Today, some funny things happened.

Michael lifted up my shirt, pinched my belly fat, and started to laugh. I better start exercising since I'm not burning calories breastfeeding anymore.

With his new found talent of blowing raspberries:

I was at the papeterie near my house reading People magazine and carrying Michael in front of me in the baby Ergo (kind of like a baby bjorn). So his head is facing my chest. Well, I am wearing a v-neck shirt today so Michael buries his head in my chest and starts blowing very loud zerberts and laughing. I look up and see French people staring at me so I put my magazine down and run out of the store. A bit embarrased I am at my son who is giving me zerberts on my boobs.

Love,
P

Michael's latest thing is to give zerberts and raspberries! He loves to do it! And he's not satisfied with the weenie ones...he will keep moving his mouth around on your face/arm/chest/whatever until he finds a spots that produces those ones that sound like really good farts.

It is hilarious. I wonder where he found out about those??? BRIAN!!

He's starting to get more brazen standing! My new babysitter came around on Thursday and she just put him on the floor and there he was standing...for 2 seconds.

Today, we're shopping for birthday party supplies!

Love,
P

IS anyone still out there? Post in comments if you are. If not, I am going to send an e-mail saying we're back and that we're posting on the blogs again.
Love,
P

Blog Catchup!

**Warning: VERY long post. This is my journal for the trip for my scrapbook so you know you are getting many details.**

Our nuclear family went to Venice the weekend of September 21st and we had an amazing time. Brian ended up going ahead on Thursday because of "business" with some fellas named Luigi, Franco, Alberto, and Luca. I don't THINK they were the mob...

Anyways, I flew by myself with Michael on Friday and arrived in Venice that afternoon around 5:00pm. We took a very slow water taxi from the airport to Venice proper, and I got splashed in the face by a "fast boat." Maybe I shouldn't have had my head sticking out the window. After checking into our hotel (and walking past the alley it was down twice), we headed out to eat dinner. We feasted on grilled fish (with the head and tails still on), gnocchi in 4 cheeses, spaghetti in pesto sauce, and carpaccio. It was delightful! And the staff just LOVED Michael. In fact, all Italians loved Michael! He got his fair share of "AHH! Bambino!" and "BELLISIMO!" I just got a "Momma Mia" once and that made MY trip!

Well, the next day, we set out to sightsee after a very nice breakfast buffet. We finally made it out of the hotel at 11:00am...un-Rick Steve's style and headed out on his Rialto walk. We went by St. Mark's basilica, Doge's Palace, and Campanile and discovered huge lines! YIPPEE! So instead of stopping to see these sights, we continued on the enchanting walk towards Rialto bridge. There were dozens of delightful little stores selling opulent masks (for Carnival), and other touristy types of things. We finally made it to Rialto and took a picture after being pushy and getting our spot on the bridge. A set of nice Canadian tourists took the picture for us who we continued to see throughout the day. That's the Grand Canal behind us:

After an unsuccessful attempt to get a table canalside and JUST drink coffee, we wandered on to Frari church. Along the way, Brian and Michael got some gelato while waiting for me to finish shopping. It was not the first or last cone these two would have! Don't worry...Michael's didn't have gelato...he just got a cone. But it was still good to him all the same!

In the afternoon, we went back to the hotel to feed Michael and let him roam around a bit. Later at dinner, we would find out that THAT wasn't enough time to keep him from fussin' up a storm and INSIST on getting on the floor to play.

We DID however, introduce Michael to the GABILLION pigeons around. Surprisingly, it didn't smell like bird funk at all! Texas A&M REALLY needs to find out how those Venetians keep that square from being stinky because they could really use the tip for the sidewalk next to the Chemistry building. Anyways, here's Michael in a picture I name, "HELLO...BIRD."

Anyways, in the afternoon, we went to St. Mark's Basilica because the line had died down. Brian checked our huge baby backpack and my diaper bag (MISTAKE...as you'll later find out) and we made it into the basilica after only waiting 15 minutes or so. At which point, Brian got this AWFUL nosebleed. And we had no tissues or wipes ANYWHERE because all of our stuff was checked. I tried unsuccessfully to find ANYONE with a tissue but alas, not one person would help. Even this woman with her HUGE purse didn't have one and she didn't even check. We had to use the Rick Steve's book. And finally when it wouldn't stop, I headed over to the baggage check (which was a bit of a ways from the actual church) to get wipes, burpcloth, and tissues. Eventually, the nosebleed DID go away. And we proceeded into the Basilica. The mosaics were quite impressive as was the view from the top! Here is Michael practicing standing on top of St. Mark's Basilica:

And we got a family picture up top too!

After this, we visited the Campanile, which is a huge bell tower before dinner though and didn't time it very well because the bells went off. DOH! Brian tried his best to shield Michael's ears and ran away from the bell we were standing under. Michael just stopped eating his wagon wheel for a minute but didn't seem very scared! TROOPER! As you can tell, we made it through A TON of things...so it's no surprise that Michael went beserk at dinner.

The next day, we did not make the same mistakes! We spaced our day out quite well and went back to the hotel often for Michael to play around, eat, and relax. We started the day a bit earlier today at 9:00am and went to Doge's palace, which was amazing. There was an ENORMOUS line, but it was for pre-paid tickets and tour groups! SURPRISING! And our line was super short and we went straight in.

Doge's Palace was VERY cool. For those who don't know what it is, here is a definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doge%27s_Palace

It is important for it's role in housing the Doge as well as it's perfect example of Venetian architecture. Anyways, it was pretty neat and Rick Steve's tour was awesome, of course. There was a room full of battle gear and torture devices too! What a NICE surprise!

Then, we headed off to Accademia art museum, which was a HUGE flop, but the Accademia bridge over the Grand Canal was pretty neat. We rode the river taxi up and down the Grand Canal to admire the architecture and buildings. From Rick Steve's, I learned that many of the buildings are actually rotting and aren't inhabited. So sad considering how beautiful they are.

We ended our pretty leisurely day and had a delicious dinner by a canal. We sat next to another bunch of Canadians and a table full of nice older people from North Carolina. They said they were all missing their grandchildren so we let them hold Michael for fun. And we sure didn't mind the 5 minutes we got to eat without having to keep Michael out of everything! Since they were from the South, right next to us, and we probably could have taken them down if they tried to take Michael, we felt it was little risk. ;o)

We then took a stroll over to St. Mark's square at night and it was really magical. We didn't sit at a cafe to enjoy the dueling orchestras, but we did just stand there and bask it in it. Venice is really such a magical place and so romantic. We plan to go back just the two of us so we can take a gondola ride!

After this, we grabbed a gelato and walked along the riverfront to our hotel. It was unbelievable to me. I remember studying Doge's Palace in art history and seeing it as this flat picture in a book. And here I am, a decade later...walking right next to it. In the moonlight. With my husband and son. Life just can't get any better than that.

Love,

P

After nearly a week of Ferberizing, Michael went down in his bed and seemed like he knew he was going to bed...that it was ok...and he did in less than 2 minutes. Now, the 1st couple of nights were a bit tough, but after that...it wasn't that bad. 5-10 minutes of fussing max. But Michael just seemed upset about it.

Today, we did our standard bedtime routine. Feed, bath, lotions, pajamas, reading fun stories, and prayer book. We spent a little extra time hugging him and each gave him two hugs since he was clinging a little bit more than usual. And Brian put him down...he cried a little but he looked like he knew what was going on and he just went to bed. Like a big boy.

We finally figured out his naps. After a week of trying different things, we just let him nap on the couch or stroller and he's fine with that. We tried the crib for 3 days for his naps and Michael spent 2 of those without a single nap and one day, he only slept for 30 minutes. So I just said this isn't working and we're gonna do something different. He needs his naps.

Ok. Sorry we haven't posted in a while! We will try to be more diligent.

Love,
P

People are going banana nuts right now b/c France just won in the rugby quarter finals. It's 11:10pm and they're honking down the infamous avenues des Gobelins (aka our street) and yelling like hooligans. Hope they don't wake the boy!

Last Saturday, I walked by the Eiffel tower and noticed a ball hanging in the middle of it. I said to my friend, "What the heck is going on over there in the Eiffel Tower? Did it grow an ovary?"

To which she said, "Rugby World Cup is here Phuong."

DOH.

Love,
P

Today, we had the most awesome day in Paris. The weather was GORGEOUS...highs in the upper 60s, sunshine, little to no humidity...absolutely awesome! It's fall weather (in OCTOBER...*gasp*) and fall is my absolute favorite time of year. So our nuclear family took advantage of it and went to Invalides to sit on the lawn!

Michael had his first croissant. He's had little tiny bites before from mine, but today, we gave him his own. Stop worrying, he still only got about 2 bites before his dad and I took it from him and ate the rest. It IS easy to steal from little kids! ;o)


After getting some very good constructive criticism, I decided to take this opportunity and beautiful day to work on directional lighting in my shots. Here's what I came up with:

And this is my FAVORITE shot of the day:
Just gotta love the depth of field and my SON!!! ;o)
Brian and I layed on our blanket staring at jet streams in the sky. Michael played around us with his toys. It was truly a happy day for all of us! Lately, Michael zerberts me all the time. Somewhere along the way, he associates zerberts with an expression of love. Wonder where he got THAT idea? BRIAN!!

Hope your weekends are grand!

Love,
P

Yesterday, I did my first photoshoot for my friend Mary's son at SQUARE RENE LEGALL! Only the best square in ALL of PARIS! Maybe not...but Brian certainly thinks so! Got some cute shots of George only of course but I got a couple of cute shots of him and Michael too. Voila:



Geo was just so cute. REALLY photogenic! Well, we went to Venice and I've been meaning to post those pics and recap! Will SOON! If you can't wait, pics are up in our smugmug album. Link is in the right menu.

Lots of love,
B&P&M

Look what Michael did today at lunch.

Yes, that's POOP.

Want to Lose Some Weight?

For the price of the cheapest airplane ticket you can find, hurry yourselves over to Paris for the ultimate in weight loss success. The Parisian Diet Plan. We guarantee that in 2 full weeks, you will find yourselves 1 dress/pant size smaller*

DAILY Drills and Exercises Include:

• Running half a mile to the grocery store and then carrying 20 lbs of groceries back while pushing a 20 lb baby in a stroller (that incidentally has another 10 lbs of groceries in the bottom basket).
• Wearing a 20lb baby in an Ergo baby carrier up 6-10 flights of metro stairs, then down 6-10 flights of metro stairs, then walking half a mile home.
• Running to catch your bus
• Running down the metro steps to catch your metro
• Carry 9 liters of water in each hand while walking half a mile back home.
• Another variation, carry 9 liters of water on your shoulder while pushing your 20 lb baby in his stroller back home
• Carrying 20 lbs of groceries and your baby while putting away your stroller in the "stroller garage" which is incidentally across the courtyard and 4 flights down from your actual apartment

All this can be done with breaks for water and fruit tartes. However, it has been proven that if you eat French cheeses, this will negate all the work you will do for your fitness routine.

Don't believe us? Check out these testimonials of some of our clients:

"I went back to the U.S. for 3 weeks and went up an entire pant size. When I returned to Paris and followed their fitness regiment, I was back to my pre-wedding pant size in less than 3 weeks! Thanks Parisian Diet Plan!"

"I could eat whatever I want (omitting stinky French cheeses) and STILL lost weight! Now, I just make sure I have a fruit tarte already in my mouth while I'm carrying my 18 liters of water everyday!"

Hope this inspires some of you to visit! Funny thing about the exercise regimen? I do some of those things at least once a week! ;o)

Love to all,
P

*Rules and Restrictions apply. Success depends actually more on your genetic metabolic rate. There is a possibility that you may not lose weight at all while here. So in other words, we don't really guarantee success. But stay an entire month or more and you WILL see results!

Found this gem while going through pictures today. He is my husband and I ADORE him:




Now...let's see if he reads the blog...and sees the pictures. Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I realized I need to re-cap August because Brian's family came to visit so I will do that...some day! ;o)

Have a restful weekend,
Phuong

Hey Everyone!

Here are the pictures from our Family pictures and Christening! There were over 600 pictures so I narrowed it down to 120 (ouch still! I know!) of my favorites. Here is how to access them:

Click on this website:
http://www.millersalbums.com/



Click on: Besancon Family and Christening

Click on: Your Favorites Tab

You can scroll down the screen and look at all of them or you can click on "View Slideshow" in the left menu.

Hope you enjoy! And if want to order any, let me know. And please ignore my wrinkles and face fat. Apparently, they are here to stay.

Love,
P

Welcome back!

Here we are, back in Paris, and the city is all a-buzz with "la rentree." What is it exactly? August is such a huge vacation month that they actually have a word that is used to mean returning back to normal life after a huge season of vacations. So I see all sorts of correspondence such as :

• "oh gosh...just getting used to la rentree"
• "I'm booked all September with activites for la rentree"
• "Hope everyone is having a good rentree"

And I'm not making it up. The quotes are not exact but you get the just of it right? So we too are getting used to "la rentree," which to me means holding Michael at 4:00am when he's trying to go to sleep due to jet lag. Vive La Rentree! :)

Today, I was walking back from the park and I saw a mother with her 2 girls walking down the same sidewalk in front of me. One of her girls was fussing something awful and I saw her mother do the following:

• Put her daughter on the sandy part of the walk near the trees
• Pulled her daughter's panties down
• Held her daughter in a position so she could urinate on the side of the road in front of everyone to see.
  
  Her daughter was about 9-10 years old I am guessing. And I wasn't walking down a back alley or anything. This was right next to the park.

DOES ANYONE ELSE FIND THIS DISTURBING? OR IS IT JUST ME?

Bienvenue a Paris.

Love,
P

August in Paris is a huge vacation month. There is a mass exodus of Parisians to the French beaches/countryside and many cafes/boulangeries, etc are closed for many weeks or have reduced hours.

To celebrate this tradition, the "Besancon Life In France" blog will also be taking a hiatus in August!

See you in the States and come back in September! We have a trip to Venice planned then!

Much love,
B&P&M

Brian realized that Paris is dirty and noisy. There are many things he still enjoys about it. Phuong just cannot eat stinky cheeses like me so she is being a sourpuss.

After visiting Germany, we both realized how much we don't like Paris even more. Ibid, Brian realized he didn't care for Paris much either. I have not liked Paris for a while now.

In Germany, there are excellent changing facilities everywhere, the streets/public places are just SO clean, there are ELEVATORS in the metro (!!!) and it was not so crazy busy everywhere. However, German strangers are not as helpful as Parisian strangers. Parisian strangers will help me with my stroller while German ones just stare at me while I struggle.

While we were in Munich, Brian asked me: "Do you think we'll like Paris before we have to leave?" And I said, "AHA!!! YOU DON'T LIKE PARIS EITHER!"

Love,
P

P.S. Brian still has a good attitude about Paris. He just admits that it's not as clean here as elsewhere and that it is a bit busier.

P.P.S. I don't really know what ibid means. I just wanted to use it.

Last weekend, we made our first big trip since we arrived here! We set off for Munich on the new TGV with a change in Stuttgart. Our train left at 7:24 from Gare de l'Est, a good half hour from us. But we mobilized quite well and made it with time to spare. Michael like the first leg to Stuttgart because we were in this isolated compartment alone and he could play. We didn't like the purple seats though. A bit strong for our tastes.

We got to Munich, settled into our Hotel Uhland near the Theresenwiese where Oktoberfest is held and went to get a Doener Kebab. It was delicious. Doener's in France, aka the Sandwich Grec, are simply awful in comparison. And they're awful, period.

Then we headed to Marienplatz using the U-Bahn. Compared to Paris, I think they have an army of after-hours workers who go in there and clean it with a toothbrush. Of course, the network is not nearly as comprehensive, but it was fine for our purposes. We exited on the backside of the Rathaus onto a lovely little park.

Michael has a strong aversion to grass and whenever he is forced to touch it, he minimizes his contact with the grass by standing like a flamingo. If he is forced to sit or be on his all-fours, he just cries. It's pretty funny.


Then we went around to the front of the Rathaus and took some pictures. My mom has a photo of me in maybe 1979 or 1980 in the same spot, so I always like to give her an update whenever I go to Munich. Now she has one of her grandson too. Maybe we can get a better one next time.

Then Phuong went shopping. Dad and son went to a little cafe in the middle of the street. Dad got a Franziskaner Weissbier. Michael got to touch the cold glass and pretend to have a drink with his dad. Only 20 more years, caveboy. I only had like 3.5 liters of beer while I was there. I can do better, I know it.

The next morning, we had lunch at the Augustiner cafe and Michael got to try a pretzel. Phuong and I shared the sausage plate. Four different types of sausage, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. Delicious! We ate at 11, but the Germans were already downing their beers at 9:30. That's what I'm talking about. Michael got a pretzel to slobber on! Dad ate most of it though.
Then we went to the train station to meet the real reason Phuong came. I came to take care of the boy but I knew that. Shravi was having her bachelorette party. She's the one in the veil and is also leaving Germany in about three weeks. She was working at the Max Planck Institute on photolithography and went to grad school at tu with me. Her we are at Augustiner Biergarten with the other members of her party.

After downing ein Mass (1L, there's one in the bottom middle of the picture) of delicious Augustiner beer, I took Michael over to the playground inside the biergarten. Evidently, this palace of beer and sausage was intended for family outings. We saw a 4 year old drinking beer out of a huge beer mug that his mother was holding for him to drink out of. The Schunks later told us that the Bavarians consider beer a "food group" not a drink. AHA!

The weather was lovely and there must have been 20 kids running around and playing on the swings, slides and rocking animals. Michael had a great time. I put him on the slide and the rocking horse. He tried to imitate the older kids, but I think he needs more time in P.E. with dad to quicken his reflexes and reaction times.

We had to go back home after having a nice Kaesekrainer plate, sausages with cheese on the inside. After feeding the beast, Phuong left again. She got to go to Hofbraeuhaus with the girls and experience a true beer hall. Then she came home and didn't wake Michael. I was pleased with that.

The next morning, we went to Bonn on the train to visit the Schuncks. I stayed with them in 1997 for half a summer and came back in '99, '02, and now in '07. They remind me a lot of my family and it's nice to be able to see them every now and again. They really liked Michael and thought he was "toll", "klasse" and "prima". He's teething so he was kind of a putz, but interesting nonetheless. Reinhard came home too, to see us and to help clean out the house. They're moving after 25 years to a smaller place without stairs because Mrs. Schunck's hips and knees are ailing.

Benny, Reinhard, and Renate were all great. We were especially surprised how much Reinhard liked playing with him. We suspected Mr. and Mrs. Schunck would like him but usually 28 year old single guys think of babies as radioactive species. We think we set him back at least 5 more years from making grandchildren though. Poor Mrs. Schunck!

Mrs. Schunck made us great food and we were very happy to eat it. Phuong was happy to eat three times more than anyone else because for once she didn't have to cook. They took us into Bonn to walk around downtown and have some ice cream and a coffee. It was a nice change from the constant hustle and bustle of Paris to visit Bonn, what guidebooks would describe as a sleepy town. But it still has the infrastructure from being the former capital, so it's actually quite pleasant. They also took us to a restaurant to have Pfifferlinge mushrooms. Yummy! Here we are. Renate thinks Michael is a delight.

Benny took us up to Drachenfels, the ruins of an old fortress. All along the Rhine are castles and vineyards, and it makes for a charming sight. It is really pretty at the top and you can see the entire Rhine valley. On clear days, you can see the Cologne cathedral. Not this one. This was the type of summer day we've had all year, 65F and drizzly. Only now in Paris is the weather improving. 75 and mostly sunny today. Very nice.

Testing a code. My ghetto high school has a network similar to that of like My Space. So I created a profile and uploaded some pictures and it made a slideshow with a code I could copy/paste here. My ghetto high school reunion is SO high tech!


Find more photos like this on Eisenhower Class of 97 Reunion

I forgot to post this on July 4th, our Independence Day:

I went to my British friend's house for fun on July 4th and she offered me some tea. I told her that if she gave me any, I'd dump it in the Boston harbor and yell, "No Taxation without REPRESENTATION!"

Love,
P