gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

Quick trip to the US to see Grannie and celebrate Alex's 11th birthday.  We packed a lot in, including a Nationals game as Carrie's birthday present to Alex, his first live baseball game.  What fun and the weather was spectacular.  It was also Military appreciation Day and $1 hot dog day. Alex had not been to the US since August 2016, and we both enjoyed "getting our USA on".  Several trips to the WaWa (Alex was eating Cheetos and drinking a Mango smoothie within one hour of landing at Dulles), lots of driving (Carrie lent me her car which was awesome), lots of frozen waffles, tacos, visiting with Frank-Eli, Chuck E Cheese, bike riding, church with Grannie, lunch with Mabel, new shoes for Alex, the car wash, riding the new Metro cars on the Red line, Passover Seder at Val's house (Val was in town from Atlanta)...so much fun. Nationals Game Uh, yes, that is Air Force One we saw flying over Nationals Park (what other 747 is climbing over DC coming from Maryla...

Pictures A nice Sunday to celebrate, Vincent helped make the brownies, we had one of Alex's favorite meals (salmon, broccoli, sauce beurre citron, rice), apple tart from the bakery, fizzy apple drink, and sushi for dinner. MORE pictures present opening JD's camera more beginning of April While I was in the US with Alex...Vincent got a haircut, made a dragon, and went to a Passover seder with friends from the synagogue.  After we returned, a visit to our Town Hall for the exhibition "150 years of  Levallois", then lunch at Au Coin de la Rue.  Vincent helped me make the brownies for Alex's birthday and decorate with the icing. GB camera 150th Anniversary of Levallois exhibit, park. before the "E" popped:

pictures March 28 was Australia day at school.  Kangaroos, didgeridoos, koalas, songs, Crocodile Dundee hats, aboriginal art, and flags.  Cute. March 30 was Alex's last tennis class and parents could visit.  The coach let Vincent play and he loved it. more pictures from March "I really love my brother even if sometimes I really don't".

we thought this mini-door was funny pictures JD's March 5th choir concert - synagogue choir with Protestant church choir pictures nice warm weekend park and lunch pictures random Alex, Vincent, and food pictures pictures another nice sunny day, a walk to Park Monceau, lunch JD's camera Vincent, Lincoln, Clifford, park, dead pigeon.

Vincent and his avocado seed Open house before Spring Break! pictures Visiting Vincent's classroom before vacation - so much artwork, workshops, activities, and growing the avocado seed.  Vincent was very proud to show off all of his hard work. a few more pictures JD's camera artwork by Vincent - he's very talented! A self-portrait of Vincent dressed-up as a Ninja Turtle (tortue Ninja) for Mardi-Gras:

Eating, walking, drinking our way through Paris this winter.  Some nice weekend walks.  Two weeks of school vacation (February 4 - 20). pictures Vincent had a field trip to a "flying machine workshop"in Paris, entertaining ourselves in the apartment in winter, visiting Alex's Centre de Loisir (Rec Center) during the vacation for Open House, then Vincent's, some yummy food and pastries. pictures Walking to Montmarte neighborhood for a long lunch at La Mascotte, a traditional French bistro.  Delicious long lunch.  Walking up the hill, merry-go-round for the kids, some sugar crepes, the art "Love" wall, on up the hill, then down on the funicular. pictures The mall, the park, taking Lincoln to the vet, breakfast, another walk into town, lunch at Boeuf sur le Toit, bus home, Mardi Gras.

Outside the Ciccone Guest house, Naples, Italy. I have no idea why I have not posted in so long!  Time to catch up.  No apologies by the way. Just lots of text. These are pictures from the last school vacation in early February, during the ski vacation in France when everyone has 2 weeks off to go skiing (and the entire country rotates the 2 weeks by region to keep the ski resorts full all season long - you have to love that, we do).   Let me remind all of you, French kids go to school for 6 weeks, then have off 2 weeks of vacation.  Two months off July and August.  At first a bit odd for an American, now we love it.  Time to rest, travel, and enjoy life.  And those 6 weeks they are in school the teachers crack the whip and the hours are long so vacation is needed for rest they believe. Back to Naples... We typically don't go skiing due to the crowds but find some other fun thing to do.  We like the Frech Alps off season by the way. ...

A bit behind on posting...some pictures from January. beginning of January Relaxing, arts and crafts, Vincent's doctor kit, a meal at our favorite Indian restaurant New Mathura, tacos, more doctor kit, galette des rois, puzzle, pictures January 19th, 15 year wedding anniversary dinner at Cornelius!  A apero (aperatif) first at the Anjou. Yes, I was still jet lagged from my San Fran trip and it was a school night, but we had to celebrate.  Marrow in the bone, razor clams for Alex, Saturday in the Marais pictures We headed to the North Marais (NoMa, 3rd arrondisement) for some authentic Chinese cuisine at Le Lac de l'Ouest, closer for us than going to Chinatown in Paris.  It was cold but sunny, so we continued our walk in the Maraism bought some of the best macarons in Paris (Pierre Herme, 31,50 euros for the box, Vincent could not eat them fast enough) to find a place to watch the Manchester United game.  We found a wonderful small little Scottish bar...

tacos and hipsters (no hipster pictures they would have charged me) Quick trip to San Francisco solo. I spent a lot of time in SF in the late 80's, 90's, early 00's, but have not been there recently.  Pauline of course has been visiting since 1963 when Aunt Beaty moved to San Carlos.  But the chance to go for a quick visit, to cross paths with Kathleen and Marek (Boston) and John McArdle (SF based) and Alicia (near Berkeley) was too much to pass up.  And I got the window of 6 days of sunshine between what everyone told us were severe rare monsoons. arriving Paris to San Francisco JD had to go to Budapest right before I left for work.  Vincent enjoyed mapping out my flight route which is quite different from Paris - DC.  For San Fran, an 11 1/2 hour flight from Paris, they fly up over Greenland and down over Canada.  I have never flown from Europe to the West Coast with a 9 hour time difference and I was intimidated.  The first night I stayed ne...

pictures So much fun at L'Anjou with our friends old and new, champagne, and dinner. Vincent loved dancing and watching the DJ play music.  There were no TV's so no bad New Year's Eve countdown specials.  In fact, it seemed an afterthought to count down.  Funny. Alex took some of the pictures, and Vincent didn't like it. See mean brother face.

Spencer Cahoon US visit A few pictures from my brief US visit.  Spencer's Marine Boot camp graduation picture (Parris Island, SC), tree decorating, neighborhood decorations, historical Kensington photos, Grannie and her exercise class, Axel, Mitchell's new room, Dulles, back in Paris. Spivak family in Paris Levallois town hall and Christmas market, seafood market, drinks with Spivak's at Renaissance Hotel Wagram, dinner at traditional French bistro Sebillon Friday night Dec 23.  Check out the food - oysters, marrow in the bone with toast, their famous leg of lamb carved tableside, and  crêpes  suzettes.  Alex had his favorite fish soup for appetizer. MORE pictures with the Spivak family around Paris Sat December 24 - walking through the Christmas Market and manger scene again in our town, meeting up with the Spivak's to walk around town, buy cheese at Alleosse, have lunch (that's beet soup I am having, yum), metro to Moulin Rouge area, past...

I was in the US for Carrie's Dad's memorial service so I missed the last week of school before Winter Vacation (vacances d'hiver).  There was an open house on Friday December 16th in Vincent's kindergarten (grande section 2) classroom JD documented with photos.  Vincent has been working very hard since Toussaint vacation, learning to write, all about Egypt, making a "pyramide en sucre"(pyramid from sugar cubes), and singing. Dec 16 pictures

Le Mairie (Town Hall), Levallois-Perret For the first time since we have lived in France (2009-2012 and 2014-present) we are staying in France for the Winter vacations (vacances d'hiver). So far so good, decent weather, and a visit from cousin Marjorie and her family on their way to Israel. pictures - Magic'Noël-Ville de Levallois Spivak family in France!   Dinner last night with the Spivak's and David's friend Paul at Sebillon restaurant. L-R: Bruce, Paul, David, Doug, Daniel, JD, Gab, Marjorie, Vincent and Alex Live manger scene at the town hall!

Most of you will know who Mr. Kurtz was, my best friend Carrie's Dad.  So many Nick stories!  The memorial service was a wonderful celebration of his life.

Vincent and the Luxor obelisk, Place de la Concorde We've been busy once school started again on November 3.  JD had a choir concert, and Vincent has been dragging us all over Paris to see everything he is learning about in school. On Armistice Day, a national holiday in France, we went to see the "Luxor Obelisk" Vincent learned about while studying Egypt.  The obelisk was a gift to France from Egypt in 1832 and is covered in hieroglyphics.  We had just missed the military parade down the Champs-Elysees.  Then we had a nice long meal at a classic old bistro, "Le Grand Colbert". In between, Alex is obsessed with baking moelleux au chocolat, a "molten chocolate cake that combines the elements of a flourless chocolate cake and a soufflé".  Yum. pictures Vincent's camera baking baking baking (and the choir concert)

Alex's class, CM2 (5th grade) Alex 10 1/2  years old: Vincent, 5 1/2  years old, grande section (kindergarten):

...that Vincent learned about in his class. Vincent just finished a lesson on "prehistoire" and we were urged to visit the Musee Nationale de Prehistoire in Paris to see the skeleton of the mamouth, which we did on our last day of vacation. This is the famous huge museum in Paris, akin to trying to find the "ruby slippers" at the Smithsonian.  We went to the wrong building first, but that's ok, it was a cool exhibit of mammals and whales.  And then when we found the paleontology building, well - we had never seen anything like it. No pictures of the lion penis in a jar (felis lion) or all the other stuff in a jar - amazing, gross, cool, a paleontologist's dream.  And then there was yummy lunch in a bistro and a walk across the bridge to the 14 Metro home. pictures have you ever seen so many skeletons? building collection dates from 1850's:

You better believe we did! This is the sticker from the US, obviously, when I took Grannie to vote early in Maryland.  We voted absentee from France. Some of the coverage in France: US election seen from France: America's 'angry white men' the next day -