Settling in at TASIS (August 18-23, 2013)

Settling in at TASIS

Upon arrival, our actual apartment was not ready. So instead, the school placed us in a loaner apartment and gave us loan of a school car to get to and from school (a 3-5min drive down one road). This was a bummer because we had to live out of suitcases for two weeks and only get to move into our actual apartment on campus a day and a half before school started. That being said, our apartment was not too shabby at all.

Here is the view from outside our loaner apartment

Here is Lily playing in the yard out front of the apartment

... and then dad had to get ready to go to work (orientation stuff), and so we packed up Lily for a day at school ... she was so happy and excited!

 ... and then off to a Grotto. This apparently comes from the word "cave" and has a long history. The stories I have heard are all similar but slightly different. Apparently the story goes that a long time ago, a butcher/restaurant person would set up shop in a cave and keep a fire going every day. People coming through would hunt and kill their own meat (or bring things to trade). The people would then gather at this cave and eat whatever meat was being cooked that night. These grottos are pretty expensive eating, but are delicious! They brought out "baked brie" which was literally a wheel of brie cheese cooked on the grill and all melty. We had different meats, a risotto, the brie, red wine, white wine, and other delicious treats ...

Here is Lily on her way to the Grotto

... and she didn't last long at dinner. She was quickly asleep in Poppy's arms.

 ... here is Poppy out with Brendan, getting a tour of downtown Lugano from the school. This is the closest "city" to our school. It has about 60,000 people, is situated on a lake, and is about 5-15min from school.

... and then here we are taking a day off and hanging out at the lake. Lauren is looking great at about 34 weeks pregnant.

oOo, Lily loves the water (what's new?)

... and as always, Lauren doesn't shy away from activity while pregnant. Off she went with Poppy for a day of Stand Up Paddle Boarding on the beautiful Lake Lugano

Arriving in Switzerland (August 17, 2013)

Arriving in Switzerland

Here is Lily being an amazing sport traveling through the airports

 Here is our life laid out on one single hand cart ... impressive

... here we have arrived on campus. This is the view from the dining hall, that we can see each day walking around campus.

Here we are on campus, walking up to what will be our future apartment (we are living in it now, but it wasn't finished at the time). It is the white and yellow building at the very top of the steps.

... and here we are taking in our first view from UNDER our apartment. Our master bedroom (the only bedroom, but master bedroom sounds better) is right above where I am standing in the picture.

... they let us into the apartment and so I grabbed a photo from our bedroom balcony (we have four balconies)

... and here is our bedroom window view at sunrise (sneaking ahead a bit, this was after walking up our 2nd or 3rd morning in our apartment)

Flashback in Santa Cruz (July 17-19, 2013)

Here are a few flashback moments from a great summer

Here is a video of Lauren playing with Lily at grandma and grandpa's house:

Here is a video of Lily playing with her Splash Pad, or as she likes to call it the-world's-most-complicated-and-interactive-drinking-fountain:

... and finally, a super adorable photo of her sitting in her giant bean bag chair in Target (pronounced tar-jshay)

Dilloughery Family Photos (August 13, 2013)

Dilloughery Family Photos

Before we start, I have put all of the photos into two zip files and shared them. If you want to download these to say ... I don't know ... make a cool picture frame of photos for mom and dad, that would be awesome. Here are the edited photos I put on the blog (cropped, colors changed, about 25-30 photos). Here are the original 81 photos.

Now, let's start with the babies! Since there will be three new ones in a few months (Lauren is due about 10 days from now as of posting this) ... I figure we should highlight our little blondies while they still have the spotlight.

... and the aunties and sisters couldn't help but get in the shots ...

... and mom too!

... and this one definitely counts as a little blondie

What an unruly bunch?

Who is that baby attacking Thomas? It looks like Nonnie is enjoying the photo

The Magnificent Seven

Here are original fantastic five Dilloughery's

... and then posing with the lucky few who married into this exclusive group ...

... and the whole gang!

... and then in order of birth because we're that meticulous ...

... and here are all the pregger housewives looking gorgeous

... and here are all five housewives (even the two that aren't pregnant yet)

 ... and now after teasing Justin enough, here are the twins

Awwww, Lily, her first Swiss nanny, and her future nanny/babysitter/cousin-extraordinaire Emma

 ... and of course ... drum roll please ... the Swiss ... Family ... ROBINSON DILLOUGHERY!!!

The Entire Family!

Special Note: To get this shot, we had to hire an illegal immigrant that swam over from New Zealand (thanks Wayne! It must have been a long swim).

... and last but not least, the founders of the family, the great matriarch and patriarch of the gang, the great (as an adjective) grandparents of an unruly bunch of five grandkids that will soon be exploding to eight and soon after, who knows how many ... here they are ... Nonnie and Poppy

... and then I had to throw the cool sunglass shot at the end =)