Cook!

Michael and I were sitting at the table while he was eating his dinner and I was encouraging him in his endeavor. Phuong was over at the counter making hot chocolate and then she came over to talk to us standing next to Michael's chair. A short while later, he pushes her away, points towards the counter and yells COOK! Then 30 seconds later, even though he has a whole plate of food that he's not eating, he yells ME WANT FOOD!

Well then.

My Goodness!

Brian is having a massive vacation right now! Two and a half weeks off for us to all look at each other all day! Here is a run down of activities:

Friday, Dec. 19: Dad's Day Off. Brian went Christmas shopping in the morning and then watched movies all afternoon at home while Michael and I hung out! We had delicious carne adovado for dinner. Thanks to Jamie and Kim for that New Mexican gift!

Saturday, Dec. 20: Mom out shopping with Su. Christmas shopping mostly done.

Sunday, Dec. 21: Christmas gouter/party at the Daniels. Their son, Jonah, is Michael's best friend. Sure helps out that Kirsten and I get a long GREAT as well!

Monday, Dec. 22: Christmas shopping with Kirsten around Paris. GREAT fun. Original day for her maternity photoshoot, but it was raining so shopping just HAD to be it! We went to Galeries Lafayette and then Cyrillus and then bopped around Opera.

Dec 23-24: Family time!

Thursday, Dec. 25th: Christmas and breakfast at home. Then Christmas dinner with the Atkins like we did last year! Super delicious and super fun. The kids all played well together and didn't eat a SINGLE thing for dinner. However, Michael did enjoy his 5 scoops of ice cream. We were glad he was quiet. It's the holidays!

Friday, Dec. 26th: No Day After Christmas shopping frenzy here! It is COLD. Like almost freezing cold. However, Brian and I braved the winds and walked all the way to Chatelet (40 minute walk) and I exchanged a couple of presents and bought Kirsten's shower gift. Shopping for girl clothes is SUPER fun. So I guess there was still Day After Christmas shopping...but no FRENZY to go along with it.

Which brings us to today! It was gorgeous and cold so I called Kirsten to come out and do our photoshoot. Here are my fav 3 pictures from today. She's gorgeous!

Alsacez-Vous!

Brian's parents came in on a whirlwind trip to Paris to deliver Christmas goodies (both edible and non!) and to run off to a region in France called Alsace, known for its German influence. We were in search of schnitzel, but found mostly sauerkraut and sausage. Yeah, we'll take that too!

We stayed in this AMAZING gite (French for rental house) that was situated up HIGH in the mountains with snow everywhere. There were just tons of live Christmas trees, covered in snow, growing everywhere! It was like in a Christmas storybook. And at night, it was even more enchanting. Incredible! We took many opportunities to take pictures!

Family pic:
My favorite pic of Michael from the vacation:
Happy parents with their adorable hats:

And boys conquering piles of snowcovered wood:
One of our first adventures was putting chains on our tires. When we first arrived at the gite, we were met by the owner who was waiting for us by the side of the road with a flashlight. After some exchanges, we decided it would be best if he drove our car up the mountain without chains and Dad would drive his. So far so good!

Then, the guy who drives very often in snow left. Something about meeting his friend. I thought our snow driver was included in the cost! Anyways, we put chains on the back two tires of the vehicle and proceeded to slide down the snow covered hill 3 times before a nice Belgian living upstairs told us, "You need to put the chains on the FRONT 2 tires of a front wheel drive vehicle. NOT the back 2."

Why yes...that seems to make sense now doesn't it?? Here's a nice picture of our chains:

Later, we found out those same Belgians were driving fine up and down that hill with neither snow tires or chains. NICE! I guess that's what the owner meant when he asked me, "Are you guys used to driving in snow?" Ummm...that's a resounding "NO!"

The parents, Michael, and I arrived in Colmar in the early afternoon before Brian. We picked up Brian late that night at the Colmar train station and settled in after our eventful first day. For more random and possibly humerous stories, see the end of the blog.

At the beginning of the 2nd day, Saturday Dec. 13th, we got an early start at 11:00am. Ahhh...it is so nice to have a VACATION! The first place we visited was a quaint little town called Riquewihr.
We drank lots of hot beverages (cocoa, wine, etc):
And had fun exploring the small village. We bought choucroute there (sauerkraut and sausage) and poele alsacienne (potates skillet fried with cheese and sausage) for dinner. And by skillet fried, I mean in pans as large as a 18 wheeler tire. It was super cute and we had a great time wandering the little cobbled streets.

On our drive up and down the mountain, we had some amazing views. Here's a really cool cemetary we found:
And I just love this snow covered view:

On the 3rd day, Sunday Dec. 14th, we explored Colmar! The German inspired colored houses were too cute and the market spanned the entire town. In Nuremberg, the market is really in their main square. But in Colmar, we went to different parts of the village to see different markets. Really cute! Here's a family picture there, of course:
And my favorite night market picture:We had an amazing apfelstreudel in a cafe near Petit Venise in Colmar and some Frenchies in the table next to us were seriously enchanted by Michael! All he was doing was eating a mini ice cream cone!

While in Colmar, we shopped, ate, and Michael rode the horse ride and the mini carrousel a ton of times. Check out this great picture Dad took:

On our last day, Monday Dec. 15th, we explored Eguisheim. It had a sign greeting us saying, "One of the most prettiest villages in France." Any time we see this sign, we brace ourselves a bit because what France considers one of their most prettiest villages, is a bit different than what we expect! While Eguisheim was cute (the streets form concentric circles), it was just ok. I think it would have helped had we come on a Sunday since Monday was pretty dead in the village. As in most villages actually! Usually Sunday is a dead day too but since it is Christmas season, things are open. Either way, we got our family picture! Dad already had Michael snuggled in his coat so we just said, "Hey, you can get in the picture too!"

After this, we returned the rental car in Colmar and had a nice uneventful train ride back to Paris with sauerkraut in our bellies and visions of whittled Christmas ornaments in our head.

Michael had a great time with his grandparents and these 2 shots show just that:

VOILA! And that was the end of our trip! Amazing!

Love,
P

P.S. Funny moments:

• While waiting at the train station (Gare de l'Est) to go to Colmar (we were an hour early), we helped a Chinese guy who was seriously stressed out about the trains in France. He couldn't imagine why they would be late. And I wondered, are trains always running perfectly in China?


• At this same train station, I got pooped on by a bird. This is my first memory of the trip. This should teach me NOT to come to the train station an hour early!


• We had to transfer trains in Strasbourg to a regional train that went to Colmar. Brian left us 10 minutes to do this transfer. By the time we got on the train, it was pulling out and Brian's mom was reaching for her inhaler so she could breathe.


• When we got to the Avis rental agency, they only had 2 cars for us. They took us to the parking lot and showed us the car we ordered, a Citroen C3 with no chains. Reasonably sized car. Then they showed us a Ford Fiesta with chains. The Ford fiesta was small. To put it generously. But we went ahead and chose it because it had chains. Luckily, someone returned a big Volkswagen Touron which easily could seat 4 and a carseat AND it had chains. WHEW. Otherwise, I may have had to ride tied to the top of the Ford Fiesta.


• When we were looking at the cars, Dad and I had to walk nearly to the other end of the parking lot. Then, when we were going to pick up our huge Volkswagon Touron, they drove us to it. And I am serious when I say it was like a 30 second walk away.


• Don't ask about navigating within the city of Colmar itself, OR finding our way out of Colmar to Kaysersberg for the first time. Let's just say, Brian's mom said, "Look for the D4 on the map." I couldn't find it until we went about 5km north of Colmar. Oops, better go WEST.


• Since Brian did not join us until late Friday night, I did all the information gathering in FRENCH! I am super proud of myself so I have to toot my horn.

2 nights ago, Michael did not want to go to sleep. We put him in his crib like usual and he got up and started crying. So we went in and had this conversation with him through his tears and while hugging him. He was holding 2 dogs, a penguin, and a blanket all at the same time:

Michael: Mommy, Mommy
Mommy: Michael, it's ok. You are going to sleep in your crib
Michael: No, No, No
Mommy: Yes, it is ok. Tomorrow, we'll come in and get you when you wake up.
Michael: Get you...get you...
Mommy: So you be a big boy and sleep in your crib like a good boy ok?
Michael: Good boy, good boy...

And Brian layed him down, we left, and we shut the door. He went to sleep.

I guess we said the right things this time.
P

Battu Part Deux

Today Michael, Phuong and I went to "Breakfast in America", a diner where they serve American style breakfast and hamburgers and all things deliciously American. We ordered our 2x2x2 (bacon, eggs, pancakes - B) and breakfast burrito (P), which came with toast. Phuong gave Michael a piece of toast and then a package of butter so he could spread some on his toast. We got to talking, wooing each other if you will, and we look over and the butter is gone and the boy is just sitting there with a spoon in his hand and greasy lips. He ate it all! Then he started asking for more battu, but we resisted and gave him syrup for his pnacake instead.

The Possible end of Scrapbooking

I think the end of scrapbooking is coming near for me. I just don't have time with my photography habit as well and now people are asking for photoshoots so I spend some time proofing.

Anyways, Kim Kropka introduced me to this site today for photobooks. It looks amazing. And guess what? They can turn your blogs into books with just some clicks of a mouse.

http://www.blurb.com/create/book/blogbook

You guys may be seeing A LOT more blog entries since I can just import it into a book and get it published. I think I am going to reserve my most favorite pictures for scrapbooking still...but I do believe my hobby is going to start taking a backseat to technology. And I better get a lot better with my grammar and spelling if I am going to put it in a book form.

My Cup Runneth Over

Tonight, Michael and I had the following conversation at bedtime:

Michael: Daddy?
Phuong: Daddy is playing poker tonight.
Michael: Friends.
Phuong: Yes, Daddy is playing poker with his friends. Do you have any friends?
Michael: Mommy, Joda

And he meant it too because he said Joda right after me, which is his best friend here in Paris (Jonah)

Are there any words to explain how you feel after your son tells you that he thinks of you as his friend? I must have done something right!

Then, I remember that line in The Wedding Singer when Adam Sandler's nephew tells him that "Everyone is saying you are coocoo." And Adam Sandler replies, "What do you mean everyone; you only talk to your parents."

I may be only 1 of 3 people he ever talks to but I am happy to still be his friend. Do you think he'll add me as his friend on Facebook one day?

Good night!
P

Elle a Fait Ci

Thursday afternoon, we went to playgroup at Laura's place across the street. I met a mom who has a 22 month old girl who's got tons of health problems. She's hooked up to an oxygen tank and has a medicine dispenser box that is connected to her leg. She's had heart surgery and has possible liver problems, etc. She's gorgeous and so cute and my heart just goes out to her and her family!

Anyways, Michael has gone twice to French Music class. And today, I'm singing the song that they sing when they hold hands and go in a circle...and MICHAEL KNEW THE WORDS!!! It was incredible. Here's how it started:

Phuong: Ma grand mere fait tous ca
Michael: Elle a fait ci
Phuong: Elle a fait ca
Phuong: Ma grand mere, Elle a fait ci
Michael: Elle a fait ca

And he was saying over and over in the elevator, "VOILA!"

INCREDIBLE! Gotta get Vietnamese in there next!

Love,
P

SMOOCH

Yesterday, Michael has started kissing for REAL! He's been kissing us for a long time, but with wet open mouth kisses on our cheeks.

Yesterday, Michael put both his lips together, put them next to my cheek and made a kissing noise! He is thrilled with it!

One of his delay tactics for naptime is to smother me in kisses all over because he knows I love it and I let him do it all he wants! It is too cute to stop.

Other funny things:
On Tuesday, we went to gymnastics. He loves it and was running around the little play area that they set up. And as he went by, I could hear him under his breath saying, "More..more..more.." He just loves it!

However, he does not follow instructions well in gymnastics. The teacher will tell him in French to sit down and he'll just stand there staring at her. So she'll switch to English and he still does not obey, even though all the other kids are sitting all in a row. What do I DO??? Is there anything?

Michael was throwing around a football at home and wanted to throw it at a picture frame. I said, "Michael, don't throw it there or Mommy will get upset." And he looks at me and points to his timeout corner as to say, "yup, I go there if Mommy gets upset." Then, he pointed to the laptop and said, "Touch." Because he knows if he touches that, it's timeout too!

Michael can play memory now. It's a bit crude, bit it's there. I noticed it yesterday. I pull out 6 cards and put them face down and he knows to turn one over and look for the "match." And he can remember too! If he's turned it over before one time, and he sees it again somewhere else, he'll know where he saw it the first time. BONAFIDE. It's amazing! He's still learning how to take turns, but for now, I am letting him remember what he's done.

I taught Michael to say "crazy." So whenever he's turning things upside down and making a mess, he'll say "CRAZY!" while doing it and then point to the mess and say, "Mess."

This week so far:
Monday - No playgroup, fever recovery
Tuesday - Gymnastics in the morning, babysitter in the afternoon
Wednesday - MOther's coffee break in the morning, french music class in the afternoon

I think that's it. We'll see.

Michael got himself all ready to watch Baby Einstein shapes today. I turned around after putting in the DVD and found this:

Half an hour later, he's back to banging on balls with hammers!

Love,

P

Crayon on the wall

The Thursday that the Kropkas came into town was November 6th. I was chatting with them in the living room and Michael was being very well behaved and quiet in his room.

At least I thought. I found blue crayon marks all over 3 of my white walls and 2 of my white doors.

Thank God for washable crayola crayons.

Love,
P

Michael has a fever today. 100.5 taken from the armpit so that means more likely around 101-102. I know, super accurate right?

Anyways, I gave him some fever reducing medication before bedtime and that seemed to help. *sigh* I hate fevers because you just have to sit around and wait for it to break. And then 3-4 days later, if it doesn't you have to call the doctor.

So here we go again.
P

On Saturday, we celebrated Thanksgiving again! There is a building in the 7th arrondissement that houses about 4-5 Air Liquide expat families. Isn't that incredible? I can't imagine living in a building where I knew 4 other English speaking families! Sounds amazing! What ISN'T amazing is that they spend an extra 600-800 euro PER MONTH to live there next to the Eiffel tower. I'm happy to be either saving that money or traveling with it!

Anyways, they call that building the Air Liquide compound so we had Thanksgiving there! They moved all the tables to one apartment and all the couches to another. So we had Thanskgiving dinner on the 3rd floor and then the babysitters took all the kids to the 6th floor to play. THEY HAD BABYSITTERS! How amazing is that? The babysitters were really the teenage kids of other Air Liquide expats living also in the 7th, but not necessarily in that building.

It was a lot of fun!

That's all. That's an entry for me.
P

Michael asks us ALL THE TIME for his "show" on TV...like ALL THE TIME. It is annoying. I only let him watch it once a day for 30 minutes and that is it. It's just baby einstein words so it is educational and harmless...but still!

He has started saying no to us. We are not happy about that and are trying to restrict it!

That's it for now.

Thanksgiving at the Daniels!

On Thursday, we celebrated Thanskgiving at Michael's best friend's house! Kirsten, Jonathan and Jonah hosted an amazing Thanksgiving!

They had a great turkey with all the fixin's! I brought chestnut stuffing, celery stuffing balls, cranberry salad, and green bean casserole. Kirsten made this amazing sweet potato biscuits that Brian has been asking me to make now! She is about 8 months pregnant and made an amazing Thanksgiving. I am super impressed!

The boys decided to crack open a bottle of wine for us:

And after our huge meal, we celebrated with Thanksgiving bingo, complete with awesome prizes like a box of nails and a magnifying glass. Target came through with it's pin the hat on the turkey game. Jonah was pretty good at it:

Thanks go out to Brian's mom for sending us our post dinner/dessert entertainment! We had the adults playing too:

It was great fun and we had an amazing time! It is nice to have other American friends here to celebrate with us since we are so far from family. Today (Saturday), we've got another Thanksgiving to go to!

We are so thankful for our friends here and our life here. It is an amazing experience that constantly rewards us in surprising ways. But the thing that always stands out to me, is how much we miss our family and friends back at home as well. What a blessing you all are to us and we thank you for being a part of our lives!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Shopping!

Love,
P

Black Friday

Yesterday, we had a fun day! Michael and I met Brian at headquarters and we had lunch together. Brian found a good Pho place!!!! FINALLY! So we all had pho for lunch. Michael LOVES it so it was a huge treat for us, especially with this cold weather! And it is always nice to meet more Vietnamese people...reminds me of my parents! :o)

*SIDE NOTE*
For those of you who do not know, pho is Vietnamese beef noodle soup. And not all pho is made the same either. How do you know if a pho place is good?

• The broth is clear. You should be able to see down to at least the middle of your bowl. If the broth is cloudy and murky, it is usually not a good pho place.
• You are not incredibly thirsty after you eat a bowl. If you are really really thirsty for about an hour or so after you have eaten the bowl, they have used too much MSG for flavoring.

**SIDE NOTE END**

Then, we headed over to a Salon des Vignerons, which is basically wine tasting on SPEED in a convention center. It was in a HUGE convention hall at Porte des Versailles (nowhere near the chateau incidentally). Imagine just HUNDREDS of little booths of people selling wine and offering tastings. Aisle after aisle...of wines from EVERYWHERE in France. And mostly small independent wine makers too! We made out with some sweet wines, Gerwurstraminer, some chocolate, and macaroons! VERY overwhelming but interesting at the same time.

Then, we headed home and ate Thanskgiving leftovers. I made 40 cupcakes and Brian watched Underworld 2. Hardly our best date night yet.

Hope everyone's Thanksgiving has been dandy!

Love,
Phuong

YESS!!!!

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/25/business/25usecon.php

Guests in Paris!

In November, we had a slew of great visitors!

First up, Devina, also known as The Dirty D! She was an amazing house guest and helped out a TON! She did dishes, did laundry, and helped with Michael even though he spilled her juice and caused a pen to run all over her. I am surprised she could even call it a vacation! Here is a picture of her with Brian and Michael at the market close to our house, Auguste Blanqui:
We had fun times hanging out with Michael and even had one day where Devina and I could hang out. We checked out the Carnavalet museum on the Tuesday before the Kropkas came. Then, we had coffee underneath an overhang that was dripping on us...which then ended up in a torrential rainfall of gutter water on our table. NICE. Should have noticed the wet spot UNDER our table to begin with...

After which, we went shopping! Devina bought a super cute/chic Paris coat and I found a great scarf. Between the two of us, the boulangere couldn't even get our order straight...although I doubt it was because of our stunning fashion accessories. I am thinking it was because I couldn't say almond correctly in French.

Then! The KROPKAS came to town! They were awesome houseguests too! They played with Michael, did dishes, and were great entertainment for all of us. I guess doing dishes is part of the package when visiting our place! ;o)

We went with them on a whirlwind trip to Provence. We took a train to Arles and stayed there while exploring the region.

On the first day, Sunday, we wandered around dead Arles. It was pretty quiet as all the shops were closed and it was Armistice holiday weekend. Nonetheless, we found a nice fountain that Michael spent a lot of time playing in:


Then, we hiked up to the top of the Roman arena that is a ruin there. It is used for bullfights now! You can see the bleachers here in our picture:

On Monday, we did our best to get out early to catch the train to Avignon! As we were walking by the train station, Brian heard a train going by and jokingly said, there goes our train! Little did we know he was correct. We missed it by 5 minutes! So we ended up renting a car for the day, which actually was MUCH better for our trip!

The first estimate for the rental was 200 euro for 1 day, 1 night. After we balked at the price, the clerk asked if we had any discounts like Carte Enfant plus or brian's work discount. Voila, badda bing, badda boom, 200 euro went down to 80 euro! SWEET!

So we drove to Avignon and split up for part of the day. Jamie and Kim did some awesome shopping and our family explored the palace of the popes. It was big and empty. So no extremely exciting pictures. We met up with them at the end of the day and saw the pope's gardens. Here's a picture of the Kropkas with the fall foliage. They are too cute: Gotta love another photographer on the trip with you! Kim is amazing at exposing correctly:


Then, Jamie and Kim watched MIchael for us while Brian and I went out on Pont Saint Benezet's bridge. Thank goodness too because there wasn't much of a rail on it! We walked out to the end and thought...ok, guess we'll head back now. Not too exciting.


On the final day of our trip, Tuesday (Nov. 11th), we visited the Pont du Gard again, the huge roman aqueduct! It is still impressive even the 2nd time around. And I finally got my family picture:

Gotta love riding on Dad's shoulders!
Then, we drove to Chateauneuf du pape to do some wine tasting at the Cave des Vergers! We were rewarded with a great view of the golden vineyards and of course, got a family picture!

We had an amazing wine tasting where we learned lots of things, like how to aerate the wine in your mouth and check the color of it over a piece of white paper. Michael was more interested in the ants he found. Whenever we look at pictures of the wine tasting, he tells me, "BUGS!" YUP! Bugs.

Here's all the wine we tasted:

We walked away with a case of wine. A great muscat, 2 bold reds, and a white wine that's good for something!

What a great way to end our trip! We caught our train from Arles back to Paris and then spent some more time relaxing. Kim, Jamie, and I went to a very famous kitchen shop called Dehlerrin. I still can't spell it. But it was AWESOME. It caters to both restaurant chefs and normal people like us. I found a ladle that could ladle up 1 liter of liquid at a time. I am going back with my camera one day! Kim bought some great copper pots and got a good deal on them and I bought a madeleine pan! SUCCESS!

We were very sad to see our guests go and quite frankly, I went into a bit of a funk after they left. For the first couple of days, I was glad to catch my breath. But then I started to feel really sad and missed their company.

So let that be a lesson to all of you! We are never put out to have guests! We love them and they make our days more interesting and brighter!

Love,

P

Date Night and a Soggy T-shirt

On Friday nights, Brian and I have date night in. We do something special and only hang out with each other. No internet, phone calls, nothing! The something special could be ordering in pizza, or having cheese/tarts/wine...or sitting in our pajamas early! Whatever!

So this past Friday was no different. We ordered pizzas and watched the latest episode of the Office and started on Quantun of Solace. I feel asleep somewhere in there and woke up to find Brian had fallen asleep too. And so I woke him back when I got up. The following conversation happened between 2 apparently sleepy parents:

Phuong: Brian, did you fall asleep?
Brian: What? Why am I all wet??
Phuong: What do you mean all wet?
Brian: Get me a towel?
Phuong: What for? Why are you all wet?
Brian: Just get me a towel!
Phuong: What did you spill?
Brian: I DON'T KNOW!! There's wine all over me and I'm holding my empty glass.
Phuong: How did you spill wine all over yourself?
Brian: I DON'T KNOW!! Just get me a towel and a new t-shirt. JEEZ!
Phuong: Why were you holding your glass?

Oh...it was pretty confusing for the two of us. Moral of the story, never watch Quantum of Solace while drinking wine and being 2 tired parents.

Funny Day

We had a funny day yesterday, it started with Michael waking up. Here's what Brian wrote to me about it:

"He was really funny this morning when I fetched him because he had his blanket and his two doggies but he fussed when I took him from the room and was clearly upset when I put him in our bed. He got out, went back to his room, and made me get him his penguin before he could go to sleep next to you."

Michael has been into re-enacting things. Like if he falls and hurts his palms, he does it again to show me what happened. Yesterday, I opened the freezer door a little too hard and hit him in the head. After closing the freezer, he walks over to the door and does this gigantic headbutt to the freezer door to show me what happened. Then, came over and asked for a hug because that's what we do after we get hurt. We get hugs and kisses.

Michael was reading his Spot book next to me and we get to the lion. I said, "Oh! There's a lion in there." And Michael lets out this HUGE ROOOOAAARRRR! He was quite proud of himself for that one.

Michael was sitting in my lap and he started to look closely at my nose. Then he points to it and says, "BOOGER!" Thanks for the heads up!

Today, we went to gymanastics/tumbling/movement class for the first time. It was awesome! Will take pictures next time and post them in the blog!