When Phuong ordered a limonade at a cafe the other evening, she didn't quite know what the French had in store for her.

Crawling

Not quite yet! But Michael was up on his hands today and nearly all of his torso was off the ground. He also sat up well on the bad and one time, he began to fall over, caught himself and turned back the other way maintaining his balance. Then I had to repeatedly catch him as he tried to leap off the bed.

First Family Vacation in France: The Loire Valley

This Monday-Wednesday, we went to visit Chartres Cathedral and the Loire Valley for our first family vacation! Here are the highlights:

Cheverny

• The family still lives on the 3rd floor of this chateau. You could see recent family pictures in their exhibit rooms.
• A family tree which dated all the way back to 1400 with the most recent member being born the same year as Brian!
• Smaller chateau, but still cute.

Chambord

• This isn't the best picture of Chambord, but it has all of us in it! ;o)
• Filled with tapestries made from the Manufactures des Gobelins, our neighbor!
• Beautiful views from all 4 points of the chateau.
• Staircase with 2 different entry points, but the stairs never cross
• Horse show at 4:30pm, which we missed.
• Terrible audioguide. Don't bother!

Chenonceau

• Built to span across the river.
• Gorgeous gardens.
• Interesting rooms
• Pretty historically correct flower arrangements refreshed biweekly.
  

We also visited Chatres Cathedral, which has 2 stories of impressive stained glass and over 2000 sculptures. We had a great guided tour by Malcolm Miller, who authors the book about the cathedral. He was 73 and amazing!

We stayed at this amazing B&B in the Loire Valley called Chateau de Nazelles. It had an amazing garden, forests to romp in, delicious breakfast and great hosts.

Michael doesn't like to travel as much as his parents. On this trip, he woke up 3 times every night, wouldn't nurse because everything was so interested, and fussed almost the entire time he was in the car. It was pretty hard to travel with him so we are re-thinking about going anywhere until he is a bit older. So we say!

Love,

B&P

DATE NIGHT!

Brian took me out on our first date night since March when THE MOM came. We had dinner at Thomieux (sp?), which was excellent!!! The plates had the restaurant's name on it. FANCY. We shared an appetizer of foie gras and both had confit de canard, which wikipedia describes as:

The confit is prepared in a centuries-old process of preservation that consists of salting (with garlic and spices) a piece of meat (generally goose, duck, or pork) and then cooking it in its own fat or broth. Usually the meat is placed in a crock or pot, covered and poached or braised for up to nine hours in its own fat.

DELICIOUS. See our happy fat faces below:

We were joined at dinner by the fattest cat I have ever seen:

And a view of the Eiffel Tower on the street where our restaurant was. Here we are walking home:

It was romantic and magical and such a nice treat for Brian and I.

Loire valley next.

Grandbaby has been bopping all over the Loire valley!

Monday: Michael visited Chatres Cathedral and took a tour by Malcom Miller. He slept while we learned about stained glass. He tried to eat at a little cafe near the Cathedral, but wasn't terribly interested, as was his disposition toward eating for the remainder of the trip. He was actually ok in the car until we were almost at Nazelles. At which point he started to fuss, but we were close enough.

Tuesday: Michael decided to visit Cheverny and Chambord chateaus. He liked being carried around mostly and decided that the stroller was for commoners. We then went to L'Epicurie in Amboise for dinner after driving around Bloise which had absolutely nothing. This night, Michael also discovered cats for the first time. Our B&B has cat who was sleeping on a couch. Brian set Michael down right next to the cat and Michael lovingly petted it. He liked the soft fur. Then, Michael decided to beat the cat like he does his other toys. Luckily, the cat seemed used to it and didn't care.

Wednesday: Michael visited Chenonceau and seemed rather tired of all the chateaus. As if it was a bit boring. Then, he decided to be the fussiest he has ever been in the car all the way back to Paris. My mom and I did everything we could to keep him happy. It was HARD.

Michael has been having a terrible go of going to sleep at night since we went to the hospital. he fusses and fusses and fusses. Brian wants to Ferber him and make him go to sleep by himself, but I can't bear to hear him cry. I usually give him and pick him up and hold him for a while. Last night, he cried for 40 minutes. :o( After I held him for a while, he slept ok for the night and didn't wake up until 6:20am. We'll have to see what we should do now for his sleep.

Today, I am making him make up for all the food he DIDN'T eat while we were away. The baby would not nurse because he was so interested in everything else. *sigh*

Love,
P