Austin

Last weekend to headed to Austin Texas to take a train ride and see the city with our friends: Takaharu, Tomoko and Hatz. We love them! We met them in Michigan while Takaharu was doing a one year law program. We are lucky because they are currently in Houston until July and they will be heading to New York for a couple of years. Jack and Hatz are seriously so cute together. They just love each other! I hope that is a sign of the future....... We joke that their kids would have 6 dimples on their face because both Jack and Hatz have 2 pronounced dimples.

Anyways we sure did a great time with them and miss them terribly! I have to put a side note in here that we missed Emi and Lisa terribly as well. Jack and Hatz are not complete without their little buddy Lisa. Someday we will make it to Japan to visit them:)

We feel so grateful to have such amazing friends!


Train ride. When Hatz spotted Jack in the parking lot she came running as she could toward him. It was too cute. They quickly grabbed hands and were not going to be separated. Jack cried every time we had to get into our car because he wanted Hatz. He would yell "Hatz don't go."





Have you ever seen a cuter girl?

The Town the Train stops in for lunch.




Jack had a messy day. He hardly ever spills on himself. But he spilled a lot water twice on himself so he ended up in Hatz extra pants. I heard a lady walk by us say, "oh, he is a boy..." Poor Jack!


They did a gun show for us. Not the best picture (all I had to represent it...). The other pics did not turn out.



Capital. We had a picnic (enjoying BBQ of course..) at the capital. It is so beautiful. Jack and Hatz enjoyed running around chasing squirrels and playing with Toy Story characters. Our friends knew more history about US and Texas then we did, kind of embarrassing..... Texas has been owned by 6 different countries, who would have known.







We went and had ice cream at Amy's delicious!

In the morning we went and checkout of the university campus. Beautiful. Then headed to church with the Kanayama Family, it was this beautiful church built in the 1800 and then went and had yummy Mexican food. Tomoko and Emi made me a scrapbook of all our fun memories in Ann Arbor. It almost made me cry!

France Day 2

Day 2

The second day we had great intentions of getting up early and taking a train to the Palace of Versailles. However the time zone difference got to the best of us and we did not wake up until 10am. Which is totally not like us, so that plan went out the window. Here was our plan for the rest of the day.

Museum of Rodin






Napoleon's tomb: I don't remember going to Napoleaon's tomb and since I am reading War and Peace right now, it was kind of cool. Shawn loved the weapon museum which is part of Napoleon's tomb.





Next we stopped for a yummy lunch. I seriously love the cafes over in Paris. They are so unique. Then we continued to the Eiffel Tower.

30!!!

I thought this was funny! Obviously neither one of us was into the 'kiss.' I guess we should just stick to smiling.


Next we headed over to Basilique de Sacre-Coeur. This cathedral is spectacular on the outside. You climb up lost of stairs and the view from the top is amazing!


I really enjoyed walking a long the river and enjoying the buildings.


As we were walking we came across this alley with lots of fun restaurants. We stopped and had fondue. The meat that we cooked at our table was delicious!



Gelato for desert!


Ended the night at Arc de Triomphe and a walk along Champs-Elysees. Perfect little get-away!
We opted on the other museums, I know you think we are crazy. We just did not have time to see everything and the other museums take a good couple of hours and we wanted to be outside a little more.

Thanks Shawn!

France

Day 1:
So I dropped Jack off in Utah for a fun weekend at his GG's house. I was expecting a quite peaceful weekend in Dallas with Shawn. I had rented several movies and had my list of things to do. I figured Shawn would be working long hours because Jack was not home. So it was Thursday night around 9:30pm and I was watching a movie by myself when Shawn got home from work. This was somewhat our conversation.

Me: hey how was work?
Shawn: good.
Me: good.
Shawn: do you have a minute to talk.
Me: sure but be kind of fast of I am really into my movie (slightly annoyed that he wants to talk in the middle of my movie...)
Shawn: Happy Birthday! We are leaving for Paris tomorrow afternoon.
Me: WHAT!?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?
Shawn: Yep, I have been planning (we will discuss what "planning" means in a second) and wanted it to be a surprise. (with a huge grim on his face)
Me: For real as I give him a big smack on the lips.

So here is our Paris adventure. We were only there for a day and a half. But we had lots of fun sight seeing, eating crepes, quiche and fondue, enjoying the architecture and all the cultural Paris has to offer.

side note: Shawn's planning was getting plane tickets only, no hotel, no substitutes for the class we teach every Sunday and all the other things that go into planning a trip. Not that I am complaining but needless to say I was running around with my head cut off for the next several hours and into the next day to make sure everything was ready for us to go. I don't think he realizes how much planning goes into making a trip possible because I usually do it. But it all worked out and I really love traveling with Shawn. We have so much fun together.

I had been to Paris while I was studying in London. I can't tell you how many memories came flooding back while I was in Paris. Too fun!

First day:
Leave Friday around 3pm and arrive at 8am Paris time. We did not get to our hotel until around 11am. I got a great deal at Le Meridien Hotel in the Champs-Elysées area. It was perfect location and pretty nice. I love priceline. We started off by going to the isle to eat the most delicious quiche we have had at this quaint little cafe. Then we headed to Notre Dame. I forgot how many stairs there are to climb to the top. Then because it was pouring rain and cold we stopped at a little cafe to people watch and enjoy some hot chocolate. Then we headed on a river cruise and ended the night eating some yummy pizza and pasta. We were so tired by the end of the day.

Favorite little cafe.


Notre Dame








Sipping our hot chocolate at our cafe

River cruise


day two next...

Jack Birthday....

I found some more pics of Jack celebrating his birthday at his daycare. He brought some treats for his little class. He got lots of special attention and was loving it. I am seriously loving the 2 age. I think it is so much fun! Jack has lots of little friends in his class. When I pick him up, I tell him it is time to go home and without me saying anything he gives all his friends and teacher a hug. It is so cute.

Ms. Ghandi and Jack. She is one of Jack's teacher's assistant. He loves her.

His class enjoying cupcakes.

SNOW SNOW SNOW

So we have literally been homebound since Tuesday. We have not left the house once or even attempted to go outside. Dallas is not equipped for ice or snow storms. The streets are one straight sheet of ice and the wind is deathly cold. It is probably the worst weekend for something like this to happen with the Superbowl and all..... Needless to say we have been going a little crazy around here. Luckily we have had some friends who have dared the streets and have come to hang out with us. Shawn's team is a little crazy so he has been going to work everyday (I think they are the only ones in Dallas to go to work).

Last night it finally snowed and the sun came out a little bit. Since Jack has been saying for the last couple of day "I go, go." I thought we would go outside and play in the snow to get some fresh air. Having no snow clothes for Jack, I did my best to put together a little snow outfit that would keep him warm so he could play. He loved the snow! He played for over an hour, until I started to get cold. I only had two falls on the ice, one I am sure will leave some good bruising. Jack had several falls but it did not seem to bother him. The fresh air was really refreshing!