Latest Update

Luka (5-1/2 years old) Kayaking - Boulder Creek Festival


Axel (2-1/2 years old) Kayaking - Boulder Creek Festival


Axel Kayaking at Boulder Creek Festival - Go, Ax!



Axel Skiing at Ski Cooper


Luka and Axel Singing Frère Jacques

Reynald at 4,350 meters (14,265 ft) on top of Quandary Peak getting ready to ski down a 3,000 foot face. He looks like he is loving it, doesn't he? (This was taken April 20.)

Joan, Eve, Corinne after running 9K in the Title 9K
Mother's Day at the Boulder Reservoir

Joan, Eve, Corinne
Axel, Ada, Luka
Title 9K Mother's Day Race

Luka, Axel peeking out of their big
cardboard box house in backyard

Luka and cardboard box fun

Axel and cardboard box fun

Axel, Eve, Luka
Mother's Day Tea at School

Luka and Easter Fun

Luka, Axel licking the beaters

Axel saying "yum, yum"

Axel with his ski face on

Luka and Axel and their Mr./Mrs./Ms. Potato Head creations

As Luka finishes up his first year of Kindergarten, this is the first time we have dealt with the end of the "school year" (well, since we were kids). He will have a special graduation ceremony on Thursday, May 29th and will then start "camp" at school where they do tons of field trips (Denver Art Museum, NCAR, Fountains, Pottery Making and more!), until we leave for France. He is excited about camp and about France! He is really a "big" boy now. He is reading so well and also loves numbers. He is going to attend a new public school in the district next year that is dedicated to integrating arts into the daily curriculum.

Axel is growing so much too, he changes day by day. He is such a great talker and very perceptive. He adores reading and singing and dancing, so we are excited about him going to the arts school someday too! He was really sad ski season was over, but next year will come fast enough. He loves talking to his grandparents on Skype and can't wait to see them!

Both Axel and Luka (and Mmommy and Ddaddy) were so happy to have Grandma (Eve's mom) visiting us in early May. Mommy had to work too much, but otherwise it was a wonderful visit! Grandma and Mommy had a great 9K race on Mother's Day.

See some recent pictures above.

Luka is Double Axel's Age Today

We have been waiting for this day: the only time in their lives when Luka will be exactly twice as old as Axel.

Luka was 2,044 days today - Saturday, May 24, 2008, and Axel was 1,022 days old!

In other words, Luka was 5 years, 7 months and 5 days old and Axel was 2 years, 9 months, 2 weeks and 4 days old.

Our men!

Life Lessons Important to Learn

On my run the other day, I heard a podcast of This American Life's episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money that aired on May 9, 2008. You can find it here to download and listen or read their summary: Giant Pool of Money. 

This is a must-listen show. It discusses the how and why of the current economic crisis, including the US mortgage crisis and how it relates to the little guy, the Wall Street guy, the world pool of money, and everyone in between. 

It is fascinating and horrifying at the same time. However, I think it has several general life lessons in it as well. Not to be paranoid, but they are truisms. Here they are: 

1) never trust anyone else to make big decisions for you; you must make decisions on your own that can affect your well-being, and take the time, care and responsibility of doing so. As the old saying goes, no one is gong to do it for you, so you'd better look out for yourself. 

2) Never, ever, ever blindly follow the crowd. Be an independent thinker. Even if the whole world is doing it, it does not mean it is right. Be guided by your own moral compass. As the story recounted in this podcast clearly shows, following the crowd can contribute to the general malaise of human kind, and fighting against it, can, at times, make more difference than you could ever imagine - to you and to all of humanity. 

Listen to this podcast and learn about the makings of the current economic mess we are in, as well as learn something about basic human nature.

 

Luka on the Local News!

Luka's Kindergarten class was visited by the local newsman for Channel 7 Denver News. You can see the video clip of him and his classmates here:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/16021201/index.html

The first class shown is not his (they are in 3rd grade and a different school); Luka's class is The Academy Kindergarten class and show in the second clip that plays. He is right in front of the camera! Hi, Luka!

Recipe: Olive Oil Garlic Pizza

I made this up the other night and we thought it was mmm, mmm good!

3 - 5 garlic cloves, cut up fine (not pressed)
~1/4 cup olive oil + some extra, aside
bunch of fresh parsley, chopped fine (1/4 to 1/3 cup)
good quality salt to taste

shredded pizza cheese (I used RGB-free mozarella)
canned artichoke hearts
fresh tomatoes, sliced

whole wheat pizza dough or your favorite pizza dough recipe

To make the sauce, combine the garlic, olive oil, parsely and salt together in a small bowl.

Put rolled out pizza dought onto a pan sprinkled with corn meal to prevent sticking. Turn up edges of rolled out pizza dough to prevent liquid from leaking. Spread sauce on dough. Add cheese, then spinach. Splash some the extra olive oil over the spinach. Then add artichoke hearts, and tomatoes.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes, till done.

Have a tasty dinner!

Some recent photos

Luka at the park
Luka's artwork from school

Axy wearing his Valentine's Day artwork

Luka showing off the gorgeous and delicious cake he made at kids French cooking class

Axel playing with poles -a favorite pastime

Axel's famous finger painting of a dragon - no help from an adult!

Axel and Mommy's playdough snowman

Luka "Star Student" at School

Luka's is currently the "star student" in his Kindergarten class. This means you get to make a poster about yourself and it hangs outside the classroom for a week or two. Luka came up with all the biographical information himself, and Mommy and he worked on the poster. Here it is!

Luka's stats:

• Favorite movie: Jungle Book [where did that come from?]


• Favorite colors: green, red and blue


• Favorite toys: My teddies (Snakey, Diego, Beary - see drawing above)


• My family: Luka, Mommy, Daddy, Axy (see drawing above)


• My favorite Books: Les Pyjamasques (see pictures pasted above and check out these great books at Amazon.fr)


• What I want to be when I grow up: Pilot


• Favorite places to visit: Alaska and France


• I am so good at: running


• My favorite animals: lion, tiger, cheetah


• My favorite food: chocolate and vanilla ice cream


• My best friends: Billy, Connor, Haley, Abigail, Kristin, Cody

Even though Axel was not star student this week, here are his current interests, says Mommy:

• Favorite movie: Polar Express in French (the "princess movie" - go figure)


• Favorite color: yellow


• Favorite toys: garbage truck from Santa - yeah!


• My family: Luka, Mommy, Daddy, Axel -- Grandma, Jean-Claude and Annick. He loves to talk to his grandparents on Skype! (Luka is sad Grandma only has a phone and no computer!)


• My favorite books: Les Pyjamasques as well as L'imagier des engins


• What I want to be when I grow up: garbage man? construction worker? engineer?


• Favorite places to visit: Alaska and France (of course!)


• I am so good at: skiing of course - 2-year old prodigy that I am!


• My favorite animals: monkey?


• My favorite food: I like all food, but today I did, in fact, enjoy a yummy choc/vanilla ice cream cone at the mall with Mommy. Messy, but yum!


• My best friends: Luka, Mommy, Daddy and my friends at school: Anna and Ahlias

No more TV at our house!

Well, sort of. We took the big step--we cancelled cable! We never even had cable till around three years ago (late technology adopters in this case), but it does start to feel like a necessity, doesn't it? We still kept discussing the fact that we did not really need it and finally kicked the habit.

Goodbye DVR, my one-time love, goodbye on demand! I thought I needed you both, but did not realize that for $0/month in TV fees compared to the $85 (!) we were paying, we can get pretty much anything, anytime we want to watch ONLINE. The DVR requires you to remember to set up a recording, and also that something is on the tube that you WANT to record. On demand worked pretty well for the kids shows, and I liked the idea, but there is just no way cable can match the content available online.

Also, for now, we must say goodbye to HD programming. :( This is because Denver is the only major market without "over the air" access to HD programming. However, the Denver area is now on track to make the Congress-imposed 2009 deadline for all channels to be HD (and not require cable or satellite as is now the case), so another year won't kill us. (And the quality of online network shows is excellent.)

What do the kids think of all this? Well, they are too busy watching French kid video shorts "on demand" on youtube to even realize they don't have television receiption in the house. We think this is innovative, but by the time they are 10, I am sure it will be passé. The love it! Their current favorite is Trotro (the same person voices Trotro the mischievous donkey and T'choupi, but I don't think they have noticed that yet!). They also like dancing French penguins, and of course, T'choupi himself. T'choupi à la ferme has them laughing their heads off. Here is one of their favorite Trotro episodes--check it out:



While you are at it, you may as well check out Axel's all time favorite show, T'choupi's Premier Bal. Learn the T'choupi Cha Cha Cha so you can dance with Axel next time you visit!



I actually should specify that we do get one channel that we pay for: the French channel available to US residents: TV5. We pay $15/month and enjoy watching French news, movies and game shows (well, Reynald likes the latter).

Since I am not 20 years old (yes, it is true), I do like (American, I mean) TV shows like others of my generation. But, I now realize, no actual TV is needed--we should have done this ages ago and saved almost $1,000/year in cable costs! We have a fast Internet connection that supports streaming excellent quality videos/shows even through wifi. Check out the sites of all the networks like ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. Fox is in beta and the shows I have watched so far have had NO commercials. I am sure that won't last, but the commercial breaks the others take are limited compared to actual network-aired TV, and not that bad. (Someone has to pay for this, I guess!) AOL Television also offers thousands of shows, in full, for free.

If I were an executive at the TV networks, the cable companies or the satellite companies, I would be running scared. In less than five years, surely the current landscape will have changed even further, and the traditional delivery models will NOT be leading the pack.

With youtube, network shows, kid DVDs, and things still to be discovered online, we are sitting pretty using our Internet connection. I am watching more "TV" than I was before we cancelled cable! Who knew?! We have not even signed up for Netflix yet, and we can't forget that we can always buy previous episodes on iTunes if needed, for two bucks a pop!

This is a lot different than when we chose not to have TV for 2 years from 1999 to 2001: we just went cold turkey and that was it--and we didn't miss much! But long term, hopefully, we will again have more time for reading and relaxing and be better able to resist the pull of the tube/computer and save money at the same time, and when we can't resist, at least watch things we like, of our own choosing. What a concept!

Drawing by Luka

Luka's drawing of a "tigr", "cheta", and "liyin" (lion). (Click to get a larger view.)

He did this a few weeks ago and just looked at it now and said, "Mommy, I left out the "e'' in "tiger", the "e" in "cheeta" and the "e" in "lion"." (OK, well, we have some work to do on lion... ;)

Happy Holidays - Joyeuses Fêtes !

We have had an exciting November and December, with fun in Steamboat for Thanksgiving, Christmas presentations at school for Luka and Axel, Luka's first time skiing for the season and first time skiing at Copper, and getting ready to go to Alaska for the holidays.

Click here to see our Flickr page to see our photos from November and December. Click on the "November and December" set.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année !

Eve, Reynald, Luka & Axel

Recipe: Christmas Vegetarian Meatloaf

Christmas Vegetarian Meatloaf

I made this for our vegeterian guests (and the rest of us) for our Christmas party on Dec 22.

Red Pepper Sauce:

1-3 oz. jar roasted red peppers, drained
1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained or 1/4 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic
3 oz. silken lite tofu
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

For the Lentil Loaf:

3/4 cup dry lentils, cooked in veg broth
3/4 cup dry wild rice combo, cooked in veg broth
1/2 cup dry quiona, cooked in veg broth
1 small yellow onion
2 large stalks of celery, diced
1 cup carrots, chopped finely
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
8 oz. - 16 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into cubes
3 large eggs, lightly beaten (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp. good quality salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a loaf or other pan with nonstick cooking spray. Make the roasted red pepper sauce first by combining all the ingredients for the sauce in a blender or food processor and pureeing until smooth. Set aside.

Mix the cooked lentils, wild rice and quinoa in a large bowl. Set aside and let cool if needed.

Cook onion, carrots, celery and mushrooms till onions are soft.

Add onion mixture to the grains. Fold in half of the roasted red pepper sauce, the mozzarella cheese, eggs, 1/4 cup of the Parmesan cheese, basil, salt and pepper. Transfer to the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese over the top, and dot with butter.
Bake 30 minutes or until the loaf is firm and cooked through. Allow the loaf to cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting. Serve with the remaining roasted red pepper sauce on the side.

Serves 6.

Recipe: Green Salsa with Tomatillos

My friend Jill brought this to our Firetruck Santa Christmas get-together and it was soooooooo tasty! It is not too spicy for the kids (Axel loved it!) but it is very flavorful.

8 tomatillos, husked (or canned, whole tomatillos)
3 shallots
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilies
¼ cup chopped, fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
salt to taste

In a food processor, place tomatillos, shallots, garlic, green chilies, cilantro, jalapeno, and salt. Using the pulse setting, coarsely chop. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until serving. Yields 16 servings. Good with tortilla chips, fish, tacos and burritos.

Recipe: Quinoa & Mixed Rice Salad

From the newspaper (modified a bit).

For the Salad:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups Lundeberg Wild Blend (wild and whole-grain brown rice)
1 bunch of radishes, sliced thin
3 green onions, sliced thin
1/4 cup cilantro (optional - I personally detest cilantro)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins

Note: If you make this as written, it is a very large salad, for a party. I have made it with the 1 cup of quinoa only, all the other ingredients, and most of the dressing and it was delicious and everyone at a party loved it. With the rice is good too, but it will be a lot of food.

For the Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2/3 cup olive oil
5 medium garlic cloves, pressed
good quality salt to taste
2-1/2 tablespoons curry powder

Directions:
Cook rice blend according to instructions (or 4 cups water to 2 cups rice), and do not add salt or oil. Cook quinoa (3 cups water to 1 cup water), do not add salt or oil.

Let cool and fluff with fork.

Combine cooled rice and quinoa. Separatelt, combine radishes, green onions, raisins, walnuts and cilantro if using, then add to rice-quinoa mixture.

Combine all the salad dressing ingredients in a jar/tupperware with tight-fitting lid. Shake well and make sure curry powder does not clump.

Pour dressing onto salad mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Refrigerate for several hours and bring to room temperature before serving.

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.