20 Weeks!

The bump is finally less beer belly more baby!  (Boston is doing gopher pose)

Beautiful Day!

Happy half birthday to me! Today it was 45 degrees and sunny (balmy for Switzerland as of late), so Boston and I went on a nice long walk to the Zürich Horn, which is a little park area just down the lake a bit from where we live. There was a gorgeous view of the mountains in the distance- the pictures don't do the scenery justice!

Liestal Fasnacht- Fire Parade

Fasnacht- which is the Swiss 'Carnival' celebration (pre-Lent), has been spread to many weeks so that the various towns wouldn't overlap (sort of like the St. Patty's Day Parade in the NY metro area). This past Sunday was the Fasnacht celebration in Liestal. In this town, they are famous for doing a 'Fire Parade' where people essentially carry bonfires on their back. Remember when I said (on New Years) that the Swiss were reserved? Nope- I guess they save it for other occasions. This was a crazy event and a lot of fun!

Matt getting ready for the parade... he doesn't even know what's in store yet.

The parade started pretty normally with people in intricate costumes playing instruments

 Then came the fire... the crowd was really going crazy as we could see it in the distance.

The first rolling bonfire to come out was small

Then a group of people came along carrying giant 'torches' on their backs. They weren't wearing anything special to protect themselves from the flames... 

This was the second bonfire

The ground was littered with confetti maybe 1/2 inch deep (perhaps from an earlier parade)- sort of a fire hazard???

Each new bonfire would get a little bigger...

This guy's head was smoking!!

and a little bigger...

Firemen & women were on hand to sponge down fire carriers who started catching fire

Everyone was watching to see how big the next bonfire would be

Matt & Corey&Me baring the flames... when they stopped the larger fires right in front of us it got RIDICULOUSLY hot. We were right in the front! 

This bonfire was getting up toward the street light...

But this next one actually hit it!

Every time we thought there couldn't possibly be a bigger one, there was. 

Portugal

This past Sunday I flew to Portugal to meet up with my mom, who made her semi-annual trip to visit my Grandfather. We landed, rested up a bit, then went to check out the local parade for Carnival. This is the slightly smaller version :o). It was cute though, and the turnout was pretty amazing.

The weather there was fantastic, particularly compared to Zürich, where every day pretty much hovers around freezing. During the day the temperatures were in the low to mid 60's, and in the sun it felt so wonderful. We stayed with my mom's aunt, who had this nice little porch that got sun from morning to afternoon.

View from the porch- the fruit trees were in full bloom!

On Sunday afternoon we went to go visit my Grandpa at the nursing home. He has had Alzheimers for quite some time, so he doesn't say much except to ask for food :o(. We brought him outside and took some pictures with him, and took him for a walk around the home.

 He was notably weaker than he had been in the past, and had to take a sit-down break about 3/4 of the way around the home. He recovered quickly though, and we brought him back to his comfy chair in the TV room before we left.
Sadly, later that night, a call came that he had passed away. The next few days were a flurry of preparations, family, and errands (and some absolutely phenomenal Portuguese food- that was the upside). I pushed my flight out to stay a few more days for the Funeral and Cremation. We hope Grandpa is in a better place with Grandma and the rest of his family. I think everyone will miss the funny, jovial man he was, and I will always remember how to draw Kilroy.... thanks Vôvô.

And on a slightly ironic and funny note, this was the name of the crematorium:

Obviously 'Fun' doesn't have the same meaning in Portuguese its just an abbreviation for 'Funerária' but I still had to laugh.