Clean-up and Catch-up

Avery always sits in her stroller when we ride on the Metro. Usually, she is pushed so far up against the door that she can't reach the pole, but Tuesday there was some extra space, and she could reach the pole. I love how happy she is to "hold on" like the people who are standing up. Other people love seeing her do it, too.
On Tuesday we went to the Bois de Boulogne--the woods on the west of Paris. At one playground, there was this slanted, chasm-ed, rock climbing wall. Abigail kept trying to get over it, but with no success, until Warren went and helped her. So cute.
Tuesday was a hot day, so this water fountain was heaven-sent. Avery enjoyed it a lot.

On Wednesday night we went to the Arts and Metiers Museum, then to eat falafel, played at a park and then to the Shirtliff's house to say goodbye. They have been such good friends to us and the kids. When I told Warren we were going to say goodbye, he seemed to take it pretty well, until I heard him crying outside about 10 minutes later. I asked what was wrong--no response. I asked if there was anything I could do--he said, "I don't think so. I'm just so sad to leave Paris and the Shirtliff's. I wish we'd never met them so we didn't have to say goodbye." Well, that of course, got Abigail crying, too. Needless to say, we will be in touch, and are forever grateful for out dear friends.
I told Elaine that it was my first field trip with the kids to her house that made me brave enough to go out and explore Paris with them. I really think it would've taken much longer for me to get out with them if I hadn't had her house to go to, to "test the waters." It seems a small thing, but on small and simple things hinge great happenings, right?
Yesterday--Thursday--Warren wanted to trade in his training rollerblades and some other toys for real rollerblades at the kids resale store. I had to take a picture, they looked so cute.
Yesterday and today I've been cleaning and packing while the kids run circles around me. But even I could not miss how cute the girls both looked today in their hats. So we took some pictures.
For this last shot, Avery was motioning for Warren to get in with them--it was sweet that she wanted to include him. To get their attention for the picture, I said, "Say, 'Goodbye Paris!'" It didn't really make them smile, it mainly made them confused, but I got a pretty good one anyway.
When I think of leaving Paris, I am so happy. I have loved our time here, but I'm ready to go home. I wish we were flying home tomorrow, instead of setting off on 2 and a half weeks of vacation, but I know once we arrive at the first place, I'll get excited.

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

Today we finished up Nat's Paris "to-do" list: see the Arc de Triomphe and shop. After the Arc, we headed for Les Halles so Nat could shop and the kids and I hung out at a nearby park. It was really sunny today, and Abigail came up to me and said, "Mom, I need sunglasses." I wasn't about to give her mine, but she located Natalie's in the stroller and strutted off with them.

On a hot day, nothing is better entertainment than a water fountain in the park. Abigail and Avery had a good time with it for quite a while. Lindy--I got a few more shots here, if you like the fountain, I will send them to you to look at.

Near Les Halles is St. Eustache with these cool fountain/pools in front of it. Warren, Abigail and Avery had a great time wading in the cool water. Warren totally soaked his pants, but I think that kept him cool later when I walked forever looking for my usual Metro stop with an elevator that I could not find without a map...Anyway, I found it, and it got me 15,000+ steps for the day, and the girls napped while I walked, and I like to walk in Paris, so it was okay.

I am rarely in pictures with the kids, so I am especially happy that Nat got this picture of me with them.

Museum Madness

So, Friday and Saturday, we bring to you in place of your regularly scheduled program, "Museum Madness," brought to you by Natalie! On Friday Andy and I bought 2-day museum passes good for over 60 museums in and around Paris. Natalie, since she is under 18, is free pretty much everywhere, as are our children. We started off Friday morning at the Pantheon, since it is right by Andy's school, and he went in really early that morning so he could take the rest of the day off with us. The Pantheon was cool for it's architecture, it's famous dead people: Victor Hugo, Jacques Rousseau, the Curies, and Focault's Pendulum. FP proves that the Earth rotates as the pendulum swing silently over a circular table marked with the hours of the day. It appears the pendulum moves, but really, it is the earth--which the table is attached to--rotating around the pendulum, which stays swinging in a straight line as it is suspended from the ceiling on a wire cable.
Next Andy and I went to St. Chappelle, a real gem of a church housed within old palace walls. One of the King Louis' built it to house the holy relics he purchases: supposedly Christ's actual crown of thorns, a piece of the cross and other things. The relics cost him much more, actually, than it did to build the chapel; amazing, considering the level of detail that is in the chapel. This is Andy on the ground floor, reserved for "commoners." It was neat to see all the paint on the walls and columns, other places we've been have generally lost all of their paint. This place had the walls painted to look like fabric draperies, the columns had raised little castles that were painted, and the ceiling was navy blue with gold stars.
When I got out of the spiral staircase leading up to the King's chapel, this is the sight that greeted me. The windows are so tall and make up most of the walls, as you can see. If you could see them all--and when you are down low, you can't see the top details--you would be able to read the stories of the Bible by book in each pane. It is really the Bible told in pictures. Imagine the dedication of artists, who had to know that most people would never see all the details they put in to each frame, doing their work to glorify God.
Next to St. Chappelle is the Concierge, famous as a revolutionary prison for people who were going to the guillotine. It's most notable prisoner was Marie Antoinette, who spent her final days here. There is now a small, darkly draped chapel where her actual cell was. Painted on the dark blue walls, rather than castles or fleur-de-lis as in St. Chappelle, were silver swirls that looked like teardrops to me. We saw the various types of cells available to a person, based on whether they could pay for a better one or if they were poor, and a re-creation of what Marie Antoinette's cell looked like.
We went to the Pompidou Center next, and I didn't take any pictures, but, let me say, modern art is often too much about making a statement than about beauty or pleasure for me to enjoy it. When I could understand the French labels that told about a piece, that was interesting, but it was hard to enjoy most of the works just from looking at them. The kids art display was cool, though. It featured a photographer who used unique positioning and depth to distort the scale of a picture, like, he would show a parking lot full of play cars in front of a real, life-sized super-store and it looked like they were the right size for the building. There were some interactive displays that let you build your own scenes. It was a fun idea, one I'd like to try at home with the kids and their toys. After the Pompidou Center, we bought a box of ice-cream bars and ate them at a new park we discovered. I loved how this toy accommodated all 3 of my kids.
After ice cream, Andy and I went to Musee Picasso, and left Natalie in the park just outside with the kids. I really didn't get much out of it. I know that makes me sound uncultured, but oh well. Now Andy and I can say we've seen a lot of Picasso's work.
I snapped this of Abigail as she walked by at the park.
Natalie had already had her fill of the Louvre, so Andy and I loaded her and the kids on to the correct Metro to get her straight home and took off. Go Natalie! She played at home with the kids doing the "Tutu Day" package my mom had sent with her--making caramel apples and snails out of paper plates among other things--made dinner and put the kids to bed. Andy and I went to "Les Arts Decoratifs," a museum at the Louvre dedicated to advertising, fashion, and how people live, I guess. We only went to the fashion exhibit, which currently features hundreds of vintage Valentino gowns. It was quite the candy for the eye. Then we went to the main Louvre and walked a few miles off of our lives. Of note to my mom, I saw, "The Oath of the Horatio"--that painting you did in Art Masterpiece. It was huge. There were more, but I remembered that one most. This is Andy with the "Mona Lisa" just over his shoulder. After the Louvre, we hopped on the Metro and went to get our favorite falafel at L'as du Falafel. I will miss that when I get back to Mesa. We bought gelato and then rode the Metro to the American Church in Paris, where we heard a concert put on by the Durham Cathedral Choir, a choir of young boys--sop/alto--and men--ten/bass. It was really neat to hear live. A highlight for me wa hearing "Ubi caritas," a song I had performed with Westwood High School's Honor Choir under the direction of Mr. Harris, who I later had the privilege of student teaching with. It was so beautiful in the big church. After the concert ended, we headed home, with over 32,000 steps and 11.3 (estimated) miles underneath our feet.
Saturday we started off at the Musee d'Orsay. We spent our time on the top level of this converted train station, which houses it's impressionistic and post-impressionistic art. I had this picture taken with me and all my future pianists. I was thinking that this was the picture on my piano growing up, I have since remembered that it was a different one, but still so moving to see. We saw works by Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Degas--all of his ballerina pictures reminded me as my days as accompanying the ballet classes at Jeanne's School of Dance--and Seurat, the pointillism guy. We saw his painting of the Circus, which my mother also taught about in Art Masterpiece.
At the Orsay, Abigail took a picture of, and wanted her picture with, the clock. So here it is.
After the Orsay, it was on to the Musee Rodin--the famous sculptor. We saw "The Thinker," "John the Baptist," "Walking Man," "The 3 Shades," "The Burgers of Calais,'' "The Kiss" and "The Gates of Hell," all notable and memorable amongst the many works. For a great--true--story that inspired the "Burgers of Calais," paste this into your browser: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais
I caught this cute moment as each of my kids, seeing the other run to get into Natalie's picture, joined in. This was the final result.
After the Rodin, we went to the Eglise du Dome, where Napoleon is entombed. He is in a huge reddish tomb, lying inside coffins of mahogany, tin, lead, ebony and oak. Were they worried he was going somewhere? While there, Avery ran underneath one of the ropes that separated another tomb from the public; I panicked and she must have heard that in my voice because she actually stopped running, turned around and came back to me when I called her name. The elderly tour group that saw the whole thing, laughed, thankfully. Afterwards Andy and I went to see the Order of the Liberation Musuem and Natalie took the kids to play on the cannons. Warren told us later that the guards did not really like that, funny, because about 6 weeks ago we did the same thing, and no one cared. It must be because it's tourist season.
We found a park and ate ice cream in it, but Andy and Warren only got theirs after searching in vain for a bathroom for 25 minutes+ for Warren. For much of the way, Andy carried W, and in honor of it being the first day of summer, it was actually hot--for Paris--and humid. So Andy should get Father of the Year, because Warren is not small anymore. We loaded the kids and Natalie on the Metro again and Andy and I set off for an evening of music, since it is "Fete de la Musique" here in Paris and Europe.
Andy and I hopped on the Metro and went for Vietnamese food at the same place as last week--they remembered him and greeted us in Vietnamese. I love Vietnamese food. We decided to go out for Viet food once a month in Mesa. After stuffing ourselves we stopped off at a park to rest and listened to a blues band play just outside the gate. We walked back to the Metro passing several rock bands, a dance troupe and one amateur choral group. We got off near Notre Dame and while waking there passed a Native American group, a jazz band, a lady singing in the Metro...you get the point. At Notre Dame, we heard a choral group singing a cappella and with the organ; hearing a choir in a space like that where the sound carries forever was amazing. Then we heard an organ recital. Wow. It reminded me of Organ Stop Pizza, when it plays the train song, or listening to the organ at General Conference. It was cool. We left and walked to the Ile St. Louis, the island in the Seine just next to the Ile de la Cite, which ND is on, to try Berthillion ice cream. The island is famous for it, with the long lines to prove it at every place that sold it. But we walked almost the length of the island and found a relatively short line. I had blood orange and green apple. Andy had rhubarb and raspberry. We had some nice guy take our picture as we walked back across the Seine to head for the Metro. We passed all sorts of groups on the way there, and we got off a stop early on the way home to see what else was going on. When we got off the Metro at Abbesses, it was WILD--really, really crazy. After passing 3 crowds like that, we decided to pass on waking up to Sacre-Coeur and took a more direct route home. It was a calmer scene--junior high aged kids playing the one song they could play "La Bamba" in their band, a guy with a guitar who was having a sing-along with wordsheets (yeah for the Blake family Christmas party), a brass band, a jazz combo with swing dancers...The only comparison I can come up with for Fete de Musique in the States is Halloween: it's a major holiday, but you don't get school off, it can fall on any day of the week, it takes place mainly at night, and it gets pretty wild. But of course, here, no one is selling Fete de Musique merchandise 2 months before the event, which would happen in the US :) We made it home and crashed after 26,455 steps, about 8 miles or so, I think. THE END

Parc George Brassens

Today we went to Parc George Brassens in south-central Paris. We were off of my map that I use to navigate here, luckily a nice French girl that I stopped to ask was walking that way and had us walk along with her. The park had all sorts of walking paths and unique features, like this cute donkey and cart statue. When they were all in, Abigail, said, "Mom--we're riding on Jacque the Little French Pony!" and of course, made up some cute, extemporaneous song for the event. (When I brush Abigail's hair, I make up stories about my 3 kids and Jacque, the little French pony.)

Avery is so cute and starting to outgrow being the baby. She is saying a lot of words now and singing. As we strolled through the park later, Avery started up her "la-la-la" from the front of the stroller and sang for quite a while. I love it!

There were several children's playgrounds throughout the park, and one of them was just underneath this large rock hill for the kids to climb up. Getting down, of course, is always an afterthought. Here, Warren is "helping" Abigail down since she couldn't figure out how to get down the larger rocks she went up. Warren was later running on this hill and skinned up his elbow really nicely, with the crying to match. I cleaned his elbow, got him a cloth to hold on it and tried comforting him, but he just kept crying--very loudly--right in my ear. So I asked him, "Warren, is there anything I can do for you?" He said, "No," so I walked away to save my hearing. It probably looked really heartless to the one other parent there, but oh well. After about 15 total minutes of crying, Warren called me back over, much quieter now, and asked if I had a snack. I told him I had Nutella and crepes to spread it on, but that they were only for people who were calm enough to not choke on them. He sniffled a bit, but made the walk with me to the grassy hill where Nat and the girls were waiting and we ate our crepes.

There is a vineyard and bee-keeping area within the park. It was fun just to watch all the bees continously coming and going--I understood the saying, "busy as a beehive"--but then a class on a field trip showed up and so we got to see the bee-keeper smoke the bees to calm them down and then remove the frames from the hive with the bees climbing all over them. We watched the demonstrations for several minutes. It was fascinating. I think it would be fun to learn more with the kids about bees and all the good they do.
Good news! We have places to stay for our 2.5 week vacation starting next weekend! It is strange that we are leaving Paris in 9 days. It didn't even occur to me until last night that we were leaving next week! Time is a strange thing. Anyway, brief summary: from Sat 28-Sat 5 we are staying in the Loire Valley to see castles and stuff; from Sat 5-Sat 12 we will be in the Dordogne seeing "the cave paintings" and the countryside and then from Sat 12-Tues 15 we will be in Alsace, with it's cool German-influenced way of life. That's really brief, I know. But you'll hear more as we travel of course, because I made sure all 3 places had internet access available! I was really stressed earlier this week about where and when to stay--there were so many options, but then I prayed that I would have help in making goood decisions and plans that would make for a happy trip with our 3 kids. And when I did that, what I wanted to do started becoming clear, like a river that has been muddied by someone stepping in it and then clears again. Isn't it nice to know that Heavenly Father cares about everything we care about, and then some more too, I'm sure :)

What We're Up To

Life here has been pretty normal. On Monday we went to Bercy Parc, a beautiful, large park with neat shopping nearby. Andy and I went there on Saturday for date night. You can see several of the cool features of the park in the slideshow below. The rosegarden was lovely, and since they were pruning that day, the gardeners gave us several roses. It was "Be Nice to Abigail" Day, so Nat bought us all yummy caramel corn and the little cones they came in became a crown for Abigail. The fountains were great. We had a fun time picnicking, playing, walking, watching bocci ball games--so popular in France, I think of you Sarah, I even bought the kids a set to play with rubber balls--and looking at stores. It was a beautiful day, we left just as it started to sprinkle a little.


Tuesday we went to the Shirtliff's to teach Sis. S how to make crepes and galettes. It was a yummy, fun time. Afterwards, we walked to Andy's school and met him after he was done, picked up pitas and fries at our favorite place nearby, walked a great market street and then ended up at the Jardin des Plantes for a nice stroll.
Today, I cleaned--I finally got rid of the scary smell in the bathroom by cleaning EVERYTHING with bleach. Yeah! This morning when Warren went into the kitchen he came and told me, in a concerned voice, "Mom! Birds got into our kitchen last night I can tell because there is bird poop all over the floor." That's when you know it is time to mop. There were no "birds."
We sent Natalie to the Louvre this afternoon, and the kids played while I plan our vacation here in France. It is stressful, but it will work out. At least I know where we are going and what dates we will be there. We have lodging for one week of our 2.5 so far, and I am working hard on the other 1.5. I'll let you all know...

Our Favorite Things

Bekah: My favorite thing about my dad, well something I have come to appreciate since I have been in a foreign country and since I have become a parent, is his fearlessness. My dad is not afraid to talk to anyone. That's amazing. Sometimes it was a little embarrassing when I was a kid, but now I have only admiration for this quality. Sometimes I just pretend I am like my dad and it makes me bolder.
My favorite thing about Gordon is his loyalty. Gordon sticks up for the people he loves and the causes he believes in. Once someone was mildly rude to me in his home, and he later let me know how that upset him and made me feel like I was the greatest person around. He is not afraid to take a side and stick with it. That being said, he is also thoughtful when presented with opposing or just different views, and doesn't get stuck in mental ruts. Because of this, he is always learning something.

Andy: My favorite thing about my dad is his ability to teach and explain things. In childhood, I learned about mathematics, science, and computers from him. He always seemed to be able to explain things in a way I could understand. I still enjoy when he teaches a Family Home Evening lesson or when I get to discuss life with him.
My favorite thing about Jerry is all the small things he does to make life easier for us. The attention he pays to each of our kids individually. The dinner invitation every Sunday, and the relaxed, restful, and refreshing environment that is there. The advice and encouragement when we need it. The excitement and enthusiasm for things that are going on in our lives personally, professionally, and educationally.

Intl. Be Nice to Warren Day, Saturday

(In case you are wondering, why the sudden backlog of posts?, here is the skinny: our internet connection only works from the yard now, and it has been very cold, windy and occasionally rainy/sprinkling here. That discourages one from spending lots of time outside on the computer. And, Andy has been very busy this week with lots of projects, so I have to get my computer time when he is not using it. He would share any time I asked, but, I know he has deadlines to meet and I like having money to spend so...you get the picture. Hence the reason I am catching up today: Sunday! Andy's day of rest! Yeah for the Sabbath!)

International Be Nice to Warren Day started off with Andy taking the kids to the park with the skating track so Warren could try out his blades, sans training wheels. Nat and I headed off to the huge flea market to souvenior shop and browse. Good times. On the way home, I stopped by Picard, he frozen foods store, and bought the popsicles Warren has been begging to try: "Mom--we've never tried French popsicles!" They were good. While the girls napped, Nat, Warren and I headed for the underground, but not the Metro we mean, the sewers, Les Egouts.

I had no idea that sewers have to be routinely cleaned to dredge up the silt and stuff at the bottom. Ew. They use all sorts of crazy machines, like this huge ball and the one up above. There is also a "sewer rescue squad" that you can call here in Paris for emergencies, like dropping your keys in the gutter grates, or a funny smell. I watched a video of the rescues, I wonder how often the endings are really as happy as the video looked! Jewelry, keys, cigarette packs with important phone numbers, strange smells...they do it all. 22 75 44 75, your sewer rescue number.

After the sewers, we found a little play space, then visited the American Church in Paris. It has a bilingual Montessori School at it--too bad I didn't know about that before I came! Warren saw all the little jacket hooks with names above it and then the one at the end without a name and said, "Mom! My jacket will go right here!"

Andy and I headed to Chinatown for Vietnamese food for date night. We weren't disappointed. The waiters flipped when Andy spoke Vietnamese to them, as did they elderly couple who they sat next to us at our table when the restaurant became too crowded. They are always so complimentary to Andy. After Viet food, we wandered around Bercy Village, a restored collection of old wine warehouses converted into shops and restaurants. We sampled olive oils and balsamic vinegar--so good--at Olivier's and then checked out the toy store. While there I found I children's book about a slug, snail and a baby in French, so for Intl. Be Nice to W Day, we bought it, since they are still playing with their escargot house. It is called, "Grace la Limace," Grace the Slug. I saw on the back cover there is also a book in the series called Margot l'Escargot," but I didn't see it at the store. I also found--but did not buy--what I am getting Avery for her next birthday: a bilibo. Check them out at bilibo.com to see these in action. Select English. Watch the demo video. Very cute. And you can buy them on Amazon.com. Avery's newest and cutest word is "Bilbo"--she started saying it last week when I called her that beacuse she looked like a Hobbit, so that makes this especially funny.
After the toystore--and everything else--closed at 9--we found a snackbar that sold waffles and got one for Andy with Nutella since he has not had one yet. Last Saturday--when I thought it was Fathers' Day--I even took us all to the stand where we bought them before and they had stopped making them! So, we were excited to find them here.
We strolled around Bercy Park, until it closed at 9:30 and then followed the sound of the drumming to a neat outdoor concert by Muleketu. Check out Muleketu.com. They were a drumming, ukulele, singing ensmeble; sort of a reggae/samba mix. And they danced as they drummed. It was very entertaining. People were dancing all over. I saw one girl who reminded me so much of my good friend Meg Brice-Heams; she had that same free-ness of spirit and classic good looks, and although I haven't seen Meg dance much, I imagine she would dance like the girl I saw. I also saw another woman who reminded me of Sunny, dancing at "Inside the Bungalow." It was just fun and joyful looking. I hope my dear friends are reading this! It was a great date night, and although Mesa is not Paris, it made me wonder if I went out, just for the sake of exploring some new art or music form, what I would discover in the Valley. I'm sure there are hidden gems everywhere.
Total Steps: 28,012 (about 10 miles)

International Be Nice to Aunt Nat Day, Friday

So last night, after bribing us all with brownies that she purchased at the store, Natalie bribed us all--well, mainly the kids--into making the next day "International Be Nice to Aunt Nat Day." I think she was hoping the day would start off with more sleep, but in our 400 sq.ft. apartment, that is not really going to happen--plus we sleep in until at least 8 or 8:30 everyday anyway. To celebrate the day, we took Nat to our favorite park, Parc Floral, the one with the big slides and the family bikes we rent. Outside the park is this huge sign.

We picnicked on this little hill. It felt like "Climb Every Mountain" from the Sound of Music.

Abigail rode a zipline for the first time and lived to tell about it, and to go again. The kids wanted to ride on these old-fashioned cars around a rail, but Nat and I wanted to rent the bike for all of us. We got Abigail to vote with us, but Warren was still unconvinced. Since it was "Be Nice to Aunt Nat Day," Natalie applied this line of reasoning with Warren as leverage and voila!--everyone was happy to rent the bikes. We forgot to get a picture, but here are some stories. Avery was in rare form--pulling Abigail's hair, scratching her, taking her jacket, etc. So we sang songs that had hand motions: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, If You're Happy and You Know it...it's true: you can't sing and fight at the same time. (Well, unless you are Javert and ValJean in "Les Miserables," but that doesn't count.) After an afternoon of playing and riding around, we walked along the woods on a bikepath to get to another Metro stop; Warren got to practice his rollerblading. He is getting better, he even unscrewed his training wheels all by himself when we got home. We had our favorite dinner, bought from our local butcher: rotisserie chicken and the vegetables he sells along with it, which are to die for. Nat was in heaven. We even busted out a bottle of grape juice.

I went to the grocery store that evening and saw these mini Kleenex packages that had Disney Princesses all over them. Well, if you know Natalie, then I don't need to explain her fettich with Disney Princesses. If you don't know her, here's a glimpse: Natalie, whi is very mature and moderately normal, colors in a princess coloring book at night before she goes to bed, just for fun. So, I knew she would love these. So Warren and I bought them. And she did love them. Warren later came inside and said, "Mom, tomorrow is International Be Nice to Warren Day." We'll see.
Total Steps: 17,503

C'est la fete de les grenouilles: Thursday

One of the greatest advantages of having Ratalie Nose here is that she provides unlimited free babysitting. So, Thursday, I went to Musee Caranavalet and left the kids and Nat at a nearby park to play. Well, it started to rain--not a big deal usually here in Paris. I even felt a little smug knowing that I'd remembered umbrellas. But then it started to pour. Hard. I was nice and dry looking at French Revolution History, but I could see the rain pouring down through the stained windows. This is how I found the kids when I got there.

I was a little stressed out by how wet they were, but after I got over that I put the kids rainboots on--which I had also brought along--and let them jump in the puddles.

Anyway, it was the perfect day for singing the words in the title, "It's the festival of frogs." Beyond that, not much of a perfect day.

Total Steps: 9,887