Natural History Museum and Jardin des Plantes

Ok, now that I have your attention...

We spent the afternoon at the Natural History Museum in Jardin des Plantes:

Michael is now at the phase where he understands to say "cheese" for the camera. So now, instead of just giving natural smiles, we get this:

I just like the motion in this picture. Michael is levatating here, Matrix style:

Michael spent LOTS of time squatting and looking at the televisions on the floor. I spent a lot of time cursing my 50mm and its blurry shots. Next time, i am bringing my external flash.

HOWEVER, once we got outside, the 50mm was indeed my favorite lens of choice. Michael did not agree:

This is his dodo bird. He rides the carrousel at Jardin des Plantes a lot because we have been running there "often." So he gets all excited and runs straight to the dodo bird every time we ride the carrousel.

Jardin des Plantes has 2 blossoming trees. Michael is plotting how to next attack that pile of mulch behind him:

And these 3 shots are the reason I have this 50mm lens:

(wishing Michael's head was just a tad bit to the left there...)

And how is it that I have aged so much and Brian is still as handsome as he was when we met???

Awesome. f1.4...

Hot Hole

For any of my Parisian readers:

If you like Indian food, try this place:

Muniyandi Vilas
http://www.muniyandi-vilas.com/muniyandivilas/home.php

207, rue Faubourg St.-Denis
75010 Paris
Metro: La Chapelle/Gare du Nord

We LOVE it. And it's SUPER cheap. TONS of food. It's basically a sitting Indian buffet. We get our meals...and the owner comes back and asks us if we need more rice or daal or any more of any side item. All included in the 6.90 price. It's awesome. Our whole family of 3 eats, including chai teas for dessert, for 15 euro total. FOR DINNER.

We went tonight and met The Daniels, who introduced us to the place. They lived in India for 4 years so I trust their judgement when it comes to good Indian food!

Now, off to fend off the impending "hot hole" that inevitably comes from all you can eat Indian Food.

Bon Weekend!
P

Signs...

Gmail has a function where you can type in 1 or 2 letters in the "To" field...and different e-mail addresses come up that start with those letters that you have used before. I think it's called Auto Address fill or something like that.

One sign that we spend a lot of time planning trips? This is what Gmail provided for me when I typed in "cont" in the "To" field:


On commence!
P

Merci a Linda Nickel!

Well, Linda has found an awesome calendar online where you can show the availability of your hotel. Very similar to what can be found on house rental websites in Europe.

So now, you can click on the link to the right that says "CLICK ON ME" and you can see if we are available for your stay in Paris, should you be interested in coming!

Note: We are unavailable starting from Jan 2010 because we are GOING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sleep

Michael has decided to remind me what kind of sleep you get when you have a newborn. Last night, he woke up at 11:45pm, 1:30am, 3am, and 5am.

I am tired. Let's not add in that France had it's daylight savings time last night out of all nights. FANTASTIC.

Last time Daylight Savings Time made a difference was when Brian and I had partied all night for a friend's Halloween party...and Brian woke me up at 4am puking in our bed. I cleaned him up, and then promptly woke up at 6:00am to get to work by 7:00am. That was another time that DST was not so kind to me.

What a different life we used to lead...

Hugs

Michael is sick. You know, the kind of sick where he just sits in my lap all day long. Yes, that kind of sick. Yes, that kind of sick ALL day Friday AND ALL day today.

So after Michael's night time bath, we had this exchange:

Phuong: Did Mommy hug you all day long today?
Michael: Eh
Phuong: Did you get enough hugs then?
Michael: No
Phuong: You want MORE hugs than being hugged all day?
Michael: Yes (while curling into a little ball in my lap).

My Poor Little Buddy...hope he has as better day tomorrow!

Love,
P

Things....

Just some things I want to write down so I don't forget. Skip if you are not interested!

• Tuesday afternoon, we went over to Linda Nickell's apartment and Michael played with her cat. Junior was a really good sport, but I would dare say he was not too impressed with old Michael! Michael also saw Dora the Explorer for the first time and he liked that plenty!
• Yesterday, Michael and I went to ilot bebe, which is a government sponsored room full of toys for the kids to play. It has got all of these cute ramps and 3 very nice volunteers who also play with the kids. Most importantly, there is a view of the metro from the window. Pretty popular with Michael. It is free and amazing!
• After this event at ilot bebe, Laura, Oliver, and Henry came over for a kids dinner of homemade chicken tenders and cabbage surprise (rice and cheese with cabbage and tomatoes hidden in there).
• While I was cooking dinner, Laura and I were in the kitchen. We could hear the train tracks being thrown one on top of the other and said, "Well, they're probably destroying the living room, but at least they aren't screaming or crying at each other so we'll let them be."
• We go in there...and Michael and Oliver had actually picked up all the train tracks/cars...and PUT THEM AWAY. They had tidied up the living room for us. Can you imagine how badly we felt after we were JUST in the kitchen lamenting about how they were destroying things? And here they were, being amazing.
• THEN! Laura came over after we had put all our boys to bed and we had a nice cup of tea, some Danish cookies, and a chat. It was lovely!
• Today, Michael asked me to play choo choo with him....so I did. And then he said, "Michael has best mommy."

I repeated and said, "Did you say, ' Michael has the best Mommy?' " To which, Michael said, "Eh." His answer for yes. He said this all quite nonchalantly while playing with his train set so I am not sure if he really knew what he was saying.

But I am willing to take it for what it is!

Also, the ladies from my playgroup came over for dinner tonight at my place! We ordered Thai takeout and I made Mexican chocolate cupcakes with dark chocolate ganache kind of topping. It was good food with good conversation and I am so lucky to have these really nice people in my life!

One more thing, I fixed the hem of my jeans which had come completely undone. And put a button back on my blouse. I like sewing! It gives me the accomplishment of finishing something that is USEFUL.

Love,
P

Seriously Stuffed

I made white fish poached in a butter/mushroom/wine sauce today courtesy of Julia Child. Her Mastering the Art of French Cooking is nothing short of ART. It is amazing and I don't care if I have to use 125g of butter in each dish. That's about 4-5 tablespoons. Minimum.

What was more fun was that The Youngs came over for dinner! Laura, Larry, Oliver, and Henry all popped by for a Sunday night supper and we had a FANTASTIC time. AND! Michael and Oliver did not rip each other to shreds like they normally do. They were so cute sitting at the little table waiting for their dinner. They took turns banging on their table demanding food and would laugh and laugh at each other. So sweet. And then Oliver showed Michael something outside the window and they smiled at each other.

It's only a matter of time before they realize that Laura and I are calling the shots around here and THEY WILL BE FRIENDS!!! :o)

Here's to hoping that your Sunday Night Suppers were equally as rich and artery clogging and full of good friends too.

Love,
P

Kid's Luggage

So I'm looking for luggage for Michael since he loves to pull luggage and we do travel quite a bit. THIS cracks me up:

This one is pretty funny too:


More practically, I like this 3 piece set. But do not need the backpack or the cooler bag. So really, I'm not interested in the set and do not need the boat that comes along with it if I buy the set (Napoleon dymanite reference there). But I like the rolling duffel bag:
Blue frogs? Hmmmm....



And a pirate's life for me!
Any preferences? Thoughts? Any other websites to look at?

Saturday

Saturday = Nap with Daddy:


After our run in Jardin des Plantes, we went to Square Rene Legall to see if Michael would be the next Tiger Woods:

He had fun with this. But then decided to go around hitting all sorts of things with his golf club. Some victims were: random freshly planted flowers, the thorny rose bush limbs, and a pile of mulch.

I am still working on my depth of field. I took this at ISO100, f1.8, 1/3200th (I think...can't remember the shutter speed). So the golf club end is perfect in focus and everything else is blurry. This is what I am aiming for...but I wish the golf club was a bit lower or in front of Michael's body. But then again, I DID ask for him to hold his club up high so I could try to get a creative "kid with his toy" picture. Did not happen this time, but it is a start:

Happy Saturday!

Love,
P

Doing Stuff

I know it seems like a lot of our life is doing stuff that's out of the ordinary, like travel or go to the Louvre on occasion. But we also do stuff that's like what all other families do too.

For example, I believe in Texas (and in other states as well)...it is common to go to what is known as a "county fair" or possibly "state fair."

Parisians do that too...it's indoors and takes up the amount of space as 6-7 George R Brown Convention Centers, otherwise known as Porte de Versailles off of Tramway 3. However, there are no corndogs or funnel cake. I know, how do you call that a fair???

So we went Sunday, March 1st with Michael's best friend, Jonah and The Daniels! They checked out lots of sheep with their dads:


And of course, had some pictures with a tractor. In this case, the wheel. Notice our arms helping to stage the event:

Let's not forget the suckling pigs:
Oh yes...and of course, little pigs for the kids to ride on. This was especially funny because they had these little lights that would show up on the pigs stomachs highlighting what pork product you could make. Like "Saucisson" etc. Guess this exhibit was not meant for Jewish people.

Jonah and Michael colored a free picture of a cow while I went around stealing the kids games with the animal stickers to save as toys for our "travel toy bag."

We also found an exhibit where you could buy flavored milks. Like honey flavor and vanilla flavored. What was more impressive...was that it actually tasted like milk from the States because it was delicious and fresh and cold! Here in France, they have UHT milk which is ultra pasteurized and lasts longer. Also...it can be stored at room temperature. Also, it tastes like crap.

SO! We were quite delighted to find some good tastin' milk!! However, we were not quite as delighted as the boys when they found a talking yogurt container on a big screen TV:


That was March 1st. Then, on Sunday, March 15th, it was beautiful. Le debut du beau temps!!! So we went for a walk up Rue Mouffetard to Place Contrescarpe where we stopped at Amorino for some serious sugar. Otherwise known as an ice cream cone. A certain someone was pretty happy about this plan:

Here's my buddies at Place Contrescarpe...about a stone's throw away from the hotel we stayed at on our honeymoon nearly 7 years ago!

And now...we have made it to today! Jonah, Kirsten, her mom, Michael, and I went to Jardin d'Acclimatation for the morning!! It is a kids' paradise. While waiting for Kirsten's gang, Michael demanded to ride on the train...even though it would not be running for another 4 hours. Well, if you're gonna do that, I'm gonna take pictures:

Along our walk, we discovered a new xylophone exhibit! The kids, and grownups alike, REALLY loved that!

Kirsten and I were wondering outloud whether it was new and we decided it was because everything was nice and new. Not all beat up like normal Parisian things are. Here is Kirsten's Cool and The Gang jamming out. Jonah is in the back center of the picture:

Then we explored some animals. Semi exciting today. And went to play in their enormous 2 parks. Michael loved this trampoline and I loved this blossoming tree in the back:

Here is the Square des pompiers...emergency square! I just love that little chateau top in the background and that tree. Oh yes, and Michael running around is fun too:

Michael and his best friend, driving the emergency vehicle while singing The Wheels on the Bus. Hope they are not responding to YOUR emergency!

Every good square needs a lookout:

And 2 best friends playing together! We love it when they get together!

How do you end a day of running around a new park? Headed to McDonalds for lunch! And here is Kirsten's mom taking care of the boys as they hold onto the stroller


Oh, I took all of these Jardin d'Acclimatation pictures with my 5 year old digital canon point and shoot camera! Boom, Roasted! I know, that made absolutely NO sense. Just wanted to see if you were paying attention after looking at nearly 20 pictures in a blog post.

Michael fell asleep after 2 minutes of being on the metro on the way home. It was an exciting day and he's napping right now! Looks like we'll miss tea hour/book/magazine swap this afternoon!

BUT on the serious up side? Brian's home early today!! MR. took a half day so we're going to run to the park with our sidewalk chalk and TEAR IT UP.

WORD,

P

2009 is a bad year for us?

It is true. Brian thinks I am superstitious...I am in a way. But here is what has happened so far to our family since January 1st.

• Entire family sick as dogs with the flu over New Years
• Michael and I sick over Chinese New Year
• Michael had his nut incident/hospital visit in February
• I went sledding and had this tooth injury in late February
• Thought the tooth incident would be ok...turned out had to have a root canal. Still working on this tooth healing by the way
• Notified by Air Liquide that we may be returning to the States early.
• Two months later, notified by Air Liquide that we will NOT be returning to the states early.
• And also 2 more personal reasons that aren't going well that I'd rather not post about.

It's only freakin' March 18th. That's A LOT of pretty traumatic stuff to happen in less than 3 months.

So I'm thinking this year, will be a no risk taking kind of year for me. Should have figured it out after Michael's nut incident...but that coupled with the sledding solidified the fact that it's a hard year for at us so far.

My tooth...well, after the root canal, it's still wobbly in there. The dentist says that he does not expect the tooth to be really stable until about a month after the root canal. But he's not doing a crown until he knows that there is not a fracture and that the bone is good. SIGH. So I go back next week to check up. If the tooth is still wobbly, he says it's not great...but we may have to wait some more. If it is better, he says he'll do the crown and it will most likely get better.

I HATE NOT KNOWING WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN WITH THIS.

OK, enough whining!

IT IS BEAUTIFUL IN PARIS RIGHT NOW!! SUNNY SUNNY SUNNY!! What a miracle!

AND! HAPPY BIRTHDAY THE MOM! Hope your day and your year goes well!

LOve,

P

Poissonerie

Michael and I visited the fishmonger at rue Mouffetard last Saturday. He loves to look at the fish when we go to market. This time we left and we had to go back a second time at his request. All the fish are whole and lying on ice on their sides. Michael looked at them for a long while then he looked at me and said "fish...tired." Yes, they're very sleepy, Michael, we won't wait for them to wake up.

rabbit

Phuong went to market and bought a quarter rabbit at my request. Michael is really excited about eating it, he and I have been talking all morning about eating the rabbit. Then Phuong asked him what he wanted to eat with his rabbit, rice or potatoes. Michael responds, "rabbit!" OK, mommy says, but you need a starch with your rabbit, potatoes or rice. "Rabbit!" Now P has to assure him that he will be able to eat rabbit, so he finally says potatoes.

Last night we went to eat at Dominique and Yui's place which was really fun. Yui made some really good fishball soup and an avocado/shrimp/grapefruit salad followed by a "quenelle" - fish wrapped in butter crust. Also fun for Michael was that they had a cat. He scared it into hiding but he would go into the closet and try to touch in its box. Then we saw the cat come into the living room and then Michael came in with a huge grin and tried to capture it. He was really cute.

Yada Yada Yada

So we haven't blogged in a while because I am depressed about my tooth. But that is neither here nor there...I have to get a root canal and a crown for my front right tooth. I guess...if I am going to knock a tooth out from its root, that sledding in Switzerland is the way to do it.

Any of you had root canals? 'Cause if so, I'd like to hear if it was just awful...or bearable...or a piece of cake!

I also went on Wednesday to get my nose checked out since the end of it is still hurting just a tiny bit when I pick my nose too rigorously or try to push it to one side or another. I went to my ENT (Ear/Nose/Throat) guy and he said nothing was broken and my nasal passages are still straight. So hopefully, I didn't do any other damage. But while he checked out my nose, he decided to check out my ears...

And he decided to vacuum out my right ear. I have a tendency to build ear wax in my right ear by no fault of my own. He kept pulling small-ish pieces of ear wax out and saying, "This is incredible! It's so big! I have to go in again!"

Now, if the ENT doctor thinks it's incredible, you know it's no exaggeration of the truth. Then, he apparently got to a stoppage so big, he had to flush my ear out with water and out came a piece about the size of my thumbnail.

To which he stopped, showed it to me, and said, "You see this? This was in your ear. This is incredible because you have a very small ear canal."

Glad he thought it was "incredible." He must be in the right profession.

He did the same thing to me last year about this time...and the last time I had to get this done, on the same ear, I was at A&M.

Yea! 120 Euro to pull out my earwax. Should have just left good enough alone with my nose!

On a less disgusting note...

On Wednesday, I was cooking steamed salmon with ginger/green onions with Michael. And I let him do quite a bit. Put all the ginger/onions/salmon on each plate to steam, dump in rice to be cooked/etc. And while I was stirring the soy sauce on the stove, he hugged me really big...and said, "I love you Mommy."

Now doesn't that just warm your heart? I might have a little chef on my hands because he really really loves to cook.

Love,
P

Swiss blog order

If you would like to read the blog in (chrono)logical order, go to Switzerland 2009 and then read up or follow these links.
1. http://besancons.blogspot.com/2009/02/switzerland-2009-cbgt_28.html
2. http://besancons.blogspot.com/2009/02/jungfraujoch-top-of-europe.html
3. http://besancons.blogspot.com/2009/02/schilthorn.html
4. http://besancons.blogspot.com/2009/02/swiss-blog-order.html

The mouse hole

Rick Steves is always pushing his "through the back door" concept. It's quite good except for the fact that he's so famous now, we often find that his back doors and other recommendations are all filled with people holding Rick Steves guidebooks. Nevertheless, we like Rick Steves and are almost always satisfied with his choices. On this trip, we went though the mousehole.

We found the Chalet Berna online and they only spoke German. Correction, Swiss German. The son (30 years old) greeted us when we drove up. He had the thickest Swiss accent and looked a lot like Adam Morrison:

I had no idea what he was saying half the time. It took two times talking to him, once to his mom, once to the caretaker of the cows, and by the second time I talked with his mom, I had a pretty good handle on things. It seemed like everyone else I had to talk to spoke german German and were easy to understand so I don't know how we lucked into the thick accents.

Schilthorn

After visiting the Jungfraujoch, the following day we went to the top of the Schilthorn and had a buffet breakfast at Piz Gloria restaurant at 10000 feet. We woke up at 6:15, got four young boys ready to go, drove away by 6:55, and arrived with ten minutes to spare for the 7:55 departure. This allowed us to get the breakfast and lift ticket for the same price as a normal lift ticket.

Whereas we had taken the train to the Jungfraujoch, the path to the Schilthorn was all by lift. They had large cars holding around 40 people that were carried by cables strung hundreds of feet in the air over the mountains. We had to change in Gimmelwald, Murren, and Birg in order to reach it but it was worth it.

Once atop the Schilthorn, the views were amazing. The restaurant rotates so we go to see all the surrounding mountains and the Thunersee and Beatenberg. The weather was immaculate - we could even see Mont Blanc over a hundred miles away in France! The Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau were also up close (apologies to Corban on the right - the restaurant was rotating too fast).

The breakfast wasn't that great, but was still pretty good. When you're used to eating bread, jam and some cold cuts in a normal hotel buffet, getting all you can eat link sausage, bacon, endless coffee, waffles, and bad champagne was quite a treat. Needless to say, we didn't require lunch.

After gorging ourselves on American sized portions, we went out on the observation deck and took photos before hustling back in. It wasn't as cold as the Jungfraujoch, but the wind made us go inside asap. Still we got a few good photos.

There were lots of skiers on the lift and we expected them to all get off in Murren, but they all went to the Schilthorn to ski down from the top. Look at this snowboarder, he's crazy. Off piste from the top. Just jumped the rails and took off.

Jungfraujoch - Top of Europe

On Tuesday we went to the Jungfraujoch, the highest point in Europe accessible by train. We drove in the morning to Lauterbrunnen,
and then took the cable car up past Wengen

to Kleine Scheidegg. Then we transferred to another train and rode through the middle of the Eiger to the Jungfraujoch. Phuong has a busted lip and doesn't like our pictures so here's one of the Atkins on the platform with the glacier and mountains behind them. It's cold.


It was kind of cloudy in the lower altitudes but by the time we made it to the top, it was beautiful...and freezing cold: about 3F with winds of 30+ mph. Here's a picture Albert took of me with the Monch in the background. Notice the ice on the pole on the left of the picture that the wind has blown sideways. Notice also the grating beneath us that blew ice cold air up our pants - no time for fill flash!

We also visited the ice palace inside the Jungfraujoch complex. The kids had a great time and so did we. Albert nearly broke his wrist trying to slide around like we do on the parquet here in Paris.

Switzerland 2009 - CBGT

In response to Phuong's post after this one. I'll tackle the first item.

We could only find one place in all of Bourg Saint Maurice, Chamonix and Interlaken regions that fit our criteria of being dirt cheap and near snow. We found it in Interlaken, to be more precise, Beatenberg. They only spoke (Swiss) German. We didn't have any idea where Beatenberg was or what the conditions (snow, temperature) would be like. I assumed that since it wasn't in the resorts of Murren or Wengen that we would be in the valley and wouldn't have any snow. Was I ever wrong!

It turns out that Beatenberg is on the north side of the Thunersee, up from which rise some mountains that crest at around 2000 m (about 6000 ft). We drove up the first night from Interlaken, which still had a little snow, and made numerous switchbacks as we increased our elevation. And as we went up, the snow level increased too. There was probably two feet on the ground when we arrived at our chalet in the early evening.

Although it wasn't a famous resort or resort at all, it was perfect with all the young kids. We had a snow and a hill outside the door, and a hill a few miles away with 4 easy slopes and a ski school - perfect for kids who had never skied before and intermediate skiers like us adults. So the chalet was great because Albert and Jenny's boys were gung ho about playing in the snow and since we had three feet everywhere we looked, we didn't have to make any special effort to drive to play in it, and we could warm ourselves whenever we wanted. Also we had gorgeous views of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau, the three grand peaks of the Swiss Alps in the Berner Oberland.

The second day (Sunday) we were there, it snowed all day, adding about a foot to what we already had as evidenced by the buildup on our cars.

Albert, KC (dad of another family from AL-Paris that stayed on the ground floor) and I decided to walk into town and buy some bread and other basic necessities from the one shop that was supposedly open. As it turns out, this shop was not even ten minutes from our chalet...in the opposite direction from the one we went in. Luckily, we found an awesome bakery/konditorei to get bread and cookies for the kids. We also stumbled onto Intersport, which rented sleds on the cheap (about 3 Euro a day), so we got two and sledded home with our loot.

Now, not only did we have about 3 feet of snow on the ground, our chalet lay on an amply sloped hill. The snow was awesome because the bottom had been compacted over time so when you sat in it, it made a natural chair so we made a grandstand area with several rows of seats. The soft overlayer of snow (about six inches) made for awesome chilled beer holders and we would sled, drink beer, and cheer on the sledders.



We had paved a path down the hill with a shovel and incrementally lengthed and straightened it by sledding. With every time down the hill, the sled run got longer and more compact. Here's a picture of KC going down on one of the initial runs:



Here's a view of the run from the side:


After some initial trials sitting up, we started to go face first down the hill using our feet as rudders to steer and then we'd hit the three feet of snow at the end. This stopped the sled instantly but our inertia would shoot us off the front of the sled and we'd happily crash into the snow. Then the gallery at the top of the hill would cheer us on.

Well this was all fun and games for the first day but after Sunday night, the track got really fast and there were two sizeable bumps at the end of the track before a ramp that Albert and KC made Monday morning, which got you a bit of air. When you went down the sled run on Monday, first of all, you went fast. Secondly, you hit those two bumps before the ramp and absorbed the sled into you midsection or crotch. Third, if you didn't let go of the sled and shoot off to the side into the softer snow, you landed back on the sled and crunched any part of your body that came into contact with it.

So KC, Albert and I already had a few close calls with the ole junk when Albert's wife Jenny decided she was going down the run headfirst. She hit those two bumps and the ramp and flew off the sled. When she got back up she was complaining about getting hit hard by the sled in the crotch. Later that night, she and Albert coined the term crotch banging good time. Voila.

After Jenny banged her crotch, Phuong mustered all her courage and decided to go down headfirst. There's no way you can get hurt, Albert told her. Albert, KC, and I figured that she had been watching so we didn't tell her about the bumps at the end of the track. Well, as it turns out, this was a large oversight. She hit the two bumps, flew off the ramp and crashed back in the sled and snow to the cheers of Albert, KC and I. Then I sprinted to the bottom of the hill.

In fact, she had not known about the bumps and had banged her face into the front of the sled which was stronger than she was. One of her front teeth was loose and her nose was bleeding. Luckily, nothing was wrong with her nose. I think she took the brunt of the hit on her upper lip, which was puffy for a couple of days afterwards and black and blue on the inside. This impact must have wobbled the tooth indirectly. Luckily, the tooth didn't move much and though it is still loose, we hope that everything will be fine with it. When I say loose, you can't move it that much and can't visibly tell that it has moved from its position before the hit, but it isn't fixed like the other ones.

And We're BACK!

No pictures yet because I need to download them from my camera and also get Albert's off his camera. But here are some quotes from our trip to spark your interest. Be warned, they are a little crass and all need explanation. Keep in mind that nothing is at it seems at face value.

"Switzerland 2009: A Crotch Banging Good Time."

"Girls bring their problems home. Boys bring their problems to someone else's home."

"If Rick Steves travels through the back door of Europe, then we must be traveling through the mouse hole."

More later...

If I Won the Lottery...

If I won the lottery, I'd buy this:

Nikon D300 - $1800
Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 - $1700
Lightroom2/CS4 software - $700-$1000

There goes almost $5K. What should I do with the other million(s)?

Hmmm....I think I am going to HAVE to start charging for my pictures...

What is the first thing you would buy if you won the lottery?

Love,
P

Mon Petit Artist

Michael draws a lot. I need to scan somethings in for you guys to see!

Yesterday, he drew 3 lines and as he was drawing them, he said this:

While drawing the 1st line - "Daddy"
While drawing the 2nd line - "Mommy"
While drawing the 3rd line - "Michael."

Then he erased it because it was on the dry erase board. But I thought it was cute that he knew who his family was.

Lately, Michael is listening to this one song on his French Catholic songs CD. Number 6, otherwise known as "Clarinet song."

So we've been singing this for the past 2 days:
"C'est si bon seigneur de grandir jour apres jour. C'est si bon seigneur de grandir dans ton amour."

Which translates to"
"It is so good Lord to grow day after day. It is so good Lord to grow in your love."

Not a bad thing to sing a lot of...

You're HIRED!

Today, someone used the word "hire" when asking me to take pictures of their newborn. The first time it happened, about 2 weeks ago, I just thought it was funny.

And then today, someone else said the same thing. "Hired."

Hired to take photos...since when did my hobby become a possible job? I'm still not charging...but maybe I should? I certainly don't think of myself as being good enough to charge...and am far from it!

But so far, I have 2 newborn sessions, 1 maternity session, and 1 toddler and 1 baby session that people want me to do.

WHAT? I can't barely keep my toilet clean and Michael has to help me do it! Some days, I can't even get to the dishes! How am I supposed to launch a bonafide business on top of this?

So even though it is a happy realization, it also is a hard one...to have to confront whether I am really going to do this...and if I might just fail.

So now, I better go in search for motivational quotes about not being afraid of failure and how only losers are afraid to fail.

Valentine's Craft Playgroup

On Friday, Feb. 13th, I hosted a Valentine's Day craft playdate. Here's a picture of the attendees:

Pictured (L to R): Jonah, Kirsten with baby Ella, Michael, Laura, Shena, and Ulysses (sp?)
Not pictured but present: Oliver and Henry (Laura's 2 children)

The kids enjoyed it for about 2 minutes and 34 seconds. After which, they proceeded to do what they wanted! Then, the moms made valentine's themselves! It was great fun!

Now...onto Easter crafts to think about!

Love,
P

Blanquette de veau

Phuong made some blanquette de veau tonight. I've never had anything so good. I'd like to thank Julia Child and Phuong for taking the time out of their busy schedules to make Michael and I dinner while we have guy time.

Toilets

Michael has a fascination with cleaning the toilet. So much so, that if I find the house eerily quiet, I go looking for Michael in our toilet room.

This morning, here is the order of events:

8:00am: Brian wakes up. Plays on MyFamily.com
8:20am: Brian hears Michael wake up and leave his room
8:30am: Mom wakes up to Brian's voice bellowing: "MICHAEL, GET OUT OF THE TOILET!"

Have got 1 picture of the Valentine's playgroup yesterday! Will post when I decide to not be lazy and go and get it off the camera.

Happy Belated Valentine's day to those who celebrated it!
P

No Stinkin' Way

So, I read this on Yahoo! News today. Do you always have to put an exclamation point after typing Yahoo! ?

Anyways, this:
"First-time homebuyers who purchase their homes before Dec. 1 would be eligible for an $8,000 tax credit, and people who buy new cars before the end of the year can write off the sales taxes."

If this is true...wow...I can't get my hopes up. Someone in the government must have thought to themselves... "I think the Besancons are coming back to America and they have to buy a house and cars. Let's help them out."

I don't know who that person is, but I thank them. And I hope that Air Liquide can get it together and send us home in time for us to take advantage of all of this. We shall see won't we?

Love,
P

The Sun and All Its Glory

When living in Texas, you REALLY take the sun for granted. It comes out almost every day. It warms everything and makes everything seem happier.

In Paris, there is a reason why you see Parisians just sprawling out all over cafes come spring when it is warm enough to relax outside. It's because the sun is a widely missed phenomenon.

Despite our rather rain-less winter...there has been a difference between the sun I saw yesterday and today! Is there a difference between sunlight? I think so.

When I woke up yesterday, the sunlight was streaming in the window. Hard, fast, full of warmth and joy. That's what she said.

Oh sorry. Anyways, it was great! For the first time since I have come to Paris, I thought:

"OH MY GOD! THE SUN! THE SUN! Let's go outside! Let's get things done! It's time for a day full of fun!"

In full Dr. Seuss style. However, by the afternoon, it was cloudy again.

But for a little bit of time there...it felt like we were back in Texas. Full of warmth, happiness, and joy! Don't get me wrong, we love it here and our life here is great. But there is just something to be said for seeing a "Texas Strength" ray of sunshine that you took for granted while living there.

SO there is one difference between living in Paris and Texas.

Another? Being able to buy 15 travel packets of tissues for 1.67 euro. THAT IS CHEAP. I remember in Texas, I never bought those little travel packs of tissues because they were 6 for $2.50 and I thought that was outrageous. I just made my own travel packs by putting tissues from the tissue box into ziploc bags.

But here, I can really go crazy and buy the store-made travel sized tissue packs.

VOILA

family bed

When Michael gets hurt, he asks for a kiss on the booboo. Yesterday when he was brushing his teeth, he slipped off the stool and Phuong caught him, but he looked like he strained his groin pretty bad. It certainly would have hurt me in my old age. Then we put him back on the stool and he pointed to his crotch and said "kiss". We were like, no Michael no way. Then he went back to brushing his teeth.

The other day, I woke up before my alarm and I heard Michael push open the door to our room. I saw the door open, and then I heard some grunting as he tried to climb into bed. Then hear more grunting and I see Phuong rolling. Then I look over and see Michael settling down into the space he had created by pushing his mom out of the way. Then I went back to sleep and missed my bus.

Phuong said a couple of weeks ago, she woke up in the middle of the night. Michael was asleep between the two of us. She said she saw me pick up Michael's stuffed animal dog and make it dance around on him like I was trying to entertain him and I was saying doo-doo doo-doo as I moved the dog around next to him. Then as quickly as I had done that, I put the dog down and went back to sleep.

Tomorrow we're having guy time. We'll probably go to the zoo or dinosaur museum, shop at Hugo Boss, and eat at "Breakfast in America". Mom's going to scrap and watch "Emotion" or maybe "Frisson" if Underworld or 13th Warrior is on. If she's lucky.

Don Juan and Kelli have decided to take a trip to London so we'll probably meet them there. And we'll have to have a few feats of strength, especially since Wild Bill won't be there to humiliate us. Michael will compete in booger picking, farting, and jumping. The boy is really proud of his jumping ability.

DONE!

I have merged Michael's blog and ours together! So everything will be right here from now on.

I also merged his previous posts into this blog. I started to double check every post, but then got tired of doing that and Michael got up from his nap. So I am just going to have to trust technology!

I am pretty proud of myself for figuring this technology thing out. Now...onto Photoshop CS or Lightroom? Anyone have a preference?

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Squirt bottle

From Brian:

Vannah gave me a squirt bottle so I could efficiently iron my shirts. Michael has since found it and taken quite a liking to it. Unfortunately, or fortunately for me, he has not figured out how to use it. Well, that's not true, he does know how to use it, just not in which direction.

From P:

I had the following conversation with Michael today at lunch about his dreaded Doctor Cohen:

Michael: Nut!
Mommy: No, it's not a nut. It's a seed from my clementine. Are you allowed to eat nuts?
Michael: Doctor
Mommy: That's right, if you eat a nut, you have to go to the doctor.
Michael: Doctor Cohen
Mommy: Do you like Dr. Cohen?
Michael: No (pause)... Candy
Mommy: Oh yes, Dr. Cohen does give you candy. Is it a good thing or a bad thing?
Michael: Bad thing
Michael: Metro

Well, at least MICHAEL knows he's not supposed to have candy. And as with everything in the whole wide world, it all comes back around to choos choos or metros.

Today, MIchael found a tiny little splotch of snow left on the ground at the park, he laughed, and then proceeded to throw it at my head. THANK YOU DAD for showing him that little trick.

Yesterday, we had a playdate with Jonah at Kirsten's house. We had fun, as always!

Today, planning for special date night has commenced. I am thinking steak with these fancy mini potato gratins, haricot vert wrapped in bacon, and an upside down pineapple cake with a nice bottle of Saint Emilion....mmmm....heaven....

Allergist

So we went to visit a French pediatric allergist yesterday at 6pm. The doctor is well recommended in the mother's group I am in, Message. And he has written a book on allergies and has a website:
http://allergienet.com/

According to Michael's skin test, he is:

Very Allergic To:
Pecans

Allergic To:
Peanuts, cashews, Pistachios, walnuts

No Reaction To:
Almonds, hazelnuts

Which explains why he can have nutella and not have a reaction. As well as the muesli I had been giving him and not have a reaction (it had hazelnuts and almonds in it). What is strange is that he has had a peanut before and been fine.

To be certain, the doctor prescribed for me to take Michael to a pediatric lab to get blood drawn to confirm what he is allergic to and what he is not. Until then, no nuts for Michael, obviously. After it is confirmed that he is not allergic to almonds and hazelnuts, it is best to slowly re-introduce these back into his diet so that he does not develop a new allergy to them.

He also prescribed an antihistamine for me to carry at all times. And an Anapen, which is the French equivalent of the Epipen. The doctor even had an epipen in his desk so he is very familiar with the American practices.

And he probably printed out about 15-20 sheets of paper for me to bring home about what to do in what cases...summary of the visit...prescriptions...etc. Very informative.

He also said that it was ok if Michael ate things that were processed in a factory that also had peanuts, etc. This is because the fats that are in the nuts that cause the allergic reaction are not present. Hmmm...Ok. I'll have to take his word on that.

I am to check under the "Ingredients" label. If there are no nuts there, it is ok.

Voila,
P

Catch Up

So we had a great weekend!

On Saturday night, Brian and I went out on a date! It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! We had a fantastic time. We went to a place in the 6th called La Petit Cour and it was a little hip, but not too trendy. The wait staff was as warm as French wait staff could be. And the food was GREAT! It was not the standard heavy French food we are used to! It was a bit hip and fresh with different combinations. Here's a link to the place:
http://www.bestrestaurantsparis.com/en//en//en/restaurant-paris/detail/la-petite-cour.html

The chairs were not SO red nor the walls SO yellow as in the picture. Here is what we ordered:

Phuong

Carrot/Cumin soup with light orange mousse

(I swear it tasted like chile con carne...DELICIOUS even when you are expecting carrots. Just wish I had chips)

Veal medallions with a lobster cream sauce and zucchini

Risotto au lait

(Like sweet rice but with risotto)

Cafe

Brian

New York Steak with Mache salad

Assorted cheese plate

Risotto au lait

Cafe

We had amazing conversation and just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Our sitter put Michael down for bed so we both got a break from bedtime!

You saw what we did on Sunday already. See previous post.

Monday, it was cold/wet/snowy so we stayed inside. Brian had to brave it to go to work!

Tuesday, Brian took the day off! We took Michael to gymnastics and Brian had a great time watching Michael bounce around! Home for lunch/naps while Mom bought some groceries/snow proof hiking boots at Italie2.

And then I made homemade spaghetti and meatballs (courtesy of my Gourmet magazine) while Michael and Dad went to the park! The meatballs were amazing and Brian made sure to throw lots of snowballs at Michael during "guy time."

Then, my sitter came and Brian and I went on ANOTHER date! We took one of our Paris walks around Bastille in the 12th and it was ok. Definitely should have said on the card, "Best done after 8pm" because it was pretty dead around that part of town. Seemed like a cool night place though!

Now we are on Wednesday. So far, I took Michael to visit the bilingual Montessori I want to send Michael to. IT WAS AMAZING. But sadly, about an hour away. UGH. And at 6000 euro a year, we are glad we won't be paying for it!! EEK!

So now I am trying to decide. Here are the options:

Private Catholic ALL French School which is REALLY close to my apartment, but was not as nice. The staff is great, and the school itself was fine...but it looked like a place where they just keep kids and entertain them while they are there. It is also an all day kind of thing. 8:30-4:30 4 days a week. Wednesdays are off or half days.

OR...this amazing bilingual Montessori which will have great experiences and discoveries for him. Plus, you can see the are about teaching kids numbers, colors, and learning through sensory activities. It says so in the brochure! :o) It will be 4 half days a week (9am-12am)

Let's face it...we're talking about pre-school here...they're just needing to place and glue pinto beans to stuff. But Still...you want the best for your kids....

Where would you send YOUR kids???

Love,

P

Big Boy Bed

Michael's been talking a while about: "Jonah" "Big Boy Bed"

Well, he's now part of the big boy bed club!
Michael is taking his nap right now in his big boy bed. Brian built it for him today! There's still egg crating at the foot/head of the bed and his mattress doesn't have a sheet because I have it in the wash. There is a stupid story about that, but I don't think it's worth blog space.

YEA! Michael! Big Boy Now...sniff...sniff...

Well, I got these shots of Michael today. Not exactly astronomical, but I like them. And they are quite innocent enough at first glance:

Until I tell you that he was right here when I took those pictures:

Don't worry, Brian was spotting him to the right. Don't want any "good golly, THIS is how they take care of Michael??" comments. Or Social services come knocking on our door...

It's a bright beautiful sunny day in Paris. If Paris was like this the first winter we were here, I might not have fallen into a deep depression...