Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Twenty-four Hours of Chic in Cannes

One of the things the French Navy does right is "l'escale."  The word even sounds better in French, "escale", than it does in English, "port visit".

This paragraph will make US Navy people crazy jealous.... So here, this time, the ship is out for a month.  And the planning-friendly port visit is fixed for halfway through the "deployment".  The ship pulls into a fabulous city for a weekend.  There is no buddy-system, no curfew, or standing-watch required: have a good weekend, everyone, see you Sunday afternoon.    

And if he is going to have some time-off, I'm going to do all I can (move heaven and earth to find somewhere for my kids and the dog to spend the night), so that I can have some time off from full-time-parenthood to be with him.  A twenty-four hour weekend getaway with my handsome husband, YES please.

The escale was in Cannes, just an hour and a half away from where we live, making it totally doable for the twenty-fours Phil was free.  I'm not in any way "cannes" type of girl.  I wear a lot of Old Navy clothes here in brand-name-only-fashion-France, thank-you-very-much, but I did go out and buy a new pair of designer sunglasses before my weekend amidst all the glitz and glamour.  Phil rolled his eyes at me, but they helped give me some confidence as I, a housewife, walked down the croisette with all the divas.



I had a lovely, bubbly bath at the fancy hotel and then a quiet, relaxed dinner with my husband.  The next lazy morning, we consumed four of our favorite things before 12:30pm--a café creme and a pain au chocolate and an hour later, a carafe of rosé and a pizza (the french make really good pizza).  For us, that's living big!

Weekend getaways are the best!  Weekend getaways in Cannes, France---vive la French Navy.         

Monday, March 19, 2012

Le Carnaval -- Year 3






In our last year here, I'm starting to finally figure all of this out...important things...like what to expect at elementary school sponsored activities.  And here in France, one of the most important in the mind of any school-age child, is the Carnaval.

My first year here I was overwhelmed by the chaotic, unorganized nature of the event...totally stunned that all the hype was for the two second stroll the kids did wearing costumes.  Is there a PTA I can join, my americanness wanted to know...why is there no program or purpose when all these parents took time off of work to come see this?

Last year I couldn't get over how kids literally strutted one by one, runway-style on wobbly tables set up in the  school recess area.  Where are the helmets, my americanness cried out...this is not safe...not to mention the idea of a cat-walk for 5, 6, 7 year olds.    

But this year, I've got it down.  I knew it was going to mass chaos and parents would be pushing each other trying to get pictures.  I knew that the lack of organization/program of any sort would have kids acting crazy which would incite the teachers to yell.  I knew kids would step up to walk on flimsy, preschool tables jerry-rigged-attached so as to create a poor-man's runway.

And I caught myself, having a moment as I snapped pictures of this annual event, laughing at how all of that wasn't affecting me this year.  BECAUSE I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN.  And that's the thing with expectations.  So because I didn't have any this year, I wasn't disappointed.  I enjoyed the event for what it was. I enjoyed it because I had the cutest cowboy and Indian on the eastern side of the Atlantic.  That's right, we went ahead and fulfilled all American stereotypes.   Except for me.  The stereo-typical american need for organization, a big budget, an exciting program, and a wow-factor...I let that go.  Maybe that's why this year, I had fun too!
You know that look:  When your child finally finds you in the sea of parents and chaos--you call his name, he searches the crowd recognizing your voice and then when he sees you his face lights up.  It's one of my favorite things about being a Mom.   


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Christmas at Home Recap

Definition:  Jet-lag-hang-over, post Christmas-blues, hole-in-your-heart-feeling because we are so far away from our amazing, loving families

1.  Not leaving your house and/or wearing your pj's all day for two days in a row while attempting to clean out closets and get organized.  But at the end of a two day effort the house looks more UN-organized than ever and you feel slightly overwhelmed by it all.

2.  Dragging yourself out of your pj's on the third day to take your kids to school an hour and half late because you and your kids slept in.  And also writing the mandatory "please excuse" note to your daughter's teacher in English, because you just don't feel like making the effort to write it in French.  Whatever, your daughter is six and this is not Harvard.  

3.  Unable to stop thinking of the ten months that remain of our little life here in France.  With totally mixed emotions...pure joy when I think about returning "home" (mostly when I'm dealing with typically French frustrations--parking, grocery shopping, customer service, lack of good Mexican food) combined with pure sadness that this chapter in our life will be over, with the addition of pure stress/wonder/excitement over where in the world our next move will be.

All that to say, I've been having a difficult time jumping into January.  And here's why:  my parents made my dream of a "home for Christmas" holiday come true for the four of us and it was EVERYTHING I knew it would be.  And so as you look at these pictures of cousins and sisters and grandparents and SMILES, I hope you can understand why I'm still longing to live the last weeks of December!

My Dad who loves to play with his grandkids!  Bouncing at the bounce-house-place.

 Meeting baby Harry for the first time.  I could not get enough of this little, sweet man.

 All dressed up for Christmas Eve services--the three GIRL cousins.  Not pictures because we didn't even attempt it...the four three-year-old BOY cousins or the 3 month old baby Harry.  

 Christmas morning breakfast with everyone

 Tradition!!!!  PJ picture on the living room couch.  Eight cousins.

 Grandma H who drove 12 hours to see us for two days!!!  Soooo loved.

Grandpa H who gives the kids university tours and buys pizza for lunch (and also drove 12 hours to see us)!

My Grandma Dee who flew in from Arizona for Christmas--we made a scene and surprised her and Gramps at the airport in Columbus.

 More of my Dad playing with the kids.  Hot tub time!

My loving, generous Mom who made (financed) all this family-together-wonderfulness possible.  Lily's smile couldn't be bigger.


What a wonderful Christmas!  What a wonderful family!  What a wonderful Savior to celebrate!