I wrote quite an update the other day and xanga went down while I was writing it!

 

We’ve had a good week. After church on Sunday the kids had rehearsal for the church Christmas play. Then we went to McD’s with Christopher (Jessica’s friend) and his family. They hadn’t been in years and weren’t familiar with the menu. This was shocking to me as, of course, I have it nearly memorized. The kids got back in to judo and sports class this week. They missed only 1 week…the other 2 weeks were vacation for French schools. On Tuesday we went the Allam’s, our homeschool friends. That’s always a treat for all of us. We’re almost finished with the honey they gave us last time. When I told the kids they were going, they were thrilled. Then Joshua asked “are you going to do laundry there again?” I said “yes,” and he jumped for joy…nice fluffy clothes! We went to the library in the morning. I left my suitcase and grocery cart of laundry in the front. I asked if I could leave my laundry there…funny. We checked out some new books and headed west to visit our friends. We had a great afternoon discussing life, homeschooling, God and the future. We ended up staying for a fabulous roast and mashed potato dinner. We got home at 10:30! Wed. morning was sports class. It was an early morn for us. The kids have basketball and acrobatics (like standing on each other’s backs) now. I headed off on the bus to our friends to meet baby Gabriel, the 9 day old baby of our good friends Zach (American) and Ludmila (Brazilian). It was so great to meet their little guy. He had such an animated little face! We spent the morning together and then  I rushed home to meet the kids.

 

Thursday we waited at home for the electric/gas company. I had a letter stating that they would come between 11:30-2. We waited till almost 3 and nobody came. We left around 3 and I checked the mailbox. They had come! I guess the doorbell didn’t work. The note said they’d they’d come again between 7-8:30 the next morning. I thought “Yeah, right!” My solution was to write a note and translate it in google translator. I wrote the note and left it out for them…and…they didn’t come!!! I can’t believe they didn’t show up. I’m glad I didn’t’ get up early for them! We cleaned all morning in anticipation of the Pulidos arriving. After waiting we headed to the Laundromat for the first time. Despite doing 3 BIG American loads of laundry at  Michele’s, I still had lots to do! We did one 16 kg load. It was huge! We went down and used our McD’s coupon for McFlurries then headed back to do the dryer. We spent 12 euros on laundry, but it should’ve cost 4 euros more. While we were there, the guy came to clean up the place. I was pretty impressed! Then, when I went to put more money in, he said we didn’t need to pay and let us do it free! We got home just in time to get Joshua to judo. We went to bed pretty excited.

 

Ray was in Singapore all week leading up to his big excitement on Friday…Insead’s 19^th annual Business Venture competition. He and Vinh, Jolene’s husband, were there to compete in the finals.

 

Friday arrived. Ray’s competition was nearing completion when we got up in the morning. We did some cleaning and headed to the airport to pick up our friends! We got there a bit early and had a chance to get acquainted with Terminal 1 which we’d never been to! The highlight (besides meeting the Pulidos) was riding the tram that connects the terminals. We love it! Joshua made a banner. It ripped a bit and he got some tape from the guy in the currency exchange office. It took quite a while. The guy and the next customer in line were chatting it up with him. As we waited we saw Javi and Harrison go by inside security once and waved, but still waited a while for them to come. It was a happy reunion and we headed home on the train. All went smoothly. We spent the afternoon at home and went to check out the local grocery store. I love to visit grocery stores when I travel. It’s fun to see what is the same and what’s different and try new things. I checked my email and got a 3 sentence email from Ray to tell me that…he WON!  It was pretty exciting! His was the first eMBA team to win ever (or even be in the finals) AND they won by quite a margin. We are thrilled for him.

 

Saturday we went to Versailles. I had expected Ray to come home in the morning, but he didn’t arrive so we headed out anyway. We hadn’t been to Versailles but it had been over a year since we studied the French Revolution and we didn’t remember a whole lot! We rode the train. We got off and walked a block and WOW! There it was! It is a beautiful chateau. We got tickets fairly quickly and easily and headed inside. There, I saw a friend from church! The last time we went to chateau I saw a friend from church, too! Well, it would’ve been good to have studied a bit more before we went. Honestly, it was hard to get excited about. It was immense, beautiful, lavish and really, the overwhelming wealth was a bit revolting…I guess the Frencht thought so too! My mind went right to what I would do with all that…I don’t desire nice furniture and exquisite things. I never have. I love hand-me-downs and second hand goods, making things last and being frugal. I do. The kids were anxious to get out to the gardens. I took them out while the Pulidos got their bags from the bag check. They ran around and had a great time til we rode the little train (electric cars) to the other buildings. I liked the minor buildings a lot better. They were less ostentatious and I could see real people living there. I was annoyed at the over protective guards though. I actually asked the first guard if my bags were fine and he said yes, but made the PUlidos check there’s. Then the guard in the next room made me carry my backpack in front. I didn’t mind except that I’d been told it was fine. I would’ve checked it otherwise. It was fairly annoying. And the building wasn’t even that interesting! We went to the last building and we had to leave. I wouldn’t have guessed it would take so long with the kids, but everything took time. They charge for EVERYTHING there and the info booth gave me all wrong prices, though in the end it was cheaper. He told me the kids had to pay for the train but they didn’t. Overall, I was completely unimpressed with the staff, but it was good to go Versailles finally. It would definitely be fun to spend a day in the park. For dinner we went to McD’s. We had to get the Star Wars toys for Javi… When they arrived Friday I mentioned that I had a sheet of coupons and although I didn’t expect that they came to France to eat at McD’s, we could use them. And they both responded with great enthusiasm “yes, oh, yes, we definitely want to go to McDonald’s!” Too funny.

 

Today was Sunday. We got another late start, but Ray DID come home today! He had to shower and head off to his last council meeting at church. The rest of us went to get train passes for today and for the week for the Pulidos. We went to the next station (Cite U) and tried to buy the tickets but my credit card was refused. They don’t have the ability to take an American card, apparently. Weird. So we had to go the next station and do it. We got there and couldn’t find the exit. Interestingly, there were a number of others who ALSO couldn’t find the exit! Too funny! We finally found it and while I bought the tickets, they were going to take pictures in the booth for the passes. I managed to stop them when I realized we got to put the pictures on ourselves. Isabel’s had already finished so she has her “I’m not smiling” Paris picture souvenir. J With all that done, we had to make a plan and took a bus to the Il de la Cite. We walked by the Concergerie and the Ste. Chappelle, a place with memories for Javi and Isabel. We headed over to the Notre Dame and faced quite the wind there! The kids loved running around and jumping off the cement posts. We walked through the church during a service and the kids really enjoyed it. From there we went to the Latin Quarter and had kebabs (gyros),took the bus to Luxembourg, walked through the garden and went to church. The kids had another rehearsal today and then we headed home. We walked with quite a crowd to the RER and got home and had soup for dinner. The kids had a hard time going to sleep despite a tiring day. They are all so excited to be together.

The last picture is of my new purse from snaptotes.com If you use coupon code 7Price10 you get  a 10% discount! The bag is really  nice quality and it literally took me under 5 minutes to make it online!

We're home! We spent the morning at St. Peter's basilica, the largest in the world. It was amazing. I very clearly remember being there 19 years ago. I remember where I stood to take pictures and everything. It was great. Rick Steves guided us through on our mp3 players. it was a great experience and we all enjoyed it (the kids and I---I guess ray did, but I think I wore him out this week). We headed back to the park to eat pizza and let the kids play in the warm sunshine and then to get our bags and our last gelato. It wasn't half price today, but the guy who scooped it gave us massive scoops! It huge. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to eat it fast enough. I had nut, coconut and rice. The rice has actual pieces of frozen rice in it, so it's almost crunchy. It's very unusual, but very yummy! we took the tram/trolley to termini station and got on a train. from there we waited 40 minutes for a bus, hoping it would actually come. A couple of buses did come but not to the airport. It did come and we had a 5 minute ride. We had plenty of time, but  wouldn't have made it 40 minutes later. we got a full row of seats on the plane (cattle herd style loading). the flight was fine. the kids had absolutely nothing to do on the plane and were okay (NOT great...okay). The 2 hour flight was good and we hopped on the bus that we took to the airport. This was our first time using this airport so we'd not returned home this way before. I could tell there was a problem with RER B from something someone was saying, but people were still waiting in line for tickets. We were taking the bus so I didn't think much of it. We got on the bus and the map showed a stop near our house, but I started to feel like it wasn't going that way. It was actually a reverse route and he did make a stop but then totally skipped the next 2, even though someone wanted to get off. Weird. And the route didn't continue, so we had to get off at Denfert-Rochereau which is fine because that's our train line...except that there is some type of strike and only 1 in 3 trains were going. which really isn't that bad, actually. Except that nothing appeared to be going, so we took the metro to and caught a bus home. We got home tired and having felt like we'd been traveling all day when really it had only been about 6-7 hours total. dinner was waiting for us, which was nice. It was a delicious curry. It was good to be home. I'm unpacked and have the laundry sorted. Hopefully the washing machine will be fixed soon because I have weeks worth of laundry! The good thing is that when we travel, I've been packing light...5 shirts, 3 pants, 5 undies, 5 socks, etc. so we actually don't have nearly as much as we would if it were normal life at home. I have the Normandy traveling clothes in the laundry. The in-between day and the Italy clothes...I have no idea what Ray is taking to Singapore tomorrow, but that's his thing...He'll need to dress up most days so it's a whole different set of clothes anyway. Vinh will meet him Singapore and the business competition is on the 20th, I think. He'll be home for Thanksgiving. We met baby Caleb tonight and look forward to meeting Gabriel soon.

If you know me well, you know that I love making Storybooks of our adventures. I'm publishing Seattle, Marseilles and probably 2-3 others next week. I'm making a yearbook for Ray's eMBA class, too. There's a giveaway coming up and I posted the info below if you want to join it. If you want to know more about the books (playing cards, posters, board books, jewelry--etc.) let me know. I'm totally addicted to these.

Enter to win a FREE Heritage Makes 20 x 20 canvas credit just by becoming a fan of Heritage Makers. By becoming a fan between now and November 29, 2009, you automatically enter the drawing to receive this great addition to your home décor. On Cyber Monday (November 30), we’ll post the winner on our fan page. Don’t miss this chance. Become a fan today by following this link http://bit.ly/4mwI9e!

The Colosseum was amazing. I went there 19 years ago. I think I was with 3 friends from Bible school. I remember a picture I have of the cross there. I did not have two little kids with tunics back then...so cute. And I never would've expected that I'd ever be back! We had the Rick Steves Audio guide tour. It was helpful. We each had our own (except the ones that got messed up---that's what Ray went to take care of). Jessica and I walked all over and enjoyed stepping back in time to some brutal and ugly days in history...glad to be looking back and not actually there! We then went out to the Arch of Constantine outside and ponder Christian history and the Emporer Constantine's role in expanding the Christian world. We then walked to the ONLY forum entrance on one of my maps and waited for about 10 minutes hoping everyone else would show up. But I asked if there was another entrance. He said yes so we hiked back there and met up with everyone but Ray with perfect timing. We set a new meet up time and dad went to the other entrance. I waited at the one. Right at the meet-up time, Ray walked up and we had everyone! We walked quickly through the Palatine Hill and forum and found everyone else. It was a beautiful sunny day! We walked up and up and up the stairs at the exit and to the top of Capitol Hill and back down to a small restaurant. We got some simple, cheap pasta and headed toward San Clemente church near our hotel. We rode the bus and it dropped us off right there! Successfully riding public transportation in a foreign country is always a thrill! San Clemente is not a particularly notable church, I don't think. The mosaic ceiling was amazing. The real reason we went, though, was to head under the current  church to an older church fourth century basilica and then further underground to a pagan temple and home from the FIRST century. It is amazing to find things from the time of Christ! From there we headed to gelato. Jolene had scoped out this place just down the street. It is huge, unlike the other tiny gelato stores we'd seen. There were plenty of tables and chairs and a freezer full of gelato. The cones were only 1,50 euros for a small with 3 flavors. It was quite a large amount of gelato, too! We went home and had cup o noodles for dinner.
    
It was a long day and the kids still had coughs. they're so much better during the day than at night.  At night they sleep well but cough hard.

The next day, we had another slow morning...with 8 of us on different sleep schedules we usually got out by about 11 or a bit later. Today was 1/2 price cone day at the gelato stand, so once we got out of our building and ready to start the day, there was a suggestion of gelato and no complaints! We started out with 75 cent gelato. Amazing. Other people had much bigger bowls than we did! From there we rode the tram in front of our hotel to Termini and on to the National Museum of Rome. It was full of busts and statutes including a Roman copy of the Greek discus thrower. They had an amazing array of coins to look at from ancient times to the modern euro, jewelry, and beautiful mosaics and frescoes. We all had different amounts of interest and had drag Vinh and Mom out. From there we went to the Santa Maria degli Angeli church at the Baths of Diocletian. It was beautiful and had a sun dial type thing inside. There were two holes drilled through the walls to let in light and tell the calendar. There was also a science exhibit on Galileo. From there, Dad headed to the Appian Way, the Prices headed to the park near our hotel and the rest headed to Vatican City. We got some amazing pizza and ate in the park. the kids loved playing and I enjoyed the fresh air and sun, though the temperature dropped quickly. We went home to relax until everyone else returned. For dinner, I went out with the Jangs/Chungs to a Rick Steves recommended restaurant near the Campo dei Fiori. Ray stayed home with the kids and had gelato for dinner. We had a 4 course dinner. The appetizers was green olives, prosciutto and salami, bread, lentils and celery root salad. The first course was rigatoni with 2 different sauces: red and carbonara. It was fabulous. We only got 3 orders of the 2nd course because we were getting full. It was a roast, homemade potato chips, a super salty zucchini dish and mozzarella balls. Dessert was a custardy tart. We also got red and white wine, sparkling water and mandarin juice. It was a good meal. We went home by the main sights so we could see everything lit up at night.