Getting back into the grove; the Ohio state fair

Today we went to the Ohio state fair with the boys and Chris, who we were lucky enough to have a visit from this weekend since he was in town on business and was able to stay a bit longer to hang out with us. As it turns out, attending the fair was a ball for the boys, but not very conducive to my efforts of *gradually* reacclimating to life in America. It was a full blast of Americana in all of its summertime glory -- corn dogs, cheeseburgers, deep fried candy bars, giant jumbo drinks, giant jumbo stuffed animals, giant jumbo blow up toys, giant jumbo parking lot full of cars, giant jumbo people...woah.

I've now retreated to the house and am sipping some red wine, a much more comfortable state of being for me. Besides the giant jumbo-ness of things, the thing that has struck me the most since being back is how low to the ground I feel here. Things are extremely flat and there is no vista. When I look down the street I just see a few houses in the distance, nothing else. When I open up the door, I am among the greenery, not looking down upon it. I feel very short here--no snide comments allowed!

The boys seem to have instantaneously picked up where they left off. Isaac has found a soccer club that seems to fit him just right and has already started training sessions. Both boys have reconnected with their best buddies that live next door -- Hugh, Malen and Nick -- and spent the week doing lemonade stands, trampoline jumping contests, pirate games, legos and many other pursuits. Elliot impromptu has exclaimed on several occassion how happy he is to be back. Several times he has said how nice it is to be in a place where he can understand people and people can understand him; he also expresses his happiness to be back simply in terms of his best buddy next door: "Yeah, Nicky!!!"

We were blessed to have Katie and Kim (our neighbors) prep the house for us, including dragging out the beds and buying groceries. My parents also worked hard to do some serious house cleaning and organizing before we arrived and were there at the airport to welcome us back. We were also blessed to have Wendy and her family in the house for the year -- they took wonderful care of the house. It feels very cozy to be back in the house and back together with our wonderful neighbors, friends and family.

There are still some Zurich posts that I want to do for posterity, so look for a few more Zurich blogs to come. Anyways, it's not like I've really left there yet, not yet at least...