Bonjour!!

Here are some pictures of the wonderful French family we met a couple weeks ago! The son, Alban, (we call him Al) lives in our building and his parents were here visiting him for a couple weeks. Because they had his apartment key and were leaving and needed someone to keep it for him until he returned from work, they knocked on my door b/c they heard a crying baby (imagine that!!) and knew someone was home! And the rest is history!! :)

They were such a nice couple and we spent the next few days conversing and cooking for each other (more her cooking for us!). She taught me how to make leek fondue (leeks are a staple in France and they were very amused that neither Nathan nor I had ever eaten a leek!...that's like us meeting someone who hadn't ever had a potato!), vegetable soup with NO stock, and a garden dish with lots of veggies and spices. Then she made us a half leek, half zucchini quiche (which was awesome!!) and the last time we got together they made us crepes or "American pancakes, the French way!" Which looked and tasted EXACTLY like lefse! They even made it round, spread butter on it and sprinkled sugared, rolled it up and ate it...just like lefse!

Alban is in America learning more about the wind power technology to bring back to France. He's been here about a year and a half and plans to return to France in March. Anne Marie is a retired English teacher and Francis is a retired engineer who worked on the railway that was built UNDERNEATH the English channel! Cool huh??

It was SO fun getting to know them before they left and learning SO much about France and their culture. We learned more about geography and France in those few days than either of us did in our whole schooling years! We also enjoyed learning and hearing the French language. Francis doesn't speak English, although he understands a lot, so it was super fun listening to them converse and translate for us.

Now that we know Al lives upstairs, we continue to see and talk to him often. Al talks to my kids in French and Tiernan and Caedmon are actually catching on! Tiernan will say goodbye and hello in French and caedmon will repeat anything you say to him in French, which is more than he will do in English! Brayan just loves him and runs up to him to have Al pick him up whenever he stops by :) It's so cute!

Nathan and I now have a small desire (I say small only b/c the only way to get to France is to fly which most of you know I'm not fond of!) to go to Paris and visit them!

Enjoy the Pictures!

Oh, and since i've posted now for two days IN A ROW (amazing!) make sure you read about Tiernan in the previous post if you haven't! :)

Alban, Anne Marie, and Francis

Since Francis is an engineer, he really liked the kids' train set!

Again, Francis playing with the train

Al and Tiernan

Caedmon, Anne Marie, and Tiernan

Francis and Brayan

What the crepes looked like when they were done. This one was Nathan's which he put maple syrup on instead of sugar

Francis making the crepes

Anne Marie teaching me how to cook the "French way"....which is LOTS and LOTS of veggies!!

Again, Anne Marie cooking.....I told her that I'd be taking pictures because it's not every day that I get to cook and learn from a French lady!

Francis cutting us a pomegranate and showing us how to eat it. Now that is one of our favorite fruits!

Tiernan snuck out of bed to say hi and to take a picture with Anne Marie and Francis