That's more like it!

Yep, that's more like it.

We had a great day today.  Let's see, what's the scoop.  Last night after posting, Emma and I investigated the swimming pool (swim caps and pre-swim showers mandatory), but didn't partake.  We came back, and Emma "watched" a Scooby Doo to unwind before bed.  I say "watched" because she fell asleep before the show finished.  Cyndie was also in bed by this time.  I was just wrapping up some reading and thinking of heading to bed when  Timmy started stirring (it was around 8:30 p by this time.  He'd been asleep since around 4).  So I went over there and rubbed his back and tried to get him to go back to sleep.  No dice, he was up.  So I made him a little dinner, and let him watch a little bit of Scooby Doo.  Emma stirred a bit during this time, and talked some random non-sense, but stayed asleep (thankfully).  Timmy ended up going to bed fine after the show.  Cyndie woke up during this time and was a bit refreshed, so we made some tea, and drank it in bed, looking at the Eiffel Tower as it lit up.  It was great!

This morning we got up fairly early, ate some breakfast, and then headed out to Notre Dame.  It was very cool.  While there we met up with our friends Nolan and Kristen Isaac (friends in Engineering with me at JBU.  Cyndie and I came with Kristen to France in 1995 to help her missionary parents with a project) and their three kids.  Their oldest, a girl, is Tim's age, so Emma, Tim, and Kailyn played really well together.  So we did Notre Dame, Saint Chappell, had lunch in the Spanish Quarter, visited the Jardin du Luxembourg, and hung out together.  It was great!  We decided by about 4p that everyone was pooped, so we split ways and headed home.

When we were talking at dinner about highlights of the day, I decided that mine was probably going up the towers of Notre Dame, something we had not done last time we came to Paris.  Cyndie really liked the stained glass at Saint Chappell.  It was a much smaller church, but had a TON of stained glass windows all packed together.  It was about 3/5ths through a restoration process, which really highlighted the difference (in clarity and brilliance) between the old and the new.  It was pretty cool.  Emma liked climbing the little spiral staircases (400 or so steps) in the towers of Notre Dame.  It was interesting to see how worn, some as much as a half inch or more, the steps were with use.  The cathedral is celebrating 850 years next year.  Timmy liked the stained glass and the gargoyles (which we learned are scary creatures who function as rain spouts) and chimeras (which are just general, non-rain spout scary creatures).

So there you have it.  Paris, Day 2, just, or mostly, as planned!

Best Laid Plans

Well, right.  Best laid plans and all.

Here I am, sitting in the flat blogging again for your reading pleasure.  Cyndie and Emma are out hunting for groceries.  There's supposed to be a "normal person" grocery store up around the corner, so they are off.  The original plan was for all of us to go.  However, Timmy hit a wall when we tried to wake him up from his nap on the second flight.  He made it back here to the flat okay, but is now zonked out on the couch.  So we're hoping to be able to wake him up for dinner and maybe the pool tonight, and then get him back to bed for a normal get up tomorrow.  You know, best laid plans and all!

The flat is nice.  Cozy.  It's very clean, not very big, but with an awesome view.  We've already seen the Eiffel Tower as a result of that view.  Since I have a little time to kill, here are a couple of pictures I just took ...

Okay, best laid plans and all.  For some reason my computer is not acknowledging the SD card from the camera.  You're out of luck on the pictures!

Back with a bang!

So here I am, sitting in the Dublin airport waiting for our flight to Paris.  The flight over didn't go great.  I think Cyndie may have slept an hour, and the kids and I didn't sleep at all.  We'll see where that takes us.  So far we're doing okay at least.  The kids both spent some of their money getting stuff here.  Emma a souvenir key chain (she's decided that she's going to get key chains from everywhere she goes and decorate her backpack ... a pretty creative idea if you as me).  Tim wanted to get some cookies like he'd had at the Irish lunch at school that they had for St. Patrick's Day.  And he found those.  So, so far so good!  Hopefully we'll all at least cat nap a bit on the second leg (I think it's only about an hour and a half), and then run on adrenalin to get to the flat and get some groceries and get to a fairly decent bed time!

More as it happens ...

School Starts!

Well, we got the kids off to school today. Everything went pretty smoothly. Up at 6:45, showers, breakfast, no TV (without too much complaining), teeth brushed, lunches made, and out the door. Timmy was pretty hesitant last night, but a little less so this morning. We got there early (7:45, school starts at 8:30) to help with a coffee time for parents, and a couple of his friends were there already, so when he saw them, he was fine. Emma was more excited. She had a little time of nervousness when she got to her room and there wasn't a good place to sit near some of her friends, but she sat next to a new girl (who was sitting alone) and I think that made her feel good. She likes to be the leader/introducer, so being able to do so with the new girl was good. I saw her a couple of times (previous to the sitting incident) leading new kids around and helping them find their classes ... right down her "mommy complex" alley!

Cyndie and I enjoyed the coffee time in the gym with lots of friends (who are parents). Good times. We were all ready to be back in the regularity of school. It was just another great example of why we love the small school. We were just all hanging out there, drinking coffee and having a good time. Not that that doesn't happen in bigger schools, but it's just a great community at Woods.

Now, back to work. Soccer starts tonight at 4:30!

Fun morning

Bragging for Emma today. We went out on the boat ... the four of us and Auntie Jane. We were very disappointed when we got up at 6 am ... first because it was still dark (I guess we haven't been getting up very early lately), and second because it was 15 - 20 mph winds. We decided to head over anyway, just to see what we would see. It was by no means perfect. On "our" side of the lake, the north shore, there were pretty big waves from the wind. We went across to the south shore and it was quite a bit better, though definitely not of the quality we're used to in the mornings. So we went. I wakeboarded and Cyndie skied, then Emma gave it a go. She had previously maxed out at about 20 or 30 seconds at a time. She wasn't having any problems getting up, but was, I think, getting scared when she thought she was going toward the wake, and so she'd just drop the rope. So I convinced her last night that she a) wasn't going to go out of the wake unless she tried to, and b) could turn herself just like she does when she snow skis. So, the first time, she dropped again after 20 seconds. I think she just forgot what we'd talked about. But after that, she was a champ. She stayed up for minutes, and only dropped under duress (wake from other boats knocking her down). She skied all over the lake, including making some big looping turns when we got to the end of the sheltered part of the lake and needed to go back. She even skied half the way back to the north shore where the water was starting to get really rough again! So while she was a "kind of" skier before, she is now official!!!

Almost School ...

School is almost here ... we start a week from today. It can't come soon enough. We had a back to school hot dog bash last night up at the school. The kids had a great time seeing friends and running around and playing. Now this morning I've been listening to them fight all morning about stupid things. I think they need some space from each other and routine that school brings!

We have a few fun things this week ... we're going to the fair tomorrow for most of the day, and then we're going to a Brewers game on Thursday. Then my cousin, Dawn, and her family will be in town over the weekend, so that will be nice ... and then school!

A Blast

We went out on the boat early this morning and had a blast as a family. Timmy decided he didn't want to "do" anything, so he was just a long for the ride. I wakeboarded, Cyndie skied, and Emma skied. Cyndie had talked to a friend of our and learned that you can drop a ski, so she had a good time slaloming with out the effort to get up on one ski! Emma's getting there with skiing. She still doesn't stay up for long (I think she's still getting the feel for how much to lean back against the pull of the rope) but she definitely thinks it's cool that she can ski. I'm getting the hang of wakeboarding ... even getting a small amount of air when I go over the wake. Fun times.

Here are some pictures from lately ...

Emma and Timmy entered to be in an ice cream eating contest and made it ... so they did that on Friday night at the Pig. Emma got first in her contest, and Timmy got second! They both got brand new, very nice backpacks and some school supplies. Emma won a years supply of ice cream, and Timmy a $30 gift certificate to Target (which he somehow managed to lose ... bummer). Anyway, it was fun!

Emma by the brand of ice cream she won!

Cyndie found a great deal on this really loud, obnoxious toy that we gave to cousin Daisy for her 2nd birthday ...

Emma skiing!