The girl: I went raspberry picking. I played on a playground. I went out for lunch. I came home and chilled out with Jasmine. I had Mr. Sushi for dinner. And then I had cake. And then I opened presents. And now I’m going to go to bed.
Me: What do you like to do these days?
The girl: Wellll….there’s nothing I really like to do. I just do anything I can do.
Me: Like what?
The girl: Like any days I’ll just play with something in my room and there’s lots of different stuff.
Me: What kind of stuff?
The girl: Like my American Girl doll. That’s pretty much what I like.
Me: What are your favorite books?
The girl: That’s a hard one. I like Critter. I like a bunch. I don’t have a particular.
Me: What are your favorite things to watch?
The girl: I like A.N.T. Farm. I like Shake It Up. I like Word World. Phineas and Ferb. That’s pretty much.
Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
The girl: I don’t really… I think I’m going to be a writer.
Me: What kind of writer?
The girl: Somebody who writes stories.
Me: What are you looking forward to in first grade?
The girl: I don’t really know much stuff so I can’t really say what I’m looking forward to.
Me: What are your goals as a six year old?
The girl: Try more stuff. Make friends. Have a better friendship with Daisies. Those are pretty much it right now.
Me: Any grand pronouncements?
The girl: What do you mean?
Me: Anything big you want to say?
The girl: Nope.
Me: Is that it? Anything else to say to your public?
The girl: Nope. What, you put “nope” on there? Why?
Coming home is a bitch. I don’t just mean that no one has a freshly baked flakey croissant and piping hot cafe au lait for me every morning. Nor do I just mean missing out on the lunchtime bottles of wine. And it’s not just daily visits to some of the most beautiful places in France—fields of sunflowers and lavender, galleries filled with art we’ve only read about, views of cityscapes.
It’s starting to run again after an almost three-week break. It’s realizing I now need to pay for those daily croissants. It’s single parenting while Adam returns to work. It’s three weeks till school starts, two birthday parties to plan, novel blurbs to beg for, a new novel to outline, school supplies to shop for, playdates, visits to parents, and all the other things that come with being home.
Today’s run was difficult. My bedroom smells no longer of the lavender soaps I brought home but of my muggy sweaty running clothes. The humid air has brought the return of my sinus headaches.
And yet, when I say, “Let’s move to Paris,” Adam looks at me funny and says, “Why?”
August 12th, 2011 § Comments Off on Food Coma § permalink
I had the dinner to end all dinners tonight. It was an amazing tasting menu from Grain de Sel. But it was huge.
Usually, after a dinner like that, I complain to Adam, “Why did you let me eat all of that?” and he comes up with some lame excuse like, “Because I’m mean,” or “It’s not my fault!”
Tonight, though, for something different, I asked the boy as we walked to the hotel from dinner, “Why’d you let me eat so much?”
And without missing a beat, he said, “‘Cause I want a big, fat momma.”
August 10th, 2011 § Comments Off on Row Row Row Your Boat § permalink
I’m so tired. Really tired. How tired? This tired:
We go to an early dinner, which here means 7 pm. A couple at the next table, which is inches from ours and impossible not to eavesdrop on, starts talking.
Me: What is that?
Adam: What?
Me: What language are they speaking?
Adam looks at me a little funny and whispers something.
Me: What are you saying? Is that German?
Adam mutters something again.
Me: I can’t understand you! What are they speaking? Is it German or not?
Adam, speaking up slightly and with a vague hiss: They’re speaking English! It’s British English!
Oohhhh!
We visited our local market this morning; had a picnic of wine, bread, cheese, and pate at the Pont du Gard; and then spent three hours kayaking on the Rhone. At first I kayaked with the boy, in the double kayak, which was nice. But not as nice as it was for Adam as the girl insisted on doing all the rowing herself.
We passed under the aqueduct that we had visited earlier.
Me: Look, isn’t the aqueduct magnificent!
The boy: Huh?
Me: The aqueduct! It’s incredible to row under it.
The boy, as we pass the massive stone structure above us: What’s an aqueduct?
Me: Are you kidding me? The thing we just visited? The structure we climbed up to view? The massive piece of Roman engineering used to move water?
The boy: Oh, AqueDUCT! I thought you said aqueDECK! I didn’t kniw what an aquedeck was. Yeah, yeah. It’s nice.
Me: ???
After a break for water and a swim in the river, we traded kids in the kayak. And as I was about to lean back and relax and let the girl do her thing, the girl announced she was tired and would no longer row. So instead she sang and occasionally dragged her paddle in the water till I’d yell at her to at least hold her oar up.
And now, after a dinner in which the girl discovered chocolate mousse, we are all overly tanned, overly tired, and very happy.
August 8th, 2011 § Comments Off on Turning Francaise § permalink
My boy now goes around saying, “Ca va, Papa?” My girl now pretends to smoke. Have we been in France too long?
Nah. St. Remy de Provence is a little heaven. Our hotel is unbelievable with a romantic view (hard for me to capture on the iPhone, but I tried) and a pool. The kids have discovered three sweet shops in a one-block radius. Try getting us to leave.
Of course our bodies are turning to mush. Yes, we walk a ton. But I haven’t run since Paris and I’m guessing I probably won’t. The kids have barely glanced at a vegetable, never mind eaten one. Breakfast has hot chocolate. Often a pain au chocolat. We usually have a midday ice cream. Lunch for the boy is (deja vu?) steak hachette (a burger) and for the girl plain pasta with butter. Cokes to keep them going. Must have a pastry or macaroon or bon bon. Dinner for the boy is steak hachette (a burger) and for the girl plain pasta with butter. Orangina to make sure they’re not caffeinated at night. And it generally comes with dessert.
As hard as it’s going to be for us grown ups, the kids are in for a world of hurt–in the manner of carrots and red peppers–when we return!
No matter how tired your kids legs are or how much their feet hurt, your kids will still insist on skipping the elevator and running up the stairs to our 3rd floor (4th by American standards) room.
The bus is only faster than the Metro to the Beauborg if you’re waiting at the correct bus stop.
The kids don’t listen to “Settle down!” any better in Paris than they do in Boston.
Popping bubbles outside the Beauborg is as much fun as going inside.
Beauborg is actually spelled Beaubourg.
My son is physically incapable of walking in a straight line. My daughter cannot last more than two minutes without breaking into a song.
My daughter is extremely impressed with my French. No one else is.
Adam is convinced his French is as good as mine. “The only problem,” he says, “is when I go to speak French, German comes out.” Huh?
Old habits die hard. I tell Pie to go to the bathroom before we head out to the Louvre. She’s watching Hannah Montana dubbed in French. “How do I pause the TV here?”
There must be something in the Parisian water: Two kids, three lost teeth!
Give up all semblance of rational parenting, that is. Eating? Eh, whatever you want. Bedtime? What’s that? Kids out of control? Just pour me another glass of wine.
I am writing this blog post courtesy of Comedy Central Osterreich. The boy always begs to watch South Park. I don’t let him. But South Park in German? Sure, why not. If he starts saying, “Du hast Kenny toten gemacht!” then more power to him.
The kids love Paris. Et porquoi pas? Today alone, each had a hot chocolate, an eclair, a Coke, French fries, a chocolate sorbet, and diablo avec grenadine (aka a Shirley Temple). And that’s only because they didn’t want any of my offered chocolate crepe. Mmmm, chocolate crepe.
I think we’ve learned some of the secrets of traveling with kids. The first, of course, is incredibly low expectations. The second, never save the best for last. Adam and I got the museum pass, which covers multiple museums. Today we went to the Musee D’Orsay and went straight to the Degas ballerina, do not pass go, do not collect 200 Euros.
Once that was viewed, the girl was open to seeing other things, and we actually read about some of the art work, talked about what we thought, and the kids took some time to sketch.
After the Museum, we headed to Notre Dame, where the girl got the much-longed for beret and the boy enjoyed visiting Notre Dame. He liked it because he just finished reading (an abridged version of) The Hunchback of Notre Dame; the girl enjoyed waiting in line to see the cathedral and then, after 3.2 seconds, demanding to be taken to the bathroom, which of course was outside.
The kids are finally on a Parisian schedule, and for our 8:30 dinner, I had the opportunity to eat with abandon: onion soup, foie gras, and lots of red wine. Joy!
Finally, we pressed our luck and took the kids to the 10 pm Eiffel Tower light show. Our kids who have a 7:30 bedtime in their own time zone. (Note, it’s still not completely dark at 10!) I have a feeling we’ll pay for this tomorrow….
But, hey, who cares? This is Paris. And there’s always another bottle of wine.
August 1st, 2011 § Comments Off on Paris Day One and Two § permalink
Disclaimer: I’m updating from my phone while on vacation, so I apologize in advance for typos. Also, I can only post iPhone pics so you’ll have to wait till I can download from my camera for the good stuff. Also, remember, Beetle is at our house, so don’t even think of trying anything!
So many sights. And the most exciting things? One: You have to lick the stamps (and I was surprised to realize my kids had never seen that). Two: Someone made our beds while we were out.
Day one was trying. The kids were exhausted. About 4 1/2 hours of sleep on the flight over. We spent the morning at the Jardin Du Luxembourg where the kids played in the fabulous playground and then we watched (in French) a puppet show. We got into our room, napped, and voila! We were human again. The afternoon was spent lazing about the Champs du Mars, sketching the Eiffel Tower.
Evening time we rode a Bateau Mouche on the Seine.
Kids slept from 11 pm to 10 am when I woke them.
Today we went up the Eiffel Tower, which was way more interesting than I had thought it would be. We had lunch up top, and the girl was gaga over her dessert. BTW, the shirt is from Target back home; the girl insisted she HAD to wear it to the Eiffel Tower.
In the afternoon, it was super hot so we took off our shoes and plunged our feet into the icy Trocadero fountain.
This is what passes for dinner.
Tonight, early to bed so we can have a full day tomorrow. And thus our adventures have begun….
Me: So, what was today?
