Paris with Amelia

Amelia came to Paris in mid-June to visit her dad who was taking a photography course. She arrived 3 days before my parents arrived, but I didn't want to miss the opportunity to see her so I took the train and stayed for a night, making the most of 31 hours in this magical city! 

They are still hard at work repairing the damage from the fire. They are also cleaning the Siene in preparation for next year's Olympics.

This was my first summer visit to Paris since 2005. The cafe culture scene was strong.

Yayoi Kusama has painted polka dots all over Louis Vuitton

The interior of the newly remodeled Samaritaine department store was breathtaking! 

We spent the afternoon at Musee d'Orsay, first stopping for lunch in the cafe, scoring a primo table right under the clock face (to Amelia's dad's great delight). 

We waited out a quick afternoon rain shower and then found a cafe for spritzes, escargot, and Oysters.

Mr. Rutter found some obliging subjects.

Pasta dinner to end the night.

On Monday we made our way (slowly- Uber was not our friend) to Montmartre. Crepes for breakfast and then an app-guided walking tour. I'd never really explored that part of Paris before (apart from a quick visit to Sacré-Coeur with toddler Jude) and was excited to see it! 

Yummy lunch at Le Consulat

After learning how much Amelia loves carousels in Nederland, CO last year, I was excited to ride the one beneath the Basilica. 

Next, we headed to the Opera House to tour the interior. I had been with Bobbie for opening night at the ballet but was happy to spend more time in this masterpiece!

Visitors were taking ridiculous instagram worthy photos, with lots of posing. Amelia did her own special posing!

The day had gotten toasty, so we stopped for a refreshing drink before I needed to catch my evening train home. 

Such good company!

See you next summer for the Olympics, Paris! 

May 2023

I returned home from Maine to a sick Jude who, a week later, had not kicked his fever. I support the Dutch "wait it out" approach to medicine, but felt it had been too long. The emergency weekend doctor agreed and he was prescribed an antibiotic at the huisartsenpost. Two days later, his condition had not improved, he had started getting nose bleeds and was really lethargic with a terrible cough. Our huisarts imaged his lungs with a portable app device and didn't like what he saw, sending us straight over to the hospital (with a pit stop for Jude's ipad). An x-ray, bloodwork, and throat culture test later, he was diagnosed with a mild pneumonia and given Azithromycin on top of the first antibiotic. He was a champ through the whole ordeal. I had taken the day off to chaperone his class field trip and joked with him that he had a private field trip to the hospital instead! Thankfully, a day after starting the Z pack, he was much improved. A friend dropped off a really sweet get-well-soon card that his class had made, which also cheered him up. 

I went to Spain and Pete took the kids to ISA's fun run. Maeve got 2nd place for the lower school girls!

Jude had to miss his class music performance when he was sick, but was recovered for the Ghana benefit concert, performing with his percussion and choir groups. 

For Mother's day, we went to Mango's in Zandvoort for lunch at the beach. 

That evening, Rachel organized a second annual Dam Boat Guys Mother's day boat ride. This time, we rented out the whole boat and filled it with mama friends. The 90 minute tour went too fast, but some of us stayed out for drinking on the dock. 

Pete went with friends to Northern Spain at the end of the month. I took the kids to Mark and Petra's 40th birthday party and then dropped them home with a sitter and joined Amy and Sarah's birthday dinner in de Pijp. 

Maeve has now learned to make pancakes. Jude taught her how to flip them on the stove- adorable!

Alex and Mike had us over for lunch on a beautiful, sunny day. The girls worked on their masterpieces. We then dropped Jude at a playdate and stayed for dinner, enjoying the company of new friends. 

We took the kids to the new exhibit at the Van Gogh museum, highlighting the work of Van Gogh's final years living in France. 

And one final adventure to end the month. We were offered a friend's grandma's piano if we were willing to move it from her apartment, a 10-minute walk from our house. Pete enlisted the help of three good friends and together, they managed to get it in our house with minimal damage to our hardwood floors. 

Now, hopefully we'll get good use of the piano!