Avoiding Reality

Back in France. Yep, that is where I am. After 3 weeks of traveling around in the States, I find myself back in France.

Coming back to my own house has been nicer than I thought. The quiet is definately welcome, as well as being surrounded by my own things and sleeping in my own bed. The piles of laundry and unpacking, however, are not a handosme sight... I will eventually get everything put away. Just give me one more day to recover from jet lag. How long can I use that excuse???

I have concluded that I am avoiding the reality of living in France. During the past few days of being home, I have done as little as possible to interact with the outside French world. If I dont see them, hear them, then I can still pretend that I am just living in an extension of the States. Oh, the glorious USA, how I miss thee. Today I ventured out to the military base an hour away to buy groceries.... We could only live on frozen corn, toast and couscous for so long. By choosing to buy my food at the American military grocer (commissary) I once again did not have to deal with any potential need to speak French.

How long can this last? Maybe tomorrow I will venture out, embrace the Frenchies and dive back into the reality that this is my home for 2 more years. Or maybe not. Denial will have to work for now.

Spain Pictures

Here is a photo journey of The Cousins Trip 2009 (hopefully the first annual). It started in France, took a detour into Belgium and ended in Spain.

Heading out to the market with Andrea and Kristen. It happened to pour on us... typical day in Lille

The Boys in front of the Citadel (Max, Shane, Brian, Mike)

Brugge

Gaudi's Park in Barcelona

Kayden's poopy pants on Brian's shirt.... too too funny. Our first tapa's restaurant in Barcelona. YUM

Gaudi's Apartment building roof top

Barcelona street

CANDY!!!! at the market in Barcelona... We let her have one of everything.

The view from the fort in Barcelona

Shane practicing his security guard moves

Look out world

Kayden and Brian enjoying appropriate sized beverages

Gorgeous fountains in Barcelona

The awesome fountain light show

The manny

Las Ramblas- one crazy street

La Sagrada Familia

My Love/ Hate Relationship with Travel

As I was getting ready to fly to Barcelona last week, the title to this blog popped into my head and I started taking multiple mental notes on what to chronicle. Little did I know how much the chasm between loving and hating traveling would grow.

Take the airport for instance. I love the easy access to fly any where and everywhere. Yet it is also a point of major stress. It drives me nuts when different people at the counter let things slide while others dont (ie weight limit). I have found a trick- put Kayden on the counter and with one smile, my grossly overweight bag travels free of charge. The securtity line. Do I take my shoes off or leave them on? On this past trip to Barcelona, the security people made me try the Benadryl I was traveling with because it was 4 oz, but let a full bottle of water pass through. Make sense? Nope. You got to love the people who stand in line an hour before the flight takes off, even when they have assigned seats. Typically, even if their seat assignments are the last to be called, they stand blocking the line, creating mass chaos to get on the plane.

Lets not forget about the crazy priced airport food. You practically have to take money out of saving to feed our small little family at the airport. At the same time, the Pizza Hut guy at the Brussels airport made sure my pregnant cousin had the last box of pizza before closing and through in free chicken wings.

Once one boards the airplane, a whole other dynamic of extremes is explored. For instance, who are the people who think it is ok to yell and jump over seats the WHOLE ENTIRE 2 HOUR FLIGHT. It drives me nuts when travelers act like they are 5 instead of 35. How hard is it to understand- electronics off, seat up, safety belts fastened, tray tables away. This apparently seems to be an incredible difficult concept for some to grasp.

As you can tell, our trip getting to Spain was a bit of a headache. It was actually the worst flight I had ever been on due to the incredibly small seating fit only for Barbie size people, and even then, they would not have been able to stretch their legs. As well as the insanely loud people surrounding us who thought is was a great idea to clap and yell and hit each other at various moments on the flight. Grrr.

Once in Spain, we stayed in an amazing apartment in the heart of Barcelona. It was a beautiful city, with many incredible sights. Gaudi' apartments and park were some of my favorite for their originality and beauty. Tapas and sangria were a common craving as well as anything cold (ice cream!) as it was much warmer than any of were used to. The trip definately ranked Barcelona up there with my top cities in the world. The people were super friendly and the whole place was easy to navigate by foot or metro. An true highlight was that there was a Starbucks at the bottom of our apartment. A glorious sight!!!

One damper of the trip was that my purse was stolen our first day out. I had set it at my feet while eating at an outdoor cafe and then next thing I knew it, the purse and its contents (video camera, wallet, credit cards, cell, passports) had vanished. We reported it to the police and got new passports at the American Consulate. Apparenlty purse snatching is a HUGE problem in Barcelona. If I had only known before... No money was lost b/c Shane had the cash and nothing was put on our credit cards. The heart breaking part was more just loosing the camera and the memories of Kayden. I was reminded that the important things in life are really my family and friends and the God has truly blessed me with incredible sets of both.

Austria and Slovakia

A definate benefit to living in France is the easy access to travel. When we found out that Shane had a 5 day weekend, we looked for the cheapest flights we could find to a bunch of various destinations. Austria turned out to be our best choice and away we flew!

Vienna was a beautiful city. It was clean, had gorgeous old buildings, tons of history, huge parks, multiple Starbucks, amazing food and super nice people. For instance, we were looking at our map, trying to find Mozarts house when a little old lady saw us. She not only showed us on the map where the house was, she walked us to it. Now thats customer service! The weather was perfect- sunshine in the upper 70's. We even got a little tan, which has yet to happen in Lille :) On our continueing quest for culture (insert wink here), we went to the Belvedere museum. It was a rich man's giant old summer vacation mansion. The city of Vienna has converted it into an art museum. At the time of our visit,we saw an exhibit of Mucha's work and the general art gallery. This museum actually had the original of "The Kiss" by Klimt. Kayden seemed to enjoy the art too, testing out her new sounds (dadada, bababa, t-t-t-t) in the nice quiet rooms.

Our next stop was Slovakia. We took the train from Vienna to Bratislava and stepped into a different world. Slovakia was under communist rule up until 1989. Though it has experienced tremendous economic growth since, the remenants of hard times remain. The actual city of Bratislava was clean with older buildings, on the river Danube and once again, had wonderfully nice people. A castle perched on a hilltop overlooked the city. Unfortunately, the castle was under restoration so we were unable to see the inside. Yet the views from the hilltop overlooking the city were quite spectacular. We were so happy in Bratislava, discovering the richness that Eastern Europe had to offer and enjoyed scrumtrulescent food and sights. An added bonus, it was a bit cheaper than other countries we had visited.

Vacation was great and it was hard to return back to the reality and routiene of our every day lives. One fun fact I learned upon our return that I care to share.... Vienna is ranked among the top 5 best cities to live in the world. Having visited Vienna and many other places around the world, I can fully understand this honor.

Walking over the Danube River, Bratislava in the background

View from the castle over looking the city

Opera in Bratislava

Part of the Hofberg Complex, the former emperor's residence (Vienna)

Hochstrahlbrunnen fountain and Soviet Monument commemorating the Russian liberation of Vienna

Karlskirche, dedicated to St Charles Borromeo, patron saint of the plague

Kayden's first swim in a pool!

Stephansdom church- dedicated to the first martyr, Steven, in the heart of Vienna

Eating Out

Our favorite restaurant in town is a small Italien place called "Chez Guissepe". We have been going here about once a month since before Kayden was born. They have a small menu but every item is amazing and the pasta is made fresh as you wait. The waiters are familiar and friendly with us and we manage to communicate fairly well... on a good day.

ANYWAYS, today I took my friend there for lunch, promising her an excellent meal. As we turned on to the street, I realized the restaruant sign was no longer there. WHAT!!! How could they get rid of my favorite place!!! Then I realized that it was still there, just under a new name. AND the food was the same. The food was incredible but Kayden did not want to sit still. Also, high chairs are not common in France, so it was my lap or the stroller. She was squirming all over, whining and having "stranger anxiety" towards my friend. In my mind, I thought, how the heck am I going to survive this meal! Waiter to the rescue! Our favorite server took Kayden and brought her around the restaurant. She was giggling and having a blast. He showed her off at every table, toured her around the kitchen and held her until I was done eating. He has to do 2 rounds around the place. It was so fun to watch, as well as finish a meal. They have kept my business, even if they changed the name!

6 months

Today Kayden is 6 months old. Half a year. Wow. How did that happen?

As I think about the last 6 months, I am blown away by how much Kayden has changed. Her daily new discoveries never cease to amaze me. When did she go from a completely helpless infant to a bustling little baby? Though she still is dependent upon us, her little personality is starting to emerge. Always chattering away, her new sounds are "dadadada, bababbaba, t t t t t," as well as just yelling while strolling on cobblestone since her voice becomes quivery. She loves holding her own bottle, attempting to turn the pages in her books, playing in her "office/ activity center", putting her binky in and out of her mouth, applesauce and bananas, Phase 10 playing cards, being with other kids and morning cuddle time. (I love cuddle time too!)


Each night before Shane and I go to sleep, we have "Peek on Peanut" time. We sneak into her dark room and just stare at her in the crib. It is one of my favorite moments of the day when together we stand in awe and joy over our precious daughter. Last night I was overcome by the thought of how Jesus does the same to us, smiling at His creation, enjoying what He has made. I felt like I had a small glimpse of the intense love that He has for me, for Kayden. What a gift I have been given to share this love with Kayden.


Happy 1/2 Birthday Kayden Joy!


The bear and doll have nothing on me now!!

Good times with Mom

These past two weeks have been filled with "hang out with mom time." She came out for 10 days to keep me company while Shane was gone on a training exercise. Of course, being with Kayden was the main draw!

It was so nice to have her here. Last time she came to visit, I had just come home from the hospital after giving birth and was a bit less inclinced to show her the sights of Lille and beyond. This trip, we were able to explore my town and its many walking paths. We also took day trips to Brugge, Belgium and a tulip show at a castle near Brussels. Even though we did get out of the house, mom's main focus was being with Kayden every second. Kayden sure misses her constant attention. I miss the extra time I had on my hands! An added bonus was that Mom was here for Mother's Day. How fun to have 3 generations of women together!

I feel so blessed to have been able to spend this "girl bonding" time with mom. We ate loads of chocolate and just enjoyed being together, with great talks and laughter. God has given me a wonderful mother, whom I admire and love.

So, mom, when do you come again??

Mother's Day in Lille