Paris Day 2

Our second day in Paris, Max had to work....BOOOO. But, I really shouldn't complain because we wouldn't have been visiting Paris if it wasn't for his job.

Lucky for me, a dear friend of mine just HAPPENED to be living in Paris (for the past 6 months), and opened up her schedule so we could hang out all day long. We devised a time and place to meet, and then it was up to me to navigate on the Metro and through Paris to find her. Ok, so it wasn't really ALL me....you may recall me mentioning in my earlier post that we did a test run of the directions on Sunday while we tooled around the city. So, I felt pretty confident going into it.

Two differences between travelling around Paris on a Sunday, vs. travelling around Paris on a Monday.

1. Rush hour
2. Masses of people going to work

Seriously, the 'click click click' of people's shoes in the halls, the beautifully choreographed dance that everyone did as the masses poured through each metro station. It truly felt surreal. Until I realized that I didn't know the steps to the dance, and I'd better MOVE before I got trampled!!!

No, it wasn't really that bad, but it really did strike me as this huge automaton of people. Kinda neat.

So, I navigated the metro, found my trusty landmark,



consulted my 'dork book' (the lovely nickname my guide book aquired over the trip) to navigate to the cafe where we were meeting...

...and made it there! In one piece!!! With time to spare! So, I walked around leisurely and scoped out this awesome museum right across from the cafe we were meeting at, the Centre Georges Pompidou. It is an 'Art Noveau' museum -- meaning it displays modern art. It could be described as an Inside Out building. All the pipes are on the outside of the building. Kinda neat!



Carina showed up at our designated time, and after startling the waiter with our squeals and hugs, we sat down to enjoy a Cafe au Lait. The cafe had a pretty cool bathroom, in a cave! I had to sneak this picture in quickly before the person in the stall came out...



Carina and I then walked around for the majority of the day, checking out little boutiques, catching up on the two years that we hadn't seen each other, walking up the Champs de'Elyses and seeing this FIRE at the George V restaurant!



Max and I walked by the restaurant again later in the week, and only the outdoor seating was available -- there was major cleanup going on inside. We never figured out what happened.

We finished up the day with another wonderful cup of Cafe au Lait and said our goodbyes....(until Day 4, because one day is never enough!)


Carina


Me (a bad picture, but the only one)


MMMMMMmmmmmm (see the dork book in the background??)

That evening, we were treated to a wonderful meal by Max's workgroup and a quaint French restaurant about 2 miles from our hotel. Unfortunately, it was POURING rain when we left, and most of us didn't have rain coats or umbrellas. We were soaked, to say the least. Very VERY wet. So, no pictures of that wonderfulness were taken.

The meal was delicious, however. I had a goat cheese appetizer, duck with cherry sauce, and some almond flavored dessert that I thought was going to be some type of pastry. When the waiter came to the table with a large white poof the size of a cantaloupe, I insisted that it wasn't my dessert. Turns out it was. NICE. Not embarrassing at all.

It was delicious though. Meringuey like with caramel drizzle. Uber rich. I couldn't even eat half. But, a cantaloupe is pretty big.

I didn't live the dessert debacle down for a few days, at least....

Kids Grow Fast!

Especially Crane Kids!

Paris Day 1

I figured the most logical way to share our recent trip to Paris, France would be by presenting the trip by each day. We took A LOT of pictures, so this will also help me to break up my posts a little bit!

France was A-mazing. I had SUCH a good time!! Max was working the first few days, so I got to venture out my own and explore the city. I was prepared for the 'rudeness' that everyone had warned me about, but I didn't experience it A SINGLE TIME. Everyone was so wonderful and helpful and nice.

The highlights (non-photo) for me were:
1. Eating some of the best food I've ever had (and LOTS of it).
2. Walking upwards of 10+ miles most days (my poor tootsies).
3. Reviving the basic French that hides in the back of my brain.
4. Truly understanding what "Paris is the most romantic city in the world" means.
5. Appreciating the amount of space I have in my house
6. Successfully venturing out ON MY OWN. (yes, hard to believe, I know!)
7. Marveling at the insane amount of work and detail put into EVERY building
8. The epiphany that I've turned into my mother as I read aloud from the guidebook about the history of a building we were looking at. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined... :)
9. Appreciating the hygiene of Americans.
10. The discovery that putting your metro ticket next to your cell phone will effectively deactivate the ticket. Life is much simpler if you just keep the two objects apart -- otherwise you will have to explain to just about every ticket agent that "Mon billet ne marche pas" (or however the heck you spell it) and hope that someone will understand you... (bless the last ticket agent's heart when he asked me "PORTABLE??" as he put his hand up to his ear like a telephone...and the light went off in my head.

Anyways -- I'm sure you're all here to see the pictures, not read about MY impressions/likes/dislikes of Paris...... so here you go, Day 1:

Day 1 was Sunday, the day we first arrived.

We hopped the train from Charles De Gauille to head to our hotel. Max's coworker had been to Paris before, so he showed us the ropes (and spoke enough French to buy the tickets)



Once off the train, Max and Keith consult the map to try to find the hotel.





Once we were settled in to our rooms, we hopped back on the Metro -- this time into the city. We got off at the "Cite" stop, and were greeted with a view of Notre Dame and the Siene river.



We saw Notre Dame for the first of many times -- this building took over 170 years to build, and the exterior is just AMAZING!! We couldn't just see it once -- it was a staple view every day!



It started raining shortly after we saw Notre Dame, so we ducked into a cafe for some crepes -- to pass the time while it rained. Once it cleared up a bit, we resumed our adventures -- our goal was to locate the cafe I was to meet a friend at the following day (while the boys were at work) following the directions she had emailed me.



We had no problems finding it, and also found this eccentric water art exhibit right in front of a wonderful old church Saint Merri



The church was outstanding and as beautiful inside as it was out!







We then resumed our walk back to the metro and came across this wonderful landmark -- which really helped me out the next day while I explored the city on my own!



We hopped back on the C line of the RER to head over the the Champs de Mar -- to see the Eiffel Tower. We were not disappointed.





Up the plaza from the Tower is the Ecole de Militaire -- a large military school. In front of the school was this wonderful 'Peace' display.





We were pretty tired and hungry again at this point, so we hopped back on the RER (B line this time) to head home. We had done all of that sight seeing from 3pm on!! The sun doesn't set in Paris until close to 10, so you never really feel like you are up as late as you are! We were pleasantly surprised when we looked out our hotel room window and saw this:



I guess in some hotels you pay $$$ extra to have a tower view.

Ours was FREE!

Bonjour!!

I had all these grandious plans for wowing everyone with beautiful pictures of France....making you jealous that you aren't on this wonderful trip with us....

Guess what?

For once, I'd rather NOT be on the computer!!

And, to top it off, the time I DID try to upload pictures, I exceeded the maximum data exchange limit the hotel gives for its free wireless.

So, these two pictures will have to do as a 'teaser' until we're home, and I can put together a post with more photos.

Until then...

Au revior!!

(If those landmarks aren't obvious enough for you, the first is Notre Dame and the second is the Eiffel tower)

Sneak Peak #2

Emily gave me another quick sneak peak of our photoshoot. She's almost done with it, and I can't wait to see the rest -- everything I've seen so far has been stellar!

This first one I LOVE -- Amanda and Max. These two have such a special, heart-warming bond. I couldn't have picked a better godmother for my son. Every time he sees her, his face breaks into this warm genuine smile. Sometimes when he's being naughty, I ask him if he wants to see his Auntie Amanda -- to get him to stop from being naughty. He'll run to the front door and look outside for her. It is adorable.

Anyways, unfortunately the weekend Emily came to visit, Max was sick, and wasn't in the mood for picture taking or smiling. It should come as no surprise that there is a hint of a smile in this picture. If anyone can get this kid to smile, its her. I love her!

This next one is just goofy. And I love it for its goofiness. Emily prepared for the weekend by making a bunch of mustaches on a stick. She left them on her dashboard during the drive from St. Louis to Milwaukee, though, and they kinda got melted together. Melanie performed mustache on a stick surgery, and was able to unstick the props. We used them for a few photos. I didn't even realize that Em had taken any pictures of Max with the mustache. This picture just CRACKS ME UP. It catches just his attitude precisely. One of the MANY reasons I love him!!

Thanks again Em! You are marvelous!!!

Funny Faces

We've been truly enjoying the weather, and trying to get outside as much as possible in order to 'Max'imize our spring/summer fun.

Here are a few snapshots of our adventures:

Max tackling me before we went outside one day:




Another day, going to the park with our buddy, Owen:



Max had a fascination with the woodchips:






Which was fine, unless he was throwing them ... which then turned into a time-out...

Owen and Max were playing under the slide together, we finally got them both to look up at the same time:



This is Max's look right after he threw more wood chips and knew he was caught...

June Fitness Challenge

This month, my fitness challenge will be as follows:

1500 situps (50/day)
900 pushups (30/day)
1500 squats with shoulder press (50/day)
1500 lunges with bicep curl (50/day)

I will also be logging miles ran/walked; look at the tickers on the right side of the blog!

Feel free to join me on this month's challenge!

Cookie Monster

Here is a video of lil Max diggin in to a homemade chocolate chip cookie. I love the fervor with which he eats this treat.

Pay special attention to the end of the video. See how he gets this 'I'm so innocent' look on his face whilst his hand is hanging overboard so he can drop some of the cookie on the floor (even though he knows he's not supposed to).

Yeah -- that's the look of blatant disobedience.

Pretty common nowadays.

Still funny.

At least for now...

Memorial Day Fun

I just realized that we have limited pictures of all the fun we had over Memorial Day. Probably because most of our time has been spent chasing a RUNNING lil man all over the place. Man, he is one active lil boy!! I bet if I wore a pedometer, I would be logging way over the recommended 10,000 steps a day!!

This weekend we did a lot of yard work, a lot of hanging with our awesome neighbors, and spending time with family and friends. It was everything Memorial Day should be about. Remembering those who are gone, and giving thanks for those special people in your lives.

Here are the photos we did get of all the fun...they are all out at my parent's house.





Max's first ride on a hot wheel -- the pedals were a bit out of reach, but he zoomed around on his feet!



We saw a turkey...







Max discovered a love for corn on the cob!







And Granna's homemade chocolate chip cookies! Yummy!!

Mother's Day Visitors

Over Mother's Day weekend, we were blessed with a visit from Max's college friends: Jim, Bridgette, and their daughter Madeline.

Jim and Bridgette are the friends that we take our canoe trips to the BWCAW with. Madeline is our god-daughter, and it had been too long since we had spent any quality time with them.

The weekend was good fun. We spent most of our time hanging out, relaxing, going for walks. The moms even got to go have some spa time at the local Aveda spa. It was heavenly!

Here are some pics of the weekend. We need to get better about taking pictures...we seem to have lost our steam lately.



Lil Max giving dada a big hug



Lil Max sitting with the other 'Steph'



Maddie's birthday was the following weekend so we celebrated while they were in town.



Jim ate so much cheesecake, he opted for a quick nap on the hammock.



Big Max hanging out with the kiddos.





Mom and lil Max draw with sidewalk chalk.