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multimom4
August 28th 03, 10:58 PM
Finally, The Report on our trip to France, June 21 thru July 28.

Sean was already in France for business, and took as much luggage as I could
pack ahead of time (a lot) to save me the carrying. On the night before, I
had everything ready so I actually got to bed before 10, which was a smart
move. Up at 2:15 am, woke kids at 3, for smooth 3:40 bus pickup. First
flight at 6:30.
Flights went well, considering. Last-minute purchases of Gameboy and 2 CD
walkmen were the best
investments of my life. Elliot played Gameboy solidly for the 5 hours +/-
from Seattle to Philadelphia. Holly napped. On the Philly-Paris portion,
things unwound a little. First Holly fell off the seat onto her head while
I was strapping her car seat in. Not happy in my arms or in her seat, and
suddenly it was take-off, so she screamed for an HOUR. We were not
popular. Then Connor was absent-mindedly kicking the seat in front of him,
so the old guy woke me from my (only) nap to tell me about it -- then he
went for a 20 minute walk. I was *soooo* mad -- I mean, I know the kid was
driving him nuts, but couldn't he have complained on the way *back* to his
seat? I made C. sit crisscross applesauce for the rest of the flight.

Paris was great -- our only hitch was that apparently the entire French
capital contains precisely three highchairs, only one of which has a strap,
so Holly tried to ruin every meal by bobbing up and down and pulling stuff
on the floor -- or falling on her head onto tiles, on one occasion. It
actually seemed to be a relief to *her* too, the one time we found a real
highchair and she had to sit still.

EHC *loved* Paris. The Eiffel Tower was a 5-minute wonder, more popular
from the ground than from the top, but they thought the (outside) of the
Louvre was really cool, the funfair in the Tuileries gardens was a wonderful
surprise, and they particularly *loved* the churches. Musta spent 2
hours in Notre Dame looking at the "Jesus stories". Another hour + in the
Sainte Chapelle and as for the Conciergerie (medieval Government offices
used as prison during the Revolution), they thought the "pretend people"
(models of Marie Antoinette etc) were too cool. Suitably impressed by the
little cell in which the condemned had their hair cut and their clothes torn
down over their shoulders before heading off to the tumbrils, too. Heh heh.

Another really cool thing about Paris is the new "Batobus". You buy a
ticket ($10 for an adult, $5 for a child -- Holly was free, I think) and you
can then ride up and down the Seine on a boat *all* day, getting on and off
at "bus stops" as often as you want. It really beats pounding the pavement
with 4 kids or fighting on and off the Metro with a stroller. Of course, it
adds up for a big family, but we just did it one day and it helped us pack
in a lot more sightseeing than we could possibly have managed otherwise.

At the coast, we missed both the March - June heatwave and the August one,
so the weather was much hotter at home than we got at the beach ---- but
since we had no a/c and the gorgeous sandy beach was our near-deserted
private territory (no kiosks to buy drinks or anything), it's just as well
it wasn't boiling. Easily warm enough for playing all but a couple of rainy
days, on one of which we went to the Bayeux Tapestry (and the Cathedral of
course!!). The house (for 4.5 weeks) was, as promised, right opposite the
beach. Unrestricted Atlantic views, magnificent sunsets and thunderstorms
(!), and on clear days we could easily see the houses and telegraph poles on
Jersey and even a cluster of tiny house-sized inhabited islands just off J.
whose name now escapes me -- the residents must be mad. Open your front
door and you pretty much fall into the sea. Our house was very nice -- no
nasty surprises and everything worked as advertised. I guess the only
problem was that the locals fish from that beach using their farm tractors
to drag their fishing boats into the sea .... very picturesque, but all that
machinery leaves occasional mini oil slicks on the beach. Not a big problem
once I learned that vegetable oil removes it pretty easily, but still an
irritation.

Was joined over there at various times by my Mom, my two sisters and their
spouse/kids, 4 girlfriends from college and their various offspring
(including the 7 boys of my French-residing friend whose house was about 50
minutes away, so we visited each other weekly) ... which all went very
well, I think :-}.

There's a lot of invasion history in Normandy (many houses and shops still
fly the British, American and Canadian flags over their doors and the local
town halls. Plus the flower beds outside the town halls, and in the traffic
circles, acknowledge the liberation, too, with badges of the units and
titles like: "AIRBORNE" etc). So I gave EHC the basic historical background
and then Daddy took EHCH to the Beaches one day while I lounged around the
house with my sister eating an evil lunch, watching Wimbledon on the tv
(English reception from the Channel Islands) and reading our books in cozy
SILENCE. They got home after a 10 hr trip and Sean confessed he might have
forgotten to tell them what D-Day actually was. So I'm sort of still
wondering whether they understood *anything* about the pillboxes and gun
emplacements they saw that day.

I learned two easy new recipes from friends (chicken curry and zucchini
fettucine) to add to my pathetic repertoire -- I'm a great cook but I am
also terminally lazy on that front. So all in all we had a great time --
I've never been so tanned in my life and EHHs' blond hair is bleached
almost-white.

Am trying to work out what country to try next, and when. If Sean has to go
to the Farnborough air show (UK) next year, we might even risk driving on
the other side of the road :-) Otherwise, we'll probably wait at least
another year til Holly is more travel-ready.

--
Janet
Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
and Holly (4/4/01)

Megan Byrne
August 29th 03, 04:14 AM
Oh my, all I can say is God bless ya! We just went camping for 5 days in
PA from NJ and barely survived. I can't imagine flying across the world
with 4 kids. Good job!!

Megan
Mommy to miracle twins...
Aidan & Alexis
Born 9-28-02

Kender
September 2nd 03, 11:14 AM
"multimom4" > wrote in message
news:ZVu3b.287146$YN5.197252@sccrnsc01...
<snip>
> I learned two easy new recipes from friends (chicken curry and zucchini
> fettucine) to add to my pathetic repertoire -- I'm a great cook but I am
> also terminally lazy on that front.
>

You might like this recipe Janet. It is a great, easy to make ahead of time
(such as in the afternoon) and my kids love it. I use whole wheat tortillas
because I don't like the corn tortillas.

Mexican Lasagna

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 large onion, halved and cut into thin wedges
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cups (16 ounces) fat free ricotta cheese
1 cup (8 ounces) reduced fat sour cream
1 jar (4 ounces) chopped green chile peppers
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups salsa
8 corn tortillas (6" diameter), cut in half
1.25 cups (5 ounces) shredded low-fat Monterey Jack Cheese

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 13" x 9" baking dish with cooking spray.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat.
Add the chicken and cook, turning several times, for 5 minutes, or until no
longer pink. Remove to a medium bowl. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel.
Coat with cooking spray. Place over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic.
Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 7 to 8 minutes, or until lightly
browned. Add to the chicken in the bowl.

In another medium bowl, combine the ricotta, sour cream, chile peppers,
cilantro, cumin and salt.

Spread 1 cup of the salsa across the bottom of the prepared baking dish.
Arrange half of the tortillas evenly over the salsa. Spread half of the
ricotta mixture over the tortillas. top with half the chicken mixture. Top
with 1 cup of the remaining salsa and 1/2 cup of the Monterey Jack. Repeat
the layering sequence with the remaining tortillas, ricotta mixture, and
chicken mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of the salsa and the 3/4
cup cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through. Loosely cover with foil if the
cheese browns too quickly.

Makes 8 servings
Per serving: 281 calories, 30g protein, 20g carbohydrates, 9g fat, 61 mg
cholesterol, 3g fiber, 601 mg sodium


--
Erin
Morgan and Megan 2/15/97
Evan 5/14/00

Megan Byrne
September 2nd 03, 02:16 PM
I have a similar recipe that is sooo yummy!

1 lb. chopped meat

1 lg. can tomato puree
1 sm. can tomato paste
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
sugar to taste

4 cups cheddar
4 cups mozzarella

no boil lasagna noodles

Brown your chop meat, drain fat
Add all your tomatoes and sugar to taste
Bring to a boil and then simmer for as long as you like.

Layer meat mixture with cheeses and noodles.

Bake covered at 350 degrees for one hour, then uncovered for 1/2 hour.

Megan
Mommy to miracle twins...
Aidan & Alexis
Born 9-28-02

thefackrells
September 2nd 03, 03:06 PM
>
> no boil lasagna noodles
>
> Just a helpful tip, because I know that a lot of folks don't know it
yet.....when making lasagna, you don't have to boil nor buy special "no
boil" noodles!! You can use just your basic lasagna noodles, DRY....just add
some extra water to your sauce ("they" say 1/4-1/2C) and make sure the
noodles are covered by the sauce! And then cook as normal! I've done this
and cooked it immediately and I've also made it ahead of time and froze
it.....great every time!!

oh oh oh...have y'all tried adding Cream Cheese to your lasagna????!!!!!! I
KNOW it sounds odd......but I found it in a recipe one time, tried it, and
OMG!!!! I won't make it again w/o!!! its awesome!! :)
Gwen

GSX Neil
September 2nd 03, 08:34 PM
A little advice, in case you didn't know, if you speak French in France they
will be much more likely to get things for you, even if it's bad French.
The French are a bit prone to English/American bashing and some will even go
out of their way to be unhelpful - hence the 3 high-chairs! Could be my
bald head, sixty tattoos, boots and England soccer shirt?? Only kidding.

Glad you liked Paris and the other areas though, London is better (although
I'm biased). The Farnborough Air Show is one of the best and well worth
seeing so you must try.

What's difficult about driving on the correct side of the road though? Mind
you, a lot of English drivers would struggle regardless of which side they
drive ;)

NEIL.

ps: I don't wear boots :)

"multimom4" > wrote in message
news:ZVu3b.287146$YN5.197252@sccrnsc01...
> Finally, The Report on our trip to France, June 21 thru July 28.
>
> Sean was already in France for business, and took as much luggage as I
could
> pack ahead of time (a lot) to save me the carrying. On the night before,
I
> had everything ready so I actually got to bed before 10, which was a smart
> move. Up at 2:15 am, woke kids at 3, for smooth 3:40 bus pickup. First
> flight at 6:30.
> Flights went well, considering. Last-minute purchases of Gameboy and 2 CD
> walkmen were the best
> investments of my life. Elliot played Gameboy solidly for the 5 hours +/-
> from Seattle to Philadelphia. Holly napped. On the Philly-Paris portion,
> things unwound a little. First Holly fell off the seat onto her head
while
> I was strapping her car seat in. Not happy in my arms or in her seat, and
> suddenly it was take-off, so she screamed for an HOUR. We were not
> popular. Then Connor was absent-mindedly kicking the seat in front of
him,
> so the old guy woke me from my (only) nap to tell me about it -- then he
> went for a 20 minute walk. I was *soooo* mad -- I mean, I know the kid
was
> driving him nuts, but couldn't he have complained on the way *back* to his
> seat? I made C. sit crisscross applesauce for the rest of the flight.
>
> Paris was great -- our only hitch was that apparently the entire French
> capital contains precisely three highchairs, only one of which has a
strap,
> so Holly tried to ruin every meal by bobbing up and down and pulling stuff
> on the floor -- or falling on her head onto tiles, on one occasion. It
> actually seemed to be a relief to *her* too, the one time we found a real
> highchair and she had to sit still.
>
> EHC *loved* Paris. The Eiffel Tower was a 5-minute wonder, more popular
> from the ground than from the top, but they thought the (outside) of the
> Louvre was really cool, the funfair in the Tuileries gardens was a
wonderful
> surprise, and they particularly *loved* the churches. Musta spent 2
> hours in Notre Dame looking at the "Jesus stories". Another hour + in the
> Sainte Chapelle and as for the Conciergerie (medieval Government offices
> used as prison during the Revolution), they thought the "pretend people"
> (models of Marie Antoinette etc) were too cool. Suitably impressed by the
> little cell in which the condemned had their hair cut and their clothes
torn
> down over their shoulders before heading off to the tumbrils, too. Heh
heh.
>
> Another really cool thing about Paris is the new "Batobus". You buy a
> ticket ($10 for an adult, $5 for a child -- Holly was free, I think) and
you
> can then ride up and down the Seine on a boat *all* day, getting on and
off
> at "bus stops" as often as you want. It really beats pounding the
pavement
> with 4 kids or fighting on and off the Metro with a stroller. Of course,
it
> adds up for a big family, but we just did it one day and it helped us pack
> in a lot more sightseeing than we could possibly have managed otherwise.
>
> At the coast, we missed both the March - June heatwave and the August one,
> so the weather was much hotter at home than we got at the beach ---- but
> since we had no a/c and the gorgeous sandy beach was our near-deserted
> private territory (no kiosks to buy drinks or anything), it's just as well
> it wasn't boiling. Easily warm enough for playing all but a couple of
rainy
> days, on one of which we went to the Bayeux Tapestry (and the Cathedral of
> course!!). The house (for 4.5 weeks) was, as promised, right opposite the
> beach. Unrestricted Atlantic views, magnificent sunsets and thunderstorms
> (!), and on clear days we could easily see the houses and telegraph poles
on
> Jersey and even a cluster of tiny house-sized inhabited islands just off
J.
> whose name now escapes me -- the residents must be mad. Open your front
> door and you pretty much fall into the sea. Our house was very nice -- no
> nasty surprises and everything worked as advertised. I guess the only
> problem was that the locals fish from that beach using their farm tractors
> to drag their fishing boats into the sea .... very picturesque, but all
that
> machinery leaves occasional mini oil slicks on the beach. Not a big
problem
> once I learned that vegetable oil removes it pretty easily, but still an
> irritation.
>
> Was joined over there at various times by my Mom, my two sisters and their
> spouse/kids, 4 girlfriends from college and their various offspring
> (including the 7 boys of my French-residing friend whose house was about
50
> minutes away, so we visited each other weekly) ... which all went very
> well, I think :-}.
>
> There's a lot of invasion history in Normandy (many houses and shops still
> fly the British, American and Canadian flags over their doors and the
local
> town halls. Plus the flower beds outside the town halls, and in the
traffic
> circles, acknowledge the liberation, too, with badges of the units and
> titles like: "AIRBORNE" etc). So I gave EHC the basic historical
background
> and then Daddy took EHCH to the Beaches one day while I lounged around the
> house with my sister eating an evil lunch, watching Wimbledon on the tv
> (English reception from the Channel Islands) and reading our books in cozy
> SILENCE. They got home after a 10 hr trip and Sean confessed he might
have
> forgotten to tell them what D-Day actually was. So I'm sort of still
> wondering whether they understood *anything* about the pillboxes and gun
> emplacements they saw that day.
>
> I learned two easy new recipes from friends (chicken curry and zucchini
> fettucine) to add to my pathetic repertoire -- I'm a great cook but I am
> also terminally lazy on that front. So all in all we had a great time --
> I've never been so tanned in my life and EHHs' blond hair is bleached
> almost-white.
>
> Am trying to work out what country to try next, and when. If Sean has to
go
> to the Farnborough air show (UK) next year, we might even risk driving on
> the other side of the road :-) Otherwise, we'll probably wait at least
> another year til Holly is more travel-ready.
>
> --
> Janet
> Elliot, Hanna, Connor (10/21/96)
> and Holly (4/4/01)
>
>
>

Julie Seely
September 3rd 03, 12:55 AM
Thanks, Janet!

Sounds like a great trip.

Julie

Andrea
September 3rd 03, 07:45 PM
For some reason the original post is not showing up. :{ Can someone please
post it for me.

Thanks,
Andrea
twin girls-Madison & Jordan
3 yrs. old

Nick Theodorakis
September 4th 03, 02:11 AM
On 03 Sep 2003 18:45:58 GMT, (Andrea) wrote:

>For some reason the original post is not showing up. :{ Can someone please
>post it for me.

Google sees all:

<http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=ZVu3b.287146%24YN5.197252%40sccrnsc01>

(Watch out for the word wrap)

Nick

--
Nick Theodorakis