Mexico 2010

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

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?

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.