Angelina

Ever since our last trip to Paris, my wife has had to put up with Angelina. I fell in love with Angelina and have been anxious to get back to Paris so we could meet up again. I think Janna is okay with Angelina, since she is a merely the location of my favorite Hot Chocolate - L' Africain. It is so thick you could use a spoon. Some people make is smoother by adding whipped cream. I have had it "black" and with whipped cream. I love them both.

Today was the day for Angelina. We got up late again since we can't seem to beat this jet lag. What are we doing wrong? It must be the drawn shades. I lumbered out of bed at about 11am and hit the grocery store. Milk, OJ, Tissues (for runny noses). Not much, just some essentials.

By 12:00 we were all on the Metro and headed back to a familiar stop: Place de la Concorde. My dear Angelina is near there. We arrived at about 12:30 and hopped in a line at the restaurant. It was only about 15 minutes and we were seated. Angelina has an upscale/historic feel to it. Almost like you are in the Main Street section of Disney World. That upscale, Riverboat, Ice Cream Parlor feel. There are lots of Americans there. You can tell because their kids are wearing jackets that are not the color black. Unfortunately for me, we had missed breakfast (was hoping for a soft boiled egg, which you can easily get in Europe). The girls ordered omlettes and Janna ordered a quiche. I, of course, ordered L' Africain. Delicious.

After that, we walked down the Rue de Rivoli along the Tuileries. We bought some scarves for the girls and a couple more watercolors from a local artist. We aren't sure where we will put them when we get home, but is hard to resist some of the authentic paintings that go along with the poignant memories. Also, the last time we were in Paris, Janna's biggest regret was that we did NOT buy a single painting, so we are making up for that. Then we crossed the Rue into the Tuileries and up to the Louvre where we waited in line (outside) for about 30-40 minutes. Along with about a million other people, from all over the world. Oh, and the children in front of us had lice. Hawk-eye Janna spotted that instantly.

We were glad to be inside where it was warm. The Louvre was fun. The last time Janna and I did the Louvre, we were there from open to close. We cruised every single room and looked at every single piece of artwork and we still did not "finish" it. Janna was 5 months pregnant with Quinn at the time. Her ankles were swollen after that ridiculous day, and she cried. We vowed that we would do the Louvre with less earnestness this time. And let's be honest. I will speak only for myself here. I don't really get it. I try REALLY hard to get into all the artwork, but it ain't workin' for me. Half the paintings are 17th century Playboy. And there are only so many times that you can get away with the phrase "it's just art" to your kids. After a while, they know something is going on.

That said, the Mona Lisa is cool. And the story of the Venus de Milo is cool. I am sure I would think every single piece of artwork in that place was cool if I understood the history of each. But the crazy French don't put much English up on the walls, so you are pretty much doomed to try and figure it out on your own.

Enough with the cynicism. It was fun. In fact, every thing we have done here has been fun. We made it fun. We laughed at the paintings and skipped exhibits that bored us. We were only there for a couple hours. And, we took as much from the Louvre as it took from us. We found the "hidden bathrooms of the Spanish wing." (Have I mentioned the lack of clean, accessible bathrooms in this town?) Oh, they were beautiful. And clean. We all did our business there and made for dinner.

We left the Louvre via the Carrousel. There was a Metro there (Musee de Louvre) where we hoped to buy a 5 day pass for each of us that would give us unlimited use of the Metro (until now, we have been buying a "carnet" of 10 rides). There was a long line there, and after fumbling with the machine for 5 minutes, I bailed. We walked down the Rue de Rivoli to the next station (Louvre-Rivoli). There the machine was broken and would not accept my cash. So we walked North to the Les Halles station. That happens to be a big station with helpful representatives that allowed me purchase the Metro tickets from a person at a counter, rather than a kiosk. So much better.

Instead of hopping on the Metro there, we decided to walk North West toward the Opera Garnier to a place on Rue Gaillon called Drouant. There we had some of our only reservations for dinner.

Let me just say this about Paris so far. There has been no place in Paris that is not cool. We have walked just about everywhere. There are people always walking on every little street that we happen to be walking on. The buildings are all old and not very tall. My guess is that 5 stories is the high end of average. Everything looks like it is from the 1700s. Some of the streets are cobbled. Some are very narrow. And people are walking everywhere. This is not like New York or Boston. It is not even really like London. It looks and feels just like any Disney cartoon or James Bond movie that you have ever seen. You feel like you are in Europe. You feel like you are in an old city. It is really neat.

Dinner was great. Our only "upscale" dinner we had planned. Janna and I each had our own Tasting appetizers and the chef's recommended German Rib Steak. The apps were great. I had the "4 corners of the world" appetizer plates. I had no idea what I was eating, but it was delicious (it turns out one of the things I ate was eel. I guess eel is pretty good...). Janna had vegetarian app plates. The kids even got an app plate with salad, fish sticks, proscuitto, beef terrine, and curried carrots. For their main course they had Chicken and Pom Frites (thick french fries). Dessert was great. The girls and I had several types of Sorbets and Ice Creams. Janna had a chocolate tasting that was unreal. Overall, it was very good, but probably not worth the money. Especially with all these delicious cafes along the way.

We popped out of there, snapped a quick photo in front of the Opera house, hopped on the Metro and went home.

We are comfortable here now. We can tell because the vomit on the way up the stairs at the Metro doesn't gross us out much, but instead is a signal that we are almost back to the apartment (halfway up the third staircase at the Lamark station), or that the two homeless guys that sit on the second stairway down call out "Bon Jour" when we walk by for the seventh time.

Gillian snapped pictures of every room in our apartment (even the garbage can in the bathroom) when we got back because she "didn't want to ever forget this place." I wonder what the girls will remember from this trip...will it be the landmarks or the talking we have done? Or will it be the laughing over the crazy things we encounter all the time, the stories that come so effortlessly about friends at home, thoughts they have about things they have tasted, seen or felt? These are great memories.

Another awesome day. Hopefully we will all be sleeping soon. -- Jeff and Janna

It's a Wonderful Life

We did much better today. We all got up at 10:00. Part of the problem (that we sleep so late) is the fact that all of the drapes are closed because they keep the cold window drafts to a minimum. With the drapes closed, we have no idea what time it is - kind of like a casino. Without the sun, we revert to Minnesota time too easily. Anyway, we went to bed earlier and got up closer to Parisian time.

With the weather still cool, we make sure to bundle up. Thankfully we have been prepared on this trip, so there have been no meltdowns due to cold. And since we pop in and out of cafes and shops, we usually can warm up quick enough.

We were out the door by 11:00. We made our way up the street (South) about 4 blocks until we took a left in the direction of Sacre Coeur. We found the area to the West and South West of Sacre Coeur, known as Abbesses to be very charming. Lots of Patisseries, Boulangeries, and Cafes. The streets are cobbled and narrow. People, even in the cooler weather, like to site outside the cafes at tiny tables. They sit on either side of the table with their backs to the Cafe. They don't face each other, they face the street. They chat, smoke, eat, drink and people watch. We had a fun time milling around. We ate at a corner Cafe/Boulangerie for a late breakfast/lunch. It had been open only one week, and the salesperson there was from Canada, and she made us feel quite welcome. Hot chocolate, croissants, etc. Everything was excellent.

We made our way up several flights of stairs and chanced upon a place we were hoping to find: Place du Tertre. There are artists in the square there with their paintings for sale. There are also those that do instant portraits and caricatures. There might be an element of "tourist trap" going on, but I loved it. We bought a couple small painting there and then headed over to Sacre Coeur about a block away.

Sacre Coeur was built after the Franco-Prussian war in memory of the 50K+ fallen soldiers. It is located on the highest point in Paris - a spectacular view that we intend to hit again at sundown. After a quick interior tour, we went straight down the hill and South toward the area around the Anvers Metro stop. Another neat area with Chocolatiers and little shops. After a while, we hopped on the Metro and took two train hops before getting out at Chatelet.

The Chatelet stop is close to the "center" of Paris. From there we got off and walked up the Rue de Rivoli to the Hotel de Ville, then North to the Pompidou. Unfortunately, the Pompidou square was not bustling like it usually does. There were a couple of painters in the square, but not the mimes and buskers like we expected. Aubrey and Gillian got a kick out of chasing the millions of pigeons that have gathered in the corners. We went inside the Pompidou, but did not buy any tickets. We ended up eating a snack across the street at a little cafe. Janna got some onion soup and I got some blue cheese and salami and bread. The girls shared Croque Monseiur, which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich...but over the top with the cheese melted on the outside too. Yum. With some food in us, we went back out to the shops. That area around the Pompidou and toward the Rue de Rivoli has tons of little shops and narrow alleys. Again, exactly what we were hoping for. We zig zagged our way down back to the Hotel de Ville where there is a Metro station. A crowd of about 15 rowdy teenagers shared a train car with us on our way back, prompting me to remember the line from Max Von Sydow's character in Three Days of the Condor: "Kids, probably the same everywhere..."

Because we got started earlier, the girls were ready to head back to the apartment. We were back at our apartment by 5:45. Janna and I had gotten some pesto ravioli and sauces the other day when we had gone marketing and so that is what we had for dinner, a nice little family dinner at our "home" here. After dinner and a family viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life" we will hit the bed early and hope we can creep that morning bell up a little bit.

Notre Dame

Christmas day was supposed to be our day off. We slept in and had a breakfast/lunch at 12:00 noon. Santa showed up with some small things: DS games, watches, mittens, and Celtic Football Club winter hats for everyone in the family. Celtic FC happens to have the same colors as the Hornets, so it was an easy choice. After we ate, Janna and I took a cat nap, intending to keep things slow. But at 3:30 we were already all out the door. We are in Paris, for goodness sake! What are we doing inside our apartment all day?! Let's go to Notre Dame.

We are getting fairly comfortable with the Metro. And three trains later, we made our way off the Cite stop and onto the island that is home to two of the most beautiful works of architecture in Christiandom. One of them, of course is Notre Dame (the other is San Chapelle - which we hope to hit later in the week).

Notre Dame is overwhelming. It is so old, and big, and eerie, and ornate, and detailed, and did I say old? Construction started in the late 1100's and took 170 years! We entered by way of a Disney-like line that moved quickly. We knew that there was a free organ concert that started at 4:30. We got in at probably 4:45 and the music made it even cooler! Most people walk slowly and quietly around the perimeter of the inside. It is dark, and light shines thru the blue stained glass. The gothic music coming from the organ, and all the people quietly milling around, lighting candles for saints, and saying prayers - all of it was very intense. Gillian even got a picture with her hero (and mine) Joan d' Arc.

When we got out about an hour later, we were without a concrete plan. So we walked to a small restaurant on the island. Janna got a coffee and the girls enjoyed a hot chocolate. Fortunately, there were bathrooms there, too, since we almost had an accident. After the warming house/eatery decided to hop back on the Metro for the Eiffel Tower. We plan on going to the Tower later in the week during the daylight, but we thought it would be fun to go there on Christmas night when it is all lit up (lighted up? not sure).

The Metro kicked us out near the lawn of the Tower. We approached it with anticipation. It was beautiful. We snapped pictures and walked right under it. It was shining bright and on the hour it would sparkle for 5 minutes. The kids could not have been more thrilled. We didn't stop, we just continued north. On the other side of the River Seine is the Palais de Chaillot. In the mall of the Palais was a seasonal "Village de Noel" (go ahead, see if you can translate it), which was made up of pop up tents similar to the tents on the Champs (or the tents at the Edina Art Fair). There was Christmas music, lights, ice skating, street foods, and various products for sale. Just what we were looking for.

Keep in mind, it was only about 23 degrees here today, so we looked for opportunities to warm up. But in the end, we all just needed to tough it out. And did we ever. We walked a lot as the temperature continued to drop during the evening hours. The kids did great. In fact, Janna and I have complained more than the kids. They have been troopers.

We ended up up walking from there all the way to a place called Alma-Marceau. Doesn't look like much on the map, but we were probably outside for about 1.5 hours at this point. We ducked into a nicer restaurant called Chez Francis. The food was good, not great. Most of us got Sirloin steak with mashed potatoes. Janna also got a Pumpkin and Tomato Soup. You could see the Eiffel Tower from our seats. We figured that this place, because of its proximity to the Tower and to the Champs, along with the fact that they had an English menu handy, probably fed a lot of tourists. Not to mention the fact that it was open on Christmas night.

But in the end, we were happy. Good food, good walking. Another good outing.

We headed home via the Metro. Once in our apartment, we indulged in a Christmas dessert, called a Buche de Noel, that we had gotten yesterday at a bakery. That rocked.

Showers and a forced bed time and we should all be ready for another great day in Paris. -- Jeff

Paradox - Christmas Eve

If I was running a scavenger hunt in Paris, I would make one of the "finds" a garbage can on the Champs de Elysee. They don't exist. No wonder there is so much garbage on the ground.

Christmas Eve here in Paris. It was a late morning. Because our minds think we are still in the US, we didn't get to sleep until late - very late (Janna at 4:30am) - so the kids and I needed some coaxing to get up at around 11:30am. Janna was adamant that we not waste the day. And, though I felt like I had been on the all night blitz, I agreed with her.

Janna and I got up about 45 minutes earlier than the girls and snuck out to do some shopping for food for Christmas day. We had no idea what we are doing for food tomorrow so we stopped at several small French shops and bakeries. We got breads and salami and some pasta. We also got some breakfast breads and coffee for today that we brought back to our apartment.

With the kids out of bed and fed, we headed for the Metro. We got off at Place de la Concorde. When we got out of the subway we were hit by two impressive things: the wind and a gigantic Ferris wheel (or, as Aubrey likes to call it here, the Pariswheel). We had planned on it being cold, so we weren't deterred. We immediately bought tickets for the Ferris wheel and had a spin or two. It wasn't any warmer 7,000 feet (or meters) off the ground, especially with this crazy wind, but the views were awesome. The girls looked with delight at the Eiffel Tower and then we directed them to look at Sacre Couer , near where we are staying. We could see it all.

After that we hit the Champs de Elysee. We slowly walked up the street toward the Arc de Triomphe. First we hit the pop up tents, which sold mulled wine, crepes, toys, dried fruits and many other interesting things, then further up we saw the mega shops. We would slip in and out of the warm stores just to get our core body temperature up. The wind was steady and got stronger throughout the day. It took us a good hour and a half to make it to the Arc, which the girls loved. Then we snuck back down the opposite side of the Champs until we got to Laduree.

Laduree is a fancy chocolatier/dessertery and restaurant. They are famous for their macaroons and they didn't disappoint. We had an early dinner and dessert there. I had a French club sandwich and Janna had a salad. The kids mostly had omlettes. And dessert was fantastic. So far the French don't disappoint when it comes to food. And, yes, I did have some of that magical, French, thick-as-syrup, Hot Chocolate.

From there we made our way to the American Church in Paris (ACP). It was 6:30pm by the time we arrived. Joe Schlie met us there with two of his three girls (Suzie stayed home with the little one). The American Church had a 7:00pm service that lasted 1:45 minutes. It was awesome. The first half hour was just music. Then there was an hour and 15 minutes of readings and songs and music and a sermon. It ended with a candlelit "Silent Night" that brought a tear to my eye. It probably goes without saying, but the church service was in English, which we appreciated, of course.

It dawned on me right then that this day had been marked by paradoxes. Here we had spent a good part of Christmas Eve in one of the most bustling symbols of consumerism on the planet. The Champs. Ironically, I had just pointed out to someone back home that one of things I like the most about Christmas Eve in Minnesota was how things got noticebly quieter as the day went on. Even the voices on the radio stop showing up. By later in the evening, it is just taped Christmas music piping thru your car radio while you drive on near empty streets. I love that. Yet, today, we were amidst the hustle and bustle of the Champs......until we got to "Silent Night". At that point things came crashing to a halt. All the "wants and desires" in my mind that were tempted on the Champs went silent. Finally, the peace of the Christmas story.

Another thing that hit me was something I couldn't get out of my head all afternoon. It was the poor beggers, mostly women, who kneel down on the Champs with their hands out in front of them, almost like a prayer to Mecca. Only they hold a paper cup in their hands. Their face is flat to the ground. It was the pinnacle of "begging." And yet, right behind them is the entrance to Louis Vuitton.

So Silent Night got me again, just like it does every year. There, in the American Church in Paris, it finally became Christmas Eve.

We said goodbye to Joe and his kids and walked 8.8 miles (or kilometers) in 19 degree (or -4 degree) weather to find a Metro station. I am sure we passed at least 3 of them on the way to where we knew one was - the Place de la Concorde. Cold (frozen, actually), tired, and desperately in need of a potty, we climbed on a train that took us home. Gillian and Quinn seemed to get their second wind on the subway and Gill was attempting to break dance doing some robot moves she saw some street performers do on the Champs de Elysee. It was funny to watch, she definitely needs some practicing before she can perform on the street, but it was entertaining for the Metro riders, well, okay, maybe just us.

Another great day. The girls have been troopers. Hardly a single complaint out of them. One great memory after another.

Merry Jesusmas, everyone. - Jeff (With some Janna edits and improvements)

From Snowy Minnesota to Lovely...ummmm, Snowy Paris

The road to Paris has been mostly uneventful. All 6 us of had only a carry on and a backpack. Janna did a masterful job of packing the girls, especially when you consider the fact that we had to bring Christmas presents in for some friends of ours. More on that later. We had a short trip to Chicago prior to our Paris leg of the journey. That did not stop all the girls from getting their extended flight sleep gear out on the way to Chicago. The fact that it was 2:00 in the afternoon didn't stop anyone.

The Paris flight was packed. A mad dash by everyone on board trying to secure overhead space resulted in some hurt feelings and awkward moments, but in the end everyone who deserved a spot for their bag got one - even Team Northrup. One lady had a bag so big and red and fat that I would be surprised if it fit down below. Funny how she kept trying to squeeze it in the next overhead, despite the fact that, as far as I could tell, all overhead bins were manufactured with the exact same measurements with the same plastic material. I enjoyed that little rodeo.

I sat next to a duder from France while the rest of my family was in a group of three and a group of two. The girls did great. After a quick dinner and some Dramamine, we were all unconcious by 9-9:30pm. I slept about as poorly or as well as anyone sleeps on any flight. Totally vertical. Drooling. Waking every six minutes or half hour - I have no idea. I just remember an annoying noise waking me up at 12:30am. It sounded kind of like a TV show being pushed at high volume thru someones Ipad or Iphone (without the ear buds). I kept looking around, but could not find where the sound was coming from. I think I found the culprit when a non-cute couple sitting in front of Janna was asked by the flight attendant to "turn that down". Not sure what they had on, but it was loud enough to wake me up 10 feet away. Oh, and they needed to get a room.

We landed at 9:00am (2:00am CST) and zombied our way thru customs and to our Israeli-French driver who got us to our apartment by 11:30 (sounds like a long time, but it didn't seem like that long). On Rue Damremont on the north side of Paris in the 18th district. A nice lady was there to welcome us. She didn't stay long and we didn't want her to. We were beat. We all got in our jammies and took a 2 hour nap. Janna woke us all up at 2:00pm.

It was snowing when we woke up. So we bundled up at fumbled our way out of the apartment and down to a market. There we picked up some gear (lotion, shampoo, snacks, etc.). After a quick stop at a local bakery, we went straight back to the apartment, gaining some confidence. Everything is hard to do when you don't speak the language here. I don't even think I am saying Merci' properly. And the locks are wierd here. And the outlets are different. And I haven't slept much. Thank goodness we don't have any schedule to keep.

Anyway, we unloaded at the apartment, ate a fresh bagguette or chocolate croissant and then packed up all the Christmas presents that we had brought for our missionary friends. Joe and Suzie Schlie and their three girls, Collette, Isabella and Sophia. We had packed not only presents for them, but also some very American essenials, like giant bags of chocolate chips and baking powder. Needless to say, our carryons should be much lighter going home. We had so much stuff that we needed to bring a little cart with us as we left the apartment a second time. This time, we were taking our adventure one step farther - the Metro.

Paris is not a clean city. I would guess that people here are very comfortable throwing something on the ground that would normally go in a landfill. And the Metro, like most subways I have been on, take the dirt to another level. Plus there are bums (hobos? homeless? crazies? not sure what the PC vernacular is). But once again, it wasn't the dirt and the bums that posed the biggest challenge. It was the language barrier. The dude working the Metro ticket counter didn't speak English, so we were pretty much on our own with the kiosk. We figured it out after a while and thanks to a couple of strangers. With tickets in hand we made our way down 120 steps (seriously, we counted) and got on the train to the 6th district (south of the Seine or Left Bank). Joe was there to meet us when we emerged from the Metro 20 minutes later.

Joe and Suzie live in a very nice apartment near the University where they have their ministry. They think it is small, and I am sure it poses problems at times, but I loved it. After a quick appetizer of pork pate' (gross and delicious all at the same time - we all loved it and wanted more) Suzie fed us a salmon quiche and a bacon quiche. Yum.

My mom used to always make quiches for church dinners growing up. I had never had one until tonight. A very dangerous delight. Then we had some cheeses and coffee and tea followed by the most delicious macaroons I have ever had. She had picked them up at a local bakery. After a couple of hours, the Schlies walked us down to the local Bon Marche (like Dean and Deluca) where we shopped for some specialty items.

After brief goodbyes in the snowy, wet streets of Paris, we left the Schlies, hopped back on the Metro, and found our way back to our apartment.

It is 11:15pm here. But it is 7 hours earlier. We are hungry (why? We just ate a huge dinner. Must be the jet lag) and tired. Hopefully we will be sleeping soon. -- Jeff

P.S. This is Janna, here, I tried to upload some photos of snowy Minnesota (the snow piled up taller than me!) and couldn't figure out on Jeff's computer. It is lovely here, we are tired, but grateful.

Update

Summer's over, now it's fall, just the nicest time of all!! Shelby has a little book with that poem in it and we say it often in the fall, because really, it IS the nicest time of all here. The leaves on the trees have all changed colors and dropped tothe ground. We have raked them all up (remember raking the grass clippings after Jeff had mowed the lawn, Andoni?) and put them in bags for the yard waste collector to pick up and now we are ready for winter snow to arrive.

It has been a lovely lovely fall and we have gone to the cabin, had six weekends of fall traveling soccer (Jeff coaches Aubrey's team and you would have loved to watch them Andoni, these girls knew next to nothing at first about position and ball handling, but they really came a long way in improvement), and tried to enjoy the beautiful weather. It is supposed to snow in a couple of days for the first time, but it won't really get snow covered around here for a few more weeks.

I hope you had a wonderful birthday, Andoni!! Was it full of lots of time with friends, cake and

ice cream? It was Gillian's 10th birthday on the 20th of October, but she was VERY sick and we had to cancel her party and rescheduled it for Halloween. Do you celebrate Halloween there? It is a real highlight for children in the United States, mostly because they get so much candy from the neighbors' homes, way too much candy, if you ask me. For Gillian's birthday,

we played games, had dinner and then went out Trick-or-treating for a while. Shelby was sick (of course, it seems recently that someone around here is sick all the time!!) and I had to wrap her up in a blanket and push her in the stroller because she was too sick to walk all over the neighborhood. She had a good time though, in spite of not feeling good, and Gillian and her friends had a blast!! Here, all the children (and even some adults...oh, and I saw some dogs, too) dress up in costume. Quinn was a nerd (do you know what that is?), Gillian was Joan of Arc, and Aubrey and Shelby dressed up likes babies.

About a week and a half ago, Jeff and I took a five day trip to Boston, Massachussetts and then on to Nantucket Island, which is off the coast of the state of Massachussetts and part of that state. Boston is a wonderful city. If you ever get the chance to go there, I think you should take

it. It is where the American Revolution started and the famous Boston Tea Party which you can read about in any American history book. Because it is right on the ocean (Boston Harbor is on the Atlantic Ocean), the seafood there is delicious. We ate clam chowder (a kind of soup), oysters, lobster, mussels, and different kinds of fish, all wonderful. We spent about 3 days on the island of Nantucket, which is about 30 miles from the shoreline of Massachussetts. We had to take a tiny little plane to fly out there and it was so foggy when we landed we didn't see the ground until the wheels of the plane touched down. Nantucket is an island that has a famous history tied to the whaling industry. Before the discovery of electricity and petroleum, the world depended on the harvesting of oil from whales and Nantucket was the center of this industry. Now that whaling isn't a big business, Nantucket is vacation island, and in the summer especially, many people (especially from the East Coast) rent houses or spend the summer there at homes they own on the island. When we were there, it was relatively quiet but still very beautiful. I have always wanted to go there, and am so glad we got to take the trip.

We are now in November, and that means Thanksgiving will soon be here. Remember the Thanksgiving dinner we had while you were here?? Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie? We will have a large group of people over to our house to celebrate (and eat) Thanksgiving, and it also happens to be the same day as Aubrey's 8th birthday. She feels like the whole United States will be celebrating her birthday that day.

I hope that you are happy and well. Even if I don't post often, I haven't stopped thinking about you and your time here. Say hello to your whole family!!

Checking in

I have been meaning to post here for quite some time. When Andoni was here, I felt so much responsibility to post so his family knew exactly what kinds of things their young man was doing with this family across the ocean. What have we been up to since our Basque friend left? Well, lots of things. As a matter of fact, there were several times over the past couple of months since Andoni left that I thought to myself, "I wish Andoni were here to experience this, too!"

Andoni left us in late July and that same day I traveled to North Carolina to see my sister and drive home with her. The drive was two days and 24 hours long. We arrived home and my sister stayed with us for two weeks or so, and we filled our time with exercise, walks, cooking, a little eating out, and shopping; all the things my sister likes to do.

The week after Gena left, the girls and I had signed up for something called Vacation Bible school. I wonder if you have such a thing at churches in your village? Well, about 180 kids (aged kindergarten through 4th grade) met at our church each morning for a few hours that week and sang songs, heard Bible stories, played games, and did crafts. Plus, the children raised over $500 to give to a village in India so they could have their own Vacation Bible school. Quinn, one of her friends (Katie) and I volunteered to help out. It was pretty fun and very loud and each day we all came home and were tired! Do you have such a thing in Basque country?

Then, Jeff took all the girls up to the cabin for the weekend and had some new adventures while I flew back down to North Carolina to visit a friend who had had a very difficult summer with the loss of her sister and grandmother in late June/early July. I went to Charleston, South Carolina with her and had a wonderful time. It is a very different part of the country than Minnesota, with a lot of history from the early days of the United States. It was a fantastic trip.

My friend, Michaele

Then, we went to Nelson's Resort, the highlight of our summer every year. Nelson's is a place we go each year to fish and relax for a few days. I think Andoni would have loved it there! Shelby caught her first fish up there and the girls went jumping off of some cliffs into the deep water. Nelson's Resort is in a small town called Crane Lake, MN, and is in far northern Minnesota close to the Canadian border. Actually, we take boats across the border and fish in Canadian waters all day and then head back through customs each evening when we return to the resort.

This is Gillian doing a "cannonball."

Another fun thing we did was go to the State Fair. When Andoni was telling me about his hometown's annual celebration, it sounded a little like our State Fair. Literally millions of people come to eat, go on rides, see farm animals and just have a good time. We usually go many times and Jeff's parents even make sure they are in town each year for the fair.

Now, the girls are in school and are all doing well. Shelby is a little sad each day when she has to leave Janna at home to go to class, but she is always happy about her day when she returns.

Shelby's first day of Kindergarten

That is a quick overview of the many days that have passed since we saw our friend Andoni. It seems like so long ago that he was here, andwe miss him. Andoni, find someone to give you a big hug from all of us!