Kid Update

Axel's favorite books: Cromignon; Les deux goinfres; Chewy Louie; Big Book.

Luka's favorite books: Junie B. Jones series

Axel's favorite TV show: T'Choupi Tch tcha tcha (really called Premier Bal). He is crazy for this and has seen it at least 100 times...probably more. I wish I could the audio. He loves dancing to it. I set the DVD player to loop to avoid manually playing it a zillion times. Then, we dance together at the dancing part, "Mommy, dance with me!"

Luka's fav TV watching: he has not been watching a lot of TV lately, but L'age de glace 2 is still up there, with Le mystère des jouets, and he liked Polar Express that he saw at school and we bought for him (French version at home). Pretty intense flick.

Axel's favorite song: I'd have to say that is "The Witch Doctor - oo ee ah ah". Yes, I have been privileged to hear that at least 100 times as well....in the car, in the house, walking the kids to school singing it, in my dreams... :) But they have so much fun with it. Axel loooooves dancing to this and T'Choupi (above) and any song he can.

Luka's fav song: not really a song, but "scary" stories from a Target Halloween CD: The Graveyard Dare, The Ghost with One Back Eye, Pirate Captian John, and The Slithery Dee. He also likes "The Witch Doctor" and "Dem Bones."

They both are really into drawing now too. Luka likes making "books" by drawing on pieces of paper, adding text, and stapling them together.

Luka loves doing his homework and learning to read. He read his first book all by himself. It is called "Penguins On Vacation". Pretty exciting. THe second one he is working on is "Don't be Afraid, Monster".

Luka's 5th Birthday

It was a big birthday weekend. Luka's birthday was Friday. He took mini chocolate chip pumpkin muffins with organge frosting and Halloween sprinkles to school to share with his friends for snack. He got a special card from his teacher to celebrate his special day. He also took muffins to French class later in the day. When he entered the room they all sang "Joyeux Anniversaire" to him (in French, obviously). All the kids, as well as Miss Marie, had made him cards. He was very pleased.

His official birthday party was at Pump It Up - indoor inflatable jumping kid utopia. He had invited his entire class, plus some non-school friends and was very excited. There were about 20 kids there. He had a great time and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it. He had Zarkan invitations, a Zarkan cake and a Zarkan t-shirt. Plus, he received thoughtful and fun gifts from his friends. Axy had a great time at Pump It Up too; this was the first time he seeemed to really like the jumpy castle environment. We can't believe Luka is already 5!

School Pictures

Here are Luka and Axel's school pictures for this year. Luka is in Miss Melissa's Kindergarten class and Axel is in Miss Nancy's Toddler Class.

Luka's 6th Birthday Countdown

Since we just had the big 5th birthday bash, of course, we must now start thinking about birthday party #6 next year-- just kidding. Well, I am sure Luka will ponder it all year, but Mommy and Daddy will take a break of at least 10 months... :) Just for Luka, no matter how far off it still is, is a count down to #6:

Kid Update: October 2007

Luka

Learning to read at school and doing a great job. Lots of "sight" words and getting used to sounding out new words. Loves Kindergarten and his teachers, Miss Melissa, Miss Laurel, Miss Jessica and Miss Carina. Field trips and lots of fun activities (green frog, mystery can, star student).

Fav book(s): Junie B series, Abricot magagine (French), especially the back page.

Fav movies: Le mystère des jouets and L'age de glace (yes, still!)

Playing soccer, riding his scooter and his bike, likes music class and French class. Loves drawing, playing with his little safari animals, and making stuff (books, cutting up and gluing stuff, etc.). making up stories and games.

Axel

Doing well at school, but still misses us (cries) when gets dropped off :( Loves his friend Emeline (French babysitter), great at imitating us and loves to sing and draw. Loves playing dumpy and "riding" his brother's bike (!) (this means Mommy pulling him - ouch, my back!).

Fav book(s): T'choupi - especially T'choupi et les transpots. Loves big machinery and trucks, buses, big cars. Loves balls. Had a greating time painting at the Children's Museum.

Saying more and more words and a sweet little talker. We will miss him saying, "Luta, Uka, Uddle". Now, he loves to say "Mister Luka!" after Mommy. Another fav is, "Shut the door!"

Photos: August (and one from October)

Photos - These go with the text in the post below "Long time, no blog"
[For more photos, go here: Flickr Sets]

August

Axel's birthday celebration

VBS

Luka and Faith

Fun in Boulder

Children's Museum Denver - Grace and Luka

Reynald on White Rim Ride (October)

Photos: July

Photos - These go with the text in the post below "Long time, no blog"
[For more photos, vist Flickr Sets.]

July

Reynald's view from ferry in AK.



Steven, Luka, Axel

Family Camp

Long time no blog...

Long time, no blog! Here is a recap of our activities since our last posting:

JULY

- We have fun with our neighbors fireworks and Luka piggy backing on mommy for the city display.

- Axy starts day care. He is in Toddler 3.

- Reynald to Alaska to do a solo ride of the 200 mile distance in the Fireweed 400: Sheep Mountain Lodge to Valdez. Included a ferry/train trip from Valdez back to Portage and visiting with the in-laws.

- See Uncle Steven, Aunt Angela and her parents at crepe restaurant in Denver, on their way to new home in LA.

- Reynald starts his new job!

- Eve gets her hair cut short (really!)

- Family church camp 5 hours west: Grand Mesa United Methodist Church Camp. Highlihts include paddle boating, crafts, new friends and Luka singing Le Bon Roi Dagobert for talent night, in French, with Eve and Reynald singing our on-the-fly English translation (Axel helped too) and then we lead a sing-along of Frère Jacques (everyone knows that!).

~ JULY PHOTOS - CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW ON FLICKR ~

Le Bon Roi Dagobert / The Good King Dagbert

[Verse 1 - French]

Le bon roi Dagobert
Avait sa culotte à l'envers.
"Ô mon Roi, Votre Majesté
Est mal culottée."
"C'est vrai, lui dit le roi,
Je vais la remettre à l'endroit."

[Verse 1 - our English version]

The good King Dagbert
Put his underpants on backwards.
The great Saint Eloi said,
Oh my King, your Majesty has your underwear on wrong.
That's true, said the king, I'll put it back on the right way.

[Verse 2 - French]

Chassait dans la plaine d'Anvers.
Le grand saint Eloi lui dit :
"Ô mon Roi, votre Majestée
Est bien essouflée."
"C'est vrai, lui dit le roi,
Un lapin courait après moi."

[Verse 2 - our English version]

The good King Dagbert
Was hunting in the fields of Anvers.
The great Saint Eloi said,
"Oh my King, your Majesty is really out of breath."
"That' s true, says the king, a rabbit was running after me."

(That song is not a positive comment on the ruling classes!)

AUGUST

~ AUG PHOTOS - CLICK HERE FOR SLIDE SHOW ON FLICKR ~

- Axel turns 2! Birthday bash with four litle friends (Kylie, Sean, Riley and Connor for Luka) at Lakeside's awesome kid area. Motorcycles, planes, cars, boats, wigwams, ferris wheel and more! The party was Doudou-themed: Axy's fav character from T'Choupi. We had Doudou invitations, a Doudou cakeand a Doudou tshirt for the birthday boy (yay, Mommy!).

- Weekend VBS -lots of fun for both Axel and Luka. Mommy is "tribe leader" for group of kids.

- Ride the Divide: Rollins Pass - Reynald rode up with the "tougher" group on Saturday and Eve rode the Winter Park - Nederland direction with Corinne and Anne who were the perfect team mates for this challenging ride.

- Luka starts Kindergarten at The Academy!

SEPTEMBER

- We start teaching Axel's two-year old Sunday school class once a month.

- Emeline, Axel's French nou nou (really, his buddy) comes twice a week to play with him and help him use his French speaking skills.

- Luka starts French class for French-American kids in Boulder. Great success!

- Luka starts soccer. Fun with team and Luka likes hugging his friends on the opposing teams as well as doing cartwheeels around the field during the game. But, a good introduction to team sports.

OCTOBER

It is not over yet, but passing by fast. Luka's big 5th birthday bash at Pump It Up is fast approaching. Zarkan invitations, Zarkan t-shirt and Zarkan cake - Luka's fav character from his fav movie: Le mystère des jouets.

Pumpkin and Halloween fun (nightly ritual of lighting candles, turning out the music and dancing out to Halloween songs). Costumes chosen for Halloween: Luka - black spiderman; Axel - red spiderman (and/or a bee, a monkey, a fireman or a pirate - take your pick!).

Reynald rode the White Rim outside Moab with our friend Dan. A 10+ hour ride in the Utah desert--go, guys!

Axel's 3rd Birthday Count Up

Update on Kid Photos

Some new photos of our guys!

~ And Video of Axy below ~

Luka had a fun time watching fireworks set off by our neighbor, as well as the city's fireworks from down the street. It was very windy, but they still went off as planned and were a great display. Axy was in bed, asleep, despite all the noise of firecrackers and home-based firecrackers popping and cracking. Luka is doing well and very active, having recently ridden on the tagalong bike for a strenuos bike ride from Nederland to the Hessie town site trail stream crossing with his friend Ada (and her parents, of course).

He took to the bike like a natural and really appreciated being able to pedal and ride like a big person (as opposed to being in the trailer/Chariot). Then, for 4th of July, he and mommy rode together with the tagalong to the EB Rains park in Northglenn (about a 45 minute ride) and met Axy and Papa there (who had come by car with the picnic lunch). There were bouncy castles and other festivities along with the normal fun playground and kid water fountain at this park, for Independenace Day. We can also say that it was VERY hot!

Axel is talking a lot, and saying a lot of French words too (being that Papa is his most favorite person on the face of the Earth, that makes a lot of sense). He says so many words now, I can't think of them all. A new one that we all thought was funny (albeit in English), was downtown. It is too cute when he says it. He went downtown with Luka and Mommy last weekend for church and started saying this on his own. Oh, yeah, and another fav word is also in English, and it is out. As in, get me out of my crib, let me out of this shopping cart, etc. He also loves to watch and say oiseau(x) and loves to talk, even when we don't catch all of what he is saying. To hear him saying some of his fav words, go to our video site by clicking on the image below.

VIDEO OF AXY

Telluride, CO to Moab, UT Bike Tour

June 17 - 24, 2007: San Juan Hut System Bike Trip from Telluride, CO to Moab, UT - Eve, Reynald, along with Luka & Axel, the biker champs!.

I would not say this trip was "fun", but we will never forget it, that is for sure! To see more pictures from our trip and Reynald's commentary, see our photos online at Flickr (http://flickr.com/photos/bodeux/sets/) and then click on BIKE TOUR SUMMER 2007, watch as slide show, and click on any photo during the slide show to see the commentary.

For additional info on the bike tour, see the San Juan Huts System site at:

http://www.sanjuanhuts.com/bike.html.

LVC weekend

Eve, Renato, and Dr. Norton: Norton Endowed Book Fund Presentation

Eve had a great trip to PA (June 7 - 10) to receive an award from the Lebanon Valley College Alumni Association for her contributions to her profession, and to also participate in presenting the an endowed book fund to a favorite professor, now retired. My friend/fellow alum Renato and I worked on the project for a few years. Also, appreciated seeing some other old (as in long-time, hey, we are not old!) friends (including Laurie and her new baby, Karen, Greg). We had a good time doing it these last few years, and the weekend was a great time.

See another picture of us presenting the book fund here and other LVC weekend photos:
http://www.lvc.edu/alumni/alwknd07/photos.aspx?bhiw=1259
Eve, Renato, and Dr. Norton: Photo #2.

Know your food: alert, alert, alert!

I heard an NPR story the other day about food that comes in to the US from China. Any food that is even slightly processed has a very high chance of having products from China in it: asorbic acid, garlic granules, various other chemicals used in mass food production.

In light of the recent pet food scare when public authorities assured us it would not turn up in human food, but instead it turned up in pork, shrimp, chicken, farmed fish food and more, this is a very important issue about which we should all get more educated. Read this article, or listen to the archive, and if it does not scare you into buying local and organic, then I don't know what will. But, I wonder if the organic brands out there (Safeway, Whole Food and Wild Oats organic and non-orgnanic brands) also use food products from China. If so, I guess I have to move to the boonies and grow my own food. (I am not joking...!)

My immediate reaction to this story is, I am going to contact various food manufacturers and ask them where their ingredients come from. If they say China or that they do not divulge this information, I will never buy their product again. It is not an issue of trade protection, but a straightfoward issue of food safety. It is also an issue of cultural differences in that Americans assume they are getting food that has been prepared and sourced in a way that is culturally and acceptable to them (and from a cleanliness standpoint). Most of the time, although we are not aware, this is not the case. And, it seems we are eating what I'd surely call non-food products (petroleum, lead, plastics). Even in doses that are "not harmful to humans", I have to say, 1) I don't believe it, and 2) even if true, sorry, but I don't want to eat plastic. Very, very scary.

I am also going to hook up with a local, organic producer of fruits and vegetables who delivers door to door, whatever is in season, on a weekly basis. When it is that easy, we really have no excuse not do it.

I wonder if other cultures (France others in Europe) have these types of problems with their food sources. Probably to some degree, but I don't know if it is this bad (?).

Find the NPR story text and audio file at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10410111

Recipe: Southwest Rub for Grilled Meat

Southwest Rub

2 TBS chili powder
2 TBS packed brown sugar
1 TBS ground cumin
2 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce OR bottled BBQ sauce
1/4 ts ground red pepper

Combine all ingredients in small bowl. Press rub evenly onto beef. Trun occassionally to avoid burning. Makes about 1/4 cup.

Almond-Lemon Tart

From Denver Post and "Mostly Martha"

Crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 cup unsalted butter

Filling:
1 cup almonds or hazelnuts
1/2 cup almond paste
1/2 cup sugar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 eggs
1/2 cup cream
1 tsp almond extract

Directions:
Place flour, powdered sugar, extract and salt in a food processor. With the motor running, slowly drop in the butter about 1 TBS at a time. Process until a ball of dough forms on top of the bade. Remove from the processor and press into a greased 12-inch removable bottom flan pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven just until the crust sets, about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Place almonds, almond paste and sugar in a food processor and process to grind the nuts. Stop the machine and add juice, zest, eggs, cream and extract. Process to blend well. Pour in the cooled crust and place ni a 350-degree oven.

Bake 20-25 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting and removing a knife - if it comes out clean, the filling is done. Serve warm or cold with whipped cream.

Spring Update

We have been too busy for me to keep up my normal pace of writing on the blog, so here is an update from the last few months!

To see sets of photos from the last few months, go to our Flickr site and click on the sets of photos called:

- JC/Annick Visit Part I - Trip Out West
- JC/Annick Visit Part II (various photos of the family)
- JC/Annick Visit Part III - New Mexico Trip
- JC/Annick Visit Part IV - Great Sand Dunes

Select "View as Slideshow" to see each in slide show format.

(Scroll down for bonus photos!)

In March and April, for 5 weeks, Reynald's parents visited us and we had a great time together. It was truly wonderful to have them here with us for those weeks and we were able to do a lot of things together. They helped me A LOT at the house with watching Axel and making lunches, and cleaning the house. They also gave us good ideas for some improvements we could make (they have great taste). And, Jean Claude worked hard being Mr. Fix-It around the house, fixing things we didn't even know were wrong (you can tell how "fix it" we are - not very!). Annick and JC took Axel on lots of "bike rides" after they bought him a new push trike and lots of walks. They took Luka to school every day and picked him up. With all this busy-ness, we still were able to get in a few good trips.

Reynald, Luka, Annick and Jean Claude took a memborable trip March 11 - 18th to points "out west" such as Capitol Reef, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and the south side of the Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley. They saw other great things too, but Axy and I stayed home, so Reynald will need to edit this to put in more details! See more pictures from this trip here and select the set of photos called "JC/Annick Visit Part I - Trip Out West " to see the slide show.Their good friend, and ours, Edith, also came for the last two weeks of their stay. She was the perfect house guest too and we had a wonderful time with her as well. The last week of their stay, we went to Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico. We rented a great house (over the Internet!) in Taos and stayed in the well-placed TraveLodge (yes!) in Santa Fe. Everyone seemed to have had a good time exploring all the artists' displays in these towns, having fun meals together, and visiting museums. Axel and Luka even spent a few hours as the Georgia O'Keefe museum in Santa Fe! On the way back from New Mexico, we also spent a night/day exploring the Great Sand Dunes National Park in the southern part of CO. We had an adventurous hike on the dunes as our last hurrah. See more pictures here and select "JC/Annick Visit Part III - New Mexico" or "Trip - JC/Annick Visit Part IV - Great Sand Dunes". We also had a lovely Easter dinner with Eve's brother Steven, his father-in-law, and Uncle Jack visiting for the afternoon. (JC's birthday below.)During their visit, Axel also made a lot of progress. He went from "barely walking" to walking just as well as any other almost-two year-old. Walking seemed to have opened up a whole new world to him and he is very excited about exploring it! He also was weaned by the week before they left (so around the end of March). I was sad, but it was very helpful to have them here during this time to distract him, and now, I know it was the right thing to do: he is a big boy now!

Axel says a lot more words now. He tried to say "Jean Claude" before they left, and he would practice with Annick pointing to Annick, himself, Jean Claude, etc. He also currently says many French words, despite Reynald's fear that he would speak much more English than Luka did at the same age. Luckily, this is note the case! He says: eau (water), propre (clean - yes, like father, like son on this one...!), doudou, hi (in English), Yay! (in English), Mom, Mama, Dad, Dada, Papa, Uddle (that means Luka - go figure), balloon (lolo), and other fun stuff.

Axel's favorite book is "T'Choupi fait du vélo" (T'Choupi rides his bike) - that he can pick out from all the other books (that look exactly the same to me!); he also likes other T'Choupi books and still really likes all the Coco books too. Luka's new favorite book is the ABC dinosaur book his grandmother bought him at the Great Sand Dunes book store. I am learning more about dino's than I ever thought I would!
Axel also skiied for the first time - yes, it's true! - on May 4, 2007 at just two days shy of 21 months old! Every time he saw Luka on skis, he wanted to try them on. So, this time, at A-Basin (still open!) we made sure to bring Luka's old skis (strap on boots, scales on the bottom, no edges) for Axel to try. He didn't like it for the first 10 seconds or so as I strapped them on his boots, but after that, he loved it and got mad when we took them off at the end of the day! He skiied around between our legs at the bottom of the mountain and he was also able to shuffle along without falling, on his own, at the end of the day. Go, Axel! Olympic champion in the making! Luka is a true little skiier. We were so impressed with his skiing abilities, taking him to A-Basin two weekends in a row. We had not really seen him in action since he had completed his Eldora ski lessons on February. It is a sight to behold! He is totally in control and has a great time skiing down either doing the pizza (snow plow) or french fry (parallel). He has no fear and just skis along with Mommy or Daddy, though he may take on the persona of Spiderman or Superman to get down the hill! He went on the bunny hill at A-Basin with Mommy April 28 during Daddy's randonnée ski race, and then, we took him on the greens the next weekend (May 4). Those greens are the toughest I have ever seen, and are pretty steep. So, I'd say Luka is good for blues at most other major ski resorts! Go, four-year old ski man!

Both Luka and Axel love riding their bikes around. Axel on the push-trike (he can't reach both pedals at the same time yet to pedal himself) and Luka on his "big boy bike" with training wheels. Mommy is happy too, because she finally got her "comfort bike" - a 7-speed, upright black and white Giant. We still need to pick it up from the shop in Boulder, but I can't wait! Reynald also got a new fancy-schmancy mountain bike. He deserves it, though, after all these years on his old one. What adventures does he have in store for us on that thing?

Here is a blog bonus. This is Luka's drawing from the Mother's Day Tea at school. He said it was "Mommy on the couch watching TV" - you know, that activity I often do during the day (NOT!). Maybe that was his dream for me - "relax, rest a bit and watch some TV!" ha ha.

Luka and the Beanstalk, oh no, that's "Bead"

Today, Luka stuck a bead up his nose at school. Yes, we have now experienced that legendary event in parenthood when your kid sticks some weird object up his nose. It was a bright blue bead that was just out of our reach. Luka also has trouble mixing up "blowing" his nose and "inhaling" so that was pretty tricky!

We'd already had "the talk" about how he is not to stick stuff in any of his bodies "holes" or any of the openings in Axel's body. You know - nose, eyes, ears, belly button and other unmentionables.... But, to no avail, I guess. (However, I think this incident may have cured him, at least for the next few years.)

We called our doctor. They were booked for today (!) and told us to go to the emergency room (!). We then called urgent care run by a Children's Hospital clinic near our neighborhood and they were not open till 5 p.m. (it being 2:45 pm at the time). It just seemed ridiculous to go to the ER for this (not to mention quite costly), so I, luckily, remembered the walk-in clinic at (hold your breath, are you ready?)....Wal-mart!!!!! OK - that will teach me to be a snob. I had noticed it the other day on one of my few forrays to Wal-mart. Luckily for us, it turned out!

There was not much waiting (compared to the ER, anyway), and the nurse practictioner was able to reach in there with a special tool and get it out for a mere $65 (no sarcasm here - the ER would have been over $500 I am sure)! That was a real relief and we were sooooooooooo happy to avoid the ER.

So, I ask you, what is wrong with our healthcare system that I am thrilled to get care at a clinic in Wal-mart? I know the healthcare system needs fixing all right, and if I knew how, I bet I could be president (oh, now that I think about that more, I guess not...). All that matters right now is that Luka's nose is in good shape and bead-less for the time being and hopefully forever into the future!

Axel man is growing up - or is he?

Today, I took Axel to the grocery store and thought I'd let him walk next to me like "a big boy" - he is now 21-1/2 months. He is walking well and loves to do "big guy" stuff. However, he also likes to be a little imp and sometimes run or walk away on purpose and start giggling when we say, "Come to Mommy/Daddy, Come back here!" etc. So, today, he runs down one aisle away from me and then starts pulling bottles off of the bottom shelf and throwing them hard on the ground! I don't think he did that part to be a stinker, I think he just thought it was fun to grab and toss them, not realizing really what it all meant. But, of course, out of the four bottles he threw down within about 5 seconds, before I could get to him, two of them broke! He was just happily grabbing them and tossing them! In any case, the guys who worked there thought it was funny and were really nice about it, but I was horrified! He had salad dressing on his shoe afterward, but otherwise, he was okay! ...Those crazy kids!

Recipe: Zucchini Pancakes

The kids like cooked zucchini with a bit of salt and pepper a lot (yes, it is true!), but we were getting a bit tired of that this week, so I decided to use our zucchini for a different and quite tasty purpose. We ate them for dinner with some sausage and Axy and Luka agreed that these pancakes were very good too! You could, however, eat them for breakfast too.

4 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBS olive oil
4 tsp baking powder
butter for the skillet

In large mixing bowl, beat eggs, add shredded zucchini and mix well with fork. Add flour, sugar, salt and olive oil and stir to blend well. Finally, add baking powder and mix well using a large spoon, scraping sides with spatula as necessary. Do not overbeat.

Spoon batter on to cooking surface. Cook until there are no longer bulbbles forming in the pancake--about 2 minutes. Turn over and cook for a few minutes longer. Serve with butter and maple syrup if desired. Sit back and think how smart you are for getting zucchini into your kids unnoticed. :)

Luka's Show & Tell Presentation: Movie!

A few weeks ago, it was Luka's turn to be the "star" student at school and he wanted to talk about pilots. He had decided that he wanted to be a pilot during "career week." The kids had a great time with that. Even today, Luka got very excited when we saw a plane in the sky and said, "Hey - that is what I want to do - fly planes!" Well, that must be in his blood - just like his grandpa!

He did a version of his presentation at home by narrating the slides I made for him. You can access the movie and his narration by clicking on the image below. I am not the greatest at editing sound, so be aware that the sound goes from soft to loud. But, Luka is a real star! Have fun viewing his 2-minute masterpiece.