Thoughts on Maddie...

Little Maddie, my baby angel. As her 4 year birthday comes, I wanted to share some thoughts about who she is, and why she is a special part of our family.

For one, she's all girl. Maddie is such a little mommy. She babies her dolls with great care and attention, pushing them in little strollers, tucking them in and calling them her sweeties. She is kind and gentle, mature for her age.

I think "tender-hearted" is one way of thinking of her. Last week when Melanie's haircut appointment fell through and she called very distressed, I told the girls to be nice to Mom when she got home. Maddie said "I'll tell her that her hair is beautiful the way it is".

All of a sudden she is really interested in learning her letters and numbers. She is doing what Abby did, writing notes and leaving them for me on my bedstand and handing them to me as I walk in the door. When we read together, the three of us, she insists on reading pages with Abby and I. Although she cannot read the words, she can see the pictures and she makes up great little stories with confidence.

She's our little storyteller. Her imagination is quit full and rich. She will write funny letters to us, and then read them to us. She also has funny stories. If I said "I saw a deer today" she will say, "I saw a deer, and he was wearing little pants and dancing." Maddie really knows how to riff off of our stories, make them hers, and add some "oomph" to them. Totally funny.

She loves to play dolls, barbies, and polly pockets. She has very intricate stories that she builds around them. She's also got a very clear idea how she wants to play, directing us what we should do or say. That can get frustrating for Abby and I when we play with her, but you cannot fault her for knowing what she wants.

She crys a lot. We forget that she is still little, but it still doesnt change the fact that she's a cryer. Take her to primary, she crys. Pick her up from primary, she crys. She crys several times a day.

She's very religious and spiritual. She insists on praying every night, and says wonderful prayers that go like this:

"Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, help us to be healthy and happy, help us to always love each other, help us to be healthy (she repeats this a couple of times), in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

When she gets to pick the song, she choose"A Child's Prayer", one of my favorites. We all sing it together, and it's a piece of heaven for me.

Madsie loves Abby so much, and asks her to sleep with her every night. They talk cutely most of the time, laughing and giggling, and it reminds me of when I was a kid sleeping with my brothers. Sometimes Maddie will do annoying little things like lick her, which drives Abby crazy and sends her off to her own room. But most of the time they fall fast asleep in their bed together, two peaceful little sisters. When we look in on them, they are both spread out and happy as can be.

She has lots of wonderful friends at school. She talks of Jonathon, Nicolaus, Nickolai, Preston, Will, and others. She has a great little school and loves, and is loved by them.

I love my girls so much. Abby and Maddie are truly some of the "noble and great ones", reserved for a challenging time. Rearing them, guiding them is a tough responsibility and one that I try to take seriously. Fortunately, I have such sweeties to guide through this life.

I'm so glad when Daddy comes home...

One of my favorite times of the day is coming home from work. Every time I do, the girls rush me with open arms and big hugs. Screams of "Daddy" echo through the house and lots of yipping and craziness. I'm sure someday they won't be as excited when I walk in the door. But today they love it, and so do I!

Hello, 2010

2009 was a challenging year for most people, our family included. But at the start of 2010, I'm hopeful, especially when I think about where we were a year ago.

A year ago we were moving into the temporary rental house, closing the door on our Kaysville home for good and leaving behind Maija and our life in Utah. It was a challenging, difficult, dark time. We were all low and depressed. I don't know if I'll ever forget sitting in our living room in Kaysville and the four of us crying because we were leaving. The future was unknown and bleak.

Fast forward one year later and things are looking up. The house is a huge part of that - we never ever thought that we would be in a home or neighborhood this nice. We were truly blessed to find and buy this home. My work has improved as well. I understand what I'm doing a little better, and know better how to navigate MS. It's a long-road, but one that I do not regret taking.

As one year ends, and another begins, it makes me think about time. Such a funny thing, time is. A year ago I honestly believed the world for our family was ending. I had no hope. But one year later, things have settled and are better. God has been at work in our lives, and truly orchaestrated this year for us. He plucked us out of our Utah life, but as He did so we prayed that we would find happiness here. I believe He has made that possible for us.

The timing seemed horrible then, but in fact was as perfect as it could have been. There's no way that I would have been hired on at MS now. Since I joined thousands of MSofties have been laid off, recruiting and hiring is down, etc. Plus, they are paying less to new hires, have become more selective about who they hire, and are paying fewer relo benefits. As an outsider, I don't believe I would have had another chance at MS had that job not turned up.

Also, between the time I was hired and now housing here has dropped significantly, which has been a boon for us. Our friends who moved here a year or two before us bought much smaller homes, with fewer niceties, for a lot more money. Had we moved earlier than we did, we would have been spanked. But the timing really worked out for us. We even made money on our Kaysville house - something that is itself a miracle.

It's a good lesson, and one that I think I'm learning slowly. This idea of patience, trusting God's timeframe, trying to have a big picture view.

There are still macro worries - the economy, terrorism, wars, plagues - but fortunately, my family is not personally impacted on a daily basis by these (knock on wood). We hear about them, worry for those involved, and pray for those innocents...but that is not our day to day life. Thankfully.

For me, that's the point. There's much to be thankful for, and I hope that this year I can be less worried about the future and more thankful for today.

Attack of the pigeons...

Everywhere we went in Maui we were surrounded by the strangest looking pigeons. Mini-pigeons. But what they lacked in size they made up in tenaciousness and numbers. They were everywhere. And of course Maddie was terrified of them. So I thought I'd share a few of the pics of these "hoards" of pidgeons and show how they were always around little Madsie...always there, always lurking.

About Christmas...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

I wanted to share a few thoughts about what Christmas means to me...

Holy Infant, so Tender and Mild

I try to think about Jesus' atonement and the Gospel as much as possible, but at Christmas I like to think about Him as a baby. It's the time for me when Jesus is most human. I've seen a lot of babies in my life, and I think that Jesus was a lot like these babies. I can picture him more as a baby than any other way. It's easier to imagine holding Him. One can almost picture how tenderly Mary looked at Him, how she had great hope for him in that little body. She probably had little talks with him...but he wouldn't understand them yet, because he was a baby. There's a great deal that is very special about all of this, and that's how I like to think of Jesus at Christmas.

Christmas Music

I like the "Pop Christmas" songs ok, but am more of traditionalist when it comes to Christmas music. The songs I really want to hear at Christmas are about Jesus and typically have an old English sound to them. This is my ultimate Christmas Playlist:

• Wexford Carol
• Away in a Manager
• Were you there?
• God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
• Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
• Lully Lu
• What Child Is This?
• O Holy Night

A Christmas Carol

Other than the actual Christmas story, the story I want to read or see (in a play, preferably) is A Christmas Carol. I consider this to be a spiritual story of hope and redemption, and to me is the very spirit of Christmas. I get teary-eyed when I think of the Cratchett Family without Tiny Tim. I get teary-eyed when Tiny Tim says that he hopes people would think of Jesus when they saw him. I get choked up when the shackles that had held Scrooge down begin to fall off...when his repentence and redemption begin. I think of the years of wasted life...the regrets for a life wasted. But the power of the words and the story ultimately are about hope and redemption, and it's one of my favorite stories of all time, not just at Christmas.

Food

There are a couple of things I really want to eat at Christmas time. I want Egg Nog. I want Dory's Christmas Cookies...the Ginger Snaps. Melanie's butter cookies too. I don't care as much about the dinner, but I want some fun appetizers and hopefully a cheese ball. Funny, I know, but that's what I want.

A Christmas Tree Surrounded in Toys

To me, Christmas morning is about giving toys. The other stuff...clothes and such...are good and useful, but I like to see my girls openiing toys. My memories are of coming down to a cold, dark family room and seeing the majesty of the Christmas tree surrounded by gifts. Every gift was fun to open, but the toys were the ones that sent chills through me, that said to me that Santa had been there, and that felt magical. This morning, seeing the girls opening the Zhu Zhu pets and the other stuff that they opened was for me the highlight.

Christmas Shows

Two really stand out to me...A Charlie Brown Christmas and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Totally different, but these are the two shows I want to watch. A Charlie Brown Christmas is the best holiday show on. It has a great spirit and message, highlighted by Linus narrating Luke 2.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a totally different kind of show. It simply pokes at the fun and craziness of the season. I watched it one night after work by myself (or maybe Nate was there, I can't quite remember) and laughed by head off. Cousin Eddy wearing a black Dickie under a white sweater. Shooting down the hill on the greased sled. Getting stuck in the attic and watching old movies. I watched it in Hawaii and still laugh at it today.

Intelligent Design...

I'm no scientist. Only wanted to be an Astronomer briefly, until I realized that there was too much math involved. But I've often wondered about the creation, and have thought for the longest time that the Biblical story of the creation, and the scientific theories that have been made against it, could exist together.

One thing I believe is that God is a scientist. So when he set about planning the creation, he did things in a logical manner. He would need to understand all of the scientific fields perfectly, and would have to work them together to create this world. For instance, he built similar genetic codes, and then tweaked them to create the diversity that we see in the world. Therefore, the ape and the human could both be built with similar codes, without being the same things. Some people point to that fact and say that we evolved from them...I look at that and think "that's a pretty efficient way to build a world". To me it sounds like a good architect...the plans all have a foundation, load-bearing walls, roofs...but they don't want them to be the same. Each is different, has a different purpose. But they rely on similar principles.

But I also know that God is an artist. I believe that he has created the diversity of this world on purpose. It allowed him to showcase his creativity while surrounding us with interesting and unique climates, animals, plants, and people. For me, he created tropical islands and blue, warm water. For others he created big mountains with snow. But ultimately I believe this diversity was intentional and it reflects the character of God as I think of him...loving, thoughtful, logical, creative.

My feelings about this were stirred up this week when I saw this documentary. Ben Stein (surprised me too) was showing how atheists and the scientific community leadership are supressing any scientists who introduce Intelligent Design into the mix of theories around where we came from and why we're here. I would recommend all people of faith to rent and watch it. It's a moving, frightening revelation of how others are unfairly promoting Darwinism, and in an underlying way, atheism. How leading atheists use the theory of evolution to convince themselves that there is no God. The interviews are frightening. The atheist scientists sound like satan himself. Basically they said "first, you need to believe the theory of evolution. Once you do, you will let go of God. Once you let go of God, you quickly let go of the hope of an afterlife. With hope gone, you realize that there's nothing there. And once you've had this de-conversion, you want to tell others about it". It was frightening.

Making matters worse is the use of the power that Big Science has to influence the classroom, what papers are written, what professors succeed, and what the courts decide. It was to me a concise way to see how satan is attacking our families from every way. Every person of faith should watch it, and determine how they will protect their families from this. I know I will.

Heaven is Maui...

I love island life.

I think everyone has a climate that is them. For me, that's island life. I'm programmed for it. It works for me in everyway. It defines vacations for me. It helps melt away the stresses and cares of everyday life. Palm trees. Sun. Blue sky. Shorts, t-shirts, sandals. BBQ. The feeling of being a little hot, a little sweaty. Beaches. Sand. Fruit - the fresh, exotic kind, not the stale, old, refrigerated kind. The Irie attitude. The pace.

Even before Jamaica, and before I had been anywhere tropical, I longed for beaches and blue water. Jamaica brought that home to me in a very real way. And this sweet, 10-day long adventure in Maui has reminded me of all of this.

Maui has been really wonderful. In all fairness, it's mostly because Melanie is the best value vacation planner in the world. She lines up the most amazing vacations at a fraction of the price of others, and as a result we stay in **** hotels and live a lifestyle of the rich and famous, at Holiday Inn prices.

We've had a wonderful trip so far. We've felt grateful for being able to be here, and Heavenly Father has really made this a special trip. Both the whale watch and the snorkeling featured amazing views and interactions with wildlife. At the luau we were upgraded to the VIP section, front and center, for free. Both hotels have had spectactular views and rooms that were exactly what we needed, and more in some cases. We had two wonderful dinners at Leilanis and a delicious island breakfast at The Gazebo - the perfect combination of delicious food, great views, great service, and zero snootiness.

Maui has really been super in every way. Plus, you get all of the amenities of U.S. travel (something I'm liking more and more). I'll be posting more, likely when I'm back in Seattle and totally depressed.

Snorkeling in Maui and other adventures...

Abby and I had the best day snorkeling today. We headed out to Manele Bay where Abby braved the cold water and 35 foot depths to explore the coral reefs and see the pretty fish. She was super brave in the cold, salty water and was the smallest kid in the water that day.

The best part by far was the ride. On the way back we headed further out to a marine reserve where we saw Bottlenose Dolphins and several humpback whales playing in the water. The thrill of seeing whales is really something. I've never seen anything that big, that close, that wild. The Disney or Seaworld stuff is good and all, but it's still a bit fake. Here in Maui, it's so perfectly real and unscripted. For me it made it all the more thrilling and real. The whales got very close to our boat at one point. The captain couldn't move, so we sat there as they swam 20 feet from the boat. You could see their beautiful, huge bodies just sitting there below the water. It was so real.
While heading back the captain saw another group of dolphins and headed out to see them. It was by far one of the coolest things I've every seen. There must have been hundreds of these Spinner dolphins surrounding our boat, chasing us, jumping out of the water and spinning. There were babies too, fresh new little Spinner dolphins jumping and going crazy as you'd expect little babies to be. I think I got some good pics, and will post them when I get home.

On the way back we also saw a baby humpback and its mom, and were able to see the baby totally jumping out of the water and learning from its mom how to be a whale. These momma whales come all the way from Alaska to breed and protect their babies, fasting for several months to ensure that they procreate and protect their babies. It was really something to be a witness to this miracle.

Maddie's tender heart

Tonight I opened up my Ipod Touch that Mel got me for Christmas. I want to make sure it's humming by Hawaii, so I loaded up music and videos and was playing with it. It's sharp. Loving it.

I downloaded a movie a long time ago for the kids called Little G's Halloween. It's about a little ghost who goes trick or treating, only to be completely ignored at each house. He's a little ghost, and is carrying a white clothe - kind of like Maddie's blankey. So I pulled it up and showed it to Maddie, just for fun.

She watched it intently, and then left. She went down to tell Mel about it, and as she does she starts crying. Mel comes up and asks what movie she saw, so we sat down to watch it - the three of us. And she starts weeping again, really emotional. But it's a new emotion, one that I haven't seen come out that strongly before in Maddie. It's compassion. She was absolutely saddened to see that little ghost get turned away from house to house and receive no candy. It broke her heart, and so she cried and cried about it.

It made us both happy to see her so caring, so compassionate. It was sweet. She has a tender heart, and does watch out for little things. So it's only natural that she would have those feelings. To see them come so alive was really wonderful as a Dad.

My Christmas memories

At this time of year I often think of one of some Christmas pasts. Here are a couple that take me back to a different time and place.

One happened when I was little, I don't really know how old - probably 9 or 10. We were dirt poor as usual, and were the beneficiaries of other people's hand-me-downs and other odds and ends for the most part.

This year was different. My Grandma Kennedy sent a bunch of gifts this year - something she had never done before, or after. I think she must have come into some money or something. Anyway, there were a lot of gifts for me, and my favorite was the G.I. Joe Hovercraft. That toy brought me more joy and I played with it more than any other toy ever. I would say that it, and Snake Eyes, were my favorite toys as a kid. And Grandma Kennedy made that happen. Honestly, I don't have many other memories of her...but that was a great, magical Christmas.

Another one that makes me giggle was my favorite Christmas on my mission. I was serving in Kingston at the time, and although the people were very sweet to us, we didn't eat at members houses very often. Christmas time was very different. One woman, a very rich Chinese member, invited about 8 sets of us Elders to her house. What a feast we had. Her husband, a professional chef, prepared us the perfect looking steaks. They were meaty and nice cuts - Filet Mignon or better. But they were pepper steak, and hot as anything. Inedible. It was disappointing because we were all looking forward to them, but because they were so spicy none of us could eat it. Even the toughest guys couldn't do it. He was very disappointed, and we all felt horrible to leave those steaks on the table. Then she brought out for each of us a box. In it were the exact same thing - a jar of peanut butter, cookies, candies...all from the U.S., all from home. We were in heaven that night. None of us could afford these goodies on our own, and she bought them for all of us. It was such a special night for us, and memorable.

A couple of days later was Christmas, and we had a number of people invite us over for dinner. We thanked them all, but said that we already had plans. A number of people said, "Come over for dessert, or come over for appetizers, or come over to visit." So we had multiple places to go that Christmas. First, we went to Christmas dinner. It was a full on feast! We gourged, and with full bellies, headed to the next family. They surprised us with another full meal - we thanked them, but said we had already eaten. I think they thought we were teasing. They were borderline offended, and us, being Ambassadors of Jesus, sat down for dinner #2. Our final appointment that day was a single woman who was not very well to do. Instead of simply stopping by for a visit, she too had a meal for us. We considered our options. We could purge ourselves, but where? We could pass, but risk offending her. Knowing that neither option would work, we sat down for meal #3. Three huge meals in a couple of hours - we were sooooo sick. My companion had finished his plate, and went to the bathroom - maybe to purge himself, I don't know. But while he was gone, we loaded his plate with food with a huge second helping. When he returned, he realized his error. Being a good missionary, he finished it - but I think he almost lost it. It was funny, and one of my favorite Christmas memories.

My tithing blessing...

Melanie's my tithing blessing. She is such a great example to me of tithing, and has always faithfully paid it on behalf of our family. I don't even have to think about it...it's done, like clockwork, every month with faithfulness and consistency. I'm not saying that I wouldn't pay - but I will say that I have developed a stronger testimony of tithing because of her example. As our income grows, and those tithing checks grow with them, not once has she not considered paying a full, honest tithe.

As we approach tithing settlement, I'm really grateful for this.

Big Milestone

It dawned on me that this last move to Sammamish was monumental for one big reason - no Elders Quorum! Every move for the last 13 years has involved some level of EQ support. This time, we bit the bullet and hired some dudes from Eastern Europe to do the work. As I stood there, telling them what to do and where to put stuff, I felt very happy that it wasn't the Quorum doing the work. Usually I will do a majority of the work, taking on the big stuff or hustling faster so that people know see that I'm willing to bust my own hump. I always worry that enough people will come, and worry along the way that someone will get hurt or leave me right in the middle of the move. Plus, I kind of hate asking people for help. So this time I really enjoyed standing there and watching those guys working their butts off instead of me. And, to be honest, I don't think I could have done it this time. I'm too old to be schlepping stuff around.

I can do it myself...

Anytime I offer to help Maddie, she says "I can do it myself." They are her most used, and likely favorite, words. I like her spirit of independence, and indeed, she can do a lot by herself. It just takes some getting used to, transitioning from helping her do a lot of things to helping her do less and less. Not a bad thing, just a new thing.

Paris, Days 4-7

(I will update this with pics when I get home)

Published from Paris, France, 17/10/2009

Wow, what a whirlwind trip. I think Mel and I have finally admitted that we're "Energizer Bunny" tourists. We keep going, and going, and going...Today, we feel like our feet are bloody stumps and that we've been on the Bataan Death March or something. But it's all been worth it. For two and 1/2 days we've walked or taken taxis, subways, and boats across the City of Light, and have really enjoyed our brief but packed stay.

Mel is the perfect tour guide and traveling companion - lot's of laughing and good times. I think our bodies are broken, but our spirits energized a little.

And we've seen it all. Here's the recap.

Day4
I spent most of day 4 working, but was happy to take a cab to meet Mel at the Musee D'Orsay. She's right, it's spectacular. We saw hundreds of priceless, stunning artwork from our favorite art periods. Really liked how it was laid out as well, especially after the Louvre.

We went to dinner that night at a little hole in a wall in the Latin Quarter, and yeah, it was ok.

We thought it would be fun from here to head over to Notre Dame. We saw a movie that they were running about the building of it, and it was kind of funny to see a movie projector in an ancient cathedral. You couldn't see much, so we left and planned to come back in the day.

Day 5
Imagine that, we decided to walk up the Eiffel Tower. Big mistake for a couple of reasons. For one, it was tiring. Two floors up I was feeling the burn, and we had another dozen to go. We walked up to the first platform and agreed that we could see everything from there that you could see from the top, and that it wasn't worth it to go any further. Plus, honestly Mel was pretty scared of walking up that thing, and I wasn't much better.

We walked from the Eiffel tower through neighborhoods to Napoleon's Tomb. Along the way we stopped at a Patessierie, and had the best treats - Mel had an Almond Crossaint and I had a Religous. We also had Ham and Cheese on baguettes, which were good as well. Loved walking through really high end neighborhoods and hearing the kids in the schools and seeing them running through the parks. Enjoyed sitting on the streets eating under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower.

Napolean's Tomb was cool - made me want to learn more about him. I commented that it was awfully big for such a little dude, but that's mostly a joke about him physically and not the size of his ego. In general the scale and beauty of everything was simply beyond my ability to describe. It was all simply elegant and beautiful.

We briefly explored the Hotel Invaldes - a hospital for injured soldiers. Looked at some old WWII stuff about Nazis, and wondered how the poor people of Europe made it through that war.

Next we took the metro to Monmarte. Took the Funicular to Sacre Couer; of course Melanie put the "Fun" in our Funicular ride. The guy next to me smelled. Took a brief tour of Sacre Couer, and enjoyed the views of the city. Walked through the touristy area, and it was "eh". But then we got lost on the way down and saw some cool clock and paper shops. Saw kids coming home from school, called the girls from the street and were briefly sad cause Maddie was crying.

Finally we found Moulin Rouge - yeah, not that impressive. I saw the lamp from Christmas Story - long legs, sexy stockings - in one of the stores nearby. Kind of tells you what kind of area it was - kind of sleazy and gaudy.

We went to our hotel, and then ventured out to Arena's Lutece - an ancient Roman Arena where gladiators would fight to the death. We waked up and down for about 40 mins trying to find this place, and stumbled on it by the Grace of God. On Friday nights, it now acts as a soccer field for old and young. I tried to loosen one of the rocks to take home (it was a cheap souvenir, and old), but couldn't get it out.

Went to dinner on the street off Saint Michel - had Beef Burgundy and Mel had a steak. I'm sure we had crepes or something as well.

Day 6
Enjoyed a Jamboni (it's Jambon, but I called it Jamboni) Omelet and hot chocolate at the local cafe. Melanie ate a Jamboni sandwich and apricot pastry (they don't serve Quiche for breakfast, but they do serve sandwiches).

Today's first stop - Pantheon. Saw the final resting place of all of France's most important people. Reminded that even the smartest, most important people die. Melanie tried to lock me in a tomb. Spent a few minutes trying to interpret the signs...I dont think we learned alot.

Went to the Musee Cluny - saw 1,000s of years of history in in 1 hour. Saw cool unicorn tapestries (each one represents a sense), and ancient Roman bathes. Saw sculptures from the original Notre Dame facade.

Notre Dame - toured the inside. Very cool - reminded me of the cool Dwarf halls from Lord of the Rings. Saw the beautiful stained glass and rows of candles and such. Cool to look at, but didn't feel the spirit at all in that place.

Couldn't go in L'Opera, so we looked from the outside. I wondered if they ever performed Phantom in there.

Galeries Lafayette - shopped for cute kids clothes for the girls. Got Abby and Maddie cute European style dresses and a coat, plus pens with feathers and some puffy stickers. And bought Abby a cute hat too. Marched over to the grocery store where we picked up another couple of pastries, some chocolate bars for friends and family, and some Pate for Gigi.

Raced through Madeleine shopping area trying to find Paris' oldest toy store. Couldn't find it, so we stopped and ate one of the pastries.

Marched to the Place de la Concorde - saw the obelisk that Napoleon brought back from Egypt, and the plaza where the infamous guillitone was. Ever since reading about the French Revolution and having nightmares about the Guillotine, it was interesting to see where it all was and to imagine what it might have looked like back then. They considered it a fast, humane way to die but I can't think of many other ways I wouldn't want to go.

Walked to Champs Elyses from Concorde. Stopped at Laduree for the worlds best Macarons (not coconut but a type of elegant cookie) and a delicious Relgious (like a creme puff but with yummy chocolate creme pudding inside). The place was elegant, yes, efficient, no.

Took a cab to Cafe Rouquet. At this point, there was no price I wasn't willing to pay to not walk. We sipped Hot Chocolate in the cafe, looking out to the street and the activities. Off to the side was a dude doing fancy stuff with his umbrella for fun.

Came back here to Hotel Saint Jacques. Let the swelling in our feet subside - watched the only English TV channel for an hour, and headed out for Gyros down the busy tourist lane.

Raced to boat ride from Pont Neuf on the Seine. Barely made it. Enjoyed sitting for an hour - the most I think we've rested except for sleeping. Saw everything again, this time from the water. Admired this beautiful city, but we're both ready to go home.

A brief note about the food.

We've eaten our way through this city as well...had some good food and some not so good food. Enjoyed pastries at every turn, more than a couple of crepes, the best chocolates I've ever had, and fancy desserts. But the dinners were just so-so. The salad dressing tastes like fish vinegrette. Turns out that Melanie likes Foie Gras; me, not so much. I do enjoy hot goat cheese on salad though.

Today we broke down and had Big Macs. We were hungry and tired of French food. Those Macs tasted so good.

My favorite and only crepe we bought here was been Nutella and coconut. Yum.

The pastries and bread are stunning works of art. If I were here I would be HUGE from eating them - they're everywhere, and I never had anything bad to eat from one of them.

The Hot Chocolate is yum as well - tastes like Gigi's recipe from Christmas.

Hotel Saint Jacques
Loved the location of this hotel, most of the Latin Quarter was super accessible and lots of cool things to see and do. The room looks like it was from the 1800's - I think that's when this bed was made (kind of teasing). The doorframe is super small, and the key is one of those old school ones. You leave the key with the attendant when you leave, and he gives it to you when you arrive back. The downsides? Well, it's super loud from the street and we continually hear little scooters going by. Also, we can hear our neighbors, and they presumable can hear us. Last night it sounded like they were coming in our room - maybe they were. Finally, we think the place is haunted. It has to be, it's too old. However, it's so loud that there's no way we would hear anything spooky such as creaking of doors or chains. That's par for the course here.

Conclusion

I'm so glad we were able to do this. We had a great time, and although the timing wasn't what we would plan, it was simply a beautiful time to visit. Just a little rain, not too cold, and not crazy crowds of people. I don't think there's much more we would need to do, so we probably won't be back till the girls are ready.

Viva La France

Paris, Day 3

Look, this trip has been mostly work to this point. Which is fine, because that's why I came. But I've really wanted to start getting into being in Paris. So tonight I was fortunate enough to go out with my friends Vanessa, Tarick, and Cedric. We went to a restaurant off the beaten path, but one that Vanessa really loved and which she thought I would like as well.

The place must have been 200 years old or something...really old feel to it. Had a great atmosphere to it, lots of locals just doing the French thing - wine, laughter, food. They eat so late, but really savor each moment and morsel. Something to be learned there.

The food was quite interesting. First, appetizers. They brought out the yummiest bread ever, just perfect crunch and texture. They ordered a cheese and meats tray, which ended up having a lot of yummy and interesting food. I don't know all that I ate, but some of it tasted like organs. The sausage was super fatty, which I guess is good. The meats were salty but savory, and the cheese was melt-in-your-mouth good.

For dinner they suggested I order a dish with white beans, meat, some veggies. I don't know if I loved it, but I will say this...I felt like I was in an authentic kitchen somewhere in the middle of France. It just tasted like home - like a big bowl your mom might give you on a cold night. I ate as much as I could, which wasn't much, and enjoyed the fact that there were huge bones and stuff in it. Very authentic.

Dessert was simply divine. They ordered a medley of dishes, and the chocolate was maybe the best I've had. The apple pie had a light and flaky crust, but super rich apples with spices and sugar. The chocolate cake...well, it was warm and soft and rich. The creme brulee was good as well, but compared to the others, child's play.

My friends were interesting and engaging. I really appreciated their speaking in Engligh. Sure, it would have been rude to not include me at all, but they went out of the way to ensure I had a good time, that I learned about their culture, and that we enjoyed the company. They also made sure that I got home safely via a taxi, which was nice.

I saw the Eiffel tower, and look forward to going up it. We ate near the Parthenon, which is where national heros are buried and where I actually want to go. They drove me past the Louvre, and a bunch of other buildings that I couldn't pronounce but which simply looked majestic.

Tonight was a great night. I took some photos of the restaurant, and will post them when I get home so I remember this night for a long time.

Glee

One of my new favorite TV shows this year is Glee. The pilot really rocked, and it's been tough for the season to compete. But the music and performances are really super, and there are enough funny moments to keep me going.

During the pilot the Glee cast performed "Don't Stop Believin". It was one of the best moments of TV for me in a long time - super catchy and fun, especially given the context.

I showed the girls the performance, and they loved it too and we've all been listening to it since. In fact, Maddie totally cranks that song and sings. We've done duets to it, and when we play it in the car she totally sings the girl part and I sing the boy part. It's super funny to hear her singing the words "Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world, she took the midnight train going anywhere."

Paris, Day 1

I arrived in Paris today after a grueling 10 hour flight (over the North Pole). Soren, my manager, said not to take a rest but to hit the streets and get to bed early - it's the only way to combat jet lag. So I heeded his wise cousel and had my first day in Paris.

I arrived at my hotel room, dropped off my stuff, packed my man purse and jumped on the metro. I was nervous to be doing this on my own. I'm not adventerous, or well travelled internationally. And other than a brief, 1 year stint with French in High School I really really don't know French at all (in fact, the only thing I remember about that class is my French name - Xavier!). Plus, traveling by yourself is a real stinker - even if I had a buddy to hang with it would have been better. All that aside, I conquered a fear today by heading out myself, and that's a good thing.

My destination was the Louvre. That place was freakin' amazing. I've never seen such a museum, and the size, scale, and grandeur blew my mind. I saw all of the biggies - Mona Lisa, Venus Di Milo, the Egyptian antiquities, the Greek and Roman statutes. I think it's comforting to see the past, because it helps us see our place in something bigger. And going through that museum was like taking a walk through time. Really, really cool.

I messed up on one of my train stops and ended at the Arc De Triumph which was cool. From there I looked down the Champs Elysse and a glimpse of the Eiffle Tower. Oh, and I saw a Mime (I wanted to kick him in the Chotch, but I restrained myself and just watched) and was hit up by a teenager from Bosnia for money (sorry girl, but all I had was 50 Euros, which is like $100 US dollars, and I couldn't part with it. And by the way, you were mean - asking me if I spoke English, watching me get excited to talk with someone, and then all you're doing is asking me for money...shame on you!).

All in all, I felt like I had a good start to my Paris adventure.

While laying in bed...

I decided to sleep in a little today, a gift to myself. I have no meetings, it's Friday, I'm leaving for Paris tomorrow, and I have been working my butt off lately.

While lying there, I listened to my family getting ready. I love to hear the hustle and bustle, and even with my eyes closed I can visualize what everyone's doing.

As I listened to Maddie I realized two things.

1) She talks about every 20 seconds. She's always talking, asking questions, interacting, making stuff up, being creative. She's a huge talker and has a serious gift of gab. And honestly she has a lot to say for being so small. She's very excited about her world, and that's really really fun to witness.

2) She laughs a lot. That makes me happy, because it means she's got a great sense of humor - a must have in this world. It's also one of the things that I like about myself (that is, that little things make me giggle). I try to take a lighter look at the world, and I really hope she is able to maintain a great, silly, up beat outlook on life too.

Thanks Maddie, for reminding me that there's a lot to laugh at and many reasons for us to be happy.

Family vacation

Had a really nice time with the family this last week as we spent a week in Orlando. I love spending time with my girls, and really enjoyed playing with them and spending good quality time together. Swimming, playing, shopping, laughing - really good time.

Some highlights:

Spending time with Mel. We both work a lot of hours, and it was nice to not think about work and to spend some nice time with Mel. She loves vacations, and plans them so nicely. And for me it was really really great to spend time with the love of my life.

Abby and Peter got to fight Darth Vader in the Jedi Academy - they both gave him a good fight, and didn't go to the dark side! Maddie said she wanted to fight him too, but called him Dark Gator.

We love swimming in the OKW pool, and Maddie is making real strides being comfortable in the water. She's still very scared, but is getting a little braver. We also had fun with a new game called "Don't wake the gator" - where I close my eyes and listen for Abby to splash and then try and tag her.

It was great seeing Jake and his family too. Although I only got to spend a few days with them, it was awesome to see how Cody, Ella, Sam, Peter, and Kipp were growing and developing. It makes me so happy to know that all of my siblings have really really great families who are just really great people. I really enjoyed trick or treating with Cody through the Magic Kingdom, going around and around at each stop to get as much candy as possible.

Sleeping. I got to work late every night, and slept in the morning. It's fun for me to stay up late, and wake up late and a vacation where I'm getting up too early or going to bed at a set time just doesn't feel right.

Musings

Today I met with my VP to share the plans around a marketing campaign I'm building. He's a super sharp, super direct fellow who likes to drill deeply on anything and who can take the conversation anywhere. So the advice that we were given was "be prepared and know your stuff". True to form, he spent the first hour talking business and marketing strategy - no slides, no charts - just pure understanding of the business from every angle. It all flowed easily - the man knows our business, and sitting there he pushed me and my partner in ways that were terribly uncomfortable, but insightful.

It reminds me that MS is a great place to work for a number of reasons, but as I approach my first year anniversary I think it's amazing how much I've grown and how being around really REALLY smart people helps to sharpen you. If and when I leave, I don't imagine there will be any challenges that I can't solve or work through. That doesn't mean that I know everything - far from it. But I do think that I have more confidence to attack problems, collaborate, and get things done. When you're pushed and pulled and asked continually to do new and different things enough, you realize that you're up to the challenge. That's one of the great things that will come from this experience. It's hard, and frustrating, and challenging. And so many times I wish I were in a simple job doing simple things. But if this is the right place for me, and I think it is, then at the end of this adventure I'm going to be wicked sharp. Looking forward to that!