June 2, 2015

Catch up!

So it has been soo many months since my last blog. I don’t even know where to start. Instead of getting into the details I am going to do an semi-brief overview of what the Demmerle family has experienced the last 5 months.

Let go way back to February and work our way to June.

Our trip back to my happy place…Breckenridge, Colorado. The skiing was amazing. Lance was skiing blacks, Peyton was on the blues and Keith and I had a chance to ski together most of the week. What was great was the last few days skiing with the kids. All Lance wanted to do is ski in and out of the trees and Peyton was having a blast going thru all the little kids courses. It is so fun now that we can ski with them. Soon they are not going to want to wait for us..LOL!

Then came Easter. We did the Easter egg hunt at Chateau Vaux le Vicomte again this year and it didn't disappoint. I tell all my friends the key is to go the first day in the morning. Kids got about 100 eggs each.

Always happy when they have chocolate and face painting!

On the same day we headed down to Loire Valley for Easter day. Loire Valley is known for their chateaus and wine. We had been there prior so this time we picked a different area and decided to visit Chateau Ulsee (Sleeping Beauty's castle). It was so pretty.

On the drive back to Paris we just stumbled into a cute village and Chateau de Langeais. I love the Loire Valley for that reason, you can just stumble into something. Very fun!!

just love the way this cafe looks...picture perfect.

Next was our spring break trip. Wow..where to I begin, what a wonderful trip to both Ireland and Scotland. It was so beautiful and memorable. Galway, Cliffs of Moyer, Dublin, Island of Skye, Eileen Donan Castle and Edinburgh. Lot of area covered! I am not sure which area was my favorite...maybe I do, it was Skye Island, Scotland. What an amazing place.

Kids enjoying the rock beaches of Galway!  They could throw rocks in the water all day! — Kids enjoying the rock beaches of Galway! They could throw rocks in the water all day!

woo hoo!!  The door! — woo hoo!! The door!

great running into good friends in Dublin!

Great picture of the mountain from town.

Having fun during our hike...see the snow, it was cold!

Scotland highlanders...these were just sooo cool!

Then it is May. If you don't know about the month of May in France it is similar to November in the States. The kids are barely in school and every weekend is a long weekend. We have tried to take advantage of the long weekends. This year beats all the rest, we went to what I now consider my favorite long weekend vacation....Cinque Terre, Italy. It was just the perfect weekend. Besides the great food, there was great wine, nice people, great hikes and beautiful water. I told Keith I want to go back as soon as possible. (sorry for all the photos) We had a chance to visit 4 out of the 5 villages. We will just have to go back..lol!

another great view  Ahhh the Mediterranean — another great view Ahhh the Mediterranean

So in between all of this traveling I managed to do a half marathon and the Paris full marathon. I got a PR in the marathon by about 6 minutes and another Boston qualifier...woo hoo! What really helped was my family and friends cheering me on at mile 22. It really gave me a boost and helped me finish strong. I couldn't wait to see Keith and the kids at the end. It was a really great race!!!

My buddy Erica and I at the start of the half.

Half marathon done....just a training run for the marathon

My name listed among 42k other runner in the Paris marathon.  HUGE race! — My name listed among 42k other runner in the Paris marathon. HUGE race!

Kids did a little race the day before the marathon and earned medals.

Oh yeah, we have had a bunch of visitors also. My sister, my best friend Kristen and her mom and my Aunt Susie!! I love it when people come visit.

Kristen and mom enjoying crepes in the Champs de Mars

We are in the home stretch and many more exciting things to come.

If you haven't had enough, here are some more pictures.

Life is good in Paris!

Love and miss you all xoxox

Thanks for reading!

Alicia

Max just catching some rays!  (probably waiting for some food to drop) — Max just catching some rays! (probably waiting for some food to drop)

Peyton's Pinkalicious 5th birthday party

January 17, 2015

Looking back on the Holidays

by Alicia Demmerle

Our Christmas Card picture..yes it is real!   Our favorite bridge in Paris! — Our Christmas Card picture..yes it is real! Our favorite bridge in Paris!

In light of everything that has gone on in Paris recently, and continues to go, on I wanted to look back on all the good times we had during the past holiday season. It is better to stay positive and think of the good times.

And WOW, our Holiday season was just jammed packed…of course just like everyone else's, it started all the way back to Thanksgiving.

Of course Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in France, for obvious reasons, but we celebrate at our house, just like we did the prior year. We ordered our turkey from the local butcher and made all the sides and pies at home. There is one thing that I need to make it feel like Thanksgiving, not turkey, not apple pie but the Macy's Day parade. I can not go without it and thanks to technology we can stream it in. It is a tradition I have had since I was a little girl and love that my kids get as excited as I do watching the balloons and waiting for Santa. We also celebrated Thanksgiving a second time with our church in Paris, they always have a wonderful full Thanksgiving dinner to share with people from the city.

Peyton helping me with the sweet potato casserole.

We then had some visitors from the states come for visit. An old colleague of Keith’s, John and his wife Maureen, came to enjoy Paris during the season. We got to enjoy some fun Christmas events with them, which included going to Chateau de Vicomte, for their Christmas decorations and enjoying a night at the Champs Elysee Market. It was our 8th anniversary so we decided a night out at the markets would be fun. John and Maureen also helped us get our Christmas tree up. As usual in Paris, the trees are a bit sparse looking. Every tree you pick out looks like a Charlie Brown tree. I can’ wait to get back to cutting down our own full tree in New Jersey!! (next year)

Putting up our "Charlie Brown" Xmas tree.

The following weekend was Peyton’s first performance on stage. She takes class at the American Theatre group of Paris and this year they were putting on A Christmas Carol. She had been singing her songs thru the year and she had one line to do. Since her group was a group of 3 to 5 year olds they had their own little section of the play and they did such a good job. As a little mouse, she did a great job and although she was very soft spoken she did her entire line. I am so proud of her and she wants to continue with the class. I can’t wait to see what show they are going to do in the spring.

Peyton getting ready for her show....the look!

The next big event was our Santa race. Each year there is a race just on the edge of Paris called Corrida de Noel. This race is awesome because one of the races requires you to dress in Santa or Ms Claus costumes. There is also a bunch of kids races. Last year we didn’t do it because it is the same day as our church’s Navity scene service (Keith did it and met us at church). I figured we did the Navity scene last year and God would appreciate that I am keeping my kids fit…lol.

Keith ran the 10k last year so it was my turn to do it. The kids were all excited with their Santa hats, Reindeer ears and I in my Ms Clause suit. Keith ran with Lance and I ran with Peyton. The kids race was a mile long, which they had never done before, but they were fine and probably could have gone further. They had soo much fun. There was fake snow and Santa’s waving thru out the race. They each did a great job. They each received a medal and some hot chocolate which made them super happy. Then it was time for my 10k. I had never seen so many dressed up Santas. We met our triathlon group there so we all lined up together and got some great pictures of the group. Thousands of santa’s…how fun. I had no expectations since it was just a fun run but I ended up coming in 5th for the women and winning my age group…woo hoo. It was the most fun I have had in a race. Then entire morning was so much fun!!! ( I know I have said that like 5 times)

some of the members of our tri club at the Santa race....what a great group!! — some of the members of our tri club at the Santa race....what a great group!!

Lance and Keith enjoying an after race snack.

Then it was the weekend before Christmas and we were on our way to Strasbourg, France, known to have the best Christmas markets in the world. We always wanted to go and we booked this trip at least 6 months in advance to get there. We took the kids out of the last day of school and headed on a 2 hour train ride up. Strasbourg is an interesting city, it is in France but has a very German feel to it. I am not sure of the history of the city but I would need to research it further.

It was amazing. I had never been to a more decorated city. Because of the size, which is a small town surrounded by a river, it is walkable for everything. We stayed a great hotel, the Sofitel, right in the middle of everything. Decorations were soo pretty and on every street. We shopped, ice skated, drank lots of vin chaud and just had a great time. I do have to admit although the town is super amazing and would recommend it to anyone, I did think the Markets themselves were better in Munich last year.

Kids loving all the Christmas decorations

Petit France section of Strasbourg...beautiful

Then was Christmas, wow, did it come fast. We got home from Strasbourg and had a few days to prepare. We went to the Christmas eve kids service and as usual our church did a great job. What added to it was that as a family we read two scripture readings. At first we were going to have Lance read but he didn’t want to do it this year so Keith and I each did one. Peyton was excited because the reading I did was close to what Linus recited in Charlie Brown Christmas.

After Church we decided to have a few close friends over just to eat, drink and be merry. It is one our traditions from home, having a Christmas Eve get together, that we want to continue wherever we are. It was super fun and so glad to spend it with friends when our family is so far away. I also found that the way to people's heart is an awesome chocolate mouse yule log cake. As usual the kids stayed up super late, which meant they might let us sleep just a little bit on Christmas morning….or not.

Christmas morning came and the kids didn’t wake up that early….maybe 7. But Santa came and WOW! I thought my kids were on the naughty list his year, I guess Santa had a change of heart. There were legos, a skateboard, Anna, Elsa……I can go on and on. Lets just say the kids were really happy!!!

Daddy putting together the Christmas project

A few days of playing and relaxing after Christmas and we headed to the French Alps to a village called Les Arcs 1950 to ski!! I received the recommendations from many people and loved the sound of it since it was a little ski-in ski-out village that was very kid friendly. Getting ready I saw that they were due to get snow, which we were excited about since Europe has had a very mild winter so far. Snow in the mountains….there really wasn’t any. Of course we had no idea what we were going into. Thank God, I am my usual self and booked us on an early train. At the time my family wasn’t too happy with me because of the time but as we got on the train and started headed into Alps, we were thanking God that we were on the early train. The forecast was calling for over 2 feet of snow and we were going right into it. As we were on the train we could see tons of cars stuck on the highway. We are on a train, we should be ok, right? Well our train then stopped and an announcement (in all French) came over the intercom and told us that we could not go further and didn’t know when we would continue. Of course you wonder how we knew what they said. Keith and I can pick up some of the words but I sent Keith to the snack car to ask them. The train did end up moving again but just one stop prior to our stop (which is the last stop) the train stopped moving again. We sat there for a while. Are we stuck, will they kick us off? After what felt like an hour but I am sure was only 15 minutes, we were off and made it to our last stop. We then had to take a big funicular (gondola) up to a stop and finally catch a shuttle. I was anticipating that the shuttles wouldn't be available, due to the storm, and considering the fact the shuttle goes up the mountain, there was no way we were getting there. Well the shuttle was running. It, however, was a little bit of a scary ride. But after 3 stops we made it and trucking our suitcases thru the crazy snowstorm we made it to our condo. We were so lucky, after talking to a lot of people, cars were stuck on the highway….overnight. Apparently, it was national news about people being stuck, we didn’t see any of it but are just so thankful. We were ready to let the the week begin.

After a great first night the storm ended and we woke up to great powder snow….wooo hoo!! We dropped the kids off for their first day of 6 days of ski school. Which meant Mommy and Daddy had all day to ski on their own for 6 days…Wow! Each day was just amazing at this little village, they had events every night for the kids and adults. There was roasting marshmallows with vin chaud and hot chocolate, kids dance bubble party, face painting, and sled riding. I can go on and on. Since Peyton is only 4 I decided to just put her in morning ski school and a kids club for lunch and the afternoon. Everyday I would pick her up around 4:30 – 5 and she would tell me that I was too early and to come back. I think she is still warming up to skiing, she likes it sometimes but doesn’t like it others. I am super proud of her though, by the last day she was on one of the big lifts going down the mountain. Unfortunately Keith and I didn’t see her ski down, we accidentally ran into her group by the lift. Of course I did not let her see me and then we couldn’t figure out where they were going with out her seeing me.

Lance, I can’t brag more about. I am so proud of him. He skied 6 days straight in ski school, all day. He was tired some days but he couldn’t wait to ski everyday. He was even introduced to poles, which is a big deal, since he learned since he was 3 without poles. This kid is going to ski better than Keith and I in no time…which isn’t that hard…lol! He was pretty sad leaving the ski town, I think we accomplished what we wanted with him….he just loves to ski!!

Keith and I had a great time skiing. We also got to ski 6 days straight. I am not sure the last time I skied 6 days straight..if ever. The first 4 days we were out there most of the day, we also learned that the best time to ski is when all the French are having their 2 hour lunch, so when most would take a break at lunch time we just skied thru. By day 5 we were pretty tired and only skied half of a day and day 6 we skied the morning and headed to the spa in the afternoon…yeah!!! The skiing was really good, my goal was to tackle all the bump runs and by the end of the week Keith and I were both loving all the bumps. It is normally not like me to like the bump runs but I am really loving them now.

Another great thing about this trip was that like usual we got a two bedroom condo so we could make dinner when we wanted and didn’t have to eat out. Of course we did eat out a few times but having the kitchen was such a benefit for breakfast and night time. There was a small but stocked grocery store, boulangerie (bakery) and a few specialty stores. Another thing to mention is that we have become an UNO playing family. The kids got the game from Santa and we have been playing it morning and night. It makes me happy because it reminds me of when I used to play as a kid with my family and my parents best friends, the Hutchinsons. I remember just tons of people around the table playing lethal, fun games of UNO. The kids just love it!!! Makes me happy!

We celebrated New Year’s in the village and they had a spectacular laser light show and fireworks show. The kids really wanted to try to stay up for the fireworks but were happy when the village next door set theirs off at 8pm instead. YES!!

I can’t rave more about this village. The kids had a blast, we had a blast and the kids even made friends all week. Lance had a few friends, Will and Sam, which were in his ski school and Peyton had her buddy Sarah, which she looked forward to playing with everyday. What a great trip.

Which brings me to a question that came up on our last night… "Why?" So on our last night in the village we ate at the really good pizza place. We went their the first night. It had good food, not too crazy expensive and was kid friendly. When we were finishing our meal, the people at the table next to us asked if we were from the US. They were from the UK and I need to mention that most people vacationing at this place were British. There were many French but mostly British and I didn’t really see any other Americans. Not knowing French was not at all a problem. Anyway to get back to our answer.."Why yes we are Americans.." Then the question came…"Why are you here?" There is such great skiing in America. Keith and I could only look at each other shake our heads with a big smile on our faces, because this was our 3rd ski trip in Europe. The only thing we could say is "Yes". Yes it is much better in America. We continued to chat with them, explained that we live in Paris and are trying to experience Europe. We then all chatted about our favorite places to ski in America. European skiing is ok but nothing compared to the American West. We said while we were in Europe we would take advantage and try all the different areas of skiing. After 3 trips in Europe we are done with it and heading back to our favorite place, Colorado, in February. I can’t wait!!

Keith and I enjoying our 6 days of skiing....free of children!

Mont Blanc!  Right outside our door. — Mont Blanc! Right outside our door.

Laser light show in the village for New Year's!

On our way home from vacation....just relaxing.

It has been a great holiday season and I am just so excited for the future months. The Nate suite (name for our guest room) is booking up. I am thinking because of our dwindling time left here. A few of my best friends have already booked their flights and I am so excited for my sister to come visit me next month...Woo Hoo!

Oh yeah, I have officially started my marathon training. Nothing new for me, have done it many times in the past BUT....that is a big BUT, I have never trained for a marathon in the city. Maybe those of you that have trained in NYC can give me some advice. The worst thing about it that Paris shuts off all of their water fountains for the winter...great!! It is not like I can hide a water bottle behind a park bench or something like I do at home on the trails. So not I have to go out and buy one of those awful water backpacks or belts (probably won't get the belt). I always made fun of people with them and now I have to go get one....YUCK! Can you tell I am not happy about it. Oh well, let just hope I make til April.

Of course this past week, with the terrorist attacks in the city, has been a hard time for the French and we are all affected over here. I have run into police drawing guns for false alarms, armed guards at the kids school and just recently a closure of the schools due to a threat. I have lived thru many things like this in the US (even worse) but now that I have children these threats hit me much harder than when I was younger. I feel like people are in a bit of a panic over here and I just hope it ends soon. The good thing is that we are all safe and sound.

I really appreciate all the nice notes from everyone. It makes us feel safer knowing that we have so many friends and family that care about us.

We love you all.

Life is “still” good in Paris (and anywhere else we travel)

Xoxoxox

Alicia

Oh yeah, I have included some additional pictures

My great friend Nicky and her beautiful new baby Arielle !!

Who do you think is excited to go ice skating?

Below are some pictures that didn't make the Christmas Card, but will definitely be framed. All wonderful thanks to a friend and great photographer Andrea. http://andreajanesphotography.com/

November 25, 2014

Fall Catch Up

by Alicia Demmerle

It has been a while since I posted a blog and I had one written up to post but then we went off to our latest adventure so I had to pretty much re-write the entire thing.

Lets see, I am going to go a little backwards and talk about the awesome trip we just had a few weekends ago. The kids had a four-day weekend so we decided to go back to one of our favorite places, Munich, Germany. To be honest this trip was really for me (some of you might have seen my latest Facebook post). If so, I apologize for being redundant but when I was in college my roommate had a great picture of a beautiful castle. Neuschwantstein Castle, once home to King Ludwig II, and the castle which Disney designed the Sleeping Beauty castle after. I have wanted to visit this castle since college and even with all my past business trips to Germany, I never got the chance…until now. We drove from Munich, renting a car it is only about an hour and half. The Bavarian country side was absolutely beautiful, some of the prettiest areas I have ever seen. And then the castle. Well, all I can say is that it was worth the wait. Absolutely beautiful . It was an amazing way up to the castle and then there was this beautiful bridge which gave the best view of the castle. I will post a picture of the bridge (Marienbrücke). When I looked at the picture of the bridge from the castle I didn't realize what a long way down it was. The kids had a blast. Peyton is in her princess phase but Lance also loves the castles because he loves knights and swords…of course. It is kind of unique living in Europe with all the castles and chateaus where the kids have imaginations that run wild.

Beautiful Church on our drive in Germany

Marienbrücke (mary's bridge)...in this picture it looks much higher than when we were on it.

Hohenschwangau...where King Ludwig II grew up. — Hohenschwangau...where King Ludwig II grew up.

We did enjoy the rest of Munich also. We had a chance to visit the BMW Welt and Museum, which was really cool. I had a chance to sit in all the Minis’ that I love (BMW owns Mini now). The kids saw a really cool motorcycle demonstration and had a chance to sit on the same motorcycle which their Uncle Ross has. Super Cool!! The rest of the time we just enjoyed walking around town and hitting a few Beer gardens. Germany has really good beer, plus everyone is just super friendly. (of course I live in Paris, so in comparison everyone is super friendly).

Now to backtrack a little there has been a bunch that has happened and occurred prior to our Germany trip. Hopefully I won’t bore you too much. I will try to be brief.

Way back in September, the kids started school, Lance is 1st grade. They were happy to get back and see all their friends. They are both doing really well.

We also had some visitors in September. Keith’s best friend from high school, Jay and his wife Kirsten came to Paris. I really enjoy having visitors and this is actually the first time I met Jay, so it was great having them here. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and packed everything in in their visit.

I think we have a break with visitors until December and then it will be busy again in Spring and Summer, spots are filling up fast. I can’t wait to see everyone coming!!!!

We did some fun things within Paris this fall. One weekend we decide to go to the newly renovated Paris Zoo. This renovation took around 5 years to complete. Although the grounds of the zoo are enormous and really pretty, I have to say they could use a few more animals. When I say a few, I mean a lot. One rhino and one elephant here or there just doesn’t cut it. The highlight of the zoo were the giraffes (plenty of them) and the rainforest area. Although Keith and I weren’t impressed the kids of course were happy.

Then of course was our annual apple picking trip. We did it every year in New Jersey and last year we found a cute farm right outside of Paris that provided all the essentials. If some of you read my blog last year, we went to the same place. We picked apples, zucchini, pumpkins, etc. Unfortunately this year was much drier than last year so the vegetables weren’t as good but the apples didn’t disappoint. We also made it to the chateau area of the farm where there was a fun little petting zoo, and great country store. I could have spent a ton of money at the country store but then I had to remind myself I only live in a small apartment in the city. It will have to wait until I get my house back in NJ. Another thing I have to mention are the goats. There were tons of them and they were just so cute. Besides the kids having fun chasing them around I have to admit that I loved playing with the little fellas.

Now that Lance is in 1st grade he was able to join the Cub Scouts. Yes it is the American Cub Scouts and they have a pack in Paris! It is pretty cool they will actually get an International troop badge for their shirt and he will have the opportunity to earn an Eiffel tower badge. He had his first den meeting and then his first camp out. I was so proud of him, he memorized the Cub Scout motto, promise and code for his camp out. Keith went with him and they had a lot of fun. Of course, as most of you know, Keith and I are huge campers, backpackers, etc. but we didn’t think we would need any of our gear for the few years we would be in Paris. We were wrong. So we had to head out to the local sports store and get a tent and some gear. Thankfully we did have sleeping bags and our smaller backpacks. Peyton and I are looking forward to going in May on their spring campout.

On their way to camping....Peyton had to jump in the picture

Then came another big day. I stopped working. My contract was up and although I could have stayed longer, I chose to spend the time at home with the kids. I learned a lot in my position and worked in an area that I had never prior, so I am happy about that. Yes I think I am crazy many times for not continuing to work but I really want to ensure that the kids are up to date with their school work and ready when we come back to the US. And yes I will definitely be back in the workforce when we get back…no question!!! Now I am just trying to keep myself busy. Keith thinks I should just train hard to do some big races and I might just do that. Also the PTA at the kids school has grabbed hold of me....can you believe it. Did I mention I am definitely going back to work when I get back the US! LOL!

Next was our big trip back to the US. Keith had to go back to the US for a work trip back it just happened to coincide with the kids Touissant holiday so we decided we should all head home. It was a great trip. I love our home. We got to visit so many good friends and family. (my best friends, my sister, my mom, my aunt…etc). I am so glad that I got to see my mom a few days, with the kids. It was pretty hard to leave her this time. We also visited our house…..oh how I miss my house. The renters are taking care of it but to be honest I can’t wait to take it back. It is weird Peyton was only 2 when we came over to Paris and she had a hard time remembering everything. However it seem to come back when she saw things. Lance, well he pretty much remembered everything. We ended our week at home in Pennsylvania visiting Keith’s family and oh yeah going to Hershey Park. Hershey Park was pretty fun. We made our own chocolate bars, rode tons of rides, ate and bought lots of chocolate and because they were having a Halloween festival the kids got to trick or treat. Sooooo much fun.

So many people went out of their way for us during our visit, we are just so grateful!

love that they can go on rides together...by themselves!

Let me get back to Keith’s family now. Keith’s cousins live on this beautiful farm, which we just love and every year they have a big apple butter weekend. The last few years we have missed it, well because we were in Paris. Luckily this year we were in town. Keith’s mom, brother and nephew also came in, which was awesome. We just had the best weekend. The kids are so at home at the farm, they have grown up going there. To tell you how comfortable….when we pull up the car doors open and we don’t see our kids all weekend and we don’t even worry about them. It is a blast and all the cousins are just awesome!! We just love them to death.

Peyton swinging around — Peyton swinging around

Two of the three Demmerle boys and cousin Julia

This girl wants a kitty cat really bad!!! :-)

I can’t lie it was pretty hard leaving home this time. The fresh air, the space…I can go on and on. But we will enjoy the remaining time of our stay in Paris, it has become a comfortable place, pretty much just like everyday life. However, as I always state in my past blogs, I am not a city girl. We do have some more exciting trips coming up in the next few months. Plus my favorite time of year here, Christmas, is right around the corner. Some of the markets have already opened and Thanksgiving is just a few days away.

I do also have to mention that one of my best friends here in Paris is having her baby tomorrow and I am just so excited for her. She is such a special person to me and Paris would not be the same without her. I can’t wait to meet the newest member of her family.

I miss you all and we are so grateful for such caring and loving friends and family.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thanks so much for Reading!

Life is good in Paris!

Alicia

Oh yeah, here are some other fun pictures I have taken the last few months.