It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Boy, do I love December in Switzerland. Because the whole month is Advent, and that means every single day I get a little present. This year Mama and I found this calendar at the Christmas markets, and Mama filled it up for me with cool presents. So far I've got hair clips and headbands and bracelets and cookie cutters and a little book about a girl called Yasmin. The first of advent was very special because my friend Nepheli's mum Effy put a fairy snow dome in there for me. It is so sparkly and pretty and now I keep it by my bed.

We love checking out Christmas markets. A couple of weeks ago we went to Freiburg in Germany to see what they were like there. I went for a fun ride in this Kombi!

On the night of the 5th of December I left my boots out for St Niklaus to fill. In the morning I found toys and chocolate and biscuits there. St Nik must have known that I love the website http://www.uptoten.com/, because he gave me Boowa and Kwala, the two characters from there. Now I love doing shows with them, especially when Dada does Boowa's voice and Mama does Kwala's. Niklaus also came to my Kinderhaus and left a big bag of nuts and oranges and lollies and chocolate. I told Mama that I recognised that it wasn't really Niklaus, that to me he looked like Caroline (who runs the kinderhaus)'s husband.

Mama let me decorate our Christmas tree all by myself. There are ornaments that we bought at different markets, plus ones I have made and even some that you can eat, because when my friends Sophie and Nicole and Isabelle came over the other day we all made spicy biscuits together.

Dada's work had their kids' Christmas party last Sunday at the zoo. I liked seeing the animals but I did NOT like seeing St Niklaus. As you can see, I was not sure about him at all, and when he tried to talk to me I didn't say anything back.

I didn't mind taking a present from him though.

Too busy to blog!

Hello everyone, I just looked at the dates and saw how long it is since I blogged. I am sorry, but I have been too busy having fun to stop to write it all down! But now here I am and here's what I've been up to. My first exciting thing to tell is that we went to Frankfurt for a weekend to visit my friend Ariane, who has moved there. It was her 3rd birthday and Ariane's mummy Amaya and my mama made this special "Alina" cake for her. It took a long time to make, but a short time to eat. We had a lovely weekend with our friends and it was especially exciting because we got to meet Ariane's new baby sister Zoe, who was only 2 weeks' old! I liked her a lot, and if you want to you can go to Ariane's blog and see a picture of me holding her.

After Frankfurt it was back to Basel, where I celebrated Halloween for the first time. Some friends invited me to crash a Halloween party and I thought that sounded good so I dressed up as a witch and off I went. On the way there I asked Mama what you actually do on Halloween. She said you knock on people's door and say "trick or treat!" I said, "but we know these people, don't we?!?" And she said no! "So why do we knock on their doors?!?" I wanted to know, but she said she really didn't know because Halloween comes from America and she didn't understand it either. So, it was a bit strange at first but after a while I got the hang of it and quite liked going into people's homes and getting lollies from them!

Mama had to drag me away from trick or treating because we had a train to catch. We went on what I called the "sleep train" from Basel to Copenhagen. It was so cool because we had our own little cabin with bunk beds and a shower and toilet and everything. We ate dinner in the train restaurant and in the morning the train man brought breakfast to our room. I loved it.

We had 4 fun days in Copenhagen. One of them we spent at Experimentarium, a kids' museum with all these cool science experiments. We stayed for hours playing with all the stuff - here you can see me inside a bubble!

We also visited the National Museum in Copenhagen and I dressed up in clothes from a long time ago. It was funny because I had taken my shoes off to put on some others they had there and then I saw another girl wearing my shoes! She must have thought they were from the museum but really they were mine. I didn't think they were that old-fashioned...

Here I am pretending to be a knight. I also wore a medieval robe and pretended to be a viking on a ship.

I liked it at the harbour. I even saw a ship with a pirate flag on it there. I wondered if there were real pirates on board.

One of the days we took the train to a town called Lund in Sweden, to visit a friend of Dada's, who he studied with in Iceland but hadn't seen for 15 whole years. Dada's friend had a little girl called Lisa. I thought she was really nice, especially because she let me play with her toys. I'm not sure what she thought of me though.

After Copenhagen we visited Berlin. Dada had a conference there so Mama and I hung out together and with my babysitter Anna, who has moved to Berlin from Bonn. We thought Berlin was really, really cool and didn't want to leave when it was time go home.

But home wasn't too bad either. When we got back the annual Autumn Fair, or Herbstmesse, was still on in Basel. Dada hadn't seen it so we took him there one night and went on the merry-go-round and ferris wheel and played cool games where you win prizes. So much excitement and it's not even Christmas yet!

Even more fun in Perth

Well I am back in Switzerland already but I thought I'd share a few more photos of the fun I had in Perth. I had the best time at Alexander's house. Mama and I stayed there for 5 nights and I got a good chance to explore my wild side.

Xander and I made lots of funny faces and played at being dinosaurs, chasing our mamas and Nana around the house.

Everyone spoiled me at Alexander's house. The night I came Aunty Lee and Uncle Paul and Alexander made a special cake with a Barbie in it, just for me. The skirt was Bombe Alaska, a kind of ice cream cake that you bake in the oven. It was pretty spectacular.

As you can see!

Xander and I had fun at the park, throwing things in the stream and pretending to fish. Usually I got Alexander to do any dirty work, and I acted as more like a sort of project manager. It was the same at his house if we made mud mixes or anything. Xander likes getting mucky, but me, not so much.
After all that playing it was nice to have a rest every now and then.

It was sad to say goodbye to Xander on Sunday but lucky for me I was whisked off to "high tea" - a special afternoon tea with friends with yummy cakes and sandwiches and things.

And then I went to stay with my Nonno and Marilyn. Their house was great, and I had lots and lots of fun in their backyard. Nonno took me for the best rides in his wheelbarrow. My favourite thing was to pick lemons from the tree and then play catching games with them. One day Mama showed me all the things she used to do in the backyard when she was a kid, like handstands and bendbacks. She was kind of sorry the day after.

Nonno and Marilyn really looked after me, and Nonno made the best schnitzel ever. One day they took me to the art museum to see an Egyptian exhibition. It was totally cool, and I got to make a Pharoah's crown. Do you like it?!?

Now I am back in Basel. I'm happy to be home, because I really missed my dada. Also, my granddad and Granny Bob are here, so it still feels like I am on holiday. I did really well on the flight home, I slept for most of the long flight and watched lots of TV on the second one. The only time I wasn't really happy was when I saw the business class seats. I really, really, really, really, really wanted to sit there but Mama said I wasn't allowed because it costs a lot of money. I told her we could use all my money box money but she said that wasn't enough. It just didn't seem fair.

More good times in Perth

I'm still having fun hanging out in Perth, and it just gets better because more people are even coming over from Sydney and Melbourne to visit me! Here I am with Aunty Barbie. She told me about making bunny ears in people's photos, so of course I had to try it out.

Later we went to the beach together, which was the perfect chance for me to wear this cute little dress she had bought me.

I also brought a net in case we found any fish to catch. We didn't, but we did see lots of jellyfish and cuttlefish and bluebottles, and we collected a few nice shells with patterns on them.

Today was REALLY cool, Nana and Aunty Lee and Alexander picked me up early and took me to a fairy festival in King's Park. It was amazing, we went on a fairy walk and saw a wizard's show where someone called Snottygobble had stolen the wizard's treasure. We got magic potion on our hands that you put on your nose and then you can smell the Australian bush. We made gumnut people with googly eyes and a special magic wand with a star on the end.

There was dancing.

And a fairy sprinkled her special fairy dust on me and Alexander.

We saw a show with a very shy dragon in it. And I even got to pat him. I also patted a real live kangaroo and a goanna. And I saw a baby echidna and a wallaby and other Australian animals that I can't remember.

My day was really, really fun.

Hanging out in Perth

I have had the best week this week, mostly just hanging out with my zia. We have had so much fun together, and one night I even had a sleepover at her house BY MYSELF. I told my mama I wanted to go sleep there, because it was going to be my zizi's birthday the next day and I wanted to wake up with her. I also told my mama not to come and when I rang her in the morning I told her how I didn't cry and I didn't miss her at all. In this photo I am with Zia at King's Park, where we met our cousins for lunch.

This is me with Ella who we met for lunch. She does ballet just like me, cool hey? She showed me some cool handstands and cartwheels in the park, and looked after me.

One day I went out to visit Alexander at his new house "in the bush". I loved it there and we made a great stew together of sand and water and rocks and stuff. I let Xander do all the dirty work. I can't wait to go and stay with him next week.

These are the cupcakes I helped Mama decorate for Zia's birthday.

The only bad news is my noni left today for a holiday in Italy! I come to Australia, and she goes to Italy! How do you like that?!? I will miss her.

Zizi's wedding

Hey, guess what everyone? I am in Perth, for my zizi's wedding! The weather hasn't been that great, but I still managed to make it to the beach one day to collect shells. I've been having so much fun here, enjoying all the people to see and different things to do. But the most exciting thing that has happened is that yesterday my zia got married.

A makeup lady came to do Zizi's and all the bridesmaids' faces, and she said she had found some fairy dust at the bottom of her garden, so she put that on my face too.

I had a very special dress to wear for the big day, and I was so excited when it was time to put it on.

I said that I was the "mini bride" and danced around singing "mini bride, mini bride, mini bride".

We went in a great big limousine to the church and then afterwards to the reception. I loved all the lights and the sparkles and do you know what? They even had TVs in there! I had a drink of fizzy water while all the grown ups had champagne.

We stopped for a photo shoot along the way and I was the photographer's helper. I said that I want to be a photographer when I grow up. I took this photo, so I think I will be quite good, don't you?!?

Of course I had to change into a different dress for the party afterwards. They played fancy music and had special lights and announcements for the bridal party to walk in. I insisted on walking in first and I did it, all on my own, with over 80 people watching me! The problem was that once I got inside I didn't know where to go, so I ran back out to Mama again.

Oh, but that's right, the wedding day wasn't really all about me. It was about Zia Kate and her new husband Pete! This morning I asked my zio how there can be two people and one love. I heard them say that in the church and I just can't figure it out. Oh well, I guess I will understand one day. I do know that my zia looked very, very beautiful, like a sparkly princess.

Here is a photo of my mama with her brother and sister.

I had a really big day and talked to so many people. Sometime after 10pm I decided I had had enough and asked Mama to make me a little tent to sleep in. I went to sleep as soon as my head hit my rolled-up blanket pillow, and stayed asleep all through the partying and the ride home.

Granddad and Granny Bob are in town!

Some exciting news for me - my Granddad and Granny Bob are in Switzerland! At the moment they are doing a tour of the country, and we met them last weekend in my favourite Swiss town, Lugano. It was very nice to see them because it has been a really long time since I saw them last. I can do so much more now than when I was 2 and I spent a lot of the time showing them exactly what I can do. Luckily for me, they were quite happy to give me LOTS of attention.

Here is a funny version of the same photo, with me and Granddad doing googly eyes at each other.

My Dada took this photo of me when I was jumping around dancing, waiting for the ferry.