I Need a Break

I need a break from packing? Or that's what I keep telling myself. So blogging sounded like a pretty legit excuse. 

I went out with the ladies last night. We decided we wanted a real french experience before we all went our separate ways so at 9 o'clock (french dinner time), we headed out to a local restaurant hoping to have some bread and cheese. 

We definitely had a french experience. The restaurant owner thought we were American tourist and sat us down at the bar and let us taste some of the appetizers. We didn't know exactly what we were trying but it was fun and the owner gave us a really good deal for such a great experience. 

I am gonna miss these ladies when I am gone. It's crazy to think we might never see each other again. I thank God for the high speed internet more and more. 

Paragliding

I finally get to share with you my paragliding pictures. I am so excited! This was one of the best experiences of my life. And I would do it all over again in a heart beat. 

So last week, Lee got a group together from campus and we headed up to Annecy to go paragliding. A couple of people in our group had difficulties and heading up running off the mountain. It sounds horrible but it didn't seem that big of a deal at the time. Consider I still chose to do go paragliding after that happened. 

Sadly my video won't upload correctly so you won't get to experience through the video with me. But I would definitely recommend paragliding to anyone. It was so much fun. And it's definitively on my bucket list to do again. On a higher mountain in a different country :)

"The Waterfall"

Sunday Rachel and I decided to be rebels and skip church. The Stoner's had given me the day off to spend with Rachel and we had heard there was a waterfall up behind Conflans. So Sunday afternoon we headed up to find this wonderful waterfall where we were told we could get in the water. 

We hike up to Conflans and followed the creek all the way up to where it ended on the trail to find a tiny little creek and a little run off. Thinking that couldn't possibly be it we continued to hike up till we ran into a little town ask for directions. Having all the french inform us that such a waterfall didn't exist. 

Luckily at this point, we had ran into Eric and Carlan from the Burundi team who lived at campus with us. They happened to also be looking for this magical waterfall. 

After about three hours of hiking. We finally got a hold of someone from campus to tell us where this waterfall was.... she informed us it was right up the creek and even was kind enough to hike up and point it out to us. And yes, it was the little run off going into the creek. I was very disappointed that I had been hiking for three hours just for this little thing. I am pretty sure we have run offs bigger then this in Wayne county. 

But I got to spend the day with my friend and come away with a decent story. And feel guilt free about eating half a pizza for dinner Sunday night. :)

Saying Good-Bye

Saying good-bye is so hard. And to think I may never see these people again makes me a bit sad so I have been taking every opportunity to hang out with people. Even if it means starting the six hour version of "Pride and Prejudice" at 10 p.m.

To make the most of our time together this weekend. Rachel and I slept outside on the patio. 

She thought it was the greatest thing ever. Me not so much. I prefer the country. Where I don't have street lights shining in my face, where the train station isn't two houses over, and people aren't making noises till two in the morning. 

But it was worth it to spend time with my friend and see the sunrise over the mountains. .... at 5 a.m.

Breakfast at Conflan.

We had breakfast at Conflans the other day. We grabbed some giant pain au chocolates from the bakery on the way up. And watch the world go by as we ate breakfast. Perfect start to the day. If I only had some American coffee to go with it ;)

Happy Birthday to Josiah!

It's Josiah's birthday, he is officially three whether he pees or poops in the potty. We celebrated his birthday with a monkey cake. 

He got all kinds of exciting things for his birthday like a bee bouncy ball, activity book, a bowling set, and of course the Curious George movie. 

He is a pretty special kid. 

French Alps

There is a lot benefit from living near the Alps. It's beautiful, peaceful, and just amazing. 

I think all of us were having fun. Enjoying the fresh mountain air and humming the Sound of Music to ourselves. 

Sandbox Fun!

This week it's suppose to get the high of 80*. Woohoo. Looks like we will be spending a lot more time in the sandbox. 

The sandbox is a win-win for us. The boys are happy, Ethan is contained, and Josiah is close to the potty. It makes us all happy. Me especially! :)

Strawberry Banana Muffins

Strawberries are in season! Back home we always go a little crazy strawberries when we go picking with grandma. But since there is no place to pick strawberries here, we buy them from market or the fresh produce woman. Either way we almost always have strawberries in the house. So I tried out a Strawberry Frozen Yogurt recipe the other day and today I tried out some strawberry muffin recipe. yummy yummy. And I got a compliment on these muffins and very very rarely do I ever get a compliment on any of my baking/cooking. So you know they must be real good. 

Ingredients

• 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 medium banana, divided (mash 1/2 and slice the other half into very thin slices)
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 1 egg white, beaten 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
•  1 cup diced strawberries
• 
  

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray muffin tray with cooking spray. Set aside. In a large bowl, stir to combine the flour, sugars, baking soda, & cinnamon. Slice the banana in half and mash 1st half with a fork and cut 2nd half into thin slices (set these aside). Add the mashed banana to the dry ingredients and stir. Add the applesauce, beaten egg white, vanilla and stir until just combined. Do NOT overmix. Gently fold in the strawberries and banana slices. Pour batter into muffin tray, filling about 2/3 of the way up. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Muffins stay fresh and soft up to 7 days in an airtight container. Muffins freeze well.

Recipe from:

 sallysbakingaddiction.com

We just can't get enough of these strawberries :)

We miss the park!

It's sunny with the high of 75*. Perfect weather to spend every waking moment outside and that's exactly what I planned on doing with the kids this week. Sadly with Josiah's potty training, we can't venture out far and Ethan can't fall asleep in his stroller on our walks home. So the little guys hasn't been taking many morning naps but he is definitely making up for it in the afternoons. We been keeping it close to the school but man do we miss our park fun. 

Frozen Yogurt

I have been craving some frozen yogurt. So my mama suggested I make my own. I found a few recipes online and chose the simplest one naturally. And tried my hand at making some frozen yogurt. 

Recipe:

Pint of Strawberries

1/2 of lemon juiced

dash of salt

1 cup of yogurt

1/2 cup of honey and a T of sugar

Directions: Blend together and freeze. 

It turned out to be more of a slushie then a frozen yogurt type deal. But it was rather yummy all the same. Next time I will be trying something a little different with the recipe. 

Potty Time!

Josiah was doing so good the first few days of potty. But it has seemed to go down hill. He has been wetting his big boy pants and the poop hasn't seem to make it in the potty for a while.

A lot of time has been spent on the toilet with either of book or Curious George, trying to get Josiah to poop in the potty. He even gets an awesome nerf gun for pooping in the potty. But still the boy seems to struggle. Please think of us. 

Changes.

This week I am a loner. Rachel went back to Holland for a college interview thing so I am all by myself. I guess this is just a taste of what it is gonna be like next fall cause it's hard to believe that I will find someone as cool as her to hang out with. 

I know you have been waiting in anticipation all weekend to find out if the party potty really work. Well the poop has been having trouble making it to the potty. But his big boy pants have stayed dry almost all weekend. I am pretty proud of him. 

Potty Party Time!

A lot of people seem to think we are pushing the whole potty thing a little too early. But these people just don't understand that Josiah been able to pee on the potty for almost a year now and that a kid who looks like he's four, poops like he's four year old. In other words it's a rather big mess in a diaper. Not very peasant to change. 

So I take it on my part to give the boys baths during the week. I think we are avoiding the diaper rashes a little better then before and the boys are having fun. And as a swim instructor that makes me very happy. If Togo had a swim team, they would be on it :)

Ethan's a nature at blowing bubbles. 

Today is set aside to fully potty train Josiah (or at least I am hoping). So far so good. There has only been  a small poopy mess in his big boy pants but the rest of it made it into the potty. Yay. Less Diapers. Less changing.