Easter

You want 15 Easter pictures? You GOT 15 Easter pictures!

And the sad thing is...these are not the best. Much more at our online album...link in the menus to the right. I took nearly 350 pictures for the weekend.

We had an amazing Easter weekend. Seriously. It all started with GORGEOUS weather. Sunny days with highs in the upper 60's.

On Saturday, we attended the Message Easter Egg Hunt at the Arenes des Luteces, which is an old Roman arena in the 5th. It is about a 20 minute walk down the street from our apartment!

Michael had fun looking for candy in the bushes:

And of course, we went with Jonah:

After all was said and done, Michael found a good place to enjoy his loot. This was before a bigger came and kicked Michael in the back until he went down the slide:

On the walk home, Jonah decided to have some PDA with Michael. Michael is not too happy about this turn of events:
Then, both families came back to our place and we had lunch! I made Bun Bo Hue, which is a very savory Vietnamese beef noodle soup, not for the light of heart or picky eater. It was not as good as my Mom's, but my cooking rarely ever is.

Then, we put all the boys down for a nap and Kirsten, Ella and I went to the mall. Seriously. Italie2 is down the street and I had to buy dirt and a spade to pot a plant my friend Mary gave me! After which, we went to a tea house in the 13th called L'Oisive du te and had a nice girly gouter!

When we got home, 2.5 hours later, the boys were all still asleep. One by one, they all woke up from their naps and we commenced with egg dying. Michael prefered the direct dunk approach with no utensils: Ella was REALLY impressed with her pink egg: And Michael loved watching Kirsten dye anything: On Sunday, we went to church and had a lazy day at home. It was perfect.

Here in France, you don't get Good Friday off. Instead, you get Monday off after Easter. And it's called The Monday After Easter holiday. I am being serious.

So we went with the Atkins to Vaux le Vicomte for their Easter Egg Hunt! It was great fun! Here is Michael adjusting his riding hat after getting off the horse he rode:
And in case you forgot who the Atkins were! We also went with them to Switzerland:
So, the official egg hunt was in what would best be described as "shrubbery." Michael is hardcore about Easter egg hunts:

After we collected the allotted 5 eggs per child, we re-hid them in a field far away and had another Easter egg hunt with just the 4 boys. Very fun times:
And then afterwards, Michael decided to dine on his chocolates while surveying his chateau grounds: Here's mom trying to get a picture with Michael while he's running around for eggs. NOT a good idea:

And then afterwards, they had this little station full of these little medieval cloaks and styrofoam swords. Can we say, AWESOME?Michael put his to good use by attacking this bush:

All this before nap time at that! And Michael decided to take a 5 minute nap ALL DAY. We went to the Atkins to pick up a monitor and trade pictures and made it home by 7pm. WHEW> What a day. Michael took a 20 minute power nap at 6:30pm and went to bed at 8pm.

It was all so super fun.
P

shower

Michael usually gets a bath at night, but more frequently we just take a shower together. Two reasons. One, if I don't, I'm probably not showering after he goes to sleep. Two, he loves it. I suppose he feels like a big boy, finally cool enough to be like dad. We've definitely had to emphasize the "never touch or punch another man's peepee" rule though.

This evening, Michael and I went to the park at St. Medard. There's this little box underneath the slide that has a steering wheel and an "accelerator" that you can move up and down. It's quite small but can hold two kids Michael's size. It's not tall enough for Michael to stand up in so it must be about two and a half feet tall.

Anyway, Michael usually goes in there and then I try to fit in there as well. I usually get one butt cheek on the bench and then I push the accelerator while Michael mans the wheel. Today I crammed myself in there like normal. After a couple minutes, Michael looks at me all hunched over and says "Daddy fat!" Well, yes, it would appear so. Thank you, son.

Challenge

It is easy to be generous when everything is going well in your life.

It is MUCH harder to be generous and understanding when there are a ton of things stressing you out in your life.

We are trying hard to be generous without complaining. But inside, we are complaining.

And please don't ask me to list all that is going wrong. It is not only the list I posted about a month ago...but now topped off with 2 more things.

And don't think we are dramatic. We've been through some tough times before and although this time is not as tough as before, it is still hard.

P

Bipolar Paris

Today, it's rainy and cold again. WHAT is going on here?

Michael just woke up SCREAMING. When I went in there...he told me something hurt and pointed to his chest and asked for a kiss. I did that and he went back to sleep ok.

Being super scared, I went to www.babycenter.com and the reasons for chest pains were not life threatening so I hope he will be ok. Still scary though when they are old enough to tell you what hurts.

Warning: Asian Superstition Alert

Something in my apartment is bad luck. Something I bought...that was used...or maybe I bought it before and am just now using it. Something...though. It is something. I have to find it and throw it out.

Outdoor Kid Smell and Sunshine and Rambling.

It was hot yesterday. Like 65 degrees hot. You know you have lived in Paris too long when 65 degrees feels hot. And the sun was shining. And it was awesome.

Paris...in the summer/spring/fall...just can't be beat.

Winter is for those who truly like cold weather. And rain. And self-loathing.

So yesterday, Michael and I had a SSD...or otherwise known as a Standard Summer Day. We woke up, ate breakfast, and immediately went to the park for 2 hours. Then, we came home, had lunch, and Michael had his nap.

When he woke up, we went to another park for the rest of the afternoon. I took him running (or in yesterday's case...wheezing while trying to run) with me in the Luxembourg Gardens. Then, we played the rest of the afternoon at Le Poussin Vert, which is the kids playground you have to pay to get into. While there, I heard this funny exchange at the sandpit between 2 kids. The girl was about 9 years old. The boy about 11.

Girl: Hello, where do you live?
Boy: What?
Girl: I'm from Glasgow.
Boy: Ok.
Girl: Do you live in Paris?
Boy: Yes.
Girl: Where do you go to school?
Boy: I don't go to school. I go to school at home. We home school.
Girl: What's that?
Boy: We don't go to school. We have school at home. We home school.
Girl: That's WEIRD.

I have nothing against homeschooling. I just thought this Irish girl was funny for saying out loud something an adult would keep to themself.

After a SSD, Michael had that Outdoor Kid Smell. You know it, where the top of their head smells like sweat and sunshine? That's my goal for the summer. Michael has to get that Outisde Kid Smell or it hasn't been a good summer day.

Today, we went to gymnastics where a very nice friendly French woman gave me information for a very nice school in the 6th where there is a ratio of 2 kids per adult and they actually interact with the kids. They hire professional musicians to come in for music days and take them to theater plays, parks, etc...I am going to look into that too!

What was even more incredible is that this French woman not only recommended the school to me, but she wrote down all the information for the school (address/directrice name/telephone number/name) and called the school to see if there was space for Michael in the fall. She gave this all to me when we came back to pick up our kids from gymnastics.

I don't talk much about the differences between France and America. Maybe I should since we are nearing the end of our stay. But in general, people in Paris, on the surface are quite cold. But really, honestly, they are wonderful people when you share a common bond with them. It can be a shrug on the bus and a knowing glance when someone is being discourteous to others. Or unhappiness that the bus is REALLY late. But they are nice. VERY NICE. And it just takes a little more effort on your own part. Learn the language. Find that bond. And make sure they know you share it. And you are GOLD.

Last week, I confessed to this French mom that I found it hard to raise a 2 year old. That I wonder if I am being too strict. That I doubt myself a lot. And this week, she does this incredibly sweet thing for me.

When you are foreigner...it's the incredibly small things that make the biggest difference in your life here. I don't think I will ever forget what this woman did for me.

I am done now. I just started typing and couldn't stop. Typing diarrhea.
P

Phoenix, AZ

I went to this ridiculous town last week to watch preseason baseball and to have my fantasy draft. This town is called Phoenix. I don't know which cowboy rode through the desert with an Apache arrow in his horse's butt and thought to himself, this looks like a great spot to have an enormous city, but he was an moron. Phoenix has no natural resources other than rocks, sunshine and hot, dry air. I think the national pastime of Phoenix dwellers is to collect rocks in the heat and arrange them into nice patterns. See here

and here

I also saw a guy "weeding" some rocks. Nice use of government cash there; wait three months and those weeds will be dead for free.

If the fact that living in a desert wasn't silly enough, the powers that be decided that Phoenix should be enormous. We had to drive 30 minutes to get anywhere and I think it would take a good 90 minutes to drive from Chandler to Surprise. I was listening to the radio and the program hosts were criticizing Dennis Leary for saying he didn't care about global warming and then asserted that we should do everything we can to reduce CO2 emissions yadayada. My first thought was, you boneheads live in enormous, spread-out, three-lane highways everywhere Phoenix where you have to import water, food, cold air and old people; if you're so serious, move somewhere hospitable to human life.

Natural History Museum and Jardin des Plantes

Ok, now that I have your attention...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Awesome. f1.4...

Hot Hole

For any of my Parisian readers:

If you like Indian food, try this place:

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

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

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

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

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

Bon Weekend!
P

Signs...

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

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


On commence!
P

Merci a Linda Nickel!

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

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

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

Sleep

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

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

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

What a different life we used to lead...

Hugs

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

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

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

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

Love,
P

Things....

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love,
P

Seriously Stuffed

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

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

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

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

Love,
P

Kid's Luggage

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

This one is pretty funny too:


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



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

Saturday

Saturday = Nap with Daddy:


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

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

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

Happy Saturday!

Love,
P

Doing Stuff

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Every good square needs a lookout:

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

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


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

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

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

WORD,

P