Since the idea of the Cinque Terre holiday is fundamentally about hiking between the villages, that is exactly what we spent a fair amount of our time doing.  So there were 7 of us walking along the trails from age 5 to {redacted} plus Alma on my back.   The first day we drove to Riomagiore and…

One of the things that is hard not to like about Italy is the Gelato. Not only is it good (at least if you get it from a place that actually makes it – not just a franchised stand like mostly what we found in Rome last year) – but it is everywhere, reasonably priced, and is…

We had a pretty spectacular place to stay while we where in Cinque Terre, about 200 m above the sea along a rocky outcropping among the vines of local wine growers. heading in the first day – the kids were the only ones who could keep up with Luca We rented a small stone house…

The week before Susan’s parents left we took a trip together to Italy – to the Cinque Terre.  These are five small towns along the northern coast not far from Genoa that are either perched down along the sea at the bottom of a cliff, or hanging on the side of a cliff above the sea.  We were…

yes – for those of you wondering – Susan’s parents are in fact here. They have been for most of June now. It’s 6.00 and I’m about to drive them to the bus station to catch their airport shuttle so they can head back to Canada. We have had a great visit  – and we…

Who says you need to go to the states to get a real American experience? Well, I do for one.   But for a fairly reasonable facsimile thereof, you have the “American Village” camps to teach French children English as a Foreign Language. And- if you are like Jonah – you can have a week where you go from…

Last week we decided to head down into the city and spend the day there as a family.  So since getting there is always half the fun – we rode the tram downtown – which is something that never seems to loose its novelty for our kidsWe hadn’t decided exactly what to do (museum etc.) but we…

I was just out running this morning in the middle of the French countryside (a couple hundred km’s from home – so I have no idea what’s around me) – I had run about 8km and figured I was probably heading back towards where I wanted to be, but I had been on a fairly…

that is all.

Hard to believe – but our little bébé is already  months old.  She is growing like crazy, making more noise, still has only 2 teeth and a huge smile.  She still is very happy, 

Cutest. Girls. Ever. that is all.

Saturday was a games day in the park down in Uriage. There was just a whole bunch of games set up – so I took the kids down for a while in the morning.

I’m not kidding, one of these days I’m going to jump through the closing doors on the wrong train in the station, and instead of a 9 min ride around the city I will end up in a foreign city.

One of the truly great things about my schedule as a student is that it is often randomly variant  flexible enough that I can do things that many Dads can’t – like being the mom-helper at the kids school.  Last week Matea and Micah had an all day field trip and I went along. We…

Last Wednesday we took a family hike that started just a little ways uphill from our place.The place we were at is about 1000m of elevation – so everything is just a bit behind our place. There were still daffodils there, the leaves are a bit behind – and it was just a bit cooler. cool enough…

The kids just finished their 2-week spring vacation. We had a really good time as a family – just spending time together. We didn’t go anywhere as I still had classes and work to do. Also the kids didn’t really go outside all that much as it was cool and rainy for what seemed like…

On Sunday Matea and I competed in our first ever running races. We we’re in the beautiful alpine city of Annecy, nestled in between the lake and the mountains – however you wouldn’t really have known it due to the drizzly grey day. Matea did her race and got herself a t-shirt and earned a…

Thank  you so much – from Matea – but even more from the people who will receive clean drinking water because of your generosity. Matea had a $800 goal for her 8th birthday  You guys gave $1000 ! It is quite amazing that 50 people will have clean water. Mothers will have to spend less time carrying water from far away.Kids…

In case you were wondering what a day in the life of a business PhD student looks like – here was a typical day for me: Morning: structural equation modeling class with slides such as this: Then in the afternoon there is a seminar where faculty and visiting scholars present their research – and we…

All – there are only TWO DAYS left in Matea’s charity:water birthday fundraiser. http://mycharitywater.org/matea She decided to give up her birthday presents / money so that others can have clean drinking water. thank you SO MUCH to those who have already given. If you can give $5, $10 – or whatever – she will meet…

It has been a really nice last week or so here. Tonight when we were driving home from church it was still 19 degrees at 8:00pm.  The daffodils are probably getting close to being done, and the magnolia tree in the yard is in full bloom (it isn’t quite as nice as last year as it was…

Friday we had to go downtown to get passport pictures for Alma.  We had learned from the 5 attempts, 49 hours and 16 stores that we tried for her citizenship card that it was not as straight forward as one would assume – but we now knew the one store downtown that could do infant…

Nothing of particular note has happened in the last few weeks – but I thought I’d get a few pictures up of what we’ve been up to. 1. Lego. always lego. lots and lots of lego. 2. Daffodils.  The neighbors yard is basically a flower field – and Matea has been harvesting almost daily. She has taken bouquets to I think every…