gabriella & jd (and alex! and vincent!)

Vincent as a French astronaut pictures Kermesse (Carnival) at Vincent's school Friday night.  Vincent enjoyed the water balloon toss with his teacher Silvi from petite section.  Then he showed us his space book and did Legos with Alex. Vincent's space book Vincent's class spent an entire trimester on the subject of outer space and the planets, solar system, and constellations.  Part of this was because the first French astronaut Thomas Pesquet was in space and just returned after 196 days on the International Space Station. pictures Sunday, Vincent attended Antoine's birthday party in the Jardin d'Acclimatation.  JD and I went to visit the cool new museum Fondation Louis Vuitton .  Vincent had a great time, the theme was superheroes and Antoine's mother made them all capes.  We walked all the way home. more Antoine party pictures Tuesday was orientation for CP (first grade) in the cafeteria of the elementary school and a visit to a CP class...

It's gone!

Vincent's class each grew an avocado plant from a seed and brought it home last week.  He was very proud.  We gave it lots of water and it perked up right away.  Lincoln likes to nap by it in the sun.

pictures Finally, he has about 5 that are loose.  He lost it in the bedsheets but I found it thank goodness.  He last lost a tooth one year ago.  Some more are ready to tumble.

Thurs and Friday Summer heat is upon us, so we were relaxing in the cool breeze at the Anjou - where Vincent brought me my margarita and the local dog was hanging at the bar.  Vincent brought his avocado plant home he grew in school all year.  He was very proud of it. Friday, Alex's 5th grade (CM2) chorus concert at school.  They practiced all year and sang about 12 French songs including "La Marseillaise" and "Douce France". Saturday Annual Summer Fair (Fête de l'été-Ville de Levallois) in our town, theme was 70's, 80's, and 90's.  They go all out with games, music, rides, entertainment.  Lots of fun and we had great weather, lots of sun.  Vincent ran into some of his friends from school which was nice.  Vincent was playing with a water balloon until it exploded.  There was as disco dance party until midnight but we did not stay. Sunday Vincent and I went back to the fair so he could do the trampoline and water bubbles. videos tr...

morning pictures Opening gifts before school.  Good times! More pictures coming,  Vincent loved all his gifts, especially the n-spinners from Lincoln. (Mom, how did Lincoln tell you that's what I wanted?) rest of the pictures from Vincent's birthday celebration Presents, going to school, our lunch while Vincent was at school (yum), snacks, sushi, cake. making the yogurt cake We practiced making the yogurt cake that Vincent was going to make in school with his teacher on June 6th to celebrate his birthday.  Delicious!  He said the one at school was even better. afternoon - Vincent's pick of sushi for dinner, then chocolate birthday cake!

Plaza Mayor A 3-day trip to Madrid (Gab only) to visit a good friend Jeff who was visiting Madrid from San Francisco for vacation.  Jeff and I realized we first met through John McArdle in 2002.  We had some fun times in between, including Bodega Bay 2005 (run like the birds are chasing you) and Cape Cod 2004  (I think this table will hold you) but I digress.  He looked us up again in Paris in Oct 2015, then I saw him this past January in San Fran, and now Madrid. We had a great time, lots of sun, warm weather, tapas, delicious inexpensive wine and cava, walking, and we were there when Real Madrid won the Champions League Saturday night, and saw the tour bus bringing the players to their celebration party on Sunday.  How cool. Friday Leaving Paris, bus to Orly past the Eiffel tower, arrive Madrid, hotel Petit Palais Tres Cruces in the busy downtown area, dinner with Jeff - sangria and tapas of course. Saturday morning Jeff was staying around the cor...

pictures Another beautiful sunny day.  Breakfast, more soccer in the field, driving back to the town of Vimoutiers for coffee, a walk around, and lunch, then driving back to Paris.  Drinks and dinner outside at the Anjou because it was still over 90 degrees! JD pictures all Mickey enjoyed his apple juice and trip to Normandy- cool drink outside when we returned

pictures Breakfast at the cottage, then second breakfast outside.  A visit to William the Conqueror's castle in the town of Falaise, wonderfully restored with interactive displays.  Then lunch in town at Restaurant Le Jardin, easily our best meal of the trip with the tarte tatin flambeed with calvados (apple brandy). pictures A drive north to Arromanches-les-Bains and one of the D-day beaches.  This was a quick visit since we already toured the area and the American cemetery in 2010 pictures here .   We even stopped for beer and onion soup the same place we ate 7 years ago!  Back to our country cottage, pizza for dinner in Livarot. JD pictures Falaise and Arromanches pizza, bath, evening pictures And some sheep!

Paris to Livarot We love the Normandy region of France and keep returning to visit different areas.  We were lucky to have sunny and hot weather for the 4-day holiday weekend (Ascension).  Drove 2h 45 m west of Paris to stay just outside the cheese town of Livarot, renting a holiday cottage on a 16th c. cider farm .  The countryside was beautiful and the cottage was very rustic.  Lunch outside at a roadside restaurant with pâté, duck, apples (regional specialty), champagne, wine, and regional cheeses (camembert, livarot, pont l'eveque). Onward to the farm, some soccer outside, a quick rest, then into the town of Vimoutiers for dinner with some artisinal flatbread pizzas, vegetable lasagna (Alex), and blackberry sorbet crumble.  We all slept very well! cottage on cider farm where we stayed - WW2 German Tiger tank:  The Vimoutiers Tiger tank is a restored World War II German Tiger tank on outside display on the outskirts of Vimoutiers in th...

Space Invader art exhibition Today I was a chaperone with 2 other parents and Vincent's teacher Clement for a museum field trip (sortie) into Paris.  The children were well behaved and the weather was warm and sunny. atelier (workshop) Meeting at Vincent's school, bus from Levallois into Paris to Musee en Herbe, a children's museum with visiting exhibits.  Art workshop first with wax crayons and blue paint, based on the Space Invader artist's work on a underwater sculpture in Cancun, Mexico. Space Invader exhibition Upstairs to the museum and the Space Invader exhibition.  He is a famous, anonymous, Parisian street artist - "Invader is the pseudonym of a French urban artist, born in 1969, whose work is modeled on the crude pixellation of 1970s–1980s 8-bit video games".  He has installations all over the world, even on the International Space Station.  Invader also creates art with Rubik's cube (yes, invented by a Hungarian!), which, photograph...

Nassim, Alex & Vincent - fun at middle school orientation Alex will attend Collège Danton in the Fall, which equals middle school in the US (6th-7th-8th-9th grades).  Saturday was the open house and we received a nice tour of the school from a current student.  We went with Alex's friend Nassim and his mother Florence.  Vincent came too.  It's a very big school, 750 students, with nice classrooms and great gym facilities.  Everyone enjoyed the Science class (ok, maybe not the dissected sheep's heart) and Math class sessions.  Vincent knows all the planets too! pictures I kept wondering when they attend "Health" class in France.  My experience in the US was 5th and 8th grade.  Well, in France, it seems to be all in 8th grade - (called 4e = quatrieme = 4th - they count backwards to the last year 6-5-4-3-2-1, then last, senior year) pictures Annual Farmer's market and Garden show in our town.  The sun finally came out! "Vincen...

watching the sudden rain storm from JD's office - Vincent turned his chair around to watch May - lots of holidays (May Day, Victory Day, Ascension, day after Ascension...) and rain, typical for Paris. We have had a few nice, sunny days but not continually.  And we have these brief rainstorms that pop up several times a day!  Who knows what the summer brings. pic tures Lunch at Au Coin de la Rue, a walk home after delivering a package to a friend of a US friend, a stop at the cheese store, Vietnamese pho soup around the corner (yum), a snail and the flowers in Parc d'Alsace, watching the rain, trying on new glass frames, another long Saturday lunch at Le Zinc in our town. And don't forget the Presidential Election -

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.