gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

Cooking class during Winter Break. One thing to get used to while living in France - the school holidays! There is school for 6 weeks, then a 2 week vacation. Right now we are in the midst of Winter Break. I signed Alex up for a cooking class some of his friends from school were also attending. The children had a great time - they made bread, pizza, decorated spice cake, cheese pastry, and candy sticks. Afterwards, there was gym and music and dancing and drawing. They also had a party the last day and Alex had his face painted like a pirate. McDo and playdate. On Wednesday, the friends from Lennen School attending the cooking class - Ysé, Valentina, Jean and Yasmina - went to McDonald's for lunch and then for a play date to Ysé's. We had a great time.

Pictures. Alex playing around the apartment, opening his Valentine's card from Toots & Poppie, playing in the box the new computer came in, the weekly wedding at the American Church that we see since that is where Alex's preschool is located, taking advantage of the sun to play outside, Alex's friends from school (Jean and Valentina), Alex reading his "report card", and waiting for the Metro.

Mardi Gras Cirque d'Hiver Last week was Mardi Gras, and at Alex's school they dressed up on Wednesday (it worked better on the calendar than Tuesday) and made "pancakes" which were really crepes. Some nice pictures of Alex's friends in his class. This past weekend we took Alex to the circus. It was a lot of fun. He liked the lions and the "donkeys" (there were no donkeys - just emus or llamas or something like that). Unfortunately, no pictures with the scantily clad French circus women.

Pictures. More pictures. We haven't been able to post for a bit since our old computer died and we had to buy a new one. So far, Windows 7 in French isn't so bad. We had some snow flurries that were more messy than disruptive. One day Alex and I went with Alexandre and his mom Gail to check out a Gymboree, which was in the basement of Aquaboulevard, a big indoor pool facility. Alex didn't want to do Gymboree but watched. Then we took the tram back to La Defense to meet JD, and had sushi for dinner which was pretty good. Alex had the plate of meat and meatballs on a stick. Last weekend we tried to go to the Louvre on Sunday but it was packed with people, so we walked around the grounds and the Tuileries for a bit.

duck(canard) cassoulet Pictures. More pictures. Alex and I arrived back in Paris after five weeks in the States. The weather is typical Paris in January - cold, gray and rainy, but there was some sun as you will see from the pictures. Alex was very glad to see all his friends at school, and it was good to be back to our Parisienne routine...bread, cheese, buses, walking, and our Boulangerie! It was also great to see Lincoln, we missed him. There was also the first attempt at wienerschnitzel making from JD - he thinks Grandma Susie would approve.