Second Day of Christmas

As it turns out, the second day of Christmas was tonight, and we opened all the presents. 

As usual, many books. And an MP3 player for Noah.

And new bicycles for both! 

The First Day of Christmas

Was today! Our family tradition (encouraged by Frédéric's irregular work schedule) is to disregard dates on the calendar and celebrate Christmas whenever we want. We start with one present a night for a few nights, and tonight was the first one this year (a bit later start than some years).

Noah took charge of putting up the tree this year.

We usually start with a game we can play together, and tonight's was Blokus.

Teenager in the House!

We celebrated Benjamin's 13th birthday today, with a peanut butter pie.

Club meet

I've sort of become the swim club's photographer by default. So I took lots of photo of the club meet December 8th... and was so focused on trying to make sure I got photos of each kid, that somehow I ended up with hardly any of Benjamin. Sorry, Benjamin! 

The club meet doesn't count for anything official. It's a way for the younger kids to learn what a swim meet is like and get used to the signals and protocols - and encourage them to want to join the competitive team.

Noah, during warm-ups

Noah, after a race

Benjamin, first place (out of one)

Departmental Championships (Aisne)

A week after we returned from the US, Benjamin swam in the 2-day departmental championships of Aisne. 

For his age group, he placed 2nd in 800-meter freestyle, 2nd in 400-meter medley, and 2nd 200-meter backstroke. He placed 3rd in 200-meter backstroke all ages (12-25 years old).

Very happy with his results!

Camp Pettijohn

Though this was the shortest Thanksgiving trip to date, we enjoyed our time at family camp at Pettijohn. The boys got go to fishing (but didn't catch anything this year), and we played games, took walks, and celebrated Grandma Crowe's 93rd birthday.

Noah fishing

Benjamin fishing

Frédéric and my dad playing pétanque

Tulsa: A Gathering Place

We left Georgetown November 20th, and drove up to Tulsa via Fairview, where we enjoyed lunch and a visit with the Tomaneks. 

In Tulsa, we met up with my parents and Jordan & Kacey and their kids. We had dinner at my aunt's house, and Tuesday, needed to find something to occupy the kids for a bit.

So we went to this great new park that just opened, called A Gathering Place.

It has an amazing playground.

It also has an inviting sitting area indoors with a café.

Pottery in Georgetown, Texas

After 10 1/2 hours on a plane, our trip in the US started with a grueling 4-hour drive from Houston (through rush hour traffic) to Georgetown, Texas. (We've got to stop thinking we can drive anywhere right after we land. Especially when flying coach.) 

But we finally made it to Aunt Claire and Uncle Curtis's house, and we enjoyed a great two-day visit, including pottery-making, family dinners, chinaberry wars, and poker.

Lego Spider-Man, by Benjamin

Benjamin still loves making Lego creations.

This is his spider-man.

Autumn evenings

Gala says, "Nothing better!"

A Real Problem-Solver

Whatever do you do when you have too much cupcake frosting? 

Make another cake, of course!

Finally Finished!

12 years after we moved into this house, and a year after we started the kitchen renovation, we finally finished! Our amazing contractor had to quit the business due to health problems, and couldn't put up our backsplash. Fortunately, Frédéric's cousin Christian came to the rescue.

Worth the wait!

Noah picked out these great hangers for Frédéric's aprons.

Happy birthday to me!

For my birthday, Noah made me zucchini for lunch.

And he decorated the cake Frederic made me.

Back to school!

The boys started school a few short days after we got home. 6th grade (6e) and 8th grade (4e) this year!

Sainte Genevieve

After our day of rest, we were on the go again, this time to Sainte Genevieve, a city founded in 1740 by French Canadian settlers. Ste Genevieve was the de facto first capital of Missouri due to its population and position in commerce in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

We started our visit at the tourist office, where we saw a short video about the history of Ste Genevieve. From there, we went to the Centre for French Colonial Life, a free museum with artifacts from the early days of Ste Genevieve.

And dioramas of creole houses.

And larger models of "poteau-en-terre" Creole houses.

There are several older houses left in the town.

We also visited the catholic church, built in 1876.

Then we took a guided tour of the Felix Vallé house.

We had planned to make a longer day of it, with a visit to Fort de Chartres as well, but it was an oven outside, so we found a park, had our picnic, and headed back home to pack up. We drove back to Chicago the next day to fly back to France.

Some down time

The last week of our stay was pretty non-stop, since we wanted the cousins to get to experience as many things as possible in the U.S. But we took some down time on Sunday.

Noah found time to make cupcakes from his new cookbook.

Cats eating fishbones.

The cousins played some board games together.

And we had a nice, big dinner, with Aunt Claire & Uncle Curtis, and Betty & Wayne.