Allez Avec

Halloween 2010 featured: a butterfly, Spiderman, and two large-ish spiderwebs somehow carrying alcoholic beverages!  It was a gorgeous, warm day and I feel quite confident my kids were the first Trick-or-Treaters on the scene and canvassing the ‘hood.  I mean, they were back home by 7 p.m. and sunset here is not until around 7:30 p.m.  I guess being the first means you get the most candy b/c these two little ones brought in quite an impressive haul.

A side note that I wished we had a picture of: Gigi tried Nerds for the first time – and naturally, she ate them ONE AT A TIME.  Nerds, people.  I did not even know it was humanly possible to only eat one at a time.

And by 9 a.m. this morning, Halloween decorations were picked, pulled and packed away.  I mean, hello!?!  It is November 1st – got to get ready to get ready for the next round of decorations. We’ve been discussing…..and we may just go ahead and put the trees (yes, that’s right there is an ‘s’ on the end) up this coming weekend.  It is going to be a very colorful time around here!

With my parents in tow, we headed down to the San Antonio Zoo a few weeks ago.  The kids had an absolute blast.  We saw creatures big and small – little man even got to pet a rhino and little miss got to feed a bird perched on her shoulder!  My Mom and I could not get over the size of the condors – wow they are gigantic.  And it was fun to learn about all the behind-the-scenes activity that occurs 24/7 at this zoo – as this was a trip organized by EO – we got to have VIP access to zookeepers, the kitchens were an unbelievable amount and assortment of food is stored and prepped daily for all these creatures.  We even learned that every Keeper has a name for the animals/birds/fish under their care.  Seriously.  Every one of them.  As we were walking past the Condors, we saw two Keepers trying to get one of the Condors to come out to its perch.  ”Daisy, come on Daisy, come here Daisy.”  Daisy the Condor.  Another interesting piece of trivia – did you know that Winston Churchill’s macaw is still alive?  That bird is something like 90 years old.   Crazy.

Not sure how much the rhino enjoyed this, or even actually felt this - but Cash thought is was AWESOME!

Bird feeder extraordinaire! Alas, we are a dog family - no birds for us.

This is some kind of nest. Not sure if Cash was actually supposed/allowed to be grasping it like this.....

To my 4th Grade Bully:

Boy, you sure were mean to me. Mean in that cruel, nasty little way in which some kids seem to excel. And excel you did. Where did your meanness come from? To that question I have no answer because I simply do not know you. I did not know you when we were 9 years old, and I certainly do not know you know. I think you are a realtor for your profession. I’m pretty sure you still live in our hometown.

So what do I know for sure? Well, apart from you being one mean little bastard when we were kids? I know that your bullying of me was quite devastating to me. I remember all the things I did to try to not have to go to school. I would hold a thermometer next to a light bulb to try to warm it up in the hopes of convincing my Mom I was sick. I suffered very real stomach pains on a daily basis worrying about what awaited me at school, on the playground, in the hallways. Luckily, you were a boy so you could not follow me into the bathrooms of our small Catholic grade school. I spent a lot of time in the bathroom and in the nurse’s room trying to avoid you.  Ugh.

So why was I teased?  Because I was pudgy.  I do not recall myself as being really fat, but certainly soft and pudgy.  Tough to revisit because I either destroyed or tossed in the trash any pictures of myself from this time period.  I do remember with breathtaking clarity the names I was called – Titanic being the most often used.  And the way you would chant: boom bah-bah boom, boom bah-bah boom when I walked in the hallways.  You sure were a little asshole, huh?

Well, sure as the sun sets in the west, I grew taller and entered puberty a lot of my baby fat and softness went away….and then I started playing sports and I became a strong girl.   But for many years my body image was tainted by the memories of your relentless teasing.

And do you want to know the worst part?  Fast-forward to high school, this time I’m in 9th grade at an all-girls Catholic high school.  Two girls in our small freshmen class of 60+ students were teased on a continual basis – one for being short, the other for being fat.  While I do not recall being an active participant in this teasing, I know for sure that I did not stop it and I know for sure that I laughed alongside the teasers.  I’m very disappointed to this day in myself – my 13 year old self – for not sticking up for these girls and defending them.

Fast-forward once again to present-day.  I have two young kids, including a 5 year old daughter.  I wonder if you have any?  Well, I sit back and watch my daughter run into her kindergarten class – happy, free-spirited, and totally in love with herself and her life.  Will there be a bully in her future?  Who knows?  But what I know for sure is that my daughter will be equipped – physically, mentally, and emotionally to combat whatever lays in her path.  And if she sees bullying and teasing happening around her, my daughter will also be equipped with the courage and strength of conviction to defend and protect and befriend.  That is my job as her parent.  I wonder if you are going to do the same for your kids?  I wonder if your memories of life include this time when we were 9.  I hope so, and I hope it has somehow made you choose to become a better person.

Parts of the Crowe family made the trip from crisp and cool Boston to crispy and hot Austin for a weekend filled with only the most random of activities: squirrel chasing, ranch water tasting, tex-mex feasting, inebriated bowling, playground playing, near-naked water fountain splashing, storytelling, cowboy boot shopping, wedding watching, Great White van driving, bar hopping, stick fighting, bike riding, ball throwing, candy necklace wearing, beer drinking and on and on…..Some of these activities were for the 5 year olds, while others where for the 30+ year olds….good luck guessing which is which. Let’s just leave it at this: there were laughs, there were tears, there were injuries. We’ll be doing it all over again in Boston come December. Get ready.

I think the picture speaks volumes for itself.

Hello to whomever reads this!

It’s been a long time coming, and I’ve been blog-silent since we got back from France.  Mainly because I really did not think I had much to say that anyone would find remotely interesting, save myself.  And writing for myself seems kind of odd – like I’m already thinking the thoughts, do I really need to commit them to the blogosphere?  Anyway, the lovely ladies in my book club kept planting the seed in my ear that I need to continue writing – - so if this stuff bores you to tears, well, they made me do it.  No, not really.  Just my sly way of checking to see if those gals are really reading this thing.

So, the title of this post – No Fly Zone: 1978-2010.  So that would be just one way of describing my very describable father, Bob Geary.  He’s a man for which many, many words could be written.  But in this particular description of Bob (ooooooh, he hates it when I call him that!  But this is a man who literally just got a credit card about one year ago, does not own a cell phone, and has NEVER logged onto a computer in all of his 68 years so I feel quite certain he will not be reading this) what I am referring to is his zealous commitment to avoiding air travel.  32 years, folks.  Wow.  This man knows how to commit.  I could tell you other funny stories about my dad that have to do with commitment, but then I would really be in trouble – so I’ll save those for later.

I really don’t know what possessed the man, or how he did it, or what was the final motivation – but get on a plane he did (4 of them, in fact) to come pay a surprise visit to me and my family.  Here’s a pic of us before he and my Mom had to head out for their returning flights to Virginia (notice the Xanax is already taking effect!)

C'mon Xanax!

So the point of all of this is just to say – if this man could find the courage/balls/whatever you want to call it to overcome this long-term (and highly irrational – just sayin – - I mean he fears a plane crash yet has NEVER EVER in all my 35 years ever worn a seat belt when he drives or is a passenger in a car) fear – then what in the world is holding me or you back from getting over something?  My Dad gave me the surprise of my lifetime – truly, I figured I’d have to be dead for him to fly to Austin to visit – and I’m so happy for him that he did it.  Way to go, Bob!

As I go through 500+ pictures of our last days in France, I went ahead and picked out a few of my absolute favorites from our foray into Euro Disneyland. I think they actually call it “Disneyland Paris” now, or something like that.

If I could bottle up Gigi’s reaction, it would be called Pure Happiness. And I would never sell it to anyone, because it is just priceless. We tried to capture moments on film that can translate that unique happiness – but honestly, you just had to be there to fully appreciate it.

And as for our son, well, he’s two. We could have been in a cow field for all he cared, as long as he could run, eat, and be loud – he was happy. And in typical Cash fashion, he dug up a plant while we were waiting to enter Cinderella’s house. Not a little plant mind you – a big one, with big white flowers on it. Nice. The kids, quick thinking, decided to pluck off the flowers and present them to Cinderella. JD and I tried to replant the now flowerless plant without attracting too much attention.

We tried to have as many “character” moments as we could – we quickly learned the power of the mighty euro when it came down to getting a pic with a Princess or a Mouse or a Duck or a Dog. So we shelled out the big bucks for Lunch at Cinderella’s place – and that was money very, very well spent. If it is possible for a 5 year old girl to spontaneously combust due to excitement over meeting Snow White, well, then we were very close. And did you know that at Cinderella’s house, they serve unlimited wine with lunch? Like I said, money well spent.

Enjoy these pics – I will be going through many more and regaling you with other fantastic memories of our last week in France!

Ahhhhh.....our time with Cinderella!

At the Moteurs Show - huge hit with the kids!

Daddy and his girl off to ride the "big" rides at the park!

Right after the big Indiana Jones ride!

Plant picker

It was crazy how fast JD was spinning their cup!

The chipmunks were everywhere!

While we are still working on the technology to see if we can retrieve pics and videos from our French adventure, I decided to do something a bit off the wall.  So, anyone who knows me knows I’ve been a viewer of the Oprah Winfrey show for a really long time – more than a viewer, I’m really just a fan of the woman.  She is an amazing business leader, she is an entrepreneur, she gives back to the world, and many times her shows have really made me think.  Her No Phone Zone campaign is brilliant.  I really don’t watch any TV on a consistent basis – I DVR Oprah, Charlie Rose, and House Hunters International.  So while watching a DVR of an Oprah show sometime in mid-May – it was like maybe 2 days or so before we left for France – she announces this contest.  Open to anyone.  You just have to record an video audition and upload it to her site.   The winner will get his/her own Talk Show on Oprah’s new network that is launching in Jan 2011.

I spent a LOT of time thinking about this.  If I could create a show, what would it look like?  What would it be about?  What am I passionate about, really?  Nothing I thought up really worked for me.  In terms of talk shows, the only ones I enjoy are Oprah and Charlie Rose.  So fast forward about 6 weeks, and I’m back in Austin – - no video recorded.  And then I go out to dinner with one of my favorite girlfriends.  And it was during that dinner that I realized it was these are the types of conversations that I loved, and would love to somehow bring to TV the stuff of girlfriends.

So obviously, there is no way for me to win in terms of vote count.  There is a dude from Austin who has almost 9 MILLION votes?!?! That is amazing!  So for me, I just want to break into three digits.  If I get to 100, I am happy.  Actually, I am thrilled that I made the video and put it out there.  For me, that was my version of continuing to “Say Yes” to the adventure of life.  You never know what might happen.

Here is the link to check it out!  And if you are so inclined to hit that little green VOTE button, that’s awesome too.  And just so you know – you don’t have to register/sign up/give any info whatsoever – just click the button and your vote is counted.

http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=18424&promo_id=1

I would have knelt down and kissed the sweet Texan ground on Tuesday evening when we arrived at the airport in Austin, but I was just too damn tired and believe me, it was too damn hot outside to anything other than sprint to the nice, air conditioned SUV waiting to whisk us home. You know, because that is how we roll here in Texas.  We’ve only been back for about 20 hours, and already the last 5 weeks seem kind of dream-like.  Did we really just do this?

And then a memory will hit me like a ton of bricks – nothing too special – just remembering a meal shared with new friends, or the smell of fresh lavender fields, or falling down a flight of steps, or a diaper explosion at Charles de Gaulle airport with not a changing station in sight, or when my daughter’s tooth fell out beneath the Eiffel Tower (hey, better there than if she were at the top), or my son trying foie gras for the first time, or my husband manning the 12 inch by 12 inch charcoal grill like he was Bobby Flay outside our village house door.  Oh, yes, that was certainly a very real adventure we just completed.

I’m in the processing stage, I guess.  I’ve got lots of thoughts about France, about village life in France, about traveling with kids, about traveling with a spouse, about what to pack next time, about where to go next time.  Then there are the thoughts about America – - – thoughts I’ve never really had before because I’ve never really experienced anything other than living here. And if you know me, you know I’m not one of these ‘rah-rah we are the best’ singular thinkers – I’ve always thought America is awesome and unique and young and spirited and a true country of opportunity.  What is the best country, anyway?  What I know with absolute certainty is that I’m hugely happy to be an American.  And so wherever our next adventure may take us, and for however long – - I’ll be American all the way.  And, I guess 1/2 Texan, a big part Virginian, and that sneaky bit of New York, New Jersey and sliver of West Virginia seem to get in there too.

Oh, and a final and perhaps sad technology update.  The hard drive upon which so, so many pictures were stored from our adventure may be unretrievable.  So there may be no way to show you some of the great times we had in the last couple of weeks of our adventure.  But we went nuts with the little French computer we bought and we stored just an obscene amount of pics on there from the last few days – so as soon as JD is back from his EO trip (poor guy had to get back on a plane about 12 hours after we got home) he will become the technology master and see what magic can be worked on the fried hard drive.

Dad Update: I wandered down to Le Reve (the little pub) this morning for le finale – un cafe creme from the bartender. He makes a great one.

There was sad music playing on the stereo and the same guy who shows up each morning at 11 AM to have a couple of beers was standing there wearing the same thing he was yesterday. The guy who has a broken foot was hobbling through Le Place, the old guy who likes to sweep the sewage drain in front of his house was sitting around talking to himself.

I found myself already missing the town but realizing that our family’s time here, like a quick rain shower in the grand canyon, was simply a blip in the long history and future of this town. By next week no one will remember us and yet every day they’ll wake up and do the same thing they did yesterday. The grapes will continue their slow growth up until harvest in September. The Proxi will broadcast its silly music at 10 and 5 each day along with the announcements of what its daily meat selection is (which is about the same every single day) and the church bell will ring exactly 4 minutes and 34 seconds late every single hour.

I guess I’m just feeling a combination of homesick, anxious and completely insignificant this morning. Allez Avec Us as we head up to Paris!

We are celebrating the last night in Paziols with the Crowe family: Mike, Kerri, Keelyn, Quinn, and Karen. It is looking to be a grillin’ and chillin’ evening. Perfect weather. JD is grilling up a nice pork loin, sides of roasted rosemary potatoes and fresh tomatoes – along with cheese, baguettes, and of course – lots and lots of vin rouge!

The final leg of our France adventure begins tomorrow, when we head back up to Paris…..but stay there we will not – instead, we are taking the kids to Euro Disneyland. We will have the flip cam out to catch Gigi’s reaction to the park, because I think she may just lose her mind!! We will be staying in the park – in the big Castle Hotel. We don’t hit the ATX until Tuesday, so I envision lots of Fairytale Creature and Princess spotting over the next few days! Pics and video to follow once we are back home.