We.made.it. Barely.
Michael was perfect the whole flight to Houston. He slept for 3 hours out of the 11 and never really fussed. He was incredible! Good thing too since I was flying with him internationally BY MYSELF!
After 11 hours in the air, we were redirected to San Antonio because there was a storm over Houston and we didn't have enough gas to wait it out.
So we refueled, but then had to wait because other planes were refueling near us and so we couldn't start our engines.
Then, we were cleared to go. But a girl on our flight had an asthma attack so the doctors came on board.
Finally, we arrived in Houston and went through the billions of lines at customs and inspections.
4 hours late. Better late than never.
I almost cried when I saw the sign "Welcome to Houston" and my parents.
It feels great to be back in Texas.
Love,
P
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Must Eat Chips
Do you prefer...
tortilla chips with a bit of lime...
or baked cheetos?
If you're Michael, you'd say, "Both."
tortilla chips with a bit of lime...
or baked cheetos?
If you're Michael, you'd say, "Both."
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Sunshine? IN Paris??? WHAT???
Summer has finally arrived and we have beautiful sunshine and hot weather! Today, Brian slept in and Michael and I went to get breakfast. After hanging around the house, we went to the park with Michael where he had a great time as usual.
For Father's Day, I gave Brian a ping pong playing set so we tested it out today! Michael LOVED it and would chase around the ping pong balls for us when they wouldn't quite make the table. Which was often because I was playing.
Anyways, one of the times that Michael went to get the ball, he ran STRAIGHT into the ping pong table (that is CONCRETE) and hit it headfirst. EEK. No blood, but it did leave a mark.
We decided it was safer to let Michael sit on the table and we played around him. That was super fun because I would hit the ball to him and he would throw it back to me. It was great!
Then, a 2.5 year old girl took an interest in Michael. She chased him all around and tried to hug him and hold his hand. He wasn't too interested though! It was amusing to say the least because she WOULD NOT leave him alone. Even when Michael got off the playground to walk around, she ran after him. Aggressive!
Then, Michael napped in his stroller and Brian and I enjoyed a quiet lunch at our favorite local cafe, L'Entracte.
In the afternoon, Michael squealed with delight as Brian and I kicked the soccer ball around the house in a very nice game of keepaway. Of course, we did let him catch it quite often so he would still play but it was so fun to spend family time.
So that was the theme of the day! FAMILY TIME! It is good because we will be apart soon and we needed this time to be together!
This week, the sitter is coming and Brian and I are going to go eat and play ping pong at the park. I am so excited.
Love,
P
For Father's Day, I gave Brian a ping pong playing set so we tested it out today! Michael LOVED it and would chase around the ping pong balls for us when they wouldn't quite make the table. Which was often because I was playing.
Anyways, one of the times that Michael went to get the ball, he ran STRAIGHT into the ping pong table (that is CONCRETE) and hit it headfirst. EEK. No blood, but it did leave a mark.
We decided it was safer to let Michael sit on the table and we played around him. That was super fun because I would hit the ball to him and he would throw it back to me. It was great!
Then, a 2.5 year old girl took an interest in Michael. She chased him all around and tried to hug him and hold his hand. He wasn't too interested though! It was amusing to say the least because she WOULD NOT leave him alone. Even when Michael got off the playground to walk around, she ran after him. Aggressive!
Then, Michael napped in his stroller and Brian and I enjoyed a quiet lunch at our favorite local cafe, L'Entracte.
In the afternoon, Michael squealed with delight as Brian and I kicked the soccer ball around the house in a very nice game of keepaway. Of course, we did let him catch it quite often so he would still play but it was so fun to spend family time.
So that was the theme of the day! FAMILY TIME! It is good because we will be apart soon and we needed this time to be together!
This week, the sitter is coming and Brian and I are going to go eat and play ping pong at the park. I am so excited.
Love,
P
Oh...My...GOD
I found Dr. Pepper at my local grocery store. The one I go to all the time and get delivery from. It was in the "International Food" section and was underneath all the British stuff.
It cost 1.02 euro a can (about $1.50) but I bought one anyways. I haven't opened it yet. Waiting for a special occasion where I will be eating lots of fried foods.
Love,
P
It cost 1.02 euro a can (about $1.50) but I bought one anyways. I haven't opened it yet. Waiting for a special occasion where I will be eating lots of fried foods.
Love,
P
Saturday, June 21, 2008
All Done
Yesterday, Michael woke up from his nap. He was on the couch so I kissed him and said Good morning! I went to the hallway to get his clothes and I turn around. He's standing right next to me doing his sign for "All Done" as wildly as possible.
I guess he was afraid I'd leave him there to sleep some more so he got up, went to find me, and tell me that he's "All Done" with his nap.
Still not saying much this one! But he understands plenty!
He doesn't understand much in French though. This lady told him to give her a kiss in French and he didn't understand until I told him in English, "Give the nice lady a kiss!". Same with when she told him to "Donne a maman." He didn't understand that until I said, "Come here and give it to me!" *sigh* Need to get him into French halte garderie (part time day care, 1-2 half days a week...don't worry, it's not much, but it's some!)
Love,
P
I guess he was afraid I'd leave him there to sleep some more so he got up, went to find me, and tell me that he's "All Done" with his nap.
Still not saying much this one! But he understands plenty!
He doesn't understand much in French though. This lady told him to give her a kiss in French and he didn't understand until I told him in English, "Give the nice lady a kiss!". Same with when she told him to "Donne a maman." He didn't understand that until I said, "Come here and give it to me!" *sigh* Need to get him into French halte garderie (part time day care, 1-2 half days a week...don't worry, it's not much, but it's some!)
Love,
P
Delicious Apple, Pear, and Cranberry Crisp
Today, we went to a picnic hosted by my French tutor at our favorite park in Paris: Parc Montsouris. Since it only sunshines like 30 days out of the year, we enjoyed ourselves immensely all afternoon.
Brian played boules (french version of shuffleboard with balls and on gravel...so maybe it's not like shuffleboard at all). Michael ran around barefoot in the grass. We relaxed in the shade with friends! It was a nice afternoon.
Anyways, I made this Apple, Pear, and Cranberry Crisp, courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa on FoodTV. It was a hit. The older French ladies kept telling me how delicious it was and asked me what I put in there. And they're French so just saying these things to "be nice" isn't something they do! AnD, they each had 2 helpings. So here is the recipe if you are interested:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_112626,00.html
It's got an interesting mixture of fruit flavors and was quite nice.
Enjoy!
Love,
P
Brian played boules (french version of shuffleboard with balls and on gravel...so maybe it's not like shuffleboard at all). Michael ran around barefoot in the grass. We relaxed in the shade with friends! It was a nice afternoon.
Anyways, I made this Apple, Pear, and Cranberry Crisp, courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa on FoodTV. It was a hit. The older French ladies kept telling me how delicious it was and asked me what I put in there. And they're French so just saying these things to "be nice" isn't something they do! AnD, they each had 2 helpings. So here is the recipe if you are interested:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_112626,00.html
It's got an interesting mixture of fruit flavors and was quite nice.
Enjoy!
Love,
P
Nice is...NICE!
Ok, honestly? I really did not think anyone was looking at our blog anymore except my mother-in-law so I kind of just stopped posting because well, we talk to her fairly often! And she checks in with us and looks at our pictures!
But I found out that there are some people who still read, and that makes me so happy! We want to keep in touch with everyone back home and love to hear from you guys so away we go!
June 14th-17th we packed up and headed for the beach in southern France in a town called Nice. The water is just GORGEOUS. A cool shade of aquamarine:
It was a bit chilly with the high temperature of the day at 75 and the water was quite a bit cooler than that! Around 66, like Barton Springs! But when it's not 100 degrees out and sunny, that water is a bit "nipply," if you will. Either way, we did our best to go swimming!
The beach in Nice is VERY ROCKY. Like so rocky you have to wear shoes. Like so rocky that Brian's big toe is now a little roughed up and it hurts him still. And the waves were HUGE! (editors note: like 3 feet tall - BMB). Couple that with a slow-to-warm-up-and-timid-son (and sun for that matter too) and that just spells sunbathing time.
So we got the heck out of Nice and headed to Antibes where the sandy beaches and super calm water were much better! Yes, Brian is wearing a speedo; yes, we are all a bit flabby and VERY white; and YES, there were people sunbathing and swimming topless. Brian was already doing it so I decided to too. For about 15 minutes and then I lost my nerve, despite only strangers being around.
Michael loved it there and loved picking up rocks to throw into the ocean. I think he would have gone further into the water but it was a bit cold and I don't blame him. Here's my favorite shot from the beach:
And I love these B&Ws.
It was a pretty relaxing vacation all around! Salade Nicoise is just a salad with tuna and fishy sardines so we weren't too impressed! But here's a quick wrap-up of our trip:
Saturday: Arrived by 2pm. Brian took a nap while I took Michael to Monoprix to buy food and swim diapers. 5pm - took a walk on the Promenade des Anglais. 7pm - Dinner at L'Ovale where we feasted on cassoulet (slow cooked duck with white beans) and shared a bottle of delicious red wine. Micheal napped!!! From like 6:30 - 8pm so we had to wake him up. He didn't go to bed until 11pm that night!
Sunday: Went to the beach for most of the morning, had lunch and went back to the hotel around 2pm. Showered, rested, then went out to explore Place Massena and Vieux Nice (old Nice). Walked along the Promenade des Anglais again and let Michael ride the caroussel 3x and then play in a fountain. Had dinner at a very nice restaurant called La Maison du Marie. It was a place that was a bit too nice to hold a squirming toddler and to quiet him from screaming "Caca" all during dinner. Caca is the French word for POOP.
Monday: Took the train to Antibes and sunbathed/swam all morning. Came back to Nice around 4pm. Showered, took naps, and then back to walking around Vieux Nice! Attempted to get to the top of Nice via an elevator. However, it was not available due to repairs and the stairs looked rather intimidating. So we walked along the coastline and had dinner 'on the run' and back to sleep at 9pm!
Tuesday: Felt well rested enough to take the stairs to the top of Nice where the Chateau was. Got some nice pics, then walked back down the ramp that is not advertised! Explored the morning produce market and went to the train station an hour early, much to Brian's chagrin.
Good thing we did because Nice trains were on STRIKE! Our train to Marseille (where we would connect to another train to Paris) was cancelled. So we had to exchange our tickets right? Should be easy but the registers were closed too. There was only 2 people working really and they were swamped of course. We used one of the automated machines. We were behind a girl who made us all wait while she called someone to go through all of her travel options and decide which tickets to buy. Then at the end of her transaction, we find out she's an SNCF (train) PERSON!!!! WHAT THE?!?!
Finally, at our turn, the automated machine wouldn't take our ticket to exchange so we had to buy 2 new sets of tickets, which were twice as expensive and would take an hour longer to get to Paris!
On our train, we somehow made it to Marseille in time to catch our original connection and thankfully made it back to Paris at our originally designated time.
Gosh, that was longer than my whole summary! It was nuts. Vive le France...I guess.
See you guys at home soon! Can't wait to come to the USA!
Love,
P
But I found out that there are some people who still read, and that makes me so happy! We want to keep in touch with everyone back home and love to hear from you guys so away we go!
June 14th-17th we packed up and headed for the beach in southern France in a town called Nice. The water is just GORGEOUS. A cool shade of aquamarine:
It was a bit chilly with the high temperature of the day at 75 and the water was quite a bit cooler than that! Around 66, like Barton Springs! But when it's not 100 degrees out and sunny, that water is a bit "nipply," if you will. Either way, we did our best to go swimming!
The beach in Nice is VERY ROCKY. Like so rocky you have to wear shoes. Like so rocky that Brian's big toe is now a little roughed up and it hurts him still. And the waves were HUGE! (editors note: like 3 feet tall - BMB). Couple that with a slow-to-warm-up-and-timid-son (and sun for that matter too) and that just spells sunbathing time.
So we got the heck out of Nice and headed to Antibes where the sandy beaches and super calm water were much better! Yes, Brian is wearing a speedo; yes, we are all a bit flabby and VERY white; and YES, there were people sunbathing and swimming topless. Brian was already doing it so I decided to too. For about 15 minutes and then I lost my nerve, despite only strangers being around.
Michael loved it there and loved picking up rocks to throw into the ocean. I think he would have gone further into the water but it was a bit cold and I don't blame him. Here's my favorite shot from the beach:
And I love these B&Ws.
It was a pretty relaxing vacation all around! Salade Nicoise is just a salad with tuna and fishy sardines so we weren't too impressed! But here's a quick wrap-up of our trip:
Saturday: Arrived by 2pm. Brian took a nap while I took Michael to Monoprix to buy food and swim diapers. 5pm - took a walk on the Promenade des Anglais. 7pm - Dinner at L'Ovale where we feasted on cassoulet (slow cooked duck with white beans) and shared a bottle of delicious red wine. Micheal napped!!! From like 6:30 - 8pm so we had to wake him up. He didn't go to bed until 11pm that night!
Sunday: Went to the beach for most of the morning, had lunch and went back to the hotel around 2pm. Showered, rested, then went out to explore Place Massena and Vieux Nice (old Nice). Walked along the Promenade des Anglais again and let Michael ride the caroussel 3x and then play in a fountain. Had dinner at a very nice restaurant called La Maison du Marie. It was a place that was a bit too nice to hold a squirming toddler and to quiet him from screaming "Caca" all during dinner. Caca is the French word for POOP.
Monday: Took the train to Antibes and sunbathed/swam all morning. Came back to Nice around 4pm. Showered, took naps, and then back to walking around Vieux Nice! Attempted to get to the top of Nice via an elevator. However, it was not available due to repairs and the stairs looked rather intimidating. So we walked along the coastline and had dinner 'on the run' and back to sleep at 9pm!
Tuesday: Felt well rested enough to take the stairs to the top of Nice where the Chateau was. Got some nice pics, then walked back down the ramp that is not advertised! Explored the morning produce market and went to the train station an hour early, much to Brian's chagrin.
Good thing we did because Nice trains were on STRIKE! Our train to Marseille (where we would connect to another train to Paris) was cancelled. So we had to exchange our tickets right? Should be easy but the registers were closed too. There was only 2 people working really and they were swamped of course. We used one of the automated machines. We were behind a girl who made us all wait while she called someone to go through all of her travel options and decide which tickets to buy. Then at the end of her transaction, we find out she's an SNCF (train) PERSON!!!! WHAT THE?!?!
Finally, at our turn, the automated machine wouldn't take our ticket to exchange so we had to buy 2 new sets of tickets, which were twice as expensive and would take an hour longer to get to Paris!
On our train, we somehow made it to Marseille in time to catch our original connection and thankfully made it back to Paris at our originally designated time.
Gosh, that was longer than my whole summary! It was nuts. Vive le France...I guess.
See you guys at home soon! Can't wait to come to the USA!
Love,
P
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Lone Stat
Michael had his pediatrician visit today for a vaccination. The only number I could understand was 11.3 kg for weight. Not bad for Michael! 2.5 months with a 2.2 lb gain!
Love,
P
Love,
P
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Time Out?
While I was cooking in the kitchen today, Michael wandered over to the chimney and smiled at me. I said, "Michael, if you touch that chimney, you go into timeout."
I turn back to cooking, and about 10 seconds later, I hear a door close in my apartment. It is quiet. Too quiet.
So I find Michael, in his room, on a self-inflicted timeout. When Michael gets a timeout, he gets put in his room and we shut the door. He didn't even touch the chimney, but I guess he understood the words "timeout."
Sooo...it makes you wonder...is he so good and put himself in timeout? Or is it that he actually likes timeout and doesn't mind to go, even if he didn't do anything wrong?
Hmmm....either way, don't think TimeOut is going to work in his room anymore! And I had a heckuva time trying to explain to him that he didn't do anything wrong so he didn't need to go into timeout after all.
Love,
P
I turn back to cooking, and about 10 seconds later, I hear a door close in my apartment. It is quiet. Too quiet.
So I find Michael, in his room, on a self-inflicted timeout. When Michael gets a timeout, he gets put in his room and we shut the door. He didn't even touch the chimney, but I guess he understood the words "timeout."
Sooo...it makes you wonder...is he so good and put himself in timeout? Or is it that he actually likes timeout and doesn't mind to go, even if he didn't do anything wrong?
Hmmm....either way, don't think TimeOut is going to work in his room anymore! And I had a heckuva time trying to explain to him that he didn't do anything wrong so he didn't need to go into timeout after all.
Love,
P
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Coincidence...or NOT?
Today, Michael ran up to me and said: "Caca"
Which is the French word for Poop.
I smelled his diaper and sure enough, there was poop there.
Could he already know this earlY? Surely not! Maybe I should go buy a little potty...
Love,
P
Which is the French word for Poop.
I smelled his diaper and sure enough, there was poop there.
Could he already know this earlY? Surely not! Maybe I should go buy a little potty...
Love,
P
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