biggity biggity boudin

I made this lunch for Michael a while back.




We have boudin noir (black pudding/blood sausage) with apples, mushrooms sauteed in butter, some cucumbers (gross), and then some charcuterie (rillettes, Serrano ham and "Grandma's pate"). He loves the ham, the rillettes (some kind of fatty shredded goose meat), the pate and the mushrooms. The boudin not so much. I don't know why. It's one of those French things that looks and sounds disgusting, but is super delicious especially with the apples. Phuong and I were craving the boudin noir this evening.

Catchup - June visit Home!

This year, we took a super quick trip home to Houston because Brian was going to be in North America for a conference anyways!

So I spent 2 weeks relaxing in Houston and enjoying the quiet pace of life. We did a whole lot of nothing except playing and well...playing! Our local library had a nice story time/craft hour so we went to that a couple of times.

I got to catch up with my neighbors, The Folkes, who have known me since I was born! They have an awesome pool where they taught me how to swim. Here is a picture of all of us.

Top row: Michael, me, and their daughter Kimberly who is 3 years younger than me
Pool row: Mr. Johnny, J (their grandaughter who is Kimberly's daughter), Mrs. Glenda, and Brian.

Michael LOVED the pool and would ask to go over to Mr. Johnny's house all the time.

My parents have 2 dogs. They are chihuahua - weenie dog mixes. VERY funny. Michael, of course, adored them. Here is Michael picking up Chewy:

One of our hot days, we went to the Houston Children's Museum which was pretty cool and CRAZY. Full of kids, of course! Michael had fun at an outdoor water display that showed the effects of water, pressures, waves, dams, etc. Here is a picture of my parents with Michael there:

Inside in the air conditioning, they had a pretty cool little toddler/baby play area. Michael loved this giant glo-art thing:
And there was also a little market. Check out my healthy shopper:

Lots of fruits and vegetables there! So proud of him!

Those were the highlights of our trip! Two weeks is really not long enough for a visit at home. By the time we had recovered from the jet lag, we only had about 10 days left. In that time, we did get a lot of playing done, but I wish we could have seen so much more! We also spent a day at the Woodlands Children's museum, which was interesting.

One night, we visited with my old college friend, Shane, and his new wife, Erin. A lovely couple who we wished we lived a bit closer to! We had a nice dinner on their porch of barbequed steak kabobs. DELICIOUS.

That's it! We did a lot of shopping, a lot of playing, and a lot of relaxing. The best vacation!

Ok...up next is Normandy/Brittany!

White-Boy-B-Ball

We had an action packed weekend. Full of activities and sweat.

On Saturday, we spent the day with The Daniels where we met at the splash pools at the Luxembourg Gardens. The boys enjoyed that and Michael got pretty brown. I think he gets that tropical skin from me.

Then, we went back to the Daniels apartment where they helped me eat my 3 heads of lettuce that I bought because it was a good deal (3 heads for 2 euro). Note to self: It takes a lot of people to eat 3 heads of lettuce.

Nap time had by the boys and then we hit the main event of the day - an inner city basketball court. Complete with graffiti and everything. Jonathan/Kirsten found this basketball court near their place and wanted to try it out.

Well, a pack of inflating needles, 2 mini basketballs, and 1 adult size basketball later...we found ourselves trying to make half court shots. The boys decided they needed to be up high. And when I asked for a picture, they started slapping and grabbing their dads faces:
A bit hard to see...but squint and you'll get the hint.

Michael attempted some free throws of his own:
And then I put the camera away because I was afraid I was going to get thwacked in the face with a renegade basketball.

On Sunday, Brian went for a run in the morning, came back and announced that we had to be at Gare de Lyon in an hour and we were leaving in 30 minutes. We had plans to visit a co-worker's of Brian at her husband's grandmother's house.

Her house was situated at the edge of the forest of the chateau Fountainbleau. Not too shabby!
Ok, so that wasn't her house. But it is Fountainbleau and it has a huge forest attached to it as part of its hunting grounds. And the house we went to is on the edge of said forest.

We had a great time there! They barbequed for us chicken breasts, sausages, spare ribs...the works! It tasted amazing, and I ate so much I couldn't button my pants for the rest of the afternoon.

Michael loved playing with their son, who is about 6 months younger. They watered things together, played on the swing/slide, shot water guns...played in the tent and choo choo. FUN TIMES. I would have pictures, but their son was half naked the whole time so I am not comfortable with posting half naked pictures of other people's kids on my blog. Not smart.

Then, we went to the forest of Fountainebleau and hiked up a ways and looked around. It was AWESOME.

I LOVE hiking. I am no good at it and not sure-footed at all. But I love trying to find the way to get up somewhere, making sure where I am stepping is going to hold, and climbing up not-too-difficult places. I love the lookout when you get where you are supposed to be...because Mother Nature IS that amazing. I love the quiet that surrounds you. I just love it.

Unfortunately, I didn't take my camera because that's how much I have to focus.

And Michael...God bless my little hiker! He LOVES to hike and climbs really well. No fear. When we were going down, he would turn back to me and say, "Mommy, this way. Put your hand on this rock and go down."

What's not to love about that? Not only does he find his own way, being independent and brave. But he turns around to make sure I am ok and to let me know how to get down too in case I need help. If Michael is the only child I am able to have, I thank God that he gave me someone who is so easy to love and someone I am so proud of to know every day.