A bit of daily life

Rain before seven,
Sun by eleven.
I learned this from my jr. high math teacher and it has always stuck with me. Every time I wake up to a rainy day, I glance outside around 11am and sure enough, the clouds are dissipating. But not in St. Gallen. A rainy day here starts the night before. It's just a constant, straight down (doesn't seem to blow in from a certain direction), drizzle. All day. Sometimes I will think that it has stopped. I look out the window and it looks like it has stopped. I look closer and see that I am mistaken.
 Today was not a rainy day, but yesterday was, Last Wednesday was rainy too. Last week I freaked out about the rain. Walking a kid to and from school is fine and dandy when it isn't raining, but when it is...not my favorite.  Last Wednesday I had Eli in the Boba carrier and I tried lots of things to keep Jo dry- she can't carry an umbrella when it is open- I even tried to put her in the moby wrap on my back with Eli on my front.  That was a fail. She ended up in the stroller. This week I gave in to the rain. If she doesn't care if she gets wet (and she didn't) why should I?  I was so proud of myself for finding a rain poncho in a second hand store just like the one Jackson received from the visiting police officer last Friday. Of course both kids LOVE the ponchos- until it started to rain, then forget about it. Oh well. I wore the yellow rain poncho with a police teddy bear on the back- sheer awesomeness.
  Today was gorgeous; a crisp, sunny, autumn day.  The day started the same as every other day this week- Jackson crying as I leave him at kindergarten.  I said in one of my last blogs that Jackson was enjoying kindergarten? I take it back.  Okay, I take it half back.  I think he is enjoying some of it-everyday he tells me about the fun stuff he did. But every morning we go through the tears and whining. I feel bad for him. I have a very distinct memory of not wanting to go to day care and crying in the doorway. But it is that memory that helps me to say good-bye and turn and leave him at kindergarten as he cries.
  But back today. A little chilly, but so sunny that we just had to get out of the house. I lured the kids away from youtube videos of mickey mouse clubhouse with a visit to stadt (city) park. I might have mentioned it before. A great playground- little trampolines at ground level, a 50 foot long giant concrete snake (balance beam?) a cool spiderweb swing. The kids really enjoy it and it's a change of scenery for us. Now that he is going to kindergarten, Jackson doesn't get to ride the bus much, and he LOVES the bus.
  The kids have taken to playing duck, duck, goose. Just the two of them-it's so cute. Jo yells "I'm the goose!" as she runs around shrieking with laughter. Jackson is much more serious about it. They played that for a bit in the grass.

 snack on the snake

 

Cool swing, right?

It totally feels like fall.  Cold weather here smells like bonfires.  A lot of people (most?) heat with wood. When I catch a whiff, I feel like I should be making s'mores :)