Crushing it

The daunting thing about going to Paris is that there is so much to see and a limited amount of time to see it. It's just as daunting a little over a week later trying to write about it. I'll try using broad strokes...

Sunday. Everyone arrives. We head out of the apartment and go to Notre Dame since it is a short 5 min walk. Awesome. Unbelievable. To see something up close that took 200 years to build and it is still standing - awe inspiring. For much more detail than I could provide, check here.
Afterward we head to a cafe and have our first Parisian meal. Some had salads, onion soup became a staple, and I had my first roast chicken - which did not disappoint.

The cafes were funny. Funny in the sense that some of them were packed with all the tables full, and other times they were empty. Whenever we sat at empty cafe, within ten minutes the place was full.

Monday. We decided to take it a bit easy since we were all jet lagged. Karen had been doing some reading on this famous open air market, that apparently was close to some flea market type deal that also sounded interesting. We figured we'd go to the market, find some food for dinner, then walk around the flea market. We took the Metro to Les Halles, where it was supposed to be, and looked and looked around but couldn't find it.

After walking around and trying to ask people where it was, a closer inspection of the guide book revealed that it used to be where we were, but has since relocated... Newman! We were about 30 years too late. Off to the flea market. Which was pretty cool. Lots of small shops with tons of antiques and other unique items.

We headed back on the Metro to get closer to home and find a spot for lunch. Once we got underground, we realized we were in a bit seedier area of Paris. We started to buy some more tickets, when a couple of youths came up to us trying to sell us tickets. At first we just ignored them while we were trying to operate the machine, but then we were having issues with the machine, a line was queuing behind us... more and more people kept coming in... and we were about to lose it. Then, all of a sudden this other group of youths came down and about 10 people in row just jumped the gates heading into the system. The whole thing was a bit surreal, and then we finally figured out the machine, got our tickets, and headed into the tunnel... A bit touch and go there for a few minutes but we made it!

Tuesday was pretty low key. We walked around the city and checked out some more sights that we wouldn't cover on the bus tour. We went to the Place de la Concorde, which is at the foot of the Champs-Élysées and also where the guillotine was located and Marie Antoinette was decapitated. The Luxor Obelisk is also here.

Wednesday. In the morning we headed to the Centre Pompidou. The goal of the museum was "to create an original cultural institution in the heart of Paris completely focused on modern and contemporary creation, where the visual arts would rub shoulders with theatre, music, cinema, literature and the spoken word. Housed in the centre of Paris in a building designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, whose architecture symbolises the spirit of the 20th century, the Centre Pompidou first opened its doors to the public in 1977. After renovation work from 1997 to December 1999, it opened to the public again on 1 January 2000, with expanded museum space and enhanced reception areas. Since then it has once again become one of the most visited attractions in France. Some 6 million people pass through the Centre Pompidou's doors each year, a total of over 190 million visitors in its 30 years of existence." (website) This was a cool museum, but also home to some disturbing pieces of art... I already mentioned the main ones in my first Paris post, so I'll spare you any more graphic images.

After lunch we all met back up and we began the hop on/off tour, which was pretty solid. The bus turned out to be a great way to see the city, the major attractions, and pretty good mode of transportation.

Wednesday evening was also the night that Karen was selected to cook dinner. As most of you know, Karen is a phenomenal cook... She is continually coming up with new dishes and never disappoints. This will be a separate post that I'm hoping she will write...

Thusday afternoon and we were all dragging a bit, so we decided to take the entire tour... Which would have been a fine idea, except this was at about 3 pm. Two hiccups. One, there was some police action going on at the Palais Garnier, so we got diverted and stuck in traffic. Then we headed up the Champs-Élysées, which was completely clogged with traffic. At the top we reached the Arc de Triomphe, where we then proceeded to drive around the rotary, a la National Lampoon's European Vacation style only to then go down the other direction of the congested Champs-Elysees... I think it took more than an hour to do that... Which was painful.

Thursday evening. Woa. This was the night in Paris. And I have one word for it: Taillevent. I was going to include this within the post, but on second thought I'm making it a separate posting...

Friday. Our last day... Everyone did their own thing. We did some shopping, walked around some more, and then spent the afternoon sitting outside drinking wine, savoring our last afternoon in Paris.

Saturday. Airport... Home. I've got a few more Paris-related posts on deck to close out our trip, in the meantime, here are our Paris photos.

Apple Picking!

This post has become what some may call a "dump." It took me a while to get it going, and then we went on vacation, and now it just seems pretty out of date. Needless to say, we had a great time apple picking when we went. Annie loved picking apples, and ate about 20 of them. Although, I don't know if taking a few bites and then pitching the apple actually counts as eating them, but we did our best to restrain her... Nichol was along for the fun, and was very well behaved. He did not try and eat any apples, but his mom made some applesauce that is waiting for him when appropriate.

Oh yeah, they also had a bouncy house at the farm. The exact same bouncy house we got for Annie's second birthday. Only this time when Annie was in there, the fan/blower became unplugged and collapsed on all the kids inside... A bit hairy for a little while, but luckily Annie was by a window and so we were able to hold up the structure before she was fully engulfed. I guess that's what happens when these things are run by 12 year olds... She also rode a horse for the first time, and liked it!

More Paris posts to come...

Olives

Last Saturday we got back from one of the best vacations... Paris! Karen and I went for the week with four of our good friends, and we had the best time. Although the trip wasn't without some hiccups. Leading up to our departure it seemed like the city of Paris was a powder keg filled with rioters, protesters, terrorist threats and strikes, waiting to be ignited at any minute... The State Department issued a travel alert... And then about a week before we were all leaving the airlines had been asked to cut flights into Paris airports by 30-50%. I'll say it, I was a bit nervous before we left. But then we got there...

We dropped off the kids with my parents Friday and departed Boston Saturday evening. Early Sunday morning we arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport where we were meeting Bekah & Kyle. An hour later they arrived, our car arrived and we were off! While in Paris we were staying at this fantastic apartment on Ile Saint Louis. Ile Saint Louis is an island in the middle of the Seine, which is the river that runs through the middle of Paris. Here's how it's described:

This small island is like an oasis from the rush of the city. It's almost as if someone dropped a small French village into the center of Paris, as it features markets, bakeries, fromageries and cafés. While much of Paris has modernized over the years, the ile remains romantically frozen in the 17th century. It is remarkably the same as it was centuries ago. It is lined with adorable boutiques, is home to its own unique ice cream, features historic attractions, and boasts one of Paris' best hotels.

And that is exactly how we found it. There's so much to try and cover-- I'll do my best. This post is going to be more of an introduction and thoughts about the whole week, with more specific posts to follow.

You're probably wondering why if this post is about our overall trip-- why is it titled "Olives". Well that's simple: that was the family password. You see, since we were a little on edge, and we were in a busy foreign city-- we needed a word that one of us could say to indicate we needed help or felt scared -- immediately alerting others to our plight. Mostly it was used as a joke or to signal something very serious -- someone needed another drink.

Language. Before leaving I had read that in Paris English was not as widely spoken as in other European cities. Luckily for me, Karen had studied French and as soon as we arrived and she started dusting off her skills, it came back pretty easily. I also made sure to master some basics like: hello, please, thank you, where is the toilet, coffee, wine, etc. While I have yet to travel somewhere that I can use my awesome Spanish skills (I guess you could argue there are plenty of opportunities in Boston), my french was ok. And you would be amazed at how much you can communicate through hand gestures...

People. Also I had been led to believe that may be French people weren't the friendliest sort. I could not disagree more. Everyone we encountered was very friendly and courteous, and if anyone was rude they at least had the decency to do it behind our backs... which I appreciate. And many people spoke English or at least understood what we were saying. And again, Karen and Bekah were both pretty good at laying down some French talk when needed. Later on I've got a good story of some people we met, but that's for another post...

Overall impressions. The people are awesome. Paris is awesome. There's way too much to see. The Louvre is a cluster %#@*, so be prepared to have people all up in your grill the entire time. Buy a "Paris Pass" before you go so you can skip the lines at pretty much any museum (or better yet, get someone else's even if it has expired because no one checks). Taking a bus tour around the city is a blast, unless you're doing it close to rush hour, duh. If you go to the Modern Art museum be prepared to be appalled -- unless seeing naked people hula-hooping barbed wire on the beach is your thing (sorry for the image but I still can't shake it, and you're welcome). Or a naked woman holding a dead chicken that's bleeding all over (sorry, couldn't resist one more). It's pretty hard to find a bad meal. The Metro is one of the most efficient public transit systems around, take it everywhere. Unless you take it to a sketchy neighborhood... Try lots of new foods. Wine is cheaper than Coca-Cola. Drink as much Cafe Au Lait ("Cafe O-lay") as possible (it's basically espresso with steamed milk). There is nothing like a long meal, outside under a heater, with a group of friends, people watching in a foreign city.

What's been going on?

What's been going on this fall... you might be wondering? Since Karen and the kids got back Labor Day weekend, we've all been settling back into our routine. I continue to go to work each morning and Karen wrangles the kids all day... I'm unsure which one of us has it worse... Although from the stories I hear I think people may be slightly better behaved at my office versus the playground. Although it was touch and go for a while as people were stealing yogurts out of the fridge and then other people left anonymous notes on the fridge... Long story short, eventually the stolen yogurt was replaced and the yogurt bandit has been dormant for some time.

As Annie enters her 28th month, she continues to assert herself. She is very independent. And by independent I mean she will do what she wants to do independent of how you feel. For instance, you might say, "Annie, please put down Nichol's pacifier." And then she would put it right in her mouth and run away. Or you might say, "Annie, you cannot grab snacks from other people's strollers." And then she would reach right in someone else's diaper bag and pull out some snacks.

For the most part she still takes an afternoon nap, but probably once a week she protests and refuses to sleep at all. Her new technique is to take all of her clothes off, including her diaper, and just hang out naked in her crib for two hours. You can imagine the scene you walk in on if she's doing this quietly and the full two hours have passed... Usually she starts screaming or singing at some point to alert you to the fact that you should definitely go in there to make sure she's not jumping around naked in her own feces.

Nichol continues to grow and grow and grow. He has the biggest head and sometimes I wonder how his neck can support that melon! But he has the biggest smile that goes perfect with a big dome. And I shouldn't really be talking, as I have one heck of a big head too. He's been doing much better sleeping through the night. I'd say he gets up maybe one-ish times, but he definitely will go through some 'loud sleeping' bursts where he's murmuring, or babbling, or breathing heavy. Nichol is still sleeping in our room. We're very close to putting the two kids together, but at this point we're waiting for Nichol to consistently sleep through the night before we double those kiddos up. What else? He's super wriggly and I think he'll be crawling sooner rather than later. He has a big appetite... And likes his rice cereal.

Annie and Nicholas are so cute together. Every morning when Annie wakes up the first thing out of her mouth is "Nicky wake? Where's Nicky?" She varies between calling him "Nichol, Nickodee or Nicky". She loves to give him hugs, although whenever she gets too close to him, Nichol instinctively reaches for her hair and gives it a good tug. At which point she starts crying, saying "No No Nicky! Nicky pull hair." It's pretty funny, especially since at that point she's usually been on top of him or giving him a bear hug by the time he finally grabs some hair.

Weekends have been lots of fun. Usually we try to hit up a farmers' market on Saturday mornings, then we head to the park or some other fun activity. Annie likes to be on the move and Nicholas just goes with the flow!

Next post... Apple picking!

A return to blogging...

This weekend I promise to get serious and get back to business. The business of blogging I mean. Starting next week there will be lots of original content coming this way!

Oh, and if you happen to see my beautiful wife today make sure you wish her a happy birthday!

Annie's 2nd new trick! This is what happens when Annie has already baked cookies & has been to the park...

Children's dance @ PAB

These pictures are from the children's dance we attended a few weeks ago. It also happened to be the hottest day at the cottage. I could only use pictures from early in the evening, since after about 15 minutes at the dance everyone was covered in sweat. It must have been in the 90s and very humid. It was one of those days when you get out of the shower and just start sweating. I don't think I've ever been so uncomfortable in pants.

Annie & Bea had a ton of fun. There was a great band playing classics like the "Hokey Pokey" and the "Chicken Dance," which Annie became quite good at by the way. Annie seems to have an endless amount of energy, and despite the heat she literally never stopped moving the entire time. I do think that doing the hokey pokey managed to keep her in one place, for a somewhat extended period of time. So we may have to try incorporating that into our daily routine!

I think in total we all lasted about 45 minutes before we were all too tired/hot/ to stay any longer. After we left we went on a very long golf cart ride to cool off before dinner, and then managed to have a very pleasant, mostly sweat free evening!

Summer so far

I can't believe our summer has been flying by so fast!

Here are a few pics of what's been going on. We've been doing some boating, Annie got a new tricycle, we've spent time at the cottage, and Karen and the kids have been having a great time in Grosse Pointe!

Annie's fly new whip

Annie recently got a new ride! Karen and the kids have been spending August in Michigan, splitting their time between Grosse Pointe and Pointe Aux Barques. We figured this would be a great time for Annie to get her first tricycle, since there is so much more room for her to roam. And up at the cottage you don't have to worry as much about cars and all the other fun stuff that comes with living in the city.

The pedals are still a bit far for her to reach, which is probably good at this point... Since she's a bit of terror on her own, I can't imagine the havoc she will wreak when she's got full use of her wheels!

Getting more and more adventorous!

Here is Annie at the park. We found this new (to us) park in Charlestown that has lots of great toys; like cars to ride around in, fun things to climb on, and a sprinkler! The fun thing about this park is that it's a good size, fenced in, there's usually a decent amount of kids Annie's age, and Annie loves it. The one drawback is the climbing structures are a bit advanced for Annie. And while she loves to climb, certain parts of it give me a mild heart attack watching her navigate around. I would say she's usually pretty good about knowing her limits and actually responds when you ask her to come back from the edge of something, usually...

The other interesting thing about the park, and all the other city playgrounds are the dynamics/politics among the parents. We try to be the laid back type, not hovering over Annie's every move in the park. Because we believe that Annie will best learn how to play with other kids and resolve differences on her own if we aren't constantly intervening. The problem arises with other parents who like to follow their child around, and happen to be right there when Annie decides to go up to their kid and take a toy he/she was playing with and take her turn with it. I think most times everyone gets that the kids are young and are still figuring things out. With those kids and those parents there usually aren't any issues. You feel bad because your kid just took a toy from another kid and apologize, and the other parent gets that it's no big deal and that's that. After a few park visits you become pretty good at spotting who will and who won't be a problem should Annie have a run in with their kid.

I think the other interesting aspect is the parks on the weekends. On Saturdays it's dad central, which is fun. It can also be complete bedlam. Let's run with the assumption that the moms are usually more organized and have everything (spare clothing, snacks, etc) needed, while most of the dads have a cup of coffee and that's about it. One of the last times we were there these two kids wanted to go through the sprinklers. Their dad didn't have swim suits, so the kids just stripped down and ran around naked. It was hilarious, and you could see some of the other moms who were there just look aghast at the situation. I was glad Annie kept her diaper on at least...