Henry and Picasso
Yesterday Henry's class took a field trip to the Sofia Reina Museum to study art. One of the pieces he studies was Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Pretty cool!
Jorge Gonzalez's Seated Woman:
A Little Weekend Fun
It's been a few days since an actual blog post since I'm still trying to post something from each day of our Paris trip. Let's see if I'm successful.
A few things:
- Back in our gluten eating days, we had a KILLER buttermilk pancake recipe. Seriously, it was awesome and we would make it all the time. Now we eat 70 eggs a week and very few pancakes. Jess has a good paleo banana pancake recipe and I tried a paleo pumpkin pancake recipe several months ago. Over the weekend I tried a new paleo pancake and it seems promising. Of course it needs a little tweaking but I have high hopes!
- On Saturday night we had dinner at our friend's house. They are one of the British families that we got to know closely in La Moraleja. It was great to sit down and spend a little time with them.
- My darling wife found fresh jalapeños in Madrid. We are so excited! We've been trying to buy fresh jalapeños abroad for 5 years now and have been unsuccessful! As with most treats abroad, we never know how long they'll be around so we will buy as many as we can use until they are no longer available.
- The kids and I took Olive for a bike ride/walk on Sunday. It was really nice to get out with the older two kids.
- Henry had his normal Saturday basketball game. This time he got to tip off.
- This weekend was full-on Christmas decorating. Jess has created her Christmas playlist on the Sonos and that's all that is playing these days. :)
Truman is my role model
Pull-ups and naps. He's my idol.
Paris - Day #4
Fourth day of trying to find a proper breakfast. :)
The hotel informed us that they had a breakfast buffet but if you wanted to have a "English breakfast" then you had to order and pay extra. We weren't really sure what that meant but upon further clarification, "English breakfast" meant "hot breakfast". Otherwise, they offered cereal, bread, donuts, croissants, hot chocolate and cold cuts. The kids were in heaven with the cereal and donut options. Needless to say, Jess and I opted for the English breakfast of over easy eggs and bacon.
After breakfast, we took the bus to Disneyland. My ever-organized wife had the tickets printed off in advance (of course) so we didn't have to wait in line to buy new. The park was decorated for Christmas which was a really nice touch.
On our way to Disneyland. Truman not being a team player:
We road several rides and had a few fast passes. Addi and I road on the Space Mountain ride together which was probably my favorite. The November weather in Paris was cold but not terribly cold. We had to deal with many people smoking in line (despite the signs posted saying 'No Smoking'). Oh well.
We really struggled finding a proper restaurant inside Disneyland so we made a last minute decision to leave the park and try to wait in line for a table at Mickey's Cafe (a mostly reservations only restaurant where the kids get to meet five of the Disney characters). Probably the best food we had while at Disney.
Main Street:
The specialty of the day. I didn't eat it but I'm sure one of the unintended side effects is it induces vomiting. Gross.
Buzz Lightyear. Jess beat us all.
Henry driving cars:
Remember, when you're on a ride at Disneyland, you can sit holding hands but spontaneous dancing is STRICTLY PROHIBITED!
This is my favorite picture from one of the rides. You can't see Addi, but look at Henry and Truman's faces. Compare that with my face and Jess's face. We look like we're sitting at a bus stop. :)
Eating Disney popcorn, waiting in line.
Christmas parade.
Dinner at Mickey's Cafe.
When we lifted up the carafe of water, it left a smiley face. Life is good.
We saw Mickey at Mickey's Cafe. Go figure.
The park closing show that night was a Christmas themed show. It was pretty cool.
Related Reading:
Paris - Day #3
Because we've so far been unable to find a decent warm breakfast in Paris, I decided to go to the corner grocery for some eggs and butter so we could make over easy eggs before we met the owner of the apartment for the checkout. The corner grocery store had eggs and butter, but they also had cheese, wine and chocolate. So while the kids watched cartoons and Jess packed up their things, I relaxed. :)
Saturday morning I work up early and made some coffee and got the eggs and onions started. Towards 10:00 (our checkout time) things got a little hectic as we tried to pack everything up and throw out the uneaten food and garbage.
Truman and Adeline guzzling from the cartons before we threw out the food:
The original plan was to walk (with our luggage) to the nearest subway stop, and then take that down to where our train would take us east out of Paris towards the city that Disneyland is at. Unfortunately for us, the very day we were leaving, the subway line closed for maintenance. We had several different options of buses but none were convenient with kids and luggage. In the end, we wound up walking longer to a different subway line, but avoiding the hassle of taking a bus, to a subway, to a train. Truth be told we weren't 100% sure where we were going but you never can be when you dealing with strange public transit.
Packed up and ready to go:
Truman was not interested in helping:
Stopping at a bakery for treats:
It turns out that we needed to walk some more after our subway ride but the walk was through a really nice section of town. I'm glad we got to see it.
Four year olds don't have legroom problems on trains:
After a 45 minute train ride we eventually made it to the hotel near Disneyland. The kids got a nice swim in before we headed off for lunch/dinner at Disney Village. Don't even get me started on the mandatory speedos (French hygienic law, apparently) we had to buy just so we could swim in the hotel pool. Truman loved his new swim suit but Henry and I were less thrilled.
We had a nice slow supper at Rainforest Cafe (Truman fell asleep on the way to the restaurant so we took our time).
After dinner we went back to the hotel so the kids could swim again before bed. Unfortunately, their swim was cut short because someone saw a floater in the pool. And no, it wasn't a Baby Ruth.
Related Reading:
Full Day Back
Yesterday was the first full-day back at school and work. Unfortunately another rough drop-off day for Truman. We are struggling to understand why he's having problems again. Jess has some thoughts although who really knows? Hopefully he turns it around and starts willingly putting his uniform on and running into the classroom.
We are starting to look forward to Christmas more and more. We've decided that one of the days of Christmas vacation we plan to lounge around all day in our PJs and watch movies. And eat Christmas cookies.
The draft movie list (on the back of a napkin):
Back in Madrid
After a very early morning Paris - Madrid commute, we are in Madrid and back in our normal weekly routines. Luckily it's a slightly short week. :)
Paris - Day #2
We set off again to find a good hearty French breakfast at a local cafe. The one recommended to us by the owner of the apartment was closed the first day, so we checked on it again today and it was open!
We went in and ordered drinks (coffee and juice), and then tried to look a menu. :) There were two choices of food with our coffees: croissants and little croissant rolls with chocolate inside them. We were a little surprised since the material we got with the apartment said we could get a typical breakfast at this restaurant. Only then did we realize that coffee and croissant is the typical breakfast, and if we wanted scrambled eggs and bacon we were out of luck!
After that we paid our bill and hit the road, a little disappointed but determined to make the most of our day.
Our missions for the day were the Louvre, Notre Dame, Starbucks, and then somewhere that sells a swimsuit in November (Jess forgot hers).
Success on all accounts!
French cartoons before bed:
Walking the streets:
This is the French equivalent of scrambled eggs:
Street markets:
The Louvre:
ML:
Ask Henry how to hold it when you have to go to the bathroom :)
Paris - Day #1
We made it to our rented apartment by 11:00pm and were asleep by 1:20am last night. Jess arranged for a car to pick us up at the airport since hauling sleepy children and luggage on train and subways in the dark is no longer on our 'must do fun list' (we did that in Japan in 2011).
This morning after we managed showers and a few French TV cartoons, we did our usual routine: just start walking in the city. We do that in every city we visit and I absolutely love it.
When I travel for business I usually see the inside of the airport, the inside of a taxi, the inside of a hotel, and the inside of my office. Very little else. When we travel for fun we do a lot of walking and get to see a lot of normal city life, which is super cool.
Today was pretty busy since we will likely not have many days without rain.
- French donuts for breakfast (Jess and I skipped. I can't believe she turned down a croissant. It's her kryptonite food ...)
- hiked to the top of a cool church
- excellent lunch in a random French cafe
- a few hours of (very chilly) open top tour bus around the city
- hiked up the Eiffel Tower
- nighttime boat ride on the Seinne
- figured out how the train and subway system works
- made it back to the apartment in the dark with no phone GPS
Walking the streets ...
They keep the feet on!
First time Truman caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (from the top of a church).
Random. We saw those two famous people again at the same cafe we had lunch at:
Daddy and Truman selfie under the Eiffel Tower.
Subway action:
We found a Costa Coffee. Jess was ecstatic!
There is a glass platform on the Eiffel Tower. Of course I had to test it out.
View from one side of the Eiffel Tower.
Almost ...
Right now we're packing, packing and packing.
There's a saying in Ericsson that no vacation goes unpunished before, or after (i.e. You build up work before the vacation and then have to dig yourself out when you return from vacation). The same is true with family vacations I suppose.
Olive goes to doggy camp today. Then we head to the airport around 4:00pm or so. We'll be in our hotel in Paris before the end of the day. :)
Tired already?!?
Tired already. Not sure how that can be.
Getting ready for vacation in Paris Wednesday - Tuesday! That means lots of logistic work for Jess and lots of work planning for me (to be away from the office). It should be worth it though.
Luckily there is no time change and the currency is the same. Awesome.
Truman threw a huge fit about wearing his uniform yesterday. After I convinced him to put it on, he just threw himself on the floor in defeat. He was in complete denial that he'd have to go to school in his uniform (last week he refused and he got to stay home with Jess ...)
Addi reading to Truman for bed last night:
Saw these two super cool and hip people last night while we were putting the kids to bed so I needed to take a picture. I'm not sure who they were, but they sure looked awesome! I bet they are famous ...
Great Stay-at-home Weekend
Lots of down-time this weekend. It actually felt like we all got to hang out for a few days. I can't remember the last time that happened.
Henry and I rediscovered our love for Star Wars Monopoly. The weather is still nice here so we played outside on the terrace.
Now that Adeline is getting started on the piano, I thought it was a good moment for us to start learning Apple's Garageband software. We didn't know anything about it when we started so played around with it for a while. We still don't know much but we recorded our version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth". You can listen to our little experiment here. Be gentle. :) I can't carry a tune to save my life but I'm hoping if we get the kids started singing they'll be great later on.
See if you can hear Addi's piano track in the background...
Teaching life skills:
Our professional "on-the-floor" recording studio:
Yes, they were all cheating...
Love the kids artwork
One of my favorite things about ASM is that on any given day I can walk around the school and see my own kids artwork on the walls. Here are some of the pictures. :)
School pictures 2014
American School of Madrid
Henry Grade 5
Adeline Grade 3
Truman K2 (Preschool)
TGIN: Thank Goodness It's November
It's not too often that I look forward to the arrival of a new month quite like I've been looking forward to November.
The last two weeks of October have seemed like a never ending Halloween party. We counted this morning and they celebrated Halloween five times with five different costumes!
What a difference a year makes.
Last year we drove across town to a village/town called Humera (south of Pozuelo which is where we live now). There are about 15 houses there that put on a trick-or-treat event. Nothing in our neighborhood. Nothing at the kids' school.
This year there were multiple activities at school. Multiple trick-or-treat nights (on different nights) plus Addi's Halloween birthday party.
On a side note: our house and car got egged last night. Silly Spanish kids.
On the way home from trick-or-treating last night:
The week is flying by
The week is flying by and we are all gradually wearing down from the activities of life. About this time every week we ask ourselves if we have scheduled in too many activities in our weekly lives. I'm sure families everywhere ask themselves the same questions.
Truman is learning to cook. He helped make breakfast the other day. He's taking after his sister in that regard. He's really showing interest. On the other hand, Henry is unaware the kitchen even exists until the food is prepared.
Poor Henry jammed his fingers playing basketball. He now gets to wear cool medical tape on his hand to keep his fingers together. He wore a bag on his hand this morning in the shower to keep the tape dry. It was a funny sight but not the best time for a photo. :)
One more shot at Halloween greatness
There is one last Halloween costume opportunity for the kids. They get to dress up on Friday at school. You know what that means? Decision agony about what to wear? Henry was trying to go to sleep last night but he couldn't because he was having trouble deciding what to be: Thor or Hulk. Life is full of difficult choices ...
For some reason, Truman needed to wear cycling gloves with his jammies:
It was Truman's day
Truman straight up refused to go to school today. Jess got him all the way inside his classroom but he refused to stay. Had his teacher stepped in he probably would've, but Jess didn't get any support. So... he got to stay home and help Jess out with her stuff.
Adeline and Henry are both feeling a little sick. I attribute the fact that they are like morons for 48 hours but it is possible there is a bug going around.
olive chillin like a villain:
