Happy Birthday, Uncle Michael

Just to clear up the confusion, it was our friend Mike who visited a week ago, not my brother Michael. August 1st is Michael's 24th birthday. We wish we could be in Nashville (or he could be in Paris!) to celebrate, but in lieu, here are the signs the boys made for him.

(I SWEAR he knows it's Michael, not my sister Michelle, who's having a birthday. He got tripped up by the French spelling and I convinced him to leave it as-is.)

Scroll down if you haven't read the blog for a while, I've posted a few things the past few days.

Boys' day out

Carter and Calvin are both attending "centres de loisirs d'ete" (summer camp) at the nearby public schools. They actually share a building and a partitioned courtyard playground. That's the building in the pictures above.

The environment's pretty much all French, though many of the animateurs (or teachers and helpers) speak some English. The boys have each had some tough days, when they haven't understood what's going on, or when they've thought their new friends were teasing them. But in general, they've been eager to try all these new things, and typically come home both exhausted and eager to tell us about their days. I'll try to get them to record some of their enthusiasm and we'll post it for you.

They offer an amazing range of activities. A typical day they'll have their choice of outings to a park or swimming pool, or crafts and games and such at the school. Today both boys chose the outings, since it was a perfect 75 degree summer (or spring in DC) day. Carter's school went to Tremblay, just outside the city. Calvin's went to Parc de Bercy, on the site of converted wine depots in the 12th Arrondissement on the other side of town.

Oh, and Carter lost another tooth today, his second in about a week.

AF still on sale

Air France's big summer/fall sale ended July 28th, but they have some August flights on sale through August 6. They claim round trips to Paris $750 from Washington, $740 from Houston, and an amazing $550 from New York. Departures between August 22 and September 10. Signed, your friendly travel agent.

Noontime update

Let's try something new: a quick post of the most recent happenings. I'll get caught up on the bigger stuff from July, but want to let you know a little more of our day-to-day.

Thursday and Friday, Carter stayed home from camp with me. Thursday, he cashed in his "half-birthday kid's choice day" card and we went to the Paris Plages (beach) and the beach volleyball tournament. Friday, he stayed home because he had a French lesson in the afternoon, and I didn't realize his whole school was going on an outing. We caught some more volleyball, finished his homework, went to the market, I got my hair cut, he had his lesson, you know, that kind of prosaic day. Friday night we went to dinner at the apartment of our friends Michael, Monica, Tuli, and Coli (not sure if I spelled the girls' names right). It was a lovely evening, and with the heat finally broken we were all happier than the previous few days.

Saturday (yesterday) morning the boys slept 'til 9:30 or so, and we slept a bit longer. We made a big waffle brunch with fresh strawberry/smallredfrenchberry sauce. Afterward, Betsy and Calvin went to the grocery while Carter and I did ... something, I forget now. After lunch we caught the men's semis and women's final at the beach volleyball tournament. It's one of the four grand-slam tournaments on the pro circuit. The women's final was the defending Olympic champs from the US, Walsh and May, against a Brazilian team. The Brazilian's topped them in three games, 15-13 in the third. Quite exciting, and then we ran into our friends who run Fat Tire tours on the way out. That kind of thing makes us feel like we really are part of the neighborhood. Last night we took it easy, with a yummy pasta and brie dinner before the boys sacked out.

This morning we slept in a bit again, then after breakfast Betsy and Carter went to the market while I cut Calvin's hair and cleaned up the apartment. Our friends Tom and Carol, with sons Theo and Sandy, are coming for lunch, along with our friend Kevin. We were going to picnic but it's a bit threatening, so we'll probably stay here at least to eat. Later, we may catch the men's final, or just chill, who knows.

Next weekend I'm going to go to Brussels with Kevin, then the following weekend the boys and we are probably going to Amsterdam. Fares are still high to here from the US, but cheaper to Amsterdam, so if you're thinking of heading there let us know. Fares for the fall look like they're starting to drop, although the big Air France sale just ended. I hope we see you soon.

The quick guide to the past 17 days

I've posted some pics from Mom and Don's visit and Mike's weekend. They're maybe not the best-of but a representative set of the places we went together. I'm still working on energy to blog more coherently about the trips. In a nutshell, with Nan and Don we went to the Loire Valley, including the château where we stayed (Château Roujoux), Cheverny, Chenonceau, Amboise, Chambord, Blois, Chateaudun, and Chartres. Back in Paris, we visited Versailles and the Louvre, as well as other parts of our fair city. With Mike, we mostly ate ourselves silly, but managed to amble down to the river to catch the final stage of the Tour de France coming into Paris.

We've had a great time, and are starting to get back into a little bit of a routine with summer camps and such. We're looking forward to visitors again in September, after we take a couple of weeks to enjoy sleepy August Paris, punctuated by things like the Paris Plages (where the riverside highways are turned into beaches) and the pro beach volleyball tournament going on now about 2 minutes away in front of Ecole Militaire.

We'll get more stories and pictures up soon. In the meantime, if you'd like to video-chat with us, just drop an email and we'll set something up!

We are alive and stickin'

Hello to anybody who still checks up on us! The past month has been a blur of school ending, camps starting, guests arriving and departing, our own traveling, and for the past couple of weeks, HEAT. I know I owe us a lot of catchup posts and pictures, but with Mom and Don leaving tomorrow, and Mike arriving for the weekend, it's likely not to happen until next week. For now, here's a couple of quick pictures just so you know we're alive. And thanks for thinking of us.

A sad ending

What a way to end the World Cup, on the agony of penalties. The best moment for me was seeing Barthez and Buffon, the two 'keepers, embracing and smiling before the penalties came. The worst? Clearly, Zidane losing his mind and being kicked off the field, instead of leaving gracefully as a two-time champion. Disgusting.

It's not as loud here in Paris tonight, with only the occasional delirious Italian honking down the street.

Tomorrow my mom comes into town, and we head to the Loire. No idea if we'll have any connection to post to the blog, so don't be too surprised if you don't hear from us until next weekend. If we do have a connection, I owe you pictures from the past few, um, weeks - Calvin's fete, Griffin's visit, Les Invalides and the Musee des Plans-Reliefs, and the one-ring circus in our neighborhood square. Appetite whetted?

Like déjà vu all over again

France did it again, topping the cynical, pathetic, pretty-boy, diving Portuguese 1-0 in the World Cup semifinal. "Les Bleus" will now play the cynical, diving Italians on Sunday at 8pm (2pm EDT) for the Championship. Crazy, that. We watched at home with our friend Kevin, and are now being serenaded by horns and screaming, while watching coverage from the mobbed Champs Elysees on TV.

Poor Calvin was home sick today, so Carter and I kept him company and went a bit stir-crazy on this, the first day with decent weather since last week. Since the poor guy didn't keep any food down at all today, he'll probably be home tomorrow too. So much for the last week of school. He's not used to being sick at all, so he was really small and pathetic. Carter pointed out that I was using all my pateince up with him and didn't have enough left for Carter, so I'd better go try to sleep through the cacophany and refill the patience tank.

Weekend update

We spent today at the market and the Cité des Sciences, with Griffin and his parents. Tomorrow morning Betsy returns. How's that for an update?

No sleeping tonight!

You might have seen that tonight France beat the defending World Cup champions Brazil, in the quarterfinals of this year's tournament. The game ended about 90 minutes ago, and the streets are again alive with honking horns and shouting, even in our quiet quartier.

Carter's friend Griffin's family arrived today, and we'll be exploring the city with them over the next couple of days. Should be a giddy time for Paris and France before Wednesday night's semifinal match against Portugal.

And in more obscure sports news, the first post-Lance Tour de France started today in Strasbourg. It'll be three weeks before they make it to Paris, but the fireworks started yesterday with most of the favorites being suspended from the race. Wow.