Life in Caen - We Can!

February 8, 2010: When the Shower Gel is Gone

2010-02-08T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that it is approaching the middle of February of 2010. Our family has been back in the United States for almost 6 weeks. We are back in the swing of things: school, work, laundry, ballet, socializing. As we go out and have a chance to hang out with friends and family, they often ask about France. What was it like living there? Is it nice to be home? Do you like it better in France or in the United States? Do your girls speak French? What do you miss the most about France? Do you speak French? I love all these questions - they help me to not forget what a fabulous experience we had. The way our busy lives go, it is almost too easy to forget. Sometimes, I can go for days and forget that the whole experience even happened, which totally surprises me. How can such a life-changing event be so quickly forgotten? Unfortunately, it is so true! So, the challenge becomes not allowing myself, my family, to forget. I was thinking about all this the other day as I was taking a shower. I realized that my favorite shower gel, which I brought back from France and whose pretty scent reminds me of our adventures, is almost gone. The distinct smell that reminds me almost every morning about our adventures in France is down to it's last drop. Will I remember less and less about our lives in France, once the shower gel is gone and no longer reminding me?

I know, I sound really dramatic. But as I have mentioned in the past, my nose knows. Smells, more than anything else, remind me of the past. Good times, bad times, plain times. And yeah, I could try to go online and buy a case of my favorite shower gel from France. But then it would TOTALLY ruin that one day that I could have 20 years from now, when I suddenly smell that shower gel and have the best memories flood back to me. I mean, I liked wearing Escape by Calvin Klein in high school and when I smell it high school reels before me like a yearbook. But I am not about to go out and buy a case of it. First, because I truly believe that perfumes should be taken off the shelf after 3 years. Perfumes, in my mind, get dated just like bell bottoms and dickeys. But second, because I cherish the unexpected Escape smell that occasionally passes.

So I think the key to remembering not to forget is incorporating what we experienced in France in our day to day lives as best we can. I try to cook some of our favorite meals that we often had at our apartment in France. Grace and Mia continue to sing (all the time) French songs - even with Ralph's World and Laurie Berkner constantly playing in the background. Ella still cherishes her French practice books that the school gave her on her last day of school. At night, she often likes to take 20 - 30 minutes by herself just to look through some of her old French schoolwork, redoing some things she got wrong and trying to do some new stuff. Her and I converse in French with each other usually at least once per day. I even hear Grace and Mia playing together, speaking French. The words are mostly made up, but they could probably fool you if you didn't know any better. And occasionally, if the girls request to watch television, I say OK but it must be in French. Will all of these tactics last and keep France at the top of our minds? Not sure. But maybe over time new ideas will bubble up.

The search for helping Ella to continue studying French continues. We visited a school last week that offers continuing education classes for Ella's age, but it became unappealing when we saw the drive would be 45 minutes each way, fighting traffic. Other options are just extremely expensive. I wonder if schools give scholarships to 6 year old children? That would be the only solution.

And there you have it. Six weeks after leaving France that is where we stand. Pretty good, I think! I'll be sure to check back in another few weeks to tell you how life is progressing - Life After France!

Shel Silverstein

2010-02-06T19:35:00.002-07:00

Hi all -

Yes, it's true - we're back in America. And, it's also true that this very short (text wise) post has nothing to do with work, Caen, or anything else important for that matter.

To make a long story short, I remember Shel Shelverstein as being the best short story/poet I can even think of. I read Where the Sidewalk Ends a thousand times. Lucky for me, my kids are pretty into it as well. Check these out:

December 15, 2009: It's Almost Over!

2009-12-15T05:30:00.027-07:00

The weather really is crazy here. For the longest time it was rainy here in Caen. Every day in November was rainy and seriously, it was about 3-4 weeks of pure rain. I felt no desire to go out and wander or go do errands. I never gave in to buying an umbrella. It was as though I thought that if I didn't buy an umbrella, the rain would eventually have to stop and the sun would burst through the clouds. But it didn't. It was relentless. So we had to call a draw. The rain fell and I was wet.

And now, with November behind me, December has decided to give me and the rest of us in Caen the cold shoulder. Geez, it is freezing (see frozen windshield to your left). It's like when you are on the ski slopes on an extra cold day and your toes turn painfully cold and frozen after only being on the slopes for 20 minutes. Tonight, Andrew and I were joking about having frost-bite on our arses from sitting on the toilet seat. And now, for the past two days, the snow has been falling off and on. I don't know, maybe it is the damp air that makes it bone-chilling cold - but regardless I now feel prepared to return to the Colorado and Chicago winter weather. Maybe Mother Nature is helping us get in the right mindset?

So, aside from this challenging weather, we have been tending to moving stuff lately. I have been spending the past 10 days packing boxes like crazy. Andrew and I are both surprised about how much stuff we are shipping back to the United States, even after all of the stuff we are giving away and the furniture that we are not bringing. Yesterday, we got about 26 boxes of varying sized boxes shipped off using DHL and we plan to have about 4-5 more boxes shipped tomorrow.

Since we are not taking our furniture with us (due to the house in Illinois being furnished) we have been trying to sell our existing apartment furniture. Our house feels like a thrift store! Andrew and I were starting to worry about how much was left, but my friend Celine really came through for us. She has a friend who does apartment and house staging and she came and bought pretty much everything.

Some other time has been spent having last minute coffees with friends before I leave. That has been sad but I also realize how lucky I am to have met such great friends while living here in Caen. Today, I spent a really fun day with Celine in Deauville and Trouville. We went shopping (I found some FAB boots - my little momento of my time in France), had a really tasty lunch of Moules a la creme with french fries, and then finished with coffee at a chiq hotel on the water. What a great day I had with my great friend. I will miss Celine! She and I have committed to running the New York Marathon in 2011 together along with her mother. So we know at least we'll see each other then! Feel free to jump on board and join us if you are looking to achieve a similar goal!

I have also been able to see my great friends Michelle and Carih - both originally from the United States but now residents of France, married to French men. It was especially fun to hang out with them during my time in France because I could dabble in French if I wanted, but they were more than happy to speak in English and that was a nice relief. I need to thank them immensely for all of the furniture, rugs, plates and dishes and various other items that I have unloaded on them this week. You guys rock! And for all of their help - you should know that I allowed them to see my nasty jacket that I wore to coffee last week. My in-laws have seen it too, via Skype. Are you curious and maybe a little bit jealous?

Ella has had some playdates with her new good friend Guillaume. They've gone ice skating at the holiday ice rink set up for Christmas here in the center of Caen. They've spent hours trading Pokeman cards and Playmobile. Ella is leaving France with having found a really dear friend.

Yesterday, Ella had a dance recital. Now, I didn't actually know there was going to be a recital so thank goodness I was available to stay. It was when I saw all the parents lined up around the studio and not leaving that I figured this all out. But anyway, the recital was very cute. I was surprised by how much Ella had learned (the dance was Jazz) and that she actually remembered choreography. All this time, for the past 3 months, she has never told me about or showed me anything that she has learned in dance class so I was worried about whether or not she was learning anything at all. I took some pictures for your enjoyment below - but I truly apologize for the awful photography. All I had with me was my iPhone and thank goodness I even had that!

Also yesterday, Grace and Mia attended their last day of First

Babys School and it all ended with a Christmas Party. Santa Claus came and handed out little presents which all of the children enjoyed. I got some pictures of Grace and Mia with some of their favorite teachers. Oh, and I finally found a "Christmas Cookie" at this party that I recognized (pictured to the right) - both the taste and the shape. It was yummy and it finally felt like Christmas was near! I don't know why, but without those annual Christmas Cookies you come to know, it just doesn't seem like Christmas!

Tonight, Andrew took the girls to his office Christmas Party while I stayed home and did some more packing. They had fun - I can tell by the pictures...and by the late time they got home.

Tomorrow I will have lunch with all the girls that I take tennis lessons with each Friday. That will be a ton of fun. I know I have said this before, but I have truly learned more from my tennis instructor here in France than I ever have in the U.S. - and I don't even understand 70% of what she says! She was also very nice and a good friend. I will miss my fun class!

Tomorrow is the last day of school for the girls. I have some treats to bring for their classes to help say goodbye - a little party of sorts. We have some flowers to give to their teachers to say thank you for all of the patience and understanding they have provided the girls. Andrew and I hope they have wonderful last days at their French school. Shortly after school gets out, we will start driving to Paris where we will stay the night before leaving to head back to the States on Saturday.

So there you have it! Busy days and busy nights, preparing for our big move back to the United States. It is hard to believe that tonight is our last night here in Caen. It is hard to believe that our apartment looks almost the same way it did when we arrived just 10 months ago. It is hard to believe that we have survived city living. And it's hard to believe that I won't have crepes, galettes, croissants, foie gras, fresh seafood and Bordeaux wine at my disposal any longer. But none of it will be forgotten and now we have other things to look forward to.

I have been thinking lately about what the topic of a new blog could be and I finally have it figured out. So though I will continue to blog about "Life After Caen" here over the next few weeks, be on the lookout for my new blog to begin when we arrive to the Chicago area in January!

One last visit to Paris

2009-12-13T01:20:00.004-07:00

Hi - it's Andrew this time...

So as most of you have read, our time in France is coming to an end. Due to many factors - the majority of which deal with the continuing global economic crisis - our operations in Europe have become much smaller. Part of this transition includes me keeping my current role but re-locating to our office in Lake Forest IL. The boxes are packed, a house is rented, and we'll be in Illinois by the first day of school, Jan 1st.

What a better way to celebrate the end of a stint in France than by spending a day in Paris? Because a lot of walking was planned, along with an expectation of many things to touch/break and big crowds, I decided that Grace and Mia would be better off in Caen. Ella and I wanted to leave Caen on the 7am train, have a big adventure that day, and grab the 7pm train home.

This brings me to the first revelation of life in France: they love to strike! Kate and I have mentioned this before - but it's really worth noting. Yes, there are some strikes in the US. I'm sure you've seen picketing in front of the grocery store, read about auto workers/refs/air traffic controllers, or maybe even thought about striking yourself. The big difference between the US and France is that the strikes in the US rarely have any effect on our daily lives at all. The opposite is true in France. For example, on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, the trains were on strike. Nope, they didn't run - at least not my line. This isn't the end of the world when you can drive a car - but it is when it's two weeks before Christmas and everyone wants to go to Paris, all who will now travel by car. Last week, the Louvre was on strike - nope, it wasn't open. The most famous museum in the world was closed. This past summer, the Eiffel tower was on strike (because the security guards had to wear gray pants and stand a lot on their shifts - I swear, you can google it). I've been in the middle of tram strikes (my friend missed a flight at CDG airport because he was stuck on a striking tram in Caen), farmer strikes, and others all over France in this past year.

So - on to the story - Ella and I decided to drive and we were able to get out of the house around 7am. We parked no too far from the Louvre (our first stop) and I used a great idea Kate thought up for parking in unfamiliar French cities - take a picture of your street corner so you can find your car at the end of the day. A small revelation number two: the street signs in France couldn't me more difficult to see or find. Instead of big green and white street names hanging from the stop lights or light posts in the middle of each intersection, the French decided it would be a good idea to put tiny blue and white signs on random buildings - sometimes set 40' away from the street. Yes, these signs may look nice, but it doesn't help when getting around.

Ella and I arrived to the Louvre around 10am, waited 45 minutes to buy a ticket, and were in front of the Mona Lisa by 11am. This was probably the only painting that she has ever heard of, the only one she could recognize, and because of it's fame I decided it would be a good place to head first. After arriving home that night, Ella commented, "It sure was funny seeing a thousand people crowded around that tiny little painting, and nobody crowding around anything else!". And yes, she's right - the Mona Lisa is a tiny bit over-rated and it's a little pathetic that in such a gigantic museum it's the #1 thing people want to see - but, Ella is only 6 and at least this visit will have a memory that should stick. Boredom set in pretty quickly after seeing the painting so we meandered our way back to have a quick lunch before leaving.

We left the Louvre and headed through the Jardin des Tuileries towards a big Ferris wheel at the base of Ave des Champs-Elysees. The Jardin resembles Grant Park in Chicago - although I think this one came first... Luckily, because of the time of day, there was no line at the wheel and we were able to get right on. It's a nice pleasant ride, great for kids/tourists (us), and gave some good views of the city.

After the ride, we headed to a big Marche' de Noel - basically a bunch of wooden huts built so people can sell Christmas stuff before the holidays. It seems like most towns have them in one way or another and as can be expected the one in Paris was huge. Lots and lots of stuff - none of which we bought because of our upcoming plane trip on Saturday (yes, we have enough "stuff" to carry already). Ella and I were actually both pretty cold even though we had our winter stuff on. So I looked around for something inside that we could do. To our surprise there was a big ice sculpture showroom set up inside this big building - so, I bought two tickets and we headed in. Unfortunately for us, the big building was a blast freezer and it was probably minus twenty inside. Not my most brilliant idea for finding a place to warm up. 20 Euros and 5 minutes later (literally, we were out in 5 min - maybe even 3) I decided to give her my sweatshirt. This bundled up nicely under her jacket, was kept from falling over her hands by her gloves, and hung down to her knees for perfect warmth. I wasn't even that freezing just wearing a t-shirt (oh, and I did have my puffy winter jacket too).

We walked through the Christmas booths, rode a mini roller-coaster, and headed off in the direction of the Arch de Triumph. Walking along the Champs-Elysees is pretty much like walking on Michigan Ave in Chicago, 5th Ave in NY, and other big avenues in big cities - except, it's in Paris. It's pretty cool walking hand in hand with your daughter in Paris a few weeks before Christmas and seeing all that you can see. Remember, we spent the past two years in some pretty remote towns - Crested Butte CO and Caen FR - so it's been a while since we've done the big city sightseeing thing. We stopped in the Disney store to warm up for a while and look around - it's nobody's surprise that they have the same things here as they do on Old Orchard (I'm beginning to figure out the Disney business model). Below is a picture of a new Renault car that I hope they start selling...

The Arch de Triumph is right at the highest point of the Champs-Elysees and it's in the middle of the biggest round-a-bout that you've ever seen. We were not able to go inside and climb to the top because the line to buy tickets was longer than the line to buy tickets for Def Leopard in 1982. My third revelation: Paris needs to find a better way to sell tourists tickets. The lines for the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Arch de Triumph, Metro, RER, and other major attractions are so long you literally can't even believe it. For example, we had to wait 45 minutes to buy tickets at the Louvre - there were two banks of auto ticket machines - each bank only had five machines. Once you get your ticket, you can walk right into the place. Someone really needs to think of a way to add about forty more machines to get the lines moving along. Yes, you can buy online in advance - but they have to mail you the tickets and it takes a week - not exactly conducive to night before purchases. The same is true for the other places - gigantic wait to buy a ticket and then you can walk right in.

The last big stop of the night was a trip along the Seine river that winds through Paris. We opted for the Metro to take us towards the river, as it would have been quite a long walk, and ended up back where we started by the Louvre. There is a Batobus stop right by the museum and we waited for it to come to our stop. The boat makes a round trip run between the Louvre, up towards the Eiffel Tower, all the way back down to Notre Dame, and back again. For some crazy reason I thought the round trip was only 30 minutes - turns out it's more like an hour and 45 min. The warmth, quite humming of the engine, and a seat after so much walking was pushing sleep on me so fast I could barely keep my eyes open. I fought and fought and was able to stay awake, easily allowing Ella to have a snooze. It's probably not cool for a parent to take a nap on their kid's lap - but vice versa is OK.

After the ride we found a small bistro to have some dinner. Amazingly, it was the same place I had coffee and a croissant in September 2008 while visiting here before accepting the job in Caen. I had an amazing roasted chicken and fries - Ella had a huge double hot-dog with baked cheese on top, hot chocolate, and fries. My last revelation: the food really is amazing. Some stuff is healthy, some not so much, but all of it is really great. The French appear to wear this on their sleeves with restaurants, store front sandwich places, stands selling crepes, candy booths etc all over the place in every town. It is impossible to come to France and go hungry. I still remember my first big lunch while here - bread, water, wine, with baked ham, cheese, mushroom, and artichoke plate to start; platter of beef, green beans, fries, salad, and wine in the middle; cafe' gourmond (espresso coffee with three mini desserts [ice cream, creme brulee, macaroon]) for dessert. I really thought people ate like this every day. We've had amazing beef, chicken, fish, pork, pasta, bread, sandwiches - literally all kids of amazing things - and we've eaten it in really nice restaurants, casual standard lunch places, stands, gas stations, fairs - anyplace there are people you can find amazing food.

Time for the trip home - we immediately felt the pain from the holiday weekend combined with the train strike. It took an hour and a half to get from the Louvre to the Arch de Triumph - about 2 KM. I had fun actually driving in the crush of cars and people - the lights were amazing - and Ella enjoyed relaxing and watching TV on my iPhone. We made it home just before 10.30 that night - both of us settling down for a long winter's nap.

This coming week will be spent tying up lose ends (packing, mailing, bills, sales etc). The trip home begins on Friday with a stay at CDG airport with our flight on Saturday. Ella, Grace, and Mia have their last week of school before Christmas break - we'll all be back stateside before we know it.

If you happen to live in Chicago, we'll see you soon; if you live in France, we'll be back before you know it; and if you're in Colorado - see you next week! Take care - Merry Christmas to all.

Andrew

December 9, 2009: Expect the Unexpected

2009-12-09T14:01:00.008-07:00

OK, so the previous post I asked you to guess the coastline pictured and the reason I was showing you that coastline. And many of you guessed correctly! It is because in a very short amount of time, our new future home changed from San Diego, CA to Chicago, IL. Where to start...what to say?

You must think Andrew and I are so wishy-washy! We just can't seem to settle down anywhere for very long, right? Well, there is a bit of truth to that, or at least there was. Once we arrived in Crested Butte, CO two years ago, we knew we had found "home". The place we wanted to hang our hats, raise our family, grow old. But this opportunity came up for Andrew that just couldn't be passed up so we put our dreamy mountain lives on hold for a bit. So we packed up the family and moved to France. Now, about a year later, the France adventure is coming to an end and will be continuing as an adventure in the United States. Now, where in the United States could have been a variety of places, but the location turned out to be San Diego. So Andrew flew out there, chose a house in a day, came back to France, and we started to prepare for our move next week. And now all the sudden (as of Monday morning to be exact) we are moving to Chicago. And the bottom line is that strategically, for Andrew's job and the company he works for, it made more sense for him to be located in the Chicago area.

When Andrew told me about this development, do you want to know what I did (because it is all about me, right?) I cried. I cried because my head was in a sunny place with palm trees and runs on the beach. I cried because I spent the last 4 weeks talking up the next adventure to the girls, getting them excited, trying to get myself excited. I cried because we were to be moving in 2 weeks and had our plans in place and they were all for almost nothing. I cried because I have been feeling a little overwhelmed. But mostly I cried because at that point, I just wanted to go home - to Crested Butte - and stay for good.

A few days later, with a house found to rent, and some time having passed, I can tell you that I feel much better about it all. I have had the time to think about all the positive aspects of this move. We'll be close to old friends and family. We can take the girls to their old dentist, doctor - basically we can just pick up where we left off 2 years ago. And that certainly makes things a lot easier!

I guess in the end (or how I explain this all to myself) is that Andrew initially committed to staying 2-3 years in France. But circumstances no longer necessitate Andrew to be here on a constant basis. So thinking along the lines of the original 2 -3 year commitment, that is still the case, but the next 1-2 years will be instead in Chicago.

If all goes as planned, we will be back in our happy mountain home in no time. But, life just doesn't always go as planned - actually, it rarely does. Andrew and I are used to that fact by now - hello - identical twins!

November 9, 2009: A Really Cool Breeze..but No Palm Trees

2009-12-08T02:05:00.004-07:00

Who can guess the name of the above coastline?

And who can guess the REASON I am showing you this coastline?

More to come after the answers are in.....

December 4, 2009: Take a Load Off..And that Ugly Jacket.

2009-12-04T06:35:00.017-07:00

WOW, did I wear an ugly outfit to coffee ("cafe" in France) yesterday! I am still wondering what in the world I was thinking. OK, I know the answer - what I was thinking. I was thinking that I should look proper for an afternoon coffee. I was thinking that I haven't really gone shopping for myself in oodles and oodles of months and the best appearance I can pull off on a daily basis is mountain mom or sporty mom. And I was thinking that I was about to meet three women that I had never met before so they wouldn't know whether this awful jacket I was about to wear was my normal style or a surprise appearance. After sorting through my closet, I found an old Ann Taylor business jacket I had brought to France for who knows what reason. I noticed it's fine pleats. It's stylish lines. It's shiny, fancy buttons. It's puffy shoulders. It's awful pattern. And we had a winner. I decided wearing a nicely pressed jacket (albeit quite ugly) would be better than my daily staples normally paired with red Privo shoes (ie. comfortable).

So, I rushed to get dressed. Thankfully I was running late so I had little time to question this decision. I slipped on my jeans - too tight. I prefer to hang dry my jeans - these had slipped into the dryer somehow and now they were painted on and too short. At that point I vowed to never wash these jeans ever again. I don't care how dirty they get, I need them at their best at all times. I paired my jacket with an equally atrocious turtle-neck, a somewhat dated necklace and the finishing touch were my boots that didn't match any of the get-up. But hey - I looked proper - improperly. Et Voila! I was ready for coffee!

I walked to coffee with my raincoat in my hands (it's Normandy people, NEVER leave home without a rain jacket). For one thing it was a little warm with this wolly jacket on but I also was curious to see what passerby's might think of my outfit. Just as I suspected. They thought my jacket was ugly, too. When I arrived at my host's house, she was as polite as could be. But in my defense I really pulled it off well. I acted like this jacket was THE jacket - so why would she question my choice? The reality, though, is that she was just really nice. As were the two other women who came to coffee. So in the end, my ugly jacket persevered. But all through coffee I kept thinking about who I might be able to pawn this ugly mess off to. A true friend wouldn't do that, so I have decided just to donate it - that is even a questionable action...

Now, why in the world am I even telling you about all this ugly jacket stuff? Because it's funny, silly stuff that we all go through each and every day and I thought you might be able to relate. But I am also telling you because there is something here, something very important that French people do often that I think we should adopt ourselves in the United States. What is it? HAVE COFFEE! Not chug-a-coffee or grab-a-coffee-and-go-coffee. I mean sit down and really linger over a cup of coffee or tea with friends, family members or co-workers. Order the coffee and then grab a table at Starbucks. Make the coffee at your house and drink it in that room you only let visitors enter twice a year. And just linger. Chat. And when the coffee cup is empty, refill it if you want. Or don't! But keep chatting. Laughing. Stay a while longer. Why not?

We get so jammed up these days with jobs, kids, soccer, church, appointments, the gym - I am

tired just saying all that! But we rarely make plans to grab a coffee with a friend or sister or even our spouse in the middle of the day - some time to relax and catch up before the next big event.

So, I may be leaving France soon. But I will be taking something with me. NO, it is not the ugly jacket. I will be taking coffee breaks with me. So watch out world! You may be getting an invitation to coffee in the near future. I suggest you accept willingly, without force, and wear the ugliest jacket you can conger up.

Coming up in the next blog? Something that might actually be of value...but no promises.

Have a great day!

P.S. Though I am very tempted, I simply cannot share a picture of this ugly jacket, as I might offend someone, somewhere in this world who is actively sporting this unique jacket as we speak.

November 30, 2009: Did I Just Say That?

2009-11-30T12:49:00.025-07:00

(Pictured above: Andrew (at my request) pretending to throw Ella's DS out the window)

I truly believe that (the occasional co-worker, spouse, or family member aside) only your children are capable of frustrating you so much so as to produce the most outlandish things to creep out of your mouth. For example, I just heard Andrew tell Ella that if she didn't go to bed (all three of the girls have been loud and rowdy for 45 minutes since putting them to bed), if one more peep came out of her mouth, that he would throw her D.S. out the window so that it would break into a million pieces. And Andrew is VERY patient so you can imagine the calm tone in which he explained this consequence to Ella. Now, I know he wouldn't follow through with his threat. But I can certainly understand why he said it - how frustration can cause you to dig deep and figure out what in the world will actually get THROUGH to your children? I know I feel like I am constantly threatening to take away this or that in retaliation to repetitive bad behavior. It's actually gotten to the point where Mia will ask me, "Mom, what if I don't stop ? What will happen?" She is 4 years old and literally weighing her options - would it be more fun to continue this bad behavior and accept the punishment or is the punishment bad enough that I should stop? And sometimes I am just thinking to myself, "Did I just say that? Did I really just tell my children that they would get sent to their rooms for the whole night with no dinner? Did I really just tell them that any toys they don't put away in the next 20 minutes will soon find comfy homes in the trash can? It's crazy. And I know that Andrew, me, we are not alone. Surely, many of you feel the same frustration from time to time. And figuring out the solution is a tricky game of trial and error which I have yet to win! Anyhow - just another example of how it doesn't matter where in the world you live. The same parent/child/family dynamics exist! For any of you reading this blog - I would love to hear any examples you might have of outlandish things you may have said to your children and after you were like, "Did I just say that?"

Now, onto other stuff. Life has been pretty... wet lately. I won't spend too much complaining about the winter weather in Caen but indulge me for just one minute. It has been wet and cold and cloudy. Not too different than Chicago in the winter, actually, if you trade the precipitation results. If it got just a tad colder here, the rain would be snow and then there would be greater understanding from my family of midwesterners. We have a history with snow - we know how to shovel it, how to catch it on our tongues when it is light and fluffy, how to play in it to make snowballs, snowmen and snowangels, we know to have snow scrapers in our cars for unexpected snow showers. But we really don't get snow that never turns to snow - snow that comes down as rain. It's wet. It's unrelenting. It's muddy. It makes you cold. It usually is accompanied by clouds. And it's hard to form snowballs or snowmen. Now, don't get me wrong. I know there are many upsides to all this rain. Green grass, pretty flowers, productive farms, replenished water supplies. And my favorite: rainbows (pictured above is a photo I caught one morning of a rainbow over the Abbaye aux Hommes)! Let's just say that San Diego sun can't come fast enough for me. I miss running in temperate weather where my running shoes are not saturated with mud or dripping from puddles.

Forgetting the inclimate weather, day to day life here has been fun for me. I continue to take tennis lessons where I have made some new friends. It's funny, I have learned more taking tennis lessons from an instructor whom I don't understand then those that I did back in the U.S.! I have been invited to coffee a few times with some existing and new friends - all trying to help me and my family adjust to life in France. Isn't it funny how things just start to fall into place and you meet so many great people RIGHT before you are about to leave? I just found a great new babysitter from Michigan - why just now??? On Sunday, I ran a 12km race with my friend Celine and her mother. What an accomplishment! Celine's first race ever and she managed to make it through hills of mud, sliding this way and that. We had a great time. I think we finished around 100 out of 200 women. And I like to think I placed first place for the USA. Nevermind that I was the only runner from the USA ; )

(Pictured above: Ella and her friend, Philomene, during a playdate)

Ella has been doing well. She has been busy with playdates, lately! I think before she had problems making friends but now that her classmates know she is moving, they are ready to get past all the I-like-you-today, I-don't-like-you-today-stuff and just be her friend. Which is great and is sure to leave her with lasting, happy memories of her time here in France.

Grace and Mia have been doing great, too. Every morning they say they don't want to go to school, but every evening when I pick them up they say they had a fun day. Each day I think they make closer bonds with their classmates. Each day they proclaim a new friendship has been made. In about 2 weeks, they will attend their first birthday party since living here in Caen. And they continue to be challenging (as does Ella) but I don't suppose it is the geography that is the culprit.

Andrew has been doing well. I think he is excited to get back to the US and start digging into work...and the sunny San Diego sand! He is not one for drama and drama he has had for quite a while here in Caen. He took the girls to Paris and Playmobile Land one weekend (pictures below) and they had a great time. Now, the girls will forever be attracted to Playmobile toys. And that is fine. I just wonder if the Playmobile company might be able to make the toys and accessories just a little bit SMALLER (major sarcasm)?

You might be wondering what Thanksgiving was like here in France. If you thought that they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, you would be right. Many French don't even know what the celebration is about - they just know that it exists. So no surprise that I could not find a turkey to make for Thanksgiving. Amazing what one annual holiday can do in the USA. In the USA, turkeys abound. Lots eat them for Thanksgiving. Many continue to eat them for Christmas. Big market. Not one to be found here in Caen. So for Thanksgiving, we had Cuisse de Poulet - chicken thighs. Plus I made stuffing, mashed potatoes, and green beans. We invited a work colleague of Andrew's over - he is from the Chicago area. Poor guy - all three girls have a crush on him!

We also celebrated Thanksgiving, again, on Saturday. We have friends that are American/French that celebrate both countries holidays. Andrew and I hosted and our friends and their families brought yummy stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, apple pie and we feasted on Pintard (which I believe is Guinea Hen) and other typical foods. We had fun and we were thrilled to celebrate with friends.

Around town, the village of Caen has been working hard to get ready for Christmas. For about three weeks, there were non-stop workers setting up Christmas lights, decorations, window displays. And then last week it was day after day of setting up for the Marche de Noel - a Christmas Market that literally starts right in front of our apartment building. After all is said and done, it really is pretty. The girls are ecstatic with the sparkly lights. The market is quite cute. Last night, Ella and I took a stroll through the market. There, Ella enjoyed a nice hot chocolate and I tried, for the first time, a Vin Chaud - hot red wine! And it was yummy!

(Pictured above: Setting up for Christmas around Caen)

(Pictured below: The finished results)

Other than that, things continue to move along. I am looking for a job in San Diego. I spend some time each day locating possible pediatricians, chiropractors, gyms, dentists. All the fun stuff! One of my most exciting discoveries? There is a YMCA in our new neighborhood! I spend most of my childhood learning sports at the YMCA - I can't wait to have our children go there, too!

That's all for now..but quite enough, right?

November 28, 2009: "Best Evers, Again" - Part III

2009-11-28T01:20:00.018-07:00

Now we are getting towards the end of Steff's trip. It is now Monday which leaves just until Wednesday to get some more fun in before she takes a very early train to Paris on Thursday morning to then catch her flight back to Chicago. Monday was slotted for a trip to see Le Mont St-Michel. We got the girls off to school and then left ASAP to get as much time as possible to spend there before we had to back to pick up the girls from school at 4:30.

(Pictured above: Steff and I and the girls, walking to school)

I think we managed to get about 1/3 of the way there when all of the sudden we got stuck in a huge traffic jam due to an accident. We literally sat there for 2 hours. Thank goodness for iPhones - we managed to kill the time by talking and listening to our favorite songs. Unfortunately, after we started moving again, it was already noon and that just wasn't going to give us enough time to get to Le Mont St-Michel and have a proper visit. So we decided to go back to Caen and do something else truly essential for a trip to France - eat Galettes and Crepes. We had to drive through twisty country roads due to the road being closed still from the accident, and though that made our drive back to Caen a little longer, it was really quite pretty. Le Mont St-Michel would have to wait until tomorrow!

Back in Caen, I took Steff to my favorite Crepe restaurant - La Ficelle. She started with a Galette, as did I. As usual, they were VERY yummy! They were filled with something like ham and cheese and an egg - full of YUM! After the Galette, we had dessert Crepes. I got my favorite, which is sugar and butter. But Steff, being a visitor in France, had to get the mother of all Crepes. She said both the Galette and Crepe she has were.....the best ever!

(Pictured above: The Best Ever Crepe)

We were totally stuffed (and yes, I am in the process of trying to work off the 5 extra pounds this trip donated to my physique) after our lunch. We got a few errands done and some walking and then, having JUST remembered a few hours prior that Grace had a doctor's appointment, Steff agreed to go pick up Ella and Mia for me from school. Grace and I returned in time to meet them all at school and I believe we went to the local carousel for a ride or two before returning home for the night.

(Pictured Above: Steff and I in front of Le Mont St-Michel)

Take two Tuesday - yes, we finally managed to make it to Le Mont St-Michel on Tuesday morning. OK - so this was officially my 5th visit to this monument in a span of just 10 months. You'd think I might be over it by now. But honestly, the drive is beautiful, hearing peoples reactions as they approach from as far at 10 miles away is so exciting, and I still manage to find a million new pictures to take each time. Steff found so many things to take pictures of that I had to give her my extra memory card - hers was already full!

(Pictured above: Steff and I at Lunch at Le Mont St-Michel) (Pictured above: Just a beautiful shot in the gardens)

I actually could see myself seeing this place a 6th time, before we leave to go back to the United States. The whole day while Steff and I were visiting, they were setting up the Christmas lights and decorations. I would love to see this place all decorated at night. It must be beautiful!

Tuesday night, after we got the girls to bed, Andrew let Steff and I go out on the town for dinner. We didn't really know what we were in the mood for so we just walked around, window shopping and trying to work up an appetite and a preference. After a while we stopped for a drink to help fuel our creativity. That worked - we decided on pizza. We went to a place I had intended to try but had never gotten to yet. It was really cute! I ordered what I thought was pizza but it was a calzone - still good though. Steff got a pizza and she thought it was the... best ever!

(Pictured above: Steff and Ella having lunch on Wednesday)

Wednesday is no-school day. So Steff and I couldn't plan anything that wasn't local, very local. I took the twins to First Babys School for the day and then returned home so Steff and I could walk Ella to her first class - drawing. We killed an hour and a half popping into shops and just strolling the streets. After we picked up Ella from her class, we did some more walking and ended up finding a cute street. We went into this one India-inspired shop and ended up trying olives, candies, mushrooms. The man was very nice. I bought a few unexpected things and so did Steff. We then grabbed some sandwiches from a local bread shop and took them to eat on some benches outside of the Abbey for Men at the City Hall (Steff and Ella pictured above).

(Pictured above: Olive mania at the shop we stopped into)

The rest of that afternoon was spent shuttling around Ella to another class, picking up the girls from First Babys School and getting everyone home. Steff went out on her own a bit to pick up some odds and ends she wanted to take back home with her. That night, we got a babysitter and Steff, Andrew and I went out to the Irish Pub to watch France play Ireland in soccer. We had a great time just hanging out. Steff had a new beer that...she decided was the best ever! It was called 1664 Blonde - which I have to say, really was tasty. It might be my new favorite beer, too! I went home early that night to meet the babysitter and Steff and Andrew stayed out for a while at the Pub. I don't blame her, who wants vacation to end?

(Pictured above: Steff and I at the Irish Pub)

Thursday morning, Steff and I got up bright and early and I took her to get the 6am train. It was sad to say goodbye, but we had so much fun and have memories that will last a lifetime! Steff was able to spend some really good time with my family and I - get to know us all together and individually. How often in life do you get a chance to do that with your friends? My children and husband now know Steff as the great person I have told them about for years and she, in return, knows the same about them. What a great visit! Thanks Steff. We miss you already!

November 25, 2009: Weekend in Paris - Part II

2009-11-25T07:09:00.054-07:00

OK, so where was I? Oh yes, Paris! So Steff and I were GOING to head to Paris on Friday night. But we realized that by the time we arrived (which would have been 10pm or so) it really wouldn't be worth the cost of the hotel room. So we, decided to change plans and just get up early on Saturday morning.

After Andrew got home from work and we got everyone fed, Steff and I got to go out and walk around and grab some dinner. She wanted to see a few other churches and landmarks so we set out to see what was viewable after dark. The Abbaye aux Dames was closed so instead we walked up the street to see the leaning church. The interior was closed by the time we arrived, but the exterior was still pretty with the night lighting. The "lean" of the church (pictured to the right) is obvious at any time of the day! From there, we began to just walk around and figure out what we were hungry to eat. Ultimately, we decided to eat at a fondue restaurant. Andrew is not a big fan of fondue, so this was great as I probably would have never eaten at this place, Maitre Corbeau. We actually were not all that hungry after eating our huge seafood lunches, but for some reason we seemed to think that thick, rich steaming piles of cheese and bread would be somewhat light....Anyway, dinner was really tasty. But I have to say, very comical. First, the waiter brought us our fondue, which we gladly dove into and enjoyed. However, just 1 minute later another waitress came over to tell us we were consuming the wrong fondue and took it away tout de suite (at once)! Just after she gave the original waiter a look of distaste, he and she appeared right after with our correct fondue. Now, we were still missing a salad but at this point - who cares? The fondue was very tasty. We dipped bread cubes and tomato slices and enjoyed our Kir Royales (Creme de Cassis plus Champagne). Now unfortunately, when our waiter came to deliver my second Kir Royale, he made a second error and spilt the whole thing onto my lap. Now, we had an audience to begin with - first of all because they heard us talking english, but second because they saw our dinner arrive and then get taken away right as we were getting into the swing of dinner and third because the seating is very tight in the restaurant. So when the waiter managed to spill a whole drink all down the front of me and on my pants - our audience grew. Steffany and I were rolling around with laughter because we just couldn't believe this guy's luck. And ours. Tears were spilling down my face from laughing so hard - we could not keep our composure. We eventually managed to finish our dinners and our audience was lost when they were able to get their own food. But that was hilarious. Just the other day I was blogging about wanting to pee my pants from laughter - and I got it!

Saturday morning came fast. We caught the 8:10am train to Paris and during the ride we planned out our next two days' adventures. As habit goes - upon arrival we headed straight to Starbucks for our coffee fix. After that we dropped our stuff of at the hotel - The Novotel Tour Eiffel - which was perfectly fine and nicely located just about a 1o minute walk from the Eiffel Tower. Steff and I rifled through our purses and backpacks to get ready for the day and night of walking Paris. I have no idea why, but I recall that Steff managed to find about 4-5 pairs of extra socks in her purse in about 1 minutes time (see photo to your left). I usually have extra kleenex, women's products, coins, maybe even some contacts but not usually socks. Steff - what's up with the socks?

The rest of the day was spent seeing the sights. We first went to Sacre Coeur in Montmartre (to your right) - which just to throw in a weird fact, is the highest point in Paris. We expected to arrive and see a marvelous basilica at the top of a beautiful hill and though that does exist, we had to weave through a lot of other unexpected stuff to get there. We climbed the metro stairs and were greeted by tons and tons of people, hastily sorting through store after store of junk. Featured were 1 Euro and 2 Euro clothing, socks, toiletries, and rolls and rolls of fabric. Granted, I hadn't read tons about Sacre Coeur, but you'd think I would have come across the warning to avoid this lower area and head straight to the top. Consider this YOUR warning - head straight to the basilica, don't stop for food or drink or really anything. AFTER your walk through the basilica, walk around to the back - maybe see the crypt - and keep going back - that is where you will find lovely eats, drinks, boutiques and artsy fartsy stores. And to top it all off, there was a french guy singing solo with his guitar at the foot of the stairs singing, "California Dreamin" that Steff and I thought was quite appropriate given our upcoming move to...California.

(this store took up block and blocks - cheap stuff)

(the beloved Sacre Coeur - quite the site, worth the climb.)

(people crowding into these cheap stores at foot of Sacre Coeur)

(actually, among all the junk there was some beautiful fabric for sale in stores. Above - laces)

Some other beautiful shots from Sacre Coeur:

(beautiful doors)

(art show on the square)

(more beautiful fabric stores)

(loved this picturesque graffiti)

After Sacre Coeur, we went to Notre Dame Cathedral. We had both been here before, but I hadn't gone inside and Steff didn't remember much. We braved the windy, rainy line with a few other people and quickly got inside. What a beautiful place is all I could think. But then I got so sad. To see so many people swarming around, stuffed into this building, taking photo after photo around the perimeter of the sanctuary - and then to see the people in the middle praying and looking for solace, silence and assurance but having hundreds of flashes, and whispers and feet shuffling around them - it seemed wrong. I loved this place - it really was beautiful and peaceful and I wish I could have seen it hundreds of years ago when it probably was without the tourist crowds and only full of the sunlight shining through the stained glass windows.

(the beautiful lit candles in Notre Dame, prayers shining)

After Notre Dame, Steff and I decided to just amble for a while. The great thing about seeing Paris with a girlfriend instead of your husband is that you really can walk aimlessly, without a

plan. With Andrew, he would not have been happy to wander with no plan, pop into shops and just "look" around, or stop for a drink here and there (below) to people watch. But Steff, she and I were on the same page. Follow a loose plan, wander when we felt, just take it all in. And the beauty of that is we discovered so many cute little streets (below) that we would have never seen had we been following a strict plan or decided to finish exploring by a certain time. For instance - we came across the bar - shown to the right. We didn't stop in but with an advertisement like this, how did we resist?

We must have walked for miles, rode the Metro for miles and all through the rain, wind, sun and dark. So we were bound to get hungry. I had found the name of a few restaurants to try, but we discovered that one was WAY to fancy for the likes of us after walking around for hours and the other, when we arrived wouldn't take us! Our hotel concierge had called and they said to arrive between 7 - 8pm to ensure getting a table - which we did. And after what seemed like hours of trying to find

this place by foot, we got there only to be told we would not get a table. So, if you plan to try and eat at Cafe Constant in Paris - you should either be really cool and irresistible to turn away, or get yourself a reservation - even though they don't take them. Or hope that guy that welcome us so rudely that evening is not working. OK - grudge gone. Now, we stopped for a glass of wine to get our heads together on where we would try to eat next. I found something on my handy dandy iPhone and decided a taxi was the way to go at this point. We arrived at a restaurant called Market, which was delightful! We chose it because it had a connection with Vong's Tai Kitchen in Chicago (formerly Vong, I believe) which we recalled being tasty. Our waiter was polite, the meal was delicious, the drinks were yummy and the ambiance was relaxing. So

here was a good/bad situation. After dinner, we walked and walked trying to find a taxi. We followed the commotion, where we ended up on the Champs Elysee and saw the biggest traffic jam ever. Horns beeping, cars stopped, ruckus on the sidewalks - all because of a soccer game win. Egypt (w) vs. Algeria (l), I think? We stopped and tried to get the scoop (Steff pictured to the right), then walked for a really long time trying to find a taxi. We made it back to the hotel where we completely passed out from exhaustion, around 12:30am.

I am a little embarrassed to admit that Steff and I slept in until 11:30am the next day. Again, something that Andrew would have never allowed so that was quite a treat. But still, I should have been up and out exploring Paris and instead I slept (blissfully). So, I got over that quickly, so did Steff. We got ready pretty fast, checked out of the hotel, left our bags with the concierge and then started to walk toward the Jardin des Tuileries. We chose this Jardin knowing we would see lots of cool stuff along the way - so sights abounding. We walked along the river most of the way until we saw a coffee/pastry stand just below the Eiffel Tower. There we enjoyed some cafes and pastries and I, with quite some finesse, managed to knock over almost my entire cafe au lait, resulting in a nice, even splatter all over the suitcases of some young newlyweds and their clothes. We figured that was enough of that, so we climbed the stairs to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower before we covered the rest of the way to the Jardin.

(the token Eiffel Tower picture - it really was pretty to see in the fall)

Now, you are not going to believe this, but it is true. As Steff and I got to the top of the stairs by the Eiffel Tower, we literally saw Andrew, Grace, Mia and Ella sitting there on a bench! Now, I

knew they were going to go on an adventure that weekend while Steff and I went on our own, but what are the chances of running into them in Paris? So bizarre...Andrew was consoling a very upset Ella because apparently a pigeon had stolen a crepe or something right out of Mia's hands and then basically attacked Ella for hers - with about 50 of it's friends. She was freaked out by this bird attack and has been trying to stomp on any pigeon that comes near her ever since. She won't be forgiving the pigeons for quite a while. So Steff and I gave her big hugs and talked for a while but then Ella proclaimed it was time to go home - she had had enough of Paris. So they left to go to their car and Steff and I kept walking.

Along the way to the Jardin des Tuileries we stopped to take tons of pictures of this and that (shown below). The first one below is one of my favorites. All I wanted to do was take a picture of this statue but I quickly noticed right behind it a couple in beautiful, traditional dress taking pictures for their wedding. I didn't want to be intrusive so didn't attempt to get any more pictures - but they were just beautiful!

(a pretty church in the distance)

(a fountain by the the Concorde Monument)

We finally arrived at the Jardin around 12:45pm with just enough time to grab lunch before we had to get back to the hotel, grab our bags and then hurry to the train station for our 4:10pm train back to Caen. Oh, and by the way, Steff had the "best ever" quiche lorraine at lunch that day! Actually, I think I did, too!

(empty chairs in the Jardin des Tuileries in November)

It was close, but we made it to the train station on time. The only huge bummer was that we were so late getting on the train that we literally could not find seats! We stood between cars for quite some time but I then remembered that this was a non-stop train to Caen. If we didn't find seats, we would be standing for 2 hours. It was complete chaos walking through the aisles, as many others were in the same boat as Steff and I. About 20 minutes into the trip, I could see that Steff was getting some motion sickness. That was when I said we should just go sit in first class (we had bought second class tickets - never again!) and when the ticket-takers came along just try to pay for the difference. We did it and it all worked out. We got comfy seats, took naps, paid for our upgrades, all was well.

(Steff and I at the Eiffel Tower - Light Show Magic!!)

Steff and I had a great weekend in Paris! So much fun. So, now we had Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday left before she had to take an early train back to Paris on Thursday for her flight back to Chicago. My next blog will be about those last few days of her visit.

November 20, 2009: "Best Evers" - Part 1

2009-11-20T14:08:00.021-07:00

A friend is one who knows you as you are,

Understands where you've been,

Accepts who you've become,

And still gently invites you to grow.

It's funny the things you remember - and the things you don't. For instance, I remember the above poem that my mother had framed in our house growing up. This poem always struck me as utterly true and utterly important by which to judge your friends.

Why can I remember this poem and not remember that Alaska is infact NOT southwest of California (some of you know what I am talking about)? Why can I remember this poem and not remember when to jump ahead or jump back for time changes? It is because to me, personally, true friends are essential, meaningful and always memorable - constant. You don't forget true friends. I contest that even if it has been 15 years since you saw one of your truest friends, you don't forget them and who they are as a person. You can pick up where you left off no matter how much time has passed. That is a true friend.

My friend Steffany just visited me for the past 10 days here in France. She left Thursday to go back to Chicago and I don't know when I will see her again. But I can tell you that it doesn't really matter - she is a true friend that time or distance has little to do with. Before she arrived into France, I hadn't seen her for at least 1 year and hadn't talked to her more than once or twice in the past 1-2 years (except for email) but we joked about how it was like we had just seen each other yesterday. Steff is one of the many great friends I have been blessed to make along the way and her visit reminded me of just how lucky I am!

Now - on with the good stuff. What was her visit like? Well, it was so much fun. I have to say, it started a little rocky. Having taken the train to Paris several times now to pick up visitors, I may have been a little cocky about it all. It wasn't until I arrived without a hitch (well, there was one strike on the RER train, but no biggie) to the airport that I realized I knew only of Steffany's flight time arrival. I didn't know what airline she was on or the flight number. In a state of panic, I guessed incorrectly that she was on American - which just happens to be in Terminal 2 at the very extreme end of a very long terminal. It was there that I waited and waited until finally I realized I had either missed her or she just wasn't on this airline. American was not providing me any help, saying her flight details were confidential. Steff had no cell phone. I was in a panic. I then booked over to United in Terminal 1, on the opposite end of the airport. Now being 45 minutes later than our planned meeting time, I was not only panicking but feeling so awful. She must be tired, lost and a little scared herself! After convincing a man to page her (she didn't hear it) and circling the terminal about 3 times, I finally convinced a woman to look up Steffany's name to see if she was a passenger on the United flight. She would not confirm or deny this information - she would only tell me that I should probably keep looking for her in this terminal. With a stroke of luck, I finally saw Steffany through a glass window by the baggage claim. We finally met up and all was fine but what a complete mess. What idiot doesn't know their arriving friend's flight number and airline? That would be me : )

So, a rocky start, but from there it only got better. We arrived home from the airport on a Tuesday night. We grabbed dinner from my favorite local shop, The Poupinet, got Steff unpacked, and then picked up the girls from school. They were really excited to see Steffany. It was hard, but I managed to keep her up until around midnight I think. After I saw her close to dozing on the couch, I got her to play Farkle. We got the girls off to bed and then Steff proceeded to drink the best ever Bordeaux wine, she feasted on the best ever foie gras and quiche, tasted some champagne, she even tried Calvados. After all that rich food, alcohol and traveling, she was destined to have a good night sleep. And she did!

The next day, being a Wednesday, the girls didn't have school. They watched cartoons most of the morning before taking bathes. I introduced Steffany to our Nespresso machine, which I think may have become her new favorite coffee - she said it was the best ever. Watch out Santa, I think I know what Steffany will be requesting for Christmas this year! After lunch, we decided to take a field trip to see the castle where William the Conqueror was born, located in Falaise. The weather was not so pretty, but the castle and nearby church sure were. After walking in and around the old church, we started up the road to the castle where William was born. We paid our admission fees and were supplied with headsets to guide us through the castle (the headsets never did work for anyone, maybe it did for Steff for a bit) and off we went. This castle was very unique because bits of it had been restored as they would have looked centuries ago and other bits of the castle were built in modern architectural styles (which can been seen directly below). I thought the exhibits were creative, attractive, and very well incorporated directly within the castle tour.

After the tour, we all sat down to have a snack. Steffany had brought us a big bag of Garrett's Popcorn (cheese and caramel mixed - YUM) so we ate that while sitting on a bench gazing at this ancient landmark. I laughed to myself that this is probably the first and last time that crumbs and stray popcorn from Garrett's Popcorn in Chicago will bless the lawn of William's birthplace in Falaise, France.

(Pictured above: Steff on the top of the castle) (Pictured above: A view of the castle)

(Pictured above: The girls on a pile of rocks in Falaise)

Later that night we arrived home and had a family dinner (without Andrew, he was out of town for work). Steff and I topped off the night with watching a movie and just catching up. The girls were their usual, "lively" selves that day and night, so I think we may have worn Steff out!

Thursday, the next day, Steff and I had planned to do a walking tour of Caen. She had

mentioned to me that she didn't want to do much of a touristy thing on this vacation, but rather just spend time in France like a local would, seeing local culture, eating local foods and just relaxing. So I tried my best not to overplan or overbook. I finally woke her up around 10:00 a.m. that morning so we could get some good ground covered before we had to pick up the girls from school later that afternoon. We managed to see the Hotel de Ville, the Abbaye aux Hommes, Chateau Ducal and the Museum featuring the reconstruction of Caen after World Word II. After this long walk, we decided lunch was in order. We went to a local restaurant that served us the most delicious mussels, french fries and chicken served Normandy-style. We were absolutely STUFFED after this meal but perfectly content. A few errands were in store for us for that afternoon. I took her to my favorite bakery where Steff ate her best ever Macaroon and Meringue, we went to a fabulous frozen food store (Picard) where we looked for dinner items for that evening, stopped by the grocery store, and then it was off to get the girls from school. Andrew got home from his business trip later that evening which Steff and I sadly accompanied with a very poor show of dinner. We had planned to serve a very tasty meal prepared from a frozen pastry covered beef tenderloin....but all we really managed to do was serve a sub-standard meal, 1 hour later than planned (10:15!). E for effort, right?

On Friday morning, we got the girls to school and then off we went to start our day. First, we stopped and grabbed some cafe au laits and some pastries, where Steff proceeded to have her best ever pastry called a Gourmandise. After realizing we got caught up talking for so long, we hurried over to the Friday morning market. Steff was so excited about going to this market and I don't blame her. Her being my fellow 4-H buddy for 10 years, she likes to cook, bake and just be in the presence of fresh foods, flowers, cheeses, etc...as much as I do. Steff had a blast checking out all of the fresh fish, seafood and chickens with their heads still attached! We were bummed that we were leaving town that night (well, not THAT bummed) so we couldn't buy some new things to try and make for dinner.

(Pictured above: Steff at the fresh seafood stands at the Friday Market)

After the market, we left to drive out to the Normandy coast where we planned to have a delicious seafood lunch and a view of the beautiful coast. I drove us to Luc-Sur-Mer and we then drove along the coastal road looking at beautiful old homes and the coastline until we arrived in Courseulles-sur-Mer. There is a restaurant there (which I have written about at least twice already on this blog) called La Cremaillere that I knew would cook Steff the perfect seafood lunch that she was looking for here in Normandy. Here, we seriously had one of the yummiest lunches of all time. I had Bulots with Mayonaise, Steff had a fresh fish, we shared a bottle of Rose Wine (the best ever she said!), started with appetizers, ended with desserts. We were once again stuffed to the limits. Yes, all of this eating was torture - but it would have been rude not to go along for the ride, right : ) After lunch, we went for a walk on a nearby pier and just listened to the birds and the water and felt the breeze and realized how perfect the weather was that day. With time flying by, we had to start for home to get there in time to pick the girls up from school. And after that....we were leaving after dinner to catch the train to Paris for the weekend!

Because we did so much and have so many stories and pictures to share, I have decided to break this up into 2-3 blogs. So, for tonight, this concludes Part 1........Tomorrow - check for Part 2 - Weekend in Paris!

November 16, 2009: Life in Caen - We Did!

2009-11-16T13:55:00.017-07:00

(Pictured above: No longer the Normandy coast, our new coastline as of January 2010)

Hello all! Yes, it is true - we are in fact moving from Caen, France to San Diego, California. Hard to believe, as this has all happened very fast. But I do know that this is the right thing to do on so many levels, for so many reasons. Personally and professionally this move fits well. So I cannot say we are dreading this move (other than the typical dread you feel associated with the effort required to move), but we are certainly mourning the people, the experiences and the adventures that we will leave behind in the very near future.

For the past few months, knowing something might be changing by unsure of what, I have been monitoring the progress of the whole family. I have been looking to see how we have grown as a group and as individuals. The growth would either justify this whole experience as worthless or monumental. And the following it what I have noticed...

Personally, my french has improved leaps and bounds. I came to France equipped with 6 years of french studied in high school and college and little more after that. After that 12 year hiatus, I studied with a tutor for 3 months before we moved to Caen and that really helped me relearn and remember what I used to know. But living here has taught me the real french language. It has taught me the way people really speak to their friends and family. It has taught me to feel comfortable with casual french conversation and to even say a sarcastic comment or a crack a joke here and there in hopes that I might be understood. I can make appointments over the phone with almost no problems, I can order food at a restaurant, go to the Post Office, go shopping, basically survive with a certain amount of ease. Yes, day to day living became my classroom. But the friends and acquaintances I made became my link to society and helping it all fit together. My running buddy Celine has become a very dear friend and helped me in so many ways that I will never be able to repay her! My friend Carih has been my connection back to the United States yet also my connection to France - what a relief it was to have someone I could talk to in English but also in French when I wanted the practice. And along the way, by playing tennis, attending fitness classes, going to school functions - all of those people I met were always so kind and eager to help me and my family in any way possible. What a complete blast this has been!

When it comes to Ella, I am speechless. The amount that she has learned in the past 10 months is almost incomprehensible. Example #1:

Example #2:

(turn your volume up loud - she was shy here!)

As far as Grace and Mia - I think for being the age of 4 they have adapted to living in a new country and learning a new language very well. Yes, it is no secret that there have been challenges along the way - but that is true for all of us. They have tackled most challenges head on instead of backing away or asking to quit. They have willfully gone on adventure after adventure despite their propensity for car sickness. They have expanded their palettes in ways that I think most other 3 and 4 year olds in the U.S. would never consider - you can tell by their expanded tummies! They have gone from French resisters to French welcomers. I couldn't be more proud of their efforts and progress. Below, Grace and Mia sing you their favorite french song that they have learned.

And Andrew, gosh I don't know where to start. Not only did he have to tackle a totally new language (he studied Spanish in school), he also had to tackle a new office, a new culture, old "baggage" left behind, a new job and all the while trying to move his family across the pond. What a task! And he did it (does it!) all so well. If you asked him whether he was happy or sad to be leaving France, he would probably tell you both. But one thing is for sure - he is always ready and willing to face a new challenge and for him, that next challenge is San Diego. Now unfortunately, I don't have any video's of Andrew singing (actually, you should be happy about that) or talking in French. I have a feeling that even if I tried to trick him, I would still never be able to capture those on tape. But believe me when I tell you that he has worked so hard and succeeded at so much. In my mind, his only failure was that darn CTA bus we got stuck driving around for 8 months ; )

So here we are, right? Ten months after arrival, our departure quickly approaches. Yes, it is sooner than we thought it would be - but we were prepared for anything and ready to deal with what came along as we knew in the end, this would be a great experience in countless ways.

So what next? Well, we have a home rented already in San Diego. We will head back to Crested Butte for a few weeks over the holidays and then from there we will send the moving trucks to our new home in California. Andrew will keep his position here in France/Europe (we just won't live here) but will also begin to expand his role in the U.S. and he is looking forward to this very much. As for me, well I guess I am back on the market - the job market that is! I have liked being at home with the girls but I also know that I miss going to work. So monster.com, here I come! Ella will be attending the local community elementary school in our neighborhood. I am currently searching for daycare for Grace and Mia nearby. It makes me so very sad to think of all the French all three girls have learned and won't be able to expand upon at school but I also know they will be so happy going to school with kids they can communicate with easily. And who knows - maybe I can find a French class or something for them to take?

Anywho, I just wanted to update you all on what is going on these days. There are so many other things I so want to tell you about, too, such as my adventures with Steffany the past week, Andrew's weekend trip to Paris with the girls and a trip to St. Malo. But it will have to wait for now - I am tired! Tomorrow, Steff and I will be driving to see Mont St. Michel (after a failure today after sitting 2 hours in a traffic jam on our way there) so I need to get some zzzzz's.

(Pictured above: Steff, me and my double-chin in front of Notre Dame, Paris, France)

I know we Caen....

2009-11-13T15:06:00.002-07:00

Hi all - this is Andrew and tonight I don't have a long or fun blog to post...

Today, I want to tell everyone who reads this blog that our adventure is going to quickly take us from Caen France to San Diego CA - starting in late December.

Unfortunately we are all victims of this great recession and the operations in Europe are not doing well - because of this, my family and I will move to CA and will continue our adventure there.

To all my colleagues in France who will not fare as well as me, I wish you all the best in the future... Take care all...

It's a sad night for me tonight, and I'm looking forward to the California sunshine to warm my heart once again.

The best to all of you,

Andrew

November 8, 2009: If You Can't Take the Heat....

2009-11-05T11:08:00.019-07:00

I really love living in this historical building, the Hotel de Than. Everyday when I come back from doing errands and walk into the parking lot of our apartment, I see these grand old windows with gargoyles and dead vines and chipping cement - worn from hundreds of years of wear and tear. I always feel the urge to take another picture because I am quite certain that the view I am seeing of our apartment at that moment is far superior to any I have seen yet. That just shows the magnificence of this building. And then you have the wonderful location of this apartment that allows one to have no need of a car, with quick access to shopping, school, museums, bars and restaurants, etc... This place is awesome - ask anyone who has been here!

Yet...there has been some not-so-magnificent points about living here. Let me recap some of the previously mentioned annoyances: the drunk piccolo player who frequents a comfy spot across the street, the building alarms that seem to ring and go unattended for what seems days on end, the slamming theater door that politely reminds us it is around midnight, the chains that clink and clank as an establishment across the street locks and unlocks chairs and tables as though they were made of gold and gems, the teenagers and college students chanting at the top of their lungs from nearby bars as their favorite teams win or lose, the farm tractors that stride down our streets as they beep their horns in constant symphony in protest of this or that, the street cleaning machines that begin their engines promptly at 6:57 a.m. each day (except weekends, which is 7:57 a.m.), the massive piles of pigeon poop that are piled up outside each and every window of the apartment, and finally the garbage trucks that pick up garbage at the reasonable hour of midnight.

Yes, beautiful old buildings come with beautiful old windows, doors, radiators, walls, floors, pipes, carpet, wallpaper, sinks, etc... And many of those beautifully old items are quite charming. But the beautiful old windows are to blame for the annoyingly loud noises we hear each and every day. They are also to blame for the chilly breezes that one feels as they get take a quick break in our guest bathroom and the swaying laundry that is hang drying in the kitchen. Beautiful old windows lack noise and weather insulation - that is what I have gathered.

Remember that one night I slept in Grace and Ella's room on the floor to determine whether ghostly beings were shutting their closet door and walking across their room in the middle of the night? Obviously, old buildings with old wooden floors come with some creaking and drafts...but I think accompanied with the suspect sounds coming from the vacant attic above our apartment I was suspicious. I expected to see a little girl dressed in a gown from the 16th century drift across the floor and play with some dolls or something but alas, it turned about to be nothing, so far as that night went.

Now one thing I haven't mentioned to you is the one night about a month or so ago when I woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. I woke up in a cold sweat, I looked over at Andrew and above him I swear to you I saw a body floating. There was a middle aged man's face floating directly above Andrew's with long flowy hair and flowy clothing. I laid there without moving for 15 minutes, just watching this thing float above Andrew while it checked him out in earnest. I was petrified to move. Whatever this being was, either imagined on my part or not, it thankfully never looked at me. Which was good, because if it had looked at me and scowled or hissed or showed fangs or some sort of thing I would have freaked! The reason I even saw this was because of Andrew's alarm clock, which shines brighter than 10 hotels in Las Vegas in our bedroom. Now, was this my imagination? Was I still half asleep and dreaming? Was it the way the alarm clock shone through Andrew's glass of water and it created some bizarre reflection? I have no idea. But after 15 minutes of laying there my clothes were completely soaked through with sweat and I really had to pee, so, I got up, turned on the fan and went to the bathroom. When I got back into bed, I just laid there until morning, waiting for something to happen. But nothing did. I told Andrew the next day that he had something floating above him the night before, just staring at him intently. He thought (and probably still thinks) I am insane. All I know is that I think about this really old building we live in and the people that have lived, visited or worked here in some capacity over the past 500 years and I decide that ultimately, if ghosts or phantoms or souls exist, it wouldn't be unheard of that they might exist here. They seem friendly enough, though, so for now we can all just live in harmony. And if it was just my imagination, well geez, I have quite the imagination!

Now the whole reason I am even thinking about living in this old building and writing this blog is because of a chronic, yet recently exacerbated, problem with our apartment water heater. Our water heater sits elevated just at head level, in our kitchen. The water heater is responsible for the radiant heat in our apartment, basically all hot water requirements. When we first moved into this apartment, I didn't notice any issues. But one night, after a month or so, I was rinsing the dishes in the sink and then walking them over to the dishwasher (the water heater is located just above the dishwasher) and all of the sudden a huge explosive sound came from the water heater and flames bursted out from under the bottom. And it was LOUD. It really startled me and scared me. Needless to say, this has been happening for months. Until today, this very day, I have never been able to predict when these explosions will happen. The water heater lights off and on all day long. No matter where I am, if I start to hear it's clicks (which means it will be lighting any moment) I duck and run for cover. Seriously! If I am standing next to the sink or dishwasher, anywhere in the kitchen, I run as fast as I can out of the area. Last night, Andrew heard my typical, "Holy Shi$!", which accidentally leaks out of my mouth before I even know it, each time this happens. If you ever hear the girls cuss, it will mostly likely be this phrase, as it is all they have heard (from me, anyway). Finally today, I could tell by the sounds that it was going to blow and I got out in time. Pretty sad I have become an expert at the explosive nature of our water heater! Last week, the plumber came to fix it but of course he didn't find any problems...

(pictured above: The water heater in the kitchen)

(pictured above: to the far left, I know to get out of the kitchen when the green light comes on. In this case, Green really does mean GO!)

(pictured above: this is the underside of the heater, above the dishwasher and microwave. The flames come bursting out where the rank tank is)

I was chatting with the plumber while he was looking over the water heater. I mentioned that this building is so old and these problems are to be expected. Then I joked that I was just going to move, as I had had it with this place. He, though, didn't understand that I was joking and then said that people move out of this place all the time for similar reasons - an old building such as this has one problem after another with which to deal.

So anyway, this crazy water heater has really got me running. Some days, after a close call with the water heater, I look forward to getting back to the comforts of a modern home in a quiet place. A place that has nice, quiet heat radiating from it's floors that warms my feet and windows that show me the cold but don't necessarily feel the need to share it with me.

Yesterday, we took a little trip to a cool town known for it's copper and lace making, which I will write about a bit later. Also, my friend Steff is coming to visit on Tuesday and I am so very excited! Some good stories should come from all that so stay tuned!

November 2, 2009:Who's On Break, Anyway? Not me...

2009-11-01T06:28:00.009-07:00

Happy November! I hope Halloween was fun for everyone. You might be wondering what we did here in France for Halloween. As you might expect, this holiday is not widely celebrated in France. We did see a few children and teenagers dressed up Halloween night, but my guess is that they were fellow Americans. Despite the lack of Halloween celebrations here in France, we did manage to find a few occasions to get festive.

One day, my friend Carih (she is originally from Montana) invited us over to carve pumpkins. She found some average-sized pumpkins at the grocery store. I brought Ella with me and we had fun carving together. Carih was a great host as usual, baking homemade pumpkin pie and pumpkin seeds. It smelt like my childhood home in Indiana in her kitchen and it was heavenly! While Ella and I went to this celebration, I took Grace and Mia to First Babys School where they were also having a Halloween Party. They dressed up in their favorite costumes, played games, and ate a ton of tasty cakes and cookies and candy (I know, because they felt sick for two days after!). All four of us arrived home around 6:00 p.m. on Friday night, we lit our carved pumpkin and patiently waited for Andrew to arrive home from work. Like clockwork, he got home minutes later and we all admired our little French Pumpkin.

(Pictured above: Ella, Grace and Mia with our carved pumpkin)

On Halloween night, some friends of our invited us over to have a small Halloween Party. They have a son that is the same age as Grace and Mia, but Ella loves to play with him, too. The four adults chatted and the host made Polish Pancakes for all of us. They were tasty! She also carved a pumpkin and I carved some red and green peppers - I couldn't find any pumpkins!

(Pictured above: Our carved pumpkins and peppers)

Other than Halloween, things have been going pretty well around here. At the moment, the girls are on Fall Break. Two weeks off from school. Boy, has it been hard keeping the three of them entertained and my sanity maintained! At the outset of the break, I decided the best thing to do was make a calendar for the two week break. Map out projects, outings or planned commitments for everyday and then be sure to follow the calendar. So far it has worked pretty well. Haircuts, the library, the park, the movies, preparing for Halloween. Simple stuff, but a plan seems to work well.

One day last week, we took the 9:00 a.m. train from Caen to Paris. We went with my friend Celine and three of her children. It was a really long day, but a lot of fun. I managed to find a babysitter to accompany me and Celine's sister also met us in Paris. So our group of four adults and six children made their way from the train, did a 15 minute walk to the metro, went 12 stops and then arrived at the Parc de la Villette. Some pictures are below of the many entertaining features.

(Pictured above: Me trying to stop Mia from jumping onto the train platform)

(Pictured above: Grace, Mia, Lo and Jules on the train from Caen to Paris)

(Pictured above: Magnetic letters for the kids to practice spelling at La Villette)

(Pictured above: Ella writing on a wall with a light pen at La Villette)

(Pictured above: Me reading to the children at the library at La Villette)

There was a ton to do at La Villette. We actually didn't get around to seeing everything. We also saw a 3-D movie that the kids thought was so cool - so did I! We stopped to see a little aquarium and had lunch at one of the restaurants. Around 4:30 p.m. we started our group metro ride and walk back to the Saint Lazare train station in Paris. With about 20 minutes before we could board the train, we decided to stop at The Gap store right by the train station. We bought a few items, then grabbed some dinner for the train and headed back for home. We got into Caen around 8:00 p.m.

It was one of those days where you are just hoping and praying all day long that no one gets lost, no one gets sick or injured and things run smoothly. And when we finally got back to the train station I was relieved that all had gone well. And that my bed was just a few moments away...

Something that was awesome that happened last week was that we finally traded our car in for a smaller one. It is SOOOO much better! Driving it is like a treat. I mean the car itself is nothing fancy, but the size and drivability far exceeds the old CTA bus. So sorry fans of the CTA bus, it is no longer in service. It has been retired for the fine specimen below.

We now have one more week left of Fall Break. The weather has been really rainy so it is hard to get out and about but I will manage to stick with the calendar and keep us all motivated and entertained.

And Happy 6th Birthday today to my nephew Kameron! Birthday greetings from the Haverkampfs!

October 25, 2009: See Our History, See the World

2009-10-25T15:19:00.034-06:00

Oh my goodness, what a completely, totally fun weekend we just had! Seriously, it was a blast! I am pretty sure that past experience has definitely taught me a thing or two when it comes to the "weekend adventure event planning" role. A few months back, I would have chosen a pretty town with long walks for a family weekend adventure. But now I know better. "Pretty" lasts only as long as the toddler tummy is full and a "long" walk only lasts as long as the first kid who complains. After any of these two items fails, it is a slow spiral downward for all concerned. So this time, I chose a weekend adventure that was sure to captivate even the hungriest of tummies and the weakest of legs.

I had to choose a road trip that was far enough away to make an overnight stay at a hotel worthy, but not too far that the girls would become antsy during the drive, even with a DVD player at their disposal. After briefly looking at a Google map of France, I saw a bolded town with the name of Amiens to the east of Caen. So I then looked up the city website of Amiens and voila! TONS to see and do in this area. I scrolled through a long list of local attractions but ultimately decided on two specific places: The Samara Park and the Cite Souterraine de Naorn with an overnight stay in Amiens.

For a day or two, I had been talking up this adventurous weekend. Our first planned stop, the Samara Park, sounded interesting because it was a site wholly dedicated to educating children and adults about the ways of life dating all the way back 600,000 years ago! I had seen there was a park on the premises, so even if this site were a dud, at least the park was there to entertain. But the whole place was a success. The Samara Park was very pretty and interesting. To start, there were ancient dwellings made of leather and sticks. There was a walkway made out of tree posts. And there was a labriynth garden, which the girls absolutely loved. And mind you, I haven't even mentioned yet that it was a rainy, dreary, chilly day because we didn't mind it at all! There were no crowds, the rain was just barely a drizzle, and each couple of steps intrigued all of our curiosities.

What the girls enjoyed the most about The Samara Park were the interactive demonstrations. There were real people demonstrating how people lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. And what Andrew and I enjoyed the most was watching how interested the girls were with everything they saw.

(Pictured above: a woman making mosiac decorations with rock pieces)

(Pictured above: a man making pottery)

(Pictured above: The girls digging like archeologists looking for bones and fossils)

(Pictured above: A man demonstrating how to chip away at a rock (silex) to make a sharp edge for removing hair from animal hydes and for cutting, also used to make chalk)

(Pictured above: A man shows how armor was made with iron, hot fires and patience)

(Pictured above: A woman starts a fire with silex, mushroom shavings and hay)

(Pictured above: The girls paint on rocks as cavemen once did thousands of years ago)

(Pictured above: A woman demonstrates how to make flour)

(Pictured above: A woman makes Galettes with flour and water and cooks them in the hot ashes. We tasted and they were good!)

(Pictured above: I try my hand at throwing a spear and came really close to the target - a hay pile, not an animal!)

I think you get the point! We had a great time, took tons of pictures and I would recommend this place to anyone - young and old. And there was a ton we didn't even get a chance to see.

Amiens:

This town was really nice. We arrived at night after a long day at Samara so all we really did was grab a quick bite to eat and hit the hay. But the next morning, we got up and took a nice walk around the city. The streets were very wide and pretty with many of them blocked off for only pedestrians. There were many beautiful old churches and lots of pretty gardens and fountains. My favorite part of Amiens was the beautiful cathedral. It is known as the, "Parthenon of Gothic Architecture" and it is just beautiful. The details on the exterior and the height were breathtaking.

There was a lot in Amiens that we didn't get a chance to see. As we left on Sunday morning to get to our next adventure destination, I saw tons of signs and sights that I yearned to stop and see. But you just don't have the flexibility with three young children. I would love to go back some day and see the rest that Amiens has to offer.

La Cite Souterraine de Naours:

Our next and final stop was an underground city located in Naours, France. It is a real city that is located 33 meters below ground level. This city was created as a place of refuge for nearby city inhabitants in times of war. From what I can decipher on the French website, this underground city dates back to at least 1618.

It was really dark, as you might expect, in this underground city. We listened to handheld radios as it guided us from one room to the next. They gave us a wind-up flashlight to use for anyone needing some extra light (and wouldn't you know it, all of them wanted the one flashlight). It was amazing to see that families lived in these small cavelike rooms beneath the ground with up to 2000 people at a time. I get a little anxious and panicky just thinking about it. Imagine never leaving this dark, cold place for months at a time. Ahh! Anyway, it was really neat and if war disaster strikes while we are living here in France, I know exactly where we are going to head for protection - Naours! I am not sure if my pictures will do this place justice, hopefully they do.

(Pictured above: During wartime, this place was used to care for wounded British soldiers)

(Pictured above: The girls and Andrew listen to the audio describing the underground room they are visiting)

(Pictured above: These tiny rooms actually had room numbers posted on the outside walls)

(Pictured above: Ella finding her way through a dark hallway)

The underground city tour was very interesting...but guess what. There was also a huge park and animals and windmills on the grounds that we discovered just after the tour that I believe became the favorite part of the day for all involved.

We really did have a great weekend. One of those that will be talked about by all of us for many years to come.

October 21, 2009: Little Differences between the U.S. and France

2009-10-21T12:48:00.020-06:00

For no particular reason, I have been thinking lately about all the little, random things that make France different (at least I think so) from the United States. So here goes:

In the United States, one might think that a big truck with 20 wheel drive (slight exaggeration) is required to haul a camper. I mean for goodness sakes, we bought a camper that specifically marketed itself to be haul-able by a normal size sedan so we wouldn't need to trade our car in for a bigger gas guzzler. But in the end we STILL traded our car in for a bigger gas guzzler, because the sedan just didn't tow the camper all that great or very efficiently. But here in France, you actually see sedan's towing big-time campers, trailers, huge stuff that would probably get you pulled over in the United States. It's totally crazy when you see these tiny little cars hauling a camper that sleeps a family of 8 on the highway here in France. Not only that, but the actual hitch itself on the cars here in France are a little bit...how do I say it...straight up? I can't help but giggle like a 5th grader who has just learned about the male human anatomy in health class when I see one.

(pictured above: I think you know)

Something else that always takes me by surprise here in France is the radio. They seem to play a lot of American music. It has been great because the whole family can get into the car and hear familiar language - both songs we know or new songs we are hearing for the first time. But there is a problem. There is no censoring of American music on the radio - at least not here in Normandy, France on the stations we listen to in our car. Back in the United States, as we listened to Sirius Satellite Radio or even the regular FM radio, we didn't have to worry about the "F" word or "B" word creeping up and tainting our daughters ears - only to be asked, "Mommy, what is a "Bitc$"?" But here in France, by golly, you can be singing along and before you know it the "F" bomb has been dropped three times and another one is fast approaching. I don't know what it is, but they simply don't censor the music. Maybe they don't know what the cuss words are? Here is a link to a song that they play on the radio all the time here that my children LOVE. They think (after I told them so) that the girl is saying, "Thank you, thank you very very mu-uu-uuuch." But in reality she is saying something quite the contrary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg7jA-H-jMo

Lunch is also quite different here in France. If you go to a real restaurant (i.e. no McDonalds,

Subway, or Panda Express) you are pretty certain to get a really fresh meal for a very

good price. For example, today I had Steamed Marlin with Creamy Pepper Sauce and Potatoes

served with a side of fresh baked bread. Now, I don't normally order such a meal for lunch -

this is way too much food and way to rich for noon. But I have learned my lesson. If you order

the Plat du Jour (basically, the lunch special) being advertised, you can get it for about 7-8 Euros

and you can have it served to you in less than 3 minutes. No kidding! I have tried ordering

off the menu (a simple salad, even) and it always takes much longer to receive and usually

ends up costing more. They make the Plat du Jour ahead of time and it is ready to go and

fresh and quickly served. I don't recall ever having quick service for anything ordered in the

United States during the lunch rush - heck, an appetizer of tortilla chips could take 20 minutes!

So I guess my point is, even though you wouldn't normally eat a filet in red wine reduction

or chicken prepared norman style for lunch back in the United States, just go for it here in

France. The food will for sure be prepared with loving hands and served fresh, tasty

and quick.

(pictured above: myself, enjoying a tasty Plat du Jour)

Wow, they sure do have fresh fruits and vegetables here in France. You have seen my pictures

and stories about going to the markets and basically being in French Fresh Heaven. But I have

to tell you. I have found something that the French don't seem to be so good at growing. Now

growing up with grandparents who had a farm that grew tons of corn, we often ate corn for

meals. And I don't mean as a side dish. I mean, as the ONLY dish. Seriously, I remember when

Andrew and I were just dating and I brought him to my parents house for Sunday dinner. There

must have been some other items on the table (probably radishes and canned pineapple, but

the main dish was SWEET CORN. No joke, each family member would eat 3 ears of corn at

dinner. Andrew was absolutely floored at this corn-consumption conundrum. Who eats 3 ears

of corn in one sitting? At his house, it was one ear and no more. I don't know if my family was

different than most. It was just as simple as corn was in season - corn was eaten. So we did!

Needless to say, I was very excited to buy some sweet cord at the market here in France.

I waited and waited and waited. None in May. None in June. None in July. None in

August. None in September. Ah, finally! I found some in October at the market! "Give me 10

of those", I said (or, "Dix, s'il' vous plait). Boy, was I excited to eat some corn. And I really

talked it up to the girls and Andrew when I got home from the market. All day, I bragged about

the tasty corn we were about to enjoy at dinner. Visions of melting butter dripping from salted

ears of corn haunted us all day long. And then dinner time came. And I peeled the corn. And

I was amazed by the total lack of corn on the ear of corn. And on the next. And the next. And

then finally, the very last ear of corn was hosting an alien life form. Cornless corn is one thing,

but mysterious life-form corn is another. I decided, at this point, that France had not yet

perfected the art of growing corn for their people's consumption. And we were all very bummed

at our corn-less dinner.

(pictured above: Cornless corn from France)

(pictured above: Corn housing an alien)

Well, that is all for now. But as I think of or see some other interesting, yet pointless, items that differ between the United States and France I will bring them to your attention.

Have a great day!

October 19, 2009: I Hope You Pee Your Pants Today

2009-10-19T03:44:00.004-06:00

(pictured above: Grace almost in tears from laughter)

I know, the term "peeing your pants" is kind of taboo around this house and probably around yours. And that is totally understandable. What a mess! But when I say that I hope you pee your pants today, I mean it in a positive way. Let me explain.

Lately, Andrew and I have had a lot to think about. Unfortunately, I can't really get into what we are hemming and hawing about but I can assure you that we are all happy and healthy so not to worry. But for me, as I have pondered during the past few days, I have really been thinking a lot about family and friends. I miss them. I worry about them. Though this has always been the case, no matter where I live, it seems that having such great distance between all of us makes the missing and the worrying even stronger. Friends and family members with upcoming surgeries, sick with the flu, losing jobs, combatting the tough economy, trying to move and buy houses and relocate - for these difficult life events I wish I could be around for to provide support. Support in the way of "I-could-hop-on-a- plane-or-start-driving-right-now-if-you-need-me". Not the "Let's-Skype-and-I-can-hug-you-over-the-computer-screen" support or "chat-with-me-over-Facebook" support.

But wait! I know that is all very sad and not at all what you want to read about to cheer you up today. So let me finish on a positive note...about peeing your pants. As I think about friends and family and missing them so dearly, I also begin to think about all the great attributes they have and the fun times we have had together. Some of the happiest memories I have of being with my friends and family are those times that involved me and many others peeing our pants (and probably crying) because we were laughing so hard. I have strong memories of sitting at the dining room table playing cards with my sisters and my mom and laughing so hard that someone peed their pants and usually ended with my dad, clueless about what was so funny - storming off in annoyance...and we'd laugh even harder at this. I have memories about driving in the car with my girlfriends, going to concerts, or not even doing anything of note but typically included loads of laughter that was unstoppable and ended with tears and pee.

So as difficult decisions are ahead for Andrew and I, instead of thinking about the things that make me sad and I know I can't control (like living far apart from dear friends and family) I have chosen to think about the great fun we have had in the past and will have again in the future when we see each other once again! I look forward to laughing so hard that I pee my pants and I wish the same for you. I hope today, something so funny happens that you can't control your laughter, that you pee your pants and maybe even shed a tear.

Here's to a good laugh with friends and family!

October 14, 2009: Utah Beach

2009-10-14T12:37:00.014-06:00

So for some reason, I keep forgetting to blog about some of our recent adventures. It now strikes me, looking at my past few blogs, that I have forgotten because I have been griping about one thing or another so let us return to this placed called France and all of it's many wonderful sights and history. So let's start with Utah Beach.

Utah Beach was the only D-Day Beach I had not visited. It being a cold and cloudy Saturday and the constant buzz of cartoons driving Andrew and I crazy, we decided to get bustled up and go see this historical sight once and for all.

Utah Beach was one of the five beaches (or sectors) designated for the D-Day Landings on June 6, 1944. It was on this beach where General Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. earned himself the Medal of Honor, due to his leadership, confidence and courageousness. From what I have read, it seems that it was on this beach where the allies received the least resistance and had the most success.

Approaching the beach, all was still and quiet (well, there may have been some whining in the background...). The deep coastline and the lack of people and activity made it hard to comprehend that beginning on June 6, 1944 it was a complete mass of chaos and fighting and ships and soldiers. On this present day, the only activity was some people fishing for some creatures beneath the sand and a horse buggy that scooted by.

(pictured above: people are digging for something, but I don't know what!)

(pictured above: a random horse buggy glides by on Utah Beach)

(pictured above: this about sums up the activity on Utah Beach the day of our visit)

We all had a nice visit to the beach. You give the girls sand and a bit of water and that is all they need for entertainment for hours. They must have played in the cold, wet sand for an hour or so while Andrew and I just gazed out along the shore, trying to figure out what the heck the other people were digging for in the sand. We should have just asked, but we didn't.

I think we may have waited to late in the day to go on our adventure, as Grace and Mia were a little cranky and whiny and loud. That meant that we could not visit the museum in good conscience - another time, I guess. Here are a few pictures of the exterior.

(pictured above: a tanker in front of the Utah Beach museum)

(pictured above: Grace and Mia are very interested in this large gun)

(pictured above: Ella and Mia inside a German Bunker that remains behind on Utah Beach)

(pictured above: a photo of the Utah Beach Museum and skyline of the beach)

October 11, 2009: The Business of Beds

2009-10-11T12:45:00.010-06:00

The past few days Andrew and I have been conducting an experiment of sorts. For about 5 nights we have allowed Ella to sleep on the floor (on cushions) of Grace and Mia's room. They have all three had been asking for weeks if they could sleep together so finally we said OK...we'll try it. Of course, Andrew and I kept thinking back to when we first moved to Caen and how we had tried to have all three of them sleep in the same room. Within weeks it proved to be a bad idea, as they just wouldn't go to sleep. So we ultimately split them up and gave big sister Ella her own room. And as you probably recall, we have had several sleeping variations since. It seems that Andrew and I are trying to find the "perfect" sleep computation.

Today, after 5 nights of successful sleeping, we finally moved Ella's bed into Grace and Mia's room. Poor thing had earned her right to sleep on an actual mattress after sleeping on the floor for almost a week! Andrew moved the bed and then I took care of moving all the toys and stuff back into the other room, which is now the play room. The only difference with this configuration than the original is that all three beds are now in Grace and Mia's room instead of all in Ella's room. You might be thinking, why all the fuss about this bed business?

We have had several conversations with the girls for a few days. We ask them why they like sleeping together so much instead of having their own space. Ella says, "Mom, we are SISTERS! We like each other!" Grace says, "Because when we have nightmares, we can help each other!" Mia says, "It's fun!" I mean, we have the space to spread them out, so Andrew and I don't want to cram them all in the same room if it is not absolutely required. But we do see their points - we have noticed that the past 5 nights, the girls have woken up much less in the middle of the night. They get out of their beds much less right after we tuck them in at bedtime. They wake up quicker in the morning for school. It seems that after months of sleeping apart, they are now finding comfort in each other's presence. I guess they feel braver in their posse of three, ready to conquer any bad dream, noise or knock in the night that they might hear. I get it. I, too, feel the same way. My safety partner is Andrew - when he is sleeping with me in bed I feel safer than when he is out of town and apart from me.

It's funny to me, as I think back to my childhood. There were 4 of us children and sometimes we had to share rooms. My brother being the only boy, he always got his own room. And though I remember having my own room and being excited, I remember most being happy to share a room with my sister Kim. Six years my elder, she stayed up very late, talking on the phone, studying, reading, lights on full blast, but still I felt safer and happier than when I slept by myself. On the nights that should wouldn't come home because of slumber parties or on the nights she worked late, I had a hard time falling asleep. So as I think back on those days, I get why they want to sleep together even more.

It has also occurred to me lately just how close the girls are in age. I know, duh! But it is easy to forget and to be perfectly honest, on most days it doesn't even occur to me that we have twins! All three if them are so unique and different and that is how they are treated in return. But today, as I was arranging their playroom, I was thinking back over the past few weeks and remembering how well they have been playing together. Their imaginations have gone WILD but they will play together for hours. And the older they get, they closer they seem to get, the more compatible they seem to get. And the more relieved I get in the process.

My relief comes from seeing what a gift it is that they have each other. What a gift, that as they encounter so many new people, cultures and surroundings, they they have each other with which to encounter them. What a gift that Grace and Mia can see Ella embracing the French language and life. Grace has done the same in the past month or so and Mia, just in the past week, has finally decided to follow suit. What a gift that when they can't find a friend to play with during recess or at lunch, they can find each other and instantly feel comfortable. What a gift!

There are definitely downfalls about having three children so close in age. So it is times like this, when dealing with this business of beds, that I am so thankful for remembering what a blessing the closeness in age can be, too.

Tomorrow, I will fill you in on some recent adventures we have taken to Utah Beach, St. Mere Eglish and Saint Malo! Take care!

October 8, 2009: Friendly Intervention

2009-10-08T13:42:00.008-06:00

How, as a parent, do you know when to get involved with a problem in your child's life and when to butt out? That is the principal issue that I face this week.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, Ella is having a hard time making friends at school. I don't know, maybe if I had known this for some time I wouldn't be taking it so hard. But since she just told me last week and it has now become a daily discussion, I am really torn up about it.

Do you remember being a young child in elementary school trying to make friends? Maybe on your first day of kindergarten or on your first day after moving to a new school? All the worries of, "Will they like me?", "What if they don't like my outfit?", "What if they don't like my haircut?", "What if I say something stupid?". What if. I can imagine the anxiety that must come with those questions. But imagine the anxiety that must additionally come with, "What if they don't understand what I am saying?", "What if they don't like American's?", "What if they don't like the way I speak French?" Those are the worries of my dear Ella. Every day she goes out to recess three times a day and every day she tries to get in with some kids to play and they tell her, "maybe tomorrow." That is just awful. And it just makes my heart hurt in a way that I can't explain but that I know many of you can totally understand.

So as any worried mother would do, I try to understand the problem so I can fix it for her. Right away. But just like any mother would see in their child, I see a smart, brave, funny, silly, happy, courageous and pretty girl. So why wouldn't other children want to be a part of that? Ella isn't mean or rude or selfish. She would give you anything if you asked for it. She would defend you if needed. She would be a good friend.

So what is the MATTER? Is it just a typical case of a new person arrives at school and there is no room for a new person in the clique? Is it that she speaks English and they are afraid they won't understand her if they play together? Is it just because she is different than them and that makes her an outcast? Is she offending her classmates in some way and she doesn't realize this? Is she trying too hard to make friends and that turns people off? These are the questions that I ask myself as my heart aches for her.

Now don't get upset. I can guarantee you that I am taking this harder than Ella. And maybe it's because if it were me in her situation, I would be devastated and petrified and I assume she must feel the same way. But she doesn't feel the same way. Fortunately for herself, she seems to be taking it in stride and she seriously seems to take the attitude of, "Oh well, I guess I will try again tomorrow." Try again tomorrow! How awesome is that? I mean come on kids, you have to give a girl props for continuing to try EVERY SINGLE DAY, right?

Today, Andrew and I mentioned that maybe she should stop approaching the other kids to play. Maybe she should just hang out by herself, take a book or pad of paper out to recess to read or draw, and see if any of the kids approach her instead. So she went to school this morning equipt with a book and a drawing pad, ready to pass the time at recess by herself. She seemed pleased with this alternative. But I had also asked Ella if she would like me to talk to the school's secretary, who seems to handle matters of this nature, and see if she could help in any way. Ella said yes, please do talk to her.

I sent the school secretary an email this afternoon, stating my basic concern of Ella having no friends. The secretary does speak and read English pretty well, but I tried to keep it simple so as not to confuse. As I wrote the email, I began to wonder if I was getting involved where I should not. Should I just let Ella work through this on her own? Do all mom's swoop in when their child has problems making friends? Am I squashing Ella's ability to work through social problems by asking the secretary to intervene? But ultimately I decided that asking for help was not the wrong thing to do.

Your friends know your personality. Your friends know when you are being serious, sarcastic, or silly. Your friends know when you need a hug or a smile and when you need encouragement. And they know these things because of what you say, how you say it, when you say it and who you say it to. So it is for these reasons that I think it is difficult for Ella to make friends. She simply cannot express herself to others or show her personality, the way the other kids can. She can't say just what she wants, when she wants to and how she wants to, because she doesn't know the words or because they don't come to her when convenient. So maybe she uses physical actions or English words to supplement what she is trying to say and this probably loses the interest of her classmates quickly - who can communicate among themselves so carelessly and easily. And so I asked the secretary to intervene so that she might be able to help the other kids understand the challenges that Ella encounters each day that she arrives at school. And that they might reconsider having her as a friend despite her differences.

I'll admit, some days this is all enough to make me just want to pack up our bags and head home to Crested Butte. I think about how much easier life would be for all three of the girls. OK, and it would be easier for Andrew and myself, too. But for now, I think we can all deal with the obstacles that are coming our way. Some of them are painful obstacles, but I am told they are good for your character ; )

October 4, 2009: La La Land is Full

2009-10-04T13:56:00.008-06:00

Hey there! Hope you are all having or had a nice weekend. Considering we have two children (Grace and Mia) with sniffles and coughs, I would say we are holding up pretty well. Still no fevers and certainly their energy is not being held back. Never-the-less, Andrew and I decided not to take the girls anywhere on Saturday, giving them another day for recuperation and relaxation. The only problem with that agenda (or lack thereof) is that it is bound to drive you crazy - especially when the sun has not and has no intention of appearing all day long. So around 12:00 p.m. I had had enough of the cartoons and fighting and loud playing. I took Ella with me and we boarded the Twisto Tram to go buy some dance shoes she needed for class on Wednesday. Yes, very unkindly, I left Andrew behind to deal with the twins chaos and a a grocery shopping list.

Ella and I had a nice ride on the tram. You remember how fun it was as a child to ride public transportation, right? She was giddy the whole way. When we arrived at the mall, we first stopped for lunch. We went to the cafeteria-type place (Casino) where the food there is sure to please any palette, from 1 year - 100 years old. After lunch we went to the equivalent of SportMart, which here is called Decathlon. We found some jazz shoes for Ella and she somehow convinced me to buy her an outfit that belongs on Fame. I couldn't resist, as her excitement was bubbling over. After that, we went and found a few items on the sale rack for me to wear to The Pavement and then eventually we made our way over to the workout contraptions. I think Ella must have spent 30 minutes riding the stair stepper, the treadmills, you name it. She was having a blast! Alas, eventually it was time to start getting home. We boarded the Twisto and off we went.

On the way home, Ella was telling me about her friends at school. She was telling me how they don't really play with her, how they make fun of her ears and how her best friend says mean things to her. She told me how at recess she tries to trade Pokeman Cards with the boys but they just take her cards and give her nothing in return. She told me how her one friend is nice one minute and then mean to her the next. I told her that those things didn't seem very friendly to me. Up until now, I had the impression that Ella was just a happy kid, making friends in a foreign country against all odds. But during our conversation I started to realize that Ella is the "Rock" in a game of Rock, Scissors, Paper. She can handle the "Scissors" that come along often but sometimes a piece of "Paper" comes along and wraps her up - bums her out. But the "Scissors" happens more than "Paper" and she continues to win the game because she is the "Rock." And she could have come home from school and been sad and distraught, but instead she comes home happy most days and tells me the fun things that happened at school. I don't know, I am beginning to think I just wanted to hear only happy things. Living in La La Land.

The past two weeks, I have also been receiving progressively worse reports from Mia's teachers. I kid you not, she has been stealing food (treats) from other kids on the playground, having temper tantrums in class and crying when she doesn't get her way. She has been singing loudly all day long in class, even when the teacher is teaching and no one should be talking and she also does whatever she wants whenever she wants. And telling the teachers, when they try to intervene and help, not to touch her. Now we all know that Mia is stubborn by nature. But these reports at the end of the day were just enough to make me send Mia to her room one night after school, only to come out for dinner. Tough? Probably. But I was embarrassed. I tried to talk to her, tried to have her explain to me what was causing her to act out this way - looking for an answer. But she would only say what I wanted to hear...and as I am typing this it is reminding me of a period of time that I went through with Ella. But regardless, Mia's behavior was/is getting worse by the day.

I told Andrew about this issue with Mia a few days ago, as he had been traveling for work or out late with visiting office colleagues from the U.S. for quite a few days. Andrew sat down and talked to Mia and she told him she doesn't like France, doesn't like to speak French, doesn't like to hear French and that she only speaks English. Basically, she told Andrew she is rebelling against her life here in France is she is bound to give everyone h.e.double toothpicks until she is out of here. Here I was thinking that it would take a longer time for Mia to come around. She did fine last year in school and I expected fine this year. But I now see that she probably got away with a lot last year because she was new and foreign and the teacher didn't want to bother me - especially since things got considerably better after we split up Grace and Mia. And this year, she just can't get away with as much. Geez, La La Land is really filling up fast.

You are probably wondering about Grace. She got glasses last week which she is really happy about. She wears them pretty consistently and has her sister totally jealous. Mia would do just about anything to get prescribed glasses right now. She has had one potty accident in class so far, but nothing to get her kicked out of school yet. She comes home from school singing French songs and trying to speak words that really do sound French - though they are just jibberish. But the point is that she is trying, she is trying to speak in French and that is encouraging. Dare I say that Grace is happy?

What about Andrew? Well, Andrew is doing OK. It is a real struggle for him to go to work many days. The main reason for the struggle is him being an American who doesn't speak fluent French in charge of an all French office and that just doesn't jive well for everyone. And if you have been in this type of situation you probably can comprehend this matter. And it's really too bad, because he is really good at what he does and they would benefit so much if they just gave him a break and listen to him. Regardless, he is plugging away and doing well, he has good relationships with all the other European offices and remains an inspiration and collaborator for his U.S. colleagues. When Andrew and I discussed coming to France for his job, I certainly had higher hopes for him. Meaning, I really thought his genuine character, his smart mind, and his great, sincere smile would win anyone over (it won me over!) despite the nationality, culture and language differences. But it seems he has a tough crowd to deal with. And deal he does - what a trooper! It is official - La La Land is full.

This morning, all three girls were playing a game called "French", and in the game they were all characters who could only speak French. That was quite an accomplishment for Mia - she was all into this game! Progress may be in progress...

October 1, 2009: Chicken Soup for the Bowl

2009-10-01T04:09:00.008-06:00

So Grace and Mia are home sick today with colds and coughs. Fortunately, they haven't developed fevers yet which means they are probably just experiencing a seasonal cold. Never-the-less, as sickness strikes the household after a few months of health, I started to search on the internet on what kinds of foods can naturally boost the immune system. I'd like to do everything naturally possible to help my family stay healthy. So what have I found out?

Well, after years of trying this and that to better my own personal health (once it was TONS of soy, then it was no diary, then it was no soda or coffee, etc...) I have come to the obvious conclusion that we would all be very healthy and closer to disease-free if we didn't do so many detrimental things to our bodies and enviornments every single day of our lives. It is a mystery to me that our bodies don't just implode!

I would love to see a case study done on a newly created planned community that only eats a varied diet full of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables that are grown by it's own community without pesticides, eats it's own naturally raised beef, poultry and other meats, eats eggs from it's own chickens, doesn't use bleaches for it's flours or sugars, but rather eats whole-grains and natural cane sugars, no soda was drank and the only candy known was an occasional lollipop etc... you get the point. I would also like to see this community only be at the size where bikes or walking are ample for traveling to work or a rowboat or paddleboat could scoot you across a lake where you also catch your fish for meals. I'd like to see natural beauty promoted and physical activity embraced by people of all ages. I'd like to see a community where adults work well and with pride but only within their planned working hours and spending time with their families and spouses and friends happens frequently and often. I'd like to see everyone get a

good nights sleep. I'd like to see the community members relax, meditate, and cherish the quiet instead of needing constant music in their ears, a T.V. in the background or a heavy workload to keep them going. Then, I would want to compare, over time, statistics from how a majority of us live our lives today to that of the planned community. How would our health be if we didn't have boxed and canned foods? How would our health be if we exercised everyday and we actually had the time and desire to do it? How would our health be if we were not surrounded by pollution and work-related stress? How would our lives be if we didn't take medications that solved one-problem but caused another? I am no scientist, but I think we would see less diabetes, less heart attacks, less immune-system disorders, less work-related freak out sessions, etc... It is a sad cycle, really.

So what CAN we do, knowing this planned community will probably never exist and the prospect of turning back the clocks to the times of Little House on the Prairie are quite slim?

I guess you just try to make your own personal healthy choices - hoping they will rub off on others - as often as you can. Magazine and internet articles tell you to consider so many things (take the stairs - not the elevator, add lemon to your water - don't get the lemonade, ask for salad dressing on the side, eat a piece of meat the size of a deck of cards, get more fiber in your diet by drinking this disgusting cup of orange slim, etc...) and it is so difficult to keep doing one good habit changing thing because something seemingly better comes along and knocks you off track when you receive your next magazine in the mail.

So what am I doing? Not as much as I should or could, that is for sure. But for starters I am trying to feed my family healthy and nutritious food in hopes that it will help keep them healthy in the short term and the long term. I am trying to teach them that a batch of homemade apple sauce is not only better for you nutritionally, but it is also better for the environment in so many ways. And that they see how easy it is to make so hopefully when they grow up they will want to do the same for their own children.

And what am I doing today in my quest? Well today, I discovered that Chicken Noodle Soup really is supposed to help a cold clear up quicker. I can't really get my head around what elements of the soup consumption would help your sickness resolve in a speedier manner, but as it is a natural remedy and a food that my children like to eat, why not feed it to them? Now you might suspect that I buy canned soup as much as I buy gallons of high fructose corn syrup to add to my home cooking. And you would be right. I absolutely hate canned soups for SO many reasons. And today, I plead with you to not buy them, either. At least as a small step, don't buy Chicken Noodle Soup.

The next time you are at the grocery store, skip the canned soup section. Instead, make your way over to the spices section and buy some organic low sodium chicken boullion cubes. Next, head over to the fresh vegetables section and grab a bag of baby carrots. Head over to the pasta aisle and grab some favorite whole grain noodles. Finally, buy some chicken breasts. Now you have all your ingredients for your soup.

Chicken boullion cubes take up NO space in your pantry - they should be a staple in your cooking spices. It doesn't hurt to have baby carrots in your fridge at all times. They're a good snack raw, a good easy side dish cooked at night, and a quick appetizer with a dip at the last minute. As far as chicken breasts, the next time you prepare them for dinner, make one or two extra and freeze them. Or if you are like me, just keep a few extra in the fridge and use them for sandwiches or salad toppers. Then, when the day comes that you want soup or need soup you can have your own fresh bowl in under 20 minutes.

Steps for 4 servings of Chicken Noodle Soup

Put 2 pots of water on the stove and bring to a boil - one for the pasta and one for the chicken boullion.

Take chicken out of freezer and thaw in microwave.

Make 2 servings of chicken boullion (see instructions your container but I think it should be around 1 L of water). Add the chicken boullion cubes to the boiling water and stir occasionally until dissolved. Once they are dissolved, cover with lid and let boullion simmer.

Make 2 servings of pasta. Once water is boiling in the other pot, add pasta to water, slightly salted, and cook. When pasta is finished cooking, strain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

While waiting for the pots of water to boil:

- dice up about 10 - 15 baby carrots. Add the diced carrots to the chicken boullion water once the cubes have dissolved. Let simmer for 10 - 12 minutes.

- While the carrots are simmering, dice or shred up the chicken into small pieces.

After the carrots have simmered for 10 - 12 minutes, add the pasta and the chicken and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Voila!

I Miss the Haverkampfs!!!

2009-09-27T18:43:00.000-06:00

Hi, I''m Kris, Katie's oldest sister. I just wanted to share some of the fun adventures I had with Katie and her family the second week of my visit with them. It's hard to believe that I've been home 2 weeks already!

Katie and I took day trips within the region while the girls were in school. I'm amazed at how much there is to see in Normandy, and all less than 2 hrs from their home.

Monday, Sept 7, Katie and I visited St. John's Church in Caen. This church was built prior to 1417. This chuch leans a little the left, which is very obvious when standing in the doorway. It has beautiful stain glass windows and an old pipe organ; a sight to see. We walked around Caen and then headed over to the school to pick up the girls. After we arrived at their apartment, the five of us colored and I listened to the girls sing to their favorite songs(including Katie) until dinner. That evening I took a walk around William the Conqueror's castle, which is just a minute or two from Katie's apartment.

On Tuesday, Sept 8, Katie and I met her friend at the jogging track. They had a nice run while I enjoyed a brisk walk. Later, Katie and I drove over to Bayeau to see the Bayeux Tapestry. This is an embroidered depiction of the Battle of Hastings in 1066; over 1000 years old! Before we saw the Tapestry, we toured the Bayeux Cathedral and had a nice lunch. Then it was a sprint back to Caen to pick the girls up from school. Katie is so good about giving her children fresh fruit and veggies for after-school snacks, but while Aunt Kris was there that didn't always happen. Here is a pic of Ella enjoying an ice cream treat after school that day.

The girls didn't have school on Wed., Sept 9, so Grace and I went to the grocery store and picked out goodies for our picnic lunch that day. We went to La Colline, a park that Katie has written about before. It was a little windy and chilly , but it was fun anyway. The flowers at the park were beautiful. After walking through different sections of this park full of different flower gardens, and having a nice lunch, we took the girls to the playground there. The girls had a chance to play and Katie and I were able to sit and relax. Before we left, the girls were able to ride on the Merry-Go-Round and ride in the Pokeman Bus.

On Thursday, Sept 10, the girls were back in school, so Katie and I visited a couple D-Day Beaches. The memorial to those who lost their lives there is hard to describe. It is peaceful, yet you can hear the rumble of the waves crashing onto the beach below. In between beaches, we stopped at Port-en-Bessen. This is a port town where we found a stretch of beach full of shells. We had never seen so many shells in one place before. After Andrew came home from work, Katie and I went out to eat. Deciding where to go was hard, but we ended up going to a place called Le Vendome. The owner was very friendly and remembered Katie from past visits (enough to tell her that he had noticed she hadn't been in for a while). While we were waiting for our salads, the owner brought out bread and a pate'. Katie thought it was tuna, but it tuned out to be a sardine spread; we didn't ask for seconds! The rest of the meal very good though.

Friday, Sept 11, we headed out to visit Chateau de Crevecoeur-en-Auge and Chateau de Vendeuvre. Both were unique, but Chateau de Vendeuvre really was the most interesting. It had paths on one side of it that lead to different ends; a scarry scare crow, a statue and fountain covered in shells and a flower garden with flowers I'd never seen before. On the other side of the house there were flower gardens armed with fountains that were triggered by the motions made when people walked by; they caught us off guard! We were also able to tour the furnished first floor and basement of this Chateau. It was a fun day and it was was pizza night for dinner, so no cooking for anyone when we returned home.

Saturday, Sept 12, Katie and I left at 7:30am to go to Mont-Saint-Michel early enough to beat the crowds .It was amazing. This is another place I know Katie had been to before, but I really wanted to see it. I'm glad she was willing to take this trip, again, with me so I could experience the walk from the bottom of the hill to the top. I was exhusted before we even got to the ticket office. You wouldn't believe the age of some of the people trying to make this walk, to just by a ticket for the tour! I read that you walk as many as 900 steps to reach the ticket office. We made it back in time for Andrew to take Ella to the birthday party, Katie entertained Mia and Grace and I took a 2 walk around Caen and bought food for Taco Night. Katie and Andrew left us about 6:30pm to attend an overnight birthday party. The girls and I had tacos for dinner. Mia was very helpful with getting the food ready, while Ella and Grance did crafts at the table. We had yummy tacos and a chocolate cookie and bananas for dessert. After dinner we watched a movie, Tinker Bell, and before we knew it, it was time for bed. Once everyone was in bed they slept until about 8:00 am on Sunday.

Sunday, Sept 13, was my last day in Caen. It was cold and looked like it was going to rain. When the girls woke up, we lounged a little and watched cartoon or two, had breakfast and got dressed with the intention of going to a park. We ended up staying inside and before long it was lunchtime already. I made grilled cheese sandwiches and they each had two. We tried reading together but there was always someone who couldn't see the pictures so that didn't last long. But after Katie and Andrew returned home, we all went for a walk to the Botanical Garden. The Botancial Garden had an petting zoo and 2 playgrounds. So many places in France, such as this, are very kid friendly. We stayed there for a while, had a little snack (Katie is always prepared), then left to eat dinner at the restaurant next door to their apartment. After we we returned to the apartment, the girls took a shower and I tucked them into bed and said "good night" ; it was hard for me not to cry.

On Monday, Sept 14,Andrew and I left the apartment at 4:45 am to catch a 5:10 train to Paris. Then from Paris we had to take two more trains to get to the airport. It was a long morning, but is helped to have a seasoned traveler with me. Andrew was actually flying out from the same gate area as I was. I had the pleasure of enjoying the Red Carpet Club for the first time; thanks Andrew. We both passed through customs without a problem and made our flights.

I hope now that when the girls see me or hear my name that they actually have a memory of me pop into their heads. I will remember laughing with Katie over silly stuff the girls did, while we talked about family memories, and even while we were stuck under a walnut tree during a random hail storm on our way to William's castle. I will remember Mia saying she wants to come live with Aunt Kris and her suggling up in my lap. I will remember Gracie's little hand in mine walking to/from school and watching her take such interest in flowers and butterflies. I will remember Ella enjoying speaking French, reading to the girls at bedtime and being fashionable. I will remember that Andrew shared his special beer with me, got me hooked on the tv show, Prison Break, and compromised with me about the journey to the airport.

I hope they all know how much it meant to me that they opened up their home and hearts to me for those two weeks. I love and miss them all.

(A special Thank You to everyone who made this trip possible; Katie, Tim, Nancy, Hank and Lou)

September 25, 2009: The Wheels on My Bus Go Round and Round...Unfortunately

2009-09-25T02:47:00.006-06:00

Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the CTA Bus broke. The bad news is that it is now fixed and ready for pick-up at the repair shop. C'est dommage!

I had high hopes for this break-down. After receiving a text from Andrew early one morning that stated the car's engine "broke" while he drove it to the train station in Caen, my dread quickly turned to excitement as visions of tiny commuter cars danced through my head. Bye bye to 10 minute parking sessions in our apartment parking lot. Bye bye to close calls as I dodge through tiny French villages on streets the width of a hallway with a car the size of a driveway. Bye bye to the nasty looks people give me - I think they are just annoyed by the look of my car and I cannot blame them. Heeellllloooooo economy car!

When I got to the train station, I met up with the Renault mechanic who came to diagnose the situation. He started the car and it purred like a kitty, happy as a clam. He said it was fine. Oh, dread, I thought. So I said he should drive it around the block (as I didn't really know what a "broke" engine would sound like and Andrew was travelling and unavailable to tell me what specifically happened). I jumped in and had a nice leisurely drive around Caen with my Mechy (aka. mechanic). The car drove perfectly. Lovely, I thought.

Not giving up hope, I waited patiently as he looked around the car for any other signs of possible problems that Andrew may have experienced. Obviously, a full account of the circumstances from Andrew would have been helpful. I mean, I couldn't have verbalized the problems to the Mechy, as my French car repair vocabulary is non-existent, but I could have at least drawn him a picture! I could have even made him a hama bead depiction of the problem - that would have been more helpful than him just having to walk around the car guessing at a problem and cursing this silly american woman under his breath. He was about ready to leave when he noticed something. Yes! A problem! I knew there was hope! It was the Service light on the dashboard. And the airbag light would not go off. Mechy tried to fix it and I was elated when his attempts were unsuccessful.

Mechy told me I must make an appointment to come into the garage and get the car fixed. I told him I thought it should be fixed right away - I have three children and last I checked a broken airbag = broken head and body in the case of an accident. So, he talked to his people and they agreed. Must be fixed right away. So you know what this guy did? He towed my big, fat CTA bus. Guess how long it took him to hook up my car for towing? 2 minutes tops. And he towed my car with a car almost identical to mine. Have you ever seen a car get towed in the United States? It's more time consuming and complicated than solving a rubix cube. Hooks, bolts, gears, levers, hydraulics - it's ridiculous. And then they charge you $150 for all the effort. Here, Mechy literally lowered a tiny platform to the ground that had two spaces for the wheels of the car to roll onto and then we were off. In the United States, this would have been quit a doozy of a tow, a big production. I was amazed. And elated at the prospects of one less CTA bus on the road...forever.

I rode to the Renault dealership with Mechy where I sat with nothing to do (my phone was even dead) while they tried to fix my car for about 3 hours. Clearly, they were stumped. For sure they thought this would be a quick fix. Around 3:30 p.m. they finally gave me a rental car to take home for a couple of days. This was going to take a few more heads and a few more hours to figure out. I got into my nice 5 seater Renault Kangroo and fell in love with this tiny, yet roomy car. My happy little family would fit nicely in this car. I hoped and prayed for a fault in my car that would require a recall of all major 10 seater passenger vans immediately. Surely, all other owners of similar CTA buses are looking for the same help. And I wanted to keep my new Kangroo.

I parked this new little car like a champ in our parking lot. Shop owners and residents who share this parking lot were surely watching with happiness, as they thought I had a new car. They would no longer have to fret about their cars getting sideswiped or scratched each and every time I pull in and out of the lot. The girls voted that we should keep this car, they like it very much. Andrew agreed. It was like we got a new pet - a cute little puppy that the whole neighborhood saw and liked immediately for their own different reasons. And then our new little pet had to be returned because of one reason or another and all they could give in exchange was a big, smelly pet cow. I pulled into the parking lot this afternoon with my newly repaired cow. Neighbors were peering out their windows, wondering where the cute little puppy went. And then they figured it out. Puppy was borrowed until fat, smelly cow was milking, again. Bummer.

On other fronts, everything has been going well here. Andrew has been in Manchester and Brussels this week for work, hopefully getting some new customers or reassuring some old ones. Grace and Mia began going back to First Babys School. Just on Wednesdays when school is out and for half a day. I tried to find classes to sign them up for but they just don't know enough French yet to understand and be good participants and they also hare terrors together. So First Babys School, I am hoping, will do some good work with them on their French speaking. Ella has started a drawing/painting class in the mornings on Wednesdays and a dance class in the afternoon. Her first week at these classes were great! My last goal is to try and get all three of them signed up for a sport, maybe on Saturdays, but we'll see.

Personally, I have started going to Power Plate sessions with a friend of mine. She knows a woman who owns a studio (this is my friend that I run with) so she asked if I wanted to give it a try. Now, it is really hard to explain this Power Plate thing. And the Kate Jury is still out on whether she believes it has any power to help her path to a fit body. But in the meantime, while I decide, it certainly is interesting. The best way I can explain it is that you do all of your exercises on a platform that vibrates a million times a minute. It supposed to stimulate your muscle fibers or something, more than any exercise you would do without vibrations. All I know is, my brain feels like I am putting it in a Cuisinart at some points and my teeth might very well vibrate right out of my jaw. Google this, if you haven't heard of Power Plate before.

Also, I have started a weekly tennis lesson with a group of women. Today was our second gathering and I think it is going to be a lot of fun.

Other than that, nothing much new. My sister's family is on it's way, as we speak, to Denver, Colorado. My brother-in-law took a new position with his company and how happy is my family that they will now be living in Denver? Pretty darn happy. When we get back to Crested Butte permanently I see a lot of road trips taking place between our two homes.

This weekend Andrew and I got invited to a party and guests are supposed to wear wigs. So tomorrow, Grace and I are going to go on a hunt for funny wigs. We are also going to go pick out glasses for Grace finally.

Next week, Ella starts swimming lessons with her school. They will go once a week for a few months and she is very excited. That's it for now!

September 20, 2009: Dork Alert

2009-09-20T15:18:00.002-06:00

Ever have those days where you just feel like a total dork? Like you go from doing one dorky thing to the next and totally on accident? Well, in case you thought it was just you, I am here to tell you it is me, too. Living here in another country among mostly strangers, you can see why I MIGHT have thought I was immune to feeling dorky or being caught doing dorky things. But I did something the other day that made me remember what a complete dork I can really be and then I got to thinking about other dorky things I have done since living here in France. A lot of these things are due to language or culture barrier but some of them are due to just being a dumbass (sorry for my rated PG readers). I probably haven't shared them with you because at the time, it seemed minute, but as a whole all the little things add up to one big dork alert. So just for laughs, here are a few of my dorkiest moments (aside from my monster truck stick shift issue and apple sauce conundrum).

The other day, I went running with my friend Celine. She is my friend that lives here in Caen and with whom I only have French conversation. She has really been nice, introducing me to her friends, involving me in activities and sports and even inviting my children over to her house to play. So anyway, the other morning after we went running I said goodbye and walked home. When I got home, I started to think about Andrew and decided to send him a quick text message that I missed him, as he had been out of town for almost a week. So I picked up my iPhone, quickly typed "Miss You", and hit send. Except I realized right after I got the sent confirmation that I hadn't sent the text message to Andrew, I had sent it to Celine. I had replied to a string of texts and Andrew's was right below Celine's and you know the rest. Oh my god, I felt like a complete DORK! I just saw her 10 minutes before and all of the sudden she is getting a text message from me on her phone that I miss her? She must be thinking I am a freak, but whatever that word translates to in French. Anyway, I quickly sent her a text trying to explain myself - basically admitting that I am a scatterbrain. Thank goodness she was nice about it, but man, total dork alert for sure.

Later in the day, I went to the grocery store and at the checkout line I decided to pay with cash. I believe the total of my goods was 54 Euros and some odd change. I was feeling very confident in my conversation and counting in French that day so I decided to show off my skills counting out loud. So I took out a 50 Euro bill and I said "Cinquante", which is 50 in French so that is right. Then I took out a 2 Euro coin and said, "Trois", which is not right - that is 3 in French - but I didn't know I was wrong at that moment. But when the checkout lady looked at me like I was from another planet - that is when figured out my interesting counting. I tried to correct myself on my new coin, another 2 Euro coin - I said "Quatre", which is not right - that is 4 in French. In my mind, I was tallying up the money to equal 54 Euros (which I had actually done) but my counting out loud was confusing and incorrect. I knew I had paid the right amount but I felt like such a dork that I rushed out of there quite quickly. Total dork alert. Imagine going to Target and giving the checkout person a quarter but you stated the value to be 50 cents. And then you gave her a dime but you stated the value to be 20 cents. That checkout person would look at you weird, because coins just don't come in those denominations. I don't know, I probably made too much out of it, but I felt like a real dork!

I can't tell you how many times I have showed up for an appointment on the wrong day or the wrong time. The plumber said he would come over "lundi ce matin" - which is Monday morning, but my head heard "matin" and translated that to mean evening. So I missed him and called him to see where he was that night only to find out I am just a big dork who wasn't there to meet him that morning. Celine invited me and the girls over one day. We were going to have coffee while the kids played and then a short while later head over to the library for story hour. So I had heard a time and jotted it down as 12:30 p.m. Celine had said quatorze et demi. That is actually 2:30 p.m. Running slightly late, I had notified Celine around 12:25 p.m. that we were running a little late but would be over shortly, to which she replied, "you have plenty of time since we are not meeting until 2:30 p.m. and story time at the library doesn't start until 3:30 p.m. And here the girls and I were 200 feet from her front door. I meant WHAT a DORK!

Every now and then I think about a funny dork alert of Andrews. He was at work one morning, meeting with his French tutor. They were talking about their weekends, just warming up a bit. I don't quite remember what specifically Andrew was talking about, but he was trying to explain that he was very excited about something. And in the French language, there are a lot of words that mean the same in English, but just pronounced slightly different. So Andrew said, "Je suis excité" which in French translates to "I am very horny." His tutor politely explained to him that in this particular case, the two words do NOT mean the same in the French and English languages. He felt like huge dork. But at least he didn't say it to someone less understanding.

There are so many other examples I could share, but I think you get the point. Day to day life in your home country presents you with dork alerts - but add a new language and a little pressure to the mix and you find your dork alerts happening at an increased frequency.

So goodnight to all you fellow dorks out there and for all of you that are perfect - you really are missing out on the fun!

September 17, 2009: 104 and Yet There is More

2009-09-17T12:53:00.004-06:00

We cruised past 100. I had every intention of blogging all about hitting the 100 milestone but I totally forgot. And then there was 101, 102 and 103 that blew right past me. But today, no more! Today I celebrate the 104th blog to be written on Life in Caen - We Can! I seriously don't think I have written this much since my diaries, journals and heavy note passing that took place in middle school. I thought about writing stuff down a lot over the years but I guess I needed something interesting like picking up and moving to another country to get me to actually write and keep writing.

The intention of this blog was and still is to keep our friends and family informed about what our lives are like here in Caen, France. Yes, at first it was tough here. My dad actually told me when he came to visit us here in France in June that some of the initial blogs that I wrote made him sick to his stomach because he was so worried about his little girl and her family. So I began to wonder if maybe I shouldn't have been so honest about the state of affairs? But then I decided it was important to be completely honest. That way, everyone would be all the more relieved when things started to look up (I was hopeful) and get better.

So now it has been 7 months since we have been here in Caen. I think back to the day we arrived and compare it to today and things are vastly different. Andrew has now settled into his job, Ella is reading French better than English and speaking French better than some French children, I have lost 10 lbs thanks to my membership at The Pavement, we have friends and know store owners, Grace got past her mid-day bed wetting issue and Mia goes to sleep at night in 5 seconds flat. Would any or all of these things have happened even if we were still living in Crested Butte? I really doubt it. The adaptation required by all of us to make this move work facilitated these changes. So, 104 blogs into our lives here in Caen and with many mini-issues encountered along the way, I say this whole experience has been well worth it.

Now, to the issue of blog #105 and beyond. The last thing I want to do is write about boring stuff that is of no interest or entertainment value to the people who read this blog. You might have noticed over the past few months that my blogs were not written daily as they were in the beginning. That is a good thing. It means that disastrous and/or noteworthy events are not happening in our lives on a daily basis. It means that there is some level of normality now. But I assure you that normal is relative and what is normal to us now may actually still be of interest to you. So I do plan to keep on writing in this blog but if it starts to get really boring or pointless, someone please do me a huge favor and just tell me!

As a side note, I also wanted to mention that this blog has been found by other people on the internet that we don't necessarily know. Some email correspondence and blog comments that I have received are from people trying to find information about moving to another country or information about living in Caen, France. So it's nice to know that this blog has been useful for others in ways I hadn't expected.

Now, tomorrow I plan to blog about my very busy week. I have tried new workouts (ever heard of Power Plate?) started a new team sport, got a library card and enrolled the girls in some Wednesday activities. And last weekend, Andrew and I attended a very fun party that I'll fill you in about.

A demain!

September 15, 2009: I Miss Kris!

2009-09-15T13:53:00.004-06:00

(pictured above: Kris in front of Le Mont Saint Michel)

I just want to write a quick blog by saying how much fun I had with my oldest sister Kris during her visit. She left yesterday morning and I already miss her! Her being the 11 years older and the oldest of four children and me being the youngest, Kris and I didn't really spend much time together growing up. One of my fondest memories of my sister is when she would come home from college to visit and she would take me with her to Burger King around midnight to get a Whopper. Way past my bedtime, but my mom would approve and I felt so grown up and special to get invited by my big sister to hang out and eat tasty treats with her. And now this trip has replaced that as one of my fondest memories. Her trip here made me discover that my big sister laughs a lot, is funny, curious, caring, creative, thoughtful and adventurous. All great traits and for having the time to discover them I feel blessed and so do my children and husband. Now, I would update you on what we did after our fun weekend adventure, but I have granted Kris the ability to write within this blog. So expect pictures and stories from her in the near future about the other trips and sights we saw during her trip here in Caen.

September 7, 2009: Doors to the Imagination

2009-09-07T13:14:00.023-06:00

I have always been fascinated by doors. If you looked back through my photos taken on trips during the last 15 years you might notice a heavy amount of "film" dedicated to doors. Everything from the age, the color, the size, the upkeep, the location and the surroundings of doors can create a really cool view. But, I think I really like them because of what just a quick glance can spark in my imagination. I begin to wonder if the door owners know just how cool a door they really have? Or was their awesome door created by a poetical mix of weather and neglect? Do they know the flower box to the right adds just the right amount of color accent to the rusty iron door handle? Do they ever stop and take pride in the beautiful gift that their door presents to passerbys? Did the owners of the the door know that over centuries, all that would be left was the door frame and minor portions of it's surrounding wall? Why does their door have a iron grid at the level of a person's face? How hard did they look for what appears to be a 200 lb wolf door knocker? Did the ornate door numbers get passed down over generations or have I been fooled and were recently acquired from Frontgate Magazine? And then of course, most importantly and interestingly, who has lived behind the door and what is their story?

I could go on forever about my fascination with doors and I bet a few of you share the same interest. But I am particularly thinking about this topic today because of the adventure that we took this past weekend. My sister Kris has been visiting from Indiana and to get her a good taste of the French country-side and non-city life here in Caen, I thought a nice trip away would be fun. So I very randomly selected a trip agenda and we all loaded into the CTA bus on Saturday morning and started towards Domfront, France.

Domfront, France is called the Cite Medievale (aka. Medival City). I wasn't totally sure what that meant, but I had expected to see a really old castle when we arrived. Indeed, it was quite the contrary. The city itself appeared to be scattered with ramparts or remnants of an old city fortress that was huge in diameter. You might see bits of a tower from the 12th century that are now integrated into a restaurant or an old 11th century fortress wall that now forms the back of a homeowners garage. And if you keep walking up an old cobble stone street, you will run right into a large chunk of this fortress that still remains from centuries ago. Huge fortress walls tower over you, mazes of underground and above ground passageway are visible to you as you enter what is called Chateau Domfront. But most interestingly to me were all of the doorways that remained. Instead of the doors spurring my imagination, it was now the doorways themselves that made me wonder. All of the adults (Kris, Andrew and myself) were truly amazed by this visit. The girls were surprisingly unphased by the monster fortress walls and the spectacular view from the Chateau look-out, but that is the behavior you learn to expect from little kids - unpredictable!

We left Domfront around 4:00 p.m. and started driving to our next stop: Bagnoles de l'Orne. Now how I came to have this be our next stop is that I knew on Sunday I wanted us to end up in La Ferte Mace. And the only hotels I could find suitable for the six of us were in Bagnoles de l'Orne which was about 10 km away from La Ferte Mace. So I knew from a bit of reading that we might find some place for dinner and that a nice, pretty walk would be available to us around the lake. And that this place is popular with the elderly and the sick around France due to having a spring with supposed healing properties. And in retrospect, I should have sent Andrew to the spring immediately upon arrival as he was sick as a dog with a sore throat and chills. But I hadn't expected the fun we really ended up having.

Andrew took a nap when we arrived and when he was ready, we all started off on a walk. The walk was around the pretty lake and over a floral bridge. It was so pretty, in fact, that we probably saw about four sets of marriage parties taking pictures and tons of "just married" cars and caravans driving by beeping their horns. We continued to walk by the hippodrome (horse track) and around the

neighborhood deeply embellished with pretty, old mansions, bed and breakfasts and other shops. Quite by accident, we came upon a forested area that had signs for some kind of path. With no other entertainment in mind for the evening besides dinner, we decided to follow the path. The path ended up being a fitness trail,

but much more fun and interesting than any you have ever seen. This fitness trail took about 1 hour and I truly think the girls (and Andrew) could have done the circuit 3 more times because it was so fun.

The stations on the trail were various things such as wall climbing, hurdles, rope swinging, etc...It was an unexpected diversion that actually ceased all fighting, whining and any other animosity from the girls for a whole hour straight and it was something that Kris, Andrew and I noticed - and truly appreciated. We ended the night with pizza and pasta from a local italian restaurant and then a comfy night sleep at the Hotel du Beryl.

On Sunday after breakfast we started for La Ferte Mace, France. It was just about 15 minutes away from Bagnoles. So the great thing was that the drive was short. The not so great thing is that an annual vide-greniers (imagine the whole town packing up their wares for a garage sale and then taking them into town and having their garage sale on a card table along the main streets of town) was occurring in the town's center. Roads were closed, traffic was backed up and our GPS was utterly confused by our lack of direction-taking. I had planned on having nice weather and a slow-paced town at my disposal for figuring out where and what to do in this town but all I had was the nice weather. I had read about a big park with tons of stuff to do on a lake and after some searching we did find this park. And though we did manage to spend about 3 hours at this lake, it was only due to a sandy beach and a park. All of the other activities never opened. The park was very fun for the girls as it had lots of unique structures and the emergency sand toys I keep in the car also came in handy. So the morning and afternoon had the potential of ending in disaster, but it ended just great. Before starting back to Caen, we stopped for a picnic in Falaise.

Our adventure weekend was so much fun and I was so pleased to share it with my sister. I will be forever grateful to her for helping entertain the girls and for her patience and flexibility. But especially I am grateful for the pictures and memories that we will have to talk about for the next 40 years of our lives. We can recall the great doors we saw and imagine what it must've been like to live in a grand fortress in Domfront, France five centuries ago. When the fortress had doors and the walls had ceilings and the rocks were still stacked atop each other to make a moat. Most likely, we will laugh about how stubborn Mia was when she was 4 years old, how adventurous Ella was at 6 and how cuddly and cute Grace was at 4. Today, my sister Kris and I can only imagine what the girls have in store for them years from now. I wonder what doors they will open and which ones they will close...

September 3, 2009: A Face Worth Framing

2009-09-03T01:32:00.006-06:00

Hi there. Not much to fill you in on the past few days. Fortunately, the girls are doing just great at school. Ella has had homework every night (very teeny, tiny homework) and that is making her feel like a real big girl. Grace and Mia seem to be happy in their own separate classes. Mia has been trying to stop singing all day long during class - I'll have to check when I pick them up today on how that is going.

I successfully picked up my sister Kris yesterday morning from CDG Airport in Paris. We both napped on the train ride back to Caen and we both got to be quite early last night! She is still sleeping now at 9:45 a.m. so she should be ready for a day out on the town in a while.

Yesterday afternoon, we met up with a friend and her two daughters at a place that was doing face painting. The line was so long that we eventually gave up on most but Ella stuck out the wait. This face painting offer lacked face painters (there was only 1) and the one lady who was doing it put 150% effort into each face. Like each was a work of art to be displayed for the world to see. I am all about pride in your work so I can't fault her, but I did feel badly that all of the girls didn't receive such a fancy face like Ella. Instead, we opted for going to a cafe and getting some hot chocolates.

I don't know what today will bring for Kris and I. Check back later to find out!

Have a great day!

August 31, 2009: It's an A+

2009-08-31T12:32:00.010-06:00

Well, we now have the first day of school for 2009 - 2010 behind us. And I am very relieved! I did some stuff today to keep my head occupied, but truly I was just really nervous about how it was all going.

The day started off well enough. We all got up on time, had breakfast together, and none of the girls were bad mouthing school. All five of us left for school on time and though we arrived to mass chaos (lots of crowds of parents and children and the head lady giving directions in a microphone...in French of course) and had little understanding of where to take our children, we figured eventually figured it all out. We got the girls off to each of their respective class rooms and felt OK - they let us leave with no tears or struggle. So with that, Andrew went to work and I went home where I crossed my fingers all day long that a good first day would be had by all.

Here are some rough quotes and conversations from after school when I asked about their days:

Me: Ella, what was your favorite part about school today?

Ella: Everything! I loved it all!

Me: Well, what did you like the least about school today?

Ella: Nothing! I loved it! I love my teacher. I have a really cool classroom that sits atop a spiral staircase. And I am such a big girl now.

Me: How was your day Grace? Did you have a nice first day of school?

Grace: Yes! It was fun, mommy.

Me: What did you learn about? Can you remember anything?

Grace: Flower petals. I love flowers. And we had pudding for dessert and mashed potatoes and the cafeteria was new and I don't know what happened to the old one.

Me: And how about the bathroom. Did you go potty before and after nap time so you wouldn't have a potty accident?

Grace: Yes. I am big now, mom!

Me: Great job, Grace. I am so proud of you!

Me: And how about you Mia. How was your first day of school?

Mia: It was great.

Me: Did you like your teacher?

Mia: Yes, she was really nice.

Me: Your teacher told me you were really good in class today. But she did mention to me that you sang ALL day long.

Mia: Yes, she told me that I was hurting her ears (giggling).

Me: Yes, so she said you were a very good singer but that she would prefer you save your singing for before and after school. Can you do that for her?

Mia: Yes. And, I learned about butterflies today. And I got to take a nap in the same room as Grace.

Tonight, before bed, Grace cheered when she found out it was another school day tomorrow. She said she wanted to stay really long at school. Ella agreed. After school today I took all the girls to the park nearby where we sat and had the above conversations and they had a snack. After we talked and they ate, they played for a while and do you know what the three of them played? School.

(pictured above: the girls playing school at the park after school)

From where I stand, I don't think today could have gone any better. Now what does that leave us for tomorrow? I hate to ponder that question, but I certainly just hope it's as good as today.

Now, onto fun topics such as fashion. Just look how happy Grace is below - just beaming. Grace was so excited to put on this fabulous new dress for school today. Fresh off the racks from J.C. Penny! What a great age it is when your children are thrilled and unaffected by wearing $25 dresses to school. I remember I used to hide in the aisles when my mom took me to KMart for fear of being spotted at the poor peoples store (that is what I thought people would say!) But that was silly, stupid really, of me. So cheers to you Grace! Soak up that pleasing polyester pretty dress. Strut your stuff!

Ella was also beside herself with a similar J.C. Penny dress and this was also her choice for the first day of school.

Mia, on the other hand, was a little miffed about her dress and was unhappy that is didn't have any sparkles or pizazz like Ella and Grace had. We told her that she had a really pretty bow and they others didn't, but she didn't fall for that explanation. Here is her picture:

Wish us luck for tomorrow!

August 30, 2009: Riding the Rails

2009-08-30T06:33:00.009-06:00

Yesterday we had a fun adventure. We checked out what these "Velorails" were all about that are scattered throughout Normandy. So let me explain to you what they are and where you find them. Velorails are basically 4 or 5 seater bikes that sit on top of out-of-commission railroads. Apparently, these go on for miles throughout our area. We choose to start our adventure in a town called Saint-Pierre-du-Regard. It is a town about 1 hour away from Caen. We could have chosen closer locations, but I liked this particular one because you could begin and end your trip at any time - which is essential with three small children. Also, you could fit all 5 of us on their velorails wheras other locations only allowed 4 people. So, off we went!

We arrived around 1:30 p.m. and had a picnic so we could store up some energy for our anticipated 2 hour bike ride on the tracks. Around 2:00 p.m. it was time to literally put the pedals to the metal! I believe the cost of this adventure was only around 20 Euros. As you can see above, there are two bikes in the front of each car and then a little couch in the back. Now, if you had calm, reasonable children, they would all sit there nice and quiet while enjoying the lovely scenery. But you know that is not the case for us, so basically the girls were up and down and standing and jumping and you name what else for the whole ride. So thank goodness for the netting in the front of the car.

Andrew and I powered the pedals - the seats are too high for children probably below the age of 8. There is a real simple break system to use when approaching stop signs (cars and bikes have the right of way when crossing public streets) and also when approaching veloriders coming from the opposite direction. Veloriders go out and come back on the same set of tracks, so when you approach someone coming form the other direction, you basically need to remove one car from the tracks to let the other riders move along.

The whole trip took about 1.5 hours and we probably went about 15 km. We saw a few interesting things along the way but to be perfectly honest, not very much. I think between one whiny child and one sleepy child, which together created crazy children, we also didn't have a very relaxing ride. If we had been with two other adults or even three children that were Ella's age (she was amused and happy the whole time) it might have been better. But for sure we had fun and will most likely try this again in another location. What a great use of defunct railroad tracks!

(pictured above: rusty car, drying laundry along tracks)

(pictured above: billy goat on tracks - he was on a chain, eating grass! Now that is green)

(pictured above: the track)

Later last evening we were lucky to have a babysitter. Who regretfully is moving to New Zealand for a year at the end of September...but I digress. We met a work friend of Andrew's out for drinks and then the three of us had dinner at a place called La Poterne. The restaurant is located in a building from the 17th century and is located on the oldest street in Caen. Great drinks, great atmosphere, great company!

Today was very low key. We had some boxes arrive on Friday that we shipped from Colorado. They had some clothes and books and costumes, just random things really that we wanted with us but couldn't fit in our suitcases. So we spent a lot of the day unpacking and putting away and ended with pizza at our favorite pizza place.

Oh, and school starts tomorrow! At least I hope it does - cause we are showing up! We have most of the school shopping done, the girls have picked out what they want to wear, they are bathed and sleeping and getting rested up for school year #2 here in Caen. So be sure to check back here tomorrow for how school went. All I really want the girls to accomplish tomorrow are the following: 1) Grace does not wet her pants 2) Mia doesn't pick any fights and take all the bread during lunch 3) Ella likes her teacher so she wants to keep going back. I don't think that is too much to ask, right?

Also, I am really excited about my oldest sister Kris coming to visit. I will go into Paris on Tuesday morning to retrieve her from the airport and then she will spend 2 weeks with us here in Caen. Oh, the adventures that we will have together!!

P.S. please ignore the funky formatting that has been happening in the past few blog posts - for instance the underlining of the first paragraph. Sometimes the text underlines, changes font, font size and color on me and I haven't the foggiest idea what is going on. I consider myself to be the resident IT Support Desk around here, but this has really thrown me for a loop.

August 28, 2009: Already Behind and School Hasn't Started

2009-08-28T13:43:00.006-06:00

(pictured above: The scariest picture I could find, which isn't even scary)

So last night I had a slumber party with Ella and Grace. I didn't decide to slumber with them until around 1:30 a.m. when Grace got up to tell me it was too bright in her room. I took her back to her room only to find her closet door with the light on wide open. So I said, "Grace, why didn't you just shut the door? Or rather, why did you open it so much?" She told me the door opened by itself. That sounded weird to me and Ella, her bunkmate for the night, was sound asleep. So I couldn't ask her if she had opened the door. But I doubted that she had as she typically likes it dark in the room. So I thought it weird that her door had mysteriously opened by itself. Then I got to thinking about one night when I thought for sure I heard Grace get out of bed and walking around - you can hear when people are walking in the apartment due to the old, creaky wood floors. So I got out of bed to intercept her before she walked into our room about one thing or another and woke up Andrew. Only when I got to her room, she was sound asleep. And so was Mia. But the footsteps I heard were so real and vivid. I let that go. But here I was now with two curious incidents so last night I just decided to try and diagnose the problem myself. I laid out three big sitting cushions on the floor between Grace and Ella's bed, got my pillow and a blanket, I threw a freaky looking doll I spotted into it's identically freaky looking stroller and yep - I was on the lookout for freaky ghosts, goblins and Chuckie dolls.

Are you laughing at me yet? Maybe you think I am just wacko. But let's face it - I live in a 500 year old building - one of the oldest in all of Caen. The history of France and that of Caen is quite the story and the lives of those impacted by those of World War II alone would be enough to keep a few sad (or happy?) souls around some habitats. From the very start, before we moved into this apartment, I was slightly uncomfortable with that notion. But here we are after 6 months of living in this apartment and now I am not bothered - I just want anything that might be around to be more curtious. Like not walking so loud in the middle of the night and not leaving doors with lights on wide open when children are sleeping.

So what happened? Not much. I did hear some very loud and consistent creaking in the middle of the night that wouldn't stop but I soon discovered after some detective work that it was just the wind and the rain beating on the window dormer. Ella was scared of the noise so I just explained what it was and she immediately felt better. Grace slept. The scary doll slept too, all snug in her scary bed. And I actually slept comfortably myself on the floor. But would you like to know the ONLY weird thing that did happen? Mia got up first in the morning and came into Grace and Ella's room to wake them. So after 10 minutes we all rolled out of bed. I turned on some cartoons for the girls and I went to the kitchen to start my pot of coffee. I looked at the clock and it said 9:15 a.m. I pondered how great it was that the girls had managed to sleep in a bit. After I made a cup of coffee I went to check the news on the computer and a bit later I just happened to see the time the computer clock read 1:15 p.m. Which means that all of us slept until past noon. Without interruption. And the clock in the kitchen had a dead battery that had stopped at 9:15 a.m. So that is all definitely weird and I am not saying anything about anything, except that I fulfilled my protective duties that I felt were required at the time. Now, please resist the urge to commit me just yet. Any of you ever felt spooked for one reason or another?

Onto how we spent the rest of the day. Originally, I thought we had all morning and afternoon to plan an all day outing. But when I realized it was 1:15 p.m. and looked around to see all of us lingering happily in our pajamas, I knew I had to change course. So I let them watch more cartoons as I started to organize my calendar for the next few months - I was still so out of sorts that I felt the need to do something productive and grounded.

Amid my calendar organization, I realized that school starts next Thursday for the girls. And then I remembered that I had three packets of information that had been sent from the school over the summer, one for each daughter. These packets being in French, I had put off the reading of them and had instead opted to read my English US Magazine on many an occasion. I had noticed that required school supplies and vacation schedules were in the packets at first glance so with school supply shopping in mind for the weekend - and of course getting the calendar organized - I just dug into the packets with the idea of getting them read and out of the way.

What did I learn from these packets? Truth be told - not much! I didn't understand about 60% of the information. I mean, I did learn one important thing. That school, in fact, starts on MONDAY not on Thursday as I had thought. So at least I will get my girls to school on the right day. How in the world I thought it was Thursday....I have no idea. I was also able to extract the vacation dates for my calendar. And there are A LOT of vacations. Many of you might be excited for tons of vacation - particularly the teachers out there. But for me, I just get anxious about what I will do with the girls for 5 vacations that are 2 weeks in length. And then lots of little short ones.

And then there is the page of school supplies needed. A different list for each daughter coming from their different teachers. Grace's list was fairly simple. I think she needs 300 napkins, a box of kleenex, 2 self-photos, and a blanket and pillow for nap time. Mia's got a little more difficult. You may be wondering what would be so difficult about this? Just get out your dictionary, Kate, and look up the words! Well the problem is that I did do that. But the words individually looked up mean nothing when you put them all together. For instance, an school supply list from Chicago might say: 100 Rubber Bands. A French person would look up the word rubber and then the word band. Try piecing those together to understand what you child is supposed to bring to school! And those are the problems I am having. I translated one line item to say, "1 envelope of 3 rubber bands". I am doubting that is what it really means. But I can guarantee you that when my children show up to school on Monday, they will be laughed at for some random items I thought they needed for class. Hopefully, they will just remark to themselves that the silly American mother doesn't know any better. Just for your own reference, I scanned a copy of the school supply list I was trying to decipher today for Ella and my "homework" about what the line items may mean. And if you know French, feel free to translate the whole list for me so as to protect Ella from humiliation : )

So loosely, that is how the day went. The girls said they wanted to stay at home and play. Aside from a few timeouts, it was pretty mellow. Tomorrow we plan to take the girls on an adventure so stay tuned. And tomorrow night Andrew and I are going on date. Yay!

August 26, 2009: Cheerios Go in the Cheerios Bucket

2009-08-26T13:45:00.024-06:00

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel when we arrived back at our apartment in Caen today. The elation and happiness I felt when we arrived in Crested Butte just three weeks back seemed incomparable. But I can tell you that despite some major jet lag and the feeling of needing a 30 minute shower, it actually did feel nice to walk into our apartment. But I didn't feel that happiness until we arrived home - it was lacking all through the drive to get home. Now the difference is that when you arrive into the Gunnison/Crested Butte airport, the airport is small and uncrowded, when you walk out of the airport the first thing you see is blue skies and mountains, and the turbulence you most likely experienced made you euphoric to just be on steady ground. When you arrive into Paris, the airport is hot and crowded and the best view you can expect when you walk out of the airport is a sky (which may be cloudy) and a mountain of buildings. Not exactly the same experience - actually quite opposite. But when we finally arrived back at the apartment, all of us were extremely happy. Even the girls said they were happy to be back in France. They headed straight for the costumes and I headed straight for the shower - which once saddened me but now greets me!

(pictured above: Ella visiting the cockpit on our ORD to CDG flight)

Goodness. I still can't believe we are back in Caen. THANK goodness! In case you are wondering, it is still a LONG ride. But this time was a little easier than the last. Probably because we all knew what to expect and Andrew and I could better prepare the girls for upcoming events.

The only painful thing that really sticks out in my mind from the trip is a major, extra-loud, stressful, ulcer inducing temper tantrum from Mia. On a small shuttle bus at Ohare Airport. Mortified, overwhelmed, helpless, are words that describe me as I held her flailing, screaming body in the shuttle bus seat as we drove from Gate E2 to C18. And I know she was as loud as I remember because Grace actually started crying because Mia was hurting her ears. Oh, and the other passengers on the shuttle bus were not giving me those understanding glances that you hope for - rather they were providing glances of hate and distaste for me who obviously cannot control her own daughter. Ugh, you know? I just sat there, using all my might to get her to stay so she didn't inflict a tornado on the moving bus and it's passengers. What was this all about? Something so small, I don't even remember. Andrew and Ella had the right idea when they decided to walk back to C18 instead of taking the shuttle bus. But they sure missed quite a show...

(pictured above: Mia did eventually pass out - the sweat and red face alone that she produced during her temper tantrum would be enough to knock any kid out)

As you can see from the picture towards the top of the blog, Ella got to visit the cockpit and that was really exciting for her. Also, the girls continue to wow and captivate the flight attendants with their stellar behavior. I guess they don't see the sub-par behavior that Andrew and I notice, but I rather them be talked about as the polite children than the nasty ones.

The rest of our trip in Crested Butte was just awesome. Ella and I had a great mother daughter trip to Montrose, CO. We did our typical school shopping, got our nails done and then went out to dinner. To the left, Ella sports one of her new dresses at our fancy dinner at Camp Robber. Grace and Mia had their vision checked - Grace needs glasses but Mia doesn't. Mia was quite bummed about that! The girls had some play dates with their great friends and Andrew and I got to hang out with our friends, too. Lots of bike riding for Andrew, running for me. Ella had soccer camp for a whole week from 9 - 12 each day. We think she had fun, but most days she didn't want to get up for it and we are not really sure she had any clue as to what she was doing on the field. Regardless, it was a great introduction to soccer.

(Pictured above: The girls with their buddies Otto and Rocko)

(Pictured above: Ella and her friend Amelia with their soccer coach)

My sister and her two sons Jordan (7) and Cooper (4) arrived during our stay. It was great! We went hiking, the kids played together really well, and my sister and I had a chance to just hang out together. The most exciting part of their visit is that they got a formal offer on their house in Chicago so they officially are moving to the Denver area in one month. This is all due to a great career advancement for her husband Tom. So when we get back to Crested Butte, we will have my sister and her family just hours away - probably in the Highlands Ranch area - and that is awesome!

(pictured below: Ella and Grace with their friends at school in CB)

Ultimately, as I sit here and reflect on our trip, I am convinced it was a good idea to go home for a visit. Sure, there are some downsides to going back to Crested Butte, but isn't that the same for anything in life? Our family has decided to make Crested Butte our life-long home (though I have a nagging feeling that we may encounter some brief interruptions along the road) and to tie the girls to their home-based friends and community is essential. Of course that is true for Andrew and I, also, but the girls come first.

Riding on the airplane from Chicago to Paris I was thinking about what most I was looking forward to when we arrive back in Caen. As I was pondering this question, Grace was sitting next to me eating her breakfast and she said, "Mommy, the Cheerios are going in the Cheerios bucket and the yogurt is going in the yogurt bucket." Lately, this is her funny way of describing where the food goes once it passes through her mouth. And of couse, it goes into special buckets in your tummy! And it was then that I decided it was the food I missed most. I know I am a broken record about this, but I seriously can't tell you enough about how much better the produce is here in France - compared to Crested Butte (aka. CB), anyway. When we were in CB certainly the peaches were in full production and tasty as ever. But all the other produce at the store just looked icky. Also, we ate out a lot at our favorite restaurants and I was happy to not have to cook all that much. Now that we are back in Caen, I am looking forward to buying the produce that is fresh and in season, going to the market and buying whatever looks tastiest, and cooking up those tasty treats for the family. Or to put it in Grace's terms, I look forward to replenishing our tummies with produce into all of the appropriate buckets!

(pictured above: A photo taken during our drive through Blue Mesa Reservoir, just 30 minutes outside of CB)

(pictured above: Andrew helping Mia and Grace skate on the synthetic ice at Mt. CB)

(pictured above: Ella and with her friend Ellie after a successful slumber party - plus the twins)

(pictured above: Ella and I infront of the Black Canyon during our girls trip to Montrose, CO)

(pictured above: My sister Kim and nephews Cooper and Jordan at Rainbow Park in CB)

August 14, 2009: The Good Life in the Slow Lane

2009-08-14T22:09:00.003-06:00

Our family vacation (can you call it vacation when you are at your own home?) continues to be great. The girls are having a blast going to Little Red and seeing their old friends. It's a great school year-round, but especially in the summertime. During the summer, they plan outings almost every day to go hiking, swimming, rock climbing, art classes, biology walks, visit farms, etc...So between these outings and just fun old fashioned play time, they couldn't be happier.

Tonight, Ella is having her first ever slumber party with her good friend Ellie. Except for getting called down to Ella's room about 10 minutes ago (after bedtime) when Ellie and Ella announced to me that Ella simply could not leave Colorado, she must stay because it is so pretty here and France is too far away, so far so good! Tomorrow, Ella and I will be driving about an hour to get to Montrose, CO. We did this last year as a mother/daughter trip right before kindergarten began. We went clothes shopping at Target, bought a new backpack, got our nails done, went out to dinner and stayed over in a hotel. We decided to make this a tradition, so tomorrow we will go and do the same. I am looking forward to our little trip!

Earlier this week I took Grace and Mia to get their eyes checked. I know they are young, but I did it for two reasons. First, because Ella got prescribed glasses about 7 months ago and I thought maybe the twins could have a similar issues (lovely genetics...). Second, because the twins were 2 months premature and vision problems are very common with that scenario. I guess there is a third reason, which is that Grace and Mia don't need any more barriers to being successful in an all French school, as they approach a new school year coming up in Caen. It turns out that Grace does actually need glasses - she has the same vision issue as Ella. Mia's vision is fine. Funny, isn't it, how identical twins can be so un-identical? Sometimes I don't see how it is even possible, how different they are.

Andrew and I have been having fun. He has been enjoying getting out and mountain biking with his friends. I have been mostly working out at the gym and running and hiking. We pretty much decided we should just do as we wish, with or without each other. We gotta get in all of our favorite stuff before it is too late! Andrew has gotten out a few nights to hang out with friends. One night he might have had a little too much fun so the next morning I happily suggested that we should spend about 2 hours in the hot sun playing tennis together. He won one game and I won one game, but even with a nasty hangover I am pretty sure he still let me "win" one. Darn!

On Sunday I have plans to hang out with my good friend Andi. On Monday we have a cookout at some other friends house. On Wednesday my sister and her whole family arrive for a long weekend. So lots of fun stuff coming up.

We have been having fun here in Crested Butte, but it surely has been low key. And we wouldn't have it any other way.

August 9, 2009: Exceeds Expectations

2009-08-09T20:43:00.005-06:00

Ahh. Finally. Here in Crested Butte.

It always takes me a few days after a long set of traveling with the family to fully relax and look back and reflect on it all. Back in February, traveling to Caen from Crested Butte was not a day at the park, as you may remember from my first blogs. And I still hold to my theory that there probably is not a more boring topic than hearing about people's travel hems and haws. Therefore, I will just tell you that the trip was long (could we possibly live in two more difficult places to travel between?) but we arrived safely and walked out of the Gunnison/Crested Butte Airport with big smiles on our faces. And we have been smiling ever since.

We have been here in Crested Butte since Wednesday, August 5. Our good friend Kristina picked us up at the airport with our big truck around 1:00 p.m. We got big hugs from a good friend and that was awesome. We then piled into our car and for a moment we all were speechless. If you haven't read about our current car (aka the CTA bus) in Caen, it might be hard for you to imagine why getting into our truck was so heavenly it brought us to have no words. But after 6 months of traveling near and far in our gray beastly van, this Yukon was like getting a massage - for a whole 30 minutes until we got to our house.

The ride to our house was perfect. The sky was as beautiful as ever, the mountains were lush and the fields were greener than I ever remembered seeing them. The XM radio was still working and we all happily listened to our favorite station while guiltily pumping the air conditioning to full blast after a few days of sticky, hot travels. Ella, Grace and Mia sang their favorite French songs to Kristina, trying to wow her with their new melodies.

We arrived home and the girls were screaming with delight. The house looked just as we remembered, but better. The grass was green, the trees looked taller, the wildflowers seemed to have bloomed better this summer. We got into the driveway and the girls immediately ran to get on their bikes in the garage. Andrew unpacked the car and I went into the house to just look around. Everything looked perfect, almost too perfect. I think I forgot just how lucky we are to have this house, to live where we live. After biking for a few minutes, the girls then went downstairs to the playroom and I think played with every single toy and wore every single costume within 30 minutes. They were in heaven! They continued to play for hours. I unpacked a little bit but really I just lounged around and felt very relaxed.

The first few days here were weather wacky. An hour of sun, an hour of rain and that continued for about 2 days. But I don't think any of us cared because the sky was so beautiful, the girls had all of their old toys to play with and we didn't have to do anything anyway!

Sleeping here has been so refreshing. I remember when we first moved here we had trouble sleeping due to the complete and utter quiet at nighttime. But now, as we sleep here during this trip, the quiet no longer keeps us up but begs us to sleep. I can't think of two greater contrasts in bedtime noise than Caen, France and Crested Butte, Colorado.

Our first full day here started with getting our favorite coffee from Camp 4 Coffee. We saw tons of familiar faces that couldn't have been nicer and each and every conversation reminded us of why we live in this small, friendly town in the mountains. We took the girls bike riding and even though Ella got a little over-ambitious and had a wipe out, she still ended up being proud to show off her boo-boos to her friends later. I took a trip to the grocery store in Gunnison and stocked up on groceries and just relished in the ease of reading the labels in English and knowing where to look for a product. Late in the afternoon we received an invitation to stop by the girls' old school (The Little Red Schoolhouse) to say hello. Upon arrival the girls were bursting with excitement and when we walked in the lights that had been out came on and followed with a big "SURPRISE!!!" from all of their old classmates and teachers. The girls were stunned but got over that quickly and immediately began to chum around with their old friends. It was a wonderful welcome home and just what I think the girls needed and wanted. We ended the night at our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Ruben's. The margarita's still rock!

The girls went to Little Red on Friday all day long (they asked for it!) so Andrew and I jumped into our desired activities. He went mountain biking and I went to the gym, to the chirpractor (ahhhh....) and then running. We met up a The Brick Oven for a few beers for lunch and just relaxed in the beautiful weather. Late Friday night our good friends the Galloway's arrived from the Boulder area for a visit with their son William. We also had our friends Brad and Kristina over for drinks to catch up. You can't beat such great company!

Saturday was spent at the park in the morning and we had a picnic there. The afternoon was dedicated to the girlies, as my friends Jen and Kristina and I went bike riding up and down the mountain and ended with a beer at The Brick Oven - where else? That night the guys went fly fishing and reported a great time. Andrew hasn't been fly fishing much so he got some great pointers from his friends Brad and Jeff. I think he might actually want to go more often now that he has learned from the pro's.

Today, The Galloways left for home but only after spending the morning and afternoon with us on the mountain at the new adventure park. It has bungees, synthetic ice skating, and a climbing wall. The Galloways started for home around 2:00 p.m. but we stayed on at the park until around 4:30 p.m. It was a long day but full of fun. What a great surprise and treat to have such a fun, new adventure park available at the base of the mountain! The girls loved it - love it.

I have taken a lot of surveys in my life and written or responded to lots of peer review requests. And maybe I am a tough crowd, but I rarely (if ever) give a rating of Exceeds Expectations. But I can honestly say that so far, this trip home has exceeded my expectations. And here is why. The stark contrast of city living to mountain living, of constant noise to quiet, the ease of having a conversation, being able to quickly reading the directions on a box, flipping through channels on the T.V., seeing familiar faces and friends and eating your favorite foods, waking up and seeing a beautiful scene from the kitchen, being able to call friends and relatives at any time during the day, sleeping in your old comfortable bed and relax on your comfy couch, the nice, soft carpet beneath feet. In summary, it's the beauty of life here and the simplicity that accompanies life when you are in your home country. It's good to be home...

Belgian Beer

2009-08-02T12:31:00.003-06:00

Hi all - it's Andrew back from another adventure.

This time it was a trip to Belgium with Grace and Mia. Even though we're leaving for Crested Butte on Monday afternoon, I still felt there was a little time left for a mini-adventure this past weekend.

It all started about eight weeks ago when I was staying in Kortrijk Belgium the night before some client meetings. Just outside my hotel in the city center was a beach volleyball tournament - that night was the first night and it was going to go on through the weekend. To make a long story short, I met the captain of the national team and drank beers with his team-mates. They had plenty of time to drink as they didn't have to play until the weekend matches. Anyway, one of the guys told me about what is quite literally the best beer in the world - one that is subsequently impossible to obtain.

You see, the only place to buy Trappist Westvleteren 12 is from the abbey where it is brewed in Westvleteren Belgium. This beer is not commercially available anywhere in the world and it's only sold by appointment at the abbey. (http://www.sintsixtus.be/eng/brouwerij.htm) About five weeks ago, when I was on my way driving to Clermont-Ferrand France, I had a window to call the abbey and make an appointment. It took me 73 attempts until my call went through - I was able to get an appointment for Sat Aug 1st at 3.45pm. In order to secure the appointment, I had to give my license plate number and cell phone - one case per car per month - and had to agree to never re-sell the beer to another party. Luckily (for me) it's for personal consumption only.

As time went on, I hemmed and hawed over weather I should actually keep the appointment or not. You see, Westvletern is about 400KM from Caen and it is in as remote of an area of Belgium as you can find. In fact, look it up on Google Maps - you'll see nothing but farms in all directions. The fact that this is one of seven Trappist monasteries in the world that can brew this type of beer, and the fact that it's the only one of the seven that doesn't sell it to basically anybody, led me to going forward with the road trip.

Originally, I was going to take Ella with me - she's older and is less prone to barfing in the car as are Grace and Mia. When Ella turned down the 800KM round trip drive I offered to Mia - who immediately accepted. Then, Grace heard abut a trip to Belgium and she immediately joined the guest list too. We hit the road at 9am Saturday and crossed our fingers that the GPS could find the town we were looking for.

Luckily, no barfing occurred that day - probably because I only gave them both a couple of crumbs and some water for breakfast and rice cakes for a snack (had Gaga been staying with us they would have eaten a stack of pancakes with artichokes and cherries on top :-).

The last 20 minutes of the drive were on roads so small there was no room for 2 cars - these are literally asphalt paths carved in the middle of corn fields, hops stands, wheat, barley, and all kinds of other agriculture. We arrived at the town and saw 2 signs - one to the beer pick up and one to the gift shop. I chose the former and ended up on a half circle driveway with one other car, a monk, and a half of a pallet of beer. Six minutes later I had my new stash and was able to park to go to the gift shop.

Luckily, the gift shop is really a nice beer garden - inside and outside pic-nic tables for tasting the fare that only a few lucky soles are able to buy in bulk. Grace, Mia, and I went outside and found an open table in the middle of it all. There was a tiny miniature park inside as well - Grace and Mia played a bit while I ordered a beer, some strawberry milks, and a cheese plate.

When G&M saw their first-ever strawberry milks delivered, their eyes popped literally out of their heads. The couldn't believe such a drink existed on this earth. I felt the same way after taking my first sip of Trappist 12 - it's quite literally amazing... After a bit of eating, drinking, and talking one of the guys at the table next to us turned around and said "hello". He was from Michigan and recognized my American accent. To make a long story short - which is hard in Blog land - the guy and I got to talking and he moved over to my table. Turns out, he was on vacation with is wife and 3 kids - the wife and kids happened to be at Euro Disney in Paris. He was in Belgium with the Priest from his church back in Michigan...

Turns out, this priest received a Lilly Grant (yes, Eli Lilly in Indy) - the grant was for him to spend time in Europe re-inventing himself or something. Oh, yes, it also included a provision for him to visit all 7 Trappist monasteries in Belgium (well, one is in Holland, but right on the edge). These two had spend the past two weeks going to each one, meeting people, meeting the monks who brewed the beers, taking notes etc. The priest had a notebook filled with notes about every beer they had sampled, how it tasted, how he felt, and who knows what else. I offered to buy the next round - 3 Trappist 12s and 2 Strawberry milks (at which point G&M's eyeballs popped out once again). Unfortunately for the priest, Grace dumped my entire freshly poured beer on this poor guy's notebook and lap. I mean, imagine this - the guy's entire point of his journey is to go to all these places, drink, eat, talk, take notes, and change his life (or whatever) - and my daughter dumped my beer on all of his notes.... Let's just say that for all of our sakes we're lucky this guy was a priest or we may have not made it out of there in one piece....

Seeing in that Grace had hit her wall after only 2 strawberry milks, I decided we better hit the road to Ieper Belgium. This is a forgettable town about 15 minutes from the abbey which to our great luck happened to have a fair in town that weekend. We checked into the hotel, dropped off our stuff, and headed to the roller coaster and bumper-motorcycles. The night was capped off by a pasta dinner in town and watching some Dutch cartoons on the TV.

The drive home on Sunday was easy because all I kept thinking about was how great that beer was the day-before and how great it will be to try one more with Kate on Sunday night. We all made it home with no problems and - as you can see in the photos - the beer did taste just as good as I remembered.

We'll all be back home in CB on Wednesday - so - for any of you reading this now (if there is anybody :-) we'll see you soon!

Andrew

July 31, 2009: Swimmers Ear

2009-07-31T14:03:00.005-06:00

Today was an interesting day. It started with dropping off the girls at their last day of First Baby's School. They had on their best dresses and were very excited!

After the drop off, I then went to a friends house for coffee. She is my French friend that I run with during the school year. During the summer it has been difficult to keep running together as she vacations with her family here and there and we have been lucky to have lots of visitors. So we were still unable to find a time to run together but managed to have coffee today before I leave for our Colorado trip on Monday and she leaves, again, for another 3 week vacation. She has a lovely patio and 4 lovely children. Each of them came out, calmly and occasionally, and always came up and said a formal hello and gave me kisses. I thought how completely opposite these children were compared to my own at this present time. And our children are around the same ages. I guess it gives me something to aim for, right? I brought some homemade chocolate chip cookies with me and those seemed to go over well with her kids. Shew! After a few hours of visiting I started for home to straighten up the house and get to the store.

Later in the afternoon I had a hair appointment. I was way past due for some highlights and a cut. Knowing no other place to go, I went back to the only salon I have ever been to in Caen. My first experience went well although I had a really hard time explaining my requirements and I ended up looking like a Kellie Pickler wanna-be. But all in all, my hair looked OK, no harm done.

So today, I was hoping for the same result. The biggest problem I encounter so far at this salon is that no one speaks English - at least not to me. And I haven't ever really taken the time to brush up on my hair-cutting terminology seeing as how I only have to use it once every 6 months. The woman cutting and coloring my hair today was trying so hard to ask me how I wanted my hair colored. What I really wanted was highlights - the only thing I have ever gotten and the same that I got last time. But she kept asking me, in french, if I wanted my whole head of hair colored or just bits and pieces. She was using gestures to accompany her questions which I did not understand. So I made a choice based on the gesture that seemed to fit closest to "highlights". Or so I thought.

She proceeded to talk in quiet whispers with another lady at the color counter for about 15 minutes, pointing to various color tubes and glancing back at me occasionally. I felt like she was getting her first tutorial on how to color hair. I prayed for any decent color at this point. When she finally came back to begin the color treatment, I decided to just go with the flow. Hair grows out, right? Well, it turned out that I had told her to only color my roots. Instead of giving my hair partial highlights, she was just putting color on about 1 inch of my hair in some places here and there. This is probably a normal thing but something I have never had done and not what I expected and certainly didn't seem worth the money I was spending. But unequipped with any clue on how to say what I actually wanted, I had to sit and deal. I continued to tell her how great it was looking (because I know how to say that in french).

When the color was done and after sitting for my required time, a new woman took me to wash my hair. I have to say that I have never experienced quite a washing. Most hair washes that I have received have been pretty uneventful. Maybe once in a while some suds will get moving down your forehead or a sud will travel to your ear tip. But never in my life have a had a full on ear wash at the hair salon. I was sitting there and was astounded by the level of sud-age in my ears. This woman was going to town on washing my hair - I probably had 3 inches of suds surrounding my skull. And the suds were just piling up in my ears. So then she begins to rinse my head and again, waterfall in my ears. I shut my eyes and pretended I was scuba diving because all I heard was water gushing. Who knew you could get swimmers ear at the hair salon? I didn't say anything to the woman during any of this because I honestly didn't know what to say. How could she be such a horrible hair washer? Isn't that like one of the first things you perfect at a salon before moving onto cutting or coloring? Then I started to wonder if my ears were filthy and she was trying to discreetly wash my ears for me. Because why else would she be piling suds and water into my ears? She washed my hair three times and then conditioned it and each time was a dive in the water. Crazy. Totally crazy!

The good news is that when I finally got back to my chair and the colorist started to blow dry and style my hair, absolutely nothing had occurred. No color change, my roots still were dark. And she cut off so little of my hair that she didn't even charge me for the cut. So in summary, I went to the hair salon today and came home with swimmers ear and not much more.

The girls had a great last day at school. But all they could talk about was how excited they were to go to Colorado. In fact, they didn't want to wait any longer. They wanted to leave right away, today. I tried to explain the whole airfare booking thing, the late fees for changes, why this was just not possible. But that didn't really mean anything to them. When we got back home, we played a game where I began to draw a picture of something beloved from Crested Butte or the surrounding area and the girls had to guess what it was. That was fun and made us all even a bit more excited about our trip home next week.

My oldest sister Kris is officially coming to visit in September so that is very exciting. Two whole weeks she will get with her god-children Grace and Mia. That is more time than she has ever spent with them or Ella or even me for that matter! Being 10 years older than me, we never had the opportunity to be close until we were both adults. I can't wait for her visit!

July 30, 2009: A Touching Story about Why

2009-07-30T15:51:00.003-06:00

It's very possible that I may have just fooled you into thinking this would be a sappy story full of love and heartache. And truthfully, my words are backed with love and my heart does ache - but not in the traditional sense when you hear a really great love story or a really cute story about kids...

No, alas, this is the story of my children - the ones who can't stop touching things and when they are told not to touch things, they ask Why. And then touch it anyway!

The summer time has brought about new challenges for us living here in France. First and foremost, the girls are home more than during the school year and I am home ALL the time since I am not working. Which means I must figure out more things to entertain them, occupy them, distract them, keep them out of trouble. Now fortunately, I have had my parents and Andrew's parents here for a lot of the time and that forced me to plan outings and automatically that occupied the girls. But now the visitors are gone and my well of creativity is running low. And the twins in particular are raising their level of "unawareness" of me and what I say throughout the day.

So call me crazy, but when I ask the girls to NOT run into the street without looking because they may be hit by a car, shouldn't that produce a new result which is - look before running into the street? Or when I ask them NOT to touch the hot pan on the stove because they will get burnt, shouldn't that produce a new result which is - not touching the pan? Or my favorite is, if I ask them not to touch anything at a nearby store when we go in (that also has DO NOT TOUCH signs in English posted throughout the store which I am sure are specifically designed for my children) and they touch all the foods, go behind the counter and try to play with their MONEY and poke holes in their quiche lorraines, I really do expect them to not touch. But it seems they are incapable. And if disobeying were not bad enough, the following question of, "Why?", drives me even more nuts!

Is it their age? Maybe. I hope. Ella is doing quite well with listening whereas Grace and Mia are not. And maybe just one 4 year old would be tolerable and understandable to a parent, but two 4 year olds ignoring you is sometimes unbearable! Twins know what pushes your buttons and they prod their sibling(s) to do the very thing that will push your button. Just to see what will happen. And then you have Mia, who doesn't need prodding. She will just do exactly the opposite of what she knows she is supposed to do to see what will happen. And generally, these issues focus around touching things she shouldn't touch or generally disobeying me. And quickly after being told not to touch, the question of, "Why" quickly follows.

I now ashamedly admit that I understand why my parents answered with, "because I said so" to my, "Why" questions growing up. You get tired of explaining yourself and the reasons of Why and it is easier to just say, "because I said so!" And after a certain point, you feel like your voice speaking should be reason enough, yet children will question you about every single thing and when you answer, only about 2% will resonate with their thought processing - and they will ignore you.

So, here I am. A mother in France, just like all of you other mothers, fathers, grandmothers or grandfathers around the world who know/knew all too well this predicament, who have/had touch-less and why-less aspirations. But failing miserably at getting desired results.

For me and us moving to France, it has been hard enough getting used to not working and instead doing load after load of laundry, load after load of dishes, day after day of grocery shopping, room after room of cleaning, meal after meal of making, etc... But to then have my children disregard what I say and choose when to listen, well that has by far been the hardest part of this whole adjustment.

Tonight - I think this blog is about all of you who read. I want to hear back from you. I'd like to hear how you conquered similar situations. How you got your kids to stop being so "touchy". How you got your kids to listen on the first request. How you got your kids to stop asking "why?" How you moved from Grace and Mia to Ella. Lay it on me!

Tomorrow is the girls last day of school before we head home next week to Colorado. We are all very excited! And the best part is that I will have Andrew with me the whole time so the girls can spend some of their, "No" time and ,"Why" time with him!

July 26, 2009: Safety in Slumbers

2009-07-26T15:33:00.004-06:00

(pictured above: Grace holding her caterpillar)

(pictured above: birds from the observatory windows)

(pictured above: look closely - frogs!)

(pictured above: walking the trails)

(pictured above: many of the snails we saw on the hike)

(pictured above: the cows)

(pictured above: the girls looking at the flat-bottom boat)

Today I tried to find something new and interesting to do with the family. We have this great book that Suzie and Peter have donated to our tiny library collection. It is about Normandy and I often refer to this book when in need of inspiration. I began my search with some two criteria: under 1 hour driving to get to the destination and nothing through windy roads in small hilly towns. This criteria has been derived from months of trial and error while going on adventures with the girls. Not abiding by this criteria will result in the following: 1) whining 2) vomiting 3) whining 4) dry heaving. Now, Andrew and I are ready and able to deal with all four outcomes. But I think we have learned that dealing with those outcomes are only worth the effort when traveling out of town for a few days - not just 2-3 hours.

So taking the above two criteria into account, I stumbled upon the commune of Saint-Côme-du-Mont. Here you can find a nature preserve with lots of walking trails with a focus on bird watching and other creatures you might see in this natural habitat. I had also read that you could take a trip on a flat-bottom boat through a marsh and see all of the creatures in the marsh below and that sounded exciting to all of us. So after 40 minutes of nice, flat highway driving and a vomit-free zone we arrived at the nature preserve.

First thing we did upon arrival was have a picnic, of course. Today's gourmet eats consisted of baguette with peanut butter and jelly, cucumber slices with hummus, and fresh cherries. Dessert was a heavy dose of bug spray, much to the girls dismay! By the picnic areas was the flat-bottom boat that we had read about. The fine print revealed that this boat was not departing for 3 more hours and the actual ride took 3 hours. Andrew and I knew right away the flat-bottom boat was sailing without us...for obvious reasons.

After the picnic we went to the visitor center for a quick preview of the walking trails available. We choose the shortest trail of 1 km which took you to a large bird observatory. The hike itself was fine. But the twins were a bit distracted...meaning they were unable to follow rules, instructions and walking so slowly they were almost going backwards. It might have taken the five of us 1 hour to walk 1 km. Which would be fine if there were interesting things to look at along the way. But there wasn't! They were just wandering off the path, touching every plant and object they could get their hands on. They were sneaking into little wooded areas that wild boars probably inhabited or were decorated with poisonous mushrooms. They were just dilly-dallying to the nth degree. And as I stated before - this was a pretty uneventful hike. We did see some frogs and some cows and some birds that were very far away - but these sights were far and few between.

We arrived to the observatory and watched some birds in the distance but the majority of our time was spent frog-hunting. They were just so darn cute and hanging out in the lilly pads that we couldn't resist ourselves. Mia and Grace were continuing to be their disobedient selves.

About an hour later we arrived back at the visitors center where we saw a short film and an exhibit on how houses were/are built around the world as well as in Normandy, out of earth's materials, such as clay. That didn't captivate for too long so we went just down the road where we had seen a little restaurant. Andrew and I split some french fries and the girls had chocolate crepes. But again, listening skills not so apparent from the twins during snack time.

After snack time, we started back to the car. On the way, Grace and Mia spotted a caterpillar so we had to stop and cuddle with this 'pillar for a while. Then we started for home. I tell ya, it wasn't 5 minutes into the drive before I fell asleep. And I'll bet that Andrew wanted to sleep the whole drive home. We were exhausted! I am not sure what is more tiring: hiking uphill for 2 hours straight or twins that won't listen for two hours straight. For some reason, today it was the twins not listening. It just wears on your energy.

When we arrived home, we willingly let the girls watch a few TV shows while Andrew and I took about a 1 hour nap. I know it sounds lame, but we were just worn out! The girls were happy as clams, had no clue what tired meant.

I guess overall today, we had a nice time. Maybe if the surroundings had captivated Grace and Mia more they would 't have been so ill-behaved. Personally, I could have stayed out and hiked another 5 or 6 km had the chance arisen as I really wanted to get some close shots of the unique birds in the marsh. But Grace and Mia were not having it. Whether it's their age or their attention span or what they had for breakfast, you just can't guess what you are gonna get from a pair of 4 year olds on any given day. So all I can say is, on the days when you get more than you bargained for, take safety in slumbers. A nice slumber can reset your energy levels and get you through the next few hours before your children take their nightly slumbers. And the next day is just around the corner...

July 25, 2009: Life's a Beach

2009-07-25T14:29:00.003-06:00

I don't mean to sound like cheesy bumper sticker, but life really is a beach! Sometimes the water is wavy. Sometimes the water is still. Sometimes there are treasures to be found on the beach. Sometimes there is just the same ole' sand. Sometimes the wind is blowing so hard you don't know if you want to stay at the beach. Sometimes the air is still and calm like a gentle hug. Sometimes you have people sitting next to you that are rude and loud and ruin a perfectly nice day at the beach. Sometimes you meet the person next to you and you become life long friends with a person when you least expected it. Sometimes the clouds come and cover up the sun you were so badly craving. Sometimes, the sun bursts through the clouds and tell them to run along, enough of you for now. Sometimes the rain falls and gets your towel all well and you are freezing. Sometimes, the rain cools you off on a really hot day bringing relief. Sometimes there is a long line of traffic to get into the beach and the waiting is just too much! But sometimes, you wake up early on a beautiful day, you arrive first when the water is calm, the beach is quiet and you just know you have a wonderful day ahead of you.

We all went to the beach today. It was just perfect! Sometimes you go to the beach and it doesn't go quite as well as you would hope. Sometimes it does!