Wednesday 9/18 in Paris 2013

We slept in as we did every morning. On Tuesday we spotted a Starbucks 5 minutes away so Chris went to get coffee. He also stopped at a boulangerie nearby to pick up pastries. This became our new routine. Such a treat to be able to have a lovely breakfast in bed. Thank you Chris. I went for my first run in the Jardin du Luxemburg which is what I ended up doing every morning. Those 6 miles allowed for some alone time to clear my head, and listen to some Ted talks. Petru and Chris went to the playground, while mom stayed home and started on her big project: sewing a traffic light onto Petru's backpack.

                                              Finished product! Thanks Buni!
We met at the apartment later on and set out to go see Notre Dame, which was about 10 minutes away. My mom told us about the legend of Notre Dame which became Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a book I enjoyed as a child (and a story that Petru now knows!).

                                             Notre Dame

                                           Louvre

          Champs Elysees and on top of it Musee D'Orsay

                                             Close up of Notre Dame from the boat tour!

                                                    Eiffel Tower

We walked around and decided to buy a 3 day bus/boat unlimited stops tour called "L'open tour" - best decision! We took the green line and saw Dome D'Invalides, Louvre, Champs ELysee, Arc du Triumphe and Tour L'Eiffel. It was a great way to get oriented. Later on, we took a boat tour before a lovely dinner. A bit of a side note about food in Paris. I am NOT a foodie. I dislike spending money on expensive food. I am happy with a huge salad and hunk of french bread. So, salads in Paris were not great. Lots of Jambon, little lettuce, etc, but I adjusted. Petru loved his pizza (though he ate bread and cheese for lunch every day, which is a first for him). Chris and mom were unimpressed with the pastas - they were good, but nothing truly special. Chris can add his notes here.

Later that night Petru read - he read about 2 hours everyday, the joy of no internet, and the adults played games and read. We fell asleep around 9pm.

Paris 2013 Monday 9/16 and Tuesday 9/17

Both Chris and I took the day off. I ran 10 peaceful miles and Chris swam and then picked up books for all of us from the library. We packed, did laundry and cleaned the house - nothing like having a clean house when returning from a long trip - to help smooth the transition back into routine. We even had time to watch the last episode of "Boardwalk Empire" before picking Petru up from school.

After a few back and forths we decided to take a taxi to the airport. My cheap side was against it, but one of my mantras for the trip was to be very agreeable. The cab ride was smooth. The driver was an interesting character, full of good stories about his travel, which I think relieved some of Chris's anxiety. He even told us about his panic attacks and ativan pill habit, while I refrained from giving recommendations about a good CBT person that could help him out.

                                                                 At the airport

                                                           Me - ready to GO!
Airport security was easy and pretty soon we got settled at our gate. Per usual, I brought a salad and some fruit, and Petru used the ipad. Our flight was on time. Petru and I set together, and Chris set close by. I had a great plan that involved sleeping through the flight, but that did not work out as  the light was on for almost the entire flight. I did manage to sleep for 3 hours once I figured out that I can use a blanket as a scarf to block the light. Petru and Chris played video games, we all had snacks, and pretty soon we arrived in Dublin @ 6am Ireland time. During the 1 hour layover Chris and I enjoyed lattes and pastries, and Petru enjoyed some free wifi! At some point I looked at him and he was surrounded by 5 other kids to whom he was explaining how to play Minecraft. If I had taken a picture of the 3 of us, we would have looked very happy in that little airport. Onto our next flight and voila, 2 hours later we arrived in Paris at Charles du Galle airport (Petru just corrected me saying that the airport is outside Paris!). We had great directions from mom and managed to pick up our luggage, take the airport shuttle, and the RER to St Germain Square, and then easily find Rue Monsieur Prince, a 2 min walk to number 26, where mom was waiting in our studio. The place was small but beautiful, with high ceilings which reminded me of our home in Romania. Mom looked great and in her typical style proceeded to give us all presents: T shirts from various Europe cities for Petru, a sweater for Chris, dresses, Kerastase cosmetics for me, and of course, my 40th birthday present, 2 mirror hand painted by her.

                                          Mom's hand painted mirrors! Still need to find proper spots for them!
Chris and I collapsed onto the bed shortly thereafter while mom took Petru to Jardin du Luxemburg and its beautiful playground.

                                                           Collapsed! Thanks mom for the nap!
They returned a couple of hours later, and we all went out for a walk and to get some food. We then played some games and later Chris and I got dinner. We met a nice French men at a cafe and had a great conversation about fresh organic food and French versus American eating habits. We ended up getting lunch from him almost every day, and Petru loved waving and saying "Bonjour" to him every time we passed by his cafe. We went to bed early that night. Petru slept with no problems, but Chris and I were both up @ 3am for what seemed like forever. First day in Paris and mission accomplished: visit with mom and adjust to the new time zone.

8 year old cake and other pictures

The chime he made for grandma's birthday

Ready for camp!

Tired mom:)

From ACT, Petru's intro

Petru's cake. He drew a pic and I made it. 100% edible.

Goofing off with mom!

With cousins after his play (up) and pizza with mom (down)

With Josephine who stayed with us for 3 weeks.

Petru's Happy 71 for Buni on May 6th 2013

Summer adventures 2013 - part 1

It's getting close to the end of July, I have a few minutes, so time for a few words on our summer adventures thus far.

Petru has been very busy with the Arlington Children's Theatre, where he is rehearsing for The Little Mermaid. He is a sailor and part of the sea chorus. He has a few lines, and I think he would have secretly liked to have a bigger part (i heard him say to his cousin on the phone yesterday "I have a few solos"). I think this is just perfect for him. Rehearsals are brutal but he truly enjoys this experience and I am considering trying to have his audition for the Fall as well. 

Petru spent the first week of his summer vacation at home, playing with neighbourhood friends, going to the museums with Chris, and going to our town beach as a family. He spent part of the second week at Grandma's and then back home. Last week and this he is doing a sports camp in Lexington. I am very impressed with it and Petru's swimming and tennis have been taking off. He managed to do really well in this setting, with HSlers as counselors, and lots of physical play, something that he is growing into. 

At home, we have been playing lots of games: Apple to apple, monopoly junior, uno, and Petru is becoming better able to deal with losing. 

There is of course, lots of homework. RSM gave them a big package so he has been doing 1 page/day, primarily things that will prepare him to add 2 or 3 digit numbers in his head, and also multiplications/divisions. He has been doing a lot of procrastinating, which is hard for me to watch....

He also has been reading daily, and has started to read Harry Potter on his own at times, though he still prefers me to read it. I am enjoying the book very much myself.

There have been many trips to Watercountry, games to pass the time while in line (aka, I describe a character from HP, and you tell me which one; which character are we and our friends most similar too - apparently I am Hermione and Petru is Ron), games to make the drive shorter (e.g., make up a song about a family member). 

Next week Josephine, our french aupair is coming for 3 weeks. We area all very excited. 

Pictures soon!

From Petru

In the car this afternoon, sounding very frustrated:
"Mom, it is so frustrating when the thing you wanted to invent has already been invented"

Happy 13 years

Happy 13 years to Chris and me. We pre-celebrated by listening to Liz Weil's interview on "Married (Happily) with issues" on public radio. Today I got red roses and 2 games picked by Petru and Chris - PERFECT presents for ME. One of the games - Pachisee - was a game that Chris and I used to play everynight in Romania during our 8 months exile...Petru has theater rehearsal tonight up to 8, which means a short run and nice dinner at home.