First Day of First Grade!

Today was a big day.

After about 3 years of planning and another 2 of building, Charlotte’s school got to open their new campus. It is a beautiful new, modern, three-story space – and a definite upgrade from the double-wide trailer kindergarten used last year! All the learning areas are adapted to the different age groups (the school has everyone from age 3 to grade 12 in one building!). I had gotten to take some tours of it while it was still under construction. I loved the high ceilings with light-flooded classrooms and access to the outdoors - every Pre-k - 5th grade classroom has a private door to the playground. There are 2 full-sized gymnasiums (one for “Swiss” standards and one for “International” standards - think of it like the different floor markings for college vs pro basketball). There's also a full-sized stage for assemblies and performances, specialist art and design studio, designated music, drama and practice rooms and over 40 classrooms and learning spaces. All the classrooms are set up with smartboard TVs and whiteboards along with huge amounts of open wall space to display artwork, upcoming assignments, and {most importantly in 1st grade} the line-leader for the week. It’s a pretty sweet set up for a campus with about 175 students on it!

We started our morning with the traditional at home first day of school pics.

(and sister had to join in)

We got to school and met the head teacher on our walk in. Everyone was excited to be back together and to be in the new building.

As soon as we got to the playground, we found our friends.

And then our teacher arrived and the real fun of the year began.

You might think that was enough excitement for one day, but the Swiss-Germans have a special tradition for 1st Graders on their first day of school. (As kindergarten is optional in Switzerland, many students don’t begin school until they are 6 and go straight to 1st Grade.) All students are given a Schultüte, or "school cone" by their families. It is a decorated cardboard cone of beautiful colors, and is basically filled with goodies, little bits of candies and stuff the kids need for school, like pencils, sharpeners. The hope is kids have a really fun memory of the first day of school, so they associate something beautiful with it. The tradition began in the early 19th century in Saxony and spread throughout Germany over the years. In talking with co-workers about it, many still remember their Schultüte and consider it a rite of passage from one generation to the next showing them that while they are moving on to a new part of their lives, the family is still with them on their new journey.

I was totally down to embrace a new tradition. Then they told us we had to make our child’s Schultüte. Okay, um, bring on the glue gun!

You could see the personalities of all the kids in the cones their parents had made for them.

Charlotte’s teacher and the lead Germany teacher said a few words to open the ceremony.

Then each child got to come up to receive their Schultüte from their parents.

We hope all these 1st graders have a great year in their new school!

Staatsfeiertag

Liechtenstein celebrates its national holiday on 15th August. The official name of the holiday is “Staatsfeiertag” of “State Holiday”. The national celebration was introduced in 1940 and is closely linked to the birthday of Prince Franz-Josef II on 16th August. When you don’t have independence to declare, I guess you just pick your national holiday?

The day starts at 9am with thousands of locals and tourists attending an official opening ceremony held on the lawn in front of Vaduz Castle during which the Prince and the president of the parliament make speeches - and more importantly, parade. The rest of the day is a celebration of all things Liechtenstein with a large fair held in the capital. Buses in the entire country are free for the day as the country is completely shut to any other road traffic to support the street parties taking place all over the country. The celebrations come to an end in the evening with a spectacular fireworks show at Vaduz Castle.

Charlotte & I started the morning at the parade then came back home to collect Adam & Olivia. We all headed back out for the afternoon and dinner, then Olivia & I came back around 8:30 - her bedtime is usually about 7:15, so she was exhausted! The party animals, however, braved the rain and crowds and stayed for the full fireworks show. It was 12:05 when they walked through the front door. To say Charlotte had the best day is the understatement of the century.

The Castle is under construction, so they hung the largest flag they could find on the scaffolding

waiting for the parade to begin

the Prince waved at us in the parade!

The speeches ended with the singing of the Liechtenstein National Anthem. I did not know before today that Liechtenstein used the melody of “God save the King” / “My county, ‘Tis of Thee” for their anthem. I also definitely didn’t know there were hand motions to it until today.

The words:

[0:09-0:42] Oben am jungen Rhein Lehnet sich Liechtenstein An Alpenhöh'n.
Dies liebe Heimatland, Das teure Vaterland Hat Gottes weise Hand Für uns erseh'n.

[0:43-1:14] Theilt nicht des Fürsten Herz Väterlich Freud' und Schmerz Mit Kindern hier?
Nicht ihn erhält das Land — So reichet ihm die Hand, In unserm Vaterland Vater und Zier!

[1:15-1:42] Hoch lebe Liechtenstein, Blühend am jungen Rhein, Glücklich und treu.
Hoch leb' der Fürst vom Land, Hoch unser Vaterland, Durch Bruderliebe Band Vereint und frei.

[1:43-2:06] Hoch leb' der Fürst vom Land, Hoch unser Vaterland, Durch Bruderliebe Band Vereint und frei.

And translated to English:
High on the young Rhine Lies Liechtenstein, resting On Alpine heights.
This beloved homeland The dear fatherland God's wise hand has Chosen for us.

Does the prince's heart not share Fatherly joy and pain With children here?
The country is not receiving him — So give him your hand In our fatherland father and ornament!

Long live Liechtenstein, Blossoming on the young Rhine, Fortunate and faithful!
Long live the Prince of the Land, Long live our fatherland, Through bonds of brotherly love
United and free!

Long live the Prince of the Land, Long live our fatherland, Through bonds of brotherly love
United and free!

After the speeches & singing, we walked from the castle down to the city center where we bounce-housed with friends.

And, of course, practiced our curtsies...

...rode the merry-go-round...

...and then night came and we got ready for fireworks

Dad's Unsupervised Week

Five days of me and the girls doing our own thing in Tuscany. What could possibly go wrong? Fortunately for all involved there was a pool at our villa and a playground just down the street so during the days there wasn't much trouble to get into.

Of course we did have to find lunch every day which meant a trip into Lucca for some Pizza Margherita.

Which invariably lead to gelato.

We did make a trip into Vinci midway through the week to see the home of Leonard! The girls were pretty well done with museum's at this point but we were so close I felt it would still be worthwhile. Even if they didn't grasp the importance of Leonardo. Most of what they have at the museum dedicated to Leonardo are replicas of his work and none of the sights are very big so we managed to work our way through most of the site in about two hours.

I think the girls preferred the views from the town more than the engineering and artistic works.

But the drive home was quieter than the trip there so we must have done something right.

And the rest of the afternoon was rather quiet as well.

Ultimately most of the mischief that took place during my week with the kids occurred after their mother got off work. It started on Tuesday when we got to visit a local Tuscan family for a traditional dinner with hand made pasta. The girls of course loved the opportunity to really dig in and use their hands to make our dinner.

Olivia took it a step beyond dinner and decided to try her hand at photography as well.

I see a suspicious paw patrol shoe

The downside of the girls being so enthusiastic about making dinner was I ate way too much! But our host family was absolutely lovely and I would highly recommend this for anyone interested in staying in Tuscany.

A few nights later we decided to try our hand at team cycling along the great wall of Lucca. Renting a multi seat bike is a very popular excursion when visiting the walled city and it really was quite fun. We simply walked up to a bike rental shop in the evening, requested a four seater and after a 2 minute instructional/safety talk we were on our way.

Ready for our adventure!

Hey, eyes on the road!

Apparently "steering" a bike is tiring work

On our last day in Lucca we visited the local aqueduct. While no longer in operation their is a nice walkway that that runs alongside.

There's not much to see there at the moment but the "pump house" is currently being renovated and in a few years will be an interesting monument for people to visit.

And with that our time in Tuscany came to a close. We had an amazing three weeks managing to achieve all of our goals (most importantly pizza and gelato every day), visiting beautiful hilltop and seaside towns and eating wonderful meals. Can't wait to return!