What happened to February?

I know I have been very lame at blogging this month. Hopefully after this entry you will forgive me.....

So, like I said, what happened to February? I know it is technically the shortest month of the year, but come on. Just yesterday I was turning over my calendar from January and tomorrow I'm flipping again. What happened to the 28 days in-between? (and just think, next year we have to deal with 29 days....)

Well, I guess they got last somewhere amongst the Arc de Triomphe, Strasbourgh, a battle against the flu/gastro, Cite des Science, Disney, and single motherhood. Okay, I guess I now realize where those days have gone....

We maximized our free museum Sunday on the 6th of February with a trip to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Elise proudly climbed all 284 steps to the top while I carried Celia. It was so worth it because the view from the top was very cool, as you can see from the faces below!

The week after our A de T visit was fairly normal and quiet. Tuesday Brian left for the States to interview for three different jobs, (more on that later!). Or as Elise would put it, "Daddy went to America for a job" whenever Celia got anxious about his absence. We tried to keep life as quiet and normal as possible. I spent that Tuesday exploring Paris while my children were kept after by others. I walked, spent money, and enjoyed this fabulous life before gathering up my beasts for the night. We needed our rest for our big adventure on Friday, Strasbourg!

On Friday the ladies and I met Katy and Andy at the train station for an adventure to Strasbourg, France. After about two hours on the train with very well behaved ladies, we walked through the streets of Strasbourg and enjoyed the sights and the German influenced gastronomy of this quaint city. We dined on delicious choucroute and les tartes flambees! It was great eating and drinking and sightseeing. A bit on the cold side Saturday morning but the sun came out and within a few hours we were happy to be strolling around the city. Then we jumped on a train late afternoon and were back in Paris by early evening. It was a great 24 hour adventure and the ladies got to play on their first wine keg as seen in the picture above!

Before Elise and I were happily and healthily sitting in the 3-D theater of the Cite des Science, we battled illness like no other. Upon returning from Strasbourg, I got the flu and Elise's cough took us to another level that I hope to never return to. With all the madness of my own illness and sans mari, we experienced a whole new adventure of Paris, house call doctors. By the time Monday rolled around and death was knocking on MY door, I finally got a look (and listen) at Elise to notice that all color had left her and she was not doing well. So after a three calls to the SOS Medcine, (so I hate speaking french on the phone much less having to listen to french on the phone. The three attempts were due to the THREE automated options on the answering service. I guess this is where "Third time's the charm" comes from...), I got a doctor to come to our house, (after "attempting" my french for about 7 minutes the operator asked, in perfect english, if I would prefer to speak english! This is great as I'm about to pass out from being out of the bed more than 2 minutes in my flu-infested state. Thanks for asking buddy!), check out Elise, and write 'scripts for some antibiotics. And not a day too soon. That lady needed help. (Was that confusing? Should I stop writing so much in parenthesis?) :)

Oh, the miracle of rest and medicine and good friends. My people brought us food, entertained our one healthy beast, Celia, and after lots of sleeping, resting, and movie watching, we were all back to normal by Thursday and ready for Brian's return on Saturday. It was a great ending to our first week o' vacance d'hiver.

To sum of the second week o' vacance d'hiver we took a trip to the Cite des Science, Disneyland, (note to self: Celia needs to learn about the bar automatically moving onto her legs before the first time on the magic carpet ride. She was not happy when that bar came down....but don't worry, those tears you see above disappeared the moment the ride took off! That lady was in heaven!!!), and multiple trips to the park during the beautiful mornings before the clouds rolled in. Did I mention we saw Cinderella's carriage??

Long story short, (my shortest entry, right?), it's been a very short, busy, fly by month and I can't believe it's March. We had a blast, survived some illness, and gave our bodies some much needed rest before having even more fun! We hope you all had a great great February too and just have to wonder, what does March have in store for us????? London, Rome,....

It's worth writing about

Last week my notebook feel apart. The wiring on the side is beaten up and on the verge of unwinding. It's kind of sad because there are still a lot of pages left and I'd like to fill it up all the way. However, I also don't want it to fall apart completely. So we called in for reinforcements, (aka, Brian brought me home a new one), and we've started a new one. The old guy is resting on the desk but receives frequent visits as I look up recipes, restaurants, and places to go.

The notebook. My BFF of Paris. I've never been one to keep a diary. I'm not a good writer and I have also turned into a total computer person, why write when you get type? I'm embarrassed to include that I also used to be very impatient with the hand-writing process. It just takes way too long, (this, as I type away...I'm really trying to change)!

Lame, right? Even writing letters and sending them via post are typed. I never hand-wrote a word. Maybe I'm just embarrassed by my poor spelling and prefer the comfort of Spell Check. That's a good excuse because deep down inside I know it's that I'm just lazy and impatient and silly about getting my thoughts down fast enough. See, with typing, there is never a problem. My hands can keep up with my brain. But hand-writing. Ugh, what a chore. Totally lame!

However, my BFF, the notebook, is full of my life's notes of the past 6 or 7 months, (remember, life only just got started with daycare!). And it's so fun. I've got great walks, restaurants, vacations, and recipes. My BFF is fabulous. We sit together and I gather my thoughts. I write about good days and places I've been. It's my quiet time. Very Zen!

And oh the recipes! I've kept written record of everything I've made, or tried to make, while on my adventure of cooking here in Paris and it's fabulous to have it all in writing and recorded. I know I am especially going to appreciate this notebook when we return to the real world and I'm stuck on what to cook on any given night. I really like my notebook.

As I transfer data, (by hand, so lame!), to my new BFF, (who am I kidding, it's not a new BFF, just BFF part deux, I can't replace you number one!), I am so thrilled that I decided to keep this notebook/diary. Like I said, it's something I've never done before and often kick myself for not. Like when we drove through Utah with Aaron for like 6 days and had the time of our lives hiking and camping, and hanging out with a lost cow! Why didn't I write that down? Or all the silly things the ladies do: I have a record from '10 - '11, but what happened before? Did they not exist? (By the way, if you want to hear the funnies poop story of your life, email me off blog!) My mom bought me those first year calendars where you put first moves and teeth and smiles and the only good they did was collect dust in some drawer. (Sorry Mom!) I just wasn't good about that stuff before. But now...

Now I'm typing to record this day in my life that I'm dedicating to my notebook of hand-written events and notes and stuff with a promise to keep it up throughout the rest of my life. (Did you get that?) There's no excuse not to continue the tradition in the States! This notebook is full of wonderful things and reminds me of a fabulous time in my life when it was simple, slow, and worth writing about.