Puddle Splashing

My daughter has recently had a chance to experience something that she had never done before.  She stomped in puddles with her bare feet.  She was giggling and splashing all over the place.  She loved it!

I would never have let her walk outside in her bare feet in France.  The area close by our apartment was all sidewalks and roads.  There were several parks that we frequented regularly but I wouldn't have felt comfortable letting her walk around them without shoes.  The parks were safe but there was still the chance of an errant piece of glass or more likely some dog poo.

My daughter was begging to go outside.  It had just rained and I thought that she would probably not want to get wet.  I didn't think that shoes were necessary because I planned to just stay on the porch.  She had a different plan though as she hopped down onto the patio.  At first she was tentative while walking on the wet concrete.  Then she found the puddles near the edge of the yard.  She immediately fell in love with the feel of the cool water on her feet.  She waded, stomped, and splashed until it started raining again.  Even then I had to force her to come back inside.

My footprint and several little toddler prints

La Photo du Jour: The French Flutist

A man playing a flute in Strasbourg, France

La Photo du Jour: Jogger by the Canal

A person jogging along a canal in Strasbourg, France

Love Trumps Adventure

My father holding my daughter's hat and a dandelion bouquet as they enjoy time in the sunshine together

After a couple of weeks living back in the United States, things are starting to settle down.  I still feel as if we are visiting as opposed to really, truly living in America again.  I guess it will take a couple months for that feeling to change.

There are a few things that I already miss about Strasbourg.  I miss the bread and cheese, of course.  I miss the architecture, especially the cathedral.  I especially miss feeling like I was experiencing something unique and special.

But I have been able to spend a lot of time with loved ones recently.  My daughter is getting to know her grandparents, which is wonderful.  I have had the chance to talk with or at least instant message several friends.  Real time conversation is extremely difficult to do with a six hour time difference between the American east coast and France.  It is comforting to spend time with people that I have known for years.  

So maybe we aren't living in an exotic place anymore, but that is okay with me.  In Pennsylvania we are surrounded by love.  During my travels I have learned an important lesson.  Love is more valuable than adventure.

A photo of our bedroom during the middle of the moving process in Strasbourg, France

My life has been a bit topsy-turvy for the past couple of weeks.  My husband, daughter, and I made a continental leap recently, moving from Strasbourg, France, to southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States.  The actual move went smoothly, although in the middle of the process we were all very tired and thought we would never get everything done.  But, like all moves, everything on the list eventually gets crossed off.  Then,  almost suddenly, we are waking up in a new place.

Our daughter enjoyed the change of routine.  While my husband and I organized, cleaned, and moved furniture, she got to sit on a mattress on the living room floor, eating French pastries, and watching cartoons.  We would have done pretty much anything to keep her happy so we could get our work done.

In this photo, she eating an escargot aux raisins.  This tasty pastry is cinnamon flavored and dotted with raisins.  Its spiral shape looks like a snail, hence the name escargot.

Nickelodean Junior is shown on French TV as well as American.  I love hearing the original English speaking characters converse in French.

With a toddler in the house you never know what you will find when you move.  This is a photo of our daughter's favorite doll sitting with some toys that were found under various pieces of furniture.