Paris and Disneyland

We went to Paris and Euro Disney for Spring Break. Of course we had a wonderful time. Euro Disney was more fun than we expected. We kept hearing that it was expensive, but we got a fabulous deal. People complained that it was crowded, but Disney knows they're popular and makes every effort to ease the pain. We were totally entertained. We had also heard that it was smaller. My kids are too young to care. It was a great Disney experience again. To enjoy comparisons by Greg click here.
We spent four days in Disney and one day in Paris. Does that seem crazy? We'll go back to Paris, of course. However, we did pack a lot into that one day.

Henry at the Louvre. We did go in and see the Mona Lisa and a few other works. The crowds were much more daunting than Disney and not nearly as well managed. It sort of burned the kids out quickly.


Greg is really great at turning food into fangs. Ansel was making monster noises, but the picture doesn't capture that.

Guess where we are.

Mike L. poses with Henry and Ansel. They had scream monitors right next to this statues. Children swarming to see if their scream could go off the charts. It was the most awful part of our Disney experience.

Paris Disney's castle was quite enchanting.

Small World was also newer and included more of the world. The boat ride was Ansel's fave.

Henry's Gag

A few weeks ago Henry attended the Geneva Auto Show with Greg.  He had a great time hanging with his Dad, and sitting in some cars.  He likes the glitz.

Apparently he enjoyed this red Jeep the most.  He's been telling anyone who asks that he bought it.  The price varies.  Last time I heard he got a steal of a deal $200!  It is being kept in a safe place until he turns legal driving age.  That would be 16 in the States but 18 here.  He's concerned about that difference.  Maybe his garage holding fee jumps after 10 years.

I didn't think much of his "joke" until I heard him tell Elsa about the Jeep he bought.  His presentation is flawless, he doesn't even smile.  I think he might even be convincing himself that he bought that red Jeep.  Elsa doesn't want to believe him, but is thrown off by the fact that his story doesn't vary and he's totally serious when he talks about it.

I wonder how long he'll keep this gag going?

Trusting The Dishwasher

I've always been intrigued by the dishwasher. I have total respect for its function. After three years without one, I vowed I'd never complain about emptying it, because I'm just so grateful to have it.

Growing-up doing the dishes was a process.  You scraped then washed with soapy water then rinsed THEN put the dishes in the dishwasher.  I never even questioned the process.

Not even when I left my house for college.  That's when I realized casseroles were indeed a viable meal not just a Mormon joke.  Admittedly sometimes I try my hand at a casserole.

After watching others do dishes and really thinking about the job of the dishwasher I decided to drop a step - the soapy water.  I still scraped and rinsed and scraped and rinsed repeatedly until there was nothing left to scrape or rinse.  I felt pretty good about this for a long time.

About two years ago I read an article on going green.  Growing up in Oregon these articles are typically second hand.  No new info, I've been doing their recommendations for a lifetime.  Imagine my surprise when I read that a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing!
Since that article I've considered dropping another step - the rinsing. I thought about it for two years, but couldn't trust my dishwasher to get the dishes clean and sterile.

Recently after considering how I could simplify my life I decided to drop the rinse. I put a couple scraped only dishes in. When I unloaded, I couldn't remember which ones weren't cleaned before I put them in the dishwasher. All of the dishes came out sparkling.

Little by little I've spent less time and used less water prepping my dishes for the dishwasher. It has earned my trust.

I still can't run it unless it is totally full. I know and love lots of people who can/do. However, that really isn't a problem considering my mini dishwasher.

Locked In!

Our car's keyless remote has been acting a bit strange lately.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it works when it shouldn't.  That's how Ansel got locked in the car today.  I set my keys on the driver's seat, like I've done for about five years.  Apparantly the pressure of the fall locked the car.  I had no idea, and when I shut the door to go to my seat, realized I'd locked myself out and my little boy in.

For the first five minutes I wasn't panicked.  The store security will just get their slim jim and me and Ansel will be on our way.  

Ansel wasn't worried he had an entire bag of groceries to dive into.

Then the security arrived.  He acted like he'd never had to deal with this in his life.  The child in the back seat was entirely new.

He went back in the store for reinforcements.

I began to be puzzled.  Maybe I've misunderstood.  My French is pretty rudimentary and he was speaking pretty fast.

An older couple saw my plight and came to give me support.  Plus, they spoke English.

Two new security guards arrived, both shaking their heads.  I'm still calm.

My feisty translator informed them they must call the local dealership and send them to get us out of this mess right away.  The security guards seemed like they obeyed, but I couldn't believe what they came away telling me.  We would have to break the glass to get into the car.  My car is too secure to break into.  What?

Fifteen minutes have passed and Ansel is starting to get hot.  My fan club surrounding me is getting bigger and questioning my sanity.  How could she possibly not know she locked the doors?  Why wasn't she holding the keys?  Why doesn't she have any friends?  Why does she not even know how to get a hold of her husband?  It's shocking.  But. . . they all stayed.

Twenty minutes later we get a hold of Greg.  (I remember I do have a friend who is also smart enough to use the internet.  Apparantly the store wasn't.  She quickly located Greg's work number and gave him a call).  But it's really too late to try and locate a spare key.  Ansel has beads of sweat forming on his neck!  The sweltering 60 degrees is still way too hot inside the car.  

The fire truck and police arrive in five minutes.  The passenger's side window is broken.  They scoop up Ansel with urgency and care.  Then pour a bottle of water over his head.  He's just fine, but keeps telling me the firman broke glass in his eye.

I'm still not quite sure what that means.  There is definitely glass everywhere but none of it near his little body or beautiful blue eyes.  I'm so grateful for that.

My new friends stick around to make sure we're all right and even clear the glass off my seat so I can drive home and pick up my kids from school.  Their bell just rang.