Around town in Paris

This is Ransom "driving" the double-decker bus. It was the kids' other pick of things to do (the 1st being the Eiffel Tower). The top deck is open so you can see the sights as they drive you around all the attractions of town with a commentary offered in headphones. As we could get on and off at the different stops and get a feel for the layout of the city, it was really a pretty nice activity.



















The Seine River flows right through the center of Paris. Just about every block has a bridge across it so there are countless of them gracefully stretching across the river. And all illuminated at night! In certain areas, the river is also flanked with paved banks down by the water (not in these pictures, oops) so of course we strolled along the Seine a few times.




























The Louvre Museum. The glass pyramid is even stranger in person than I figured it would be. I suppose it's the juxtaposition of old world and modern. We didn't go in for if you look really closely, the courtyard was crowded with people. We generally stay away from crowds. I know, so unSpanish of us.


We ate dinner on the Champs Elysees just for the experience- same as many others there no doubt!

Notre Dame

Notre Dame was amazing. Absolutely beautiful inside and out. Mass was going on when we walked through so we got to hear the choir singing- and the acoustics under those arched ceilings is incredible. Had we had more time there (and maybe a babysitter) I would have liked to attend a concert they were holding as they were performing Bach and Gregorian chants. Next time!

There are huge, elaborately stained glass windows in the cathedral and as we were admiring them (from inside, though, when all the colors show - sorry, didn't get a picture of that) Corrie says matter of factly, "Boppa (Grandpa Paul) makes windows like that."

I am sorry to admit that our children's favorite feature of Notre Dame was this spinny thing in a small playground in the back corner of the cathedral's garden! Maybe instead I'll just tell you that they requested daily to visit Notre Dame again.

Brian turns 30 at 1063ft.

We spent the weekend in Paris, celebrating Brian's 30th birthday on Sunday with a lift to the top of the Eiffel Tower and dinner nearby at a stereotypical little French Cafe.



We were relieved to find the top deck completely enclosed so we could loosen the death-grip we had on our children and let them explore.

The view down:

Who needs an elevator when we can climb up?

Looking at the third deck (top)
from the second deck.





Escargot anyone?

(We couldn't get the kids to try it even on bribe of ice cream!)

The Rastrillo

Last Saturday, the school held its annual Rastrillo (derived from "Rastro" - Madrid's flea market). Since Spaniards don't do garage sales, this is something quite different for them and many show up to buy used stuff. Each year it has gotten bigger and this year they had carnaval games, barbeque, and lots of people in attendance. The school sees it as a great way to meet the community and get rid of junk, and the Spaniards like the bargains. Corrie and Ransom's favorite part was "dunking" the school's headmaster, Mr. Musser. Just look at Corrie's face, when she finally hit the bullseye:

Corrie Story #5

Corrie was helping me clean the bathroom. Her task was to wipe down the mirror. I noticed it was taking quite a long time. When asked how things were progressing she excitedly said, "I think I just saw my eyes sparkle!" She had been trying to replicate it for about 10 minutes. Next time, I'll have her clean the toilet.

Adventures in Ransom #5

"Ransom, were you playing with the camera?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Tren de la Fresa

On Mother's Day we took el Tren de la Fresa (The Strawberry Train) to Aranjuez, which is the site of the Spring Palace. The train cars were from the early 19th century and the attendants on the train dressed up in period costumes and handed out strawberries.

Aranjuez is famous for its strawberries (in addition to its asparagus and artichokes). The train ride included a guided tour of the palace and a visit to a few of the large gardens. It was a long day, but it was a beautiful city - a must see when y'all come to vist.Forgot to take pictures of the palace, but here's the church:

Here's the prettiest mother on Mother's Day (sorry Mom) :

Grammie's visit

Grammie came to Spain for a visit for a week and half earlier this month. Andrea was able to take a couple of afternoons off and while Grammie was here she was able to see...

El Escorial:

Alcalá de Henares:

Madrid:

Toledo:

Segovia:

Aranjuez:

and let's not leave out the prestigious pueblo of Camarma de Esteruelas! :

Everyone had a great time and the grandkids were especially sorry to see her go.

A loose tooth!

Well, tonight we discovered Corrie's first loose tooth. If you could have seen the pride and delight on her face and heard the giggle as she experienced the phenomenon! She has anticipated this event for some time, and now at six years, two months, and five days...a wiggler. Take a good look at this smile for it will soon be changing. For the grandmas, it is her lower left central, and actually her lower right central is moving slightly, too. Daddy was a little shocked at the turn of events, and realized that he simply wasn't prepared for holes in her smile and grown up teeth! But he'll probably have a couple of weeks to get used to the idea.

Roasting Marshmallows

Corrie and Ransom have been lamenting for months the fact that we do not have a firelplace - mainly because they want to roast marshmallows. Corrie decided to take matters into her own hands and made her own fire. Here's a picture of the kids roasting their marshmallows in the middle of the living room.

Little House on the Prairie

Lately, Corrie has been begging to watch Little House on the Prairie pretty much every day. She likes to turn off all the lights, make popcorn, and move the couch so that we can sit in the "Jackson Movie Theater." We bought Season 1 while we were in the States and we are half way through. Even Brian is starting to find a place in his heart for that buck-toothed girl.

Corrie Story #4

I was stopped from entering the kitchen one morning by a little girl anxiously explaining that she had learned her lesson and she would never do it again. My curiosity piqued, I inquired of the circumstances of the lesson learned while easing my way into the kitchen. Corrie went back to cleaning her mess and told of how she had decided to try peanut-buttering her toast BEFORE she put it in the toaster!

Easter

The week's rain paused for a beautiful, sunny Easter. We met a group from the school for a sunrise service (at 7 AM no less! You've got to love Spain.) and breakfast. The hill we were to scale being too muddy, we climbed the stairs to the dry and warm third floor of the school to watch the sunrise behind glass. We spent the hour singing resurrection hymns and with individuals sharing verses or praises. Our "shy" 6 year old stood up among the first of the volunteers and read a song she had written for Easter:
"Glory to the Lord
Glory to the Lord
Glory to the Lo-o-ord
You are the greatest
I love You
Thank You for Easter
Thank You that you were bo-orn
Thank You for everything
You are wonderful, Lord"
Later that afternoon, we had the Nichols (the family we "church" with) over to our house for an Italian Easter dinner. Corrie did an encore of her song for us, this time with the drum (it was written to be a drum song!) Here's a pic. We had a couple visiting the school with us as well. We hope you had a pleasant Easter, too. =)

Sevilla

Here are some of the sights from Sevilla.

The Torre de Oro:

The Plaza de Espana:

The Cathedral:

The Bullring (with a lovely head in front):

The Alcázar (with a not-so-lovely crowd in front):

and its gardens:

The Guadalquivir River:

La Giralda Tower:

And Sara picked up a hot date (below) using her come hither look (above) for flamenco night.

The Pepecar

For Andrea's Spring break, we decided to do a little traveling, since Sara was leaving for home half way through the break. That means Brian worked up the nerve to rent a car and attempt driving in Spain. Remember that all of his life-experience in driving a stick shift adds up to about 2 hours. So we rented the "Pepecar." If you rent a car from pepecar.com, it is a lot cheaper than other places because they put advertisements on the car. I think the average Spaniard would feel too silly to rent a Pepecar, but since we are already the weird Americans, we figured we would save the money. We hoped that at least everyone would understand Brian's bad driving maneuvers if they could see at a glance that we were tourists. Fortunatley our Pepecar didn't look like the Pepecar pictured above. Here's the one we got:

Nothing takes you out of your comort zone like renting a car (in broken Spanish) that you can barely drive, to go to a place you have never been, which is 6 hours away, with a car full (I cannot emphasis the word "full" enough) of innocent loved ones, with funky road signs, lots of pedestrians, and a Pepecar sign on your doors. But, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," and needless to say, we survived.

Ransom's Birthday

Ransom's 4th birthday was on March 28th. He requested a "bull" birthday, so that's what he got. Now that he is four, he has changed his favorite color to red, his favorite number to four, and has decided that on his next birthday he is going to be ten.

Corrie wore her hair in "horns" for the event.

Say "bull!"