One tired kid

Today was a busy day, or mainly a busy afternoon. After lunch, we went to get a second book in a kids series in a downtown bookshop. Heard some music in the street, so went to investigate, and there was a guggenmusik band there by a department store. Same as play all around for Fasnacht, the carnival time. I was a bit surprised, did they confuse the month? They were two months late for Fasnacht. But it must be a prelude for Böögg, which is coming up this Monday - the burning of a snowman whose head is stuffed full of explosives. Type of a burning man, I guess. Presumably how long it takes to explode determines how fast or slow spring comes. I heard them from our balcony again after I put our kids to bed for a couple minutes. We will see whether there is more of them tomorrow, and especially Monday, when Zurich has an official holiday.

We didn't find the book in the first shop, so we went to the kids store Franz Karl Weber, which includes book, got it there, and then waited to get a helium-filled balloon for Sonja. Oh what a joy for her, after all those balloons that we blow up at home (and thus don't float), to suddenly have a balloon that is floating at the end of a string!

We then made our way to a river boat, which lies low in water to pass underneath all the bridges in the city, took that to its farthest point several stops and perhaps half an hour away (Zurichhorn). Played a bit on the swings, played a bit with the ball, and just when we were going to walk some half an hour back to where our tram stops, one of the ships that cruise the lake was stopping nearby, so we hopped onto that and rode it the mile or two back to where the trams were. Sonja liked the upstairs, compared with the flat river boat.

And all of that excitement and boat outings and no afternoon nap made for a very tired Sonja, who fell asleep outside the bedroom door when I was trying to get Emily to sleep.