We had waffles for breakfast, went to Color Me Mine, went to Claire’s to pick out her gifts, ate dinner at the Olive Garden, came home for presents, piñata and ice cream cake, and all around had a very fun day. Nana joined us for dinner and Tom and Suzanne joined us for the party afterward.
Also, Abe had allergy testing done and found out he is very allergic to grass. Those big welts are all grass. Littler welts include weeds and mold.
Clarissa lights up our lives every single day. She is eye-poppingly precocious, silly, fun and charming. I love it when she uses the word, “indeed!” She also says, “What the heck!!” to our continual amusement. When she really loves something (for example, a hat on the rack), she declares it her “one true love.” She adores unicorns, fireworks, rollercoasters, playing with her siblings, sugar, screens, pools, baths, rivers, fountains (water in every form, really), drawing, coloring, crafting, dolls, and all types of pretend. She does not like hiking, long walks, being cold, being hungry, being sleepy, and not being heard. She says, “uuuuugh!” when she is frustrated, laughs and squeals when happy, and cries when corrected. She is the cutest.
We all love you so much, Clarissa! Happy birthday!!!!
To our surprise, our little fruit trees which we only bought this year have already yielded a lot of fruit. We didn’t get any plums, but we’ve gotten a lot of peaches and apples. Turns out that Basil really likes the apples:
The kids have been waking up between three and four all week. One morning the kids made a nest and all watched things on the computer which they put on the ground. Lily and I have been delirious with fatigue to the nest was there throughout the week. Here is a slow motion video showing some fun Ammon and Clarissa were having falling into the nest.
Lily was particularly tired tonight, but she still made an amazing pasta with pees and egg. She rested after dinner while I got Clarissa’s balloons and pinata with Mary (Mary picked the pinata), tidied and decorated. Lily helped finish with cleaning and decorations. We were both excited at how things looked for our little girl!
All in all (except for Lily’s first night home when she barely slept), I’m amazed at how everyone has adjusted to the time change. The kids went to bed at a good time last night, and even though they woke up between 3 and 4, they did not bother me and Lily. Even though our sleep was broken, we still got sleep, and we both felt tired, but better than we did yesterday.
They kids had a good last day of summer at home.
Mary made a banner for Clarissa (who is very aware that her birthday is coming up).
Here is Clarissa showing off her flexibility. I saw her and Ammon working on their flexibility under the direction of Lydia yesterday and it was a very cute scene.
Lily had been listening to a ton of podcasts lately. Today she listened to Sam Harris, Joe Rogan and others. She’s so informed and I love hearing what she’s learned and occasionally finding time to listen with her!
I personally had a very hard day at work. It started great when I had a great chat with Georgia on my way to work. But I felt fatigued today and ran straight into the wall of work that I came back to. To make things more challenging, we lost a key deal, and my rep and I were criticized very directly by two people I deeply respect. Their critiques were valid and I will grow from the experience, but it was a very tough pill to swallow.
After work, I went swimming with the family. The sunshine, music and being with family put me in a much better mood. Lily swam some laps and then offered to switch so I could swim laps, but then the kids wanted to go down the steep slide. I had sooooo much fun. Lydia, Mary and Ammon all went down the steep slide for the first time ever. I was so proud (especially since Lydia and Mary felt afraid).
Lily made a great pasta dinner and we also ate some tomatoes from the garden with balsamic vinegar. They turned out really good this year.
Lily and I were both still tired today, and I think we will get more in a rhythm as the days go on. Also, Lydia and Mary start school tomorrow!
The kids loved getting to know the Mangelsons at church camp and at our giant get together before we left for Europe. They also talked about Lily, Sophie and Grant a lot during our time in Europe. Brittany and I arranged a play date for the day after we got back, and so I spent most of the morning before that just trying to sort through the laundry and get the house kind of in shape for a chaos-free play date. Everyone had a great time!
The only picture we have of the day is of Ammon drinking a smoothie Lydia and Mary made.
Also, we were all very tired this day. Everyone woke up before 4am, and Abe really felt the jet lag at work. But he powered through!
On Sunday we Ubered over to lower Manhattan and started off at the charging bull in the financial district.
Tourists rub this enlarged appendage for good luck in the stock market.
Then we visited Trinity Church and found the Hamiltons’ grave sites!
Then we walked over to the National Museum of the American Indian.
the beautiful rotunda
Clarissa found all sorts of displays that matched the cards on her treasure hunt
Abe fell in love with the work of Oscar Howe. I loved what I saw but rushed through the exhibit trying to keep up with Ammon.
After the museum we headed over to Battery Park.
We got a kick out of how similar the carousel in Battery Park is to the CoC temple in Missouri!
I told the kids we have ancestors who came over in the potato famine.
Magical carousel.
The kids really liked the carousel, especially Ammon and Clarissa:
Then we headed over the 9/11 memorials. We saw the fountains, the Oculus, and ate lunch at Oculus. We had dessert at Eataly.
Lydia remembered reading a book about this heroic fireman who kept a bandana in his pocket.
The Oculus.
Eataly.
Then we headed over to the 9/11 museum.
We spent hours in this museum and could have used at least another. The exhibits are incredibly well done.
Then we headed to our hotel to grab our bags. It was windy waiting for the airport shuttle so the kids huddled together.
Then it was time to fly home! Tom and Suzanne went out of their way to park our car in a spot very close to the airport exit. Since it was almost midnight when we arrived, we were very grateful for the shorter walk.
This was one of our favorite trips of all time. What a great day to conclude it!
On our last day in Paris we checked out of our hotel, the Hotel Saint-Germain. We walked to the Museum of Natural History and ate one last breakfast at a boulangerie with some outdoor seating en route.
We arrived at the Jardin des Plants, one of the strong settings in one of my favorite novels, All the Light We Cannot See. This was a trip loosely based around the book because in St. Malo we were constantly talking about that novel too. But it was so fun to walk through the Jardin des Plants and arrive at the hall of mineralogy! That is a major part of the novel, and Mary said it was her favorite place of the entire trip.
Our kids playing in the jardin des plantes
Then we toured the onsite enormous greenhouse:
Afterward we walked to the Seine, stopped at a playground, and then bought gifts for friends at the bookseller stalls along the river.
We were decision-fatigued from all of the restaurant choices and made a bad choice for lunch. But it was nice to get out of the heat, and the kids tried their first escargot. Mary refused.
After we got one last ice cream.
Then we caught a taxi to the airport. In the car, people did created dances inspired by different (often every-day) activities:
When we arrived we realized we had left the laptop bag at the hotel! Luckily we were early enough that Abe had time to go back, grab the bag, and come back in time to get the flight. Some angel attendant helped me get everyone and everything else checked in the meantime.
The kids were exhausted when we landed in New York. The whole airtrain-to-shuttle-to-hotel route was way too much to ask on top of their initial level of fatigue, but they made it through (with Ammon and Clarissa sobbing almost the whole time).
They slept through the entire night and so did almost all of the rest of us. That was amazing because it was our first night back in the States!
On Friday we got in our car and drove from Basel to Paris. We loved that there were no signs on the French highways except for the artistic posters announcing each town, but in that visually decluttered environment it was hard for us to figure out where to pull off for food. We ended up making a long detour that seemed to take us to the middle of nowhere but dropped us off across the highway from a fast food and gas center. Abe and Mary walked across the bridge and picked up some food for us, and then we continued on to the airport to return our rental car.
After dropping off our car we taxied to Paris to our hotel, which I had booked in a more central location than last time. We dropped off our stuff and headed out to the Luxembourg Gardens which were relatively close.
It was really hot so we got the kids ice cream and water.
At the gardens.
The kids spent an hour playing with boats.
Lydia’s boat kept getting stuck in the middle of the fountain.
Here are a bunch of videos about the mini-sailboat fun everyone had:
Afterward the kids played in a playground and I eavesdropped on the Italian tourists behind me. One of the reasons I love Europe is because I get to practice different languages at the same time. I would love, love, love to spend enough time there to finally get fluent in at least one of them someday.
Then we walked to dinner. We ate crepes just as good as the ones in Brittany, although I think St. Malo restaurants have better ambience. At least they are more shady and less crowded than Paris (and I happened to sweat a lot less there).
Veggie crepe.
Then we walked home and went to bed. Our hotel could only put three people in a room at a time so we split up for the night.
Today was my FAVORITE day of the whole entire trip. I absolutely loved Germany, and spending a day there with Anthony, Malika and their kids was the greatest. No amount of blog raving will do the day justice–it included delicious food, a great museum/furniture store, fun for the kids in the form of an incredible slide, and a swim in the Rhine!!! That could not be topped.
The fabulously comfortable chair Malika told us about.
pretending to have a board meeting.
The slide! The kids and dads went down a lot.
We pretended to have a board meeting in one of their innovative conference sofas
After the Vitra design stop, went to a giant slide. The kids went nuts for it, especially Ammon and Clarissa. Clarissa was scared at first and hilariously screamed the whole way down. This video is of her second way down (she’s on Abe’s lap):
The kids also played a little at a playground in Vitra.
Then we drove to a nearby German town for lunch and cake. Afterward we took a short walk on a nearby hill leading to a forest and then picked flowers at a nearby flower-field that sold pick-your-own flowers.
There were wild blackberries and raspberries all around. We also bought fresh produce including blackberries and raspberries on our way out.
picking raspberries by the road.
wonderful fountain.
on our after lunch walk.
picking gladiolas to bring home.
Malika arranging flowers.
Malika’s arrangement matches her dad’s artwork on the walls.
Then Malika and I took the bus down to where people get into the river. It was the highlight of the whole trip for me. The weather was absolutely perfect. I love being in natural water, and that I was in the Rhine made it all the more exciting. Also I enjoy talking with Malika so much. She is so intelligent and wise, and I learn so much from her. It was just the greatest float!
On the bank of the Rhine before walking in to float in it!
At home Abe and Anthony were playing games with the kids and eating pizza. After our swim we had some pizza and then I took pictures of some of the books on their bookshelf so I could remember to check them out when we got home. I also took pictures of Anthony and Malika’s books.
The kids made grape juice from their vines.
Tasting the juice.
Our kids adored Emile and Amalia, and they could not stop talking about them for the rest of the trip. I loved seeing the circle of friendship continue. This was the true highlight of the trip for me–the best day in a series of truly incredible days!
This is Abe interjecting here. Tonight after the kids went down, Anthony and I went on a run at night through the forest. We stayed on the wider paths and the moon was nearly full, so lighting worked out even though it was night. It felt like old times as we used to run together. We talked and got caught up on life. After running we went back to his place and sat on the porch and talked all about life, facing death, religion, my spiritual journey, Anthony’s journey in Switzerland and his trying to decide if he wants to make more friends and more. It was a solid heart-to-heart and it left me loving him even more than before (if that’s possible). Anthony is such a good dude, and I can’t believe I’ve had the gift of having his close friendship since first grade. My time with him tonight was super special and a highlight of the trip for me.
As Lily loves windows, here is her beloved window view in the Swiss Airbnb. We stayed in Basel just a block away from Anthony and Malika.
And here is the front door. Isn’t it cute?
Anthony and Malika were the most incredible hosts. They fed us a wonderful breakfast before we headed out for the day.
Our first activity was at the paper museum, but we needed to cross the Rhine to get there.
We saw a lot of people floating down the Rhine. Lily especially was excited at the idea, and it gave her an idea for the next day.
We found this incredible model of Basel for blind people. Their are braille labels and buildings so blind people can get a sense of the city and what is where. In All the Light You Cannot See, Marie Laure’s father makes her a models of the cities they live in to help her navigate the cities. It was awesome to see a real one of those.
The paper museum was a blast. Gutenberg invented the printing press near Basel, so not only was Basel one of the first big printing cities, but it also was big into paper production once demand went up from the printing press. It was amazing to see how some of the machines worked in the olden days.
All of the kids got to make their own paper from old jeans. We learned later that in the early days of European paper, paper was made from old clothes and rope. They would be put in rotting cellars until they got damp, rotten and even moldy. As the cloth started to decompose, it would break up and be great for making pulp for the paper.
We also go to use a real quill pen!
When we were finished inside the museum, all the kids and me did some marbling.
In order from left to right and top to bottom: Lydia, Mary, Clarissa, Ammon
Switzerland has these awesome small public pools all around that people can just dip in as they are going about their day. It was so fun, and refreshing as the weather was quite hot!
This was such interesting fountain they took us to. Apparently this is from a famous artist who made art out of junk.
I believe the same artist also made this sculpture. Anthony said that public urination is a problem in Basel and the inside of this sculpture often smells like pee. To our surprise we also found what appeared to be human poop in there. Yeah, that is a small problem. Basel overall was very clean, but Anthony said that the rest of Switzerland views Basel as the dirtiest city.
Anthony also said that every February, Basil has a massive carnival and people start drinking and partying at 4:00 AM. I’m sure that adds to the problems of people needing places to pee. So the city put up make-shift potties, even branding them with images of carnival goers to suggest their extra importance during carnival.
Apparently, needing places to urinate was also an ancient problem, and around Basil there are ancient public bathrooms.
apparently, these mailboxes were made famous by a novel. I’m not sure which one….
As we were walking Lily and the kids interacted with what Lily said was the cutest dog she had ever seen. Mary got some sweet licks from that adorable dog.
It’s a Sptiz Pomeranian that the owner bought at an Italian farm
We then spent time around Basel’s main ancient church building.
We crossed back over the Rhine and went back to Anthony and Malika’s place where they fed us the most delicious pasta with mushroom sauce.
Afterwards the kids all played in the yard while Lily and I relaxed in the yard.
I also played in the sandbox with Ammon which was really fun. We made pastries out of sand.
I can’t remember why Clarissa was so sad. She probably didn’t want to go when it was time.
After leaving Anthony’s we went to a nearby park for the kids to play at before bed-time. We had lots of fun with their swing.
We are so grateful to Anthony and Malika who fed us, showed us around, and gave all of us such great company with their family. We loved this day. It was one of our favorites of the whole trip!
We said goodbye to the beautiful chateau we had been staying at. Actually, the part we stayed in was originally a stable, but it had been remodeled to be a beautiful living space. Lily was particularly in love with the place (especially her window view) and she took these pictures to help her remember a place so special to her.
We then left to Chambord. On the way, we captured this picture and video of the sunflowers that we’d seen so much in the Loire valley.
Also, we stopped at a boulangerie for lunch. It was delicious!
I absolutely loved Chombord. The castle was so quirky. It was originally built in a swamp by Francis I, the same king who invited Leonardo da Vinci to live in France as his guest. The castle features a lot of influence from Leonardo and some people speculate he helped design it. The most obvious example of this is the double-helix staircase in the middle of the castles. Leonardo was obsessed with spirals and he thought that on some level they were a source of life. Also the entire part of the chateau around the staircase is made to look a bit like a machine or invention, which seems to nod to da Vinci.
But the thing that was most interesting to me is that the palace was never used much even though it is the largest in Loire valley (I think around 380 rooms). Francis 1 built it in the marsh because it is a good hunting area and he loved to hunt. But he was always traveling around and only stayed in it 4 times before he died. Later, it was gifted to an exiled Polish king who lived there 8 years and then up and left it with not regret because he did not like it there. Other people lived there too, but a common complaint was the mosquitos in the summer and the fierce winters. So it was only used sporadically and when Versailles was built, it no longer was as interesting to people and it went into decline until it was later restored. Also, because different people took interest in it at different times, it has different phases and styles built into it over time. It’s a bit wonky and Frankensteinish in my opinion, and I love it!
It’s a fascinating chateau. Here are some pictures!
Theater stageThis was the queen’s bedroom. If I remember correctly, she thought it was cold and draft and never liked the place.
Double-helix staircase.
We also visited this room and learned about how during World War II, France used Chambord as a staging and distribution center for relocating famous art so it would be protected from the Nazis. The Mona Lisa also has spent some time here.
Amazing gardens, but honestly we are garden snobs after Villandry. We were really hot too and so we didn’t walk through the gardens.
Then Lydia found a sweatshirt in the gift shop! She has persistently been seeking out a sweatshirt throughout the trip. She looked in multiple gift shops in St. Malo to no avail. And then she found the perfect pink sweatshirt at Chambord. It was so important to her and we were all so happy for her. Yay Lydia!
Also, Lily and the kids have been really great about writing post cards. Chambord had a mail box, so they all wrote and mailed more post cards.
After Chambord, we jumped in the car to drive to Switzerland to stay with our friends Anthony and Malika.
Ammon and Clarissa were tuckered after all the walking at Chambord. Because my back was still hurting from carrying Clarissaa too much earlier in the trip, I made her walk the whole way.
Lydia and Mary still had energy though 🙂
Around 7:00 we stopped in Dole for some food. We struggled to find a place to eat until we stumbled upon downtown and found a really good restaurant. Downtown Dole was so charming.
While eating, we heard music and wandered over to the street entertainers putting on a show for a crowd. We watched for a bit and enjoyed the view of the basilica before returning to our car.
The drive to Switzerland felt long, and I was tired, but I really enjoyed listening to the Sam Harris and All-in podcasts. I enjoyed even more talking about current events and the economy with the family. We pulled in around midnight and Anthony was so nice to wait for us. He had just gotten home from the United States with his family the day before! He had also helped line up our Airbnb for which we were grateful. I slept at his place after helping to get the kids down since there weren’t enough beds in the Airbnb.
