family photos

It is pretty rare we get photo's of the three of us these days, so I was thrilled when Marnie took a few for us while she was visiting.  Thanks for being our photographer Marn! 

Here is a little family update:

We have a busy baby on our hands.  He is in a state of perpetual motion theses days and there is no slowing him down.  He has started to crawl normally but still prefers to scoot around on his tummy the majority of the time.  Jake is also climbing everything but does so very cautiously.  Although, he did climb-up the first stair and was trying very hard to figure out the second, so maybe his days of caution are on their way out.  Let's hope not.

He is all about giving hugs and  kisses these days which Billy and I are loving.  He also says "dada" and even though he is not referring to Billy yet, we are both just dying about it.  So cute and exciting.   

Playoffs start on Tuesday and it will be Billy's first game back.  The first round is only best of three which I think is a little scary.  This time of year always has me feeling both excited and nervous. 

For me, a few weeks ago I decided to dye my hair and go a little darker.  More my natural shade of blond.  As much as I liked a little platinum blond this should be a lot easier to maintain.  My roots were out of control.  This time I was smarter about it and brought a French friend to the salon to translate for me.  It went much smoother.  I was however surprised when I was charged 16 Euro's for conditioner!?  I guess it is not automatically included with the wash.  So strange. 

paris is always a good idea

At least that is what Audry Hepburn said, and I have to agree.  It was an especially good idea since Marnie had never been before. 

Marnie, Jake and I took the train in on Sunday and even though much of Paris is closed on Sunday's, a couple of neighborhoods are open as are most of the big sights. 

Paris is a lot to absorb in only one day but we wandered le Marias, ate falafal, walked along the Seine, went to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, carried the stroller up and down subway stairs and went to the Eiffel tower.

We initially planned to see the Picasso museum but it turned out it was closed for renovations - closed until 2012!  Apparently there are some major reno's going on there.  No matter, we stopped for a Starbucks, regrouped and headed off to the Cathedral.  
  

Cathédrale Notre-Dame.  

 

Jake was too busy napping for pictures.  

He was such a good traveler.

 

We didn't get a single speck of sun but even on an ugly day, Paris is all pretty shades of gray and quite dreamy. 

Strolling along the Seine River.

We had such a nice day wandering the city and the perfect person to wander with!  The only thing missing was a banana and Nutella crepe, which Marnie MUST try on her next trip to Paris.  

vimy

On Saturday we took a drive through the country side to Vimy, France to see the Vimy Ridge National Historical Site of Canada.  When we started out for Vimy it was a calm, gray day but as soon as we got into the trenches, the weather turned sharp, cold, rainy and windy.  It was not the best conditions for picture taking, but really had us all thinking of the horrible conditions these soldiers endured.  So sad.

They have preserved sections of both the German trenches and Canadian trenches, as well as a small section of the nearly 13 km long underground tunnels all built around 1915.  Amazingly, these tunnels housed an underground train system, bunkers, food and ammunition storage and was wired for electricity and piped for water. 

We opted-out of the trench and tunnel tour as it would have been difficult to carry Jake through the tunnels but one of the guides (all Canadian students living/working at Vimy for three months) took us on a shortened private tour of the trenches.  And in the freezing and windy rain, we learned more about WWI and the battle of Vimy Ridge then we ever learned during our school days.

Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic and seemed oblivious to the fact that we were standing in the cold rain with a baby.  Luckily, Jake was equally oblivious to the weather conditions and was having a great time, so it all worked out just fine.

A note about the trenches: they ran 14 km along the Vimy Ridge BUT were unbelievably close together.  While standing in the Canadian trench, I could have easily thrown a rock into the German trench.  Jacob probably could have thrown a rock into their trench, they were that close together!

Billy and Jake in the Canadian trenches. 

In 1917 they would have been taller and reinforced with sandbags instead of  concrete.  They were also filled with mud and rats. 

The Canadian War Monument took eleven years to build and has the names of the 11,285 Canadian soldiers who died in France engraved along the base.

I really wasn't kidding about the weather.  

We also learned:
- 100,000 Canadians participated in the Battle at Vimy Ridge.
- 11,285 Canadians died in France. 3,598 at Vimy.
- France and Brittan had been trying to take the ridge for two and a half years and lost 150,000 men.
- The Canadian Corps trained and planned for months and successfully secured the ridge in three days.
- France has gifted these 107 hectares of land to Canada.
- One of the most dangerous jobs was that of messenger.  They ran messages through the trenches and had an average life expectancy of 3 to 4 days.  The only perk to being a messenger was being allowed to sleep underground in the tunnels.
- Hitler was a messenger for the German side and although injured twice, unfortunately survived.
 
Are you still with me here?  This is by far my longest most fact-filled post EVER and believe me when I say this is the edited, abridged version. 

friday's game

It was so nice to have Marnie at Friday's game and she was such a big help with Jake.  It was great to have another set of hands to help entertain him and he loved sitting on her lap.  I think he has a bit of a crush.

We lasted for the entire game which was a first.  However, Jake remained wide awake for the whole game and unfortunately this really threw-off his sleeping schedule later that night.  Subsequently, it turned into a late night for all of us.  I think we probably won't do that again this season.

 They won the game in overtime and even though Billy hurt himself in the first period he finished the game.  Hopefully he will be healed for Friday's game.  It will be the last regular season game before play-offs start.

cheese please

While Marnie was visiting we thought it would be the perfect time to sample some French cheeses.  With Lindsay's recommendations is hand, we set out to the indoor market and selected a few from the fromagerie stands there.  

We decided on a Selles-sur-Cher, Crottin and Neufchâtel (not on the list, but so cute and heart shaped we had to give it a try) and then made a cheese platter with fresh baguette, fig preserve, apple slices, grapes, salty crackers and Champagne.

All three cheeses were really wonderful.  

The Crottin turned out to be a really soft, creamy, mild goat's cheese.  The Neufchâtel was a drier, sharper, slightly salty cow's milk cheese and apparently is one of the oldest cheeses in France.  And the Selles-sur-Cher was a richer goat's milk cheese that had been rolled in ash.  

I think we were all rather interested in the Selles-sur-Cher because it was so unique.  How often do you find cheese rolled in ash back home?!   

Admittedly, I don't know a lot about cheeses and parings, or even how to put together a cheese plate but ours turned out wonderfully.  For some serious information on the matter though, check out these tips for putting together a cheese plate that I stumbled across.  Interesting.    

We did so much during Marnie's stay that I am still trying to sort through the hundreds and hundreds of pictures we took.  I hope she had as much fun as we did.  It was so nice having here here.  Hopefully I will get organized 

and share some photo's soon.     

introductory french

We have company and we're having way too much fun to be blogging!  So in the meantime...

How cute is this little French language commercial?!  A pretty look at Paris, a clever way to incorporate French vocab and they used some really beautiful fonts.

I am also really pleased to say, I know ALL 

of the words in the video.  

amsterdam

Just a few more highlights from our time in the Netherlands.  Amsterdam!  The canals, the gabled houses and the bridges make for a truly dreamy city.  So unique and unlike anything at home. 

View from Westerkerk, a church with a steep, narrow winding staircase and an ancient little wooden-rung ladder that you perilously climb to see this.  

Look at these pretty gabled houses below.

We enjoyed our day-trips in Amsterdam: ate french fries and Kaas tosties (grilled cheese sandwiches made with delicious Gouda), strolled the Red Light District on a Tuesday afternoon, visited Anne Frank house, saw Amsterdam's oldest house, Het Houten, enjoyed tranquility in the Begijnhof, took a boat ride on the canal and just wandered around this unique city.  

netherlands

A lovely friend of mine is living in Amsterdam right now (I am totally jealous) and every time she posts something I am happily reminded of our time in the Netherlands.  She has inspired me to look back on a few of our photos and post a few of our favourite things.

Our bikes:

Biking there is essential.  Rain or shine.  In dresses, high heels and suits, everyone is on a bike (which is probably why we only saw two fat people in the seven months we lived there).  The bike paths are all paved in red asphalt so there is no confusion, cars NEVER come into your lane.  Bikers also have their own set of traffic lights and designated bike parking lots too.  Billy and I loved biking all around the city and downtown for coffee.  I think it is what I miss the most.

My sweet ride got stolen so Billy would double me on the Gazelle.  Here he is in action.  I would sit right there on the back, above the tire.    

Our neighborhood:

Cute little two-story brick row houses line the streets.  Our place was not nearly this cute as these, but it was always nice to walk around here.

 
Our cafe:

Our favourite coffee shop, Mugs & Muffins.  Where they serve decent sized coffees, white mocha's, caramel latte's and to-go cups.  Can you believe it, to-go cups!  What a dream.  Especially nice for our first year away from home.

     

The Market:

Fresh vegetables, fruits, cheeses and ohh so many flowers!  All great things, but we loved the fresh stroopwaffels the most... so Dutch and so delicious.
 

More to come...

a sweet day

Our Valentine's Day was a day full of sweets.   And we enjoyed every single one of them!  There were macarons, chocolate covered strawberries and this... 

Crème brulée with mixed berries.  A surprise from my favourite pastry shop and such a treat. 

We also thought since we are in France, we really should be enjoying some Champagne while here.  How have we not done this yet!?  It served a dual purpose really: one, as a Valentine's treat and two, in celebration of the fact Billy signed the contract yesterday, so we are officially going to be here for two more years.

We are both feeling really good about it and I look forward to having an oven and dishwasher next season!  We may even get to go apartment hunting here before we leave this season.

be mine

Happy Valentine's Day

to all or our family and friends!

Jacob is enjoying his first Valentine's
Day card.  Thanks Teagan, it's so beautiful!    

(and very tasty too... yum).
 

Note "Princess Teagan" on the card, too adorable.

fun and food

A lot of our day here revolves around feeding Jacob.  Especially now that finger foods are a part of every meal.  Jake spends a substantial time in his Bumbo these days and now that he is feeling better, he is making up for his lost appetite last week.  Here is today so far, in food.

He loves Arrowroot crackers and often 

gets a little in his hair and on his toes.

I made squash, apple & quinoa and it was a big hit.  

We even had to go for seconds.  Mom always makes

a little bit of a mess but we have fun.

Jake focuses and gets serious about eating puffs. 

He loves these things and they are prefect 

to snack on at Dad's hockey games. Yum.

Of course we didn't spend all-day eating, today was sunny and 17 degrees so we enjoyed walking downtown and peeked into a few stores. 

celebrating nine months

Time sure does fly.  These past nine months have been beyond wonderful and I cannot wait to see what the months to come will bring.  Amazing, to say the least.

baguette for breakfast

Yup, that's right, for breakfast.  This is news to me too.  I thought the French always had croissants for breakfast.  But yesterday Billy told me it is really common to eat baguettes with jam and dip it into hot chocolate; and that they have this all the time for breakfast on road-trips.  How could it possibly have taken him this long to mention this to me?!?  So obviously I was dying to try it.  

Except we had it for an afternoon snack instead.  

I am just too much of a cereal girl.

 

It was a tasty combination.  

I found that it worked best when I dipped the baguette into hot chocolate first, then jammed it.  Meanwhile, Billy just slurped down his hot chocolate and ate the baguette with jam.  Both delicious ways to enjoy a baguette.

he prescribed what?

Jacob's cold is slowly clearing but his loss of appetite was worrying us the most.  On Friday we decided to take him to the doctor, just to be sure he was not getting too dehydrated.  Luckily it was not severe enough to worry about.

We were not surprised when the the doctor sent us home with a bucket-load of prescriptions.  Five different medications.  This guy loves to prescribe things.  We don't really know what any of them are.  As far as we can tell one is an antibiotic of some sort and another is a nose spray.  We are not filling any of them, it seems a little excessive for a cold.

What did surprise us though, is he also prescribed physiotherapy for Jake.  This type of physio helps loosen the mucus congestion build-up in the chest and lungs (poor babies can't clear this like adults can).  Apparently it's quite common in France and the UK, maybe all of Europe?  Who knows.  We decided to give it a try as a more natural route than the five medications.   

The physiotherapist has come to our house three times now.  He does a series of chest rubbing and compressing, then sits Jake up and somehow triggers a controlled cough.  Then he does it all over again.  You wont be shocked to hear that Jacob doesn't really like it.  But surprisingly, we can hear a difference in Jake's breathing as soon as he finishes.  Clear, easy breaths.

Clearly these photos are unrelated to the post.  They neither show the physio or clear breathing but I figured some pictures are better the none.

 
In other hapenings...

Billy watched the Super Bowl last night at one of the French guys house and we are both happy with the game's outcome.  They originally had a restaurant lined up to show the game which didn't work out.  Probably because the owner factored in the time change and realized how late he would have to stay open.

The next plan was to get some of the younger French guys with satellite TV on board, which was not hard because they are young, spontaneous and rarely need an excuse to stay-up all night.  I made some Taco Dip to send along to lend a little authenticity to the experience.  I think it was the first Super Bowl for most of them.   

I missed out on the game but caught a few commercials online.  This is my favourite.  How cute is this little Darth Vader!?  Nice job VW. 

p is for pants

Jacob is still a little sick and now I am too - fever, cough, congestion and chills - the works.  But life is too short to blog about colds everyday.  We all could use a little break from that.  So take a look at this little pants-less wonder!  Just happily hanging-out in his high socks.  Who really needs pants anyways?  

I am just dying.

That is how cute I think this little guy is, just so darn huggable.

(clearly I'm a little biased)    

You can definitely tell that we read a lot of alphabet books around here when I title a post P is for pants.  According to some of Jacob's favorite books, P is also for puck and Peggy's Cove as well.  Billy and I can recite these book in our sleep.  

the french pharmacy

I have heard wonderful things about French Pharmacies.  Apparently they are a treasure trove of goods.  In addition to your medicines and vitamins, you can find anything from soaps to luxe body lotions to pet products.

And if you have been out picking mushrooms, your French pharmacist is trained to identify any mushroom, to determine if it is poisonous.  Good to know.

But in spite of all this, I have never paid it too much attention; because as soon as you walk into a French Pharmacy you realize that it's all in French and you have no hope of understanding what most if it even is.  It is a little overwhelming.  To make things even more complicated, most items are behind the counter - even vitamins - so you have to know exactly what you are asking for.  

Enter GOOP, and these lovely suggestions for la pharmacie...

Image courtesy of GOOP

 

The French Pharmacy

 

Many of the absolute best beauty products I’ve found come from regular French pharmacies. I always stock up on these items when I’m in France or ask friends to bring some back when they’re passing through. Below is a list of all of my favorites.

Love,
gp

Click here to view the entire newsletter and view the list of French products.

Kaity has already sent me her requests.

the cold continues

Not quite so smiley now, is he?   Belive it or not, these were taken right after I wiped his nose.  Two seconds later snot is running down the chin.  It is amazing and SO sad that this little body can produce so much snot.  Wiping this nose has become a full-time job and one that Jake is not all that happy about it.

He really is hanging in there though and we think the worst is over.  He has been enjoying lots of hugs and snuggles with Mom and Dad and is hopefully on the mend.

 

 My Mom told me today the average baby gets eight colds a year.  Eight!  I thought "there's no way" so I googled it and that is basically what I found too.  Ugh.  We are hoping this is not the case for Jake and our other little baby friends.

We will be cheering for Billy tonight from home while recuperating.

Update:  I think I woke up 97 times last night, at least.  "Cough, cough, cough" was all I heard all night long.  And I literally woke up for every single one of them.  Miraculously (but not surprisingly) Billy slept through everything.  How does he do that?!  Anyways, it still was better then the previous night when every cough was followed by crying, or moaning, or a combination of the two.  Also, Amiens won yesterday's game which is always nice!