Gingerbread House: 2010

Every year, we make a gingerbread house. Last year, we made a house AND a santa sleigh with reindeer that we bought on clearance the spring before. This year, I got a gingerbread house from Bountiful Baskets. The only drawback (I think) was that it didn't come with any candy for decorating, which negated the inexpensive cost of the house because we still had to buy a ton of candy. Anyway, it was fun. It went together fairly well, although a wall by the front door was broken when we opened the box. Once it was assembled, we had to wait 24 hours before decorating.



I was worried the house would collapse in the night (the walls are quite thick), so I put an extra layer of icing all the way around the bottom. I'll let you know after Christmas how my bamboo cutting board survives this ordeal...


So, day two, we decorated. We had m&m's, hershey's kisses, sourpatch kids, sweet tarts, mini candy canes, sprinkles and more! It was a blast. H-Bomb discovered that if you twist the sourpatch kids, they make GREAT icicles!


When we decorate a gingerbread house, there are absolutely no rules, we all just have at it. There is no stifling of creativity in this house! Candy is eaten, and some is even put on the house! Everyone sort of decorates the space in front of him/her. Even Sawed Off had a turn with the icing bag! (below)


I decorated the chimney myself! Brown, red and orange "brick" m&m's, with H-Bomb's twisted sour patch kids for smoke!

(notice H-Bomb's icicles under the eave!)

Sawed Off and I decorated the roof on this side.

Sawed Off with the sparkly green gel.

The back of the house, complete with marshmallow snowmen and m&m's wreath!

The front of the house. We had some issues with the sparkly red and green gel icings, but H-Bomb declared that they were "blood and guts" and explained "they forgot to take down their Halloween decorations!" Perfect.

the aftermath.
(and Number One's side of the house!)

Happy Christmas!!!

The Paris Chronicles: First Day + Le Tour Eiffel

Our trip to France, AKA The Paris Chronicles, starts HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~

We woke up the next morning around 7am, and headed out for le petit dejuener, AKA breakfast.

Now, some of you may know that I speak Spanish, I actually have a Bachelor's degree in Spanish, but let me tell you in case you didn't know: French is a whole different language. The pronunciation is very different, and to me it didn't make a whole lot of sense that first day. Or the second day for that matter. But I did my best, and we managed to order our very first breakfast all on our own! Croissants, cafe au lait, chocolat chaud, pain et confiture. (croissants, coffee, hot chocolate, bread and jam!)

We taught the boys how to say "S'il vous plaît" and "Merci" and even "Merci beaucoup." When Sawed Off said "Merci," it came out like "mer-whee" but he's young enough that people thought it was cute. We also taught the boys to say "Bonjour, Au revoir" and the basic greetings (which they still use occasionally months later!)


Grandpa met us at the restaurant, and we decided we'd take the metro to catch a bus tour of the city. The architecture in Paris is incredible, everywhere you look. This is the textile museum/factory just behind our hotel.


The metro was just a quick walk from our hotel too, basically just around the corner. I love that you can walk anywhere in Paris, then hop on the metro or a bus or both and get where you want to go. You really don't need a car unless you plan to travel outside of the city!


Here's "our" metro stop. Notice the beautiful tile work, such attention to detail. I love Paris.



I also love how open the French are to art. These posters were everywhere in the metro lines. I wanted to go to the exhibit, but we just didn't have time. (see my boys on the left, below!)


The boys had several discussions whether the naked person in the bathroom photo was a boy or a girl (she's mostly seen from behind, and small-breasted). And once they figured it out, they casually remarked, "oh, there's that naked girl again," but more often than not, they didn't remark at all. It just wasn't a big deal.

Can you just imagine if a photo like this was in PUBLIC in the U.S.? There would be protests and lawsuits galore. The thought of this prudish reaction makes me cringe. Truthfully, it also makes me want to plaster these posters across the U.S.A.!! Have a glass of wine and get over yourselves, people, it's a naked body. =)



Once we were on the metro, headed to pick up the bus tour, we got our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! The boys couldn't contain their excitement, "LOOK! It's the Eiffel Tower!!" It is their absolute favorite sight in Paris.


To Be Continued...

The Paris Chronicles: An Evening Stroll & Picnic

On the flight to Paris, direct from Salt Lake City, we all took No-Jet-Lag Homeopathic Tablets. I was skeptical, but anything that says it will prevent jet lag and is homeopathic is worth a shot, and Grandpa swears by them. They actually taste pretty good, even the boys like them. H-Bomb would ask me every once in a while if it was time for another "pill," which served as a good reminder for me since you're supposed to take them every few hours.

The other tip we got was to stay awake as long as you can once you arrive at your destination, especially if you arrive during the day. Try to stay awake until bedtime there. So, with an eight hour time difference, arriving in Paris at 10:30ish AM was like being in Salt Lake City at 2:30ish AM. And guess who didn't sleep a wink on the 10 hour flight? =)

After our fabulous lunch, we returned to the hotel to get our bearings, unpack a bit, relax. And I was about to drop. I couldn't keep my eyes open, and it wasn't even 5:pm so we knew we had to get up and go.


With Jean-Claude, I went down to the market on Rue Mouffetard to get supplies for our picnic. My favorite part of this was trying all the different pates at the charcuterie. (and the charcuterie guy wasn't bad, either)


Next the cheese shop for cheese, a fruit stand for some fresh fruit, a bakery for a baguette, and of course the wine shop for wine. All of this on the same little market street! I was so glad I brought my shopping bag, I used it every single day in Paris.


Jean-Claude and I joined everyone else, and we took off on foot through the streets of Paris, headed to Luxembourg Gardens for our picnic.

We passed by Ernest Hemingway's apartment, which had been a goal of both mine and Mary's--the first night! We saw it!


The architecture and the history of the streets of Paris are simply stunning. I have no idea on which streets we wandered, or of which buildings I took pictures, but here are some of the sights.


And here is our picnic at Luxembourg Gardens. Pate, cheese, berries, figs, bread, wine, (juice for the boys). Delicious doesn't even begin to describe it.


I think my absolute favorite thing about Paris is that you can drink wine wherever you happen to be. You can buy a bottle of wine, and uncork it on the street. Or in the park. Or anywhere!! And drink it! I think Americans (and Utahns in particular!!!) have got this All Wrong. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with drinking wine, as long as you're not hopping in a car afterward.


After our scrumptious picnic, we packed up and walked back. We found a gelatto shop for the boys (and us, who am I kidding) who wanted ice cream. YUM. We stopped at lots of fountains.


And by the time we got back to Rue Mouffetard, lots of shops were closed for the night.


Look, our hotel left the lights on for us! (down there on the left, past the bicycle)


Rue des Gobelins takes on a certain charm at night, as does the rest of Paris.


We fell into bed, exhausted, and fell asleep to the sounds of a wonderful city.

Au Revoir...

Just a note to let you all know that I'll be gone for a few weeks...can you guess where? The whole family, me, Number One, H-Bomb, Sawed Off, even Grandpa & Mary are heading to France to visit our dear friend Jean-Claude. We are beyond excited.

We'll be in Paris for about a week (the picture above is NOT from our hotel), then we'll travel by train into the country in the South of France, where we'll stay in Jean-Claude's country house, walk to the village, play with the neighbor's goats and eat some of the neighbor's cheese (I hope).

While I won't be blogging, I will be eating fabulous food and drinking fabulous wine and taking lots of hopefully fabulous pictures! I'll tell you all about it when we return.

R.I.P. Belle Starr

7 April 2010

My Husband, The Falconer

Number One studied and studied and tested and jumped through hoops for both the state and federal governments, and he got his Apprentice Falconer's License.

But, by the time he got all the licensing stuff back from the state and the feds last year, he didn't really have time to catch a hawk before the season ended, and he was bummed about that.

He made traps during summer and fall last year, and this winter, he started trying to trap a red tail hawk. He bought a small, friendly rat from Pet Smart, and we named her Remy. (after the rat in Ratatouille) She was cute, and even endured an encounter with some "Just For Men" to darken the white spots on her coat and make her more visible to the hawks. After her dye job, she helped lure in and catch a couple hawks. The trap worked! But the hawks were too old for Number One to keep, there are some age requirements that I don't really pay attention to so that's all I can say about that.

Remy

Then Remy had an unfortunate injury. One of the hawks must have gotten her with a talon, right in the ear. She was having trouble walking, but the bleeding stopped and she didn't die. We really thought she would die, but she started drinking and eating again, so then we thought maybe she just had a ruptured eardrum or something that was messing with her balance and making her walk sort of crooked, rather than a serious brain injury.

Number One gave Remy some time off, and she really seemed to improve, then he started taking her out again. In her trap, in the snow one day, she keeled over. Number One went in to town and got a little mouse from the pet store, it was a wild little thing that I didn't like. (I think the pet store just breeds feeder mice, and doesn't handle any of them).

It was getting down to the wire, the trapping season was ending and Number One was calling his falconry sponsor for advice. His sponsor told him that another apprentice had seen some hawks of the appropriate age up north, so Number One took a road trip.

He borrowed a couple traps and some rats from the other apprentice, although he liked his trap better. He put the little wild mouse in one trap, and put it out where the hawks were. At some point, he saw a hawk swoop down toward the trap, but couldn't see what happened. Then he saw the hawk fly off, obviously not trapped, but it looked like he was eating something. That darn wild mouse had escaped from the trap, and the hawk ate it! Feeder mouse, indeed.

Being up in the City, Number One went to Pet Smart and bought a much tamer mouse.

On the last day of the season, after a day and a half straight of throwing out his traps, just as he was about to pack it in, he saw a hawk and decided to try one last time. He used his trap this time with one of the other guys' rats, put it out there, and he caught his hawk!


The hawk really is beautiful. He doesn't have a name yet, but Number One has been having success training him. Now he will jump onto Number One's fist almost every time Number One wants him to! It is amazing. I don't know how long it will be before Number One can actually start training him to fly and return, but I will keep you posted.


Number One made the leg things, called "anklets" and he also made the "jesses", sort of rope-like things that are attached to the anklets, and he borrowed the hood from the other apprentice. The hood helps to keep the bird calm, and Number One is also training him to get into the hood. So much to learn for both of them!

At some point I'll take pictures of Number One's trap, and will definitely keep you posted about the whole process.