are my favorite six-year old.

Mom Flees the Country

Mom decided to go on walkabout for a few weeks back in the U.S. leaving the hooligans with me for two fateful weeks. She said it was a work trip. I'm from the amount of photos of brisket, tacos, and Chick-fil-a she sent back, I'm not wholly convinced there was a ton of work going on. Either way, I felt perfectly suited to some extended daddy daughter time.

Amanda set off for the states early on a Friday and kept us up to date on her travels.

Train to Zürich

The lines to get through security in Zürich are insane!

Plane #1

Plane #2 - A double decker

Flat Charlotte found Business class quite delightful

Someone should tell the chef that this isn't an appropriate way to cover up eating the tops off the cupcakes!

Flight #3! Almost there!

We however had other plans as the weather has finally gotten warm and the local pools are now open!

It even came with a playground

I may have managed to wear them out!

As Amanda progressed through her week she kept us up to date on her travels back home.

Meanwhile we went on bike rides, ate out at fancy restaurants and learned new skills like riding a tricycle and dressing ourselves.

Seeing how much fun we were having here in Liechtenstein, Amanda decided to raise the stakes by having her co-workers join in on the competition by showing them what it's like to live in Texas!

The cereal aisle in Liechtenstein consists of 6 options and probably only 3-4 boxes of each option.
Amanda says they spent nearly 25 minutes looking at cereal in Target.

Obviously, we had to respond in kind so the girls and I made a special trip up the mountain and our favorite hiking trail, ate at the best pizza restaurant in Austria, played dress-up and enjoyed sunsets in the mountains in the evening!

And just like that it was time for Amanda to come back home!

A view from Amanda's seat. I thought maybe she was going to fly herself home.

Mom's arms were super full and nobody let go for a week

And while it was a long two weeks for everyone we all made it through with all our fingers and toes and that is what Dad's call SUCCESS!