Paris: NOT Overrated

My husband has been into cycling and the Tour de France as long as I've known him. I used to join him to watch it on TV every year when we were newlyweds. Then, life got a little busier and I haven't been a regular viewer. But for three weeks in July, it's playing in the background somewhere in the house when he gets home from work and on the weekends. The years I watched it with Adam, we got the English commentators. Then we quit cable and I think all he could find online were French (or a variety of language speaking) commentators. We've been along for the "ride" (heh) as Lance Armstrong dazzled the world then fell from grace; I watched Floyd Landis win, then have his title taken away. Then Alberto Contador won and ... you guessed it, his title was stripped. It's a fascinating international sport full of competitiveness, fanfare, intrigue and cheating. Adam loves it because he loves cycling himself. I loved watching it because of the literal tour through France. The scenery was so spectacular it seemed unreal to me. 

When we moved to Europe, we figured we'd wait until next year to plan a trip to Paris to see the final stage of the race. But then we decided to just go this year. With not much planning, we went. And it was wonderful!

On Saturday morning, we left at 7 am and drove the three and a half hours to Paris. This was a picture I took of the countryside on the way there. It was rainy and gloomy most of the trip.

 A week or so ago I found a listing on Homeaway.com for 100 euros for a night. It's a small apartment in the 17th arrondissement that slept four. Good enough! Here's the place.

Grocery Shopping in Luxembourg

Eating good food is very important to me. It permeates every part of my life. If I'm eating well, chances are I'm a happy camper. If I'm not, it becomes a top priority for me to figure out how to improve it. Eating well has a different meaning for everyone, but for me it means eating plenty of home cooked food with the occasional sprinkling of restaurant/fast food indulgence. That's why, when I got to Luxembourg four weeks ago, I knew I had to tackle grocery shopping right away. While grocery prices in Luxembourg are comparable to Seattle grocery prices, eating out here is more expensive. So, I didn't feel like I had a lot of wiggle room to get dinner wrong. Or breakfast. Or lunch. Also the linchpin for making hangry kids turn happy: snacks. Lucky for us, Europeans are all about good food! And we are holding out as long as possible until we go to McDonald's. We just know there is too much good food to be discovered here ... we're not quite ready to sully it with the worst burger in America.

The first thing that gave me heart palpitations when I moved here was pre-cooked, pre-skinned, pre-packaged beets. I love beets so much and have always been sad they take so long to prepare. Four weeks in, I am sick of beets. Thank you little package! 
 
This was my first grocery store haul.  I was running on fumes because of jet lag, but I was proud that I got it together in time for a decent first dinner in our apartment.

Not in America

It all started with the pirate ship playground. It's one of the first things I saw when we came into Luxembourg City on our house hunting trip. Adam parked the rental car and we were headed into the city center to get some lunch. Across the street was the behemoth ship and I went over and took a picture to send to Adam's parents who were watching our kids. I knew they'd die with excitement to play on it when they got here. After I got over the shock of the ship, I saw the slide. It was at least three stories high. And my America alarm went off. "That would never fly in America."

It was at Sienna's school during the morning of the doctor check up. I went just because I didn't know what they were going to do and I didn't want Sienna to be uncomfortable. The doctor check up was fine, nothing different than what we'd just had when we registered here a couple weeks ago. But then I went back to her classroom and all the kids had stripped down to their undies. They were ready for their check ups! "That would never fly in America."

It was house hunting and finding that each and every place we looked at had doors and windows that opened into nothingness, even several stories high. There were glass barriers up to my waist but that was it. "Do these have child proof locks on them?" I asked. The real estate agent didn't know what I was talking about. Also, screens? Are there no bugs here? So far there actually aren't that many bugs getting in the house ... or flies. And absolutely no child proof locks."That would never fly in America."

School Ends, School Starts

The kids finished preschool and kindergarten in Seattle in June.

Mr. Nobes charmed his teachers everyday with his sweet, calm personality and winning smile. He is such an amiable kid (when he is at school). This is the only picture I got of him at graduation; the rest were videos of the kids singing adorable songs. One was some kind of chant about the bible? "B-I-B-L-E the bible is the book for me!" Cracked me up.  Their graduation theme was Mexican fiesta and we had a delicious pot luck feast afterward. Teacher Joan and Teacher Bonnie will be greatly missed! They are some of the sweetest, kindest ladies ever.
It was a remarkable year in kindergarten for Sienna. Although I loathe all the graduation fanfare for small people our society engages in, I realized it's kind of cute when it's your own kid. I tried to check my bad attitude at the door and just enjoy the spectacle. Let us try and forget that Noah spilled his dinner of Cheez-It party mix all over the floor before the show even started. Party on.

 

But seriously, I think this girl is ready for high school. She learned so much this year, I was practically watched the brain wrinkles settle in with my own eyes. (Kind of a gross image.) Here she is with her darling friend Simone. I was grateful she had a great little group of friends in her class. That always makes going to school so much more enjoyable.

Swim Caps, Sneakers and Swim Suits

You wanna hear about my day?

Here goes.

I woke up at 5:30 am to run for an hour. Adam left for work soon after I got back. Then I showered and ate breakfast and got the kids up. Amid the usual morning getting-ready chaos, I remembered to do the two things I committed to memory right before I fell asleep last night: pack them a morning snack ("something healthy, NOT chocolate" recommended Noah's teacher) and take their measurements.

We went to school a little before 8 am. For Noah it's more like 8 am and for Sienna it's more like 8:15. Sienna's teacher doesn't really come out of hiding until 8:15 and I can't get inside the school because the main doors are locked, so we wait near her outside door and try to look natural. I talk to both of the kids' teachers about what's coming up. Is today water sports day? Is it pool day? Yesterday was sports day. Noah's class is doing pool day today. Sienna's class does pool day tomorrow. Where does that leave water sports day? And is there still a sports day on Friday? I feel like there is. I still have no idea.

After I drop off the kids, I drive about a mile up the street to the shopping mall I spent several hours at yesterday. I get stuck in construction traffic for a bit and am annoyed. But then I look out my window and see a crumbling old building, just one of many that add to all the charm here. I take a picture just as a tractor is going by. This place is so quaint. I don't want to be too annoyed to remember that. Behind me is the very modern Bertrange Commune. This center of community, which is like every other community center in Luxembourg, has a commune (where you go to register in your town and take advantage of many other services), an old Catholic church, a children's school campus, and shops. It's a very lovely mix of old and new and I love driving through it. Someday I'll walk around the shops. But today! Today, I must go to the Belle Etoile mall to find three things: swim caps, sneakers and swim suits.

I was told by another ex-pat that Noah will not be allowed in the pool unless he is in Speedo-style swim shorts or briefs. I have to find them before they go swimming this afternoon. The children will not be let into the pool without swim caps, either. Must. Find. Swim. Caps. And sneakers. Both Sienna and Noah are about to bust through the toes of their sneakers. Plus, they need them for sports day. So help me, I will find the sneakers.

A list of things that are tiny

We are getting into our groove. It feels good. I still wake up wondering where I am, but then I chow on some lait (milk) and muesli (granola) and I remember.

I am still psyching myself out for living life tiny-style. Here are some things that I encounter on a daily basis that are smaller than I'm used to.

1. Fridge/Freezer - It seems as if I am living in a camper when it comes to this one. I will be at the grocery store every. darn. day. from here until we leave. It's the way it's done, I guess. I'm trying to embrace it. But it is completely changing the way I do everything. No more making a big pot of soup and storing it all week. There is just no room.

2. Sink - This one is puzzling because it doesn't have to be this way. We saw plenty of homes with normal sized, even big sinks. But mine just happens to be tiny. Camper living still. I have to be insanely on top of dishes or this one backfires big time. Also, there is no garbage disposal so I had to buy one of those thingies for the plug to catch all the food chunks, which I then have to constantly empty into the (yes, tiny) garbage can. I've lived with no disposal before, but coupled with a mini-sink, it feels like a major extra. Let me add right here that I am grateful for a stellar dish washer. Otherwise I'd be the Mayor of Complainer City.

3. Guest bathroom - The guest bathroom is customary in Europe, or so I've been told. When people come to your house, they expect to have their own special place to do their business. I think it's dumb and a total waste of space and I wish it was a closet. Someday I will take a picture of the sink, which is THE tiniest thing you've ever seen.

Goodbyes & Getting There

It's 2 am and Sienna and I can't sleep so here I am blogging and she's coloring on the couch next to me. We finally made it to Luxembourg and I'm feeling excited to just be here. Our plane arrived, our stuff arrived (one bag and two car seats came a day late) and we arrived. So far, so good. I'm also feeling tired, disoriented, overwhelmed, confused, lost, and my head hurts because of jet lag. But, we'll get there. We'll get settled. And when we do, it will feel good. But we won't feel settled for awhile, so in the mean time I will sit comfortably/uncomfortably in some degree of chaos.

This was moving day. I could write a long post entitled Ode to Seattle, because I will miss it and my home. But I try not to think about it. It'll still be there when we get back. Right, renters?!

The week before we flew to Lux, we road tripped from Seattle to Salt Lake City. I LOOOOOOVVEEE road trips. Our first stop was in Hermiston, Oregon. We embraced the greasy spoon lifestyle and ate at the only place in town, A&W. Then we played tag in the dry heat of the afternoon on a grassy patch by the highway. Ahhhh, the open road. 

Our next stop was Boise, Idaho where we had dinner with my brother, Owen. I had this amazing watermelon salad and some fish tacos.

We met his friend, Laria.

Visitors

Tell people you're moving across the ocean and they'll hurry up and come visit you. That's my advice.

My sister, Heather, came solo in January. TOO. MUCH. FUN.

 We ate at all my favorite spots.

 We visited some of the places in Seattle we shouldn't be proud of.

May = Birthday Month

We're wrapping the birthday season a bit early around here. Adam, Sienna and Noah all have May birthdays (on the 1st, 6th, 27th, respectively), and we had to celebrate them all before we left on our house hunting trip next week.

For Adam's he had a typical work day and then we went to 8 oz Burger Co. for dinner. He requested banana cream pie for dessert, so I made that and we ate it afterward at home. This guy gets better with age.

Sienna turned six this year. She is getting better with age, too. (You'll see, this becomes a theme.) She is almost done with her first year of full day kindergarten and it has been incredible to witness her little brain and body wizzing along non-stop.  She is such a delight.

She got a new bike.

Luxembourg. Because ... YOLO

We are moving to Luxembourg! Luxem-what? Luxem-who? Luxem-where? Exactly.

No one is more surprised than us. Life is funny that way, huh?

The opportunity came right when we had settled nicely into our life here in Seattle. In October we celebrated our one year anniversary of living in our house. Our kids are in good schools with teachers they love and students they are befriending. Adam is happy in his position at work. I am happy with some new-found free time during the week and was looking into interior design schools in the area. We were feeling comfortable in our one-year-old ward. The plan was to cruise along happily for as long as possible. Life. Was. Perfect.

The idea of moving to Luxembourg has been something in the back of our minds ever since Adam started working for Amazon three years ago. But it was something we'd consider doing when we got restless in Seattle. Not that it was ever actually going to be an opportunity; there's an Amazon office in Luxembourg, but you don't just get to call them up and tell them you're coming. Anyway, Adam's former boss is in the Luxembourg office and put a little bug in Adam's ear, like, "Hey, we could really use someone like you..." We laughed about it. "Haha, wouldn't that be funny if we moved over there? That'd be crazy!" Adam had just assisted his former boss in finding another employee to fill a position over there and we thought that was the end of that. Then Adam got curious. He asked his former boss, "What if I WAS interested in moving to Luxembourg? Could that be a real possibility?" He talked to all of his bosses just out of curiosity and they all said, "Yes, that could work out well for you."

That's when it became real. However, we were both very against going. We just got settled! We didn't want to move anymore! We'd had some great adventures; in our time together we've lived in Massachusetts, California, Arizona and now Washington. We were ready to stay put for awhile.

But then I fasted and prayed about it. Dun dun duuuuun. And my whole perspective shifted. After that, I knew we were going. And now, seven months after deciding, it seems like an obvious choice. You get an opportunity to live in Europe and you take it. Easy. But at the time, the logistics of the entire endeavor were making my head explode.

Now that I've had plenty of time to process everything and now that it's finally happening, I'm ready and sooooooo excited to go. We'll move there mid-June.

And now, Fun Facts about Luxembourg:

Boring, Stressful, AMAZING, Repeat

Motherhood has always been boring and stressful with bits of amazing thrown in to keep me going. Lately there has been a whole lot more amazing than boring and stressful. And this has TOTALLY taken me by surprise.

I still think of myself as a new mom. But I'm not. Newborns and toddlers are in the past. I'm in a completely new stage. It's true what they say: during the course of my kids' lives I will have parented hundreds of different versions of them. My kids as newborns and toddlers were very different than they are today. As Sienna and Noah approach their sixth and fourth birthdays in May, I am nothing short of stunned at how different my life is right now than it was when they were new little blobs of helpless flesh. I didn't know it would be this way.

Sienna is smart and sharp and sweet and observant and kind and thoughtful and gives surprise kisses and surprise "I love yous" and, I mean, who is this child?! She has rough calluses on her hands from tirelessly swinging between monkey bars. She ran nearly a mile and a half with her kindergarten class for a fundraiser. She knows how to clean her room and can even sometimes inspire her brother to help. I mean. WHO IS THIS HUMAN?!

My Fanifesto

For years I didn't understand the draw of watching sports on TV.

I get it now.

Two weeks ago, I was able to sit down and watch an entire football game from start to finish. My kids played happily with our guests' kids the entire time. Before having kids I just did not care about TV sports. It was for the men in my life who had either played sports in the past or seemed to understand sports better in general.

After having kids I especially resented all the sports watching. I was always on de facto kid duty while my husband watched sports. Thankfully and to his credit, we didn't have cable until a year ago, so it's not like I've suffered madly for years. But this year with cable, there have been many hours of sports watching, mainly baseball and football. And I have resented it.

Then the miraculous kid-playing and then me miraculously sitting still for several hours and then that MIRACULOUS GAME in which the Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers. That. Game. Was. Bonkers.

Christmas 2014

Christmas was lovely! The minute I got out the decor, Sienna loved playing with the two nativity sets I inherited from my childhood. They have so many more broken pieces every year I open them that I decided this was their last year and they are currently on their way to the land of recycled ceramic pieces. We all got a kick out of the headless child shepherd. Next year I will be buying an indestructible nativity set either made of wood or cloth or one of each probably. Adios, piano playing wise men.

 The washi tape Christmas tree was a fun way to display the cards this year.

The kids saw Santa at the ward Christmas party. Sienna asked for  a Tinkerbell doll.

 Noah and his buddy Ben sat on Santa together. Noah asked for a Cookie Monster.

Noah participated in an adorable little preschool presentation of the story of Jesus. I love this old, musty Methodist church where he meets. Teacher Bonnie and Teacher Joan are the best.

 I believe he was a wise man / shepherd hybrid of sorts. I think. Whatever he was, it was so cute.

 We joined Adam's entire family in Denver for 10 days over Christmas. It snowed and we were in heaven.

 We made a tiny little snow man. Or two. And then Noah stomped all over them. Sienna broke the branches for the arms, and here she is "holding the snow man's hand."

 We went sledding a bunch of times. This was the first year they both unabashedly loved it.

 Sienna played Mary in the live cousin nativity.

 Diane had a vintage doll from her grandmother, I think, and Sienna got to take special care of it as her baby Jesus.

 It was so precious to see her take it so seriously. At the end of the day on Christmas Eve, I was walking her upstairs to bed and she said, "Today was a very bad day." I said, "Why?" And she said, "Everybody laughed at me." She is so sensitive to people laughing at her and we try to explain to her that people laugh at her because they think what she's doing is cute. She can't comprehend it yet. Always makes me sad. :( Ian, Max, and Sam are with her in this picture.

 Noah had zero interest in dressing up for the nativity but he was pretty animated when Santa came. Here he is telling Santa that he is three years old.

 Christmas morning!

 Adam's family draws out the gift opening all day. The kids took turns opening their gifts, then we had a late breakfast of traditional scones, and then we put on a movie while the adults opened gifts. It was nice not to feel rushed. We really enjoyed all of the day.

 Adam's parents were so kind to babysit for us a Friday and Monday so we could go skiing with Adam's siblings. I'm still sore! And almost got frostbite. It was around 10 degrees or less both of those days. But super sick powder, yo. Did some serious shredding. You know. Dude.

 Diane spoiled us again with a ladies' night to the Nutcracker ballet. What a treat to have Sienna come, too. She was restless during the first half, but luckily the second half we found her a booster cushion and fed her candy, and she rallied. I can't wait to put her in dance lessons. Maybe then she'll get what all this dance stuff is about.

 Diane outdid herself in hosting three big dinners for various friends and family. We ate so well. It's always tough coming off a trip like that. I get home and keep looking around for someone to appear to make us dinner.

 Adam and his dad and his brother, Jason, went to a Broncos game together. They figured it'd be their last time to enjoy to wonder of Peyton Manning before he retires.

It was a perfect Christmas! Now onto the New Year!