November in a flash

November has been as busy as we imagined and it’s not over yet!

We had a great visit with Linda several weeks ago. I think we managed to balance showing her some of the sights and letting Sonja and her Nonna have plenty of playing time too. We really lucked out with the weather which had been predicted as rain – but in the end was beautiful; the very last of the warmer weather.

The next weekend we visited Ken’s friend in Germany, known to all but his wife and children as “Stuff” or “Stuff MC.” Stuff’s daughters, Nayeli and Aileen, are 2 years 8 months and 8 months old, so Sonja was right in between. Luckily none of them were going through an unable-to-share or hit-everything-in-sight phase and got along well. Stuff and his wife have a beautiful house and the girls all played and generally had a blast. We also got to see the Cologne Cathedral and the Cologne Zoo, and have some German food. Stuff and his wife speak English really well (plus a bunch of other languages, putting us totally to shame!) and Nayeli speaks German and French. She usually only speaks French with her dad, so she thought our broken French was pretty funny. Although my French is still very basic, I can at least ask for simple things in shops and understand basic questions, so it was a bit of a shock to go back to not being able to ask for even the simplest thing in Germany. I can understand how Europeans are so motivated to learn other languages. I certainly would be.

In keeping with our busy schedule, Glen came to visit the weekend before Thanksgiving. We went to the Catacombs, the Montparnasse Tower, and had some fine French food. And I think Ken and Glen did some work somewhere in there too. It was a whirlwind 4 days. Sonja mostly knew to call Glen “Gen,” but called him “Dada” a few times. Let the confusion begin!

While Glen was visiting the Beaujolais Nouveau arrived, which is a pretty big thing in Paris. It is the new wine made with the grapes harvested 6 weeks before in early October. We had a bottle then, and also had a bottle with our Thanksgiving dinner, which included a roast chicken and fancy dessert. Ken’s dessert was a glisten orb of moose, on a brownie with gold leaf on it or thyme flavored chocolate – it was quite amazing!

We are headed to Madrid on Saturday. It will be great to see Dexter and Rosa, and we have never been to Spain, so we are very excited!

I think our last two weeks will be quieter, unless we make another effort to get to London, the first time was thwarted by a cold I had in early October.

A very happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

~Rachel

P.S. Sonja turned 18 months yesterday. She will seem so different to everyone when we get back. She talks all the time and even has simple conversations. Some of her new words are: kiwi, open (everything can be opened – doors, jackets, packaging, it is a very useful word for a baby), apple juice, and Germany. She is saying little phrases and even using possessives (like pointing at my dessert and saying Mama’s).