Troy at the Championships

Troy at Henmen Hill, check out the ominous clouds behind him!
Lunch with Boris Becker
And Pat Cash...
Andy Roddick with his chair turned sideways - no idea why?!
Roddick crouching during a serve.

Troy, being the lucky guy that he is, was invited to an afternoon at Center Court for Wimbledon, with lunch before play started hosted by Boris Becker & Pat Cash.

He ended up seeing Andy Roddick play before the rain out began. Amazing how fast they get the court covered!

Happy Father's Day!

Flying with Daddy -
So high that my head hurts!
Troy in a park cafe on Father's Day. A wonderful life...
Sophia's first steps!!
A bit of a rest - walking is hard work.

Another Sunday, a wonderful Father's Day & an afternoon in the Park, what could be better?

Sophia took her first steps on her own today! With lots of encouragement from Troy & I she actually walked between the two of us as we were sitting in the park. We were so excited we only took a couple of photos... YEA! I'm sure she will be running circles around us soon, but in the meantime it is so exciting to see this little person stumble along this big earth.

Sundays in Paris

Sophia over looking the Dean's garden at the Cathedral. She keeps looking for kitty cats! Apparently there is one in the tower...


Sophia & Troy on our way home thru Trocadero. She is one tired little girl after all of the play she does in the nursery.
Sometimes there are actually people swimming in the fountain!

Sundays are becoming great family days for us in Paris. We usually attend mass at the American Cathedral, and then a walk home by the park at Trocadero, just to look at the Eiffel Tower & enjoy the sunshine a bit, before heading back to the apartment for naps. It is a lazy, wonderful day, and we hope this pace continues.

The Cathedral has been a great entry into Paris & a community for us. Ideally, we would like to attend a French church. However, understanding the service is pretty important to us, and we have been so impressed with the homilies, and the friendliness of everyone in the parish. There seems to be a lot of couples our age, it helps they have a young priest who is heading up a 20s/30s group, and they have a nursery where Sophia can go & play while Troy & I have a date, at church.

Sundays are also so lazy because there is nothing open that doesn't revolve around food! The corner markets are still there, ready with plastic glasses, cheese, & a wine opener for impromptu picnic. Of course we still have 2 bakeries to choose from, by law there must be a bakery open every day of the year within a certain distance from each other. We are trying out all of the bakeries in our neighborhood. So far they are all good, but I'm sure we will start picking favorites soon!

Overnight in Chantilly

Sophia peeking around a stairwell - good practice for walking!
The Zs in the grounds of the Chateau.

The horse stables at the Chateau. Apparently the King was convinced (probably by his horse trainer) that he was going to be reincarnated as a horse, so he built a separate palace for the horses - fit for a King. Today there are still very posh horse races every season, sponsored by Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moet & Chandon, etc. Still fit for a King.



Troy had a speaking engagement at a Chateau near Chantilly (lots of lace & cream), so we decided to go with him. It was an easy overnight, only an hour from Paris, but gave us a little bit of an escape. Plus the hotel where we stayed was a converted Chateau, and when else would we be able to stay at a place like that?!

We had a great time wandering around thru the gardens of the Chantilly Chateau, however because it was a Tuesday, the grounds closed for lunch - you've gotta love the work hours here for civil servants - so we had to come back on Wednesday afternoon. It was so beautiful, and we never even made it inside! (from what we have read the inside of the Chateau isn't that great, heavy on the tapestries).

Memorial Weekend at the Lake

BBQs and lake time, what better way is there to spend Memorial Day Weekend when in the US?

What a fun time, and the weather actually co-operated a bit with enough sunshine for Sean to go swimming, and for the rest of us to be outside watching and playing.

Back to Seattle

Yes we have only been gone 6 weeks & we are already back to Seattle for a bit. Troy had a conference at corporate this week, so we thought we would combine a bit of homesickness, with the transition to our "real" apartment, and Memorial Day weekend for a 10 day visit. Needless to say it was a whirlwind experience, but so much fun... Jet lag isn't so bad going back to the US.

Sunday afternoon was fantastic, a great Mariners game, and then play time at the park with Sean. One of the best parts was the swing, we can't find swings in Paris - I think they take up too much space in a city of 15 million people & judging from the Lord of the Flies at the playground there, swings would be dangerous. Needless to say, Sophia was in heaven & collapsed into bed with a great big smile on her face.

The only one missing was Uncle Brehan, still in Hamburg on his birthday - Happy Birthday!

Springtime in Paris...

Playing in the parks with Mommy & Daddy
Learning to walk in the Bois de Boulogne
Standing near the lake of the Bois de Boulogne
Pushing the walker around the apartment; it is amazing how loud little people can be when they are learning how to walk!

Sunday afternoons are part of lazy days in Paris. Most of the shops are closed, so we spend our time exploring the new neighborhoods and parks around us. The Bois de Boulogne is located along the edge of Paris in bordering the 16th, and has quite the Dr Jeckel & Mr Hyde reputation. During the day (on weekends) there are an amazing amount of activites to be found; swimming (in pools), renting boats & bicycles, family gatherings & picnicing, runners, bikers, and a few horses to round out the menegarie. At night, however, well... Lets just call it the Garden of Earthly Delights, and leave it at that.

Sophia is getting rather desperate to learn how to walk. We purchased a Winnie the Pooh push walker to assist her (she calls it Pooh Pooh), and to give our backs a break. Plus she was pushing the little side tables around the temporary apartment, and kept hitting the edge of the carpet & both of them would go tumbling over. We thought wheels would be safer.

More Hamburg & on to Munster

Brehan, Moya, Sophia & Troy on the Aussenalster after Sunday morning brunch.
Sophia & Troy with a very scary swan
Uncle Brehan helping Sophia with walking & swinging.
Playing with chairs in the rain at the Munster beer festival.
The Munster Festival.

After a great lazy Sunday morning with Brehan, we had brunch at a very funky cafe on the Aussenalster, one of the lakes in Hamburg, and then began the long drive back to Paris. Unfortunately, getting on the road at 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon, after a long holiday weekend out of a Hamburg Party was not the best idea. The drive on the autobahn went from 150kph to 0 every other mile and it was exhausting!!! We ended up getting off the autobahn, and taking the side highways to the next largest town where we thought we could find a hotel. It basically took us just over 5 hours to go about 90 miles, where we decided to stop & spend the night before doing the other 7 hours of the drive on Monday.

We ended up in a little town called Munster, at the end of their weekend beer festival. We were able to grab a couple of beers, enjoy the music, have a late dinner, pick up some bootleg CDs for the long drive the next day, and found a hotel with a very large closet (for the all important pack & play).

The drive the next day was much more pleasant!

Hamburg with Uncle Brehan

Brehan & Moya in the pedestrian zone downtown by the city hall.
The remains of the bumbed out church of St Nikolai - a sybmol against war.
Beers & Fish & Chips at the harbour festival!
Breakfast in Brehan's kitchen