Life of Zach and Asia and much more

A Day At the ER

2011-09-21T22:22:00.000-04:00

Ah, what a day. We spent the evening at UPMC Passavant ER. Apparently Zach might have had a seizure while playing at the playground after school, but while he was climbing over a fence. So he passed out and fell off the fence onto concrete. It wasn't a really high fence, maybe shoulder-level - typical chainlink fence. He said he didn't want to walk around it so he was going to climb over it. Strange that he would have a seizure in the afternoon though. There's an after-school Y program at the elementary so the playground instructor was the one who saw what happened. John said he was in the car. Asia was playing at another side of the playground. She said she saw Zach fall but that was it. So John rushed Zach to the ER and I met him there. Then just lots of waiting and waiting. The doctors put a little neckbrace on him and told him to lie as flat as possible. Since he was conscious and talking and no bleeding, it seemed not to be too critical. So we waited. John left at around 5 PM to take Asia to her trumpet lesson. And we waited. Then a nurse practictioner dropped by and we talked about what happened. Of course, since I wasn't there when it happened, I could only relay what I had heard. Zach confirmed that he was climbing the fence and next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground. No neck pain, just a nice goose-egg at the back of his head. Just to be safe, he went in for a CT scan. Luckily it came back with no problems from the fall. Poor Zach was pretty nauseous. That's the only thing he didn't like. He had a little bit of a headache, but it's that nausea thing that really brought him to tears. He's now back in bed, and will probably miss school tomorrow. He was talking about some papers he needed to do for school. Silly kid thought he was going to go to school tomorrow? Asia did her homework in the ER waiting room. She said her job today was to keep her daddy calm. That was my job too. Can't have the parents freaking out - it affects the kids. What a night!

The Eiffel Tower

2011-07-26T03:59:00.000-04:00

We finally made it to the Eiffel Tower. It was one of the key stops we had to make before leaving tomorrow. We almost didn't make it either since it was so late at night. How to avoid all the tourists and the long lines? Plus the fact that it's been raining off and on all week. Sunday night, I asked Asia if she still wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and she assured me adamantly. So at 9:30 PM, off we went to catch the train to the Eiffel Tower.

The great thing was that the line to take the STEPS up the tower was pretty short. There was a little bit of a wait to get in. I think they only let so many people in at a time. Very smart crowd control. Lots of tourists and loud young Americans around us.

The two pictures above are from on the way to the Eiffel Tower, crossing the river.

Here we are on our climb up. Note to self - take the elevator up and take the stairs down. I wasn't sure I was going to make it after stair 400. Only 300 more to go.

The Eiffel tower is split into 3 sections. You climb to floor 1 and get a great view. There's a little cafe where we bought 2 bottles of water. Took some videos. And then on to the next floor. Here's a view down.

Look at all the little ants!

Well we made it to the second floor. We didn't pay to take the elevator to the summit but it's actually a great view from the second floor and very high up. There was a little of a mist going on but not too windy.

By the time we made it to the second floor, it was already midnight! We were a little worried about the trains closing - last train was supposed to be 12:45 am, so we had to rush down. Asia was a little upset because she was hungry and hoping we could stop to get a snack at the cafe on the 1st floor.

The main thing is we can now say we did the Eiffel Tower. The first trip, we walked under it and didn't go up it because the lines were way too long. Now we've done it! And I don't think anyone was too sore afterwards. What a workout.

Tuileries

2011-07-23T04:52:00.002-04:00

The kids have gone here two times so far. It's a small amusement park near the Louvre. Rides are from 3 to 5 euros each. John and I will pay for a few rides for the kids and then the rest, they have to pay themselves.

Here's Asia's favorite ride:

It starts out slow and then speeds up, turns the boat around so that you're going backwards and sideways, sprays mist.

Zach and Asia both agreed to bravely accompany each other on their favorite rides. You can see Zach above with a not so confident smile.

Zach chose an obstacle course. Asia ran half of it with her hands over her ears because she didn't like the parts that shot out puffs of air really loudly. Poor girl said she fell twice but she was a trooper.

Another favorite of the kids:

Who needs a hamster in a ball?

One of the things they wanted to spend their money on was snacks! Asia bought a candy apple (I think half of it is still in the fridge) and Zach bought a donut.

Musee D'orsay

2011-07-20T18:46:00.000-04:00

Today was a museum day. I did some research on this museum and saw some tips on buying tickets online to avoid standing in long lines. Last night, I tried to buy 2 tickets and had no luck. It would take too long to have them mailed and we can't open the mailbox here anyway. And the other option was to pick up the pre-ordered tickets at a few inconvenient locations. We decided to just risk it and hope there wouldn't be too much of a long line.

Here's the kids on the trainride to the museum. They are expert train riders now.

Luckily because of the rain, there wasn't much of a line. What really made the line go slow was the security. They check your bags and you have to go through some kind of metal detector. There are at least 6 cashiers to buy tickets so that line didn't take long. Tickets were 8 euros each for the day and kids are free. You have to love the fact that kids are free at all these museums.

At the Musee d'Orsay, you can't take any pictures. It's an old train station. It does reminde me of Chicago's Union Station. It has a humongous clock on the wall. You can imagine people bustling around to catch their trains. Unfortunately, there was construction going on so a lot of the first floor was taken up by temporary galleries so you lost some of the feeling of grandness in the lobby. This was definitely the kind of art we liked - much better than the Louvre. Renaissance isn't so much our thing. More impressionism.

Here's what the kids had to say about their favorite paintings:

Vincent Van Gogh

Portrait_of_Dr._Gachet c 1890

Zach: "It doesn't look like art. It's real and not real together. It's got a certain feeling to it. Wavy lines going in the same direction but changing different ways. All the different colors makes it look so strong, like on his jacket."

1889 Self Portrait

Zach: "In the background and his coat, it's wavy. All mixed together. For the coat, it's sort of wavy but different texture. The way his face is, is opposite with lots of individual strokes. It changes the whole picture and makes it look like real, not just wavy lines."

The Restaurant of Sirene 1887

This is one of Asia's favorites.

Thatched cottages at Cordeville 1890

Asia: "Similar to starry night. Similar sky and trees. Not so similar on the scene. I really like it, especially the colors. All the plants and the house too."

Claude Monet

London Parliament in Breaking Fog 1904

Zach: "So many colors mixed together. You can see the outline of a castle. You can see a sun. It blurs into one great painting."

Haystacks 1891

Asia: "Monet does haystacks a lot. Especially these kinds. My favorite is the background. The color just goes into it. The haystacks even have blue in it. It's just magical. Even how it pops out of the page. I just really like it."

Blue Water Lilies 1916-1919

Zach: "Blue and green are great colors to mix. Every now and then there's a white! It blows my mind."

Villas at Bordighera

Zach: "There are so many bright colors mixed together to make a great combo. Looks almost real. There's so much action."

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Bal du moulin de la Galette 1876

Asia: "How he does all the people and the colors! Even the grass, the detail! Amusing."

Aristide Maillol

Woman with a parasol 1895

Asia: "Colors blend together. The dress is so beautiful. Maybe I could make that dress if I had the fabric."

Paul Cezanne

Still life with open drawer 1877

Asia: "All the colors pop!"

Charles Emile de Tournemine

Elephants d'Afrique 1867

Asia: "Looks so real. Even the sky looks really cool. Even the birds! Just the colors! Really nice."

Henri Fantin-Latour

Chrysanthemums in a vase 1873

Asia: "Magenta, yellow and white chrysanthemums in a white and brown vase. Looks real, pretty, sparkly and 3D."

Cuno Amiet

Snowy landscape

Asia: "All the colors that I don't think would be snow colors come together. It's just magical."

Amazing Parks

2011-07-12T04:10:00.000-04:00

A big part of this trip is taking long walks to different parks in Paris. The park equipment here is so different. A lot of them are situated around strange spinning contraptions. No standard American swings here. I also love that most of them have park benches situated all around the park with lots of shade for the parents. A lot of the parks all have sand boxes as well as ping pong tables and even foos ball tables. You just bring your own paddle and ball.

In this picture, Zach and Asia are trying out a tightrope.

This one spins around. Zach is about to fall off.

Graffiti galore

2011-07-12T02:51:00.002-04:00

The graffiti all over the city is amazing and ridiculous. I don't know if it's sanctioned or what but you would rarely see a nice white truck because it's covered in paint. And the crazy thing is that a lot of the graffiti is really good! Take a look for yourself.

Montmartre

2011-07-09T18:00:00.005-04:00

Today was my chance to visit the Sacre-couer and Montmartre area. The kids had already visited it and I heard the walk back was the longest walk of their lives. First le'ts talk about the steps! Just in the train station - you had a gazillion stairs to climb. They were nice enough to build a seat into the wall for the poor souls who aren't used to a lack of an elevator.

Once you get there, you have a choice of paths to take. There's the fake stone wood staircase. Let's call it the "natural" path. It provides great climbing opportunity as long as you don't mind the smell of urine. Asia asked why it smelled like pee and I told her that most likely at night since the stairway is hidden, people use it as a restroom.

For those who want plain old steps, here you go.

Here's one way to get down I suppose:

Once you finally get to the top, you're awarded with a breathtaking view of the city, as long as you don't mind all the tourists. John took the kids inside during their first trip.

In the square in front of the Sacre Coeur, there are all types of street performers. In the one below, a man would climb a pole or do different athletic stunts with a soccer ball balanced on his head or on his foot.

In the video below, the performers asked for 4 young volunteers from the audience. It took some coaxing, but 3 girls volunteered at first. Finally the smallest one ran up and joined in. The performers asked the kids if any of them spoke English, none of them did. The performers then said in English, "Good because then you won't know that you're about to die."

The kids even had a chance to hear the story of Noak's ark from a puppet show that was performed (tape recording) in English and French.

At montmartre, Asia really wanted to ride the carousel, but not to go on one of the pretty ponies. Oh no.... She wanted to go on the "spinny thing." Zach said he wasn't going to go on the spinny thing. I had no idea what she was talking about. And she did get Zach to go on it and he had his head down and eyes closed most of the time. Such a good big brother.

Zach gets a haircut

2011-07-09T03:16:00.000-04:00

Just as the title says, we took Zach to get a haircut - for 9 euros. The barber couldn't speak a word of English so I made sure I knew the words for short - courte - and not so short - pas si courte. So basically I tried to say short around the sides - pointing here and here - and longer on the top. You can do a lot of with just a few words and lots of miming.

Zach Before

The finished product.

And here's a picture of Zach from March when he had long hair! He actually looks younger now - more his age. In the picture below, he almost looks like he's in his teens! We really liked the long hair but Zach got tired of his hair touching his ears or in his eyes. Guess I can't complain.

Loree Paris

2011-07-07T18:26:00.001-04:00

I splurged today and bought myself a Loree oboe. Don't ask me how much I spent. You can look online and get an idea. It's $$$ but I did save some money by going to the mothership instead of US distributors. It took me awhile to find the Loree office though. I was looking for some big music store like Volkwein's in Pittsburgh or the Woodwind and Brasswind in Ohio. But there's only a small nameplate on the door where you have to be buzzed in. I took two trains to get to the office, walked down the wrong road at first - Rue de Madrid. heh heh, the train station is called Europe. Then Rue de Madrid turned into Rue de Lisbon and I realized I was on the wrong road. Backtracked my way back to Rue de Rome and realized that was the street I wanted from the beginning! Then I had in my head that the address was 43 Rue de Rome (formerly 43 Rue de Madrid in my head) so I walked past the office about a block, crossed the street since I thought it was an odd number and had to backtrack again. No jaywalking here! Unless you want to be run over by a bike, scooter, motorcycle, bus, mini-car, or taxi. Basically lots of traffic. I seriously obey the crosswalk signs here. Anyway, I finally made it to 48 Rue de Madrid. Buzzed my way in and walked up to a quaint apartment on the 1st floor - as in not the ground floor. Again another American confusion of mine. A very nice woman welcomed me inside and brought me to another small room that had a bunch of oboes set up and an english horn. I was in heaven. The wall was plastered with pictures of famous oboe players from around the world. I recognized a picture of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's principal oboist - cynthia dealmeida. I also mentioned that I took lessons and get my English Horn reeds from Harold Smoliar. They were excited that I knew him and even gave me a little letter to bring back to him if I see him before the PSO travels to Paris in September. Anyway it was a great chance to feel like a professional musician trying out Loree oboes at the Paris headquarters. I pretended like I knew what I was doing. :)

Now the trick is getting this baby through customs. I have the papers and have been warned to go early to declare it. Question is whether I have to pay any kind of fee at the airport. I hope not. Yikes!

Luxembourg Gardens and the Pantheon

2011-07-05T17:23:00.000-04:00

We took a long walk to the Luxembourg Gardens today. It has a great kids' park in it. You have to actually pay for the kids to enter and then there are benches all along the park for parents to sit and watch their kids. There's a zip line and a really tall rubbery rope structure for the kids to climb. You can see from the picture that it gets pretty high.

There's also this carousel that the kids like to ride on even though they're getting so tall that their legs could probably drag on the floor. The trick is to sit on the outside horses so that you get a "lance" - a small stick - to hook onto a ring when you go buy the carousel conductor. Here's a video of Zach and Asia riding on it. It was pretty funny watching Zach try to catch one of the rings while Asia and the girl in front of him had no problem. It might have been timing though if the girl in front of him got a ring and the next one not coming down in time. At least they had fun doing it. There's not too many years left of these easy forms of entertainment.

We also stopped to rest at the Pantheon. We never go in, just use the steps to rest and marvel at the architecture.

You have to love all the old buildings and the GIANT doors.

Eating in Paris

2011-07-05T02:52:00.009-04:00

What's one of the best things about vacationing? Eating at good restaurants! Yes, sometimes it's hit or miss. Yes, it can be quite expensive. But what is Paris supposed to be famous for besides scenic foods? French food!

I've made an attempt on this page to document our many food adventures - most of them for lunch since we found that to be a cheaper strategy. Most of the time, we ate in for breakfast (besides a pastry or two from one of the nearby bakeries) and we almost always ate in for dinner (most of us being tired out by then anyway).

If we went out to a restaurant, I tried to grab a business card so you'll see snapshots of those cards. That is in case anyone who reads this and visits Paris in the future can then look up one of the restaurants to try on their own. I also tried to take pictures but often forgot. I have quite a few pictures of half-eaten bowls or empty plates which is unfortunately often when I remembered to take a picture. I've spared you from viewing most of those pictures.

One of the great things of this apartment that we are renting is the outside patio. We can sit and have our breakfast or read and drink tea, milk, coffee. It actually can get somewhat chilly especially due to the wind. And we're on the 10th floor (the 11th really since the French call the ground floor - floor 0.

John made a great salmon the other day. The vegetables just seem to be more fresh here. Not picked months earlier and shipped via truck to the Giant Eagle. Yesterday, we had spaghetti. Another day, we picked up a roast chicken and potatoes.

Here are some of the restaurants we've tried so far:

6/30

Le Tabarin on rue Amelot. This one is near our apartment. Traditional french food but nothing special.

7/4

L'Auberge Avegronnaise on rue Gabriel-Lame in the 12th district was awesome. Our waitress (who was also Asian) had lived in England for 5 years. This restaurant is near Parc de Bercy - one of the parks we visited. The special here is aligot which is a mashed potato dish with a raw cow's milk cheese called laguiole. When the waitress was scooping out the aligot from a large pot, you could see streams of it stretching from the bowl to plate. The portions here are big for French standards and the sauces excellent. We had a steak with pepper sauce, a chicken and mushroom stew, and the aligot with sausage.

Aargh! I'm adding to this post today 7/5/2011. We got snookered into eating rognon today. Look it up! It's veal kidney. The first time we were here, the word didn't come up in my dictionary on my phone or something and we ordered that plus some other local andoillete sausage. Both turned out to be the less eaten parts of the cow. Well, I was going to avoid having to eat that again now that I knew what rognon was, but no.... Today we ate a Cafe L'industrie. Our intention was to eat at an american BBQ on rue Sedaine but for some reason it was closed today, so we went to Cafe L'industrie a block away. I had written it down with a thumb's up from 2 years ago. I think we really like the decor more than the food, that's what John remembers. The place is somewhat like an old time speakeasy - old pics on the wall with themes of music, etc. Our plan today was to order the special of the day which looked like chicken skewers. We thought that was the special - what they call the formula - where you get an appetizer and an entree or an entree and dessert or all 3 for a special price but only from a select menu. So this is what we though we ordered: appetizer of the day - goat cheese with figs. Entree of the day - chicken skewers. Add to that an entree of sea bass. John also wanted to try escargot (aka snails). Finished with a chocolate cake dessert. What did we get? Cucumber soup (tasted more like goat's milk with a some crushed basil but was pretty off-putting). White fish with sauteed vegetables. One skewer of chicken with a small fruit salad and rice. AND a bowl of rice with veal kidney and mushrooms in a brown cream sauce. Plus 6 small snails covered in butter. And a chocolate cake plus the special of the day - milk pudding (something like sugar-free yogurt with whip cream on top). So we ended up getting much more than we ordered and a lot of what we did not want to order. It was not a satisfying meal. I think they though we wanted one of each formula special of the day or something. I don't know. Asia ate most of the kidney. We didn't tell her what it was. John also did eat most of the snails. At least the chocolate cake was pretty good.

7/6/2011

I had to get my steak tartare. Yes, you heard me - tartare as in raw meat! And it really does look like a raw hamburger patty with spices. Everyone tried it and actually thought it was good, but there's only so much raw meat an American can take. Especially when it just looks too much like ground beef.

The food wasn't that great. The decor was really nice though. Dark wood floors, panelling, seemed very old folksy though. In contrast to some of the other restaurants down the street that were packed with young people.

Basserie Flo. 7 cour des petites ecuries. in the 10th district.

7/7/2011

Today for lunch we had Ethiopian. We were the only ones in the restaurant. John thinks perhaps the food is too spicy for the normal Parisian? Anyway, we loved it. It reminded us of this great Ethiopian restaurant in Pflugerville, TX. The restaurant in Paris is called Restaurant Ethiopia. Original title! Address 89 rue du Chemin Vert. http://www.restaurant-ethiopia-paris.com/. Right in our neighborhood in the 11th district. The kids especially like the fact that they can eat with their hands! When we were ordering, the waitress made a point to ask if we were familiar with Ethopian food. I wonder if she has to explain how to eat the food to most customers.

Just the layout itself is beautiful. And that's Zach's hand reaching for food and he's really picky!

7/8/2011

For lunch we returned to one of our favorites from last visit- L'ebauchoir, 43 rue Citeaux. It's in the nice shopping district near our apartment. The place was packed when we got there at around 1:30 PM but we were able to get a table way in the back. For appetizers, we got the white tuna tartare and the herring with sauted potatoes. They were delicious. Unfortuately I don't think they sat well with John and I because within 1/2 hour, I had to make a trip to the bathroom and it hit John maybe an hour later. We shopped for a little bit and got Zach a haircut afterwards but basically had to spend the rest of the day in the apartment. The kids were unaffected but they only tried a bite or so of the appetizers. The two entrees we got were lamb and chicken.

Here's a picture of one of the desserts - ice cream with banana and chocolate. The other dessert was goat cheese with olive oil.

7/9/2011

Today, the food was mostly great Asian food. For lunch, we went to China Town - near rue de Belleville. We ate at Restaurant Asiatique. We figured if you saw lots of Asians eating in the restaurant, it has to be good. And it was. We ordered a beef noodle soup, a pork rice noodle soup, and beef rice noodle dish and potstickers.

For dinner, we had Korean food. This was our second time to this restaurant - Tae Yang, Restaurant Coreen, 10 rue Alexandre Dumas near the Metro stop - Rue des Boulets. It's actually only 2 train stops from our apartment. I see us going here quite often. This is actually our second visit already. The first time, we had bulgogi we grilled at the table and cold bibimbop. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the food - bibimbop in a hot stone bowl with sizzling rice, bulgogi soup, vegetable tempura, and potstickers. And wine comes with dinner! We didn't know that until we heard the people next to us speaking some English and talking about the wine. John asked them if it came with the dinner and they said it depended on what menu you ordered. We confirmed with our waiter that our orders came with a 1/2 pichet. We had no idea what a pichet was and it didn't come up on my downloaded French dictionary or the culinary dictionary I had. I just looked it up online - a pichet is a jug. So your dinner either came with a 1/2 jug of wine or 1/4 jug of wine. The jug was a little carafe of wine - enough for about 4 glasses of wine which was plenty. And there's a choice of red or white! Great deal. Clean plate club! I ate all the kimchi sides too.

Along the way, the kids also had several snackes of crepes and corn on the cob! In different street corners along Montmartre, you find these corn vendors - put a little metal pail with charcoal in a shopping cart and you're a corn vendor!

Oh and I can't forget dessert! There's always lots of little places to stop for coffee and dessert. One secret I haven't let the kids in on yet is drinking hot chocolate! Not like the powdered Swiss Miss we usually get! We'll have to order hot chocolate for them as a special treat.

7/14

Chinese food again! We seem to eat a lot of really good Asian food here in Paris. A great contrast to French food. And definitely not something I can easily get in Pittsburgh.

Today was free entrance day to the Louvre. After visiting the museum, John wanted to eat as far away from tourists and touristy restaurants as possible. We found a little Chinese restaurant down one of the alleys. Fusion Cuisine. Why it was called this, I have no idea. I was thinking it would be more new age Chinese. Here's a snapshot of the menu specials for the day.

We chose the dim sum sampler (which Zach ate most of), this great spare rib dish, fried rice, and beef with onions (also great but way too many onions).

7/16

Today we went to the Clignancourt Flea Market in the 18th district. We stopped at a Vietnamese restaurant for lunch just a short walk away from the Simplon exit on the Metro's line 4. I had heard some good reviews of the place.

I was a little hesitant when we first entered the restaurant because it wasn't in the best area and the restaurant didn't seem packed full of people. Of course, perhaps Vietnamese food isn't that popular with the French? We ordered a beef caramel dish, a vietnamese crepe, beef pho, and porc ravioli. Everytime we've ordered ravioli at an Asian restaurant, it's been our faithful potstickers. This time, not so much. When the raviolis came, I thought perhaps it was there version of a crepe. It was a grayish color which turned out to be delicious ground pork and spouts wrapped in rice sheets with a sweet and sour dipping sauce. We didn't know this wasn't the crepe until the crepe actually came. Here's the Vietnamese crepe. We ate everything else before I could get a good picture. The flavors were amazing. The beef dish didn't even look like it would be enough but it packed some much flavor into each bite that it was quite satisfying. The pho broth was great though it missed the usual additions such as putting in your own sprouts, basil, sriracha and hoisin sauce. The waitress did ask if I wanted hot sauce and instead brought these incredibly hot raw sliced red peppers. I ate one sliver and knew that if I ate any more of those peppers, I wouldn't be tasting any more of my meal.

The Markets

2011-07-05T02:37:00.000-04:00

One of the things we like to do here in Paris is visit the many markets. Many of them are like flea markets or like the Maxwell Street Market in Chicago. Open air markets selling vegetables, meats, cheeses, plus clothes, trinkets, and then garage sale-type items or thrift store type items. There will be bins of clothes for 1 or 2 euros that you have to sift through to see if you can find something. Zach and Asia have both been given 100 euros to spend for the month. Zach has spent maybe 9 euros so far, Asia has spent almost 30. I've bought 2 skirts for 5 euros each, a dress for 5 euros, a belt for 5 euros, and 2 scarves plus some jewelry. Asia's bought 2 hats, some figurines, a doll with no clothes on, a small eiffel tower, and a chinese fan. Zach bought a Marvel note book and markers and a miniature eiffel tower. One of our goals is to buy clothes for the kids for the school year. I don't think we'll find much of those at the market even though Parisian castoff's are probably still a few years ahead of regular Pittsburgh styles.

Here's Asia in 2 of the hats she bought. The second picture is a ride that Asia had been waiting to go on since we got here. She remembers it fondly from the last time we were in Paris. The ride just goes around and around and is really for younger kids but she insists on riding on it. Gotta love them we're they're still young at heart.

Viva La Paris

2011-07-04T03:41:00.000-04:00

We are back in Paris. Actually have been for a few days. We left Pittsburgh 6/27 and arrived in the early morning the next day. The flight wasn't bad, got all of our luggage on board including Zach's violin. Our flight from Charlotte, NC to Paris was delayed by an hour due to one of the runways being closed due to thunderstorms. We tried to get the kids to sleep some on the plane but they were too excited - free movies of your choice! Asia ended up getting sick on the arrival to Paris - not sure if it was the slight turbulence or the sugar from the breakfast pastry and the lollipop to suck on during the descent. I was a little worried about Zach too because of the lack of sleep possibly bringing on a seizure, but he was fine with the 1 1/2 hours of sleep he got on the plane. Another difficult part was the lugging our big suitcases on the train. I'm not sure how we're going to do that on the way home since we plan on having an extra suitcase. We actually nested one of our smaller suitcases in our biggest suitcase (we call it "Big Greenie"). So we had Big Greenie, plus our new silver Samsonite with the really smooth gliding wheels, a cute blue striped wheeled carryon that consisted mostly of food like a box of Cheerio's and instant noodle packages, my laptop case that also was a wheeled case, Zach's violin in a case that he could wear like a backpack, and an actual backpack. Again, the tough part was taking those suitcases up and down the stairs and trying to fit them on the trains. A few nice people would help me with one of the suitcases as I waited for John to come back up or down the stairs.

We're staying in the same apartment in the 11th district that we did 2 years ago. The owner has renovated the kitchen and the bathroom. He replaced the tub with a modern shower with a huge square rainbath showerhead. He also has a washer AND dryer. Last time, I had to hang the wash on a drying rack that took forever and gave you stiff underwear. He also got new appliances for the kitchen - stainless steel fridge, builtin microwave and oven. He left us a welcome note and mentioned that maybe one day, he'll redo his patio. So on this first day of arrival, we settled in and took a nap. So much for trying to get on to the Paris timezone. Even today, it's already 9 AM and everyone but me is still asleep. We usually get rolling around 11 AM for whatever we have planned for the day. Bedtime seems to be around 11 PM for the kids, midnight for John and me.

So far, we've visited our old park in the area where the kids played soccer 2 years ago. The pictures below are from what we call the Art Park. It's basically a riverwalk with different statues on it. The kids were encouraged to climb most of them.

At the end was a little park, but as you can see, who needs a park when you have cement?

Dig It - The Musical

2011-05-16T17:48:00.003-04:00

Today was the fourth grade musical play. Zach's grade performed Dig It! A Musical Tale of Ancient Civilization. Zach's role was Remus. Basically he had one of the more comedic roles in the play as you can see from this video:

He gets hit by a rock and has to die a dramatic death. He and Asia had fun practicing.

Here are some more pictures but you can't see Zach too much. He's in the last row in the middle.

May Dance Recital

2011-05-15T08:26:00.010-04:00

Saturday May 14th was Asia's annual dance recital for West View Dance. This is a program sponsored by the PTA and held at the school. Asia loves it because it's fun and her friends are in it. It's not that challenging of a program but I'm beginning to see some promise in Asia's stage presence and considering putting her in additional dancing or theatre classes.

First up was ballet. The piece was called Music Box Dancer.

The tap dance piece was to the song Baby by Justin Bieber.

I was backstage as a parent helper so I didn't get that many great pictures or videos of the performance but from the side view, she sure looked good! During the tap number, Asia and her friend Lydia both slid and fell a little on stage, but they both just shook it off and kept going. Those darn tap shoes! :)

Asia and her friend Paige.

This is Asia's jazz outfit. The jazz piece was I'm Still Good by Hannah Montana.

This pose is what you get when you watch America's Next Top Model.

Here's a video of the dress rehearsal for the jazz piece. It's not the greatest video since I'm backstage and Asia is way over on the other side. You can see glimpses of her - 1st person on the front row on the other side of the stage.

The last number that Asia was in was for tumbling. The song was Walk Like An Egyptian. Here is the video from the dress rehearsal, the only one in which I actually sat in the audience.

In between numbers, the girls played Apples to Apples.

times quickly changing

2011-05-01T14:23:00.004-04:00

When did these two adorable children

become these two rascals?

*sigh*

updates and more

2011-03-11T21:12:00.004-05:00

Zach got his braces off last week! He is now wearing a retainer. I didn't realize a retainer is this big hunk a plastic that you put in between your upper and lower front teeth and you basically bite down on it. You can't talk with them on, you can't eat with them on. He has to wear them for 4 hours during the day (not consecutive) and then all night! I don't know how he does it. Zach is such a trooper. No complaint. He just puts that retainer on, slobbers away, mumbles, and goes on to whatever he's doing - playing Wii, playing computer games, practicing his violin.

Zach has been reading The Hunger Game series. He blew through the first two because they were so exciting. He's sort of stuck on the 3rd one. Not as much of a rush to get through it and see what happens. I think I was that way too. You don't want it to end. Well, now it's going to be a movie. I'm not sure if Zach will be mature enough to watch it with all the violence. We'll see whenever the movie comes out.

Asia is my little soccer star. She's at practice right now. She has a soccer practice (indoor) from 6-7:30 PM. Apparently she wanted to stay for the 2nd session too. She's going to be one tired girl. Good thing. She can eat a snack and then go to bed. She played an indoor match last weekend and she even got a chance to play goalie! All the girls were excited to try it out.

This weekend, Zach has his first chess tournament. I'll try to remember to update my blog on how he does. Asia and I am going to the Market District to see Aarti Sequeria. Hee hee! She won The Next Food Network Star two years or so ago. Asia and I watch her cooking show - Aarti Party. She makes Indian Food look easy. Another cooking show I'm hooked on is called Chinese Food Made Easy. And yes, the host, Ching, really does make it look so simple! She's British and she and Aarti actually sound very similar. I made a version of one of Ching's dishes tonight - mushu chicken. And sort of combined it with her Egg Fu yung which is actually a Chinese street dish. I always though it was some Americanized attempt at chinese food. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/ching-he_huang

Of course, I never have on hand the ingredients I need so I used old corn tortillas that have been wrapped up in my fridge for about a month. No mold, so it's still good. You just lightly toast them over the stove burner and they're good to go. Then I marinated the chicken a little in soy sauce, black vinegar, and mirin (rice wine). Cooked up the chicken with some minced garlic. Spread a little hoisin on the tortilla, put in a few julienned carrots, onions (didn't have green onions, some fried leeks, a few drops of Sriracha sauce (vietnamese chili paste), and some slivers of egg omelet. Yum!

Romp N Roll

2011-01-30T21:21:00.002-05:00

Today was the Girl Scouts Romp N Roll day where each girl scout in our area (West Perry) gets to bring a friend to roller skate. Asia brought Acacia this year. Last year we tried to go and Asia got the stomach flu a few minutes before we left. Literally - we were walking out the door with Asia and her friend Lydia. Asia says that she's not feeling well, and then she pukes all over the floor. I told her that it worked out right that we hadn't left yet. This time, all went well. My new GPS-enabled phone got us to the skating rink without any problem, even though it took us on a back road that seemed sketchy. Once we were there, it took Asia a few tries before she was comfortable with her skates. First it was a size 1 inline skate. That was too small. Then a size 2 inline skate, it was too wobbly. Then size 2 four-wheel skates - those made her fall all the time. Then back to size 2 inline skates -but one of them was defective so she wore two different types. A few mistarts. Luckily Acacia is a patient girl and waited each false start.

Asia actually skates pretty well (for not skating that often). I watched from the sidelines, debating on whether I should go talk with some other mom's or read or keep a vigilant eye. I get really paranoid. I told Asia that I could never take her sledding because if I did, I wouldn't let her have any fun. I'd probably end up yelling - don't sled that way, watch out for that kid, there's a bump there, veer left! I'd be the only mom out there yelling amongs a sea of dads.

Towards the end of the skating time, I was chatting with another mom, and then bam! Asia took a big spill. I could tell by the way she was slowly getting up that she was hurt. I helped her off the rink, gave her a few hugs, and then reminded her that Acacia was probably looking for her. Asia was a trooper. She dried off her tears and went back out on the rink. She's been getting a lot tougher these days. It used to be that she'd get hurt and then she was done for the day. Now she gets up and keeps going. That's my girl!

Mexico 2010

2010-11-10T18:50:00.061-05:00

Ahhh... another Autumn trip to the Mexican Riveria. We stayed in the Iberostar Paraiso Maya resort, the same one we did last year. We flew on a direct flight from Pittsburgh on USA 3000. Not your common airline. Even when we arrived at the airport, the sign that said where to check in for USA 3000 was practically home-made and also incorrect. One of the airport workers told us to go to the Delta line. The flight was uneventful. The kids ate some of their halloween candy during the flight and read or drew. Below is a picture of Asia and Zach fighting for the air-conditioning vents once we got on the shuttle to the hotel.

After checking into the hotel, we decided to talk to our rooms instead of waiting for the typical golf carts that can zoom you off to different destinations. On the way, we ran into a family of coatis. I remember seeing one or two last year, but their were tons of little baby ones this year.

In this picture, you can tell Asia is looking at something - the camera flashed off its eye.

In this third picture, I took a walk alone in the morning and the boardwalk was covered with these little coatis. Here's a video of them. You can either play cute music in the background or think menacing music as they sneak up behind me ready to attack!

Someone forgot to tell us about the early time change in Mexico. We were ready to go to lunch only to find they were still serving breakfast the next day at what we thought was still noon. It took us awhile to get used to having a later lunch and a bigger breakfast or multiple breakfasts. The main lunch buffet didn't open til 1 PM. Breakfast was served til 11:30 AM. We eventually figured out you could snack packs of cookies, fruit and granola bars from the breakfast buffet to save for munchies later on. I even grabbed some for the airplane ride back.

When it came to the meals, it would have helped to be able to speak more Spanish. I found that true in Paris as well. When you're in a restaurant and want to know the ingredients of a dish in a foreign country, basic language skills just aren't up to par. I stumped a few of the cooks/servers when I asked for soy milk one morning. I was shown the oatmeal and the dried oats. Eventually I learned to just ask the bartenders and drink servers for soy milk for my coffee instead of the line cooks. Another time I asked whether the eggs had milk in it and the server had to get another manager out who could speak English. He looked like a college student and his English was pretty good. He asked if I had a milk allergy and I nodded, not about to explain that it was really just a lactose intolerance. I basically learned to take lots of Lactaid pills or else avoid anything that had white stuff on it - assuming it was cheese or sour cream.

Some of the perks of the hotel room? Patio balcony of course. Jacuzzi tub - definitely. Stocked and often replenished mini-fridge full of water, sprite, beer, and other drinks.

Swim up bar.... Asia loved swimming up to that bar and asking for a kid's pina colada.

Reading poolside....

The wave pool....

The kids are wearing the funky blue swimcaps because they were in the kid's club. One way for the counsellors (aka babysitters) to know which kids were theirs.

The beach....

The food... Each night you could sign up for a different theme restaurant or just eat at the buffet. The star below is of fried rice - Japanese steakhouse restaurant. Unfortunately the kids were so tired this night that they almost fell asleep at the table, so we skipped out on dessert.

But most other times we helped ourselves to the appetizer and dessert buffets.

I don't know if you can tell, but the pastry to the right is in the shape of a swan - cream-filled. And the chocolate molten cake next to it was decadent. Not that I felt that great afterwards, but I couldn't resist!

Zach ate really well in Mexico - buffet-style always helps when you have a picky eater. Here he's enjoying some ribs while John flashes the big 4-1 for his birthday dinner.

Early morning walks on the beach.. John and I would trade off...

The scenery of course...

And the towel sculptures!

In this third picture, you'll see a towel birthday cake. John's 41st birthday. The kids made him cards and tried to keep John happy all day. A couple of times, Zach got grumpy over something like losing a chess game to John, and then Zach would remember it's a special day and give John an extra hug. Below is a picture of John reading Asia's birthday card and wearing a paper hat she made him.

Chess was a favorite pasttime for John and the kids. I played one game against Asia and she forked me twice, castled, and checked me once. I did eventually win but not without some cool calculations against my 7 year old. I played Zach twice. The first time, he checkmated me in about 3 moves. The second time, it took a few more moves before he once again checkmated me.

Asia even did her homework - half of it at least - while in Mexico. The little boy who shall remain anonymous forgot his homework at school so he ended up doing it all on the Monday that we got back. Luckily Zach's teacher only gave him a little homework. Mr. G had told me that he wanted Zach to enjoy his vacation. Asia, on the other hand, had gobs of homework that she spent most of that Monday evening finishing up what she didn't get to in Mexico. They only missed 3 days of school yet it seemed like Mrs. M had given Asia an entire week's worth of schoolwork.

Another part of the resort the kids liked was the mini kids club. You could sign them in during the day and they can meet other kids their age - many from New Jersey who had the week off or Quebec or Toronto. At night, there would be the mini-disco on the stage. One night, we found the kids doing the hokey-pokey on stage and then a game of musical chairs. John and I had gone out to the French Gourment restaurant that night which was adults only, so the kids went to the kids' club for dinner. I don't think they would have gone up on that stage if they had been with us, since they were with the club counsellors, they didn't have any choice but to participate.

Notice how many kids are starting out in musical chairs? Now watch the two videos to see the outcome of the game.

The final two had to run around their chairs as well as around the host. And the winner is?

The happy couple

episode

2010-10-17T12:12:00.002-04:00

Bummer. Zach thinks he had a seizure last night. He has been sleeping in the living room because John replaced the outside door in his room (goes to an old patio above the garage) with a window and since it's so dusty and smells like chemicals. John and I went out last night to hear a concert and didn't get back til 1 AM so perhaps are coming back in the house messed up Zach's sleeping patterns. Or maybe it's because he didn't eat well that day. It's hard to say this time. But it's been almost a year since Zach has had a seizure! That's the good thing.

what am I raising?

2010-06-07T22:41:00.002-04:00

Asia made a disconcerting comment today. Something that caused me to question how I was raising her.

She said, "Mom, I just want to be a talented mom."
"What do you mean?" I asked, thinking maybe she was trying to get at something else.
"There's so much I want to do and I want to do it all at home."
I was still confused, so I continued to prod her. "But you need money to live. How are you going to live?"
Her reply, "Oh, my husband can work. If I need to, I can sell some paintings."

Where did she get this? Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with being a mom. Or even a talented mom. Asia mentioned that she had many talents. I was thinking, maybe she was awestruck by all the mothers of her friends who are dedicated to their children and show up at their children's plays and volunteer? But this thing about not having to work and her husband can support her? Where did she get this? It's not like that is the model she sees in our house. I'm racking my brain thinking of any TV shows that she watched recently that might have instilled this notion of hanging out at home to do whatever she wanted while the husband worked. Now it's very possible that Asia meant she wanted to be an artist and work at home. And maybe she's the kind of artist that doesn't want to commercialize. It's intriguing. I'll have to bring up this subject with her again to see what she meant. Of course, she said all this as we were driving to pottery studio class. And who's idea was it to go? Mine, of course. And again, there's no problem with being a mom and wanting to stay home. Or even aspiring to be a mom and stay home. But I think most of us have aspirations to be something. And you want your kids to want to be something. I'll have to get to the bottom of this.

Science Fair

2010-05-13T21:44:00.005-04:00

The West View Elementary Science Fair is upon us. Guy U and I have agreed to chair it again for the PTA. Not that anyone else wanted or asked us to do it. We just took interest in it last year after hearing some complaints about way things were run and we were willing to work with the teachers to make changes. At first, there was the fear of whether we'd get some backlash regarding any modifications, but surprisingly enough the teachers here are very accommodating. "You want to change the judging rubric? Sure! You want to split out the information packets? Go for it!" Of course, I did sense a little frustration when some of the changes didn't go as smoothly as planned, but we learn from our mistakes. We also have lots of volunteers who are very willing to help and have great suggestions. You never know if you're going to get stuck working with people who either don't give a rat's ass about the entire situation or fight you every step of the way. Even our temporary principal has given us the thumb's up for every idea.

Asia, as usual, wasn't sure what she wanted to do for the science fair. At first, she was going to show how to make a home-made lava lamp. Then she heard from me that there were some other kids that were doing the same thing. (Evidently other moms read the same Family Fun magazine that I do!) So Asia started to veer towards doing something with eggs. Last year she did a project in Mrs. S's class with turning an egg all rubbery by soaking it in vinegar. This prompted Asia to have her science project about what makes eggs the worst - Sprite, water, vinegar, Coke. You'd think it was the vinegar, but from the outside, Sprite made the egg look all cracked and bloated and yellowish. With the vinegar, at least the egg still looked like an egg. So this year, I looked for projects with eggs again and we found one where you can make an egg float by putting salt in the water. Asia then tried to see if she could get a glass bead or quarter to float. She used about 15 teaspoons of salt and no luck. John noted that if she put enough salt in it, the egg would definitely seem to float. It'd actually be sitting on a mountain of salt. I started trying to explain density to my dear daughter and she started to get flustered. This past weekend we finally agreed on what her science project would be - what cereal will get mushy faster. Of course, she wanted to throw Sprite into the mixture, so instead of what cereal will get mushy faster in milk, it was what cereal will get mushy faster in Sprite. I was able to explain to her that most people eat cereal in millk so it would make more sense to measure cereal in milk rather than Sprite. Thankfully she agreed.

I remember when science fairs were less about consumer science and more about your usual science basics. Our family did projects such as how birds fly and a model radio kit. I have a picture of my friend Denny holding a huge conch shell to her head. Now the popular science projects are what popcorn pops the fastest or what diaper holds more water. I even found some science fair suggestions like what food makes you produce gas. Anything to make science more interesting for kids these days!

Today we started Asia's project by choosing the cereals for her experiment. She almost took the opportunity to buy all sugary cereals like Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. I got her to agree on Froot Loops, Total, and Cheerio's. Right away, she thought that Froot Loops would get soggy last because it has a coat of sugar. I like how she knew that it was a sugar bomb. Then it was a toss-up between Cheerio's and Total. She doesn't usually eat Total corn flakes and she said she has had Cheerio's before when they were mushy. Based on past experience, she was going to choose Cheerio's as the first to get soggy but then after I insisted she look at the two cereals and munch on them first, she thought the Total will get soggy first because it's so thin. Tomorrow or this weekend, we start the experiment and we'll see just what cereal gets mushy first.

Zach's project is going to be on what cleans stains off glass better - Windex, Vinegar, or Soap and Water. The tough thing is we were going to use a pane of glass or something and put some hard stains on it - dried jelly, marker, but I was hoping we'd have something in the basement to use. I haven't found anything yet so I'll have to keep looking. I asked him to write in his journal today because it's required for experiments and he wrote one line - I hypothesize that vinegar will work better. Then he got carried away on to something else. It's tough drawing the line between how much you help your older child when you think he should be able to do some of these things on his own. Yet he sees how much time you spend with his younger sibling and you hope he doesn't read into that.

Well we'll see how things go as our science fair experiments progress.

Mothers Day

2010-05-09T22:12:00.006-04:00

Yet another bittersweet Mother's Day. It's always tough around this time of the year because I usually have a band concert and Asia has a dance recital which is what brought my mom to come and visit one weekend two years ago so that she would get to see all these great things along with Zach's musical. She did see Zach's performance and Asia's dress rehearsal and dance recital. Unfortunately she had a heart attack before she could make it to my band recital. So every early May, a little part of me is really sad when I'm playing at my band concert or watching Asia's dance recital.

Sometimes I applaud my kids' teachers because I think if they didn't force their students to make a card for their mothers for Mother's Day, some mothers wouldn't get a thing for Mother's Day. Asia made this cute card with a little pin that had her picture on it. Her card reads:

"Roses are red. Violets are blue.
Look at the Sky. The sky loves you.
When the violets are blue I love you.
When roses are red that's when I love you as much as a circle is round."

Zach wrote a poem on a cut-out heart but thought it didn't look that great so he put half the poem on a heart card.

"No matter the cost
I am always there
I know what you're thinking
Your heart will not tear."

Where do they come up with this stuff? They're so good! You have to cherish this stuff now. Here's the two scenario's I envision when my kids are teenagers.

Scenario 1: Zach walks in my office and tosses me a card. "Here mom." He leaves quickly so that he can return to his computer game. It's a Hallmark card signed simply "Zach." My daughter walks into the room and gives me a flower, saying: "Happy Mother's Day! I'm going to the mall. Can I have some money?"

Scenario 2: I walk down the stairs to the smell of food cooking. Asia yells out, "Mom, have a seat at the dinner table. Enjoy a glass of wine!" Zach pulls out the chair so I can sit down. John is cooking something fantastic at the stove. Both children and dear husband sit down and we enjoy a delicious home-cooked dinner over great conversation. Relaxed. Unforced.

Ha ha ha! I can dream. Or I can start training them now for scenario 2! Kids, get in the kitchen now and cook me some food!

So back to reality, I spent some time on Mother's Day reading a book and relaxing on the couch. Not unlike most Sundays. I was reading "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" for my book club. Of course, I get to the part where the dad dies. It is just so well written and I know so well what narrator Francie is going through. She realizes that her Papa is gone. That she will never hear him come walking up the stairs singing a song. That all she has left of him is a shaving cup with his name on it. I couldn't help but get teary while reading that section. Then to top it off, later on John and I were watching the end of a movie on the Reel channel. It was an old movie with Ann-Margaret. She has 10 children and lives on a farm, but then she gets some kind of cancer that only gives her a little time left to live. Her husband is an alcoholic and has a hard time keeping a job, also because of his arthritis. He's not a bad dad but they know that he can't take care of the kids, so she decides to find parents for all ten children. Little by little she gives away each of her children. The hardest to find a home for is her 6 year old who has epilepsy. She ends up having to bring him to a children's home for retarded children. Just before she dies, she takes one last bus trip to see all of her children. You can tell that she's in a lot of pain and she is travelling, but she tries to hide it from her kids. As a somewhat happy ending, the 6 year old boy is adopted by a family who has already adopted one of the younger sons. And at the Mom's funeral, all the kids crowd around their dad because they realize now that he feels he has no one and they want him to remember that they're always a family. Gotta end in a happy note, right? Anyway, J and I were bawling our eyes out. Can you imagine having to give your kids away because you know you're dying! You have to watch Spongebob or something after that just to cheer yourself up.

Crazy Snow!

2010-02-06T21:33:00.006-05:00

I don't know how much snow we got last night and this morning but it snowed everyone in. Anything that was supposed to happen last night and today was cancelled. We couldn't get out of the driveway. Asia, Zach and I shovelled all day. We were finally able to get out at around dinnertime with John carefully backing the van out of the driveway and then gunning it at the last bit to get out onto the road. He went around the block while I shovelled some more. Against all odds, the kids and I drove to Giant Eagle at McIntyre Square. The main goal was to get out of the house. Second was that Asia won a coloring contest at that Giant Eagle so I took her to get a prize. Problem is we got there and the kid's club had closed early due to the snow. Probably 15 minutes ago. Third thing was that I wanted to reward the kids for helping me to shovel. They both picked out stuffed animals at the store.

Here's some pictures of Asia shovelling the backyard. We gave up on it quite quickly to save energy for the driveway. But it was funny to watch. And you get an idea of the amount of snow. I think I'm going to be in major pain. I'm popping Ibuprofen like there's no tomorrow. Earlier on my arms felt like they were on fire. It reminded me of my college days when I helped with church summer camps and we'd go canoeing near Mansfield, OH. One time, I don't know if it was because the water was really deep and fast or not as deep, but I must have rowed alot because my arms hurt really bad the next day. I remember looking through the bathroom cabinets in the house I was staying to find some kind of pain reliever because my wrists and arms were so sore.
Also Asia wanted to try out the swing. Ha!

it's a snow day, it's a play day

2010-02-05T22:11:00.003-05:00

I remember reading this baby mickey mouse book with Asia and Zach. It was one of those picture books where there was one sentence per page that rhymed throughout. This one had baby Minnie, baby Donald, baby Mickey and baby Pluto. They were having fun in the snow. "It's a snow day!" I thought of this book because it's snowing like crazy outside. It's quite beautiful. All the dead plants and weeds and eye sore broken sidewalks are covered in white. I can't even see our front pathway. Here's a picture of our backyard. The only one who's been out is Jersey. Hopefully the kids and I can have some fun outside making a snow fort tomorrow, though we'll see. Both kids have birthday parties to go to tomorrow. And Asia has pottery class. We like to keep our kids busy. Less time to spend in front of the TV or computer.

asia birthday

2010-01-18T09:19:00.004-05:00

Asia got her birthday present today - an electric guitar. Hannah Montana style. Only because it was a better quality and cheaper price. John searched online for different child-size electric guitars. I just heard Asia yelling upstairs - "I've been waiting my whole life for this!" This has been since she went to play at her friend Paige's house who also got an electric guitar and microphone for her birthday. Asia, Lydia, and Paige will rock out and created a rock band called something like Hannah Montana Girls. I don't think Asia has even watched a Hannah Montana TV show or movie.

We also had a small birthday party for her in honor of her real birthday. Her actual party will be in a week. Gives us more time to get the kitchen ready since it's under construction. Asia and I made the ugliest cake ever. She wanted two layers to it and purple on the top with blue and stars all around. So we made stars and letters out of white chocolate. Then the first layer of the cake was strawberry and the top half was pumpkin. That was because I only bought one box of Strawberry cake mix and happened to have another box of pumpkin cake mix in the cupboard. We were making this cake more for fun anyway, not so much to eat it. We're not a big cake-eating family. Pies though don't last more than a few nights with restraint. Berry pies. Pumpkin pie. Apple pie.

Here's a video of the small party we had.

Zach's Bday party

2009-12-05T20:47:00.013-05:00

Today we celebrated Zach's birthday party. He invited 13 friends. Two couldn't make it. The ones who made it: Jake, Ethan, Max, David, Luke, Adam, Aidan, Jeremy, Sam, Nick. They were so loud and crazy. Constantly jumping on another another. John had a bunch of games planned, similar to last year. They started out with playing with lego's.John broke them up into different teams for each game.
The first game the boys played was the Mummy game. Who can wrap their partner up with toilet paper faster and use the whole roll?

The boys found the ones who went slower and steadier won. Else the toilet paper kept breaking.

The next game was taking this long piece of twine that was tied to a spoon. The boys were split into two teams. The first person in the team had to take the yarn spoon and snake it down their shirt and then pass it to the next person who had to do the same. When it got to the end of the line, they had to then untangle themselves.

The third game, the teams had to see who could keep a feather off the floor the longest by blowing on it.

One hilarious game was a dress-up relay race. There were two paper bags full of clothes - John's socks, my pajama pants, John's shirts, Zach's hockey jersey, Zach's winter hats, and my scarves.

The first person in the team had to put on all the clothes properly and then run around the house and then tag the next person who had to put on all the clothes. Total chaos. Very funny to watch. Everyone trying to help one another to put on clothes. One person putting on socks on to the team mate, while another team mate was trying to get the shirt untangled. The rest of the teammates are yelling stuff like "Faster! Faster! Put on the sock! Get it on!"

One game was outside - Basketball shots. While the boys were outside with John, I got the next game ready which was throwing pennies, nickels, and a few quarters all over the kitchen floor and under the dining room table. I didn't watch this one since I went to get the pizza, but John had them all scramble to pick up as much money as possible in a certain amount of time. We then added up each cup of coins to determine the winner. One kid said he only picked up dimes. Another one said he found a quarter. Those were the two that won this game. The kids got to keep the money they found.
John also had the kids take shots on him with a hockey puck and soft rubber ball. Max and Jeremy both got 2 out of 5 in the goal. Zach, Aidan, Adam, Luke, and David all got one goal. The final game was who could make the tallest free-standing tower out of gumdrops and toothpicks. Last time we did this with newspaper and tape. That seemed a little too difficult for second graders. This time, it was pretty easy. The tallest tower went to Zach and Jake at 14 inches. Next was Aidan and then Sam. Afterwards, the kids decided to make a maze and stick their towers together. It's still on our kitchen table. Aidan was the last to leave the party and he said to leave the maze. He told Zach to try and roll a ball through it. It's pretty funny. I love that they were so creative. Plus at this age, they're all still polite and listen. Yeah, they were screaming and jumping on one another, having pillow fights with my couch cushions.
Winners earned points on a chart. The winner got to pick a prize from a bunch of toys and candy we bought. The biggest prize cost $20. It's funny but the cost of the toys doesn't mean that much to the kids at this age. One of the boys had a choice between some lego sets and remote control cars and he chose a giant KitKat bar.

The final scoreboard

Here's a video of the kids singing happy birthday.. which then turned into a kid-generated smoke alarm.

All in all, considering nothing was broken, no one was hurt, and everyone went home happy, I say it was a pretty successful party.
For gifts, Z got lots of money which he was happy about, plus some gift cards, a game, a nerf gun, and a bionicle lego creature. Plus he picked a robot car out of the prize stash.

another one for Zach

2009-11-29T11:06:00.001-05:00

Zach is now 9! His party isn't until next Saturday due to the Thanksgiving holidays. I got him a toy called UCreate where you hook it up to a computer and it's basically a digital camera on a little pad. You take pictures and can incorporate the pictures into a few games that the software includes. Zach was up til 11 or so playing on it. Then the next few nights, he's gone to bed late as well. That's holidays for you. Unfortunately, we think he had a seizure this morning but for the first time, neither John nor I heard it. It just looks like dried mucus on his blanket and he woke up really nauseous. He hasn't complained of a headache yet. But he did wake up at 10 AM which is rare. We'll see how the day goes. His last seizure was in July.

allergies and stuff

2009-10-31T09:35:00.000-04:00

We found out that A is allergic to papaya. At least, we think she is. She had a smoothie with papaya in it and within 1/2 hour or so, she started breaking out in really bad hives. They spread from her tummy all the way up around her face. The worst case of hives she's had. I gave her some Benadryl right away and within a few hours and a nice nap, her hives were gone. So add that to cats and maybe penicillin. Poor girl was wondering why her body is so sensitive.

For Halloween today, Zach is going to be a hockey player. He was going to be superman but the muscle costume is tight around his neck. He spent so much money on that Superman costume. Oh well. Asia is a goth death fairy. Basically she made the costume up - drew pictures of it. And then I helped tone it down some. She wanted a headband with horns on it. All black. A cape. Face painted. Rings, necklaces, blood. A wand with a skull on it. Eeks. Wasn't she Cinderella last year? 360 degree turn. Anyway, we'll see how it goes. I changed the headband idea to a black veil. She's wearing a black summer dress of mine. Then I made her some wings.

kick it to the flu or not?

2009-10-13T22:54:00.003-04:00

So the question of the day is - to get flu shots or not? Especially the "dreaded" H1N1 virus. Yes, if you have a respiratory ailment or are very old or very young, I can understand the need to get flu shots. The question is if you're relatively healthy. Do you just grin and bear it when you do get the flu? You get it once a year. You're miserable during the time, but you drug yourself with all kind of symptom-maskers and you deal with it. You're out maybe a week. But you could avoid that misery during that week by getting a flu shot, right? That's the whole purpose of it. Whether or not it blocks the flu you get, you may not know. Do you listen to the hype? If I were in the office, I'd probably get it because they would be offering it for free. You step out of your office or cubicle and go to the lobby and get your flu shot. How convenient. But how about when you don't work in an office or how about vaccinating the family? It sounds like such a hassle to find a clinic that still has flu shots available or try to get one with your doctor. You'd have to research on just when the H1N1 vaccine is going to come out. Then maybe stake out your doctor's office to find out when they'll have their shipment. All for nought?
I was thinking of getting at least the H1N1 because we're going to Mexico for vacation. I thought they had an epidemic or something already. Though if the epidemic already passed them, maybe it's extra safe? Also you have our dear germ-spreader, Asia. Touch this, touch that, fingers in the mouth, fingers in her nose. "Go wash your hands!" She's not Miss Sanitary. Opposite of her brother. Zach is a very thorough hand-washer. So I would almost want to vaccinate Asia just so she doesn't get the virus and spread it to me. Hmmm.. I don't think it works that way. Alas.. flu shot or not. flu shot or not. I will debate this in the next few weeks and probably throughout the winter until it's spring and then decide then that I don't need it or should have gotten it.

construction time again

2009-10-09T17:54:00.010-04:00

Ooh, it's been awhile since I've written in this blog. Maybe nothing beats Paris? It's more not wanting to sit too much more in front of the computer as well as having to jog my memory on what happened to have something to write about.

John has started construction on our new kitchen! He's torn down the wall between the living room and the kitchen. Here's a pic with half of the wall removed.He put in new flooring which consisted of tearing out the ceramic tile that was installed, which then revealed a few layers of linoleum. Yes, "wonderful" shades of dark green or some red brick or something. I forget already. Who knows what years those were from. Not to mention revealing some interesting white shiny wallpaper that was painted over a few times. Zach helped out in removing the ceramic tile since he got paid a dollar for every tile. And it wasn't easy work. I tried to help a few times. You hammer a chisel under the tile until it cracks and pieces of it flies into your face. Yes, I was wearing protective glasses, but that only covers your eyes.

Of course to get to all the floor, the stove had to be moved.

We kept cooking on it until eventually it was moved outside and covered with a tarp. Hopefully we don't get rid of it without removing my cookie trays and pizza stones that are in the bottom drawer.

So how do I cook in the meantime? Well, of course, we go out quite often. Last night, Asia and I went to Olive Garden. John and Zach were at soccer practice. The night before was Chan's Tea House. Again, we brought food home since Zach probably had hockey. But for lunch since I rarely have time to go out... today I had ramen. Notice how I cooked it.

Good ol outdoor cooking. Luckily it wasn't raining. So now John has the new floor down. It hasn't been stained yet. Looks kinda neat with the zigzag of old and new wood.

The kitchen/dining room space has a nice openness to it. An echo when you talk. Yesterday, we were looking at reviews for ranges and stovetops. Exciting. Stay tuned.

It's my birthday in Paris

2009-08-09T16:20:00.008-04:00

I turned what... 2009-1971. That's how I have to figure out how old I am. I think after you're like 25, you start to forget your age until you hit a big round number like 30, 40, 50, etc. 65 is another biggie or is it 67 now for social security or retirement? Anyway so today I turned 38. Two more years til the big four oh. It's the end of the day in Paris. John is putting the kids to sleep. I got a voicemail from my sister with her singing happy birthday and an email. Also got an email from my brother and chatted with him last night. I'm signing on to Instant Messenger to see if my dad remembers but he's not online. Birthdays was my mom's thing. I miss her calling me up to wish me Happy Birthday. Oh, just checked my hotmail and there's a birthday message from my dad. Hooray!

John took me and the kids to a nice restaurant nearby for lunch.

You can see where we were sitting, right by the door. I'm not a fan of eating outside because of the cars driving by and the great view of the garbage cans. Some of the restaurants are a little farther from the street, so we might eat outside then. Asia also isn't a fan of eating outside. Unless it's specifically a picnic in a grassy area.

The place was called Maison Chardenoux. Here's a pic of some of the menu:

Here's Zach playing on John's cell phone. He now officially calls it WT - Waste Time. He'll signal a W and then a T with his fingers, meaning, "Dad, can I waste time?" It keeps him quiet at the restaurants. The appetizer here is the muskmelon balls, sauternes jelly and basil sorbet. It was really good. The basil sorbet was in this little shot glass and Asia eventually drank it all up.

This is the foie gras - duck liver with fig chutney. Very smooth and silky.
Another great appetizer was the panned squid with Espelette pimiento. The squid was fresh and not rubbery at all.

This is one of the main dishes - Casseroled codfish with fresh peas and country bacon. The country bacon was more like stewed ham and was really good.

This is the other main dish - stewed pork with potato puree.

After dinner we went to two parks that the kids don't go to as often. There was a group of Asia women there with there kids. They were speaking Mandarin and maybe Taiwanese. I couldn't always catch what they were saying, but one lady there was really animated and somewhat loud. I could tell that she was quite a character in a good way. Someone who'd keep you laughing and entertained. Afterwards, we went home. The kids played a little computer and I read. It was nice and relaxing. Asia even decided to do the dishes, though she used the hand soap instead of the dish soap. And she wiped down the counters.

The kids started to get bored, so we decided to do some painting. John had bought all these canvasses and paints in a Toronto dollar store thinking that he'd take the kids to the Eiffel tower area and other scenic areas so they could paint what they saw, but he confessed to me later that he wasn't sure how to even get them started if he did take them out to paint. I was the one who usually did craft stuff with the kids. Unfortunately, Asia got frustrated with her paintings and went into a crying fit. I explained to her that you could let the paint dry and then paint over it, but she didn't want to wait for the paint to dry. Plus I think she was hungry so she couldn't cooperate. You can see Zach's 2 paintings on this side - one of a snow-capped mountain and the other of a bug. The picture on the bottom is one I did of the view from the balcony.

Eventually Asia got out of her funk when John came back from the store and I asked her to go help her dad get the birthday dinner ready. Asia loves to help with things like that - decorating, setting the table, etc. She had made me a card earlier and it took her quite an effort to save it til lunchtime for me to read. She kept handing it to me earlier saying that I could read it now or at the restaurant but that it would be better if I waited til the restaurant.

John took this picture of the birthday dinner and cake. Great picture, n'est-ce pas?

Finally a good restaurant

2009-08-07T18:05:00.002-04:00

The goal today was to get haircuts and go shopping. Zach and John have both had their hair cut already and both look pretty good. Asia needs a trim. I was thinking of getting something new. Every now and then, I like to go to a good salon and ask them what they think I should do with my hair. The hairdresser inevitably asks me about my lifestyle. After finding out that I'm a work-at-home mom who spends very little time on my hair and gets haircuts once every 6 months, I usually end up with a bob that if I really wanted to, I can curl under or out. I can't seem to get away from this haircut. So I thought, maybe I can go to some French hairdresser and not tell her about my occupation or lifestyle and see what happens. Of course, the risk is the language barrier. I could be trying to say, keep it chin-length, and they might think cut it as short as possible. I called one place nearby and made an appointment for 5:30 PM (I think) with dismay after hearing that no one there spoke French. They didn't even take my name down so I didn't feel too guilty about not showing up. I read some reviews from ex-Pats about a place that would take me some time on the Metro to get to, but both hairdressers speak English. I just didn't think it's worth the trip. I also found a place called Alternative that's in the area that I planned to go shopping in, so instead of calling, I decided to walk by it and see what clientele they had - like to make sure some lady doesn't come crying out of the shop or someone with a really bad hairstyle or find that only men get their hair cut there. The name worried me a bit too - Alternative. Would this be a place you go for a mohawk? Anyway, when Asia and I walked by during our shopping excursion, the place wasn't even there. It was a more expensive hairstyling salon. This is not the first time that a restaurant or store that I've wanted to go to has been renamed to a different restaurant or store. I wonder if it's just a change of management and still the same chef.
The good thing about the day is that John and Zach had gone out earlier to do some shopping for school clothes for Zach and we ended up meeting up unplanned. Asia and I were taking a break eating a late lunch at a restaurant when I looked out the window and saw John and Zach waiting to cross the street. So they joined us and we did some more shopping. It's a little daunting when you're not exactly sure what a sale sign says. Is that buy the first one and then get the second one for 1 Euro or is it that the second is 1 Euro off or what? Does the red smiley face card mean something different from the blue smiley face card on the sales item? Anyway, live and learn.
We also hit the jackpot on a really great restaurant. A lot of the places we've eaten so far have been fine, at least one good dish, but nothing really exciting. This time, we ran into a place called L'Ebauchoir on Rue de Cietaux. We first went to this one restaurant that looked really neat inside because it had all these different kinds of sofa's, but they only served sandwiches. Asia and I am not a fan of sandwiches for dinner, so we turned the corner and saw this other restaurant. It was 7 PM and the restaurant opened at 7:30, so I made a reservation and then we hung around the outside of the restaurant. John walked off to grab a snack and drink since he was starving. The kids recorded a video for another of their Harry, Buzzard and Goober shows. Their imaginary radio characters have been to the Pantheon, the cemetary, and the apartment. Now the rue Faubourg area. I haven't put the videos on Youtube or anything yet because they're pretty long but quite funny.
So the bill for L'Ebauchoir was quite expensive, but what you would expect for the service and quality of food. This is the first restaurant that refilled our water carafes without us asking. The waiter spoke great English and was very nice. He explained the menu for us since we couldn't figure out most of the menu. One pork dish that we ordered - when I looked it up, the definition was something like filthy pig. One of the tricks of the restaurant is that they give you a bottle of wine, if you want wine, and you pay for how much you drink. So of course, we drank the whole 21 dollar bottle - a 2005 Massereau Bordeaux. So here's an idea on the bill in euro's:
1 Tartare - a white fish - excellent - 11.00
1 Oeufs Poches - poached egg in mushroom sauce - also really good - 9.00
2 rascasse (rascasse a la plancha, legumes a l'huile d'olive de Provence citronee)- this was a white fish entree. John told the waiter that we haven't had any good fish yet and the waiter recommended that we try this dish. It was so good and I didn't even try it at first since John and the kids devoured it, so we ordered another one. The dish was 19 euro's each.
1 puree truffe (puree de pomme de terre aux brisures de truffe) - this was a potato puree with some truffles in it. delicious. Asia and I really liked it. 6.00
1 cote de cochon fermier cuite a basse temperature, peche rotie et miel de l'Ardeche (if I wrote it down right) - this was the pork boneless ribs with a roasted peach and side of mashed potatoes. the gravy was sweet brown and we ate it all and wanted more. 19.00
1 gauteau riz - I think the restaurant must be famous for this. It was called something like grandmother's recipe rice pudding and there was a replica of the dish on the wall as part of the decor. You get this 11 inch rectangular baking dish full of rice pudding that was caramelized and tasted somewhat like flan. We couldn't finish it and weren't even sure if we were supposed to eat the whole thing. I was thinking it was another one of those pay for how much you eat, but John said that'd be unsanitary. The whole dessert was only 6.50. It could have fed 6.
1 millefeuilles - this is a dish that the kids ate up. it had these small thin wafer cookies with caramel ice cream in them and caramel whipped cream.

So the total bill? A whopping 117 euro's which includes tax and tip. But it was all worth it.

Paris Tooth Fairy

2009-08-05T04:29:00.003-04:00

Asia woke up this morning and noticed her tooth she lost last night was still under her pillow. John told her that the tooth fairy was still on Pittsburgh time so it was still night there. Asia got 2 Euros for that front tooth.

The thin French

2009-08-02T17:36:00.002-04:00

I've been wondering how the French stay so thin. I know that the questions been asked before and is quite the cliche. I still have to wonder. Most of the dishes you get at the restaurants are really fatty or rich and then all the white bread. Can I ask for a wheat baguette and not be laughed at? It's even difficult to ask for rice or noodles instead of the sauted potatoes or french fried potatoes that accompany most dishes. Maybe that's not what Parisians really eat? Maybe it's the smoking or all the really strong coffee? Though I do see a lot of salads on menu's, cooked vegetables doesn't seem to be a French forte.

I'm sure it's all the walking. This is a big city. There's lots of traffic but mostly out of towners. Everyone walks or bikes. The city is built for that. I love how almost every block has these rental bikes that are automated. We haven't been able to use them though since our VISA cards don't have the smart chips needed. I'm thinking it's also the way the grocery stores are laid out. You don't drive your big mini-van or SUV up to the local grocery store and stock up on a month's worth of processed foods to store on your shelf. You get enough here that you can carry back with you if you're walking or on your bicycle or your scooter or your little rolling cart. All the grocery stores I've been to here have been really small. Not much selection. And good reason too since you can't get too much anyway. I think that's the secret. You go to the grocery store or market and get what you need that day which means fresh ingredients that may be cooked in duck fat or lots of butter, but don't have all the fattening chemicals in processed food. Is that the secret? Can I try it at home? Probably not.

PereLachaise Cemetary

2009-08-01T17:35:00.006-04:00

Today we visited the Pere-Lachaise Cemetary. http://goparis.about.com/od/sightsattractions/p/Pere_Lachaise.htm

John's not feeling well - he has a bad cold or flu, so I took the kids out. First we went to the grocery store to get juice and lunch stuff. Asia picked out some hot dogs and strawberries. We can't get too much since we'd have to carry it all home. The kids are so much better now with walking long distance and carrying stuff. Not one complaint, though the grocery store is only 1/2 a block away or so. After lunch, we planned to go to the cemetary and have a snack there - the strawberries and drinks. When we got to the cemetary, we found one of the guard stations and asked for a map of the cemetary. Then I picked out a few people to find. The kids didn't know any of them. We picked 8 people to find but only found 4 of them before we ran out of time and energy. We found the graves for Rossini, Chopin, Jim Morrison, and Ledru-Rollin. We wanted to find Ledru-Rollin only because the main street we live near is named after him. After awhile at the cemetary, Asia started to get spooked out. She wouldn't even drink her Orangina or yogurt drink in the cemetary. She thought if she stayed near there or breathed in the cemetary, she could die. She also didn't like the lack of color and the dirt. Zach had a great time. I had him find the different graves while Asia was the photographer. That helped some. The last grave we looked for was Jim Morrison's. It was a little more difficult to find because it's not right on the main paths like the other's. We walked by it at least once and circled the area around it. I only found it because I saw people going to it. We found a few grassy areas to take a break in. The last one was near the crematorium, I think. First we played hide and go seek. Asia and I had to find Zach. The problem is that he kept moving around when he saw us. I filmed the search but ended the film before we found Zach since it was taking too much space on the camera. It was supposed to be like one of those reality shows. At the end, Asia and Zach filmed one of their Harry, Buzzard, and Goober shows. It's starting to become a theme to record these reality spots. John started it with the kids where John is Harry, Asia is Goober, and Zach is Buzzard. I think it's supposed to be a spoof off of the cable show, ICarly. Anyway, the kids get really crazy when filming one of their shows. I have to figure out how to get them on the net, but they're kinda long. After we filmed the show at the cemetary, some guard on his motorbike started yelling at us that the cemetary was closing. Then he drove on further to yell at some other people. He was herding us back to the main entrance. That was kind of funny considering that they were yelling in French and most of the visitors were not French. I just knew that ferme was closed so that's enough for me. At first I thought they were yelling at us for filming or because the kids were too loud.

After the cemetary, we went to one of the local parks and the kids played at the playground and in the sand. Zach was using his empty plastic Orangina bottle to make some interesting percussion sounds off of the bench we were sitting on. He really has an ear for rhythm. Then it looked like it was going to rain and it was 7:30 PM anyway, so we headed off to find somewhere to eat. We were going to go to this one place nearby on Ledru-Rollin that had some great chocolate mousse but it was closed. So we went down Rue de la Roquette to a place we went to before that looked like a coffee house. They actually have a children's menu, though not the biggest choices - ham or a hamburger patty. Zach ate it though. Asia shared some pasta and scallops with me. Then we shared dessert - ice cream and a really good brownie.

Eiffel Tower

2009-08-01T06:22:00.005-04:00

We finally made it to the Eiffel Tower. It's one of the only things that the kids have wanted to see in Paris since it so defines the city. My co-workers keep asking if I've seen it as well. During our honeymoon, we only saw the tower in passing on the train. I think we're also getting used to walking long distances since the kids did not complain at all about the long walk. We walked to the Pompidou Center and then took a train to the Eiffel Tower area. It helps that we stopped for lunch along the way and then ice cream later. There's this really great ice cream place by the Pompidou. I didn't realize til later that when you get an ice cream cone, they layer it so it looks like a rose. I just thought they were being artistic when they put an outside layer of a different flavor of ice cream. The kids like the tiramisu flavor and the various chocolate flavors. I like the biscotti flavor. We didn't actually go up the Eiffel Tower though the line didn't look as bad as I thought. John said that the wait was about 1/2 hour. Still a little much for the kids.

Tour de France

2009-07-26T16:34:00.009-04:00

Today was the final day of the Tour de France at champs-elysee (http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html). Our goal was to be in the vicinity when the bike race ended and say we'd been there. First off, since it was a beautiful cloudless day, we decided to go to the beach. I'm thinking beach along the ocean or man-made beach along a lake or the river. Well, there was sand and river, but not sand next to the river. There was an area of sand for people to play in. Then a long pathway for people to walk on, fence, then a stone walkway, and then the river. And no one was swimming in the river either. Nor did it look like you would want to swim in it. But it was a nice riverwalk. There were little fountains with drinakable water, a few cafes to get something to eat or drink. The first thing we did was play petonque or bocce ball. Actually, John and the kids played. I watched, took pictures, read some of a book, and ate a sandwich.

Then we kept walking in search of a beach and it didn't look like it was going to happen. We found this one kid's play area with sand and this obstacle climbing course. I signed Asia and Zach up to get in but didn't see any signs saying that they had to wait for the next group of kids to go in, so I told them to take their shoes off and go in. They got yelled at by the instructor in there and Asia wouldn't go back in after that, even if it's the right time. Difficulty with the language again. We kept walking and found a swimming pool. We couldn't go in right then because it was for kids 10 and up. In 1/2 an hour would be 10 and under's swimming time. Luckily we made it in time. I was worried we wouldn't get in because people were lining up outside. Only adults with swim suits who are accompanying kids can go in. No picture-taking is allowed. When you walk in, you have to take off your shoes and wade through a little pool of water to wash your feet. Then you have to wear a swim cap. They had convenient machines there that sell not only swim caps, but goggles and speedo's. So yes, men had to wear speedo's. No loose swim trunks. Everyone had to shower before going in to the pool and there were a few more foot washing basins before you got in the pool. But hey, it's free! And way to keep it clean. There were at least 4 life-guards. It was pretty nice actually. Very refreshing. Afterwards, we changed and then took the train to the Champs-Elysee area to catch the end of the tour de france. http://www.letour.fr/indexus.html. We did see some of the bikers go by especially since we were near the Arc de Triomphe which is where the cyclists go around before they get to the finish line. I couldn't tell who we were looking at though.

The kids couldn't see over the crowd, so Asia was on John's shoulders, and John was holding Zach. Poor kids almost broke John's back.

Who won the race? Overall - Alberto Contador from Spain, Andy Schleck from Luxembourg, and Lance Armstrong from US.

day 9 in Paris

2009-07-24T17:32:00.012-04:00

I had the whole day off today. It's been nice to just wake up whenever, make a nice cup of decaf coffee, and read. Then eventually the kids get up and they get ready. Zach will have a croissant with some chocolate in the middle. John will have his croissant. I might have some of a baguette with tomatoes or mustard. I don't like sweet stuff for breakfast so much. And lately Asia has been making her own scrambled eggs. She loves to cook. She'll crack her own egg (and often with no shell getting in the bowl), and mix it. Then I'll turn on the stove and put oil in the pan. She might help me spread the oil over the pan. Then she'll pour in the egg, put in some goat cheese, and then stir the eggs herself. I'll just stay in the kitchen and watch that she doesn't burn herself. Then I'll scoop the egg into her bowl and she'll season it with salt and pepper. It's very cute. I think it helps that this apartment is smaller than our house so everyone is basically within the vicinity of one another, so Asia is more independant. For a snack before dinner, she followed Zach and got her own bowl of cereal with milk. John, Zach, and I were in the master bedroom/office, so she wanted to eat with us, but at least she got it all by herself. Hopefully the kids bring these habits back home.

Yesterday, we found a neat little restaurant to eat in. The original one we planned on going didn't open til 8 PM and it was 7 PM. We didn't want to wait an hour. We tried to go back today at 8 PM and it was reservation only. Eventually we'll make it in there and it better be worth the effort! So back to the other restaurant. I never get the names of the restaurants because I usually forget them unless I get a business card from them or go there again or if it's simple enough. I do remember what they look like though so we can try to go again. This place was designed more like a coffee house and had live music that starts after 9 PM. The kids especially liked the comfy chairs. That's one of their perks in the restaurants these days. Asia will ask, "Mom, can I sit by you on the comfy side?" This is because a few of the places we've eaten in would have a table with a bench on one side that has padded seats and the other side would be two hard chairs.

Here's a picture of one of the salmon appetizers we got.

Today we went to the Luxembourg gardens. First we took a train to Leon de Bruxxelles (http://www.leon-de-bruxelles.fr/) where they're supposed to have really good mussels, and they did. John said we came here during our honeymoon - actually twice - once with his friend Mike and then again on our own. I don't remember it, but the restaurant reminded me of the good mussels place in downtown Toronto.

Afterward, we took the Metro train to the Luxembourg gardens with a pitstop to a pharmacy to get hydrocortisone because the kids are getting eaten by mosquitoes or something. It started raining again during this time, but luckily I brought my umbrella. The rain was off and on. Even while we were at the playground at the gardens, it started pouring. Zach and Asia were one of the last sets of kids who ran to the sheltered area. Crazy Americans. Earlier in the morning, we had also gone to a flea market and I bought 3 shirts for a euro each and a shirt and shorts for Zach for 5 euros. Asia really wanted this porcelain slipper but it was 6 euros. The seller was going to give it to her for 5 but she only had 2 euro's. We gave Asia and Zach 2 euro's each that they could spend in the market. Zach bought 2 transformer like toys. Asia decided to save hers since we said next time we go to the market, we'd give her another 2 euro's. So anyway, the 2 long-sleeved shirts I bought at the market for the kids came in handy at the park during the rain. I was freezing, on the other hand. The kids mainly played on two structures in the playground. One was this really talk teepee as seen below. I think it was strategically built so that if a kid fell from the top, they'd hit all these other ropes that it's made of and not get seriously hurt. At least, I'd hope.
For dinner, we returned to our neighborhood and ate at Royal Voltaire. The duck foie gras with fig jam was delicious. John got oeuf mayonnaise, which we'd seen as an appetizer quite often and wondered if it was really just an egg with mayonnaise. Well, it was though the mayonnaise was more like a mustard-mayonnaise sauce. For the kids, we got them penne, but it was with this cream alfredo sauce that they don't like so they didn't finish it. John got blanquette de veau - a veal dish with a slight cream white sauce and rice. He loved it. I got what was called beef on a board, and it was literally a steak and fries on a slate board. For dessert, the kids had vanilla ice cream (I thought less sugar and caffeine for them, Asia didn't appreciate it but she ate it), chocolate mousse for me, and tiramisu for John.

day 7 morning

2009-07-22T17:00:00.003-04:00

This morning, John went to the department store to buy swimming suits for himself and Zach since apparently men aren't supposed to wear swim trunks. They have to wear speedo's. Hmm.. should be interesting. He didn't find a pair thought that were cheap enough. 100 US dollars for a pair of speedo's! Come on! He's going to find the Paris equivalent of K-mart and try shopping there. So while he was shopping, I took the kids for a little walk to lunch before I had to go to work. We stopped at this little ride that is by our house. The kids have been wanting to go on it even though all it does is go round and round. I guess they're not too old for it. Plus they use their imagination. I didn't see Zach pretend shooting anybody, so that's good.

We also took some pictures in the downstairs lobby of the apartment building. Asia is really into these fashion poses that she saw on America's Next Top Model on tv back home. It's rare to get a cute little girl pose from her. I thought this first shot grabs the future personalities of my kids. Can you picture them in 10 years, in their teens, and looking similar to this? Zach has this quirky pensive look - like here I am - like it or leave it, I suppose, but stay happy because I'm smarter than you. Asia has this look like I'm the hottest thing since sliced bread and you better acknowledge it or I'm going to be in your face. I think we're in trouble.

This one better depicts my goofy kids at their current age. Whew! Bottle it up because it'll never be back.

day 7 dinner in the south

2009-07-22T16:44:00.004-04:00

Tonight we had dinner at Les Enfants du Sud. It's just around the corner from our apartment. This is our 2nd time eating here. The first time, the owner or manager served us and he could speak English and was really friendly - genuinely. He was there a little today, but we had a different waiter. It was off and on raining too - pouring. Luckily we didn't choose the tables outside that had no covers. Most of the people who were eating outside under the awnings had to move inside. These 6 guys that were there moved inside and kept having to go back outside to smoke. All six at once each time. It was kinda funny. Girls go in pairs to the bathroom. Guys smoke together. Here's the menu. Today we had the gambas which are giant prawn/shrimp and the special of the day, trout. It was a whole little trout on the plate and wasn't bad. We also had two appetizers - terrine du chef - I think it was duck pate with a few pickles and os a moelle which was pretty good. It's basically these bones and you eat the marrow inside it with toasted baguette slices. You get this little spoon and you scoop out the marrow and put it on the bread with some sea salt. Very good. Probably not the healthiest. I should have taken a picture of it because it's definitely not something you'd see every day in Pittsburgh. Or ever.

Here's a picture of the dessert menu. We had the tiramisu which was served in a little glass and the mi-cuit du chocolat et son coeur croquant which was chocolate molten cake with this little hazlenut candy in the middle. The kids devoured it! John and I managed to grab a few spoonfuls. Zach and Asia scraped every little bit of dessert that they could off the plate and cups that it came in. They would have licked the dishes clean if they could have. At least they had the knowledge not to do that.

Our apartment

2009-07-20T17:19:00.004-04:00

Here are more pictures of the apartment we're staying in.

This is how the kids have redecorated the living room. I sure hope the owner doesn't mind his furniture used to make forts, clubhouses, and stores. Zach has also claimed it for his bedroom on account of Asia's snoring being too loud.

The little kitchen equipped with a dishwasher, fridge, and a washing machine. We've done at least 4 loads so far. The nice thing about this apartment actually being lived in is that it is equipped with almost everything you would need. I've even figured out how to use his Italian coffee machine. It's so much better than the drip style. And only makes one cup which is perfect for me. I think I'm going to have to buy one. I even had to look up the instructions on how to use it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moka_(coffee_pot).

We brought Zach's violin so he can practice and in hopes of having him take some lessons while he's here, but the lessons haven't happened yet. He does actually volunteer to practice so that he can get some time on the computer and his practices actually sound good.

The bathroom. I haven't figured out how we're supposed to use the bidet thing. Notice that the toilet is not in this room. It's in its own little room, which makes it a little more cumbersome when we have to keep reminding Asia to wash her hands after she uses the toilet since the sink is in a different room.

Asia's room. Isn't she a cutie?

The kids playing the computer - nickjr.com. Asia's wearing her little cap which is all you can see of her. Zach's helping her play a game.

Paris day 6

2009-07-20T16:45:00.009-04:00

I skipped yesterday because it was uneventful and not one that I really want to remember. John's lack of sleep and my hormonal nature (PMS) didn't mesh. heh heh. Anyway, we ate at a bad pizza place for dinner, thought it had the cleanest kitchen and restroom I've seen yet. Maybe because it was new. Or maybe the building was newer too. What is amazing is that the Tagliaterre Carbonara - Spaghetti Carbonara - that I mistakenly ordered because I thought it was a red sauce - didn't kill me. I took two Lactaid pills just in case. I think this should be the diary of a Lactose-intolerant Asian American Woman in Paris. Yeah. It would not be fun to read.

We did go to a market yesterday, walking quickly to get there before it closes, but I think it must stay open a little later on Sunday. When we went on Thursday, they were all packed up by 12:30. Makes sense though that they'd stay open later on Sunday. Most of the stalls were all of food. It was pretty amazing. I wish I could have bought some of the meat or fish but I wasn't sure what was what and how long we'd be out before we went home. One of these days. I did get some Japanese rice snack mix and cashews. I also bought a shirt for Asia and a really cute leopard cap. Zach got a soccer ball.

Later that day, we went to a park. The kids liked this one ride where you sit together and they'd swing it back and forth until the back hit the ground and Zach would cry out in discomfort. Then they'd do it again. I also took a picture of a really pretty tree. I have no idea what it is but it has really feathery leaves. I finished my book - Girl, Interrupted.

Today, Asia and I went to a soup restaurant while John and Zach went to a sports store to get some Ping-Pong equipment. Asia and I love soup. We get it from my dad. He loves soup too. Anyway, this place only serves 5 or 6 soups a day. Today's selection was a carrot soup, lentil, zucchini, cold tomato, and gazpacho. Asia had the lentil and I had the cold tomato. The lentil was really good. I also took some carrot soup to go.

Afterwards as we were walking back, we met up with John and Zach walking back from the sports store. We returned to our apartment since I had planned on working a half-day. And what a crazy half-day it was. Very hectic. Here's what the kids did with John while I was at work:

I finished my third book - a good year - by Peter Mayle. I liked it because it had a lot of references to French wines and cooking. Apparently it was made into a movie with Russel Crowe. I can't see it being that interesting of a movie though. Tonight we had dinner at Le Pause Cafe. It was recommended by the owner but the thing is I forgot to write down what he recommended at the restaurant so we weren't impressed. Apparently it's the place to go for lunch and the daily seafood plate is the thing to get. Oh well.

Paris day 4

2009-07-18T16:58:00.005-04:00

Today was a less eventful day, mainly because I got some bad Chinese food or something and had to stay in bed and near a bathroom for a few hours. Not the puking sort, but just as worse. Or maybe it was something else since John ate the same thing as I did but less quantities. Anyway you never know what it is. But I was fine by dinner time and we went to place called something like Les Enfants de la Sud. It was a nice locale place and the waiter was really nice and spoke English. We had an appetizer of terrine - like a pate loaf. Really good here and something I think I'm going to have more often. Then we ordered three main entrees - St. Jacques scallops with noodles (looked home-made), steak with fries for Zach, and lamb chops with scalloped potatoes. Zach ended up liking the lamb more than the steak. The steak had this great crust of sea salt (fleur de sel) on the top. The scallops were delicious. Another great meal.
The kids kept themselves busy this evening by rearranging all the furniture to make it into a store. Then they played with model clay for a bit and also did some Sudoku puzzles. I'm reading "Girl, Interrupted" as well as a collaboration of short stories written by former Peace Corp members - a book I picked up in a thrift store in Goshen.

paris day 3

2009-07-17T19:51:00.004-04:00

We're still not on the right time schedule. John and I were up maybe after 10 AM. The kids were up after noon. The goal is to eventually get up in time to go to one of the free markets somewhere. They're usually over by noon.
John got crepes for breakfast. Zach ate most of his since it had chocolate in it. Asia didn't go for it as much. She's like me, not great with sweet stuff for breakfast. She ended up eating the one that John got for me since it had cheese in it and I wasn't about to risk having cheese for breakfast, even if I took a Lactaid pill or two. I already was having decaf coffee with Splenda which sometimes works funny with me - even if it was decaf without sugar. So I made some instant noodles that the apartment owner had stocked in the pantry. They were pretty bad, but a little soy sauce and hot sauce, and it was edible. I also had some baguette with spicy Mustard. After breakfast, we walked to the 3rd and 4th districs (we're staying in the 11th) so we could do some "real people" shopping. Supposedly. This book said that's where the real people shop, not the millionaires. It's like how when we lived in Chicago, we didn't shop on the Magnificent Mile - Michagan Avenue - which is where the more expensive stores were. We went to malls like Old Orchard or Water Tower or the new Target they built in the Roosevelt/Halstead area. So anyway, we took a long walk that was quite chilly. It was supposed to rain today as well. We ended up in this park square called La Place de Vosges. It's surrounded by these brick mansions. Victor Hugo lived in one of them. And one of the King Henry's was beheaded in the park. We had also visited this park during our honeymoon. John's friend Mike had taken us to the park and told us a bunch of history about the park. So that was a nice deja-vu. It was past lunch time, so Zach and I sat on a park bench. I read, he drew a cartoon. John and Asia went in search for food. They came back with fresh strawberries and two types of pasta. That was devoured pretty quickly and then the kids played for a bit in a deep sandbox in the park. It was starting to get grayer, so we decided to leave the park and start looking for some stores. That way if it rained, we could at least find shelter. We ended up missing one of the rain showers while we were in a toy store. Asia found this mechanical rabbit that she wants. I took a picture of it in case I get it for her birthday. It had American packaging anyway. She's been talking about wanting a real rabbit. Everytime she sees one in our backyard or someone else's yard, she wants to catch it and keep it. See older posts about the little baby bunny that Asia did manage to catch one summer. So anyway, this mechanical bunny made some yipping noise and jumped. Very cute. Very annoying. But better than a real rabbit anyday. I told Asia that when she has her own house, she can have whatever pets she wants. She plans on having one or two or three dogs, a rabbit, and a bird. Good luck to her future husband! So at the toy store, John bought this game that consists of a plastic blue shark that has his mouth open and you take turns pushing down one of his teeth til his mouth comes crashing down on your finger. When I played the game with the kids tonight, for some reason, I was the one that kept getting my finger eaten. It never failed. We also let the kids pick one thing that cost 1 euro - Zach got a glider (just like he always gets at Chuck E Cheese) and Asia got a chinese fan. I think the fan will come in handy when we're in a restaurant with no A/C. Unless this cool weather keeps up.
We also took a break in a little bistro where the kids had hot chocolate, John had a beer, and I had a decaf in this cute mini yellow mug. It's just so French. The hot chocolate wasn't what I expected. I remember going to a restaurant with John and Mike before and getting this decadent mini pitcher of melted chocolate to pour in your milk. Now that's real hot chocolate. Unfortunately, they'd have to have soy milk or something now if I want to enjoy it. Paris is NOT for the lactose-intolerant. Argh. I will have to go into lactose-detox when I get home. Ha. John and I brought at least 3 boxes of Lactaid pills with us on this trip, plus some stomach ease tea, and ginger candy. Anything to help the digestive system of the lactose-intolerant.
We visited a mall on our way home since we need an adapter for my work phone. I got some clothes for Asia as well that was on sale. They had some really fashionable stuff that Asia liked but with the Euro to dollar conversion, weren't that cheap. Asia fell in love with this patent leather black jacket. Eeks the girl has expensive taste.
For dinner, we went to this place that had high ratings in TripAdviser.com - Bistrot de L'Ouelette. The service was really great. The head waiter or owner or manager could speak English so we didn't have to flounder trying to interpret the French culinary terms that are not in my dictionaries on my Palm Treo. They also had English menu's obviously due to high tourist traffic. We got there right at 7 Pm when they opened and looking in, saw that the staff seemed to be still sampling the night's menu. We waited a few minutes and then went in. Luckily since we went so early, we didn't need a reservation. During the course of our meal, we heard plenty of diners get turned away and one lucky diner group was told to come back in 1/2 an hour (which is around when we would be done). Guess that's where still being on the American timezone helps. We're early eaters.
The actual dinner was okay. One of the appetizers we got was a foiegras with figs and sour cherry tomatoes with dark bread. I really liked it. John didn't. Another appetizer was a fish called mullet that came with a flaky crust (like one layer of puff pastry) and carmelized onions. It was okay. Asia really liked it and ate most of it. And the last appetizer was this same flaky crust but made into a sandwich with really cream goat cheese and herbs. That was really good and everyone liked it. We got to main entrees - a sea bass with ratatouille and the classic cassoulet - white bean stew with duck meat. They both were good but not fantastic. The dessert was really good though. We had to pre-order it since they said it takes some time to make. It was a flaky pastry with apples inside served with a side of rum-ice. Yum. And the kids shared a dish of raspberry, strawberry, and green apple sorbet. Of course, afterwards, they said they wanted to go to Ben & Jerry's (we had passed one on the walk to the restaurant). I told them what they had was much healthier.
The walk home was a little difficult. First, we could see gray clouds moving in. Second, it was windy and chilly and the kids were wearing T-shirts and shorts because their jeans hadn't been washed from a day at the beach in Toronto over the weekend. Third, everyone had to go to the bathroom and really wanted to wait til we got to the apartment. Parisian restaurant bathrooms are pretty nasty. The ones I've been to so far are usually unisex and thus only one toilet. They put all this nice decor in the restaurant, but forget about the bathroom. Funny. Kinda like Asian restaurants in the US.
Okay another night in Paris. It's 2:20 AM in Paris. Hmm...... guess I should be in bed.

Paris day number 2

2009-07-16T18:51:00.004-04:00

It's so nice to wake up in the morning and not have to do anything. I could have gone back to sleep except my back was killing me. Darn strange beds. So after showering and the usual thing, I read a book over a cup of tea. John went out to the market and bought some croissants, little donut holes for the kids, and then on a second trip, juice, a baguette, and some mustard (my request). I get tired of sweet things for breakfast, so some bread with spicy mustard hits the spot. After reading for an hour or so, it seemed that the kids weren't about to wake up, so I decided it'd be a great opportunity to grab a nap. Forget about trying to get on Paris time (6 hours ahead of Pittsburgh). If the kids were going to sleep this long, they were going to stay up late, and thus, I needed my nap now or you'd have one cranky mama. Thus a 3 hour nap. By the time I woke up, the kids had also woken and we were ready for lunch. First we tried to get to the end of the Bastille Market. Unfortunately it was mostly being packed up when we got there. Looked like it would have been a great flea market. The kids almost got hats but after John reminded me of the fare exchange, these 8 euro hats weren't that great of a bargain after all. We walked around and found a nice restaurant that with our first taste of good French food. I ordered a duck confit which I thought would be like a carmalized duck. It wasn't that sweet but was definitely good. Came with some awesome broiled potatoes. Asia had gazpacho which she didn't like so she shared our food. Zach had chicken on a skewer with rice. John had pasta with some great breaded veal. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=rue+sedaine,+paris,+france&sll=48.856667,2.350987&sspn=0.131241,0.295601&g=paris,+france&ie=UTF8&ll=48.85568,2.371502&spn=0.016405,0.03695&z=15&layer=c&cbll=48.855711,2.371656&panoid=clgMOLsSIE3rj5IqPW5ZAw&cbp=12,119.34,,1,3.35

It's the Cafe L'industrie. The place was packed. I have to get in my mind that restaurants here don't open til around 12 and close at 2 or 2:30 for lunch. Then they don't open again til around 7 for dinner. I'm used to finding a restaurant somewhere that's always open at some point. The US way I suppose. Convenience at any time.

After lunch, we went on a hunt for ice cream. The kids were hot. Most of these restaurants aren't air-conditioned. That must be why everyone eats out on the patio. I thought it was to people-watch. I think it's because it's cooler outside with the airflow. We ended stopping at a grocery store and bought some ice cream bars there along with some other food items (sorbet for me and John). Then back to the apartment to eat our dessert. After an hour or so of rest, we went to a park and to find a SIM card for my cell phone. John found a park that had basketball courts - http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/squaredelapetiteroquette.html. When we entered the park, I saw lots of people sitting in the shade on the park benches. All the benches in this area were full of people talking, some with kids, some without. It's around a fountain that probably cooled people off. Then we kept walking and found the basketball court - of course, where there was no shade. There was already a soccer game going on in the main basketball court. In the two side basketball half-courts were more kids playing soccer. Obviously basketball was not the main sport there. Ha! John stayed with Zach to help him make some friends and play basketball while Asia and I wandered on to find the playground. The playground had a bunch of kids there! Quite popular, I would say. There was huge climbing structure with 2 squiggly metal slides that looked like machine hose. Then two smaller structures, all on a sand surface. Asia had a great time even though she didn't play with anyone. Then we went back to see how Zach was doing and offer him some water from Asia's water bottle. Eventually what happened was that Zach played with two boys and a girl with their soccer ball. He had a time playing with them because of the language barrier. One of the boys was more socially aggressive and quite a joker so he kept talking to Zach in French and expecting a reply back. Some times I wasn't sure if he was being mean and making fun of Zach or not but an older girl (maybe in her early teens) was also there and she was keeping the younger boy in line. Eventually Asia joined them to play soccer and then the kids had to go. While this was happening, John had a soccer game going with about 10 other kids - all boys and 1 girl. Zach joined them eventually. It was hilarious to watch them play. Zach and John's team had the smaller kids and they were actually doing well, not just because John was their goalie but because some of them were really good - especially the girl. I think her name was Sasha. She's this little blonde girl and she's tough! The good thing was that even if the smaller team was winning, the bigger boys just treated it as a game and laughed it off. They all also had this habit that if the other team scored, the opposite team had to jump up and hit the top of their goal post. Not sure what that was all about.

We were at the park until around 7:30. Before we left, Asia and I were reading a Clifford the Big Red Dog book and the kids came over to take a look. They took turns trying to read the book, but since we had to go, we actually ended up giving the book to the kids. It was just a book we got at Half-Price Books anyway and we were planning on leaving it here in France.

Another interesting thing about the park is that they have these park officials who watch the kids areas. Earlier, one was standing at the end of one of the slides to make sure kids got down fine and none went up the slide the wrong way. Then later, they were standing near their office, I think, but they were telling kids nearby that they couldn't play with the water fountain for the sandbox, only to drink. At first the little kids there thought you weren't supposed to use the fountain at all so when we approached it, they told us not to use it. Then the park official told the kids that it was okay to use for drinking, just not for playing in.

We then went to a restaurant, still in the 11th district. We were trying to find this good restaurant (according to a book from the man who owns the apartment) on a street called Faidherbe. But it wasn't there. Another bar/restaurant called Balthazar was there. So we went in anyway and got a really nice waiter who spoke English. We got steak frites for Zach and Asia to share, but he said it's hard to split the steak so he gave them both servings and only charged us for one. I got beef tartare because that's supposed to be traditional. It's basically raw ground hamburger with some chopped up vegies and spices. It looked like a raw hamburger patty but actually tasted really good. And the broiled potatoes were awesome. John had what looked like Shepherd's pie. It had a really strange name - something like Palmaterie. I'll have to look it up later. It was all really good but amazing enough to say, the portions were too big. John said that Parisians don't do doggie bags, so we didn't bring home any of the leftovers, not that there was much anyway. All in all, a great meal day. That's what I'm for - the meals. ha! If I have good food, the vacation is a success.

Arrived in France

2009-07-15T15:59:00.006-04:00

We arrived in France today. We first drove to Toronto on Saturday and spent a few days with Shirley and family. The kids met a girl named Amanda who taught them French. They fell in love with her and didn't want to leave her, even if we were going to Paris. On Tuesday night, we took an IcelandAir flight at 9 PM to Reykjavik Iceland. Then we had about an hour layover and flew to Paris, arriving at around 1 PM Paris time. The kids were able to sleep most of the flight and got some great kid snacks - sandwich, chocolate, drink, chips - and headsets for free. Us adults got drinks, if we were awake when the drink cart rolled by. I was worried about Zach having another episode since we'd have to wake him up at around 2 AM our time for the layover, but he was fine and slept another 3 hours on the trip from Iceland to Paris.
Finding our way around Paris at first was a little daunting. Trying to find the train station, lugging our luggage up and down the stairs, trying to keep the kids from knocking into people around them. Once on the train, things were going smoothly, even after a transfer, but before our last transfer, Zach left his backpack at the last stop on the floor. He was zipping it up after getting a snack and didn't think about picking it up afterwards. So since it was only 3 stops away, John went back to get the backpack. It turns out the police thought it was a bomb and had to get other police in and shutdown the station. John, who doesn't speak French, had to explain that it was his son's backpack and also didn't even have his passport with him since I had them all. The kids and I were sitting at the other train station anxiously waiting to see if he returns with the backpack. He did. My hero! The main thing in there was Zach's meds. To Zach, his favorite webkinz were in the backpack.
We finally made it to the apartment we're staying in. It's a cute apartment. Would be even nicer if there wasn't construction going on that has pretty much closed the balcony patio. But we did get a huge discount because of it. Today, we had chinese take-out, went to a grocery store to get juice and milk and beer, and ate an earlier snack (since they weren't serving dinner @ 4:30 yet) at a brasserie.

Bienvenue a France!

another episode

2009-07-12T23:23:00.002-04:00

Poor Z had another episode last week. We knew it was coming because he wasn't getting enough sleep or eating right. The drive to Goshen didn't help because he went to bed a little late, then we woke him up to move him to his grandfather's room where we were staying and I kept the light on for too long waiting for John to come up to go to sleep. So early in the morning, he had an episode. He had migraines for the next 3 hours. At around 11 AM, he woke up and said he felt better and he was hungry. That's always a good sign. He just popped up from bed with such a good attitude. He was looking forward to playing with his cousins. He was a little upset that they already started playing street hockey without him. It took him a few more hours to recuperate and then next thing you know, he's outside playing with his cousins. We're trying to be more diligent to make sure he gets his sleep even when we're travelling and in Paris in the next week.

Visit to Austin

2009-05-07T22:36:00.001-04:00

Asia and I am in Austin again for a visit. Putting her to bed tonight - an extra tired girl since we arrived pretty late last night and she woke up early this morning - we had the following conversation:

Asia: Why are we here in Texas?
Me: Auntie Es had vacation so we came to visit her and Gong-Gong.
A: What about Nai-Nai?
Me: Nai-Nai isn't alive anymore.
A: I miss her.
Me: Me too.
A: Why doesn't she float down in a parachute to visit?
Me: That would be nice.

Aren't little girls sweet? Sometimes I like these night-time chats.

Asia survives Daisy Camp

2009-04-25T22:38:00.005-04:00

Asia had her first all day camp-out without me or John or Zach. I had to wake her up at 6:30 AM this morning and dropped her off at her friend Anna's house. Anna's mom kindly agreed to bring Asia to the camp along with her daughter and another friend. The camp was 40 minutes away. Check-in was at 8:30 AM and they had to have eaten breakfast first. Asia was ready to go this morning. When I woke her up, she practically jumped out of bed and started talking about camp. "Is Girl Scouts camp today? Now? I can't believe it's today!" I had to quiet her down a number of times since it was so early on a Saturday morning. It was with a little sigh that I watched her ride off without me to camp. Whatever happened to her was no longer in my control. And there wouldn't even be much cell phone reception at the camp. I'd have to wait til I picked her up late at night to find out how it went. Nerve-wracking.
Oh, and I can't forget to mention the packing list that we were given. It was like someone wracked their brain to think of everything and anything the girls would need in all kinds of weather and for a whole weekend. The Daisy troop was only going for the day. The list had 4 T-shirts, 2 sweaters, 4 pairs of socks, a pair of water-proof shoes, a pair of sneakers, 2 bandanas, toiletry kit including toothbrush/shampoo/soap, 2 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, etc. Basically the list that the older girls would get minus some pairs of clothes. Oh yeah, a roll of toilet paper, a roll of paper towels, a bag of sticks for the fire, a bag of soap peelings, juice carton, flashlight, bug repellant, sun screen, towel, dish towel, face towel, a gallon of water. One of an earlier craft from a Daisy gathering was to decorate these big paint buckets. The girls then used that to carry all their stuff in for the camp. Anyway, I rebelled and didn't pack the gallon of water, then felt guilty and found a liter bottle of water in the pantry for ASia to bring. I also didn't pack sticks/wood for the fire since I figured they're in a camp in Pennsylvania! There's got to be wood around. And I didn't pack the paper towels because John accidentally bought two packages of toilet paper instead. Hopefully it wasn't a big deal. When I went to pick Asia up, I saw a table packed with rolls of toilet paper so they obviously had enough of that. The girls even had to bring their own washable bowls, cups, fork, spoon. Guess that's being conserving... not having to throw away paper plates and stuff.
I wasn't as worried about Asia though because I trusted the two troop leaders, Marianne and Bernie. I knew Asia would be comfortable with them. Asia said she did miss me at the camp, but she said she didn't cry. She also said that a bigger girl at camp was crying for her mom. The older girls were spending 2 nights at the camp. Poor Marianne is going to have a migraine tomorrow.
I picked Asia up around 9 PM tonight. She was sitting around the campfire finishing up a s'more. Yummm.... She looked tired but happy. She got to buy a little stuffed animal at the camp store too. And made a bird house out of the juice carton, and this special camp fire tinder out of egg cartons and water-proof matches with nail polish. Neat.

glasses

2009-03-06T21:27:00.006-05:00

Asia really wants to wear glasses, just like her big brother. And of course, John and I all have glasses. Here's a few pictures of her modelling with glasses. Where did the eyeglasses come from? Build-a-bear. They belong to one of her stuffed animals.

Not Again

2009-02-26T10:01:00.002-05:00

Well, Zach is doing it again. He woke up this morning gagging and then it took a few minutes before he actually woke up. His eyes were open but rolled to the right. He was sitting up, moving his arms normally, but not awake. John even picked him up from his bed and brought him to our room, and he still didn't wake up. I kept pinching him and scratching his back, talking in his ear. Eventually he did wake up. I asked him if he knew what happened and he shook his head. He said he didn't remember anything. Then he went back to sleep for maybe 20 minutes and then woke up with a headache. He has an appointment to see his pediatrician in an hour or so and John's going to insist on a neurologist. Poor kid has been spitting up mucus all morning. If this is the way he handles sinus colds or something, that's awful. But if it's just that, I'd be relieved. Better than something seriously wrong with his brain. Fingers crossed....

Asia's Birthday

2009-01-18T09:38:00.003-05:00

Today is Asia's birthday. Yesterday, we had her party since today she has a Girl Scout's roller skating event to go to. Here's a rundown of the girls who came and their birthday presents. Asia loved them all and had a blast. All the girls got along great even though one of them didn't go to the same school (Tori who lives in Wexford - but she went to preschool at Hiland with Acacia, Meena, and Asia).

Joey S - Barbie and swimming pool
Lydia O- stuffed pony with doll
Meena L - Webkinz pony and clothes
Acacia U - Loopers potholder craft kit
Tori S - Make your own Flower vanity
Morgan N - Jewerly and scrapbook craft
Morgan K - Moonsand activity set
Shea S - ToysRUs gift card
Ricki M (babysitter and friend) - Barbie with dogs

Asia had all kinds of ideas for her birthday party. Maybe in October or so, she wanted to have her party at Build-A-Bear. She had 4 friends in mind. Then after Zach's birthday party in November, which was at our house, she wanted her party at our house and to have John plan all kinds of cool games like he did with Zach's party. Then we went to Chuck E Cheese in Texas, and Asia wanted her party there because you get a cool Olympic-looking medal. You get the idea. ChuckECheese, home, Build-a-bear, ChuckECheese,home. This went on for a few weeks, til the day before I sent out invitations. I told her she had to make up her mind because we were going to send out the invitations and if it's not at our house, I would have to make reservations. Luckily she chose home because we can do whatever games and crafts we want, while at ChuckECheese, you can only play their games. I like that idea, though more work for me.
So then Asia had all kinds of ideas on what crafts and games to play. She wanted to play hot potato but with this smiley face hackysack that Zach has. Of course, Zach said she couldn't use it for her party. She was determined that it had to be a small ball with a smiley face. Why? Because the theme of the birthday party was to be smiley faces. Another day, Asia was watching a Strawberry Shortcake DVD, and of course - "Mom, I want a Strawberry Shortcake birthday!" Her idea was to watch the DVD and one of the activities was to play the karoeke game that is included in the DVD. Well, I did get the invite out and promised a fun party and had all the guests dress in their favorite costumes. What were most girls dressed up as? Princesses, of course. I believe we had Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella all present. Snow White's outfit must not be glam enough for these girls. I don't think I ever see a Snow White.
On the day of the party, Zach went to play at his friend Ethan's house. The last thing he wanted to do is be around a bunch of little girls. Meena and Morgan K were the first to arrive. Asia would show them to the dining room table so that they can do a craft that she had planned - making necklaces with Fruit Loops and also making structures out of gumdrops, marshmallows, and toothpicks (thanks to Chelsea F for that idea). Little by little, all the girls trickled in and went straight to the dining room table to work on their crafts. They were so quiet!!! Maybe they're used to being quiet in school when working on crafts. It was hilarious how quiet and well-behaved they were. School trains them well.
Then we made party hats. Asia was determined to use these cardboard stars that I had labored over for her Christmas party and didn't get to use. I had spent nights cutting out cardboard stars that I had covered with recycled wrapping paper from past birthday parties. For the Christmas party, we were going to make wreaths with the cardboard stars and tinsel. Asia and I even made two wreaths to use for templates. So I had this box of cardboard stars that I didn't think would last til next Christmas. Asia and I decided to use them to glue on party hats. Ricki had experience with glue guns, so she got the fun job of gluing on the stars and tinsel to the hats. The girls would put stickers on the hats first and then pick their stars. While Ricki was gluing things to the hats, I had a little makeover area. The girls would pick their own nail polish color from the dazzling array I had. John got roped into doing the temporary tattoos and of course, most girls wanted them on their cheeks! And I had earring stickers for anyone who wanted them. Joey picked the color black for her nails! Hmmm...wonder if that has any indicator of her highschool years. Tori was the only one who wanted a nailcolor that matched her outfit. Again... a sign for future times?
We also played a game I bought that is like pin the tail on the donkey. Since Asia also likes My Little Pony, the game came with a big My Little Pony poster of rainbow dash and you have to put a little rainbow sticker near the pony's rainbow tattoo or whatever you would call it. The first girl to go was Morgan K and she got the rainbow right in the right spot. Well, the girls started to get a little wilder at this point. It was fun to watch. I would blindfold one girl, Asia would start to spin them around and then all the girls would help spin the poor girl and then they'd all start yelling "Stop! Stop! Stop!" and then let the blindfolded girl put the sticker on. At first some of the girls would almost put the sticker on another girl since she'd be surrounded. But eventually, the girls would just turn the one who was blindfolded straight at the poster. The first 5 girls or so all put their marks right on the rainbow spot. We didn't make a big deal of who won and luckily these girls didn't care.
I knew that Asia had a lot of games planned and I also figured the girls would want to do some free play, so I put the birthday party at 3 hours instead of the usual 2. The party started at 2 PM by about 3:30 we were done with all the games! We did pizza and cake and luckily, I had a bingo game that I bought for some birthday past. Sometimes I'm glad I hoard all this old stuff! So we played bingo. Then I used the bingo pictures for a game of pictionary (since the girls can't read yet). John took a couple of group photo's. And at the end of the party, we had happy girls running around the house. Nevertheless, I took a 3 hour nap after the party.

Are Bad Guys Real?

2009-01-15T22:52:00.002-05:00

Every now and then, your kids just say something that, while it's so ordinary to an adult, is really profound coming from a child's mouth. Asia and I were talking about bad guys while we were in the car on our way to her Girl Scout's Daisy meeting. It was later at night and maybe because of the darkness, she started asking if bad guys were real. She said she started thinking about them after that one day in the store when she went to the boys' room to change. It took me a few minutes to recall this event, then I realized she was talking about a trip to Kohl's over a year ago when Asia and I had a little argument about trying on some leotards for dance. She wanted to try on one that was too small for her and more expensive then the one I wanted her to try on. So after I told her that she could not try it on and then I went to look through the clearance racks for more clothes for her, she disappeared. I figured she was upset and was sulking over by the toys or something. I walked around a bit and couldn't find her. That's when I started to panic. What seemed like an hour was probably only about 10 minutes, but 10 minutes missing is still frightening. Frightening at least for a paranoid mom. Eventually I found her coming out of the dressing room in the boys area! She decided she was going to try on that leotard all by herself. Earlier in the shopping trip, we had gone into the girls' dressing room to try on some clothes, so she knew that those rooms were used for that purpose. At least, she didn't strip down in the middle of the store to try the leotard on. So on one hand, I was proud of her independence. She had walked all the way to a dressing room area, took off her clothes and put on the leotard, then came back to me with almost all of her clothes in her arms and wearing the leotard. I say almost all of her clothes because she lost her socks at some point. We retraced her steps and checked the dressing room and they weren't there. But anyway, I scolded her that day telling her that she should not walk away like that without telling me because sometimes bad guys like to take little girls away from their mothers. I told her that would make me really sad if someone stole her from me. I guess that made a lasting impression on her because she cried on the way home from Kohl's because she didn't want a bad guy to take her away. And of course, she couldn't sleep that night either. Ugh. It's so hard to know to what degree to tell a child that bad things can happen.

Okay, back to the drive to Daisy's and the present. So my dear daughter asked me if bad guys were really real. I debated this in my head on how to present the subject. I didn't want to lie and say that there is no evil in this world, nor did I want her to be paranoid about every little thing. So I told her that there bad people out there but they usually are in bad areas, not where we live, and come out at night when most people are sleeping. Sure I could have told her that bad people can be anyone and anywhere, but then I'd have a poor little girl who would probably never leave her house or my side again. Anyway, so all this leads up to the clever statement Asia made. She said:

"So bad guys are nocturnal?"

How funny is that! I had to laugh.

"They come out when people are sleeping, Mom. So they're nocturnal."

My soon-to-be 6 year old said that!

Yes, Asia, bad guys are nocturnal. Let's keep it as simple as that.

Nate the Great

2009-01-11T19:45:00.005-05:00

We went to a showing of Nate the Great, a musical playing at the Byham Theatre in downtown Pittsburgh. It's always fun to get in some culture and we're lucky to have easy access to downtown to go see shows like this. The last one we went to was the Backyardigans. Maybe even John and I could go see something without the kids! It's surprising that we don't go downtown more often. I think it's the paying for parking. I hate paying for parking! During special events, it's not that expensive, luckily. We almost got into a garage tonight for 5 dollars! The garage filled up with only 2 more cars in front of us. Oh well. There was another garage a block away. It's also exciting to walk down the street when it's filled with people. It doesn't matter that the majority of them were either families going to the Byham or Steeler fans going to tailgate parties before the game. I have been around Heinz Hall on a Saturday with no games going on, and it was pretty busy too. That's always a good sign. You always want a bustling downtown. Otherwise your city may be in trouble.
So back to Nate the Great. I think I may have read some of the series before, but since the title character is a boy, maybe I didn't get past the first book. ha! Anyways, I think now that Zach saw the musical, he may be interested in reading the books too. In this 50-minute musical, Nate has to help his friend Annie find a picture she painted of her dog for her mom's birthday. They eventually figure out that it's her little brother who painted over it. Annie always likes yellow, her brother likes red. There's a painting of an orange dog in Annie's brother's room. I asked Zach - what two colors make orange? Red and yellow!
The clever thing about the musical is most of the supporting actors played multiple roles and were the stage hands to move the scenery around. Two parts of the scenery were these triangular columns that could be rotated to show a different scene - doors fom the street, shelves from Annie's room, etc. Some of the actors played multiple roles. I think Annie's dog was also Annie's brother and her best friend's cat. Then one of Nate's imaginary detective friends was also Annie's best friend, etc. And another neat thing was when they would transition from scene to scene, they would incorporate the actor's into the transition. Like Annie and Nate would be talking while they're rolling a white picket fence out of the scene. Or one of the imaginary detectives was unlocking the wheels for a rolling bed and then would pretend that he forgot that the audience wasn't supposed to see him. I really liked the direction and production of this play. The kids really liked it too. When Annie was singing about what girls could do and said something about boys having short necks, Asia asked me if that was true.
It was just great to get out of the house and go see some more of downtown Pittsburgh.

email

2008-12-21T18:53:00.002-05:00

There's a benefit to having your child know how to read, type, and do supervised email. :)

Date: Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:20:23 -0500
From: zacharyneill
To: elise_neill
Subject: Hi

Hi mom you"re the best mom I"ll ever have.

I love you.

Daisies

2008-12-20T21:58:00.002-05:00

Asia is now in Girl Scouts - the Daisies. I don't remember there being a Daisies group. Es was in Brownies. I was in Girl Scouts, but I only remember being in it for like one year. I didn't even ever buy the outfit - the whole green sash, dress, hat. I did get a bunch of the pins and badges. Anyway, this week was the Daisy Christmas party with a little gift exchange. Each girl brings a wrapped present, then the scout leader read a story and every time she said the word "Santa" the kids had to pass their gifts over to the next person in the circle. Then when the story was done, everyone had a different gift in their hands. Asia ended up getting a charm bracelet set. It was cute. She had a great time. A bunch of her friends are in the Daisy group so she really likes to go.

Holiday Concert

2008-12-20T21:39:00.003-05:00

Asia had her Kindergarten concert this Friday night. She was so excited! I'm glad to see such energy in her. Instead of trepidation about a performance. She did well too. She actually looked bored towards the end. The kids sang like 13 or 15 songs! I don't know how they could have memorized them all or maybe they didn't. I'm sure there was a lot of mumbling here and there. I didn't even know all the songs.

So here's the more embarassing thing. When the kids got onto the stage in the beginning, Asia lifted up her skirt! She had been complaining a little bit about her underwear falling down and I tried to fix her skirt before the concert began but she was so excited about the concert that she didn't want to wait. She had to go with Mrs. Swegan to get her Santa hat! So anyway, as she was walking up the stage, she was pulling up her dress so that she could pull up her tights! She had no qualms about it. Of course, she wasn't showing anything since she had white tights on. And of course, there were chuckles in the audience. It had to be my daughter. Yes, no anxiety or stage-fright all right.

Dear Mom....

2008-12-05T23:36:00.003-05:00

This is from the newspaper clipping in the Austin newspaper or the funeral website. I forget which.

Sha-Li Cheung of Austin, TX, formerly from Ohio and Taiwan, died on Sunday, May 4, 2008. She will be missed dearly by her family: her husband, David; children, Elise Neill (and husband John), Esther Cheung, Samuel Cheung; her grandchildren, Asia and Zachary; along with many other family members and friends. Her life was a life of expressing Christ to all who knew her – in her cooking, in her singing, in her caring.

Sha-Li enjoyed baking and decorating cakes in her kitchen while listening to hymns CDs. Her home was always open for friends to stop by for dinner or conversation. Her caring and generosity was a major part of her service in the Church in Austin. Services will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, May 10, 2008 at Wilke-Clay-Fish Funeral Home, 2620 South Congress, Austin, Texas. The burial will follow at Onion Creek Memorial Park.

This is from my mom's funeral, my little eulogy. I've been putting off adding this to my blog because it makes me sad, but I'd like to put it in now as a dedication to my mom. I miss her so much.

******

Dear Mom,

I miss you. I miss you telling my kids to eat their vegetables, and then making them a chocolate cake with strawberries. I miss you reminding my kids of the starving people in China. I miss your cooking. Thank you for leaving dumplings in my freezer and the peapods from your garden. I wish I could have spent more time with you, writing down your recipes. I figured I had all the time in the world. I always envied your garden. Why didn’t I inherit your green thumb? You would send me pictures of your vegetables growing, taking over the whole yard. I would plant the long beans and peapod seeds that you sent to me in the mail and then watch them bear perhaps two or three measly beans. I wondered whether it was that Texas weather or just your miracle touch.

I was going through your purse the other day and I got more of a glimpse of just who my Mother was - besides being the one who nurtured me, gave me character, and fed me. There were Mystery of Human Life gospel tracts. I could see you reading those with ones seeking something more in life. There was a well-used address book. Sam, Esther, and I were in there quite a few times from all of our moving around. There were pieces of paper with brothers’ and sisters’ names on it, receipts of some sort. You were active, Mom. To the day you died, you were so involved in the church life, in family life, and you even left some time for yourself – to learn to decorate cakes and grow a garden.
You weren’t supposed to leave yet. Not for at least another 20 years. But Mom, you lived your life to the fullest. I’ll miss you.

And then I added a PS that I spoke in the eulogy. It really was something I added in the morning of the funeral. I had typed out my eulogy the night before.

P.S. I thought that if something like this would ever happen, I would be so angry at the Lord. Forsake Him or something. Instead, I feel the Lord's arms around me, holding me firmly and whispering, "Do you still love Me?" I have to answer, with no hesitation, "Yes, Lord, I still love You. I want my mom bad, but Lord, I do love you."

zach snack

2008-11-25T22:21:00.002-05:00

So ask me what I did with my evening? In honor of Zach's birthday tomorrow and a short day of school due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I made buckeyes - chocolate-covered peanut-butter balls - for Zach to bring to school to share with his second-grade class. Yes, I know. I pity the kid who's allergic to both chocolate and nuts. Get that kid a celery stick. And yes, I also know that I'm loading up these kids with sugar. But I figure, it's a short day! The parents get their kids for the rest of the day. The teachers won't have to deal with the sugar-high and then the subsequent sugar crash. Hey, I'm just not one of those mom's who brings healthy snacks to school. The healthiest I might get would be Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips or maybe those ones that say something about multi-grain. You won't see me supplying carrot sticks and ants on a log cream-cheese laden celery sticks. I know what kids want - sugar and peanut butter!

Another Big Scare

2008-11-21T22:11:00.003-05:00

I think my kids like to give me a big jolt every now and then. See if I'm still alive. So the other day, around 7 in the morning, I heard this sounds like one of the kids coughed, puked, burped. Something. So I peeked my head out of the bedroom door and didn't see anyone up or moving about. If someone threw up, they'd be up and calling for one of us. So I went back to bed. Then maybe 20 minutes later, I heard it again - this time I can tell someone is throwing up or something. I check on Asia and she's sound asleep. I go in Zach's room and he's lying there, mouth open, and drool or puke or something coming out of his mouth. So I tell him to sit up while I get a towel and I tell John that Zach is throwing up. John put a trashcan on the bed and Zach threw up again. It was just mucus. But the weird thing is Zach had his head turned to the side, like he was embarassed about throwing up and didn't want us to see. So he kept spitting up (wasn't that much) but on his shirt or the blanket and not in the trashcan in front of him. I tried to tell him to spit in the trashcan, nudging him. But he kept his head turned to the side. I realized he wasn't hearing us, so I pulled him to me and his eyes were staring to the extreme right so I could barely see his pupils. And his head was stuck turned to the side. I kept talking to him asking him if he heard us, pinching him, gently shaking him. Eventually he came to, like out of a deep sleep. He didn't know what was going on and just wanted to go back to sleep. We let him, but kept checking on him to make sure he was okay. He woke up 1/2 an hour later with a headache. And then threw up some more. The next hour or so was me in a panic, going on the internet to see if Zach had a seizure. Calling my sister to see if she was still at home. Checking the pediatrician's hours and agonizing that they weren't going to be open for another hour. I ended up calling a different branch and they said we should bring Zach to the ER. I had read that too, but I really didn't want to bring Zach to the ER. The good thing about the ER is all the tests readily available, but the bad thing is the cost and the waiting and the waiting. I didn't want to put Zach through that.
Anyway, I ended up waiting and making an appointment with my usual pediatrician. John brought Zach in (poor kid was still throwing up every 20 minutes or so but no substance) and the doctor said Zach had a mild cold. A MILD cold!!! All that for a cold? Just too much mucus in Zach's tummy was causing him to vomit. But the seizure? The doctor couldn't explain that and said it was rare. We're just to see if it happens again. Ugh... I hope it doesn't. Stuff like this sticks with me forever.

Vacationing in the Dominican Republic

2008-11-07T20:11:00.013-05:00

John, the kids and I went on a great vacation this past week. Five nights in a beach resort in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. All-included resort. We got the deluxe suite with a jacuzzi bath tub and shower, patio, drinks stocked daily in the mini fridge, fresh fruit plate each day. Pool in the front of our villa, beach right at the side, and right next to the kid's club. Here's a view of the villa we stayed in.

The room was pretty nice. We couldn't control the A/C though and it was always set at 21 degrees Celcius which was just too cold. Especially when you're running into your room from outside in the evening and you're wet from the pool. We almost always had the A/C off and just the patio doors open for a nice breeze.

The first night we were there, Asia got sick. I think it was from the milk I gave her to drink in the lobby. They had snacks and she wanted some milk. There was a carafe of milk next to the coffee, so I gave her some of that. I gave some to Zach too but he didn't drink much because he said it was warm. He doesn't like warm milk. It dawned on me later that this milk carafe must have been sitting there all day unrefrigerated. Poor Asia. She was nauseous at dinner and didn't want to eat. She ended up falling asleep on my lap. Then when we got to the room, she ran to the bathroom, but nothing happened. She woke me up in the middle of the night saying she didn't feel too well. So I put a trashcan near her bed and a towel. She woke up a few minutes later and puked all over the floor - near the trashcan. But pretty much on the floor and on my feet when I ran over to her. We used up most of the towels in the room. In the morning, I put them all in the balcony and then showed them personally to the cleaning lady so she'd know to take them out. Asia was still a little queazy during the day but by the evening, she was her old self again.

Here's a picture of Zach on the boogie board. The kids had a blast with it and then we left it in the hotel lobby when we got on the shuttle to go to the airport. Oh well.

One of the things we did at the resort was horseback riding. It came with the package. A 2 hour ride. I've never been horseback riding. None of the kids have, besides riding a pony on a fair. But those ponies are usually led by a trainer or tied to some kind of ring or something. This was like - here, get on a horse, and there you go! I swear the guide for our horse ride was swearing under his breath in Spanish and saying stuff about the Devil, like "what the devil?" John was thinking that more likely one of the horses was named Diablo - like the horse John had. It was so tall - perfect for John. But also a little headstrong. At one point when we stopped and were getting off of our horses, John's horse kicked out after John got off. The horse kicked my horse some (more my foot) and then almost kicked John! The horse that Asia and I rode liked to torture us by riding along the edge of the trail so that we ran into trees or were whipped by the bushes. I kept trying to steer the horse back to the middle and it would jerk his head. I think maybe these horses were just tired of being ridden all day? I tried to show it who was boss, but the last thing I wanted was for the horse to buck off me and Asia. And what do I know about horses? Just whatever I read about training dogs. Wonder if you can use the Dog Whisperer's tactics on horses? Here's a picture of me on the horse right after John's horse kicked my foot.

Zach got to ride on his own horse.

car mess

2008-09-28T17:26:00.004-04:00

I was driving the kids somewhere the other day and while sitting at a traffic light, started thinking about the mess the car was in. Trash everywhere. Zach's sports equipment covering the floor. There was a tennis racquet, a light saber, numchucks, some soccer socks. Old juice boxes, sports drink bottles and granola bar wrappers. Books and papers full of drawings. Hockey pants. A water bottle. If someone were to analyze the family that drove this car, not only were they slobs, but I guess in a good way, they were obviously active - witness all the sports stuff - used too. And I guess you could say the family was creative - the papers full of drawings. And then maybe that the family had young kids who liked to read - the books. I read an article this past year about a woman who was doing an analysis on the contents of people's cars. She hadn't revealed her hypothesis yet, but if she did many multiple kid family's cars, I'm sure she found about the same thing - active chaos.
So then after analyzing our mess, I thought why is it that if you see a dad get out of a messy car, you feel for him. You think, what a great dad, taking care of the kids. And you ignore the mess in the car because it's almost expected. Now picture a mom getting out of this messy car with kids in tow, and if you are a mom, you might feel sorry for her or feel kinship with the mom. Now instead, you see a woman coming out with no kids in sight. You see the mess of the car, and you wonder what her problem is. Why is this woman such a slob! You know what I mean? A guy could get out of a messy car (with kids or not) and you don't think much of it. A girl gets out of a messy car and you think she has problems. What is it in our female brains that makes mess stand out so much? And riddle you with guilt? Even if you invite someone to your house, if the house is a mess, it's reflected on who? The mom or the wife. She can't take care of her household. She's on a sinking ship and obviously can't captain.

sleepwalking

2008-09-22T22:05:00.002-04:00

I have something new to add to my motherhood paranoia. Yes, that paranoia that many mothers have of the worst things possible happening to their children even when there's a one in gazillion chance of it ever happening. Sleepwalking. Not my sleepwalking. Asia sleepwalking! I've heard her and Zach talk in their sleep before, that's not new. We all do that. But last night, John and I were watching a movie and I heard something outside my bedroom door. John paused the movie and I opened the door to see Asia kneeling on the floor. She had both hands twisting something imaginary and she was muttering something. I heard that you're not supposed to interrupt sleepwalkers, so I just picked her up and led her back to bed. She eventually woke up and told me she was thirsty. It spooked Zach too because he had heard something and got out of bed. I told him to go back to bed, but he came back to Asia's room a few times to see if she was okay. I wonder what she was dreaming about though. It was like she was turning two faucet knobs or something. Anyway, now I'm wondering, do I need a gate in front of the stairs? Would she fall down them? Would she walk somewhere else and hit her head? Ahhh! You get the paranoia now. So tonight, I put a bunch of stuffed animals around her legs. Hoping that they would deter her from moving too much. Or maybe they'll make a sound when they fall off the bed and she'll wake up. Good strategy, right? Stay tuned.

Back to School

2008-09-04T22:08:00.003-04:00

Well the kids have been in school now for almost two weeks. They both love it so far. Zach has a new teacher - her first time teaching second grade. She's taught K and 3rd grade. Student-taught 1st and 5th. She's engaged. And yes, she's young! I think Zach will like her. She seems the type that all the young boys will like. She's pretty, dresses well and hip, and again, she's young and even single right now. She told us a story tonight at the parent/teacher opening night about how last year, her boyfriend sent flowers to the school before they were engaged. All the kids, especially the boys, wanted to know all about this person who sent the flowers, especially if it was a boy friend. Anyway, just the fact that she said she doesn't like to keep the kids at the desks in their seats, sounds like Zach will have a good time.

Asia too is enjoying Kindergarten. She's so ready for it. And she has so many friends in that grade that she sees in class or at lunch and recess. She has Zach's K teacher, too, so we know she's in good hands.

Here's a pic from the first day of school.

Cactii

2008-08-24T21:13:00.004-04:00

Okay, what possessed me to let my 5 and 7 year old pick out and bring home their very own cactus to take care of? Their cute fuzziness made of prickles? Their interesting shapes that your dirty mind shouldn't be thinking of? Their greenness? Well, here's the story. Asia and I were at Home Depot. Yes, the construction supermarket of the gods where no stereotypical woman would go since it's so hard to find anything if you're unfamiliar with the layout and the terms. Unless you're just looking for paint. Or something for the garden. Signs like Paint and Garden are pretty helpful and straightforward. So Asia and I were outside in the garden area. John and Zach were over in the manly sections... looking for some gadgets to fix our darn fence gate that I can't stand. Back to the garden area. So Asia and I were looking around to see what foliage or flowers were still available to purchase during the end of the season. What color could I still put in those empty pots littering my front porch? I found some pretty mums, I think. Which are the same as carnations? Maybe not because then they'd be called carnations. Anyway, some pretty budding flowers. I chose two yellow ones and Asia chose a purple one. She was sitting in the cart with the flowers, which is unwise - something I found out when I took the crushed flowers home. Anyway, there wasn't much to buy besides shrubs and vines and trees, so as we were making our way to the checkout inside, lo and behold, we ran into a display of cactii and succulents. Doesn't those names sound enticing enough? Cactii and Succulents. Get them here. Way to go Home Depot marketing. The cashier even said that it seemed like a lot of people were buying cactus today. So there's this display of all these cute plants. Very few had prickles on them. And under 5 dollars each! So I told Asia she could pick one. I chose two. They looked so harmless. Then I called John and told him to meet us at the display so that Zach could pick one. While we were waiting, we looked at the other side of the display, and there were even prettier plants to choose from. Asia changed her mind and wanted this cute one that had this big pink blob on top. Again, no prickles that I could see. Then she looked at the top of the display and there were these long cactus plants each with a bring pink flower shooting out of the top. Asia changed her mind again and said she definitely wanted one of those. Well, of course, that had to be one of the prickliest of the bunch. Just a long tube of fine green prickles. Little feather looking ones. They didn't even look very sharp. We even touched them and it didn't hurt. By that time, Zach and John had joined us. Zach proceeded to find the scariest looking cactus of them all. Huge big prickles in threes all over the thing. But they were so big, I figured you couldn't miss them and therefore wouldn't touch them.
Anyway, we made it through checkout without any issue. Asia and Zach wanted to carry their cactus plants to the car and on the way home. We stopped by a grocery store so I could grab some milk, bread, and whatnot and when I came back, there was a little crying girl in the car. John, Zach, and Asia stayed in the car while I shopped - makes me shop faster. Very slick. Anyway, I found out that somehow, the plastic sleeve on Asia's plant had fallen off and also the plastic pot. So Asia was holding the catcus by the dirt roots. I opened the door and found the pot and the sleeve and put the cactus back in there. I asked her why she was still crying. Turns out she had prickles everywhere. Perhaps the cactus plant fell and she decided to catch them with her legs! Luckily she wasn't wearing shorts, but the prickles went through her pants anyway. The most painful was the one in her thumb. She wouldn't let us touch it. But she pointed out the prickles in her legs. About around her ankles like she had clamped her ankles together to catch or hold the cactus. All these little green pins on one side of her left and right ankle. I was going to try pulling them out but she insisted that no one should touch the prickles, but her. So she proceeded to start pulling them out, all the time crying. I called her Dr. Cactus. She was performing a medical feat on her own. On her self. She actually did manage to pull out most of those green prickles. John took out the rest later when we got home. He's the king of removing splinters, so removing prickles fell into his category.
So what possessed me to let them get those prickly plants and even replant them into nice pots and display them in my office and dining room? That darn Home Depot marketing.

What kind of Mom am I?

2008-07-27T16:28:00.003-04:00

Last night, Asia asked me, "Have you played dolls before?"
I'm wondering what she's leading up to, so I answer, "Yes."
Asia adds, "But have you played dolls with me before?"
Does the girl have a bad memory? Or do I? I'm wracking my brain trying to remember the last time the two of us actually played dolls. Sure, I've bought her dolls. Told her to play with her dolls. It's after her bath time and she's playing in her room while I get her brother ready for his bath. That means, nagging him to get in the bathroom and get in the bath. Lately, he dawdles for ever before actually getting in the bath. First he probably goes to the toilet. Then he looks in the mirror while he's washing his hands. I usually hear him talking to himself so I'm assuming he's making faces in the mirror and pretending to be some superhero. At this point, I tell him to get in the bath. Eventually, I hear splashes of water and then, "Mom, the water's too cold!" This is because he's using the same bathwater that Asia was in. This is okay, right? I don't want to waste water and it's not like Asia peed in the water. So I tell him to turn on the hot water. This is logical. Why he has to tell me it's too cold and not just turn on the water is beyond me. I think it's like me telling my husband that the trash in the kitchen is full. He knows it's full. That's why he started stacking the trash above the trash can. My statement means, take out the trash now. I just don't say it that way. So I think that's what Zach means when he tells me the water is cold and knows that he can turn on the hot water himself. He wants me to come over and turn on the hot water for him. And often it's because he's completely immersed in the water or again, making faces in the reflection on the faucet.
So back to Asia and playing with dolls. We're having some quiet time before bedtime. She's asking me if I've played dolls with her before. I'm sure I have. I can't remember when, but I'm positive there was one time in her five years on this earth. So I tell Asia that yes, I have played dolls with her.
Asia says, "I don't think you have. Do you know what you play with me?"
I'm dreading the answer.
"Webkinz." She says.
And it is so true! What do I like playing with her? Computer games! Not playing with the actual Webkinz stuffed animals. But computer games. So I felt some guilt. But I still didn't play dolls with her. I watched her play dolls. It was more amusing. If she's happy playing on her own, why interrupt?

So today, I vowed, well not really, I planned for less computer time. We first went to the library. I forgot it was closed. So we went to a restaurant across the street of the library and ate. While waiting for our food, I had Zach write down as many words as he could that ended in op and then finish a book. Asia drew pictures and then we worked on some words too. She can read maybe 20 words. I think that will pick up like lightning in Kindergarten this year.
Then we went to Bruester's for ice cream. Representatives from the animal shelter were actually at the ice cream shop, so the kids played with two dogs there. One was a really cute minitaure pinscher named Zeus who is about 2 1/2 years old. Very cute little guy. Very mellow. He had just been dropped off at the animal shelter the day before. Apparently he wasn't getting along with one of the owner's cats. Poor doggie. We then went to Target. See this is what I do with the kid's on weekends when John's out doing his thing (rafting today). We go out to eat and we go shopping.
Now what are the kids doing? Playing in a mud puddle in our backyard. Again, the best of intentions - I was going to pull out our kiddie pool, except that it had been sitting curled up at the side of our house all winter. So it was all muddy and had bugs on it. By the time I had it out flat and somewhat rinsed off, I was too tired. Not only that, I couldn't find the air pump. So I sprayed the kids with water and then let them loose with the water hose. They decided to make a huge water puddle. Hey, if they're happy, I'm happy.

Chicago

2008-07-22T23:16:00.004-04:00

I'm finally back in Pittsburgh, trying to get back on schedule. We were in Chicago last week. Or Chicago parts. First two days in a hotel by O'hare, spent a night at Hans & Grace's in Prospect Heights, another night at John's dad's house in Streamwood, two nights at Tom's house in Irving Park, and a night at Nick & Kathy's in Evanston. So if you're a die-hard Chicagoan, you might say we stayed in suburbs all week and weren't really in Chicago. If you're from out of town, then it's all the same. Metro Chicago, I believe would be the term. I worked the whole time, but I did manage to take time off to have dinner with our friends Avni and Ardita in the South Loop area. Zach and their son, Rron, went to preschool together. It's great for them to be still friends after we moved away. I also took a 1/2 day off to go to our old neighborhood on Taylor St and have lunch at Francesca's with Zach & Asia's old babysitter, Joyce. On Saturday, we also hung out with Marissa. The kids got to help her with some cookie-making as well as jump on her bed. I got my Korean food fix at Nick & Kathy's. I have yet to find a good Korean restaurant in Pittsburgh. I sorta found a good Chinese restaurant in Squirrel Hill. It's just quite a hike to get there because of the traffic on 376 and constructions. Yuck. The kids also had a blast in Irving Park, staying with their cousins - Justin, Christian, Seth, Henna, as well as Christian's girlfriend, Cora. Zach got to sleep in the basement with Seth and probably stayed up late playing video games. And then woke up and played video games. Now how dreamy is that for a 7 year old? Anyway, it was a whirlwind, but fun. Good to see old haunts and old friends. Not enough time to see everyone of course. John has this idea now that he wants to rent a place next summer and stay in Chicago for about 6 weeks. Could be fun. We'll see.

bittersweet

2008-07-06T21:11:00.004-04:00

I'm in Austin, TX this weekend. First I was in Harrisburg, packing up my sis's stuff. She transferred her residency to Houston, TX and didn't lose a year! She's transferring right in as chief resident (4th year). How divine is that? Now she'll only be 3 hours away from my dad, versus 23 hours. But now she'll be 20 some hours from me. You win some, you lose some. So anyway, I helped Es pack up her stuff because she was working til 6/30 (on call that weekend) and then had to be in her new apartment by 7/3. Her hours were so crazy. Even when she was "backup" on pager, she still had to go in. One night, she called to say she was done and that we can go out to dinner (when my dad was in town already). I got all dressed up and then just as she's pulling into the garage, she gets paged. Apparently a little 2 year old girl was running around and fell down some stairs or something while holding a toothbrush in her mouth. It wasn't a baby toothbrush either. So the dad cut off part of the toothbrush and the little girl was rushed to the hospital. Es said she had to cut into the little girl's neck to remove the head of the toothbrush. A toothbrush! You wouldn't think that would be very sharp and puncture your throat! So anyway, we couldn't go out to eat since my dad's truck was hitched to this big Uhaul and Es had to drive back to the hospital. What a life! I now understand one of the reasons doctors get paid so much once they're out of residency. They go through pure hell for those 3-10 years of residency.
Es was so lucky in finding a nice apartment online without ever having seen it! No floor plan. Just google maps and hearsay from friends. She really didn't have much choice, also because of having 2 dogs. One of the apartment complexes wouldn't take both dogs. So we packed up her stuff and loaded it into a Ford pick-up truck my dad rented that was towing a 12x6 UHaul trailer. Her stuff almost didn't fit. She had to leave behind her doggie door insert and some patio chairs. I also sold off two of her couches, lawnmower, lamp, and her guest bed. Thank you Craigslist! You sell it cheap enough, it goes! I actually sold the guest bed first. A family was moving from an apartment to a new house and looking for more furniture. The wife actually said she was looking for beds for the kids, but when she saw my posting, she thought it'd be nice to have a newer bed for her and her husband. When she and her husband came to pick up the bed, I asked her if she wanted couches too. I told her I already had an offer of 75 for the two, so if she wanted to beat that price, she could have them. She took them for 100 and also bought a lamp for 5 bucks. The kicker is that Es got the couches and the lamp free from a friend. The lawnmower was also a hand-me-down.
Back to the trip from Harrisburg to Houston. Not bad of a trip at all. My dad drove the pick-up the whole time. Es and I traded off driving her car - loaded down with her guitars, keyboard, miscellaneous stuff, and two dogs. Boy, those dogs were so good on the whole trip. My dog would have been getting antsy. But he's only a year and a half. Cous and Cory are like teenagers already - in dog years. We stayed in hotels on the way - one in Wytheville, VA and the other in Baton Rouge, LA. Thanks to my visa card points - free hotel nights. I forgot about the dogs though and didn't look into hotels that accepted pets. Cous and Cory had to spend those nights in Es' car. Can you believe it? Again, they were so well-behaved!
We arrived in Houston and found Es' apartment complex. Nice gated community. Interesting demographics. Very un-Harrisburg/Hershey and very un-Pittsburgh. Probably very un-Pennsylvania. Surprising enough, the apartment was pretty nice. A one bedroom with a little study connected to it. Nice sized living room, dining room, and kitchen. Nothing compared to owning an actual 3 bedroom house, but for 2 years, it'll be comfy. I hope.
I drove back to Austin with my dad on Saturday. Now I've been just taking it easy. Catching up on the internet (my sis didn't have her internet hooked up yet - we spent hours on the phone on the car trip to Houston yelling at AT&T because they couldn't hook up her internet until 7 business days later - not counting 7/4 and the weekends - AT&T entertainment said they could hook up the cable in 3 days, AT&T internet needed 7 days just to process the account information! Get it together AT&T!), enjoying Texas weather and getting some sun. The sad part is that I keep seeing little things here and there that remind me of my mom. I was cooking dinner and started getting teary-eyed because I thought, my mom should be standing here cooking. This is her kitchen, not mine. Earlier, I had been cleaning out one of the refrigerators because my dad turned it off to clean it and never got to it before he left for PA. So I was throwing stuff away and came upon my mom's stash of cake frosting and the little frosting flowers she was practicing making. They were so cute - little pink flowers and hearts. I hated throwing them away. I could picture Mom making them. Her hobby - cake decorating. She was so proud of her cakes. I still couldn't bear to throw it all away. How long does purple frosting last? Hopefully forever. I drove by Walgreens on the way to my dad's house and got teary-eyed, just remembering when I would take my mom to there or CVS to pick up her arthritis prescriptions.
My dad and I stopped by her grave today after the meeting so we could check on it. The gravestone must have just been installed. It's very nice. It says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord." I'm hoping that in a few weeks, the grass will have been planted and the grave area cleaned up. Then Es is supposed to help put some flowers in. Okay, now I'm getting weepy again so I'll type more some other time.

hello webkinz

2008-06-16T23:17:00.002-04:00

My kids have finally joined the webkinz world. I tried to wait until the hype was over, but that hasn't happened yet. So what did I do? I let the kids buy their own webkinz. They get a kick out of using their own money. So welcome Patches the dog and Leo the tiger. And of course, what comes along with these cute little stuffed animals? An entire world on the web. Zach and Asia have been playing their website every day. And the sad thing is, John and I am hooked as well. Sure, we'll play some games for you so that you can earn some kinzcash or whatever that money stuff is called. Zach and I played Go Fish against each other. It was supposed to be Asia and Zach but as soon as Asia lost some cards to Zach, she stopped playing so I took over. Poor little boy. I didn't think he'd be so sensitive when he lost. Am I a better mom if I let him win or is it better to play a fair game against him? I haven't figured that one out yet.

Clementine

2008-06-08T14:09:00.003-04:00

I was watering the grape vine, clementis, strawberry, and raspberry plants this morning and unearthed a bunch of young wild bunnies. They were hopping around, so I ran inside and told the kids to come outside and take a look. Asia managed to corner one on the stairs down to the driveway and scooped it up. She's named it Clementine. We got a cardboard box for it and Zach cut some carrots for it. They put grass and dirt in the box along with some water. They labelled the box with their names as the proud owners of a new bunny. Unfortunately, since Asia's been holding it everywhere, bringing it on the swing with her, and sitting in the sun with her, the bunny hasn't moved. If you put it back in the box or on the ground, it just sits there in whatever position you place it in. I fear that either Asia squeezed it too hard or else it's just scared almost to death. Asia said she's gentle with it and actually when I hold the bunny, it does just sit there. It doesn't fight at all. I tried to give it some water from a dropper. Anyway, it did just show some signs of life. It peed on Asia's skirt when she had it sitting on her lap. That's a good sign. ha! And when she put it down in my garden area, it started to take off until Asia scooped it back up. I figure we'll let Asia take care of it for a day or so and then let it free. I think I saw its mom hop by this morning.

First Boyfriend

2008-03-08T08:33:00.002-05:00

It's official. Asia said to me this morning, "Jack is my boyfriend. I love him. I want to marry him." Then she said, "He said he wants to marry me too." I was about to say, "Okay, just tell Jack you have to wait until you graduate from college." But that's silly to tell a preschooler at this point. You're supposed to foster this love for others, right? hee hee. And I know that it's all innocent at this age. So anyway, I wanted to record this so that when Asia is older, I can tease her about it. I actually remember playing a lot with a boy named Daniel back when I was in Kindergarten age. Apparently the two of us were a couple. I can't remember if I ever used the term boyfriend back then. I'll have to ask my mom. But I do remember that we had chicken pox together and I believe my mom said I kissed him at some point. My mom has some photos of Daniel and I together. Holding hands and whatever. Like mother, like daughter, I suppose.

Music Man

2008-02-23T22:51:00.003-05:00

Today was Zach's musical from his drama class at Spotlight Performing Arts down the street. It was a riot watching him on stage. We practiced the two songs he needed to know from Sound of Music - Do a Deer and Favorite Things. I can't say that we practiced them that much and he didn't even want to practice them on the way to the theatre tonight. He did have a 4 hour dress rehearsal this morning though. Anyway, it was quite interesting. First off, I didn't have him dress up for the dress rehearsal. He said he was the only one not wearing what he was supposed to be wearing. The main reason was that he was supposed to wear black dress pants and he doesn't have any. I didn't want to go and buy a pair just for this concert. So I called around to see if we could borrow a pair and no one had any that were his size or black. So the little guy wore his dark blue dress pants that my mom bought him - part of a blue suit. It looked fine on stage. You couldn't even tell that they weren't black.
When Zach's group was singing (1st and 2nd graders), I was cracking up like crazy. Zach and his friend Summer were so cute! I was pretty much crying because it was so hilarious. Zach was so animated. He had this humongous grin on his face while he was singing. He just seemed to be really enjoying himself up there. This is one of the reason's why I signed him up again. At first, he wasn't going to continue the next term for the drama class, but I told him that it wasn't going to be singing this time and was going to be Aladdin Jr. I also told him to tell the teacher that he should play the part of Abu, the monkey.
Anyway, back to the musical. Zach was right up there in the front. He didn't look nervous or shy at all. He looked so natural and just really like he was enjoying it up there. You could tell he didn't totally know his part because he looked at Summer a few times to see what she was doing. The teachers also threw in an extra song 2 weeks ago. Zach's drama class only meets once a week, so that was kind of late to throw in a song. It was one that everyone sang in but they stuck Zach's group right up front. He sure did look like he knew the words though. The only part was at the end, he was supposed to stick his arms up in the air and he was the only not doing it. Then he noticed that the people around him had his arms up, so he stuck them up at the last beat. I saw him put his head down like he knew he messed up. But the lights went out at that point. And I noticed that his hands were still up even though every one else's were now down and they were lining up to leave the stage. It was too hilarious. The good thing is it seems like stuff like this just rolls off his back. Sports stuff - when he messes up or loses, he holds it more to his heart. But messing up on stage, seemed like just fun. He didn't mind as much. We'll see how it goes with this next drama class, but he does seem like a natural.

Another scare

2008-02-12T12:35:00.000-05:00

I think kids are sometimes created just to freak the heck out of the parents. Keep the parents on edge. Make them paranoid. When you don't have to worry that much about someone else, your life is so much calmer. Then all of a sudden, you give birth to these little beings and you have to nurture them, feed them, clothe them, and make sure they grow up to be good people. That's a lot of pressure. Egads! So to add to my paranoia on whether my kids will grow up to be outstanding citizens, Asia adds this little piece of kindling to the fire.

Apparently, she was standing on a chair trying to get something and fell off the chair, possibly hitting her stomach on the chair. I was in the kitchen and just heard this groan. I knew she was really hurt with that kind of groan. So I ran over to her in the dining room and she's bowled over, holding her stomach, still groaning. I asked her what was wrong and she said she hit her stomache. Then she kind of went into a trance. I picked her up and she stayed in her bowled over position, like she was frozen. So I sorta straightened her out, patting her on the back, and calling her name to wake her up. She wasn't asleep, just in shock. I called her name and turned her head to look at me and her eyes was open but not really seeing. Then I called her name again, and she finally responded, "What?" I told her that she hadn't been answering me. She just had this scared look on her face, like "What are you talking about Mom?" Boy did that give me the shivers.

Anyway, she was fine after that. Just a little shaken up. She ate some spaghetti then lied down for a little bit and then she was off to play at her friend Lydia's since today is a snow day so no school. Just to re-assure myself, I called the doctor and he said that most likely she scared herself and should be fine. If she starts to vomit or complain about pain, then I can take her to the ER. So is he saying my daughter's a wimp? She can't take the pain? Ha. Anyway, the paranoia sets in when you think... what if she does this at school or anywhere where I'm not there? That's a mom's paranoia. What if something happens to your child when you're not there to save them...

Enough paranoia for today. I'm going to get some coffee or maybe chocolate. That'd be good.

brown baby

2008-02-12T09:12:00.000-05:00

A song that Asia learned in school. But here's her version:

John's brown baby had a cold in his chest,
cold in his chest,
cold in his chest.
John's brown baby had a cold in his chest
so he slobbered it with mentholated goo.
Eww!!

I think the words are really supposed to be like:
John Brown's baby had a cold in his chest...
so he slathered it with mentholated goo.

But hey, brown baby makes sense too. The mentholated goo word was a bit tough to get the first time. It was like menth.... mentho... mentholated goo. So she did get it eventually. No prompting from me since I didn't even know the words.

Now Asia's singing:

It's Valentine's day.. it's valentine's day.. it's valentine's day tomorrow.

Glasses for Z.N.

2008-02-02T15:21:00.000-05:00

Zach has glasses now. I think his prescription is something like -1. Yes, nearsighted. Just like his mom and dad. Just like my parents. I'm not sure if nearsightedness is hereditary or not. My mom said her mom had 20/20. But then there's the theory about reading at night without adequate light - straining your eyes and thus making you nearsighted. Who knows. Zach even eats lots of carrots, which are supposed to be good for your eyes. But to no avail.
The good thing is, he looks good in his glasses. They're these cute dark blue plastic glasses. We actually got 3 pairs for him. One from the eye doctor, the other two from a web site that sells glasses starting at 9 dollars or so. Add on shipping, and other things like anti-glare, and still your glasses only cost 20-40 dollars. Pretty good. Especially for kids. And here's why.
Zach's always losing his glasses. Since he's not used to wearing them all the time, he'll take them off and place them where-ever. Including the floor. Well, yesterday, he left them on my bed. I didn't know this, though. I thought he was wearing them when he went to school. Later in the evening, I notice him wearing another pair and found out that he didn't know where his blue glasses were. Turns out that Jersey had made a chew toy out of them. They were under my bed. One of the glass panes was gone. Still haven't found it yet. And the frame was cracked. Jersey had a good time with those glasses. Nevertheless, I made Zach pay for 1/2 of the cost so that we could buy him another pair just like those cute blue ones. Good thing it only cost him 12 bucks.

Zoofari

2008-01-02T00:01:00.000-05:00

We went to a drive-through safari near San Antonio. The kids loved throwing food out of the car windows. Then since the car had a sun roof, they got a kick out of standing up in the car with their bodies sticking out of the roof. I guess that's another reason the speed limit is 5 mph. Not only do you not want to run over the animals in the road, you don't want to jettison your kids out of the sunroof. Even when we first drove into the park, I saw a dad drive out with his daughter in his lap and his son hanging out of the sun roof.

A lot of the animals would just stand by the side of the road, eating grass. There were so many cars there that I think they had their fill of food. Others would walk by and stop for the food you throw in the road. It was the zebras and ostriches that really got right up into your car and if you had your window down, like many did, those zebras would stick their face right in. See the proof. Zach was digging it! Asia made sure we rolled up her window, and so did my mom.

2008 Begins

2008-01-01T20:26:00.000-05:00

It is 2008. Happy New Year. My son is 7 years old. My daughter will be 5. Time flies. I'm sitting at the dining room table in my parents' house in Pflugerville, a suburb of Austin. When I look at the pictures of the kids around my parents' house, I realize how fast these kids are growing. We sit at this dining room table together maybe twice a year, so when I have flashbacks of sitting here for my dad's birthday or the first time Es, Sam, and I were back together again after we had gone our different paths, or when the kids showed their Nai-Nai that they really do eat vegetables, I see the changes. Asia on my lap, then in a high chair. Zach riding around in a new bike with training wheels, then barely being able to ride it now even with the training wheels off. Asia has to have the seat of her bike lifted a notch or so everytime she's here. They toys they play with. They still love running around and rolling on the carpet since this whole house is practically all carpet. Zach now plays real music on the piano since he's taking lessons. They're really growing up.

Toys 4 sale

2007-10-21T22:44:00.000-04:00

Asia has been in this groove where she wants to sell her old toys. But she has this funny concept that if she sets up a box of toys and a sign and sit on the sidewalk, that people are going to stop and buy them from her. I think this is all from watching an episode of Max & Ruby where Ruby was having a yard sale and sold off some of her old toys. It was fun to watch Zach and Asia get this big box all decorated with a sign saying 1 Dollar and a picture of money on it. But then when they dragged the box and toys out to the driveway and then sat behind the box shouting "Toys For Sale!" I felt kind of bad. Who's going to buy any of those toys?

John and I eventually did go out there and "buy" some of the toys. I especially wanted to buy back the ones that I bought in Florida from Disney World. They weren't cheap.

Asia wanted to do the same thing again today, but instead of the driveway, she wanted to set up her box of toys in the front by the busy street. Luckily she listens to me because I told her that she couldn't. I told her that if she's going to just pretend that she's selling toys, that she could do it on the front porch. She told me she didn't want to pretend, she really wanted to sell her toys. I tried to explain that no one was going to stop their car to buy her toys, that it was more of something to do in the summer and when Mom and Dad are also selling things. She still couldn't get it. Luckily she was easily distracted again when I let her pick some flowers from my garden so that she could be a hula girl.

Backyard Turkeys

2007-10-21T22:40:00.001-04:00

Can you see them? There were actually 3 wild turkeys in our back yard! And they're weren't little things. Jersey eventually scared them away. I think they're turkeys because I heard of some in the area, but I didn't think turkeys could fly and these did. They flew up into the trees and another yard as soon as they saw and heard Jersey coming. They looked almost like ostriches to me.

Goofy Signs

2007-10-21T22:34:00.001-04:00

Here are two pictures showing some of the goofy stuff Asia draws and posts on our doors. When she's mad at me, she'll draw a picture of me in a circle with a line on it. No Mom. Then she'll put it on the kitchen cabinet or my office. Yesterday when she was upset, she asked me how to spell, "I don't like my family." I was considering not telling her how to spell that, but didn't feel it was fair. Luckily she got distracted and only got as far as writing, "I don't like." She did draw a dad, mom, and boy and put them in a circle with a line through it.

The pictures here are simple - she wanted to know if I had strawberries. The funny thing is that the sign stayed on our back door for quite a few days until the wind blew it off. I just wonder what others think when they walk to our door and see a sign asking them if they have strawberries.

Soccer Pictures

2007-10-21T22:28:00.000-04:00

Team Fusion being goofy.

Team United. Back row - 2nd from left is Tori, then Asia. Boy on back right is Sammy. In the front row, first on the left is Joey, then the next girl is Lydia.

School Update

2007-10-21T22:14:00.000-04:00

Zach creamed me in Monopoly today. We have the British version that my brother bought for me when he was in England during a college semester. So you have stuff like Pall Mall, Coventry Street, Park Lane, Water Works, etc. Anyway, I thought Zach was going to lose because he kept mortgaging his properties so that he could buy houses on his group of yellow properties. He eventually got hotels on each one of them. If we had ended the game before my last turn, I would have won. But I let it go a little longer since we were having fun. And on my last turn, I landed on one of his properties and had to pay Zach 1150 dollars (pounds, actually). I didn't have that much and I had to end the game to get ready for my band concert, so the little boy won. The last time I played him, he also won - by like 10 dollars. Anyway, while Zach and I were playing Monopoly today, Asia, who's the banker, was sitting next to me drawing. Then she said, "I wish there was school today." So I told her that she would have school tomorrow (Monday). So she perked up and said, "YEAH!" Now isn't that great? She wants to be in school on Sunday! Or is that saying she's bored at home... Hmmm...
Zach seems to enjoy school too. Though I guess he got bullied once last week, and he didn't even know it. John intervened. The kid's a little naive still where he doesn't realize that other kids he doesn't really know can be mean for no reason. But anyway, he's getting more advanced reading projects since the normal reading homework is way too easy. His math homework is also pretty easy, but he can be a bit sloppy with it. I'm just glad his teacher recognized his level and assigned more advanced homework. Cub scouts is supposed to start up. John's going to sign Zach up tomorrow. So he'll have soccer (that's over this month), basketball starts up first week of December, Cub Scouts, and this art class that's once a week and only for 12 sessions. Zach said that in February, he wants to start piano lessons. At least he said it, not me.

SCORE!!

2007-10-21T22:06:00.000-04:00

Asia scored her first goal in soccer yesterday! And on purpose, too! I'm not sure if it was because she was in really good spirits already or what. We went to Antiquitea for hot chocolate and pbj at around 11 AM. She got to wear her pretty pink dress for the occasion. Then we changed in the car and went to soccer. I made sure to get her there on time. Her friend Lydia wasn' t there today, but her other friends Sam, Joey, and Tori were there. Tori and Asia teamed up right away for the drills and you could just tell they were having fun with them. Usually Asia doesn't like the drills because it'll be some group game where some pretend they're the dog and others are the dog catchers who have to dribble their ball to get the dog or something. For some reason, Asia doesn't like those. But this time, she did whatever the drill instructors asked her to do. And then I think it really helped that when the drill coaches told everyone to pair up, Tori grabbed Asia's hand and said that they would be partners. Asia likes it when she's shown affection like that. Plus one of the drill coaches was new and really good with the kids. Asia seemed to really like her. So when it came to game time, the blue team played the white team. The white team doesn't have any star players on it, so the blue team usually scores on them. But all the kids on both teams were really good today - all playing actively. Again, you usually see at least 2 kids who don't know what's going on or like to hang back at the goal and almost watch the game instead of participate. A lot of times, that's Asia. She likes to be in the game, but not really trying to get the ball. This time, she and "Boy Sammy" were telling each other to go get the ball. Then when she scored, she was actually trying to kick the ball. It wasn't a total accident.
On the same day, Zach scored his first goal in a game this year. Last year, he was always scoring goals. Now he's in an older league. John said Zach was playing some awesome defense too.
Now we have a basketball hoop in our driveway. Zach's pretty good. Asia is also pretty good, except that she keeps getting hurt. Once she got hit on the head with the basketball. I told her that she has to watch the basketball at all times. Then she won't get hit on the head. Today, she got hit in the nose. No blood, thankfully.

birthdays

2007-10-14T22:48:00.000-04:00

Today Asia and I celebrated everyone's birthdays. Everyone and anyone in the world. We just needed an excuse to put candles on a cake and blow them out. Nevermind the initial reason for even making the cake was to surprise Zach and John after they came back from a sleepover at the Zoo. When you have a cake, to Asia, that means a birthday and candles. That shows you how often we have cake in our house. Pie, cupcakes, cookies, candy - those are another story. I forgot though that Zach and Asia really don't like cake. What they like is the frosting. I didn't feel like making frosting from scratch. I ended up just drizzling some Hershey's syrup over Asia and Zach's servings. Asia usually ends up leaving half of her piece of cake uneaten whenever she has any. The frosted top is just eaten off. Zach is pretty good at finishing his desserts. It's not like he never has sweets, but if you were to watch him eat dessert, you'd think he has it once a year. He practically licks the bowl clean and for some reason, desserts always leave a ring around his mouth. I'll have to watch him one day to see why that happens. I think it's probably because he's licking all of whatever it is from his lips. He has to have every last drop. Silly kid. Asia, on the other hand, when she's had enough, she'll stop. She doesn't take sweets that well it seems. She'll complain of stomach aches. Sometimes that won't stop her, but every now and then I can use it as a warning. "You don't want to eat too much of that. Remember it will give you a tummy ache." Or I might say, "We can't eat too much chocolate. It gives you funny poop." And it's so true too. Chocolate is a laxative, let's not forget that. I'm off on a tangent, but we'll stop here. The new subject isn't too appetizing.

cooking skills gone to pot

2007-09-19T08:02:00.000-04:00

I was making Spanish rice the other day. I wanted a starch for dinner fast - so I pulled out this Trader Joe's rice mix. I actually ready the recipe directions which meant put in 2 1/2 cups of water to boil and optional oil or butter. I ommitted those, thinking it'd be healthier. I poured in the packet. Once it got to a boil, I turned down the heat and was supposed to let it simmer for 20 minutes. Well, I checked on it 15 -20 minutes later and it was still soupy, so I let it cook 10 minutes more. In the meantime, I'm cooking some shrimp and what-not. When everything else was ready, I told John that I made Spanish rice too but it didn't seem to be working. He asked me if I put the rice in. I guess Spanish rice would mean that rice should be cooking, right? heh heh. Well, little did I know that John had already used the rice from the box and one of the spice packets. All I was boiling was the spices. I was wondering why the packet seemed so light. I was thinking it was some miracle rice. Like those spongey toys you buy in the store. You put them in the water and watch them grow to ten times their size. Come on! I'm Asian! I should know there is no miracle rice like that!

School Year 2007

2007-09-16T20:06:00.000-04:00

The kids are back in school. Asia is in the Pre-K class at Winchester Thurston. It costs about 12,000 and if she's there for 12th grade, it'll cost around 20,000 dollars!! Of course, we'll do our best to apply for scholarships and whatnot. They even have scholarships and financial aid! But it's a beautiful campus (North Hills) and Asia really likes it. She goes full time - 8:15 to 2:30 PM every day. She comes back singing songs - Spanish if it's Spanish day. She tells us about nature stuff that her teacher tells her - like how to bring butterflies into your garden and that goldenrods are blooming now. Zach, on the other hand, said he's bored. His teacher was sick at least 2 of the days of the first week, and that Monday was a holiday, and that Friday of the first week, Zach was sick! He brings home these worksheets where he has to write the letter for the word, write the number of objects - really basic Kindergarten stuff. I'm hoping that he just has easy work now so that the teacher can see where every student is.

Vacation Complete

2007-09-11T08:55:00.001-04:00

Vacation time is over. In 3 weeks, we went to Goshen, Chicago, Streamwood, Greenback, Memphis, Mesquite, and Austin with two additional stops at hotels along the way. I forgot the names of those cities. The kids got to see their cousins Lizy, Christian, Justin, Brian, Shauna, Andrew. And earlier at their cousin Faith's wedding in Canada, they got to see cousins Jesse, Nathan, Mary, and Henna - in addition to Christian, Lizy, and Brian. They also got to visit their grandparents on both sides this summer. Zach and Asia love their cousins. Doesn't matter that there's such an age difference. Lizy is the next youngest above Z & A and she's already in what..6th grade, I believe.

Can't visit Chicago without getting some Mario's Italian Ice!

Here's a picture of Zach and Asia riding Shauna's horses in Tennessee. Looks like they're riding on their own, right? Actually Shauna and Cora (Christian's girlfriend) were leading the horses. :)

When the kids weren't swimming at Aunt Mary's house, they were on the trampoline.

Sea World at San Antonio with Gong-Gong and Nai-Nai. John even had fun at the water park with Zach.

We also went to a street fair in San Antonio. It was so hot though, that we spent most of our time in this restaurant. Like the decor?

Whirlwind Vacation

2007-08-17T23:45:00.000-04:00

We're on vacation. Have been. Well, more like John and the kids have been on vacation. Mine started tonight. Two weeks ago on Wednesday, I believe, John picked Lizy up from Cleveland and brought her home to play with the kids. I can barely remember all my days, which is why I'm trying to write this in my blog before it all gets jumbled up. So the kids had a ball playing with Lizy. One of those days, the kids and John went to the Science Museum and a thunderstorm rolled in. It rained so much that a small town called Millvale flooded. We usually drive through Millvale to get to the zoo. But maybe 20 minutes or 1/2 hour after John left the Science Museum, a tornado cloud was sighted and blew in a bunch of the windows at the Science Museum! At home, the lights flickered, but stayed on, only the internet and Comcast digital cable went out. At some point, I called John to make sure he was okay, he didn't pick up, so I turned on the TV to see what was going on with the weather. Just after I turned it on, the news was showing the Science Museum and the blown out windows! I then called John again to see where he was. Traffic was pretty bad getting home since roads were closed due to flooding.
Anyway, Friday night, we drove to Lizy's house in Goshen. We got there around 1 AM. Then the kids again had a ball with Lizy. One night, Lizy and Zach stayed up really late (past Tom & JaeHi and Asia) playing a game called Pick 4 or Pick 2 or something. You pick these cards and see if you can move these sticks into that shape, but you can only move one stick each turn. The only way I could get the two to go to sleep was to say they could play in the morning. Then on Sunday, we drove to Chicago and stayed at Tom & JaeHi's old house that is up for sale. Henna and Seth are still living there, but we never saw Seth the whole time. I saw Henna the next morning when she was leaving for work. We also didn't get in right away because no one left the door unlocked and no one was home when we got there. Luckily, Christian and Justin drove up with the key while John and Zach took the train to Millenium Park for a Poster Children concert. John ended up being late to the concert because the train isn't as great as it used to be- construction and whatnot. The train line stopped at some point due to construction and buses were taking people along the train stops.
So Justin and Christian made these great French Bread pizza's for me and Asia. Asia was having a ball seeing her cousins. She was talking up a storm. Then we all drove downtown to pick up Christian's girlfriend Cora from work and met up with John and Zach. We drove over to Justin, Tim Broberg and Carter Sims' place. Oh before all this, we stopped in Chicago for some food on Taylor Street. We parked on Bishop&Laflin area and were walking down Laflin to Taylor for a food festival. Then Joyce Eizenga came out of her apartment there cuz she saw us! We left the kids with her while we went to get some food to eat at her place. It was great to see her by coincidence! Then we also had dinner at Joy Y's at Halstead. That area is really getting nice. And again, while we were first heading to Jamba Juice and then decided to go to Joy Yee's or whatever, we ran into Susanna Johnston and Jubilee! That was neat! So back to Justin's place - we saw Katrina and Tim Broberg there. John was introduced to the game of bags. you throw these bean bags in these holes in a piece of wood. Two teams against each other and some rules for how to score points. As you can tell, I didn't actually play. Otherwise, I'd know the rules better.
Monday - I worked in the corporate office in Merchandise Mart. Then we checked into the HOliday Inn at Merchandise Mart. John and the kids got to use the pool. I eventually got time to use the exercise room. I worked from Merch Mart again on Tuesday, then from the hotel Wed morning. In between that, we had dinner at Pompei with Amy & Andrew Nelson and their two kids, Caleb & Audrey. Joyce also joined us. Then Marissa and Laura took the kids Wed morning to the NElsons to play as well as to Laura's condo. John eventually met up with them. I worked. :) Then we drove to Streamwood where I worked some more from John's dad's house. Crazy, right? Very crazy week. From Streamwood, we drove on Thursday to Tennessee. It was an uneventful drive except that the DVD player in the car decided to stop working during the beginning of the drive to TN. Then John got pulled over for speeding in Kentucky. The police officer told us that John's license had been suspended in Illinois! Boy were we shocked! So I had to drive the rest of the way to TN. John called today and the Illinois office said that the EPA suspended the license thinking we were still living there and that the car hadn't passed state emissions. It's supposed to be unsuspended within a week. Hopefully in time for the drive to Texas. I was not looking forward to 14 hour drive. Of course, we'll probably have to still pay some outrageous speeding fine, but that's better than what could have happened when driving on a suspended license.
So now we're in Tennessee. I worked during the day. Put in 50 hours this week. Nice vacation. Oh well. It's tough because I'm also transitioning to a new team in Allscripts - support. Still doing same thing but not billable and training more people.
Okay, my battery is about to die. I'll have to write more later. For now, just know that I'm in Tennesse enjoying time with Paul & Mary, Brian, Shauna, and Justin Stevens. Cora and Christian are also here. The kids are having a ball!!! They love their cousins. Too bad that there are cats around though. I had to put Asia on antihistamine pills. Her face is starting to puff up. Christian and Cora are also allergic to cats. Zach hasn't been too bad yet.

Too much computer?

2007-06-30T21:28:00.000-04:00

Here is a good indicator that your daughter has been playing on the computer too much in one day. We're in Asia's room reading some books before bedtime, then she decides to play a game.
"Mom, do you want to play a game?" Asia asks.
"Sure," I answer.
"Click here to start the game. Then drag your mouse over my pink blankie to move it. If you want to play dress-up, click on my jewelry box. Click here and select me for instructions." Asia answers.

Color of Compromise

2007-06-17T12:43:00.000-04:00

Asia asked me an interesting question today while we were painting pictures. Our conversation went something like this:
"Mom?"
"Yes?"
"What's the color of compromise?"
Stunned, I did what any parent would do, I turned the question back on the child. "Well, what do you think the color of compromise is?"
Asia's answer was, "I think the color of compromise is orangish-brownish-greenish-pinkish."

Is that an amazing answer or what? Is that not what compromise is? All colors with some ish in between?

Summer times

2007-06-14T22:55:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Zach's last day of Kindergarten. He's been reading like a fiend. Three new books each night. He has his small lamp on his bed and he reads to himself three new books from the library. Then he turns out the light and goes to sleep.
Today was Asia's first day of cheerleading. Yes, cheerleading. It's supposed to boost her confidence. She has two friends in the class - Taylor and Chloe. Taylor was in her Hiland preschool class this year. Chloe was in Asia's St. Paul's preschool class last year. Asia and Chloe did not recognize each other, but it's nice for them to see each other again. There are maybe 20 kids in this cheerleading class. All girls. The teachers are college students. They said they've been cheerleading for 7-14 years. Cheerleading captains and whatnot. The main thing is that girls seem to be having fun. Asia's also in gymnastics - started last week. Acacia and her other friend Joey are in the Koala Bears class together. I'll have to take some pictures.

D Day Tomorrow

2007-05-11T23:12:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is Asia's first dance recital for West View Dance. She and her friend Acacia are doing the Bunny Rabbit Blues. Their outfits are so cute. Almost like a playboy bunny. Don't you think?

The dress rehearsal was Wednesday. That was torture. We had to be there at 4:30 PM. Then there was about 1/2 hour just to get people situated, another 1/2 hour for a slide show of pictures taken throughout the year (cool if you're older, but not when you're in preschool with the attention span of a minute). Next, they practiced the finale of the show. That's going to be interested. Trying to time it just right so that about 60 girls all come out in different groups to do a few moves, wave, and exit the stage to music. At least it provides a good laugh. Then each group practiced in the order of the concert. Asia's group is something like 17 or 19 - after the intermission. Asia did pretty well, though, sitting and waiting her turn. I brought along her V-smile game, so she played a little bit. But actually one of her bunny friends played it most of the time. I had the sound turned off so I guess Asia got bored of it. She likes it when her friends like her things anyway.

I'll try to get another picture tomorrow. She doesn't like having her picture taken. She likes attention but not photo attention. It's interesting.

He has been deemed Jersey

2007-04-22T15:49:00.000-04:00

We finally found a name.. after going through Burly, Guffy, Skeet, Kelsey, Kelton - I thought that was funny. Kelton is supposed to mean veal payment. Hee hee. Anyway, just a bunch of names I got off of a pet internet site. I did this with Zach and Asia, too. I wrote down a bunch of names and John and I would mull over them, add some more, put little x's next to some we didn't like but not necessarily crossing them out since we might like them a week later. Finally narrowing down to one or two that we would say over and over til it sounded right. So now, we finally weaned it down to... Jersey. After New Jersey. Zach wants to make it sure you know it's not after the name of T-shirts.
So we gave Jersey his first bath (from us) today. He needed a bath because this morning he woke up with some dried poop on his bottom. I think he tried to hold it when he was in his crate. Anyway, I gave him a bath in the sink. He was so good about it! No whimpering. He did stand up on all two's when I took out the plug to let the old water out. It makes a loud sound when all the water suddenly goes down. But the second time it did that, he was fine.
Now he's all clean. And I didn't get too wet. Very nice. The shampoo is coconut-scented too. We'll see how long that lasts.

New Addition

2007-04-20T23:08:00.000-04:00

Well, we did it. We finally got a dog. Yes, a dog. I always thought of myself as a cat person. When Zach was born, we had Dizzy. He was a good cat. But when Asia was born, I had Susan take Dizzy back to Columbus because I felt he was getting ignored. He was probably happy going in and out of the house and doing whatever he wanted, but I didn't think it was too healthy for him. Well turns out that Zach and Asia are allergic to cats anyway. So no cats for us.

John had been hinting about getting a dog for quite some time. So I finally decided to research dogs. If we're going to get a dog, I want a good breed that I can rely on. One that is good with little kids, small, not yippy. The last thing I want is a dog that is constantly barking whenever someone goes by or the neighbor's dog is out, etc. Not when I work at home and am on the phone a lot. So I narrowed the dog search down to two breeds - Havanese and Coton de Tulear. I had John check them out to make sure he was okay with these two breeds. What he wanted at first was the typical dog - Labrador Retriever. They're beautiful puppies, but they're only like that for a few months. Then they're a mass of muscle and energy. Sure, if we were an energetic young couple or with older kids who could help out, that kind of dog would be great. But I knew I wouldn't have energy for such a big dog. So eventually John was fine with the two breeds I picked out.

The next step was further research on the breeds to see the pitfalls. Then find breeders nearby. For the Cotons, they were all about 5 hours away in all directions. They're a rarer breed. I emailed one to find out the cost. The breeder emailed me back that the show-potential puppies went for $3000 and the non-show for $2000!!!! So I went for the Havanese. I found two breeders who were in West Virginia - an hour away. One was actually out of town so I never made contact with her. The other breeder was actually babysitting the first breeders dogs - they were friends! That seemed weird since I'd think they'd be competing, but the breeder (Laura) said that they don't compete. The dogs are just available at different times. Anyway, Laura and I emailed for quite some time and then set a date for my family to come up and see the two dogs she had left to show.

When the kids saw the two dogs, they were a little apprehensive at first. John got attached to the male pup right away, then Zach. Asia hid behind me at first. Mostly because she was afraid of the girl pup who kept barking. The girl pup was more excited and liked to bark to talk to you. Zach and Asia kept putting their hands over their ears. Laura, the handler/breeder, started to hold the girl pup after that to keep her quiet. Then Asia and Zach were all over the boy pup. Asia kept saying she loved him. They would throw a ball and he would go running after it. They were both like, "Mom, I just love this dog! I love him!" So I was sold. We brought the little guy home. He was so good in the pet carrier! And then coming into the house, he was really good. And he's sleeping in his crate right now. We'll see how tomorrow goes. And we have to figure out a name for him. The kids were calling him Fluffy at the kennel. John's not for that name. So we tried a couple of other suggestions - Max, Sidney, Crosby (yes Penguin players), Fleurry, Custard, Sam, Sammy. Still haven't agreed on anything yet.

Asia's First Day of Soccer

2007-04-20T22:48:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday was Asia's first day of soccer. She, Zach, and Ethan are all in the same team plus some girls from Zach and Ethan's Kindergarten class - Summer, Addison and Jessica. But at the beginning of practice, all the teams that are 6 yrs and under are together learning drills. So Zach and Asia's friend Emme is also in the same soccer league. Asia was all excited about being in soccer. She got to pick out her own soccer ball - a pink one, of course. But when the actual practice happened, she got all intimidated. That's natural of course. She's never been in any organized sports. I don't think she was expecting so many kids around her. At first, it seemed like maybe Asia would participate.

She looks like she's listening right? But then as the coaches were telling the kids what to do, she spent most of the time like this:

Her hands in her pocket, just standing next to her ball and guarding it. She'd look around and see what others were doing. The coaches were pretty good about it. They'd try to help her out or explain things to her. I could tell that she liked the coaches though because she would talk to them.

It was tough for me not to run out there and hold her hand and show her how much fun the other kids were having. All the other parents were talking to each other or enjoying watching their kids play. My daughter was the only one out there standing there. I had to practically tie myself to my chair. John said that in the past years, they'd even have kids out there crying. I guess that made me feel better.

I kept telling Zach to go over to Asia and help her out since this was his 3rd season in soccer. He would but she wouldn't respond too much. She spent quite some time in this position too:

Finger in her mouth. But again, she is listening. And she's not crying. And she's not sitting in the sidelines next to me or wanting me to hold her hand. She's out there, observing, getting comfortable. The coaches were pretty good too. They had some neat games to help the kids practice dribbling and stopping the ball. In one, they were dogs and some of the kids were dogcatchers. The dog catchers had tshirts that they would use to tag someone (a dog). Then the coach made Asia the ultimate dog catcher. She ran around with another coach and if they caught you, they got to take your ball. That really warmed her up. I thought at first that she'd freak out when the coach pointed her out and everyone was looking at her as the special dog catcher. But the coach was wise. Asia wanted the attention.

The last few minutes, two teams would actually play against each other. That's what Asia was waiting for. She had a blast. And Zach scored quite a few goals. As did Ethan's classmate, Jessica. This last picture is the end of the soccer practice. The kids love snack time. Usually, they get a ticket that they take to the snack stand for a drink and chips.

interesting year

2007-03-31T22:05:00.000-04:00

It's been an interesting year for my family. My grandfather (Dad's dad) died in February. My dad's aunt died shortly after that. Today was the memorial service for my Uncle Noel (my mom's brother). My Uncle Noel found out he had cancer in December/January. Most of his liver was removed in January but he never got strong enough to start chemotherapy. The cancer spread and other infections. He passed away last Wednesday. The memorial service was very sweet.
I was a little worried about the kids going to the funeral/viewing/memorial service and just approaching the subject of death. A few days ago, for example, Asia told me she didn't want me to die... ever. I tried to explain to her that everyone dies. She said she would be very sad if I died. She said she'd rather die. But then I told her that would make me very sad. So we agreed that we both wanted to live forever.
Asia also asked me another difficult question this week. She asked me if God was bigger than Jesus. Tough question eh? I tried to explain a little about Jesus coming to the earth as God's Son and then returning back to be with God when He died. And then tried to say that they were now the same and then quickly changed the subject. I wasn't ready to try and explain this subject to a four year old.