Southwest France is Amazing!

We just got back from our first real VACATION as a family! I say vacation because it was relaxing and fun (for the most part!). Our other adventures tend to be trips and a bit stressful, but we think we have finally got this travel thing down. Only took about a year! If you want tips on how to travel with kids in Europe, drop us a line.

Family pictures and trip overview is at the end. Various odds and ends at the beginning of this blog. I know it is organized poorly but I don't know how else to organize this! This is a really long blogpost...reader beware...

We flew from Paris to Toulouse. Then back to Paris from Perpignan.

We spent 10 days in the south of France puttering around. Here is the map of our route:

We discovered that we will never own (nor rent for that matter) an Opal ever again! On the 2nd day of our 10 day trip, this little yellow light came on that showed a wrench in the middle of a car. We decided that it just means you need a wrench to fix the car and kept on driving.

We were discovering a region of France called Languedoc-Roussillon, which is known for Cathar castle ruins, mountains, and my favorite belly/thigh enhancing dish called Cassoulet. It is a stew of white beans, sausage, confit de canard, fatty porc that is cooked slowly. It's like Van Kamps pork and beans, but good and without ketchup (B's note).

Most mornings started around 10:30am after breakfast, etc was done. Then, we'd go somewhere. Usually just one place. Then, be back at our hotel around 5pm. In our first hotel in Caunes-Minervois, the time we got back actually mattered. The hotel had a 3 car garage that they fit 5 cars in. Many days, we felt like Austin Powers did when he got stuck in that car between 2 walls.

One morning, we had trouble getting out. This Frenchman who drove a Jeep Grand Gherokee (which is like driving a Hummer in France) helped us get out. We got a bit antsy wondering if we would fit between 2 cars to leave and he comes over, looks at it and is like "you've got PLENTY of space, like 2 cms on each side." Glad it's a rental.

No matter where we went though, the British were there. It was incredible. The place was overrun with them! An interesting thing about our 10 day vacation was that we only encountered about 3-4 Americans while we there. And we only saw 1 Rick Steves book. Usually, whenever we go on vacation, there are tons of Americans and lots of Rick Steves books around. But not this time. It was our first real Europe Through the Back Door Experience. We heard a lot of French, German, Spanish, Dutch, and British English. It was strange also to be only 1 of 3 Asian people in Collioure.

So anyways, here is the summary of our trip. As usual, many more pictures are available on our smugmug album. For those who are REALLY bored.

Love,
P



Trip Overview

Wednesday, August 20th
Flew from Paris to Toulouse. Picked up our rental car and drove to Carrefour (like Sam's) where we bought groceries, diapers, and privisions for Michael. Drove to Caunes-Minervois to try to check in, but our hotel owner was taking a nap until 5:30pm and it was only 3pm. Drove to Lastours and hiked/toured the castles there. A king built one castle for each of his 4 sons so none of them would feel favored. With 4 sons, it makes you wonder...was that king a BESANCON?!?!?! Family picture, bien sur:



Drove back to Caunes-Minervois and checked in. Had an awesome dinner in the courtyard of our hotel, which was in a 15th century house.


Thursday, August 21st

In the morning, we had breakfast in the courtyard of our amazing hotel. This is the same courtyard where we had dinner and feasted on Cassoulet! Here we are in the middle right:
Drove to Carcassonne. Toured the castle ramparts. Came home. Michael's worst day, but to his defense, we planned it quite poorly for him.



Friday, August 22nd
Drove to Abbeye de Fontfroide. Loved it! We took the French tour and Brian understood almost all of it and I understood about 60%! We are gettin' somewhere in this language! The abbey was everything you would imagine to be:

Here we are in the gardens outside the Abbey:
Drove to a tiny town carved out of a canyon called Minerve. Walked through the tiny quaint town and had ice cream. Drove back to Caunes-Minervois. Bought a picnic and 'explored' Caunes-Minervois. Took Michael to play area and he had fun throwing rocks into streams. Per usual.

Saturday, August 23rd

Drove to Albi. Michael rode the caroussel and we checked out the market. Bought quick picnic there and gave Michael lunch outside the cathedral. Toured the cathedral and choir. Michael fell asleep so Brian and I ran quickly over to a nearby cafe recommended by Rick Steves called La Tartine. Had an awesome relaxing 1.5 hour lunch as Michael slept. Went to the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum. Drove back to Carcassonne to get night time pics of the Old City and see the place floodlit from Pont Vieux. Michael rode the carrousel first! Here is a night time shot:

And us inside Carcassonne's walls with the floodlights providing light for the picture:

Did that, stopped at Quick Burger (like McD's) at 10pm for dinner. Michael was already asleep and had dinner earlier.

Sunday, August 24th
Checked out of our 15th century hotel and explored the abbeye in Caunes-Minervois. Definitely worth the no mention in Rick Steves. Drove to Collioure. Decided our vacation was in "neutral" and shifted into "PARK" for the relaxing beach part of our vacation! We spent time enjoying the beach, hiking around the hills nearby, exploring the small town, eating ice cream, and riding the caroussel with Michael. We bought 10 tickets for him for 10 euro and it barely lasted the 5 days we were there.

We loved it and much prefer it to Nice and the French Riviera. We were told the Mediterranean towns would be PACKED this time of year because of the nice hot weather. And it probably would have been in Nice! But in Collioure, we had plenty of space to lay out and enjoy ourselves. Nice is like hanging out with the crowds who shop at Neiman Marcus. Collioure is like hanging out with the crowds who shop at Dillards.

Checked into our pretty basic 2 star hotel. Sheets smelled of mildew, but the view was incredible.

Should have asked them to change the sheets the first day. Walked around Collioure and discovered we could only wander down 2 streets a day of the town to make sure we didn't do it all in one day. Had ice cream at least once. Ate dinner at La Copacabana and was thankful we had a table with a direct exit outside. Michael was AWFUL. I had to go do time out with him 5 times for screaming in the restaurant.

Monday, August 25th
Laid out on the beach all day. Upset because it was cloudy. Resolve to change plans to be on the beach if clear skies prevail. Had ice cream at least once. Love this picture of Michael running into the ocean with Collioure in the backdrop:

Brian and I bought a great little picnic for ourselves. Put Michael to bed early and had a bottle of wine, fresh chevre, baguette, and lomo sausauge on our balcony while watching the sun set over Collioure. Amazing. This is the sunset we were looking at:


Tuesday, August 26th
Drove to Queribus and Perypeteuse. Hiked to both chateaus on top of mountains. Queribus was not too bad. A lady in a full hot pink jumpsuit was able to do it. Here is us on the ascent:



Perypeteuse was not too bad to the 1st part of the chateau. Saw a bunch of birds of prey. Had fun exploring the nooks and crannies. Here is Michael, hiking! Looks like an "Endurance" poster to me!
And father and sone enjoying the ruins:


Downright scary to the 2nd part. Very steep and slippery rocks. German kids and German senior citizens whizzing by us left and right with their walking sticks. Very funny French people. While on the way up, there was a group of 5 older French people. We heard one lady say, "Well, at least if one of us slips, we all go down together!" Then, we hear a guy in the back yelling, "DOMINO!!!!" Awesome. Made it to the top. It was worth it. One the way down, another French girl told me "J'ai super peur." I am super scared. Me too. Her boyfriend, Brian and Michael got down the stairs with no problems while me and this French girl helped each other get down. We met our men at the bottom since they left us to fend for ourselves.

Went back to Collioure. On the way, stopped at McDonalds for dinner for all of us. Less stress option with Michael


Wednesday, August 27th
Bad day for our whole family. Brian and I both grumpy for various reasons. Michael grumpy for God only knows why. We attempted to hike in the morning to Ft. St. Elmo but I was tired from yesterday's massive hike and we turned around to go home. Went to beach in the hottest part of the day and Michael only wanted to ride the caroussel and play on the playground in stead of the beach itself. Wandered around the old town and found out there was only 1 street left we hadn't seen. Saved it for later. On the upside, we had ice cream more than once. And the hotel changed our sheets so our bed was much better.


Thursday, August 28th
Awesome, relaxing day. Brian and I had an excellent breakfast at a cafe overlooking the beach while Michael ate and played in the grass around us. Went to the royal castle. Glad Rick steves did not recommend it. Had lunch at La Marinade and Michael was EXCELLENT. He ate his lunch, did not make much noise, and played with another little boy when he was finished eating and we were finishing up. Our lunch was delicious. Brian had fresh sardines (hand fileted and fresh caught) and a salad. I had slow cooked veal. Went to the beach for the rest of the afternoon. Enjoyed pizza on some steps overlooking the beach. Had ice cream at least once. Enjoyed a beverage while Michael took an early evening nap. Wonderful, relaxing, and amazing.


Friday, August 29th
Woke up, flew back to Paris via Perpignan. Airport only had 5 departing flights all day. 2 went back to Paris. 3 went to Great Britain.


I think this is the longest post EVER.

Navigation Skills

Well, we just got back from our trip to Caunes-Minervois and Collioure and I must say that Phuong did an excellent job of navigating! We had to find all these castles perched on mountain cliffs and villages built into the side of canyons and she got us everywhere despite my attempts to steer off the priority road and go where I wanted. The maps all had different labels than the real roads near Collioure and Perpignan, and we still had no problems!

We saw in the paper that the Tour de France is supposed to go through Perpignan next year, so we may have to go back in July.

Shhh...Daddy is sleeping

Brian was sleepy today so I decided to put it to good use by making him put Michael to sleep.

Brian is sleeping in the glider while I am putting on Michael's diapers and such. Michael looks over, sees Brian sleeping and says to me, "Shhh..." while doing the Shhh sign with his index finger to his lips.

Guess I better be more considerate to B since Michael is apparently on his side.
P

Crashing Eva and Tony Parker's Wedding Site

We rented a car this weekend. We've made a many trip to IKEA but have also snuck in some day trips from Paris as well.

Today, visited Vaux-le-Vicomte, the chateau where Eva Langoria wed Tony Parker in 2007. Now, I am sure it will not only be remembered for staging this blessed occasion. Or at least we hope. We arrived at around 1:30 in time for lunch and started touring at 2:30.

We had a super late start, on purpose. Then, we decided to drive 2 hours out of the way to avoid a 40 minute traffic delay. On our little detour, there was IKEA, so we broke hard, exited and bought things. Then, back on the road only to end up at a roundabout where Brian decided not to follow his navigator's advice. Thus, we ended up on a very small road to a very small town where the map had a blast symbol to show what might be a bridge to the other side of the river. Many laughs later, we were cracking up at all the events that transpired to have us wandering around France along a river somewhere. And then to notice that we could have just waited the 40 minutes in traffic and been just fine.

Anyways, we toured the inside of the chateau, which was quite weathered compared to Versailles. It's almost as if Louis XIV also said, "Don't make this chateau nice EVER again." after building Versailles. Short history lesson: This chateau was built by Louis XIV's finance minister. After Louis XIV visited this chateau, which was more splendid than the piddly little hunting lodge Versailles, he arrested the owner, took his architect and garden designer. The architect and garden designer was then commissioned to work on the opulent Versailles that we see today. Scandalous. The long history here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaux-le-Vicomte

So after seeing the inside , we rented golf carts and went cruising all over the grounds. Here are some family pictures:
Andre Le Notre's gardens:

We then drove home in a much more direct fashion. And now Michael and Brian fell asleep together at 10:30pm.

Yesterday, we went to Giverny, which is home to Monet's house and his gardens. If you have seen pictures of Monet's water lilies, this is what inspired them. Here is a family picture there too! Brian and Michael were super good sports by letting me wander the gardens and take pictures. I don't know...it was just one of those things I had to see.

Then, you guessed it! IKEA!

Friday, we wandered around Paris. A lot. We walked all day long pretty much! Michael got to play in a playground near Saint Germain des Pres. Here is my favorite picture of that day.

More pictures of everything in our smugmug album as always! Now, to go and download pics from our America trip!

Love,

P

Pull my finger

I've been teaching Michael his body parts and bodily functions lately. He's been really gassy of late and tooting a lot so I've taught him toot. He can't say it but knows what it means. Today, I was doing some situps on the floor while Phuong was putting his creams on before bed and he runs over and sits on my belly per usual. But then I let out a nice fart, which reverberated off of the wood floors and he laughed and laughed. Then he made his sign for 'more', and I was like look here boy, I'm spent, I've got nothing else, "all done". When that didn't work, he made the sign "just 1 more" with his index finger so I did some more exercises and worked up a good one a bit later. He was a bit aways from me so I held out my finger and when he pulled it, I shot that one off the parquet. He couldn't stop laughing and held out the 1 more sign again but unfortunately I was not up for the challenge and we had to chase each other in a circle and one of us got tickled repeatedly.

New Word

Michael has recently become fascinated with trains. He started calling them "choo choo" even though they're not steam powered. Every time he sees stairs descending into the metro system, he says choo-choo and cries if we don't go down to look at the trains. When we're waiting for the train to come, he gets really excited and says choo-choo until the train comes to a stop. If you even say the word choo-choo, he'll say it about 15 times in a row. Today he saw a real train on the way to Giverny and an animal farm which got him really excited.

We went to IKEA this evening to get some baby security items and he found the toy train. We had to pull him off of it and bought him one for his birthday. It's not as nice as a Brio but it only cost 11 Euro and he loved this one anyway.

Tuesday we're going to the Jardin d'Acclimatation north of the Bois de Boulogne. They have one of those mini trains like at Hermann Park in Houston so I imagine I'll be out 30 Euro in train tickets. Maybe he'll be happy just to look at it longingly from afar.

Shadow

Michael discovered his shadow while in Virginia at Aunt AK and Uncle Bill's house!

Saturday morning, July 26th, I took Michael for a walk around the townhouse area and it was there...behind their garage, that he found his shadow! Since then, he spies it from time to time and is quite impressed that it is there.

Today, he waved hello to it and kept on going.

Henry James Young

On Friday, I took care of both Oliver and Michael all day long while my friend, Laura, was having a home birth to welcome her son!

Henry James Young was born August 8, 2008 (yup, that would be 08.08.2008) at 8:00pm!

She didn't plan for it to be that way, but what a way to come into the world! So congratulations to them and their family!

Love,
P

La Rentree

Last year, I wrote about a funny phenomenon here called "La Rentree," which is a term used for going back to normal life after 1-2 months of vacation. It applies to both adults and children alike. Think of it as "Back to School," but for everyone!

However, last year, La Rentree was something I experienced by observation. It certainly didn't apply to me. That "Back to School" feeling of new school supplies, seeing old friends again, and re-counting about a relaxing summer vacation well spent...well, that was just for the French apparently!

But this year, most surprisingly, it isn't. It applies to me too. I was welcomed by text messages on my phone, e-mails in my inbox, and voice messages asking if I was back and how my summer vacation went. When can we get the kids together? Are you going to be at Square Rene Legall this week?

So what does this mean exactly? It might mean that I am starting to make friends here. It might mean that while I eat my umpteenth croissant for the day, that I enjoy it here and miss things from here.

It just might mean...that we have made ourselves a home and didn't even realize it. Or maybe it was just me who didn't.

Love,
P

"Michael, we can't go to the park because they are closing it up. Mean men with whistles make us leave. If we stay there, we get locked in. Do you want to sleep at the park tonight?"

"eey"

What a Waste

Eventually, as a stay at home mom...you encounter someone who says "What a waste" to your decision to be a stay at home mom.

Thankfully, that someone said it to Brian and not me. An intern at Brian's work told him "What a Waste" it was for me to be at home instead of working.

Brian just gave her a funny look, which is much more civil than what I would have done to that girl. I believe the term is called "ripped her a new one."

Love,
P

On Friday, Michael learned how to put his pointer finger to his lips and go "shh." Like people do at the library.

Today, we went shopping at La Defense. Michael played in a lot of toy stores and rode the indoor train. Then, we peeked into Jardin d'Aclimatation. Went shopping on the Champs Elysees and had a playdate at my friend Su's house. It was a full day!

Michael loves trucks, trains, buses, motorcycles, bikes, right now. He points to them all over the street and asks us what they are over and over again!

On Wednesday, it was so pretty that I decided to be adventurous and take Michael to a cafe for lunch with me. I packed him a lunch, ordered mine...and 15 minutes later, we were back at home! Amazing how fast you can eat when you have a toddler trying to run away.

Love,
P

Funny Day

We are having funny days. Today is one of them!

**Warning, very long post about random things that you might not be interested in.**

In Paris, we have these poles on the sidewalk. They are about 3 feet high and are used to prevent cars/ motorcycles from getting on the sidewalk. Michael has decided these poles are good for humping. He'll see a pole, scream in excitement, run up to it and hump it. We have to pry him off.

There is a small silver ball at the park, anchored into the play area. It is about 1 foot in diameter and bounces up and down on it's anchor. Yup, Michael has started humping that too.

Michael was listening to Dave Matthews and GOT DOWN to it. I mean, he was bobbing back and forth, swaying left and right, bending his knees and booty bumpin' it. I mean, gettin' down. So Brian and I danced with him and we were all going to town and lovin' it. What an awesome family moment.

Today, I was mopping in the kitchen. Michael saw me and stopped. The last time I was mopping, he ran in, slipped, his feet went out from underneath him and he landed flat on his back. I need a "piso mojado" sign.

Interesting how he remembers that 2 months later! I told him to crawl, so he did! However, when I was finished, he got to the kitchen and hit the deck again. So I told him it was ok. He stood up, but took these teeny tiny careful steps to make sure it wasn't wet.

While Michael was waiting for me to finish mopping, I find him standing next to our radiator, leaning up against the door with one foot crossed over the other. Just standing there. Waiting. I asked him, "Are you waiting for Mommy to finish mopping?"

"eey."

Michael-talk for "yes."

We went to 3 parks today before bedtime. Yup. 3. THat's one thing I LOVE about Paris. I can walk to 3 different parks in less than 10 minutes.

We went to a new park today. Michael grabbed a handful of sand. Left the sandpit. Opened the gate, walked about 50 yards past the front of this fountain, took a left, went up 2 long steps, up a ramp, took antoher left, went up 3 more long steps and threw his handful into the backside of the fountain. He looks at me, does his sign for "more." And I say, "Sure."

6 times and 20 minutes later, we are finally "All done."

Today, I gave him a pain au raisin that was about the size of his head.

That's it.

Love,
P

Bienvenue a Paris!

We are back! And surprisingly...happy about it!

I've been eating here like I did in the USA. Like I wasn't going to be back ever. I've been stuffing my face full of pastries, eclairs, croissants, and other French things! So I guess I do miss it here and like it.

SHOCKING.

Will catch up on the US trip etc. One day. When we're not up at god-awful hours dealing with jet-lagged Michael!

Love,
P

Starbucks

I went to Starbucks today. There's one on the way to Montparnasse Station, and I've been walking from home to work lately since it's so nice out so I stop in to have a bit of Americana. Blueberry muffin and ginormous coffee. Today, as I went in, I saw the same two girls leaving that I've seen walking from there and holding Starbucks cups for the last week. They're as American as they come. Then there were four dudes in the front of the store. When I was leaving, the waitress was talking to them in poor English. Also American. I saw another woman in the back of the shop. She might have been American and she was about 50 with dyed blond hair so I'm giving her at least a 87% chance of being American. So that's 8 people and at least 87% of them American.

My Latest Favorite Picture

Haircut

I got a haircut yesterday; my hair's pretty short despite that I told her it had been cut too short last time. I went in to get it cut because I didn't want to wait until after I got back from the US to get one because then it'd be all shaggy, and I don't want to waste an hour of my time in the US getting a haircut either. Also, it's perfect because then I can get a haircut in a month before we go to the hot and sunny south. These are the kinds of things you have to worry about when you can only get your hair cut on Saturdays because you arrive home from work after all the shops close. Problem is, the rest of the 2 million Parisians do the same thing so Saturdays move slowly, especially if you do grocery delivery, or so I heard. We're lucky that P can go mid-week.

I was chatting with the haircutter; she was kind of dumb, but I think it represents how a lot of people here think. She asks me if people earn more as haircutters in the US than in France. I didn't know what to say, but she thought wages here were lower. She claimed the reason is that people are forced by the government to work only 35 hours a week and to work during certain times. I can see how this might limit your earning potential as a haircutter, dependent on the number of people you can squeeze in per hour of work. And if you're forced to work when everyone else works, there might not be as many clients as you'd hope for. Anyway, the conversation turned towards presidents and she then claims that Sarkozy is terrible and that Mitterand was a great president! Mitterand was the communist who introduced the 35 hour week and the largesse of the state currently plaguing the French economy. Even though he's a bit crazy and inconsistent on every issue, Sarkozy is actually trying to change this law (and help out people like my haircutter). This woman really wants Ron Paul as her president, but she just doesn't know it.

The second crazy thing she said was when she asked me how I liked our new president. I was like what are you talking about. She says, you know the new president, the guy that beat Hillary. Wow! I'm glad that wasn't the presidential race. I had to inform her that Obama still has to beat McCain in November.

Along the same lines as the workweek comments, I see every few months an article in the news about the French government seizing tons of cigarettes that have been smuggled through the Spanish border. Why are they brought in? Ridiculously high taxes on cigarettes make it worth buying those on the "black market". French people, who smoke all the time, continue to vote "left" for people that condemn freer markets, although by buying these cigarettes, they are saying they don't approve of these policies.

Dog at work

This exercise is more for me than anything.

Today we were eating lunch at the on site cafeteria and a dog came running in. He was very happy and was running underneath the tables and when people got up to leave he would chase after them and try to get some scraps. I don't know why he would want some scraps since we had beef kidneys, salmon and stuffed rabbit chunk. I got the rabbit, which was pretty good.

Aujourd'hui nous mangions à la cantine et un chien est venu. Il était très content et il courait sous les tables. Quand les autres personnes s'enlevait de partir, il les suit en espérant de recevoir des bribes. Je ne sais pas pourquoi il voudrait des bribes puisqu'on a mangé des rognons de bœuf, du saumon et paupiette de lapin. J'ai pris la paupiette de lapin qui était vachement bonne.

Heute als wir gegessen haben, ist ein Hund in die Kantine gekommen. Er war wirklich froh und er ist unter die Tischen gerennen. Wann die Leute zu weggehen aufgestanden sind, hat er ihnen mit der Höffnung den Abfall zu kriegen gefolgt. Ich habe keine Ahnung, warum er den Abfall wollten, weil wir die Niere, den Lachs et die Kaninchensroulade gegessen haben. Die letzte habe ich gegessen, die ziemlich gut war.

Another Gem in Berlin

An American, and Englishman, a German and a Frenchman are sitting in a bar. The Englishman says "the French are always talking about some regulation in 1942 regarding pressure vessels." The American thinks 'so that is why the French capitulated so easily - so they could quickly solve their pressure vessel issues', but says aloud, "That's all the French had to think about in 1942, there wasn't anything more important?". The Frenchman and the German tensed up real good but luckily the old Englishman made a funny joke and the meeting the next day was very productive.


Brooks was telling me that in school, the French aren't taught about America's role in liberating them from the Germans. They must think that de Gaulle swam the channel with a band of merry men eating cheese and wearing berets and scarves who subsequently wiped out the Germans and their tanks while Ike was trading high fives, drinking brandy and smoking cigars with Churchill over a game of snooker.

Sunshine in Paris 2

Since Phuong left, with the exception of today, the weather has been gorgeous. Long days where it's light out until 10:30pm, days full of sunshine and blue skies, relatively cool temperatures in the mid to upper 70's. This is what I remembered European summer being like in Germany. Last summer was awful here, it was cold and overcast. I remember when my family came to visit in early August, we went to Besancon and were greeted by drizzly weather with temperatures in the lower 50's.

I.Love.Home

There's nothing better than seeing your child in the home you grew up in, eating the food you grew up on, and enjoying the life you remember as a child yourself.

Oh how I miss home.

Love,
P

We Made It

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

Must Eat Chips

Do you prefer...

tortilla chips with a bit of lime...

or baked cheetos?
If you're Michael, you'd say, "Both."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thunder

I saw a flash of light from the sky. And then I heard thunder.

This was the first time I've seen/heard both in Paris. It rains almost every day in the winter (which is about 9 months out of the year). And we've been here for 17 months and have never had a thunderstorm.

But let me not be premature...we don't have a thunderstorm yet. I just saw one flash and heard one clap. So that may have been it.

Tidbit-Life in Paris

Oooh! There goes another mini flash of light!

Yet Another Worry...

Ok...did you guys know that Air France goes on Strike with our public transportation system? Well, you probably did and I just realized it.

So pray that they don't decide to go on strike for our flight to the US. Don't care about our flight back to Paris, just our flights to the US!

As if...reason number 1002 not to like France.

Love,
P

Almost Famous

Our favorite photographer in the whole wide world, Janet Roe, has our images on her website! Check it out!

http://jroephotography.com/

Click on Kids, then Portfolio, then Christening. It's the first option under the Christening menu.

And she has our engagement picture up on her wedding website under "Old Favs." We're OLD! ;o)

Much love,
P

One More Thing

When Michael woke up today, I let him down from our bed (he sleeps from about 5am - 7am with us...not all the time, but from time to time). It was a bit quiet so I turn around on the bed and see Michael standing next to the bed, eating from an entire pear. Skin and all.

Brian left the pear on the coffee table and forgot to take it with him. Finders Keepers, losers weepers. And boy did Brian weep when he found out his precious pear was T-A-K-E-N.

I asked Michael, "Where did you get that pear?" and he took me out to the living room and pointed to the coffee table.

I guess it's ok that he doesn't talk much?

Michael ate the whole thing and when he ate enough to separte the stem from the rest of the pear, he gave it to me to throw away for him.

Breakfast...CHECK!

Love,
P

Neighbors

Today, my neighbor looked very pretty in a black skirt and tank top so I complimented her. She laughed and said she dug the skirt out of the trash actually. It had a rip so she repaired it herself and is wearing it now! Apparently, she used to work as a couture seamstress in Italy before living here.

This is the same neighbor whose son took Brian's sweater out of the donation box.

Gotta love France!

Menagerie Visit

We went to the "zoo" here in Paris on Sunday and saw lots of hooved animals!

But the highlight of our visit was definitely the orangutan (sp?) exhibit. We saw the male orangutan swing down from his high perch to join his "wife" in the floor of the cage. Quite suddenly, we were privileged to see him dig in her "hind parts" and separate the hair around her "hind parts". This resulted in quite amusing gasps and laughter amongst us and the French crowd gathered around the glass cage! I HOPE that female monkey was 1) Female and 2) his wife.

Brian went to work on Monday and his co-worker also went to the same zoo on Sunday. He saw the baby orangutan in that cage go right up to the glass and proceed to poop/pee all over it.

I suppose they cleaned that up before we got there.

Love,
P

Sleep Eating

Lots of Random Things to blog about today!

Michael discovered bubbles today at the park! A father was blowing bubbles for his kids so Michael wandered over there to try to catch one. He's so cute and timid. The 2 other kids are right next to the bubble blower and Michael hangs out in the back hoping some blow his way.

Michael drew his first drawing today with crayons. It's hanging on the fridge.

Yesterday, I was folding laundry in the living room with all the clothes on the couch. Michael was standing next to me, playing with something on the coffee table. I turn to put a shirt on the arm of the couch, turn back around, and MICHAEL IS STANDING ON TOP OF THE COFFEE TABLE.

Yesterday, Michael was super sleepy at lunch, but was still able to grab a strawberry in his sleep. Which leads me to my pictures today.

Michael was literally sleep eating. These pictures are not long blinks. He was sleeping and chewing at the same time. I tried to pull his plate away and put him to bed, but he'd wake up, yank his plate back, pick up some more food, and continue to chew with his eyes closed.

The Donation Box

A week after the Delivery Guy fiasco, my neighbor stopped me to tell me thanks for the sweater that her son pulled from the "donation box." The stripes suited him quite well apparently.

This time, it was Brian's sweater that fit the guy well so I thankfully dodged a bullet there.

Phuong

Puddle Play

Yesterday at Square Rene Legall

The Delivery Guy

I have a Delivery Guy. He delivers my groceries from Champion! It's actually quite normal here. You go grocery shopping, pay for your things, and the grocery store delivers it right to your door. What's not to like?

So the Delivery Guy was dropping off my groceries when he notices a box of things I had left outside my door labelled "Pour Donation." He asks me if he can take it and put it outside of Champion for people to take things if they'd like. Of course! One less thing to do right?

About a month later, Delivery Guy shows up...wearing a jacket I had put in that donation box. I have to admit, it looked much better on him than it did on me so I was glad it went to a person that needed it more than I did. And yes, it was a men's jacket that I had purchased a long time ago when I believed function was much more important than form. It had a fleece lining and was REALLY warm.

Anyways, it was surprising and funny to see he had gone through the box first and to see my old jacket. And a bit uncomfortable for me because I also put in there some green/purple lingerie that I wanted to get rid of. Here's to hoping he didn't remember THAT...

Enjoy your May 1st! Rabbit!

Love,
Phuong

Stats

17.5 month check

Weight, 10.3 kg
Length: 82 cm
Head circumference: 47 cm

Dip Tet vaccination today. I *think* these are the right numbers as I had to read them myself or hear my doctor mumbling under his breath.

Spoon Practice

Today, Michael attempted to eat oatmeal with his spoon by himself. Eventually, he gave up:


Good thing it was a bit thick:

Get it IN THERE!

We gave up. He got a croissant for breakfast. Better luck tomorrow, son!

Michael's friend Oliver has started making this HILARIOUS face. He breathes REALLY hard in and out when he does it. It's so cute:
Happy Saturday!

P

Catch Up, Part 3 - Provence, France

Brian and I came back from Italy, and after a one night layover in paris, we hopped on a train and headed to explore Provence and the Cotes du Rhone area of France with Brian's Mom and Michael.

The first day, we arrived in Avignon, picked up our car, and did a wine tasting in Chateuneuf du Pape. There, we tasted 2 really good red wines, an incredible muscat, and 2 good white wines. They will deliver to Paris if you buy 3 cases (12 bottles each at 24 euro per bottle). Umm...no thank you.

We then, by chance, stumbled upon our bed and breakfast we were staying at. Luckily too because I doubt we would have seen their small sign at the end of a fence! We loved it there as it was a small farm and Michael discovered all sorts of animals. He wasn't too impressed with the chickens there:



On Saturday, we set out to Arles to explore its booming Saturday morning market. We bought loads of Herbes de Provence, table linens, and bed linens there! Now, I can see where Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma get their inspirations from! We paused to check out the exterior of the Roman Arena and didn't quite make it to the Roman Forum. I think we had shopping on the brain.

After this, we drove around some more and did Rick Steve's Cotes du Rhone drive backwards and as inefficiently as possible. We checked out another place for a wine tasting, saw Les Baux, Saint Remy, and loads of other places and views I don't remember because I was doing my best to entertain Michael in the backseat. He's not so fun in the car.

In Les Baux, Michael took his first audiotour ever:



On Sunday, we jumped back in the car and headed to....PONT DU GARD! I have been wanting to see this structure for MONTHS. It is a HUGE roman aqueduct and is the 2nd highest Roman ruin still standing (the highest is the Colisseum). It was a fascinating to see/learn about this engineering marvel. And of course to take pictures in front of it:

After this, we headed over to Avignon to experience dinner/dusk there. Here is Brian and Michael at the Palace des Papes:

And here is our happy family in Avignon. Well, at least Mommy and Daddy are happy!

So we concluded our trip with quite a delightful dinner in Avignon. The next day, we played on the farm and explored the animals before heading back to noisy, stressful Paris. We sure enjoyed Provence with its sunny weather, relaxing atmosphere, and GREAT shopping!

We will most certainly be back there! Especially since we lost an entire memory card of pictures so we are missing TONS of family pictures. This just means we HAVE to go back. Awww...shucks!

Whew...I think that's it. I am tired. And now off to do 40 mini loads of laundry...

Love,

P

Catch Up, Part 2 - Cinque Terra, Italy

Brian's Mom came to Paris on March 15th! After a 3 hour delay in Dallas due to mechanical issues, Brian almost nearly missed his online Fantasy baseball draft! That dreaded Daylight Savings Time too didn't help!!!

After getting all settled in and relaxing a bit, Brian's mom generously took care of Michael for 4 days and 3 nights while Brian and I took off for our first vacation WITHOUT Michael!

On March 17th, we got the hell-outta-dodge and flew to Italy where we visited Pisa, hiked the Cinque Terra coast, and then shopped in Florence. It was amazing! Brian impressed me by holding up the Leaning Tower with his nose:




The 2nd day, we began what was to be a 7 hour hike through all 5 coastal towns along the Cinque Terra. We started in Riomaggiore, went through Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and ended up in Monterosso al Mare. We had an amazing time exploring these quiet villages and hiking in the semi-wilderness. Some of the trail was QUITE difficult and I thought I wasn't going to make it. But we finished in a nowhere-near-a-record time of 7 hours. Along the way, we had fun conversations, great food, and amazing pictures.

One lady even asked us if we were newlyweds! CHA-CHING! Five going on 6 years of marriage thank you very much! Here is us being in L-O-V-E! And no, I haven't been body building. It's just my ruffly shirt shoved into my sweater that makes me look beefy on top:

Here's proof of my Ruffly shirt with Vernazza in the background:

The last city in the hike was Monterosso al Mare, where we stayed. It was quiet, tranquil, and relaxing. Everything we needed! There were frogs that croaked and went to bed at 11:00pm, every night. It was so nice to hear nature instead of the constant moan of cars/buses in the background! Here we are at the end of the hike, still happy: And the view from the balcony of our hotel room:

Our dinners were filled with super fresh seafood! One night, we had something we ended up naming the Sea Rat or Sea Worm. It had the body of a shrimp and the head of a sting ray. It was weird and awful. NEVER eat anything that fits that description.

Other than that, we feasted on fresh anchovies, freshly caught sea bass, and delicious fruits of the sea! I have never had fish so fresh!

The day after this, we headed over to Florence where Brian found some black shoes that he liked. He's been searching for MONTHS! Rick was right when he said Florence deserved a well planned day. We went to the Uffizi and Accademia and conceeded defeat after seeing the lines.

Ah well! All in all, we had a great vacation alone and were ready to be parents again when we returned to Paris! We missed our little guy!

Next: Catch Up, Part 3: Provence!

Love,

P

Catch Up, Part 1: The Dickersons Visit!

March has been a busy month with the Dickersons coming at the beginning and then Brian's mom came a week later! So after all of our fun with our family and friends, we now have time to sit down and blog it all.

Our Pinochle friends from Austin, Tom and Gina Dickerson, came to visit us at the beginning of the month. We took them to our favorite French restaurant, right around the corner from our house. We enjoyed wine with our French cuisine which included Foie gras, magret de canard, coq au vin, pigeon with truffles, and veal. It was DELECTABLE and a fun night out with NO KIDS! We are pretty happy about that:


Earlier in the day, we ran around with them to the Rodin Museum (2 pictures below) and also to Rue Cler (a market street) where we introduced them to the fine art of moldy French cheeses. Here we are in a fromagerie:

Gina, Michael and I at the Rodin Museum gardens.

After that, they went off to enjoy Paris which included a dinner night cruise, the standard museums and attractions, and even stayed at the hotel Brian and I stayed at for our honeymoon. Even more impressive, is that they were able to fit in a visit to the Normandy beaches while they were here!

We thoroughly enjoyed their company and loved to see them! When they showed up at our door, it was like "home" had just walked in.

Next up: Catch up, Part 2: Cinque Terra, Italy - Our First Vacation away from Michael.

Michael - The Hobbit

Michael has been eating like a hobbit lately. Here is his eating schedule for the past 2 days:

8:00am - Breakfast - Oatmeal
8:30am - 2nd Breakfast - Cheesy scrambled eggs, 1/4 slice of bacon, 1/4 slice of bread with butter and honey
10:30am - Snack - piece of cheese and one slice of cardboard tasting toast
12:30am - Lunch - Green beans, ground pork (tomato farci stuffing), rice, 1 strawberry, 1/4 apple, 1 slice of cheese
2:00pm - Snack - yogurt and fruit compote
4:oopm - 2nd Snack - 5 apple slices
6:30pm - Dinner - Green beans, 1/4 apple, 1 slice of cheese, 1 meat, starch, 1 cup of milk

Thank GOD. He's making up for not eating for about 10 days! Last night, his stomach was so big that it was hard when you touched it. Very similarly to his Uncle John's stomach.

Just had to share that.

Love,
P

Dickersons Devour France

Our friends Tom and Gina Dickerson came to visit on March 1st and stayed until March 6th! We had a great time with them and congratulated them on their 7th anniversary! Their itinerary was chock full of French food, French museums, and the Normandy beaches. It is always great fun to hear about Paris from a first time visitor and also to hear about places we have never been (Normandy beaches).

I am patiently awaiting Gina's pictures that she took! I will post once she does.

And for those who are wondering...the Dickersons have 2 kids (3.5 and 1.5 years old). SO all of you have no excuse to not visit. :o)

Just kidding. Kind of. :o)

Love,
P

More Molars

Well, Michael has been waking up every 3 hours for the past 2 nights. We attributed it at first to the antibiotics upsetting his stomach, but now he is in a much better mood. Lo-and-behold after peering in his mouth, I discover that he's getting his upper 2 molars in. They are JUST breaking through the gums.

Michael is back to eating like a ravenous animal. He eats something practically every hour in addition to his 3 main meals. After not eating for 2 weeks, we are relieved! With the sickness, antibiotics, and teething, it is no wonder he has not been in the best of moods!

We are glad he is getting through with this now before Grammy comes! Now, if he can only stay well for 2 more weeks!!!! Everyone...think (and pray!)..."No chicken pox...no cough...no sickness!"

Michael did something cute that we have been meaning to blog about.

About 2 sundays ago, Brian was getting ready to go to the market. Michael saw Brian getting ready and immediately went to get his sweater. He tried his hardest to get his left arm in and finally gave up. He went and grabbed his hat next and brought it to Brian, only to find out (quite sadly) that he was not going to be going with Brian. 10 minutes after a round of tears, Michael settled down for his nap, which was the reason he couldn't go but he didn't know that.

Right now, it is a really fun age for us. Michael is understanding so much and picking up on things all the time. And the best part about it is, Michael really loves us and loves hanging out with us. We know it won't last forever, so we are enjoying it as much as we possibly can.

Love,
P

Sick Kid = YUCK!

Well, we had the head injury, went skiing, and since then no posts? What's up?

Well, we came back from skiing and then I got sick. And then Michael got sick. And then we had to go to the doctor to get antibiotics. And then there was the diarrhea/vomiting/bad diaper rash reaction from the antibiotics. Michael, not me. And then there was the returning back to the doctor for a new antibiotic. And now...there is the getting better.

So now...nearly 3 weeks later, I have time to post. Having a really sick kid is new territory for me! Michael was really whiny on the antibiotics for the first 2-3 days and all he wanted was to be held and he didn't want to eat. Now, things are looking up...finally!

How long will it last? I don't know! I am trying to keep him healthy until his Grammy comes and we come back from Avignon. So i am doing my best to keep him away from sick kids/etc!

Well...today, we had playgroup and sure enough, one kid has a cough. Then come to find out the same kid might be carrying around the chicken pox because her mom has been trying to get her infected with it to get it over with.

GREAT...Michael's got the vaccine, but who knows if he'll be ok. SIGH. NO KIDS NEXT WEEK!

Love,
P

Bourg Saint Maurice

Skiing...the only time when, as an adult, you are allowed to wear a slippery nylon onesie (with our without suspenders) in public. Or pants that come up way above your belly button. In fact, it is expected and makes you look like you are totally cool.

This weekend, we went skiing in a little town called Bourg Saint Maurice in the French Alps. We stayed at Brian's co-worker's (Mathieu) chalet. It was what you might call, country rustic! But charming nonetheless.

Friday
I went to ski school for 2 hours and after almost killing my instructor on a blue slope (at one point, he was yelling "Jesus Christ!" while catching me), he advised that I needed 4 more hours of ski school and then just to play a little bit on the protected area. In other words, I failed ski school. So we took a family picture at Les Arcs 1600 (height) to make myself fell better:


While I was at ski school, Brian watched Michael and introduced him to snow as well as sliding down a snow hill on your butt. Both of them liked that. However, it was hard work on Brian.
Saturday
We dropped Michael off at a family friend's of Mathieu's and went off to Sainte-Foy, which we liked much better! They had a great mini slope for beginners which had a little motorized walkway next to it to get you back to the top once you skiied to the bottom. Plus they had a green slope!

It was beautiful there, not very crowded and had lots of Brits eating hotdogs. Here's a view of one of the ski trails in the station:

And here's a picture of Mathieu before he took Brian on a red slope. This resulted in Brian banging up his thumb a little bit, taking a tumble, and losing his skis. Apparently, there was a fork in the trail and as Brian was veering right quite quickly, Mathieu yelled "GO LEFT!". And voila, after a bit too much momentum later, Brian is still alive.

Sunday
We attempted to take Michael back to the same station because it had a fun luge and lots of kiddie things. But as luck would have it, he was extremely cranky and not at all in the mood for the luge or snow. I am not going to go into details about how it was the lowpoint of our trip...but it convinced us that next time we go skiing, we are getting him into the day care at the resort ASAP.

Monday
Departure day. We are sad to go, but a little happy as Michael has not been the most agreeable this trip. All our friends warned us that travelling with a toddler was much harder than travelling with a baby and we didn't understand. Now, we are getting a taste of why!

Anyways, we took pictures on the deck of Mathieu's chalet:
And then had lunch in town and then left to go back to Paris!

We stuffed ourselves FULL of the specialties of Savoie (the region). They are known for their amazing cheese. 3 nights in a row, we ate raclette cheese. This is where you buy a huge half wheel of cheese, place it under a heat lamp and melt the top layer of the cheese. You take a knife and scrape off this top layer onto some boiled potatoes. Repeat. Eat it with a charcuterie (cold meat cuts like prosciuitto and smoked ham), salad, and mini pickles. DIVINE. Who doesn't like potatoes smothered in hot cheese??? WHO???

Another specialty was something called tartiflette. Which involves...you guessed it...cheese and potatoes! It is potatoes baked with lardon (bacon), sour cream, onions, and a regional cheese called reblochon. Cholesterol heaven.

So...the couple we went with spent the entire week in bed sleeping because they were sick with the flu. While they were losing weight, we were putting it on with our melted cheese, potatoes, and bread.

Mmm....I think it was a succesful vacation.

Love,

P

Head Injury

Michael was running, tripped, and ran his head into the foot of my bed. I picked him up and there was blood. Not a lot, but enough to freak me out. So my friend helped me get an ambulance, and I went to the hospital. They said it looked like a superficial wound and to keep an eye on him. If he vomits or cries a lot or has a headache or change in behavior to bring him back to check for bleeding in brain. EEK. But so far, he is acting normally. Keep your fingers crossed! Only 40 more hours of monitoring to go!
He has some adhesive strips on his forehead and over that, a Bob the Builder bandaid.
P

What's it like to have the best husband? It's like waking up and seeing sunlight shine through flower petals. Warm and loved. Here's to you, B.

Too much hair

Phuong didn't tell you that Michael had to get his hair cut because he looked like this:

First Haircut!

Michael had his first haircut today at Sergio Bossi:


Dad came too! Thanks to Dad's "straight across the forehead" haircut, it still looks like Michael had a bowl haircut. Thank goodness today was FREE! ;o)

Michael started picking his nose about 4-5 days ago. Today, he stuck his finger too far up his nose and started to wince, but he kept doing it a couple more times to make sure it didn't feel good. Probably didn't help that he probably shoved some banana bits up there as well.

Michael has added "uh-oh" to his vocabulary too!

I think Bors is gonna be upset when he grows up and realizes we didn't keep a blog for him.

Love,
P

Michael has had a semi interesting month. He started talking! Duck came, then next Dad. But he loves Dad. When Brian comes home, as soon as he hears the lock turn, he runs to the door yelling DaDa Daddada REALLY loudly. He's basically screaming it around the house.

Michael helps out around the house A LOT. I would possibly venture even to say more so than Brian! ;o) Examples:

• He spilled some water in our room, went into the kitchen, grabbed a towel off the hanger, came back and cleaned it up.
• He helps load/unload the washer/dryer.
• He brings me shoes left in the foyer to be put away in the closet (this includes Brian's HUGE shoes).
• He helps to push the vacuum.
• When he sees me mopping, he grabs his washcloth and gets on the floor to help.
• When we come home, he knows the stroller needs to be put away. I found out when I turned around one day and saw the stroller coming right at me towards the closet. But since Michael is smaller, I didn't see him so it just looked like a magical moving stroller.

For an instant today, Michael was QUIET. Like so quiet you gotta go look and make sure he's still alive. So I went to find him and discovered him at the window in our living room watching the rain. He saw the drops falling onto the puddles in our balcony and spent 5-10 minutes just watching. He went from window to window just staring. And when I tried to bend down to look with him, he just pushed me away because he wanted to watch for himself.

THAT was worth a picture, but by the time I grabbed my camera/new lens it was over.

Love,
P

Brian is in the Kitchen

I was at Starbucks about a week ago getting a giant american-sized cup of coffee. I placed my order, and they asked for my name, so I said Brian. And the girl behind the counter, about 20, says, "Where's Brian? Brian is in the kitchen." I gave her a quizzical look so she explained to me that in the English textbooks the French use, when they learn about rooms of the house, Brian is in the kitchen.

I thought that was pretty funny. When I learned German, Elke was drinking erdbeerboule, Jens was playing chess and other assorted, oddly-named Germans were doing their daily activities. So I guess I have a weird English name that French people find amusing.

So I went to work the Monday after and was recounting this story to Augustin, the dude who works in my office. I told him the background of the story and then said how the girl asked me, "Where's Brian?" And without missing a beat, he replies "Brian is in the kitchen!"

Then I was down in Grenoble today for a meeting. During lunch, one of the French guys, about 35, was telling me how had expected me to be French because my name is Besancon (a very French name and name of a city)but was surprised to find out I was american. I said, well my name's Brian, that should be a clue that I'm not French, I mean, I'm in the kitchen. And he shoots back immediately, "and sometimes you open the windows."

Apparently I walk around the house doing normal day to day stuff. I wonder what other kind of stuff I do around the house. I know it doesn't have anything to do with being a handyman.

Ice Skating

We woke up early this morning to find Michael had vomited in his crib. Go over to his blog to see what happened throughout the day. At first, we thought it was a one time kind of deal so we went ahead and went ice skating at Hotel De Ville

They have a little section where you can get a seat for the baby and skate around with him in this separate kids section. But that section was set aside for skate school so they weren't offering that until the afternoon. At which point, the wait in line would probably be around 2 hours. Nope, not doing that.

They gave us these little like crampons to put on michael's shoes so he could go on the ice. But they were too large so we gave up! Brian and I took turns holding Michael so we could skate.

I didn't fall down!!! But then again, I didn't venture very far away from the wall very often. I did however do 3 complete loops without holding onto the wall!

Afterwards, we went to the International mass at Notre Dame, which means they read one of the readings in English and then do one set of prayers in English. It was, sadly, a little bit of a let down.

Notre Dame is this great, beautiful, famous church...but because it is so famous, experiencing Mass there is interrupted by tourists circulating along the outer ring, tourists standing in front of you and taking a picture while you are reading one of the readings, etc. So instead of enjoying church, listening to the homily, enjoying the choir sing, you are being constantly distracted. It's great that the church is so celebrated and holds so much interest and people come from all over to see it. But it makes worshipping there a little bit of a different experience than can be expected.

Afterwards, we got a crepe on the way to lunch. Had lunch, Michael got sick, so we then headed straight home.

P

Throw Up

Well, Michael isn't feeling well. We woke up to find that he threw up all in his crib. :o( After I fed him breakfast, he threw up a little bit more. Just a little though...not his whole breakfast and he threw up right after he pushed his finger too far into his mouth.

So we chalked it up to 1)dinner not settleing well and 2) Michael gagging himself.

But then we were at lunch. I gave him a banana and some Gerber stars...then some water. And he threw up. And then he didn't want to eat anything anymore. And he really hasn't wanted to eat anything all day.

I am giving him the French equivalent of Pedialyte and keeping him hydrated. We gave him 3 bites of banana for dinner and that's it. Will start with rice cereal again tomorrow. Calling Dr. Cohen in the afternoon when he gets to work.

So he's not feeling well. Any advice?

Food

For people who LOVE food and cooking:

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/

Happy tasting,
P

A Little Smatch

We found the French equivalent of Kit Kat.

It's called SMATCH.

Sounds a little dirty doesn't it?
P

Babysitting Exchange

Gotta love this babysitting exchange! Michael has played with his friend George for the last 2 afternoons! George is about 20 months old and they get along great. They chase each other around the house, share snacks, and steal toys from one another! Today, George fed Michael some Cheerios!

Well, yesterday, we dropped Michael off with George's parents and they watched the two boys while we went out. Today, we watched the boys while THEY went out! It was great! The boys have fun playing and run themselves ragged/hungry/thirsty. And we each get some free time! Gotta love the co-op.

Gonna do it in January too on the weekends with our British family friends and with George's family too!
WHOOP!
P

So Michael is getting 4 new teeth now. 2 on the top next to his current 4 and 2 on the bottom next to his current 4.

Which means that Michael was cutting his new teeth when we were Ferberizing him to sleep in his crib.

Parents of the Year award goes to....The Besancons!


NOT.

P

Barbarian Night

Michael had spaghetti tonight. Miam miam.

Squatter

Michael squats really well. I think he's going to grow up to be a catcher. Plus, he uses his left hand really well so maybe he'll be left-handed. Do you know how rare a left handed catcher is? They play for years. He'll make millions. Happy New Year. I made it.
Brian!