Absentee ballot

We got our absentee ballots in the mail yesterday! There were 4 sheets of paper in two different colors in 2 different sizes. There were 2 different envelopes in 2 different colors in 2 different sizes.

And then so much Spanish that I had to hunt to find the English. I find that appalling.

But we are excited to send our ballots in!

P

Parents in Paris!

If you had a choice, which one you pick? Hurricane destroyed Houston? Or 3 weeks in Paris? My parents chose 3 weeks in Paris. And luckily, their house was spared enough so that they could leave it!

We are having fun eating and running around the city! Here we are on a nice Sunday morning at the Luxembourg Gardens before heading to Chinatown for Dim Sum. Michael was JUST not in the mood for pictures:



On October 1st, we decided to explore the lovely Dordogne region of France. This southern area of France is known for truffles, strawberries, walnuts, and the controversial fois gras. We stayed at this cute rental house with 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, pool, and TONS of toys for kids. They had badminton, pingpong, and bikes! Plus movies! It was amazing. Here's a pic:


The first day, we arrived in Bordeaux and drove the 2 hours to Sarlat. Along the way, we stopped at an adorable little town called St. Emilion, which is known for wine. Shocking right? No pictures though because I left the camera in the car!

Anyways, we learned a bit about the best years for St. Emilion and stocked up on some wine to drink for now and for later. For those who are wondering, 2000 was a good year and 2001 was also excellent. Ready to drink now. Buy a 2005, the vintage of the century, and save it for at least 2 years to drink for later. The Grand Cru Premier Classe cost 280 Euro so we bought some Grand Cru instead.

We checked into our bungalow and then rested for the evening.

On our 2nd day, we explored the prehistoric caves around the area, which are famous for its cave art that is 14000 years old. No pictures either of this because cameras are NOT ALLOWED!!!! :o(

We visited 2 caves. The first was Font de Gaumes in Les Eyzies, which was amazing. It is the only original cave art open to the public. When you enter it, it is really a cave. A very small dark confined space. This German woman opted out and left about 4 steps in. The guide showed us these amazing paintings which were so faint you would never have seen them had he not pointed them out. The cro magnon man used the natural curves and indentations of the caves as part of their animals that they drew and painted with water and natural substances. It was amazing. I learned a lot more things about cave art so if you are interested (which I know you are not), you can post in comments and we can discuss more there.

The 2nd cave is the most famous, the caves of Lascaux. The original Lascaux caves were shut down due to the level of calcite that had built up on the original paintings due to human exposure. So we saw the replica, which is supposed to be amazingly accurate. It was absolutely awesome to see these HUGE animals being drawn on cave walls. At one point, the guide turned off the lights and held up a small lighter so we could see what the paintings would look like in the original lighting and it was amazing. They were painted to where they looked like they were moving if you had a flickering light. And it was indeed just that. Good ole wikipedia for pictures of cave art for ya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

What was impressive too was that for the first tour, Brian and i understood almost all the French. For the 2nd one, about 50-75% of what we could hear. We were pretty happy with that!

Anyways, we ended our day at a fois gras farm where we learned about the process and how it is made. Brian got to feed some geese. Michael was not too impressed.

The geese are bought as geeslings (?) and then fed normally until 5 months old. At which point, they are force fed for about a month. Then, slaughtered for their buttery fat livers. This is then canned with salt and pepper. After which they are sterilized in hot water, which also cooks the interior of the can. Not for everyone, but we adore it.

The 3rd day, my angelic parents took care of Michael in Beynac while Brian and I canoed down the Dordogne. That definitely earned the 3 stars in Rick's book! My parents took a river cruise with Michael and Brian and I canoed for 3 hours from Vitrac to La Roque Gagaec and finally to Beynac, where my parents were. Here are some of our views:
Brian being the steering for our boat:
We only went around in circles 4 times and never got beached so I consider that to be quite successful!

We drove and enjoyed touring the French countryside. We stopped near a walnut tree and took pictures. This is my parents before we got a finger shaking at us for trying to gather up walnuts to take home!

Our last day, we went to the Saturday market in a little town named Sarlat. It is the most amazing market I've been to yet in France. It was magical.
They had LOADS of gorgeous and sweet strawberries. Tons of tins of fois gras. Bottles upon bottles of Walnut olive oil and truffle oil. And a walking band to provide the music. And that was just the food market! My parents explored the clothing market and loved every bit of THAT!

We found this funny statue of 3 geese in Sarlat. Had to take a picture of that! Family picture at that!

We spent the last day strolling around Sarlat and headed home for a calm evening full of games and movies. But then I was chasing after Michael, stepped wrong, and did something to my left foot and couldn't put any weight on it.

So instead of enjoying enchanting Sarlat at night, Brian and I went to the emergency room to make sure nothing was broken. I did this once to the same foot in college and had a fracture and had to wear a weird blue shoe for 3 weeks. So we wanted to get it checked out before we headed back to Paris and I'm running around pushing a stroller and wearing my carryon sized backpack like a pack mule. Luckily, nothing was broken and I am hobbling much better everyday!

That was it! We had fun!

P

Earmuff it

I'm standing around the other day and Michael comes running up to me and says "Fock!" I thought, oh geez, I thought I'd curbed that sort of thing. So I turn around to reprimand him and he's sitting there smiling at me holding a fork. Relief. Temporary.

Today we were on our way to throw out the trash and the road was lined with little rocks. Michael points to a rock and says fock. I say no, it's a rock. And he starts yelling like a machine gun, fock fock fock fock and pointing to the rocks. Luckily we were in the country.

But then we went on the train today and I hear him in the four seater next to me saying fock fock fock. Apparently he was trying to say 5.

It looks like we have a good deal of work ahead of us.

TV

No matter who you want to vote for, I thought this opening skit from Saturday Night Live was hilarious:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/

Interesting

Brian and I have been following the $700 billion bailout plan proposed by the current administration. I read an article on yahoo and thought the following quotes were interesting:

Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said, "This massive bailout is not a solution. It is financial socialism and it's un-American."

"Just because God created the world in seven days doesn't mean we have to pass this bill in seven days," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

Rest of the article can be found here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown

Thoughts anyone?

Conversation

Phuong:
Hey! Michael's friend Jonah is coming over. I have a craft planned for them!

Brian:
Oh yeah, what?

Phuong:
We're going to make scrapbook pages!

Brian:
Aren't there child labor laws against stuff like that?

So Sad...

We went to the park in the morning and had a REALLY sad moment.

Michael went over to this kid to give him a pine cone he had found. But the kid didn't want to take it and ran away, leaving Michael standing alone. And Michael just stood there, with his head hanging down, dejected.

We had given him some space so he could play with other children on his own so we only saw his back with his head hanging down. He stood that way for 2-3 minutes and then Brian went to check on him and saw Michael just so sad.

So sad he couldn't move. So sad he couldn't do anything but hang his head in sadness. It broke our hearts and I almost cried. He tried to play afterwards, but you could tell it wasn't the same. My heart just breaks to think of the many other moments just like this that he will have to endure. Because even as adults, we feel exactly the same way at times. When kids don't want to play with us.

And then we go home and realize there are 2 people who will always love us no matter what! Our parents! ;o) So we tried to be that for Michael and showered him with hugs and kisses. Then we fed him.

I don't think so...

Michael hit me for the first time today. Like SMACKED me. He was not sharing a toy with his friend Jonah very well, mind you it was Jonah's toy. So I explained to him what was going on and he started to fuss and then he did it...

SQUARE on the cheek. Not a tap, not a little shove. A flat out SMACK. First time EVER.

He got put in time out SO fast. He was crying the whole way there and the whole time he was in the corner. He must have thought we were in a new place and so time out didn't exist.

I wasn't sure whether or not to spank him because frankly, it was a SERIOUS offense warranting a spanking. But I usually opt for time out first and that works. Spanking is something I prefer to use as a last resort. I know people have very strong views on this, but this works for us. At least for now.

However, Michael better watch it if he hits me like that again. I can GUARANTEE a spanking for next time.

UGH.

Other than that, we had a great day.

Please Pray

Please pray for all the Texans in Galveston, Houston, surrounding areas for:

• A quick and speedy recovery from Hurricane Ike
• Help where help is needed
• Repair and restoration of property and normal life as soon as possible!

I know I am not the only one with dear family members in Texas so I wish I could do anything to be there to help. All I can do is pray and call constantly to check in so I do that!

If you are thinking about Paris...

I know lots of our friends are hemming and hawing about coming to Paris or not to visit us. Or maybe I should wake up and realize that none of my friends want to come to Paris to visit us! ;o)

But here is an excerpt from a newsletter I receive from Rick Steves that I think defines why we travel and why we love it. I just had to post it because it just hits the nail on the head about why we travel. And I hope that it persuades some of our friends who don't wander out too far...to do just that.

"Dear Traveler,

The dollar is getting some strength back, but the out-of-pocket and environmental costs of flying won’t be going down anytime soon. It's natural to ask, is travel worth it?

In our empty-nest years, having traveled makes the life we've lived more interesting to gnaw on. For our children, travel stokes their youthful passions and gives them reasons to think big. And, in this election season, it's agreed that our statesmen and women gain critical understanding through travel.

I believe that to go through life without stepping outside your corner of the world is a lost opportunity. I can't remember meeting anyone who, after all the planning, expenses and challenges of turning their travel dreams into reality, didn't value the experience and consider it time and money well spent.

My parents likely won't be using their passports again — but their travel experiences have become a permanent part of their vocabulary. Just like treasured family photos and that piece of classic sheet music that's been on the piano for years, they have a sparkling chest of travel memories that can be dipped into at will…and is. "

THE POPE!

Today, we had an amazing Saturday! We woke up late and went to see the Pope give mass at Les Invalides. It was projected on a big screen TV and we made it there in the middle of the homily. Shameful...I know. Not proud of it, but at least we made it!

We got to take communion at the mass the Pope gave. They had people in white volunteer t-shirts giving communion. And with them, were more volunteers holding umbrellas over them so we could see where to go to take the communion that the Pope had blessed. That was awesome. Didn't really matter to me that I took communion from a guy in a white t-shirt that said "Volunteer" with an umbrella over his head.

Before we got there, we were handed a Magnificat. Magnificat is a small book that has about one to two weeks' worth of masses/songs/readings. You can even subscribe to it. We got one for Easter when we were in Austin and we love it. Anyways, it was a French Magnificat and on the cover, it had "Pope Benoit XVI in Paris." And inside, it had the whole service in French and it was labelled as such too with Pope Benoit XVI presiding at the Esplanade at Les Invalides. What an awesome souvenir.

We then left to have lunch at some friends of ours, the Atkins. On our walk there, they barricaded the street and we couldn't cross to get to theirs. We were pretty peeved until we saw the police cars coming...and THEN THE POPEMOBILE WITH THE POPE INSIDE!!! Pretty awesome. It was like a normal car, except with a huge cubicle on top where the pope sat inside high above!

He had his windows rolled down and was waving to us!! Less than 50 feet away. It was amazing and I wish I had had my camera. What a way for God to reward us! More pictures here:
http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2008/09/12/01016-20080912DIAWWW00408-la-visite-du-pape-en-france.php

After that was over, we had pizza lunch with the Atkins and our kids played. Michael loves playing with their sons so it is a good time for us to go. We found ourselves a new pinochle couple and a family to vacation with this New Years!

After seeing The Pursuit of Happiness and reading A Thousand Splendid Suns...I have realized I have absolutely nothing to complain about. And after a day like today, our lives are filled with so many blessings...that I am filled with an overwhelming feeling of gratefullness and thanks to God for all that He has blessed our lives with!

Love,
P

First French Word

Michael said his first french word to me yesterday. BOUGE. Which means, MOVE. I don't think he knows what it means yet...at least I hope!

Yesterday, he helped me make 2 batches of fresh pesto. He pulled off all the fresh basil leaves for me and measured them out. Then, he poured in all the cheese and pinenuts for me. And afterwards, he held the pepper grinder over the blender so I could grind it. I hope he loves cooking as much as Brian and I do one day!

This week we had fun. On Wednesday, we we took the Choo choo to Le Bon Marche and met Jonah and Kirsten. Jonah and Michael played with the Brio train set. But there were no trains there (GO FIGURE! AT LE BON MARCHE!!) so I bought some for him to play with there. We were going to get him some for his birthday anyways!

Then, we all went to McDonalds by our apartment. The boys took naps, and then we went to the park in the afternoon! FUN DAY!

Yesterday, Michael and I met JOnah and Kirsten at Parc Montsouris, my favorite park in Paris. We stayed there for 2.5 hours and met a nice English woman who had a son the same age as Jonah and Michael!

In the afternoon, Michael and I played ping pong on the coffee table and then we made pesto.

I can't even being to remember what I did MOnday and Tuesday!

Love,
P

No Place Like Home

We had a great time visiting home this July!! I am sure I could have spent more than 5 weeks there! ;o) Here are some highlights.

Houston
I nearly wept after seeing the "Welcome to Houston" sign. The happiness to be home as well as the relief of getting off of the plane I had been on alone with Michael for 14 hours was overwhelming! We quickly got down to the business of relaxing and visiting with Grandparents! ;o)

We spent Tuesday afternoons at Toddler Time at the library and many other hot afternoons in the pool that my mom got for Michael! He loved it!


My dad had the great idea to go to Moody Gardens so we did! It was fantastic and had plenty of things to do for an entire day. We swam in their lagoon, visited the aquarium and the rainforest, and had dinner there overlooking Galveston Bay. Michael loved the awesome splashpad that they had:

And here is Galveston bay in the background with Grandparents and Michael:Then, my good friend Renee came down from Austin to spend the weekend shopping, eating, and relaxing! My parents cooked an amazing crawfish and crab boil to welcome her into town. After which, we met an old college friend of mine, Shane, for wine at a local wine bar. On Saturday, we went shopping at the MEGA asian super store, Hong Kong, and had dim sum at Ocean's Palace. DELIGHTFUL! I sure do miss my best friend:Michael and I spent a lot of time sleeping, relaxing, and playing with Grandma and Grandpa. It was awesome to see him eating and enjoying the Asian food my mom prepared! He loved every bit of it and proves that he is, after all, half Vietnamese! Here is a picture of him with my parents near the last day:
Arlington via Conroe via The Woodlands via College Station
After our visit with my parents, Grammy picked us up and drove us to Arlington. Little did we know we were also going through Conroe, The Woodlands, AND College Station! ;o)

We went to Conroe to see the new additions on their new home and swung by The Woodlands to visit with Aunt Tina, Kayleigh, and Great Grandpa! Michael loved being in Aunt Tina's pool. Aunt Tina even got in and showed him how to kick! Michael would kick and then he'd hold his foot in the air like this:

Michael got to visit with the wise Great Grandpa:We had a great time catching up and enjoying the Houston Heat!! Then, we drove to College Station to visit Michael's Godmother, Christina. Grammy bought us A&M shirts and took pictures of us!! I am so happy to have these! A&M holds so many great memories for us. It's where I met Brian; it's where we got engaged; it's where we began our life together! Here we are at Kyle Field!!! Michael is SUPER happy about it:

Denver
Michael stayed in Arlington while I flew to Denver to visit my sister! We had an awesome time! First order of business, visiting the Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory! It was amazing. Seriously! We got to taste lots of teas, and we were required to put on a hairnet before going into the factory. When my sister had forgotten her hair tie, I pulled on my knowledge of hairnets at Samsung and helped her get her hair in there and stay! Who knew smocking up would come in handy in real life? Here we are outside the tea shop: Then, she took me all over Boulder and Denver. She fed me, clothed me, and shopped with me. What more can you ask for? On Saturday morning, we went running in an awesome park in Downton Denver. Then, we had lunch with her sweet friend Wendy at a diner, which reminded me of EZ's Diner in Austin. *sniff* Then, we saw the Saturday matinee showing of The Dark Knight and had sushi afterwards. We had an awesome time and ended our trip watching chick flicks before I flew back to DFW.


One of the best moments of being a parent is seeing your child after an absence. It can be just an hour or 2-3 days! It doesn't matter because they always greet you with outstretched arms, a huge smile, and love that never stops raining in. It's amazing! I saw Michael in DFW and found out about HIS fun weekend in Dallas.


He got to go to the zoo and interact with animals:
He helped Grandpa clean the cars, which involves a hose. His favorite thing:


He got to eat PANCAKES. PANCAKES! Gotta miss Bisquick! And he spent lots of time playing fun games and enjoying his Grandparents.

AND! He got to see Dada!




Then Mommy came back! Grammy and Mommy took Michael ALL OVER DFW. We went to a Southern Living Idea House, out to lunch at Piranhas (AWESOME), and fed the fish at the Japanese gardens in Fort Worth:

Then, we visited my good friend Gina and her 2 kids, Sarah and Zef. Zef was born 10 days before Michael. We took them to the pool!




Came back, had lunch, put the kids down for a nap, and had grown up time. TRES AMUSANT!

Then, Grammy watched Michael for me one day so I could have SPA day with Gina! It was awesome. We got facials and massages. Had lunch in our bathrobes. And then got pedicures:




As if that weren't enough fun, we then flew to:




Philadelphia
Where our nuclear family was reunited with Brian at the rent a car place! Michael was ECSTATIC to see his dad!We rented a car and drove to meet the rest of the family at Uncle Wild Bill and Aunt AK's new townhome in...

Washington D.C.
We had an amazing time catching up, eating, and enjoying the ALL American life in our nations' GORGEOUS capital. We had a family picnic, went to a baseball game:And explored quickly our nation's monuments at night:
It was awesome. The whole trip was awesome!

Delaware
There is a reason why the only thing they can put on their license plate is "The First State." Not too impressed with Delaware I was! We stayed in Newark because Brian had to work a bit and the research office is there. We wandered over to Pennsylvania to do some shopping and I must say I ADORE Pennsylvania. Not too crazy about Delaware!

We had a great time anyways though hanging out with the Schleismann's. Tony worked with Brian in Paris and they have already relocated back to the States. Michael and I hung out with his wife and daughter, Joen and Nicolette, during the day and had fun watching movies, playing on the neighbor's playscape, and just relaxing. So there IS something nice about Delaware! We have a friend there now! ;o)

And then we went back to Paris. See some of the blogs below. This is all out of order and I apologize!

I think that's it. Hopefully, no more ginormously long blogposts.

WORDS!

Michael is adding more and more words everyday!!! I think he says about 2-3 new words a day! I am excited because I just am.

Choo choo

There is nothing that excites Michael more than the choo choo. He begs for it every night, especially before bedtime. Sunday, we went to the park to give mom a break. The park is less than a 10 minute walk but we decided to take the metro.

We've been on the choo choo before; it's really funny. When we descend into the metro, he says choo choo questioningly and points down the stairway. When we get down the stairs, I put him down and let him run through the turnstile yelling choo choo the whole time. Then we run down the stairs to see the choo choo. If the train going the opposite way arrives first, he looks at it with awe and says choo choo multiple times while following its path with his index finger as it enters the station. When our train comes, he points at it, and runs towards it as dad corrals him from behind while he's screaming choo choo. Then he stands in front of the door, runs on the train, pulls down the seat in the entry/exitway and scrambles up on top of it and sits properly like he's commuting. Sometimes he scoots to the edge of the seat and holds the handrail because we do it. When the train reaches the next station, he makes his all done sign and launches himself off of his seat, sometimes before the train stops and you have to catch him in mid-air. Then we climb the stairs and exit the metro.

Sunday, we rode one stop from Les Gobelins to Place d'Italie on the line 7, changed trains to the line 6 and took the train another stop to Corvisart and exited. Then when we got off, he starts waving good bye to the train. It was really cute. When we left the station, he looked up at the bridge and waited until another train came after which time we were able to proceed to the park. We went and played at the park which consisted of 45 minutes of throwing acorns, chestnuts, rocks, sticks, pine cones, and even a snail shell into a creek. Then he wanted to see more trains.

We walked to Glacière, took the escalator (his second favorite man-made structure after the train) and took the metro to Place d'Italie, switched to the line 7, got off at Les Gobelins, and got some money from the bank. Then we saw the bus, so we had to take bus 47 one stop to 123 rue Monge and the best boulangerie near us, the appropriately named Boulanger de Monge. He loved the bus and was not happy just to be on it; he had to pull down one of the aisle seats and sit on it for the ride.

Then we ran some more errands and took line 7 back hom from the Censier-Daubenton stop. This time, there were no spaces on the seats. He ran into the train car, looked around and then grabbed the pole in the middle of the car and stood there like he commuted every day. Then we arrived at Les Gobelins, he waved goodbye to the train, and we rode up the escalator as he asked, choo choo?

Sloooow reflexes

One of the days that we were on the beach in Collioure, a rubber basketball appeared on the shore. It was about the size of a tennis ball, was about 85% inflated and was really lightweight. Michael seized upon this nez discovery and Phuong and I joined him in a rousing game of throw and catch. Except he can't catch. When we would throw it to him, it would bounce off of him or land near him. Then we'd tell him to go chase the ball and he'd throw it back it to us. One time though, the ball landed in the water. The force of the tide was really small, and there were like 2 inch waves, but that was enough to make things difficult for the boy. He would chase after the ball and get up next to it, then he would come to a complete stop, then he would bend down. By this time, the waves had taken the ball just out of his reach. Persistant, he would chase the ball and repeat the process. One time he reached down and the ball went through his legs and he had to turn around and go chase it. Phuong and I watched him laughing for two minutes as he repeated the above process a good 10 times before he finally captured the ball. Then brought it back to us with a look of great joy and accomplishment on his round little face.

Le Pape a Paris

Click on the English version!
http://www.papeaparis.org/

Why I Shouldn't Come back to the States

Today, I spent Money at Old Navy with the click of a button. I didn't need to even look at my credit card information, they had saved it. I didn't need to enter in a shipping address, they had saved that too.

Seriously, I clicked on "Check Out" and then "Place Order." And poof, there went some money!

For this very reason, I believe I need to stay here. It is MUCH harder for me to spend money when I have to ask someone in French if they know if this bat halloween costume is going to get marked down.

Yes, I do realize that I still was able to spend the money while in France due to something called "the internet." But I firmly believe I would be spending much MORE money if I was living in the States.

By the way, Brian wants me to change the pictures I put up for Southwest of France blogpost. He says they aren't our favorites and he's right.

Love,
P

Bandaids and Toot

Michael learned the word toot (for fart) in like six hours; this is approximately 6 weeks faster than every other word he's learned except for peepee, kaka (dookie), and choo choo. Whenever I toot real loud, he looks at me and happily says Toot!! We were at the airport in Perpignan looking at the (one) airplane on the tarmac, and he turns to me and says 'toot, toot', and I thought to myself, I didn't do anything. Then it just stunk. Turns out he'd let two fluffies right underneath me. Thanks, boy.

Today, Michael was eating breakfast and Phuong noticed that he had two cuts on his ring and middle fingers. He's been eating a lot of oranges of late, and the acid's been burning his fingers and making him cry. To combat this, Phuong decided to put a bandaid on his finger, but he wouldn't let her do it. I think it was partially because she was trying to put a bandaid as wide as his entire finger onto his cut. So we found a peewee bandaid and I held his hand out while Phuong put on the bandaid. But it still irked him so to make him feel better, P asked him if he wanted us to wear bandaids too. Well of course it did. So now Phuong and I are wearing black Pirate bandaids on our ring fingers. He feels much better and so does his finger. I don't know how we'll fare at market this morning; we probably we will forbidden to touch any fruit for fear of transferring our pirate diseases.

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.