freitag favorites + hiking above the heat

The weekend is finally here and after another hot, muggy week I’m especially happy to be heading back up to the mountains tomorrow for our first mountain/lake hiking adventure tomorrow, where hopefully it will be at least a bit cooler than here at home. (Above is a photo from last weekend on Hoch Ybrig. It was still hot and humid at 6k feet.) We’re planning to visit a new part of Switzerland and one of the spots from my summer hiking goals. With work, the heat, and visitors, summer is just flying by and I want to capture every extra minute for fun.

In other news, next week Reese starts the three-week transition into Kinderkrippe part-time which is kind of like a combo of daycare and pre-school. She is very excited and I know she will love playing with all the other kids and new toys. Today when I asked her what she is doing next Monday she said, “School. Kinder.” Followed by this: Reese: Kinder has a slide? Me: Yes. Reese: And a sandbox? That sounds good (between bites of her corn on the cob). It is so fun to have started to reach the helpful and conversational toddler phase.  I’m sure she’ll also be thrilled to have the opportunity to wear her backpack somewhere outside the house.

This week she also taken up calling us by our first names when she really wants our attention. She started first with Martin (most likely because I use his name more often) and then Martin reminded her of my name and now it is particularly hilarious to hear: “Mama? Mommy? Kate? KATE!” from her crib in the morning.

It’s time to watch some summer track & field (and Mo Farah) at the World Championships, so I’ll leave you with my other favorites from this week:

• bridges // I’m saving this list of hiking to suspension bridges in Switzerland and wishing that our hiking season was longer this year.
• summer drinks // More fun (and alcohol free) drinks for lazy summer days.
• lounge // I like the look of Ikea’s new Vedbo armchairs (low and high-backed).
• popcorn // Popcorn is still a weekend favorite so I’m saving these ideas for movie nights this fall.
• passwords // This humorous and magical take on password management made my afternoon.