Venice

Bologna, as it turns out, is only 1 1/2 hrs by train to Venice, and 30 min to Florence.  Great!  We decided to take advantage of the closeness and schedule a few side trips.  I was last in Venice in 1999 and remembered loving the city.  It did not disappoint this time either, and I had fun remembering certain sights, restaurants, and memories.

There was a ton of kid appeal to the fact that ALL traffic in Venice was boat traffic.  Even things like the garbage "boat" fascinated the kids for long periods of time.  We often had to drag them away from bridges with the promise of other boats to come.  They especially liked the gondolas, which we could not afford to ride, but we did take a water "bus" at the end of the day.  Here's the family under the Rialto Bridge.

 And on top of the bridge

We ended up getting lunch from a grocery store and finding a cute square (with pidgins, of course) to eat in.  Again, highlights for the kids were little things, like pizza and strawberries and oreos for lunch.

 Ben also found his favorite spot (after the bridges of course)...a gelato store with a big ice cream cone trash can out front!  I had to work hard to keep the kids from actually licking the trash can...

 Another view of the Rialto Bridge over Venice's Grand Canal

 One of Venice's many beautiful bridges.  Amazing that the buildings come right up out of the water.  And part of a gondola sailing away under the bridge...

 We walked from the train station to St. Mark's Square...it took awhile but the walk was part of the fun.  The cathedral was as grand and gilded as I remembered it being.  We decided not to climb the tower or go into Doge's Palace, instead spending more time in the cathedral and by the water.

 Finally, we headed back to the train station via the public transportation system...a boat bus.  It was a fun and cheaper way to get a canal cruise.  The kids also loved this part.

 After a long day of walking, we enjoyed the last of the Oreos on the train ride home.  Good job, kids!

Josh Garrels

As I have written before, I am sad that I didn't more widely advertise the year that Josh Garrel's Love & War & The Sea in Between was free.  Well, it's free again for a couple weeks, along with 4 other great albums.  So go to Noisetrade.com and download them.  Definitely the best new musical discovery for us in several years.  You can leave a tip if you prefer, and 100% of proceeds will go to World Relief's efforts in Congo.

Bologna

After giving ourselves a few days of recovery time at home after the team retreat (parents of small children will understand this...vacation is normal work in a different location with probably less sleep because we're all in the same room...), we boarded a train for Italy!  Eric's cousin Britta is married to an Italian and they live in Bologna.  We missed the Italian wedding (since we were in the US) and their US reception (since we were in France) last summer, go figure, but wanted to take probably our only opportunity to visit European family, only about 5-6 hours away by train.

It took three trains to get us to Bologna, not bad, but that also required a train station change in Milan, which we had just over an hour for.  We looked at the city map, plotted out directions, and found it was only 1.5km, very doable.  Until we realized it was nigh on impossible to walk between the train stations due to a key tunnel on the map that was closed to pedestrians.  Using our English and broken French, we finally figured out that there was a Metro station that connected the 2 train stations in just 2 stops.  Whew.  That was the first of many transportation adventures to come... The rest of our trip down was uneventful.

I had been to Italy before (unlike the rest of my family) but never Bologna.  It was a nice base for some of our day trips, and of course we enjoyed seeing Britta and meeting her husband Luca.  Some pictoral highlights below.

A Neptune statue in the heart of Bologna's city square

Next to the Neptune statue, Maggie and Ben show off the Italian version of a drinking fountain

Almost every sidewalk in Bologna is porticoed, which means that in rain, snow, intense sunshine, etc...there's always covered walkways!  Very pretty (despite the dog poo everywhere)

 Britta took us to see the seven churches.  Really!  You walk into the first one and one after another, all seven are connected either directly or through courtyards.  All built in different times with different styles.  Very cool.

 An outdoor market street in the "tourist" district

 Bologna also features many towers.  The wealthy/ruling families of the day would all build towers for security and also to display their wealth.  Some are open for climbing, including the tallest (featured on the right).  The kids and I were not up for it, but Eric took the challenge and came away with some great photos.

(crazy stairs on the way up)

 (and the view from the top, looking out over cathedrals and red tiled roofs)

More of the red roofs...from Britta and Luca's apartment.

 The kids, as usual, enjoyed the small things.  A playground, chasing pidgins in the square, gelato, and noodles every night for dinner!

We arrived not long after carnival time in Italy...Maggie loved trying on Britta's special mask.  This ironically is our only photo of Britta...we remembered that we should have gotten a photo on the day we were leaving, but Britta and Luca were still in pajamas.  Whoops.  Oh well.  Thanks for wonderful hospitality and a great trip, guys!

Team Retreat

We had a really nice winter vacation this year--2 weeks at the end of February and the beginning of March.  Because of #3's upcoming arrival in April, we knew the April/May vacation was not an ideal time to plan any big trips, so wanted to go to Italy to visit Eric's cousin Britta for a week.  We have LOTS of pictures from that trip and will post a few blogs in the days to come.

But first...our team has been hard at work here in Albertville.  Language study has been difficult, yes, but there have been other issues surrounding our team as well that have really worn us out.  Christmas vacation, due to travel and such, was a fun time but not really restful for anyone.  Our team has enjoyed a lot of time together but not much "down time" these past months.  So it was decided to head south to a missionary retreat center for a weekend of team time.  No processing, no business, just fun and relaxation.  It was great!  After the initial hiccups of rental car debacles, traffic jams on the autoroutes, a prolonged IKEA stopover (to eat meatballs which may or may not have contained horse meat, we later discovered), and a snowstorm, we all arrived safe and sound at Entrepierres, a small stone village in Sisteron set aside for missionary retreats.  Their largest building, La Grange, was big enough for all 16 of us (plus Katherine) to settle into.

We enjoyed wonderful meals in community, games, a Sunday morning worship service, walks in the snow, fires in the fireplace, relaxation, and kids' entertainment.  Just what everyone needed!  So blessed to be a part of this amazing group of people.

 Maggie and Ben helping Daddy out with some Sunday morning worship

 The kids all played so well together!  They loved crafts, dancing, singing, Ipads...

 An outside view of our place, a beautifully converted and renovated barn, with some lovely scenery behind.

 The kids all enjoyed some Narnia retellings by Aunt Katherine, as well as (for Anna and Elise) a crochet project

 Meals in community...a bit chaotic, but lots of fun and very yummy!

 Playing hide and seek as only 4 and unders can..."hiding" as a group behind the kitchen door.  REALLY great hiding spot. :)

 The kids spent a lot of time standing in the window behind a living room couch, hiding behind the curtains and popping out to give puppet shows and concerts

 Girl time snuggling with Aunt Sarah on the couch

Ben Turns Tee-yew!

Hard to believe it was 2 years ago that I was walking up a hill in the dark to Tenwek Hospital, where my sweet little boy was born less than an hour later.  But here we are!  I have a cute little 2 year old, with a head full of curly blond hair, a sweet smile, and a usually sunny but also determined temperament.  He loves cars, trucks, Nemo, and Lightening McQueen (keen!) and gives a great kiss as well as a great pouty look.  Ah, two.  We taught him how to hold up 2 fingers and say, "I'm two!" which comes out like "tee-yew."  So proud of himself.  And he has walked around the house singing happy birthday to himself for the past several days.

To celebrate, we just had our team over for owl cake and ice cream (Ben also loves his "hoo hoo.").  It was fun, and we were also able to skype/call family members to share in the celebration and open gifts.  Happy birthday, sweetie!

"Ski" Day!

I had this post all ready and forgot about it...better late than never!  Our whole school took a "field trip" up to a nearby ski resort on Valentine's Day.  I have skied before, if you count Wisconsin and Minnesota hills as skiing, but Eric has never been before.  This is probably the only time in our lives when we'll live in the Alps, so we decided to go.  I of course was out (downhill skiing NOT being one of the recommended activities for pregnant ladies to engage in), but went along to enjoy the alpine scenery.

Eric bravely strapped on his skis and after a few pointers, headed down the bunny slopes.  Here he is! (seconds before wiping out)

Maggie came along as well, and we tried a variety of activities such as sledding.  She was not so game at first, especially because Eric had been reading her Frog and Toad stories about sleds crashing into trees, but as long as she was sitting on my lap on the sled she enjoyed it.

After about 2 hrs, Eric decided he was done with his lift pass and needed a break.  So Maggie and I were able to ride the ski lift up to a beautiful panoramic view of the surrounding mountains.  Gorgeous!  Maggie had no fear of heights.  The lift ride took at least 5 minutes, much longer than the Wisconsin version. :)

Mags and I also rode the "Mountain Twister", a roller coaster type sled that went around lots of curves quickly.  I couldn't see why a pregnant lady and 3 yr old shouldn't be able to ride it.  She loved the speed and so did I. :)  So in the end, not a whole lot of skiing happened on our ski day, but it was fun none the less and we enjoyed a chance to see the beautiful mountains and beautiful views.

Adventures in the Kitchen, Part II

For Christmas, I bought Eric a Savoie cookbook (the Savoie region is the part of France we like in, close to the Alps, like a state in the US).  The best we can tell, their food seems to be exactly what you'd expect to see from cold mountain winters: recipes composed mainly of cheese, potatos, and bacon.  We've made a variety of things with a fair bit of success.  It has been fun to try them out!

Last week, we invited some friends over to try raclette.  This seems very similar to the idea behind fondue, except that you have a grill and melt the cheese under a broiler instead of in a pot, and then you pour it over other stuff.  But it's still all about the cheese. :)  Pictured below is Eric preparing the meal (le repas).  You can see the raclette grill (which we borrowed from the singles' kitchen) and little handles sticking out.  There are little trays that you set the cheese in and it broils in there, while you can grill meat (etc) on the top.

 (space for broiling the cheese seen below)

 Traditionally, you serve the cheese with bits of sausage or ham, bread, and boiled potatos.  We added the classic pickles and olives to the mix (not that we ate them WITH cheese, just next to the cheese).

 The cheese, meat, and mushrooms cooking up.

 

 A beautiful spread on the table...

 Ben, despite the fact that he was sick all day, pronounced it a success! (as did the rest of us)

The next recipe was a bit stranger...farcemain.  You combine potatos with dried fruit and put them into a cake mold lined with bacon, then cook it up for 3-4 hrs in a water bath.  An interesting combo of sweet and salty that took Eric quite a bit of time to prepare.

The finished product in below.  Interesting.  Tasty.  But we may not try it again! :)  More French cooking to come in the months ahead, I'm sure.

Urban Lions

Great article about lions in Nairobi.  I can picture the district of town this is in.  We have been there many times.  And I love all the safari pop-top vans that come out of nowhere to watch the wildlife.  Click here to read the article:

Chasing Andrew Peterson in Concert

It was 1998, and I was a freshman at Belmont.  My friend Stephen played me a couple songs from a compilation CD.  It was a friend of his from Florida.  I liked it, but declined his invitation to go see his live show.  Why?  Because when you live in Nashville, there is always another concert to see.

This was the first time I heard Andrew Peterson, and since then, I have grown to appreciate his music and songwriting more and more.

I moved to Ann Arbor in 2002, and when I would come back to Tennessee to visit, I was more eager to see good shows when they were offered.  Jeff Bourque asked if I wanted to go and see Andrew at the Franklin Mercantile with Andrew Osenga, Jeremy Casella, and Matthew Perryman Jones.  Since I had never seen him, I definitely was excited.  They were taking turns sharing songs.  AP would go last, and during the third song, he left the stage suddenly.  He returned to say that his kid had suddenly gotten sick, and he had to go.  Alas.

Andrew never came to Ann Arbor during my seven years there.  Around 2004, I told my parents that he was doing a Christmas show in Nashville, and they have since enjoyed multiple rounds of his Christmas home show.  Meanwhile, Rachel and I look every year at the schedule and try to finagle how we can make a show.  This past year, wandering through 29 states of our fair country, we would periodically check his schedule to see if we could intersect.  We made a couple plans, but they always fell apart.

Rachel (who by now has the same desire to catch him live sometime) had an idea last December.  Through a website called StageIt, she discovered that Andrew sometimes gives live web concerts, that a certain number of people can buy "tickets" to.  There was one on his Christmas tour.  Did we want to try it?  It's not the same thing, but considering that we live in France, and are moving to Burundi, perhaps we shouldn't be too picky.

Let's do it.  We bought the ticket.  Andrew got to his next concert venue only to discover that the internet there wasn't fast enough to webcast the concert.  So it was cancelled.  Such is our destiny.

But with the new year came another StageIt show, this time from his home.  We had nothing to lose, since StageIt had given us credit in their account when the last one was cancelled, so we signed on again.

The time came, we logged on, et voila!  

The internet was too slow in our apartment to stream the show.  So we hoofed it to the hallway outside our apartment to get closer to the wireless router.  Still no good.  So we went down a flight of stairs, and sat directly beneath the router.  It worked just well enough.  Here's the photo.  Sitting in the dark (the lights are on a timer) on the floor of our ancient French apartment building, we finally enjoyed almost an hour of Andrew playing songs, with help from Andy Gullahorn and Randall Goodgame.  We heard some new cover tunes, and a couple stories behind songs that we hadn't known before.  

A long-evaded goal finally achieved?  Not totally, but we're happy enough for now.