Last Luxem-blog

Well, this is it. The movers come to pack up our things tomorrow, and ship them back to California. For my final blog, I wanted to do a walk through the Wednesday morning farmer's market that I have come to love.


Here we are waiting for the bus into town.












Location of excellent bread (du pain) and croissants.








































Sam wouldn't let us eat in peace, so here he is eating his first croissant.















We bought some excellent buffalo mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, and fromage blanc (white spreadable cheese, mmmm) from this truck. The woman with the microphone interviewed me in french and asked me what I was buying and how I was going to prepare it. I'm quite proud of my self for being able to say that my family was going to have a pick-nic with the excellent cheese.











Anna knows we always buy flowers at the market. This time it was some freesia.











Mmmmmmm... roast chicken.











With a full stroller, we head back home.





Good-bye Luxembourg. We will miss you!

Stereotypes

I was thrilled to be able to catch this travel advertisement on the back of one of our much loved & used Luxembourg city buses. The Texan smoking a giant cigar is awesome--- come to America and see cowboys! This is the second advertisement for traveling to the USA that I've seen. I haven't been able to catch the first on film; it's a blond cheerleader in a sparkling red, white & blue sequin number with terrible red lipstick. Ahhh, what does this say about how Europeans view Americans? It's sad but likely a true image of what they think of us.

I clicked the link and was able to get close ups of the 3 ads they are using. Too funny!

Big Foot

At my goodbye dinner last week I was reminded of a culture shock experience I had when I first got to Luxembourg. I went shopping for shoes, winter boots specifically at the mall near our house and the memory of it has made me never go shopping for myself here in Luxembourg again.

To start out, I have big feet, and actually hardly anything about me could be considered small. But, before pregnancy, I hung onto the end of the 'normal' range in the states with a size 10. Being pregnant with Anna however, caused my feet to grow by 1/2 size. This makes it difficult, but not impossible to buy shoes in the states. Now, I move to Europe and need winter boots (it's cold here folks), so Anna and I take the bus to the local mall. I find some really cute boots and ask the sales lady for the equivalent of a US size 10 (thinking there's no way they would have a 10.5) and the woman got the most horrified look on her face. Let's also remember I am having this conversation in my broken french. After a few moments of very uncomfortable silence, the saleswoman picked her jaws up off the ground, verified my grotesquely large size and went to look in the back. When she returned, she assured me that not only did the boots I wanted not come in my size, but that in the whole store, there were NO boots in my size. I left, feeling freakish in my big feet and promptly ordered boots on Zappos.com and shipped them to my mother-in-law for her to bring to me in her suitcase.

I have subsequently heard that there are bigger sizes of shoes and clothing available for women in German stores, but after this shopping incident, I haven't been able to regroup for anything but online shopping :) Sammy's cute feet pictured above are after he crawled around the sand box at the park last week.

Turkey Time

here's the trip report on our Turkey vacation: We did nothing. Yep... nothing. Well, nothing officially touristy anyway. Here was our daily schedule at our all inclusive resort:
8am Wake-up & watch "bob the builder" in Turkish
8:30 Eat pancakes and eggs for breakfast
9am Go swimming
10:30am change pools so Sam could fall asleep in his stroller during the walk
11:30am go back to room to shower for lunch
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Nap time (and sometimes James golf time)
4pm Wake-up and go watch Anna ride the carnival rides
5pm Eat ice cream and then swim again
7pm Dinner
9pm Drink Mojitos
9:30 Both kids are asleep
...And then repeat the next day

What a life! I can't believe my stir-crazy husband actually enjoyed it too (though probably not as much as Anna & I did). It was nice to vacation just for relaxation. Also, James and I noted on our return bus trip to the airport that we did see a mosque- just through the bus windows though.

En français, the update

This is not a travel update.. be warned.

Just wanted to give you all an update on our 'foreign' language skills here. Today, I had a conversation entirely in french with a liqueur producer in Normandy, France and I understood almost all of it. I asked questions, repeated what I thought he said back to him and then ordered some amazing apple aperitif from him. The true test will be to see what we get if/when it arrives, but I actually thought it was fun to speak with him. When we first moved here I dreaded having to speak in French with anyone, and now I think it's fun, though still definitely a challenge.

Anna now knows her numbers and colors (1-10) in french. And if you ask her what color something yellow is, she will usually reply in french, "Juane." The progress is great. Hopefully she won't be traumatized later by the fran-glais we speak in our house. Ha, ha.

Paris - Normandy Vacation

Well, it's about time I report on our France trip. It was amazing! Paris was all rush, rush, and Normandy was relaxing and educational; so the two halves fit well together. My parents flew into Paris and joined us for this vacation.

Paris
We rented a flat through Vacation In Paris in the first arrondissement, and we have never stayed north of the Seine before, but really liked the location. It was a 20 minute walk to Notre Dame and a 25 minute walk to the Louvre-- perfect! We enjoyed the little markets and shops on the cute pedestrian streets near us. When we first arrived we noticed we were staying on 'sex shop row' which also added some color to the neighborhood. As James noted, the very old church just across the street from 'Paris Sexy 2001' had probably lost the morality war on this piece of turf a long time before.

We did the Musée Louvre twice, and I enjoyed it much more than I have before. We found new and different things to enjoy, and since I'd been there twice before I think I was more relaxed and able to take it in better--- it really is a HUGE museum. My favorite piece this time was a statue made of onyx and marble, truly unique and beautiful. We also returned to the Musee Marmottan which hosts Claude Monet's original work that started the Impressionist movement, Impression Sunrise. We originally visited here 11 years before, and all the Monet works were as amazing as I remembered them to be.

I can not think about our time in Paris without giving my mom a bit of a hard time for her daily metro snafu. It became comical how many ways she could lose/destroy a ticket and she hopped the turnstiles at least twice... with a valid ticket hidden somewhere in her pockets.

I would be remiss however, not to thank my parents for babysitting for us on day 2 of the trip (while they were under heavy jet lag), so that we could go out and enjoy a proper dinner to celebrate our 10th anniversary at a gastronomque restaurant in Paris, Le Tastevin. It was one of the best meals of my life and a great celebration. Thanks Mingy & Grandpa Joe!

Other highlights include: the Rodin Musee, Musee d'Orsay, Musee L'Orangerie, le Sacre Cœur, Saint Chappelle, Notre Dame, the Jardin des Plants, going up la tour Eiffel and Angelina's for a hot chocolate & sweets early dinner. Wow, no wonder we were tired leaving Paris 5 days later!

On our way to Normandy we stopped by Claude Monet's house at Giverny. It was my third visit there, and I truly do love that place. I was a bit bummed that there was a lot of dandelion type fuzz in the air and it settled on everything looking like snow on the ground and making the famed waterlilies pond look a bit dirty. But, I was glad to have seen it at this different time of year.

Once we arrived at our chateau in Normandy, Chateau Sully, things began to unwind a bit. Each day, we enjoyed long afternoon naps followed by swimming in the enclosed pool. James was so spoiled by the softness of the sheets that he didn't sleep under the covers in our next more economical hotel in Lille.

We enjoyed good food in Normandy, thanks to Trip Advisor, Rick Steves and our deep love for Indian Food. The snotty owner of our chateau said there was no Indian food in the town of Bayeux, but we happened upon the Taj Mahal Restaurant (49 Rue St Jean, Bayeux) and it was the best Indian food that we've eaten in Europe.

We took the one day Rick Steves recommended tour of the D-Day sites and split it into two (hello, we travel with 2 kids under 3). It worked perfectly, and on day one we saw the Arromanches and some German Gun Battlements; and then on day two we saw the American Military Cemetery (see my separate post on that), Omaha Beach and Point du Hoc with the bomb marks still evident all over the bluff. These sites were all well maintained, interesting and educational. A piece of history you have to see and experience to get a good feel for it.

Our last morning in Normandy (Sunday) we happened upon a seaside market in Port en Bessin that was incredible. We purchased a slinky, beautiful table runner, fresh paella, strawberries, cherries, normandie cheese, apple juice, apple appertif, apple cider and plastic forks for our feast on the little towns pier-- what fun! After this, we were off to Vimy Ridge, a Canadian WWI memorial where my Great Grandfather fought for 3 years. We arrived 20 minutes before closing time, but my Dad was still happy to see the trenches and memorial.

The next day we drove home to Luxembourg and took my parents to the famed Brazilian Steakhouse lunch (Restaurant Rodizio). The massive cuts of meat sizzling on metal rods were impressive, but the perfectly cooked pineapple was the winner in everyone's book. (See photos for Anna's excitement over this meal)

A great trip followed by a couple days with my parents here in Lux to show off Parc Merveilliuex and Cahteau Vianden before they took the train back to Paris.

We're off to Belek, Turkey next week for a week at an all inclusive beach resort. Can't wait!

American Cemetary above Omaha Beach

My coolest moment of our recent trip to Paris and the Normandy region of France is pictured above. By chance, we arrived at the American Cemetary above Omaha Beach just before it opened and wandered over to check out the group of people preparing to raise the flags. A man asked if there were any other Veterans in the crowd, and James immeadiately grabbed the backpack from me and said ,"Go." So I walked up to the front and got a surprised look when I said I was ex-Air Force :) (Still love that.)

I had the honor of saluting while a WWII Veteran raised the colors for the day (that's me in the green jacket on the right). Incidentally, it was the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, which made it extra cool. I teared up walking through the crosses and Jewish stars on the graves just after the ceremony... pondering the loss and senselessness of war. A moving morning to be sure.

Typical Week continued...

So, I forgot to mention that in between all the items that you can quantify, I fielded numerous requests for milk, had to explain 20+ times why Anna could not watch her 'show' all day, comforted Sam whenever he would tumble from his seated playing position (often, since Anna has started to push him over, sat and played trains on the rug, read and wrote a couple text messages, etc... You get the point right? Not much accomplished, but a lot going on.

For the rest of the week, I won't repeat the play-by-play of the Monday description, just mention the highlights of things that were different.

Tuesday
10am Sing Along at the American Women's Clubhouse. Now I usually try to a) get Sam a nap before we leave and b) try to leave at 9:30 for the 25 minute walk to the clubhouse... but neither of these things happened. I try to leave early, since I'm in charge of the singing (a completely crazy concept, since I would have voted myself least likely to lead any singing anywhere-- but no one else volunteered to lead it when the previous leader moved, and Anna loved it so much I decided to give it a shot.) Sorry for the aside, anyway we actually left at 9:46 and arrived with a cranky Sam at about 10:10, so much for punctuality. We sing about 10-15 songs depending on the attention spans of the kiddos, and it's been fun to watch Anna and her friends develop from not singing to now singing and doing handmotions... only when the mood strikes them of course.
At 11:30, after some playtime, mommy socializing, and Sam's bottle we head home for lunch. Anna usually walks the last half of the trip, and probably would walk more, but I'm usually too hungry for her slow paced, look at everything type of walk all the way home :)

Wednesday
9:30am Women's Bible Study. Now, the very special thing about this the babysitting! Yeah, 2 hours to concentrate on something other than the kiddos (see Monday if you need a reference on what I'm talking about). To get to the study we have to drive through our favorite Bambesch Forest, and it's been such a treat to see the forest go through all the seasons. The study is generally good and thought provoking, and attended by women of various nationalities.
4pm Brownie Time. Anna and I baked some healthy brownies from the Sneaky Chef recipe book. I try to bake with her at least once a week, and she loves to eat all the ingredients as they go in the bowl: flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, etc.

Thursday
10:30am Little Gym Class. This is a highlight of Anna's week. She loves her teacher Sylvan, swinging on the bar, and the bubbles at the end. Also, she's now developing an interesting habit of wanting to use specific toilets when she's out and about... the miniature kiddies sized ones in the WC's here rate pretty high up there. We usually talk the bus to class, but last week I decided to walk there and back, and it only took about 25 minutes... not bad. Since the Little Gym is right next to the market, Delhaize, we generally pick up some milk, etc on the way home. The tiny shopping carts for kids have made grocery shopping a favorite acitity for Anna (see Project 365 for photo).

8pm Book Club. I almost forgot about this one! Evening activities are so rare for me. It was nice to slip away after tucking Sam in bed and go hang out with the ladies for a night (well, it was my kind of night, it ended at 10:30, so none of my precious sleep was missed). We discussed the book for only 10 minutes, but rather talked about life, moving, travel, and other grown-up topics. The hostess, Katy, even made a delectable strawberry tart that I ate happily while sipping my wine.

Friday
9:30am Playgroup. It was our turn to host, so I decided the park would be a fun place to meet up with Anna's and my friends. The weather was cool and almost rained the whole morning, but didn't-- typical Luxembourg. The kids enjoyed the swings and throwing the sidewalk chalk we brought off of the small hill in the park; and at least there weren't any other kids for them to hit :)

That's it. My typical week. I fit in miscellaneous grown-up time (reading, finances, trip planning, blogging, etc) during the afternoon naps, if I'm feeling guilty or well rested. Now the kids are sleeping, so I'm off to pack for Paris!

By the way... none of this should be viewed as whining or a desperate plea for sympathy-- just read it as the simple truth of the small stuff of life. And the bigger the truth is: I like my life. I love my kids & hubby. I love living in Luxembourg. I feel very blessed by God and content to be me, here & now.

Typical Week (Monday)

Hey All,

Just wanted to give you a little insight into my slow paced world of mommyness here in Lux. (I also want to record it for me to peruse later, when life gets more hectic.)

Here was last week's M-F schedule:

Monday:
7am wake-up. Both kids have wet their beds... change them and sheets, feed Sam his bottle, and start laundry (3 floors down in the laundry room).
8am erin showers, hurray!... while kids play in living room
9am Sam's morning nap begins. Change him, turn on his white noise maker, and sing the Doxology to him with Anna's help, "Praise God from whom all blessings flow; Praise him all creatures here below; Praise him above yee heveanly hosts; Praise Father, Son & Holy Ghost. Amen." Don't know how this became a part of his sleep routine, but I find it comforting, even if he doesn't. Lay him in his crib and give him his binkie and he's lights out.
9:15am Anna & Erin breakfast. We ate some of our smuggled American cereal bought from the USAF base in germany. I had Oatmeal Squares and Anna discovered she loves Life cereal... she had 4 bowls.
9:45am Laundry... one dryer cycle never dries the clothes fully, so another trip in the elevator to empty our condensation dryer's vat of water and run it for another 30 minutes.
10am Go to the park. Anna insists upon pushing Sam's stroller 'all by herself' the 4 blocks to the park... sometimes her 2 yr old streaks of independance are quite nice :)
11am Sam bottle #2 at the park. Did I mention we were the only one's there? Perfect little park for Anna with swings, slides, sandbox and even some big kid equipment to climb and make mommy nervous.
Noon Lunchtime. Anna eats Life cereal again... only 3 bowls this time and one prune (don't ask). Sam eats his mixed vegatables (carrots, peas & potatoes)... they don't sell single types of veggie babyfood like in the states, so Sam gets to mix it up! Erin scrounges some food after the little ones have eaten, deli meat, banana and yogurt (full fat, organic strawberry to be specific).
12:45pm Naptime (A Favorite of mine). Repeat Sam's sleep ritual from the morning with an extra large diaper. Anna throws a fit at the idea of having to use the toilet before bed, sits on the toilet and refuses to pee... I finally give in, put her diaper on her and hide her under her 'hiding sheet' in her bed and off to sleep she goes.
1:30pm After dishes and another round of laundry, I colapse in a pile on my bed.
2:45pm Woken up by Sam's screams... he's hungry, so it's onto bottle #3.
3pm Anna wakes up. She chooses her 'show' for the afternoon. It's 'Bob the Tomato' or Veggietales, God Made you Special. She's particularly into the David & Goliath story portrayed by a little asparagus & giant pickle. I do laundry, email & web banking while she's otherwise occupied.
5pm Jumpa Jumpa time. We put Sam in the Johnny Jump Up, and watch him laugh while Anna swings and bounces him.
5:30pm Anna goes #2 on toilet. After 3 months of potty training with little success in this area, I break into a silly song and dance then give her chocolate (Not really bribery is it?)
6pm Dinner. Sam eats a lot of applesauce. Anna snacks on not much at all.
6:30pm Skype time with Mingy & Grandpa Joe. We chat for about 45 minutes about the kids and their upcoming trip to visit us in Paris & Normandy.
7:30 Bottle #4 for Sam and then bedtime at 8. He sleeps in a monster cloth diaper (Fuzzi Bunz size large with 4 hemp inserts & 1 microfiber one, for the cloth diapering mama's out there) to make sure that his bed is dry in the morning.
8pm Cook Dinner for the grown-ups. James is home to play with Anna.
8:20 Eat quickly, drink some wine.
8:30 Anna Bedtime routine starts. Toilet, Brush teeth, 'Night-night' the toys, Read a book (David & Goliath from her children's Bible) then prayer time with Daddy, Hugs & Sleep.
9:15pm Wash bottles & dishes. Sweep miscellaneous food from under the table to my dust pile in the kitchen. Then, one last trip down to the laundry room.
9:40pm Watch an episode of Gilmore Girls with James.
10:30pm Time for bed.

*Note: I was a bit more wordy than intended... the rest of the week will come soon!

Prague Rhymes with...

Well, a bit late, but aren't all my posts??? We made the 7-8 hour drive to Prague over Easter weekend during James' mom's visit. We had a fantastic trip, though the drive days were not that much fun, even though the kids behaved fantastically (Sam cried for only 4 minutes total on the return journey)-- it helps to have Grandma (Munga) the magical entertainer and book reader imprisoned in the back seat with the kiddos.

On the way there, Munga thought of the fun rhyming game for the word 'Prague', and it's really quite amazing how many things rhyme with Prague-- dog, frog, fog, smog, log, etc. Anna still remembers it 4 weeks later, and we played it throughout out wandering in the city.

We stayed at the Dům u velké boty (House at the Big Boot) in their family rooms on the top floor. We were not disappointed. All of their 50+ reviews on tripadvisor.com were stellar, and it was a great place to stay. Anna & Munga slept in one room and James, Sam & I in the other. All the rooms are decorated in antiques, the breakfast was delicious, the hosts were very friendly and child friendly as well. All in all, a good base for exploring the city.

Highlights:
-The hill above Prague gave a beautiful vista for seeing the city, and the trees had just produced their white blooms. It was breathtaking (both beautiful and hard to push the stroller up).
-The castle was amazing.
-It was cheap! Well, cheaper than Luxembourg, so we enjoyed eating dinner for less than 25-30 Euro a person (or $35-40).

As you will see by our photos, we also broke in our baby-backpack for Sam... man, is he heavy!

We head to Paris and the Normandy coast for just over a week this Saturday. Highlights will hopefully be: our 10th wedding anniversay dinner (babysitting courtesy of my parents who are jouining us in Paris), hitting all our favorite museums, croissants, Claude Monet's gardens in Giverny, Omaha Beach, etc. We will also be scouting out where my great grandfather fought in WWI... so that will be a unique experience. Just wanted to give you a preview of activities in case I remain a slacker and the post-trip report lags behind a bit :)

Weekend in Reims

What a great first outing we had with our 2 little munchkins to Reims... mind you it was definitely more difficult than traveling with one, but fun and doable none the less.

For those of you who don't know (and I didn't until a few months ago), Reims [pronounced rance-- with a soft r] is at the center of the champagne region of France; so, you go there to taste champagne. Sparkling wine made anywhere else can not be called champagne; which is one of the reasons it is so expensive, which is one of the reasons we can not recall ever tasting real champagne before this weekend.

Reims is also the home of the biggest cathedral in France, where most of the kings where coordinated. This is the first thing we checked out after our 3 hour drive to the city on Saturday morning. Man is it a BIG church. I quite liked it, and prefer it to Notre Dame in Paris. The Chagall stained glass created after all the originals were destroyed in WWI is impressive--- modern, but not so much that it is out of place in such a beautiful church.

After the cathedral, we had lunch at a very posh restaurant (Flo Brasserie) recommended by one of James' French colleagues. The kids weren't too tired at this point, so we were able to relax and enjoy a leisurely European meal with 2 courses each, including Escargot and Foie Gras (Translation= Snails & Duck Liver spread)... man was it good. Our meals got progressively quicker and less tasty after this: Dinner at the chinese restaurant with the dirtiest tablecloths ever and then lunch the next day was a sandwich and chips from the gas station on the way home!

After lunch we got lost trying to get out of the city to our B&B in the vineyards; our biggest frustration with Reims was the construction everywhere and inability to easily find the freeway (we love Luxembourg's clear signs). We did manage to get there in time for the kids to take a quick nap before exploring the vineyards and our first champagne tasting. The B&B was actually located in a champagne house called Mont d'Hor. They grow the grapes and do the initial processing of the champagne for the famous Veuve Cliquot Champagne House, so we were anxious to try it out. We enjoyed the champagne and Anna liked driving the fork lift during our very personal tour (in French). Cheers!

The next morning we went to another tasting and tour at the Pommery caves, which was cool as we learned about the champagne processing and also since they had random displays of modern art mixed in with their millions of bottles of stored champagne (55 million is the number that is stuck in my head, but don't quote me on that). Favorite art display was the tiny live birds flying around electric guitars that were plugged into amps... Anna loved that one. Oh, the champagne was good too :)

All in all a successful trip, and we happily drove back to Lux laden down with our champagne purchases.

Project 365 -- Erin's 33rd Year

Well another birthday has passed, remarkably only as it was truly awful. Waking up to a stomach flu at 1am and not going back to sleep until 5am doesn't start your day off exactly right. Thankfully, it was a weekend and James was my hero and took over for childcare in the morning. My fever broke in the afternoon and I started to feel like a somewhat like a person again that evening. However, the ickyness lingered into the week enough that I did not start out my Project 365 as quickly as I intended.

The idea behind Project 365 is to take one picture a day for a year... 365 days. I found out about this photo idea from my friend Katy's blog earlier this year, but too late to start it for this calendar year. The inspiration struck to modify the 'year' to be my age-year. In general, this idea intrigued me as this year will have lots of change, and opportunities for me to be creative and capture this unique point in my life. Oh, and if I like a photo James took better than mine, I'm going to feel free to subsititute it in --- man and wife being 'one flesh' applies to photography too right?

Unfortunately, with my post-sicky yuckyness I didn't actually start the project until 2 days after my birthday. I thought about my photo, and planned it out, but didn't have the energy to execute. I have since forgiven myself (taken a mulligan, for you golfers out there), and now plan to forge ahead and be 'honest' about the rest of the photos. On the bar to the left you can find a slide show of my photos, obviously growing as time goes on. Here is a link to the Picasa Web Album if you'd like to read any of the captions that go along with the photos.

Next weekend we are off to Reims, France (in the Champange District of France) to stay at a guest house in a small Champange House and taste champange. I will update on our first traveling with 2 munchins and all the bubbly details of our trip. Here's the link to where we are staying, if you want a sneak peak: Champagne Mont d'Hor

A quick stop in Trier

We went to Trier, Germany's oldest city, on Saturday morning. I must say that we have become highly efficient tourists. We spent a total of 1 hour and 16 minutes wandering around the town according to our parking ticket. We saw the Roman city gate dating to 180AD, checked out the cool double church (yes, for some reason they built 2 massive churches next to each other and connected them with courtyards), ate bretzels (like a pretzel, only soft and yummy) and bought 20 euros worth of licorice and gummies (check out the shop's site if you want to drool and read some German http://www.baeren-treff.de).

The double church was the coolest part of our tour for me. There were no stain glass windows in the 1/2 we saw (kids got cranky, so we went on our way), but it housed some amazing statues. Anna wanted to know what they were, so I talked with her about men taking sharp sticks and slowing breaking the rocks until they had their statue how they wanted it. I tried to relate it to her drawing with her crayons, but I think the concept still is a bit above her thinking. Someone was playing the organ as we walked in... and really that's the best way to see a church... filled with beautiful sounds praising God... it takes away the cold empty feeling you can sometimes have in these massive cathedrals.

So, 1 1/2 hours after we began we were back in our car for the long 40 minute drive back to our house (& Sammy's bottle). It's great to live in such a tiny country; you are close to so many cool things.

The Building Went Boom! Part 2

So, the homes continued to be torn down on Friday... and let me say what a fantastic entertainment it was for Anna. She spent 45 minutes at a time watching the diggers and cheering them on... "Oh, good job orange one!" All mom's of toddler's should have such exciting diversions next door; I was able to do much emailing and online banking while she was so diverted.

The excitement is not without some problems however. See the picture below of James unable to get to work, as he was blocked by a dump truck :)

The building went boom!

What's the most exciting thing in Luxembourg today? Well if you'd ask Anna, she'd probably say, "Little GYM!", but after that it would be the building next door that is being torn down. We spent about 45 minutes this afternoon watching it from Sam's room. Sam contributed to the excitement by peeing all over himself and his changing table when I stepped away to watch the crashing walls. Life is just more exciting sometimes when you see things through your 2 year old's eyes.

En français, s'il te plaît Anna.

This week Anna told me that she didn't like me... that's an attention getter for you. What horrible thing was I doing to her??? Speaking to her in French.

Last week we had a French tutor start improving my bad French and start working with Anna to lay a good foundation (note again, my bad french) for a second language. After one day of my post-tutor practice with her, she looked at me and said, "I don't like you mommy." I know what she really meant is why are you confusing me? I like to understand what you are saying. I'm 2 1/2 years old, and I've just got this whole English thing down; and NOW you are sending me back to a place where I have to decipher speech, again?!?!

Well, after a week of practice, we've made progress. Anna now doesn't pout when I read in french to her and she will even now repeat some words back to me. The biggest achievement was yesterday when I asked her what yellow was en français, and she said 'jaune' (which is right... yeah!). Lots of work in front of us, but we are going to be singing and playing our way into another language for Anna and hopefully Sam someday too (we'll give him some time).

Au revoir, mes amis.

Do more

Just a quick post to give some blog time to 2 fantastic websites that will help your fellow man. (Come on it's Valentine's week... time for a love fest, right?)

1) This one will cost you NO money, but you will help feed starving people.

FreeRice.com

Such a cool idea. You do vocabulary (or math or forgein language) questions and for every answer you get right, 10 grains of rice is donated through the UN Food program. You can easily get a couple hundred grain of rice in 15 or so minutes... and you are smarter for it!

2) This one will cost money... but really worth it!

Kiva.com

It's a a non-profit that allows you to lend as little as $25 to a specific low-income entrepreneur in the developing world.

You choose who to lend to - whether a baker in Afghanistan, a goat herder in Uganda, a farmer in Peru, a restaurateur in Cambodia, or a tailor in Iraq - and as they repay their loan, you get your money back. It’s a powerful and sustainable way to empower someone right now to lift themselves out of poverty.

Preparing for the way home

It's 2009... I know, that's old news already now that it's the end of January. But, it's significant for us Luxembourg Melchers, as it's the year we head back home to California. It's hard for me to believe that we've already been through 2/3 of this broadening experience, and now we have to start thinking about our transition back to the states. We've booked our flights back and have told our family when we're crashing their pads (we arrive back on Aug 13, for those we are curious). James has arranged his boys golfing weekend for the end of August, so now all the details seem set.

Some things will be easy to say good-bye to: the cold, the winter weather, the cold, and did I mention that it can be cold here??? Some things will be hard to leave behind like the lack of traffic, slow pace of life, excellent parks, Anna's playgroups and being able to take the bus places. Hopefully we can re-learn to love LA (or at least parts of it). We do know that it will be nice to have family and friends much closer than a 15 hour transatlantic flight.

The exciting part is all the fun travel we have planned between now and our stateside arrival. We are going to Prague with James' mom, Paris (again, we love it!), Normandy for the D-Day beaches with my parents, Turkey for an all-inclusive beach resort on the Mediterranean, and and end of Europe Switzerland tour. James is also sneaking in two solo golf trips to Ireland & Scotland. Our photo albums will be coming back full from all our escapades :)