John & Korinne Do Europe

The kids had a week of school off in the middle of May, so my parents came out and we partied hard. We hadn't seen my parents for over two years because they got home from their mission after we moved to Luxembourg. It was so fun to see them and enjoy the wonders of Europe together. My mom had been here several times but my dad had never visited Europe. A good place to start? The Eiffel Tower.

We got a little bit of sun but I froze all weekend. Good thing we walked a lot to stay warm!

Cheese fondue = mouths full and hearts happy.

 Boat tour!

 Tiny hotel room means lots of screen time to keep from bouncing off the walls. Nobody complained.

View from our hotel window in the Trocadero area.

 The metro becomes your best friend in Paris. Waiting with a side of chips.

 I told Adam and my parents to go see the Orangerie museum with the huge Monet water lilies paintings. The kids and I went to the playground in the Tuilleries gardens.

My kids were not pumped to come to Paris. They remembered their first visit all too well and they hated all the walking. But with plenty of down time, screen time and park time, I think it went as well as it could have. Did I mention it was freezing?! I froze.

When the kids were done with the playground, we waited in the Tuilleries by one of the ponds, watching the ducks and making up stories.

The museum-goers joined us and my mom reported that the water lilies paintings would have been much better if Monet had been to Australia. She loves Australia. What can I say?

Also: bare legs?! What the. #randomtourist

 We walked past the Louvre to catch a bus tour.

Hey from the top of the bus in front of Notre Dame! Sienna kind of relished the audio tour. Until she didn't.

 Dinner at a yummy pizzeria near our hotel.

 Adam took the kids back to go to bed and mom, dad and I headed to Sacre Coeur cathedral on the highest hill in Paris.

It was lovely at dusk.

 The view from the top!

We walked behind the cathedral to Montmartre neighborhood to score a crepe ...

... and some art.

Our final day in Paris, my parents went to the Louvre and the rest of us went to an amazing playground in Luxembourg gardens. This guy was renting little boats for people to push around on one of the ponds. So cute!

 Luxembourg gardens is something else! So was the playground! So amazing I didn't take any pictures. I was also freezing my keister off sitting on the bench while the kids played. Sooooo....that was our last day in Paris. We took the train home to Lux and were so happy to sleep in our beds again.

I shouldn't have been surprised to find that my mom packed two giant bubble wands in her suitcase. She did. Too bad the bubbles were a flop. You have to get the exact right brand of dish soap and the recommended European brand was not in my grocery store. Nice try, ma.

The hotel I booked for my parents had a pool ... yes, it was all for the children! But, luckily, my parents loved the hotel itself, too. Win-win.

After a day of rest, we explored the Wednesday morning market in the Luxembourg city center and all the beautiful buildings there. This is our Notre Dame cathedral.

 Hotel de Ville, one of the government buildings.

Produce makes us smile.

The Grand Palais, home of Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg.

On a walk in the valley of Luxembourg to visit Adam for lunch.

A picturesque picnic.

We were pooped from walking, so we hopped on the Petrusse train.

It puttered around town long enough to give us a nice rest.

The next day we toured Vianden castle.

Shun the non-believer. Shuuuuuuuunnnnnnn.

The sun peeked out for a few minutes and we were thrilled.

Pretending to be a prince and a princess. Hoity-toity noses and all.

With the Lux leg of the trip done, we headed to Brussels. I just love this city. Its windows upon windows showcasing beautiful treats is something to see!

 I want to camp in the Grand Place. It's my favorite square in Europe. I can never do it justice with my photos.

 I took a picture with anyone who would let me join them (Noah refusing behind us). You can bury me here. Just dig up some cobbles.

 At the Bourse (courthouse), remnants of mourners of the airport terrorist attack not too long ago.

 Les Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert is my favorite walkway in Brussels. The ceiling! The sweets shops! The architecture! It's a slice of heaven.

 My mom refused to have her picture taken in front of the Manneken Pis. She thought it was ridiculous.

Onto Bruges! The "s" is silent, and the Belgians spell it Brugge, which I like better than the American way.

Our hotel was small and creaky and right off the main square. Location, location, location.

While Adam was on a long bike ride, the rest of us went to the chocolate museum. Lambers came, too.

This is the outside of the chocolate museum, also a hop, skip and a jump from our hotel.

I wish I'd had time to go back to this adorable florist around the corner from where we stayed. I had my eye on some cute cacti. 

 Grote Markt, or the Market Place, is the main square of Brugge. It takes adorable to a whole new level.

 Lots of walking + a little heat = a lethargic Noah.

 Big suckers helped a bit...

 Adults took turns touring the Church of Our Lady while the kids ran around on the grass. Inside is housed one of Michelangelo's sculptures, Madonna of Bruges. It's the only sculpture to have left Italy during his lifetime. The Pieta in Italy was finished shortly before this one. It was lovely.

 The guys took the kids and mom and I headed for waffles and the lace museum. Yum and yay!

 The museum was tiny and the best part was this room full of ladies doing bobbin lacing. It was fascinating to watch them. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before and if my phone wasn't almost dead, I would have taken a video. There are classrooms in the building to teach people this lost art.

 This woman was in one of the museum videos. She talked about learning the art in a school set up specifically to teach young girls the trade to give them an opportunity to earn money. She had the fastest hands of the group.

 Bobbin lacing pillows of all kinds were on display.

 Dinner was a delight... dad chose this one and he chose well. It's called Malpertuus, and it was a little pricey and a lot delicious. It was Flemish food, too, and I felt like our last night in Brugge was complete after eating here. Adam and I had Flemish stew, which is tender roast beef in a rich gravy served with a side of applesauce. Yep, applesauce. Dad got chicken waterzooi, just like chicken and dumplings but without the dumplings. It was delicious. Mom got some kind of ham rolled up with chicory and cheese inside. Rich and also delish. The kids got meatballs. A nice change from whatever garbage food they'd been eating the rest of the time. And fries. Always fries.

 Oh, and waffles. Always waffles.

 With a side of gangsta and Coke Zero.

 The last morning, we scrambled to check out and go to church. A little stressful and maybe not worth it because we were late, but we did it anyway.

Dad grumbled about the cherry red color of his rental car, but he secretly loved zipping all over Europe in it. Trust me. He did.

Back in Luxembourg, we visited the American Cemetery and Memorial that is the burial site for over 5,000 American soldiers, many of whom died in the Battle of the Bulge. General George Patton is also buried there.

 It was probably my dad's favorite part of the trip. Note to self: next time dad comes to Europe, plan more trips to WWII sites.

The next morning, mom and dad flew home ... or rather got stuck in Amsterdam for one night due to flight snafus, then flew home the next day.

Great trip, mom and dad! I really do hope you come back!!!

Happy Birthday May Babies

May always feels a bit spendy and alot cakey because .... MAY BIRTHDAYS! Here's this year's installment of happy birthday tributes to my three favorite home-dawgs.

Adam turned 36 this year. He took his birthday dinner by the horns and blew us all away. He made delicious homemade pappardelle pasta and bolognese sauce. It took an entire day. Bolognese sauce has to simmer for hours through milk, then wine, then it basically simmers into very tender meat with a little sauce. It's incredible.

He loved making it and we loved eating it!

I've had a hard time finding baking chocolate here, but these worked well for his flourless chocolate cake.

The cake was extremely dark, which the adults loved and the kids didn't.

Happy 36th to Adam!

Sienna's birthday fell on a Friday, so it was hard for her to wait all day until after school and daddy got home from work to celebrate. But it was all worth the wait.

She got a big box from Grandma Diane, some clothes, and a scooter.

She requested a butterfly cake, and it came off without a hitch! (Haha, that's hilarious, we all know that's a lie. The cake needs its own story, which is this: it was a banana cake which didn't really bake in the middle so I had to stand by the oven all afternoon and put it in and pull it out to curtail the oozing, which was ruining the shapes which I'd already cut out. I baked it to death. In the end, it actually tasted pretty good, but that may be because it was slathered with cream cheese frosting.)

For her birthday party I told her she could choose one friend and we'd take them bowling or swimming. She chose Karolina and bowling. They both had a blast!

I'm so happy Sienna has Karolina. She makes every day brighter.

Happy 7th to our sweet and silly Birdie!

Aside from one large weeping session, Noah did a good job to keep a stiff upper lip about waiting for his birthday to come on May 27th. It was a long wait, but he made it.

He got some wonderful gifts from Adam's parents, plus a scooter he'd been asking for for ages. 

 He kept changing his mind on the cake, but I steered him to this froggy one that was pretty simple. Two thumbs up for simple and big impact!

 Noah also chose a friend, Daniel, to go bowling with. They had fun but I think we've had our fill of the place.

Daniel got him a Lego set that he worked on with Adam all weekend. Noah is our super cool 5-year-old!

Knowing When to Let Go ... of Consonents

When I moved to the land of three official languages, I knew I'd have to learn one of them. Getting by on English works just fine for the most part and when it doesn't, charades will do. But come on, being around all these multi-lingual Europeans made my only excuse - I'm American - feel kind of pathetic. "It's not my fault that my native language happens to be the international tongue of choice!" my inner self protested. But my conscience was going to make me try to be better than that. I knew I'd be learning a language, whether my ego wanted to or not.

Let's see, the three choices:

Luxembourgish? Nah, it's mostly the oral language, not much focus on written or anything. Half the country is native Luxembourgish, and the rest of us are international, so I don't really feel intimidated or outnumbered enough to learn the official official language of Luxembourg. Noah's learning it in school, so I knew he could teach me a little here and there. Also, not particularly useful if I ever wanted to, say, get out of Luxembourg.

German? Sienna was going to be studying this right off the bat, and she'd have homework. Did I need to learn it in order to help her? Nah .... let her teach me instead of the other way around. Besides! We've got German radio to keep us up to speed! Die Besten Hits! (Die Besten Hits being German pop and/or rap as well as American hits you haven't heard since middle school and, if you're lucky, the latest Adele or Ellie Goulding song. I've got Deutschland Hit Radio LTL to thank for delivering some Phil Collins at some clutch moments during my drive time.)

French? "This is the obvious choice," said everyone I asked. But Freeeench? Uggghhhhh. I believe I'm one of the only women in the world who had yet to get swept up in its romantic grasp. Because the only thing I hear when French people speak is a plugged nose and a phlegmy throat. Cough it up already! And where are the RRRRRRRRRs???!!! I knew I'd be trudging uphill unenthusiastically through this goal of mine.

I started Rosetta Stone right when I got here. Adam purchased it during a big Christmas sale six months before we moved and we thought we'd get started right away. Hahahahha. Very funny. We did no such thing. But once we got somewhat settled in our new digs in Luxembourg and the kids were in school, I knew I didn't have a good excuse to put it off much longer. Plus, I needed help navigating road signs, paperwork and the grocery store.

I hated the studying immediately. I had a goal to do it for two hours three times a week. That diminished to 30 minutes three times a week. And then, at best, I was doing 30 minutes twice a week. When you know you might look like a fool with only English under your belt, but you'll get by? It's just not motivating enough. I needed to feel 100% ashamed during every human interaction in order to move me toward anything even resembling fluency. But Luxembourg is just not that way. They're too good with all the languages! They can speak to you in anything, maybe even pig latin. It's what they do.

Let me tell you what I couldn't stand about the French language:

The accents - They go every which way and show up when you least expect them. You've got two ee's at the end? Put an accent on it! Which one is anyone's guess. (Though I think it's usually the first.)
The hyphens - Whyyyyyy .... I'm still figuring it out.
The apostrophes - I get it, I just don't like it. Link two vowels? Drop one and add an apostrophe! It's fun! #not
The hyphen-apostrophe-pronunciation triple pown - Qu'est-que ce I'm looking at you!
The phlegmy Rs - Why can't you just be Italian and roll them instead? It's very satisfying for the mouth. You may as well put a muzzle on me. Give me Rs or give me a muzzle, I say!
The absence of the second half of every word - Where did it go? Seriously. There was an S and now there's not. There was a -ment and the T fell off. HELP ME.
The numbers - When you're counting to one hundred, you might as well stop at 50 because that's where their brains stopped. They just repeat the forties and sixties with different variations and you want to scream, "You could have just made up a new word for 99! It could be two syllables instead of five!"

I was about to add "the formality" to that list, but actually I love the formality. When I went into a Sephora in the Luxembourg City center during my first visit to the country and an employee said, "Bonjour Madame," I almost started blushing and fanning my face. When I read mail or a note from a teacher, I feel very respected. They tend to stumble all over themselves giving you their warmest regards. When anything is presented to you - at a store, at a restaurant, at the post office - they say "s'il vous plait" aka "please," as if it's an honor for you to be taking something from them. And nearly every transaction ends with "et voila!" (and voila!) It does feel like you've witnessed a bit of magic!

With my Rosetta Stone stamina lagging, I was feeling grateful to have gotten into a class at the government language school. It's cheap and meets often. Boo-to-the-yah. Just what I needed to keep trudging.

I started in March and have been going three times a week for an hour and forty minutes each session. There are people from Ukraine, Serbia, China, Syria, India, Turkey, Spain, Latvia, America (there's one other girl! An au pair! Of course that word's in French...), Israel and Finland in the class. I sit between a Spanish girl and an Israeli girl. Some have husbands with Amazon, some are hoping to get jobs here, some have a spouse who speaks French, and I assume many hope to make Luxembourg home for lack of a better option. Two Venezuelan women, an elderly mother and middle-aged daughter, were fleeing their country's unstable government. They dropped out of the class shortly after it started and I assume they moved to Italy, like they were planning, because a sister lived there. So many people here are betting on French to give them a better life. Me? Oh, me. It's just for fun....

Feeling humbled was not the reason for my new found interest in French, though. When I learned from our French teacher about some rules and some reasoning, I began to understand. It's like English, it's like any language, really. It's got its quirks and its frustrations. It's got its versions of "where, wear, ware," and "it's and its" and plenty of mumbling and slang that will mess you up when you try to figure it out on the street. But when you can say a sentence and your teacher says, "tres bien!" (very good!), you realize you might understand this language enough to love it after all. I've even told my friends, "J'adore mon cours français!" (I love my French course!) but in English, because it was my American friend who asked and I can't even say that sentence in French without looking it up first on Google Translate.

So my future learning French looks bright. Because there are so many more words and sentences and sentiments to discover. If I already knew one thing about former-French-learning Martha, it's that I love discovering new words in my own language. I guess I didn't realize that there are millions of new words yet to uncover; they're just all hidden in other languages.

The best word in French so far? Arrondissment . When I was researching my first trip to Paris and came across the neighborhood set-up, I just had to know how to say this word. My friend, Becky, told me how to say it.

"Air-on-deez-mon."
"What the. That doesn't sound like anything!" I thought.
But now, with French class, and listening to French radio (au revoir Die Besten Hits .... at least sometimes), I am loving these words that end in the suffix "-ment." Mohn. MOHN. Air-on-deez-MOHN.
Just let go of the T. Let it go.