Various photos from California

Barbara joined us to look at Stanford. The kids were goofing around with the "Bergers of Calais", of "Thinker" fame. Posing with their fellow French men;

We didn't have enough time to go up to Sacramento so I met Alice and her kids halfway, at Fairfield. The Jelly Belly factory. The two extra kids are school friends Alice often watches. Coincendently, their last name is Alsatian, ancestors from a village near Hagenau.

Davina hanging like a monkey at the factory.

This was the "official" photo we had taken there;

My sister went with us to San Francisco Wednesday (Dec. 23rd). We saw the animals in the windows of Macy's but there were too many people in line for ice skating in Union Square. We did go over to the Yeuba Beuna Center, a great place for kids, surprisingly uncrowded. The Merry-Go-Round was really fast, I was a little concerned for my kids (not a problem-they loved it!) They took a real 100+ Merry-Go-Round and put the historical horses and decorations on a modern structure.

Here's one with the dog and girls in the new kitchen (although you can't see the kitchen too well) and Ronnie.

Reporting from California

We arrived on Wednesday. It went pretty smoothly except for having to evacuate the airport in Frankfurt. No, we didn't have to entirely leave the airport, just the restaurant. We checked in and then went to eat and as soon as they brought the food, we were told we'd have to leave. They found an unaccompanied bag somewhere and were going to blow it up.

I paid and they actually suggested that we simply take our plates over to the police barracade. We sat on the floor and finished our meal. Some lady from Zurich Life came over and said something entertaining to the kids. They understood, I didn't... I did see that the kids were a little scared but I told them that usually it's someone who simply forgot their bag but that's not cool in an international airport.

Davina was not very zen on the flight. I wanted to say to the woman in front of us "Staring at my child will not make her shut up". She would just cry for no reason, not wanting anything nor giving us a clue of what her problem was. Ronnie at one point was fed up and hit her.

The first day I was very tired and I got my hair done at Katja's. Yesterday I went to the peridontist (because I'm too much of a whuss to go to one in France and discuss my gums in French). It's really just a consultation but I always get nervous that he's going to tell me to get something done back in France. Everything looked good (or should I say stable?) so now I feel like I can relax and enjoy the holidays.

Today we're taking Talia into San Francisco to see the Nutcracker. Sunday is dinner at Guk's. Crab Night will be the 27th.

Talia's 8 years old today!

I'm so glad she didn't have her cast on for it! She didn't want to do any kind of birthday party because she technically can't do any sports. I think she's shy about using it. She still has me do her seat belt since she has to snap it in with her left hand, the one that was in a cast.

She's still doing "modified" gymnastics. Don't diss me or send me nasty emails about what a bad mommy I am but we were very careful. This is a pretty competitive sport and keeping her out entirely would have really sunk all the hard work she's already put into it. I discussed this at length with the coaches and remember, this is not the kind of gymnastics with beams and bars. It's all done on a nice, soft surface and she is definitely not the first to have an injury. I want her to stay limber so it's mainly stretching she's doing. They've worked with these kinds of cases before...

No need to ask about ice skating. She is NOT doing that until next month. I might let her do the Xmas party but she wouldn't be doing a whole lesson.

They were taking photos for the Strasbourg GRS calendar and they were at first just going to wear their own outfits. I purposely re-washed her black tights and rebraided her hair for it. Someone found some small sized competitive costumes somewhere in the office and decided to try them on this group. I've actually never seen these get-ups in any competition so they must be old, but isn't it cute??

Here are the photos on the Strasbourg GRS site;

http://www.strasbourg-grs.fr/upload/images/img_091207184156.jpeg

http://www.strasbourg-grs.fr/upload/images/img_091207183532.jpeg

Or click on the pictures here;

http://www.strasbourg-grs.fr/site/index.php

I don't know why the links don't work on Blogger but you might have to copy and paste.

Saturday night I took the kids to the Christmas market, where we celebrated Talia's birthday last year. I felt badly for them having to kitchen shop with us the last two weekends.

This is the part of the Christmas market that has been going on since 1470.

Ronnie experiments with cross dressing.

Davina had to be held up to take this photo. I think this is as close as I'll ever get to putting Alsatian costumes on my girls;

We took a horse-drawn cab. I could only get Talia to pose in front of the horses. They were kind of big!

I sat on top with the girls. Ronnie was cold and wanted to sit inside.

Everyone look at the camera-not!

We got some good views of the city at night, all lit up for Christmas. Of couse, not having a good camera kind of bit.

The kids also wanted to go on the Merry-Go-Round, even though they're a bit old for them. They got in the sub, which they could control to go up and down.

Walking out, I saw this window display of a chocolate nativity scene. I'm thinking, who gets to eat the baby Jesus??

I took a few pictures of them in front of the big Xmas tree in Place Kleber (it comes from Norway each year). Ronnie is such a natural at ruining group photos. I think he's been reading too much Calvin & Hobbs!