Yo. I suck at updating stuff.

Let's see....What did we do this year. You know, in the past SIX MONTHS.

In June, Hazel and I picked up Gloria and went to Spring City to hang out with Grandpa who was house sitting. The little girls loved riding horses and swimming in the hot tub. I loved riding my bikes in the mountains around Spring City and having my dad check out the car at the Auto Zone in Ephraim.

Before you can ride a horse, you have to learn to take care of one. This means scoopin' some poop.
Hooray! Finally time for horses!
There is a lot of napping that goes on in the Wilde Manor.
OH! And someone started Kindergarten! It has been a rough start but hopefully we are finding the groove and someone will learn to love school.
And we got a new roof!! Hooray! This would not be possible without the fabulous help of Duffy. Geoff was overly ambitious, but eventually saw the light and we paid to have the rest done. But, they did get the section over the deck framed and it is awesome!
Photographic evidence of the need for a new roof. Not shown: the leak on the front porch. It was so bad that I made Geoff look for a dead body while the roof was off. None found.

New Roof! So pretty. So weather resistant! SO shows off what we need to do. Color suggestions are currently being taken for the shakes. The trim will most like be a white. The windows are most definitely white, as they are already upstairs waiting to be installed.

There you go. We are boring. And I don't take a lot of pictures.

Best.Day.Ever.

Hazel declared today the best day ever, for the following reasons:

• Went to daycare early
• Stayed for a REALLY long time (I had a conference, Geoff was working on the house, so she was there all day)
• Went on a field trip at daycare
• To the 7-Eleven (!!)
• Got a Slurpee, A BLUE ONE!
• A face painter came in the afternoon*, and she got a peacock on her left arm and a black widow on her right
• She had her favorite lunch at daycare**
• I got her a new bear to replace the one that "got lost"***
• We went to the zoo
• She got to ride the train
• She got an animal drink
• Probably more stuff, but she can't remember right now

I just wanted to keep track so we can look back fondly.

*Geoff had to sign a permission slip for the face painter, which I think is a little odd, but awesome that they consider people's (mine) dislike of face painters.

** GREEN BEANS(!!), little rolls (the little is important), spaghetti and meatballs.

***I threw it away. Luckily, the same vendor was at the conference I went to today and had the same bear. Thus, "Straw Beary" is returned.

Paris Day 6

My lovely child. Aaaaahhhh....

Today we were hitting a million places. It required delicious cookies (lemon/raspberry shortbread). Hazel picked this one because it was so pretty, but ended up hating it. Lucky me, because it was delicious!
First stop, climbing the towers of Notre Dame. This was the worst line we stood in all week. Also, the only swing we saw in all of Paris, and we went to plenty of playgrounds. This is the little playground right behind Notre Dame, if you are keeping track of playground equipment in Paris.
Another lovely family shot. I think this was taken by a person, otherwise we would have kept taking them until the kid didn't cover her face.

Arm's length shot.

Okay, the pictures are all out of order, due to the two cameras not having the same time set. Instead of getting frustrated and cursing blogger, I am just going to roll with it. Wouldn't you rather have an update blog, than pictures in order? Yeah, that's what I thought. I am obviously not a pro.

Anyway, Hazel and Geoff wanted a picture pretending like they were having a serious conversation. Because they are weirdos.
Unlike Meadow who had to take a picture of the ceiling in the Rodin museum. Do you see the peeling paint?? Here is the secret to having a crappy house: Fill it with amazing art and no one will notice. Except for other people who live in crappy houses (i.e. me).

Most of the museums were fading and peeling and missing things. I felt quite at home.
Back to the top of Notre Dame: Do you see how many people are at Sacre Coeur??? It is always busy!
Don't worry Heart Sparkle Sparkleheart (according to Hazel, this is her full name) was also there, posing with the gargoyles. She was only a little bit scared.
Since Hazel hasn't even seen the Hunchback of Notre Dame, she was not as excited as I was to see the giant bell. And she may have been a bit freaked out from climbing the rickety stairs.
Moose!
Oh, look, we have magically jumped to the Arc de Triomphe. What up, Heart Sparkle?
Oh, you like the Eiffel Tower? Me too. I think it is the bomb-diggity.
Hazel, of course, loves the unicorns. The Cluny was a hit purely for the unicorn tapestries. Please note: No flash allowed. And kids are not great at holding still while the picture takes. How did olde timey photogs ever get a shot? Seriously.
Hazel took this picture. It is awesome.
Rodin museum (please see its ceiling in an above picture). Still posing like statues. Never gets old. Never.
I wish I had a better shot of this. I love this sculpture. Look how disgusted/outraged the lady looks. Love it.
Oh, Sparkle Heart is back. On top of the Arc de Triomphe. Looks a bit tired to me. Probably because we were going non-stop.
Oh, but someone still has enough energy to leap.
Whoops! Not quite.*
Remember how I love the Eiffel Tower? Because I do. And I think it looks a little fake in this photo. Like it was just plopped down amidst all those little houses.
Climbing down the forever spiral staircase at the Arc.
And we are done!
And a bit dramatic.
This was the door to our apartment.
Last story of Day 6. This was our last day in Paris and Geoff wanted a "real French meal", something he could look back on and say "that was French". It was Sunday and everything was closed early, or too $$$ and nice with a kidlet. Europe is weird with the closing early. Moving on.

We found a little bistro not too far from our apartment and it looked nice enough and accommodating to the small one. Oh, and it was open, so that was a plus. Geoff tells the guy he wants "a classic French meal" and the guy explains the entree (appetizer) and plat (main course) options. Geoff hears "pork" and figures it is all good. I hear "tripe" and figure Geoff is crazy.

First up, let's discuss meal. I ordered Salade Normande. It was delicious! Some lettuce, a couple of tomatoes, prosciutto, 1/2 a wheel of Camembert (broiled until it was super melty) and then fried potato chunks. Delicious. Also, not really a "salad". But delicious. Plus, I ate some of Hazel's onion soup and some bread.

Back to Geoff: He ordered the terrine for an entree. It wasn't bad, but not the best thing ever. Then he gets his main course. Tripe. He powered through a bunch of it and kept saying "it's pretty good, try it." Blech. I know what tripe is. I did try it, and it wasn't good. Hazel tried it and declared it "chewy". Then Geoff claimed he was full. And for the first time in his plate he was not a member of the clean-plate club. Ha!

But then he got chocolate mousse for dessert and it was delicious.

The end.

And tomorrow (in blog time), we left for home. boo hoo.

*Actually, she conked her noggin on a viewing platform. The bruise is just barely fading. eek.

Paris Day 5

I think this day started poorly. I seem to remember we had a really, really hard time getting out of the apartment. And there may have been bickering. Let's forget about that. We had to buy a new camera card (argh!) and Geoff had to go back to the apartment for the camera (double-argh!). Luckily, this meant Hazel got to ride another carousel.

This was a more modern one. What with the cars and the rising up and down. This seemed like a neighborhood carousel, not a tourist one.

Whatever, Hazel loved it.
Then we went to the cemetery. Along the way, a flower vendor ran out, stopped us and gave Hazel a flower (she was being a little pouty and it went a long way to cheering her up). He then practiced his English on us and said, "Obama good!" with a big, old thumps up.

And then we met an indian who wanted the flowers.
This may be one of my favorite pictures of the trip. I love the drama of the kidlet. Yep, we are still posing like statues.
The ninja wanted to see Jim Morrison's grave. She is a big fan of The Doors.
Hazel is a big fan of the Wilde name. She doesn't really know who Oscar Wilde is, other than the Selfish Giant story, but she does recognize her last name.
The flowers were removed from their stems and applied to her ponytails. They were a lifesaver.
Then we head to the science museum! Woo!
It messed with our perception. Or maybe Geoff shrunk and Hazel grew.
Silliness on the mirror.
Aliens!
Unfortunately, it closed at 6pm, like everything else, so we didn't get to spend much time science-ing. Curses!

But we did have fun playing outside. Even if one us got a little tilt-y.
Giant, mirrored globe!
We all threw our hands up in the air and danced like we just didn't care.
And then we got to ride the beloved metro again.
To Sacre Coeur!
Honestly, this was one of my least favorite places. It was the first time we were really hit with classic "tourist" mobs. And, what a mob it was. So many people, so many people trying to sell them beer, so many pickpockets, so many street vendors running from the cops.

The highlight was finding this scarf for Hazel. She loves it and still gets tons of entertainment out of it.

While we were in the area, we decided to see (from the outside only) Moulin Rouge.
Not really the best area to be taking a five-year-old after dark.
But then we found the air vent.
This giant platform that blew air. I think it was from the metro, but I really don't know. Whatever it was, it was semi-warm and there was a ton of it. She told me this was her favorite part of Paris.
And then it was time to head home to bed.
Yeah, yeah, I have more days. I will get to them. I promise!