Life (while I was writing on and on about our vacation)

Alex and I finally made it to Le Comptoir du Relais for lunch.  There's always a line so we showed up before it opened and were subsequently first in line, first to be seated, and first to be named the SUPER WINNERS.

We ordered just about everything on the menu, including lobster, because we apparently think we're made of money.  The kids may not have much of a Christmas this year but it was worth it.  We'll stick a picture of the lobster under the Christmas tree, instead of a scooter or whatever, and they will embrace the concept of individual sacrifice for the good of the family.

This is my blue lobster served with some pasta and frothy stuff --

This is Al, served with some wine --

Alex ordered a cheese plate instead of dessert.  When it arrived, he immediately dove into a really creamy looking cheese.  After putting it in his mouth, he looked horrified then embarrassed because he noticed the French gentleman next to us staring at him with his nose wrinkled in disgust.  I was confused until Alex leaned over the table and said quietly, "Crap, I just ate the butter in front of that guy."

We're not sure why there was butter in the middle of the cheese plate, but there was.  And Alex ate a large chunk of it, with great enthusiasm by all appearances, in front of a rather snobbish witness.  I just can't even picture how we look to the outside world sometimes.

I can't believe it's butter

Our lunch cost 170 euros.  That's the most expensive lunch I think we've ever had.  We can't do that very often or we'll be eating just butter for lunch for real, but only if it's on sale, for the rest of the year.

We went for a coffee on rue Montorgueil, then on our walk home bought a couple jaunty hats --

 I was going for Annie Hall, but Al tells me it's more Joon of Benny and Joon

We had friends in town recently, friends whom we fortuitously met for the first time last summer in the park.  They come to Paris every summer.  Their daughter and the Loosh are very much the same kind of person so we were happy to see them again on their yearly trip.

It is thanks to Cincinnati daughter Lucien started collecting bottlecaps last year.  Thanks, Cincinnati family, for introducing us to his frustratingly obsessive hobby.  Has it been a year, already, of digging nasty bottle caps out of the Parisian gutters?  My, how time flies when you're trying not to picture what your bottle cap has been through before it touched your hands.

Loosh and Cincinnati daughter loudly took on the summer fair at the Tuileries --

The hand-holding kills me 

 Who is that mysterious badass up there?  I'm gonna marry that boy someday.

While we were in the Tuileries, Coco went for her first spin on the trampolines.  At first it wasn't voluntary; Alex just kind of tossed her on and she laid there in shock for a minute --

But after that, she approached the trampolines with Coco-like intensity and demanded to be thrown again and again and again.  Alex still can't feel his arms.  Thankfully, he does still have that Michael Jackson hat, which he purchased in Italy, not to be confused with the jaunty hat purchased after our wallet-emptying lunch at Le Comptoir.  I agree, the hat situation is getting confusing.

Summer was here for two days and now it's gone again.  We took advantage of the fleeting warmth to go to "the beach."  Paris Plages is back, the glamorous beach retreat alongside the swirling brown waters of the Seine.  It's still a strange idea, but I'll admit it feels good to dig your toes into the hot sand, as long as you don't think too hard about Paris Plages being a giant litter box for all the city's cats.

The sprinkler thing was pretty cool.  I was wearing a white shirt so I quickly became very sexy, which is nice because I can use all the help I can get these days.

My Al is on a plane to Seattle right now.  This would usually make me feel a little homesick, a little envious, but since we're so close to the end of our Paris lives, I don't feel those things at all.  We're all going to be home soon enough, and I know I'm not ready just yet. 

So instead I'm going to take the kids out into Paris this weekend, and jump around the apartment rejoicing because whenever I put something away, IT STAYS PUT AWAY.  Incredible.

We'll miss you,  Al, but not your shoes in the middle of the floor,
MJ