July smiles

~Derek is saving for a 3DS. Every once in a while he'll ask if there's work he can do to earn money. I'll find something for him, then tell him how much I'll pay him in euros. Last time he didn't want cash. He wanted me to transfer money into his savings account in Georgia. No problem. Until I converted euros to dollars and realized how much I was overpaying the little dude. Nice scam.

~Dan and I found ourselves grocery shopping together. I asked him to reach something on the top shelf. A few aisles later a lady asks him to get something off the top shelf. (She asked in Finnish but did enough pointing that we got the idea.) I told him he should get a job there as the 'store tall person-for all your reaching needs'.

~Derek lost his last tooth.
Me: Derek, there's something I want to tell you about the tooth fairy.
Derek: I know already.
Me: How?
Derek: One time I woke up at 5:00 and Daddy had his hand under my pillow.
Me: Why didn't you say something?
Derek: I was happy getting money.
Lauren: I figured it out. It's kinda creepy that you would put your hand under my pillow when I was alseep.

~Lauren: Is your shirt inside out and backwards?
Me: Wha..huh...yes.

Here you'll notice three big windows and a door out to the deck. We had some friends over and two kids, at seperate times, tried to get out to the deck by going through a window. No one was hurt and they both laughed. Good thing because we did, too!

~When Lauren tries to kill a bug, whether it be with the fly swatter or her hand, she hits said bug so softly that it usually flies away. We tease her that the bug is sitting there, feels a slight tap, shrugs and moves on. (I'm sure her lack of power behind hits has everthing to do with her not wanting to kill the bug in the first place. She spends a lot of time chanting 'Ew ew ew ew' and being grossed out.) 

~4th of July neighbor comes over with a bunch of flowers and proudly tells us 'Happy Birthday!' He then motions to the grill and says hamburger. Oh! You mean 'Happy 4th of July!'

~Dropped Lauren off at girls camp. Turning around to get out of the lot I backed over a pile of dirt/gravel and got the car stuck. A dad dropping off came over and pushed me out. Kiitos. Derek, "Mom, only you could get the car stuck in the middle of the summer."

~Dan was engrossed in a game on his iPod. Derek and I were watching him from across the room.
Me: Let's try to get him to look up by saying random words.
Derek: OK. Super monkey juice!
(no response)
Me: Cow!
(no response)
Derek: Hey Dad!
Dan: (looks up) What?
Me: (laughing hard) Derek, you cheated!
Derek: What? They were random words.

~We were discussing if it was OK that Dan is taking a Finnish class during work hours.
Dan: My boss told me to do it, guys.
Me: If your boss told you to jump off a bridge would you?
Dan: Maybe.

~At the movies buying tickets. The clerk told me to choose seats and then showed me a computer screen. I touched the seats I wanted. Nothing. Then again. Nothing. Clerk, "It's not a touch screen."

~Derek, while mowing the lawn: I am NOT going to miss doing this every week.

~Lauren: Mom, can you go back to sleep? I didn't finish watching my movie.

~Some times the small, black Lego piece in your hand is really a dead fly.

~Told the kids that for a limited time anyone who sees the garbage full and takes it out WITHOUT being asked gets 1 euro. (They have to take it out anyway, so why not get paid, right?) In a strange twist, this has only made me think, 'If I take it out, I can save myself a euro.' Not what I had intended!

~Grandma emptied the garbage without being asked. I gave her one euro.

~Lost in translation. This is from the 'Instructions for Final Cleaning' we were given when we took over the apartment.
Don't us a wet mop to clean the wooden floors. A humid mop with a proper detergent is sufficent.


~Trying to list the most famous paintings in the world. Mona Lisa, Last Supper, The Scream, something by Monet.
Dan: Don't forget Dogs Playing Poker!
(Sadly, when I did a search for most famous paintings, Dogs Playing Poker came up in Images. SMH.)

~Went to Behnford's today. Got syrup, Milk Duds, Nerds, M&Ms, Dr. Pepper, Root Beer, Pop Tarts, Skittles, and Oreos. It appears we're on the Buddy the Elf diet.

~At passport control in Helsinki. The guy asks where we live, how long we've lived there. Then he says a phrase in Finnish. And again. Umm, what? Lauren, "Mom. Say hyvaa!" (good) He was asking me how I was. For some reason I thought he was asking what time it was and that just didn't make sense.

Related. When asking what time it is in Finnish, you are literally saying 'What the clock?' It fun to use instead of 'What the heck?'

How Dan ruined Meerkat Manor

Once upon a time, I became enchanted with Animal Planet's show Meerkat Manor. In a nutshell, cameras document the lives of a group of meerkats. All the meerkats have names. There are relationship issues, power struggles, births, and deaths. Oh, the drama! It's like a soap opera without the people! Even better, it was a show I could watch with the kids. To them it was a bunch of animals running around looking cute.

Dan was not as enamored with the meerkats as I was. One day as I was relating the latest antics of one of the meerkats, he said something that shattered my world.

"Ruth, you know they just film the meerkats and make up a story to fit the film, right?"

WHAT?!? No they don't! The animal behaviorists study the meerkats and can identify different dynamics in the group and, and...

OK, it sounded stupid as soon as I said it.

Oh man! I was enjoying the show thinking I was seeing and hearing the truth about those meerkats. Suddenly it wasn't as appealing if there was even the slightest chance a silly human was making all or parts of it up. My interest in Meerkat Manor died.

Why share this now?

Dan came home with pictures from a trip. When I asked him to blog about it, he said, "No, you go ahead and make up a story to go with the pictures. You know, like Meerkat Manor."

Hmmm. Am I manipulating the truth with my blog? Am I making up a story to fit the meerkats? To some degree, I guess. I don't include the fuzzy pictures. Or the dumb ones. I try to be upbeat in my postings while our every day life isn't always so. (Who wants to read about that? Or, more importantly, why would I want to remember that?) 

I have no answers or conclusions. I have nothing to add to the long-running debate about the 'reality' you present in your blog.

I can tell you this. My family enjoys our blog. They laugh when they read the posts.

Our family of meerkats is quite happy with the way things are.

Paris, France-Part 1

All tuckered out from the 2.5 hr flight.
Right.

First time in the Paris metro.
Looking at the map, I asked "Where are we?"
Lauren pointed up to the Opera sign.
Yes, I know the name of the metro station.
I want to see it on the map!

Notre Dame.
No climbing of stairs to the tower.
Long, long lines for that.



Surprised at the big guns we saw here and the airport. 



This and next two pics by Lauren.

One of these is not like the others.



Lauren took this picture of Notre Dame from a park.
We call it the fairy tale picture.
The bird is a nice touch. 



Notre Dame on the right.
Pretty view of the Seine.



On some bridges, couples 'locked their love' with a padlock inscribed with the date and their names.



Dan's lunch.
He did not eat the egg.

Our hotel was on this street.
Rue de Caumartin.

View from the girls' room.

That tower looks familiar....

Cute room.
Best feature can't be seen-
air conditioning!!!



Dan and Derek's room from the girls' room.
It's the sliver of white behind the closest brick wall-thingy.



Paris, France-Part 2

Paris Opera.
Bees on the roof,
carp in the basement.

Egyptian obelisk.

Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower

On the second level.

Nice face, little man.

Not the only person we saw trying to get their head
 through the fencing.



From the first level.
Red arrow is the beginning of the 'I'm here on my own' line.
Blue arrow is where groups with reservations enter.
We got to use the blue arrow.
Totally worth it to be with a tour.



It's against the law to sell here.
The vendors had their wares placed on a blanket they could scoop up quickly if the police were spotted.
At one point while under the tower, all the vendors started running towards the street.
What the heck?
Bicycle cops.

Paris, France-Part 4

The Louvre

Lauren, thoughtful.
Dan and Derek, acting natural.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Pretty much how the morning was going.

Pose already, Derek!

Inside.

One of the three ladies we came to see-
Venus de Milo.

Second lady-
The Winged Victory of Samothrace.

The Coronation of the Emperor Napolean I
and the Crowning of the Empress Josephine.

Our guide spent a lot of time pointing out
the historical inaccuracies.
Some were quite funny.

Lauren wins the prize for best picture of the third lady-
Mona Lisa.

The crush of humanity trying to get a picture.
Lauren and Dan joined the fight and came out with good pictures!

Other side of the room-
The Marriage at Cana.

Liberty Leading the People

Diana the Huntress.

Courtyard of the Medieval collection.

Leaving the Louvre.