Rachel's Birthday

No, not mine. To totally confuse everyone at Trinity International Church, our best friends are named Rachel and Tim. Not only that, but I work with Tim on Catalyst (the 20-something age group at our church), so I constantly have to distinguish myself as "not Tim's Rachel" or "Texas Rachel." So... to celebrate the birthday of "Tim's Rachel" or "Ohio Rachel," we rented a little cottage in the countryside of the Loire Valley. The weekend was heavenly!

We couldn't believe the gorgeosity (to use a Mia Michael's word) of this little place. The flowers were spectacular:

And the huge porch gave the little ones (Oliver and Jude) plenty of space to play and explore. Oliver was particularly in heaven; he entertained himself for hours just feeling the new textures, putting rocks in his buckets, and watching the butterflies:

There was a huge yard (for Blaine to run in) and even sheep who would come right up to the porch!

We arrived late on Friday night and simply enjoyed the fresh air on the porch after we put the boys to sleep (by the way, having an outdoor space where you can sit after your kids are asleep is a Godsend!). Then Saturday morning we had a lazy morning on the porch again and let the boys play and then nap. It was remarkably easy to get the boys to work with each other schedules - such a blessing! That afternoon we visited Chateau de Chenonceau, which we visited with my parents a few months ago. But what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets:

No really, we were happy to go back. How can you not enjoy a beautiful castle on a day this gorgeous?

We had a blast going through the labyrinth (Blaine, especially, since he couldn't cheat by seeing over the top):

And in the center of it, under the arbor, we caught this adorable little family (minus Jude, who was in the stroller) on camera. Sorry for the weird shadows, but how cute are they?

Blaine really was a good sport; he even seemed to appreciate the castle. Here he is in the ballroom which stretches out over the water:

And I really enjoyed seeing the changes in the gardens in a mere two months. The roses were blooming in Catherine de Medici's garden:

And Diane de Poitier's garden had an entirely different color scheme than it had in April:

We even managed to wear Blaine out a bit by daring him to run circles around the fountain. In fact, we did that a lot this trip: "Blaine, run back and forth between those trees three times. On your mark, get set, go!"

That evening, we enjoyed the porch again and tried to take pictures of these really cool butterflies that looked like hummingbirds. Not super successful, but a cool picture anyway:

In the morning, the kids were too cute playing under the dining room table:

And we snuck in a family picture just before Oli's nap:

Then while the boys slept, we wandered over to the gardens by the main house (the owner of the cottage lived on the same land, and the major gardens sat on the other side of his house). They were spectacular:

Apparently, this guy was a boulanger (baker) by trade and as he got older (about 10 years ago), he started gardening seriously. And I mean seriously:

We couldn't have picked a better place to stay! As we left that afternoon, we visited Chateau de Chaumont sur Loire (which happens to be the chateau that Diane de Poitier was given as a replacement for Chenonceau when Catherine de Medici kicked her out of Chenonceau). Though we had some difficulties as Oliver threw up in the car just as we arrived and then we discovered we were parked a long way from the enterance and once we entered we found we had to walk up this:

We still had a fabulous time. The chateau looks much more medieval than Chenonceau:

And the views from the other side of the castle, out over the River Loire, were gorgeous:

Oliver (now dressed in his pjs because his clothes were definitely out of commission) even managed to smile as we carried him through the tour:

After the chateau, we visited the 19th century stables, complete with the horses' names (Chambord, Aggamemnon, Chenonceau...) still above their stalls:

And in the giant grounds of the chateau, they have an "International Garden Festival" each summer, where hundreds of little gardens are designed and planted to wander and enjoy. I thought this plant was especially crazy:

And we caught one last romantic photo together as the boys are began to melt down in the heat.

Oh well, they were troopers. And the weekend was wonderful. We are SO thankful for our friends and the fun we've had with them! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RACHEL!!

Father's Day

Again, I realize that I am quite behind on this... but at least I'm getting caught up! Father's Day was busy: visitors in town, picnics to attend, etc. But Oliver and I had a particularly good time getting Daddy's present.

We scoured the internet for brocantes (traveling flea/antique markets) during the week. Most take place on weekends, but we wanted to go without Chris, obviously. Once we found one on a weekday, Oliver and I headed out via bus to just north of the Charles de Gaulle Etoile. Poor Oliver practically gave up his morning nap while mom walked up and down the aisles multiple times trying to decide what to get dad. Finally, we landed on an excellent gift; the only trouble was how to get it home...

Though I did not have the baby carrier with me, I did have a sheet that we use to put down on the grass when we go to the park. Desperate (and unwilling to call a taxi since I did not have a car seat with me), I tied a sort of baby sling using the sheet and put Oli in it. Then, the gift:

Crazy? Maybe. But we made it home safely! And now we have a beautiful trunk (which dates to mid 1800's!) in our living room. And, most importantly, Daddy loved it. Success!

Fete de la Musique

France has a national music day. How cool is that?!?! Unfortunately, it's not actually a holiday from work, but on that evening, there is live music EVERYWHERE. And people stay out all night enjoying it.

Each year, our church, Trinity International Church, does its own little show at Genesis, our church activity center which is located right in the heart of Chatelet (a thriving shopping district right next to the Louvre and just north of Notre Dame... very central).

This year, my fabulously talented husband joined the group:

Our friend Tim led the group and was joined by Singaporean Shufen, who has a gorgeous voice!

Her husband Sherman, who plays basically every musical instrument imaginable and sings beautifully, was on the keyboard:

Olivier and Madeesen, two wonderful guys who are a part of Catalyst, were on the bass and guitar:

And Amy (pictured above next to Shufen and below on the far right) and Ruth (no pics, sorry!) also sang, taking turns on various songs. Just as interesting to me was the audience we gathered. Some from the Family One group (who were playing after this group) watched, including Charles, its director and one of our music leaders at church (pictured center below):

But as you can tell, Chatelet is a very busy place, and tons of people who were just wandering by stopped to watch as well:

This drop-by visitor was smoking, which made for a really cool picture:

We also had a great showing of Trinity people, like Mareike and Tony:

And even some families who stopped to watch on their way by:

During a set break, I especially enjoyed watching the children play on Chris' drums:

And, before Oliver and I had to leave (way too early!) to put him to bed, we caught this great pic of Chris and Oliver, Tim and Jude.

What a fun way to celebrate - playing great music with brothers and sisters in Christ while sharing the message of His love to the city of Paris.

Visitors!

Oh dear, I am so far behind... Is there something magical about a child turning 1 that suddenly makes mom unable to accomplish ANYTHING?? I welcome feedback. ;)

Anyway, I wanted to highlight two special visits by two special people. Two former students of mine, who also served as my student choreographers in the school musicals and were part of a Bible study I did for two years, both came to Paris this semester. Yay!

First, Kate was visiting as part of a school trip. We only had a couple of afternoons to hang out, but it was so fun to see her and catch up. She came by the house to see sweet Oliver:

And we visited the Rodin gardens to enjoy the gorgeous roses and weather:

SO good to see her!

Then, a few weeks later, Hailey came to visit. She was spending the month of June studying in Prague, and decided to use her free weekend to hop on a quick plane to Paris. Though she had been here before, it had been almost 10 years, so we hit some of the highlights. Notre Dame:

A walk around the Latin Quarter and a stop in at St Severin:

Les Invalides:

The Rodin Gardens:

And the Champs de Mars, with a special picture in front of Ecole Militaire (since her boyfriend is attending the US Naval Academy right now, it seemed particularly appropriate):

Finally, on her last evening there, we walked from the Opera Garnier to Chatelet, and meanwhile there was a crazy huge motorcycle parade thing going on along Rivoli (the road we had to walk). It was insane. The photo below shows the density of the riders (though in many places it was more dense than this), and it went on for the entire time we walked the street - at least 25 minutes. Plus it started before we got there and we never saw the end! And they were going pretty fast!! How can there be so many motorcycles in one place?!?!

So though quite random and far too quick, the visits from both of my girls were wonderful. I feel so blessed to have known them (and watched them grow up!) over these past 6 years... They've become such fabulous young women. :)