Sneak Peek

Guess who's gettin' ready for his Harry Potter birthday party?

He's not looking too happy, but he's excited about it!

Le Week-end

This past Saturday, (9/10), Michael had his first soccer game.

Michael's hunger/drive/determination for the ball has waned since last year. He's still one of the fastest (if not THE fastest) kid out there.

He can run from the back of the pack all the way to the front of the pack where the kid is kicking the ball - pass that kid and the ball - and take the ball and turn it around.

This year, he decided that running up there was all he had to do. And then he'd kind of piddle around the ball. And then just kind of look at it. Like he forgot that you're supposed to take the ball away, kick it all the way to the other end. And score.

To his very competitive parents - we're just sitting there and seething inside and trying our best not to say anything about anything and be "THOSE PARENTS."

Well, Michael had a great time. And like last year - after the first practice - Brian goes home and assesses the team's strengths and weaknesses and develops drills that help address what needs to improve.

Michael - and the rest of the kids for that matter - really like the snack part of the whole soccer bit:

After that, we went to Giant and busted our budget by buying fish.

I am a big proponent of "eating my money" because if I'm gonna spend my money on something, I'd rather spend it on items which will 1) nourish my body in a positive way and 2)be joyful to taste and eat. Life's too short to eat plasticized food. But that's just me and my family. You and yours can do whatever you like and it is no matter to me! I don't judge anyone on that and frankly, I fall off the wagon all the time (as I write this post I am stuffing myself with Barnum animal crackers).

Then, we decided to be "active" and headed to Milburn to pick apples!
Michael hammed it up for the camera for just a hair of a second:
All little boys should have pictures of them doing this with their dads:
These kind of apples were good, but not as good as the orange honey apples! Didn't even know that kind existed! I love Michael's face in this picture:
They did a lot of eating off of the tree:
And I caught Michael through the bushes. This isn't a spectacular shot, but I am practicing trying new things. I liked 1) The composition - like I am peering through a bush and the bush in front of me is fuzzy but what I am looking at is now 2) the post processing in photoshop - I do like that kind of vintage-y sharp look.

What I do not like: Michael's not doing anything terribly interesting and his eyes are shut. But it does capture the idea of a little boy - hunting around an orchard - and delighting on what he finds.
After that - more rest and relaxtion and enjoyment of Brian being back home. Brian traveled nearly 3 weeks out of the last 4. It was really hard on all of us. However, the break does make the heart grow fonder.

After many years of marriage - it is true what they say - that you can take each other for granted. At least Brian and I tend to. We get shorter with one another and take the stresses of our daily lives out on each other because we are there.

After Brian's little trip(s), we come back together - so thankful to be together and have each other forever. It is always a nice feeling to know that if you had to do it all again, you know you would because that person still fascinates you and makes you laugh.

He Does What He Wants

Michael could probably echo Pinocchio in saying, "I'm a real boy!" I am just amazed at how big he is getting.

My dad used to tell me that when we were babies, he would just look at us and wonder when we would ever grow up. Then, we grew up, and he looked at us and wondered how time could fly by so quickly.

I understand exactly what this means now.

Michael blew through this busy bag idea. I was hoping it would last longer than 2 minutes:

Pretty easy to do. Just get an old takeaway plastic container with a lid. Use a knife to cut an x in the top. Then give them a bunch of cheapo pompoms to shove through the hole. Michael kept saying, "Ow, ow, ow" - but he finished it nonetheless. Not gonna let a little pain keep him from gettin' those pompoms in there.

Michael had Christmas in August because Walgreens was having 75% off their summer clearance section. And the girl accidentally gave me 75% off the SALE price. So I went back for a 2nd round of stuff and by then she had asked her manager if it was 75% off the regular or sale - and she stood corrected. Should have been 75% off of REGULAR price.

Either way, here's the loot. I'll go into how much everything costed because it's too funny:

2 buckets of sidewalk chalk (12 pieces in each) - $0.25 each

500 water balloons with 2 hose attachments - $1.25

Slip 'n slide with big-ole-pool at the end - $5

Badminton set - $1.17

Ring Toss - $1.25

Bag of 3 bath toy boats - $0.75

BBQ Grill cleaning brush - $1

Playmate Igloo - $3.75 (Probably my biggest score!! Glad I got that on the 75% off sale price bunch!)

Freezer icepack - $0.75

Water Hose Snake - $2.50

Outdoor bowling set - $3.25

Cars sand toy set with backpack,pail, molds, sifter, shovel/etc - $2.50

Recently, Michael built a marble run - all by himself - following instructions in the manual WITH NO HELP from us:

And Michael can cut - all by himself. Looks like a pro huh?

It's a kindergarten skill - so I'm glad he mastered it. :)

Michael stays a bit later for preschool this year than last - which actually works out well because I get to touch base with his teacher every time! At normal pickup, you get your kid and you leave - not much said about the day. But with Michael's later pickup, I get to see his teacher in a more relaxed setting.

She told me today that Michael did his assessment test for the teachers to see what skill level he is. She said she was pretty impressed with Michael and that he knew a lot for his age!

Pretty proud mama I was!

If you pray, please pray for our friends Laura and Kril Cunningham. Kril is in the hospital because he had a seizure. The doctors think it is related to the severe sinus infection he has been fighting. Either way - it is a tough time for their family and any prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Love,

P

Milburn Apple Picking

We had so much fun today! We went apple picking and bought about 14 lbs of apples. At $1.39 a lb for freshly picked apples, I went a bit overboard.

Then we walked to the sandpit and played there. I am so happy to have this HUGE clean sandpit with GREAT toys so close to my house. Reminds me so much of Paris and many playgrounds here do not have sandpits. Michael loves loves loves it.

Then, we fed the goats, of course. And there were little newbie goats which is always so cute.

After this, we play on the playground.

Then we attempted to have lunch, but thankfully for my wallet, it was closed.

Bought some baked goodies and one last batch of gorgeous peaches before calling it a day!

Thus is a standard farm visit for us! We just love it there! Michael loved the tractor ride and picking apples was super neat.

It's never too early to go to Disney

After Paris, I was kind of under the impression that it's better to wait to go to Disney - when your kids can actually remember. I took Michael 2x when we lived in Paris to Euro-Disney and he didn't seem to remember it at all.

Then we had this conversation tonight:

Michael: Can you tell me about how I saw Christmas Goofy and how I was crabby, mommy?

Michael: Oh wait, I remember going to Disneyworld!

Me: You do?

Michael: Yes! I played with the Lightening McQueen car! (one of my only retail regrets - not buying him that RC lightening mcqueen car. Apparently it was important and only 40 euro at the time).

Michael: We rode the Peter Pan ride.

Me: Did you like it or think it was scary?

Michael: It was scary.

Me: That's right - you didn't like it.

Me: Do you remember riding the Buzz Light year ride?

Michael: No.

Me: Do you remember watching the old Mickey Mouse cartoons in the theater there?

Michael: No.

Michael: We rode the teacups!! It was so fun!

So you know what? They remember. He was 3. And I didn't make that photobook that year to tell him the stories - so he remembered all on his own.

He was 3. And he's nearly 5 now. I know for sure I didn't talk to him about the Lightening mcqueen car or the teacups. But that Peter pan memory may have been planted.

I hear a very loud cricket. And it probably is in my house.

It's 12:30am - and this is evidence on why I should not nap because I am really not tired, but I am tired of looking at the computer

P

First Day of School!

Hurricane Irene put a damper on Michael's first day of school on Monday - so he went today for his first day of preschool.

He was pretty happy about the whole affair:

With Mommy:

With Daddy:

He reported the whole day to me during the whole walk from the class to the car and the whole ride home. He even told me that he wished he could be at school longer than last year.

I told him that he is already going longer this year than last! Did he want more?

Michael: "Yes! Oh, wait. Let me think about it."

So cute. So glad he's having a great time!

P

My friend Mary wrote this on her blog recently about her thoughts after a vacation (without kids) in Norway.

I can completely relate:

"I came back with the certainty that things need to change. Childcare for Mazen. A job for me. Extra income for the family. I want to be a woman who has some self-esteem about who she is as a whole person, not just in her role as a mother to small children. I want to have the energy and the ability to bring beauty back into my daily life.

This trip, coming at the end of a particularly long, hard and stressful summer, has allowed me to see that my life is radically out of balance. I feel like I'm peripheral in my own life. It's time to make some changes, to move forward.

It's time to remember that if I choose to bring beauty into my life it doesn't need to be justified or explained. It's time to remember that I am an adult and I don't need to justify or explain myself to anyone. It's time to discover who I am now, having been living in a parallel world for the last five years.

Scary stuff."

I oscillate very often between feeling happy that I have the privilege to stay at home and hang out with Michael - and Mary's paragraphs above. Some days - I embrace my life of service without complaint. Some days - I think the above.

And I really don't know what to do at this time in my life. It's like a midlife crisis but without the car.
P

Because.It.Is.Ridiculous

In One week:

Tuesday, 8/23: Earthquake struck pretty far south of us in VA.

Saturday, 8/27-8/28: Hurricane Irene ripped through the East Coast starting in the Carolinas.

I guess God felt my life was a bit too boring for my liking!

The earthquake was bizarre. We were outside the library and I was putting Michael in his carseat. I felt the ground shake back and forth, like I was in a crowded bouncy house. I thought it was just a train coming through (which I have N-E-V-E-R seen before on these railroad tracks right by the library). It stopped and I went on with my life. I paused to think - hey, it might be an earthquake.

And then I thought, "No, that's just reserved for Californians."

Luckily, Bill called me and said, "Hey, you OK?"
Me: "Yea, why?"
Bill: "Because an earthquake just hit VA"
Me: "Well, THAT explains a lot."

Then, the first hurricane to hit the upper east coast in I don't know how many years - decided to do it this weekend.

Brian was supposed to get in at 5:00pm from Pittsburgh on Friday. Only his flight was delayed to 10:30pm. I told him that he had BETTER get here before 8:00am otherwise, he'd be stuck in Pittsburgh because of the impending hurricane on Saturday afternoon. Luckily, Brian didn't have to rent a car at 11:00pm and he made it back to PA to whether the hurricane with us. WHEW.

Poor Michael - he had a basket case of a mother - and I was short and curt - as I can be when I am stressed out and going on very little sleep. He started to cry because I was using my "stressed out" tone with him, but then I told him what was going on. I explained that Mommy was really stressed out because now I had to do all the big outdoor things to secure the house for the storm and also get the neighbors boys to help me with the heavy stuff. I was really upset and I wanted to cry too (AND I DID in the car - but I wasn't about to admit that in front of him), but he really needed to calm down, be a big boy, and help. Because sometimes, we have to do that and be brave.

And he calmed down and understood. What a moment that was for me as a mother. Where did my little baby go?

To be honest - Brian's delay at the airport was just ONE of the stressors of that Friday. I am not going to go into the other ones - like my breaker tripping out the electricity in the garage/kitchen and my neighbor having to show me A)what that looks like and B) how to fix it since my fuse box is not correctly labeled - or having to reschedule my ordering session with a client because of Brian's schedule - or the fact that Brian was gone ALL week.

SO far, Hurricane Irene did not down any trees. I am waiting for the ground to firm up a bit more and a couple of sunny days to go by before I make the final verdict. But I am very thankful that God kept our family, our home, and our neighbors safe.

Got all ready for Michael's first day of school tomorrow - and it was cancelled.

VOILA. At least I am ready for the real first day of school!

And might I add - for all the forms for Michael's school - I am not going to go into how many times I had to write my name, Brian's name, Michael's name, address, and phone number.

I read something that said if you didn't want your kids to whine - to look in the mirror first. If I whine about stuff - he's going to too. So I have a lot of self-improvement to work on.

I'm oh-so-not-a-perfect-mom.

I know there are the "perfect moms" out there. The ones who are always prepared, get everything right, and whose children (in addition to themselves) always look and behave oh-so-perfectly.

I'm just so not one of them.

Case - in - point.

Michael had what looked like a splinter. And it hurt him. So I told him I would have to try to grab it out. Before I even got the tweezers, Michael started shrieking. Like neighbors might call CPS on me shrieking. Let me remind you, I had not even gotten the device of torture, tweezers.

Once I had said device, the shrieking escalated.

Now - I usually am a patient person. But that patient mom has been worn thin for a variety of reasons: 1) Michael's been out of school and after 3 months - I'm about DONE with that. 2) I've got lots of deadlines this week and am already stressed out. 3) Brian's been traveling a lot and he was traveling during said period.

SO what does the perfect mommy do? Calms said screaming child down, pretends the tweezers are little crab pinchers trying to find shrimp in his little hand. Are there shrimp in there? I don't know! Let's see! And said child would happily let that perfect mommy dig in that little hand while he watched Open Season on TV.

What did I do?

Scream at him for making a fuss about absolutely nothing that has happened yet. Tell him he's being irrational. Remind him that if he doesn't want me to help fix the problem, he can't complain about it. Screaming vs. screaming. Manhandling him to get him to sit still so I could look. These were all things that did not go well.

He fell asleep from the exhaustion from crying and I got to dig around in his hand. No splinter to be found, but now he has a blister there.

Michael was pretty traumatized. He couldn't look at me without crying. I had to apologize profusely for being a "Mean Mommy" because I certainly am not. I am not normally the parent that loses it. I am not normally the parent that screams at their kid. I'm not better than anyone else - as evidenced by this display. When I offered to go into time out because I had behaved poorly, my son said to me, "It's ok Mommy. Don't go into timeout. It's ok."

And the next day, he played with me like nothing ever happened.

Grace is not just something you read about in the bible. You can find it in your everyday life.

Gettin' it Down

So I am tres behind when it comes to posting. We've had a busy month - The Parents came to visit, we had a vacation in the Outer Banks, NC (OBX), and I've had a couple of sessions. So I am really busy proofing, designing announcements, etc.

Plus - Liturgy of the Word with Children kicks off in about 3 weeks. And I'm the lead on that - so I'm stressin' out about that going off without a hitch. My church really needs it. My family really needs it! So I'm hoping the ministry is successful and reaches out to other families/children within the parish.

But I really want to post about Michael. Soon. I have some very random pictures - but all worth posting as it documents Michael - which I don't do as much anymore because things don't change as quickly as they used to!

However, before I do - I just have 2 memories I want to put down before I forget.

Saturday at dinner, for whatever reason, I just had a memory of taking Michael to the little park in front of Le Bon Marche after his gymnastics lessons in the 6th. We would play there and look at the fish in the tanks in the cosmetics department of Le Bon Marche. I shared it with my family at the table and Michael says to me,

"Mommy, we used to play ping pong in Paris."

Why, yes - we did. And Michael remembers. On his own. With no "memory planting" from me. It always shocks me what I think he SHOULD remember as opposed to what he actually DOES remember on his own. But then my mind wandered to all those afternoons I would take him to the park with our ping pong paddles, his head barely peeking over the concrete tables, and we would "play." I was just so very thankful for that period in our lives where all I did was hang out with him. And it made my heart happy to see that he remembered too - which I hope means that it made him happy too. It is interesting to think about his memories forming, even that early on. Oh how I wish I could take my little Michael to Paris now. The memories we would make...

The other thing is something I am really proud of Michael about - and I'm sure this will fade with time and really growing up. Michael has shown 2 instances where he does not fall to peer pressure.

The first: He was grounded from Wii. He went to play at our neighbor's house where all the kids were playing Wii, and he told them he couldn't because he was grounded from it. So he just watched. Then, he came home and told me this. I commended him for adhering to what I had said, even though everyone else was doing it. There will be many more instances where he has to choose between what everyone else is doing and what we say is "our way." I truly hope he continues on his path, but will love him regardless. All children eventually do something their parents don't necessarily agree with.

The second: While in the OBX, Brian told Michael to stay seated on the little seat in the pool. DO NOT GO ANYWHERE. And he did just that. Even though Mr. Scott told him - I'll take you around in the floaty and keep you safe. Don't worry.

Not working. "I'm not going anywhere. My Daddy told me to stay here."

So proud of my little guy who isn't so little anymore. It won't be long now before he's grown and gone - but until then - I sure am enjoying all these little bits of life that was so generously bestowed to me.

Love,
P

Jello Saves a Mom

$1.25 box of Jello vanilla pudding = 20 minutes of Mommy free time and 20 minutes of post clean up.

oh yes, and Michael is happy to be "painting" with edible tasty paint.



Don't think he got messy enough:


I am not going to go into how many different spots I found vanilla pudding.
P

Oh How My (or rather My Husband's) Garden Grows

Brian has been busy getting Lyme disease because of his latest hobby:
I ran around and took some pictures about a couple of weeks back (mid July-ish). Here are the starts of things.

Sweet sweet eggplant

I love the colors in nature:

What? You don't like sideways broccoli? Yea, I thought so.

Eat that raw, baby:

Arugula - my fav

Some kind of what ended up to be funny shaped yellow tomatoes:

I just love the atmosphere in this picture. I'm not done editing it, but I have an idea of what I need.

My sacrifices for my husband. Brian asked me to take some "good pictures" of his garden. So while he was away on business, I went out there to do just that.

Pretty proud of myself because I had to brave the elements to do this.

First, we ran into a snake. I, calmly, yelled "MICHAEL RUN TO THE RIGHT QUICK QUICK QUICK A SNAKE AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

Nature - 1. Me - 0.

Then, the bloodiest mosquito bit me on the leg. It started something like this:
And quickly morphed into this:
It ended up about 2 inches wide.

Mosquitos love me. What can I say? I have very sweet blood. If you have me around you, you don't even have to put Off on yourself because the mosquitos will just bite me and leave you alone.

I want to think it's because I'm so terribly sweet. I know better.

Fruits of his labor. Now THAT my friend, is a nice sized zucchini:
Brian's forearm is not a good unit of measure for you? Perhaps you prefer a quark, or an iphone for reference:
Or a Michael length:
Or a Michael width:
More posts to come. I've finally decided to get back on the computer. Summer is over.

Love,

P

Gone Golfin'

Brian had today off so we filled it with all sorts of fun nonsense after VBS ended today!

Brian wanted to take Michael to the driving range so off they went!

Here's Brian. I like this picture because Brian's body is in focus, but his swing is in motion and a bit blurry. I was trying to get this shot, but wish I had a cooler angle/composition:

I love all that farmland there as a backdrop for the driving range.

Something about this picture just makes me laugh. Can't put my finger on it:
Brian teaching Michael how to aim his putt. Michael wasn't too terribly interested until Brian sank an awesome putt from like 20 feet away. And so it already is beginning - Michael thinking his parents don't know anything.
Sand bunker practice:
And a picture for me. You know I'm gonna post something not too terribly normal to take:
It's been so fun being outside. Yesterday, we met Brian at the tennis courts and played all together after Brian finished his work tournament match. I am happy to spend outside time/playing time as a family. It promotes healthy living and promotes real quality time with one another.

And I'm a huge fan of that!

VBS has been so fun! My friend, Heather, has been posting pics/videos on her Facebook site.

Brian found out today he has Lyme disease. As my Thermo I prof, Dr. Hall, used to tell us: "Mother Nature - she's a B**T#"

I agree.

Data

This is hilarious to me. My number of blog posts from the last 4 years:

• 2011 (65)
• 2010 (79)
• 2009 (166)
• 2008 (120)
• 2007 (158)

2010 was DEFINITELY a bit short on posts. 2011 is shaping up a bit better. I was a postin' FOOL in 2007-2009. Had a lot to say! Or rather - not much else to DO - so I actually had time to blog about my life!

Makes me think of 2 things:

1. I really do need to make a blog book. I've been wanting to do this, but 2007 ended up being 193 pages and costing around $250.
2. I just do not have as much time to blog as before. Having a house is a beast of burden!

I remember in Paris, all I wanted - was to own a home. And now that I have one, I really miss the days of renting! All my free time nowadays is utilized cleaning, tidying, painting, if not painting - then picking out paint samples, picking out fabric samples, googling how to fix a loose sink faucet, weeding, watering plants, organizing something, looking at new toilets/vanities for my powder room -picking out said paint for my new powder room -

THE LIST GOES ON AND ON.

So whatever free time I do have - is spoken for! Until I have my house all in line. You know how you move in somewhere - and it just doesn't feel like your place yet? Yeah - that's where I am in this house.

When we moved into our apt in Austin, I decorated in about 2-3 months. We had no money - but that was ok because I had a ton of time (newlywed and no job and all) - scoured garage sales, sewed a bunch of stuff and shopped sales. And I decorated our 2 bedroom, 2 bath apt in no time flat. Got a job - and on went our lives.

Then, we moved to Paris - and while I had no more free time (introducing MICHAEL!) - we were well taken care of by Uncle Air Liquide and I outfitted our apt within 2-3 months as well.

NOW - we are in our HOME - and it has been over a year - and it STILL is a work in progress. Something about the fact that I can do WHATEVER I want - paralyzes me for the whole affair. And the fact that now I have no time and little excess money (thank you PA Tax Man, my water softening tank breaking, replacing 2 windshields in one month, maintaining 2 cars, paying for out of network doctors who implied that they were in network, tuition for Michael - THAT list goes on and on as well).

SIGH. So I haven't blogged. Because I am busy taking care of my family - and taking care of my house. Somehow I thought I could start a business in all of that - but now is not the time with Michael being home for the summer. And me needing a new camera. And my house feeling like someone else's house.

Good grief. Am I being a whiny melodramatic drama queen tonight. Really should not have watched my chick flick of Made of Honor.

I'm done now.

P

iPhone Download Time!

About once every quarter, my iphone makes it down to the depths of the basement. Known to Brian as "The Man Cave." Known to me as "The Meat Locker." It's pretty cold down in our basement.

And when this happens, we get the Blog - By Phone Pictures - Fire

Let's begin.

Leftover Picture from Strasburg. I did NOT feed this train any of my coins:

Michael and I playing chess while eating:

Michael wanted to get in the laundry bucket. Made me nostalgic for a similar picture I took of him in Paris when he was less than a year old. I tried to find it to post it here, but can't.

In June, we went and picked strawberries at Walnut Springs Farm. Here is the result of our efforts:

Tarte aux fraises - courtesy of Chocolate and Zucchini cookbook. One of my favorites.

This guy loves cheese even more than Brian. This was taken at -none other than- DUNKIN' Donuts:

Brian ran into this guy on our wood pile:

I would not have remained calm enough to take a picture of it. But I LOVE this one that Brian took. Such a nice contrast between the texture of the wood and the texture of the snake. And how the colors are definitely complimentary. I don't know - I just love this shot.

I DID GET ONE PICTURE FROM JULY 4th WEEKEND!

Our picnic blanket with the Gaglianos at Freedom Fest

Michael climbed on these bouncy houses suppled by : Date with a Tramp (see sign on image)

And Brian's latest harvest. Had to put that GLAD COSTCO sized Press 'n Seal box next to 'em so you could get the scale of these bad boys:

As my dad would say - Grown to about the size of a forearm.

AWESOME. I am off to take "good" pictures of Brian's garden. He has requested them. And then of Michael's hair cut.

And up next - videos of Brian and Michael re-enacting Wimbledon in our driveway.

Love,

P

July 4th

Last year, I think I took about 400 fireworks pictures. This year? Big Fat Zero.

Like I said before, we had no plans for the weekend except to paint the bedroom! And we ended up:

Friday - Brian had off. He went to the dr for a physical exam (insurance gives us $500 just for doing this! ). We got painting supplies at Lowes and spent the rest of the day hanging out at home.

Saturday - BBQ at our place with the Gaglianos and then went to Freedom Fest at Nottingham State Park put on by Herr's Potato Chip Corporation (like Lays, but local). The fireworks were great, but the 45 minute wait for a shuttle back to our car afterwards was NOT. Luckily, there was no traffic and it's only a 20 minute drive back to our house.

Sunday - Our neighbors invited us over for some steamed crabs covered in Old Bay! DONE AND DONE! We had a great time hanging out with my neighbors and her family! Stayed until 11:00pm eating, playing games, roasting s'mores in their fire pit, and eating Rita's water ice.

Monday - had lunch/dinner at my friend, Tami's, house! We ate, hung out, and then drove over to the University of Delaware for another round of fireworks. She had these awesome glasses that make the fireworks look like a kaleidoscope. Pretty sweet!

Exhausted. Officially. With Monday actually being Tuesday - I was confused all week and didn't work out at all. I went in today and counted down nearly every single second of my ONE mile run. Stark contrast to my 2 mile run last Thursday before I stuffed my face full of food all weekend!

This week, nothing much happened. Saw Legends of the Guardian with Michael. The kids in the theater and Michael, ALL loved it. I thought it was the scariest animated owl movie I've ever seen. The owls had like armor and swords on their talons. It was like Braveheart meets animated owls.

Brian and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Wednesday! My friend Jamie come over and watched Michael for us so we could go to Fair Hill Inn for dinner. It was AWESOME!!! Best food I've had in America since we've been back!

Brian had amazing beef medallions (cooked to medium rare) - with truffled cauliflower puree. I had a roasted quail with roasted fig/peach AND an amazing crab cake that was somewhere between crab cake and crab souffle on a bed of giant couscous with apple. It was all to die for. Seriously. For dessert, I had this cherry clafoutis (one of my favorite French boulangerie items) that was the best I've ever had (and I used to live in France) - covered with creme anglaise. With a cherry/sherry ice cream. I nearly passed out.

That's it. Maybe pictures next time. I've been meaning to go out to Brian's garden with my 50mm and take some pictures of his efforts! And also been meaning to post some video of Brian playing with Michael in the driveway.

Love,

P

A whole lotta nothin'

We get asked a lot from friends and family who are catching up with us - "What have y'all been up to?"

Which leads to a lot of - "Uhhh...nothin' much. Tending the garden. Playing lots of bean game. Hanging out at home."

There's the end of that conversation!

But seriously, this is all we are really doing. We are hanging out with friends in our neighborhood and eating from time to time. You know, spending the time to develop relationships and real friendships where we are. Especially since we have no close family around.

No other earth shattering news - which also leads to empty voids in the blog, which you can probably tell.

And sometimes I get the impression that I SHOULD be running around - going all sorts of different places and doing all sorts of things all the time so I have something to say.

But honestly, we are so perfectly content in our little country home in the middle of nowhere.

Do we indeed get out from time to time? Yes - and you can see the frequency in our blog. But it is NOWHERE near the pace we used to have in Paris. And I realized that we are SO very ok with that.

Why?

Well, we bought this house in the country because it reminds of our most relaxing and wonderful vacations in the countryside in France.

Which we associate with a whole lot of doing nothing, eating well, and occasionally seeing a site or two but not at a breakneck pace.

Because that's one of the things we learned while living in Europe, the ability to take things slowly, enjoy great food, and really relax. So we're not always concerned about the "things to do." And our house shows it!! We could really use a bit of fire under out butts to spruce things up! :)

I never realized how MUCH of a toll our lifestyle - day in and day out - really took on our family in Paris. I remember feeling so stressed, tired, and just over run most of the time. Asking me for a favor was like the end of the world. We were just exhausted traveling, buying groceries, speaking French, and raising a young'un ALL on our own with no family around.

So much so - that now, all we want to do is relax. That's it. Maybe in 5 years when we've recuperated from 3 years of living in Paris - we'll go back to that crazy lifestyle where we're running around.

But for now, we are happy to be at peace here in the country. Quietly living our existence.

Forgive me for being absent on our blog. There's just not much going on.

This weekend was a busy one though. We went into the weekend with NO plans except for me to finish painting my bedroom.

Instead, we filled all 3 days with friends, food, and fun. And my bedroom just has a coat of primer on it. That's it!

But we'll blog about our 4th of July weekend later. With no pictures as I am tired of my camera. I am so at -odds with it that I don't even want to take pictures.

Cape May, NJ: 6/17 - 6/18

Our little family took a quick family vacation to Cape May, NJ - voted one of the top 10 beach destinations in the USA by Trip Advisor.

I'm not a beach person and am no expert on this subject, but we were willing to give it a go since it's only 2.5 hours from our place!

Cape May was everything a beach vacation should be. Not much to do, cute things to look at, and a lot of laying around on the beach!

There were lots of Victorian houses to look at! Here's a quick smattering:

Love the colors in this one:

Took all my effort not to just go through this gate and make myself at home here:

Tell me you thought, "Wedgewood," when you saw this house too:

And this is someone's porch. Does it look like Southern Living to you too?

We arrived by noon on Friday 6/17 and luckily no storms as the weather was predicting. It was sunny, partly cloudy, high of 81 with some winds. So while it was pleasant, it really wasn't swimmin' weather. We tried at the pool and gave up.

Got dressed and went to play putt putt, which was right outside of our MOTEL. Yes, motel, but it really wasn't bad! It wasn't fancy, but it was plenty spacious! We had a living area, a dining area, a kitchenette with stove/fridge/microwave/sink, and a separate bedroom! So it was plenty of room and right across the street from the beach.

After putt putt - we played Ticket to Ride, Brian's Father's Day gift which I did not hide very well (or at all for that matter) so he saw it before our trip!

One thing I love about America? You can bring nonsensical things, like this game, with you on vacations. We would have NEVER brought that on a European vacation because it would have taken up too much space and we didn't want to schlep it all over creation!

Walked the promenade. Dinner at a Mexican place. It was ok. We're not huge Mexican food fans.

Put Michael to bed and Brian and I stayed up playing Bohnanza and Ticket to Ride in our "dining room." I am all about multi rooms when traveling with kids! LOVE America!

Next day, we walked around, took pictures of houses, ate a cafe breakfast and just sat at the beach all day. Brian rented us an umbrella so we had some reprieve from the sun. I read a ton of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo while Brian and Michael played in the surf.

Skipped lunch. Had dinner at Louisa's - great fresh fish grilled. And delicious desserts! We ordered 3! They had panna cotta, which we love!

After a huge dinner, we headed back to our country in the PA. We always love coming home.

P