Turtles

06.10.2007

In order to convince our little one that it's time to give his appearance, I go for a walk in our woods every day. The last three days, I had the pleasure to meet turtles on my way! It seemed that they were in search of some water as all the three of them were in the area we use to have a creek- which like everything else is completely dry at the moment....

Some pics

27.09.2007

End of September and still summer! Well I told you living in North Carolina has some advantages :-). We are still around 30 degrees every day, but we would very welcome the much needed rain and slightly colder temperatures...

Hibiscus when squirrels are around

Hibiscus as it should be

In the meantime we are enjoying the flowers on our patio that grow so nicely because Christian installed a watering system in spring, so they do not need to suffer from lack of water- despite the water restrictions in our county.

Unfortunately, they have an equally strong enemy: The squirrels! And there is not much we can do about them...
We also have another new animal around, a proud hawk (at least that's what the online identification system told me it is...). Maybe I will manage to make better pics one day.

Apart from that no news yet ;-).

Outer Banks

25.09.2007

Watch the movie...

We added a short video about our trip to the Outer Banks at Labor Day to the Video Section.

Two years Chapel Hill- and a little one growing

14.09.2007
Last Wednesday, we celebrated 2 years Chapel Hill!! Unbelievable, how fast time passes by .... We remember very well the day we arrived here... Being repelled by the heat when trying to leave the airport. The three huge suitcases with all our belongings (the forth one somewhere between Toronto and here), almost impossible to carry. Then living in the hotel and driving around to find housing and grocery stores. Getting to know the area and our work places and co-workers. Settling down, starting to meet people and to feel comfortable. Starting to feel like "coming home" when back from a trip.

We still feel very well here, and we are happy that we had the chance to get to such a nice place in the US. It's small and cozy and provides us with things that are pure luxury in Switzerland- like having space around you, and eternal sunshine and heat (did I mention that it just started to rain for the first time in about 6 weeks???). We are also lucky to have some really good friends here, and we enjoy all the commodities life in the US has to offer. And of course we learn a lot about the country and its citizen, something we consider important especially in our time...

Still, there are always things you miss when abroad, starting with family and friends, the mountains (well, we have the beach here, but it's definitively not the same, I'm telling you...), little cafes in pedestrian areas where you can relax a whole afternoon, good bread, and and and. So the day will come we decide that we had enough and good old Europe is waiting again- so we can miss there all the good things from over here :-).

But obviously, this day is far from being close as we have another important thing to achieve first: Getting parents!!! The little one is now 36 weeks and 3 days old, which actually means he could show up every day in the next 5 weeks. We hope that the birth will be as uncomplicated as the whole pregnancy was, and that he will be a strong and healthy one (with a weaker tendency to cry than both his mother and his father had as a child). We are starting to get a bit nervous now, but considering the enormous changes he will bring to our lives, which are not to imagine without actually experiencing them, we mainly try to relax and enjoy the quiet moments we still have. At the same time we are increasingly curious to meet this little man who knows exactly where to hit Moms bladder and stomach :-).

Of course we prepared a room for the little one, and thanks to our friends he is already swimming in gear and clothes! For the first three months, he has more clothes than his parents together, and while we share a bath towel, he has 5 of them!!! Well, we are very very grateful to everybody who gave us something, it is just great to get all this cute little things for a baby!!! Never was laundry such a joyful task....
We also got a lot of gear from Max, the son of our friends Martin and Maya, who was born in May. So our little one will enjoy a bassinet with vibration and sound and a special night light! Thank you also for all the other gear as car seat etc etc, we highly appreciate it!

We know that some of you are happy for us but at the same time sad, as we are far away from you, and it will take a while until you will meet our little son in person. We promise you to do our best to keep you updated on him (and maybe on us too :-))! But first, keep your fingers crossed that he will have a happy start here on earth.........

Labor Day Weekend

04.09.2007
What a great weekend we had! It started with a great Friday night camping at Falls Lake with a whole bunch of friends. We enjoyed a cheerful time in a woody spot (including direct access to the lake) with swimming, barbecuing, discussing, and a lot of laughter, only disrupted by our "friendly" neighbor and the nasty park rangers (behaving like Swiss cops fresh from Police School, grrr).

As it turned out that camping while 8 months pregnant still works well, we headed to the beach next day. Of course our destination was Ocracoke. This time we passed through New Bern and naturally, we had to visit it! It's a small but very likable town with some old mansions (it was the first State Capitol of NC) and a lot of benches under trees to sit and relax (must be the Swiss influence- you don't find that a lot in the US!!!). But for us, the most amazing thing was that they really had the original Bernese Bear as their emblem, and a Bear Plaza!

So we spent some time there and then continued to the ferry terminal in Cedar Island. About 30 miles before the terminal we realized that we were late- really late! The road is a curvy one passing through the swamps, and it took much longer then anticipated (we actually should have known it). Well, there normally aren't many State Troopers in the swamps during night (there may be some Alligators though). The last ferry was scheduled 9:30 pm, we arrived 9:33, just in time to board before they closed the doors... We couldn't believe it, we did not have to stay in the nasty little spot beside the terminal (Chrigle and Co know what we are talking about...)!
Two hours later, after a rough ride over the sea, we arrived at Ocracoke and headed to the campground, looking forward lying down in our tent for some much-needed sleep and a visit to our favorite cafe next morning. Well... The campground was full. And it is the only one on this island.

We did not even try to go back to the village looking for a hotel(no chance), but instead drove directly to the next terminal to catch the 12:00am ferry to Hatteras Island. We were not the only ones and waited in line for the ferry to arrive. Suddenly we heard a loud voice calling us. We looked around and realized that everybody else was already on the ferry- we both had fallen asleep! Well, a Volvo is a comfort car :-).

After another 40 min sleep on the ferry and a 30 min drive, we finally arrived at Camp Point campground, where there were not only vacant spots, but you also had a nice view on the Hatteras Lighthouse. In fact it turned out to be a nice campground too, with an almost empty beach very close (also with Lighthouse view) and showers and very friendly rangers who leave a note on your car instead of waking you up to remind you that you haven't registered yet (imagine that in Switzerland or Falls Lake...). We only missed the charm of Ocracoke and of course our favorite cafe... But we compensated this with a lazy day at the beach with our brand-new beautiful orange umbrella :-), swimming in, or shall I say fighting against, huge waves and a great BBQ in the evening. We enjoyed it very very much......

Gliding above North Carolina

12.08.2007

Watch the movie...

Last Sunday, we had a unique experience- Tom invited us to take a ride with his glider and admire his flight expertise and North Carolina from above!!! We drove to the airport about an hour from Chapel Hill in Harnett County and prepared the glider despite all the heat (38 in the shadow....).

First, Christian enjoyed being a passenger and made a great video you can watch here. Then it was Monis and Kruemels turn. They had a lot of fun too, but at one point it got too hot, and Tom brought them safely back. So Christian could go for another ride, and he and Tom enjoyed heights up to 8500 ft (about 2600 m) and some exciting maneuvers. It was just amazing and we are very grateful to Tom for making us this extraordinary gift!!!

Videos!

30.07.2007
Check out the new section on our webpage: Videos

1st of August Party

29.07.2007

Yes, you're right, it's still July, too early for the celebration of the Swiss National Day. But you will agree that it's more convenient to have a party on the weekend, don't you? In addition, this gave us the great opportunity to see Jenny, Francis and Naomi for a last time before they leave Chapel Hill on Tuesday and start over in Berlin. And we could enjoy the Zopf Martins mother Heidi made especially for this event before she leaves Chapel Hill too. The original Swiss decoration was transported to the US by Bernie who visited us last weekend (Thank you!!!) and gave the event the right atmosphere. It was a really enjoyable evening, and we would like to thank everybody for showing up!! See more pictures....

Bambi is here!

23.07.2007
Although they eat our almost-ready-tomatoes and flowers, you just have to love them!
They grow up in the forest behind our house and visit us regularly, so we see them getting taller and taller. Now they just have to learn to leave the street when a car is approaching (as the adult ones do) :-). See some more pictures....

Ganz herzlichen Dank....

14.07.2007
Schon ist ein ganzer Monat vergangen seit wir mit Euch auf der Engstligenalp auf unsere Hochzeit anstossen durften! Doch was lange waehrt wird endlich g...emacht!
Danke.....

Swiss Vacation

14.07.2007
We did not only have the chance to celebrate our wedding with family and many friends on a beautiful day up in the alps, but also to enjoy a whole week at our most favorite spot there, in Adelboden. We went for a short hike every day thanks to sunny and warm weather and we even got up at 5:30 in the morning to see the cows climbing up the steep path to the Engstligenalp, where they will stay for the summer.

We then moved on to Geneva where Moni did some sightseeing while Christian had to work attending ITU meetings. Like always, time passed way too fast, but it was really great and we are looking forward for our next visit- then the three of us!

The most beautiful baby/ Das schoenste Baby der Welt....

13.6.2007
Heute durften wir nochmals zum Ultraschall! Um der Forschung auch von der anderen Seite her zu dienen, machen wir bei einer Studie ueber Gehirnsentwicklung mit. Die Schwestern und die Studienleiterin waren ganz begeistert wie huebsch Kruemel schon ist (wir sind das sowieso :-)) und wie leicht er zu vermessen war, was nicht selbstverstaendlich ist. Als Dank gab es dann viele 3D Bilder und wir haben ihn sogar 4D (live als Filmchen) gesehen!!!

Today we had another ultrasound! To serve research from both sides, we enrolled in a study for brain development. The nurses and the study coordinator were excited how cute Kruemel is already (we are excited anyway :-)) and how easy he let them do the measurements, which could not be taken for granted. As a thank you we got many 3D images and we even could watch him 4D, as live images!!!

News from Kruemel

25.5.2007
Heute war unser Ultraschall im Spital von Chapel Hill!! Kruemel geht es gut und alle Messungen waren in Ordnung. Er hat sich kraeftig bewegt und sich sogar mit Tritten gegen den Druck auf den Bauch gewehrt! Kein Wunder, er wurde auch von oben bis unten detailliert begutachtet. Wir haetten ihn wohl stundenlang betrachten koennen....Ein paar wunderschoene Bilder findet ihr hier!

Today we had our ultrasound at UNC Hospital!! Kruemel is very well and all measurements were ok. He moved intensively and protested with kicks against the pressure on the belly! Well, he had to endure a detailed analysis of himself. We could have watched him for hours.... Some wonderful pictures can be found here!

Camping in Asheville

24.5.2007

Last weekend, we spent two great days near Asheville in the North Carolinian mountains. Another Goa Party took place at a location called Deerfields, a private retreat encompassing two little lakes and a couple of meadows with apple trees, where you can peacefully camp. This time, we were 12 (!) people gathering for this event, and we had a lot of fun! We spent Saturday with swimming, hiking, sun-bathing, relaxing (some even with running around the lake) and preparing for Goa Gil, the about sixty-year-old DJ who did not only mix through the whole night but also all along Sunday (it must have been at least 18 hrs!). As several people had their camera with them, we got many pictures of the weekend. A selection of pictures by Sergey, Tom and Volker can be found on our gallery....

Wings over Wayne '07

23.5.2007

Finally I succeeded to finish the pictures from the annual Wings over Wayne Air Show at the Seymour Johnson Airbase in Goldsboro, just about 1.5 hr away from our home. We already attended in 2005 when it was early November. This time, patriotism wasn't a big word (actually we were disappointed not the hear the word "freedom" more than 3 times) and W. had no speech from tape- times change!

But anyway, we were there for the big attraction- the Blue Angels! It was the first time they flew after the deadly accident in South Carolina, and they did a great job!!! We were highly impressed by the precision they showed in their formations and their overall performance. There are already pictures on the gallery, and if you are patient you will soon also be able to watch a short movie (yes, we bought a camera but still the footage has to be cut, which is quiet a task....)!

Farm Tour

25.4.2007
Last Sunday we made a Farm Tour, visiting three (organic) farms in our area. A total of 34 farms participated in this years Piedmont Farm Tour, but in only 4 hours we were lucky to visit three of them. We met Tyler (Christians Boss), Laurie, Noah and Riley at their house to enjoy lunch before we headed out with them to see where (some of) our vegetables grow and (some of) our cheese is produced.

Unfortunately it seemed that we were too late to subscribe for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture, where you buy a share in advance and then get weekly a basket full of vegetables fresh from the farm), although many many farms offer it- we are now on the waiting lists and could possibly enroll next January!!!! Well, when you look at all the fresh yummy stuff they offer you are not wondering....

Our Wedding/ Unsere Hochzeit

08.04.2007
Wie ihr wahrscheinlich wisst, erwarten wir diesen Herbst Nachwuchs! Wir sind sehr gluecklich darueber und freuen uns, bald eine richtige kleine Familie zu sein!! Als ersten Schritt haben wir am 3. April in Chapel Hill geheiratet, und werden im Juni dies in der Schweiz feiern. Hier findet ihr alles ueber unsere Hochzeit in North Carolina, inklusive der Bilder.
Informationen ueber die Feier in der Schweiz findet ihr hier!

Well, as you may know we are expecting a Little One this fall! We are very happy about this and are looking forward to be a real family!! So we started by getting married in Chapel Hill on April 3rd, which will be followed by a Wedding Party in Switzerland in June. You can find some text (in german) and pictures from our NC wedding and information about our Swiss wedding (in german) on the respective sites.

Some new Pictures

04.04.2007

We added some pictures from our house to the Gallery- nothing spectacular, just how it looks like at Polks Trail on a soon-rainy Sunday early spring...... And a collection of my Kitchen Helpers ;-)

It's Wintertime

20.1.2007

So winter finally arrived in Chapel Hill! After some kind of rollercoaster weather with temperatures between 20 and 0 degrees, we got it- some snow...