Printemps

That's Spring in French... 

We kept busy at the parks and going out for bike rides.

This was the first time riding over the bridge to Kirchberg.  They loved it!  We even saw a train pass beneath us and now I'm begged to wait for a train every time we cross it.

 

It was also time to garden!  This is my first attempt and it's been pretty successful.  I bought little starters from the market rather than starting with seeds.  I figured it was a higher chance of success.

I haven't purchased lettuce from the store since I started the garden.  Strawberries, on the other hand, were more like bird food than worth anything to us ;)

One afternoon, we took our bikes over to the UNI (University of Luxembourg) Limpertsberg campus on a Saturday.  I've walked circles around it, but never ventured in.  It's small, but beautiful.  

We liked this art!  We are pretty sure it's an elephant!?!

Easter Weekend in Luxembourg

After returning home from Portugal, we had a 3 day weekend at home.  Easter is a lively time in Lux.  Saturday and Sunday are filled with mostly Catholic ceremonies. 

So, we opted for a horse show in Belgium on Saturday!

Happy Easter!!

The Fête du Pâques is a big festival in Luxembourg City on Easter Monday.  the highlight of the festival is the whistling birds, or other hand sculpted whistles being sold at stands.  It is also the start of another 2 week long religious event where everyone eats fried fish in these big tented restaurants in the main squares of the city.  We didn't try them.  Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of the bird whistles either.

Algarve Portugal

We spent a blissful week in the Algarve region of Portugal.

Our time was primarily spent at the most fabulous family resort that I have ever been to.  While I wish that I could have wandered the cobblestone streets of Lagos, paddle surf in the azure blue sea or take a "Coasteering" adventure, I was still on crutches and had to enjoy it with limited mobility.  That said, it was the best resort/beach vacation of our lives (with children).

The boys got to ride in the golf cart to our villa!

A view from our villa... Our location was furthest back in what is developed of the resort so far, so that is all private development leading to the private beach below.  Looks far, but not more than a 1/2 mile to the water.  With it's own garden for the kids to play and big terrace for playing and outdoor dining, there was room for us to enjoy our space.  We thought we would cook dinner and stay here more, but being out was so fun and easy with entertainment for the kids everywhere.

We enjoyed swimming each day  at the various pools around the resort.

They had big bean bags for the kids to lounge in the sun or shade by the pool and beach.

There were several awesome playgrounds for lots of climbing and socializing with other kids.

They boys especially loved this sandy playground with a trampoline, sand and water features.  We especially loved that you could see it easy from our seats at the restaurant!

Jeremy spent more time on the beach than I did (crutches!) but the boys were so happy digging in the sand and wading in the chilly surf.

One cloudy afternoon, we decided to check out the family 'bar'. There was a pirate ship playground and lots of different houses to play in out the front, a gated playground in back of the bar, so kids could go back and play safely, and a kids lounge section with a movie, video games and iPads to play (Colden had fun there). Blakely just loved the VW van and drove it for at least an hour!

We also ventured out a couple times to see the neighboring town of Sagres, it's pretty marina, the old lighthouse and the town of Lagos.  Lagos was pretty, but hilly and all cobblestone...not a good combination for me!

We would have tried a local restaurant. In Sagres, but the food and  childcare at the resort restaurants was so fabulous, we felt like we were going out on dates every night and didn't realize we had two boys with us most of the time!

By the end of our stay, I was begging Jeremy to buy a villa or time share! Here's a picture from  our toast on our final evening overlooking the sea with happy Blakely.

I swear I'm not advertising for this place, but they really should hire me to :). Martinhal is the name for those who are curious!  Anyone who wants to goo... let us know, we'll meet you there anytime!

Sneak Peek

We are in the southern-most  part of Portugal near a small fishing town named Sagres.  It's lovely here.  Inland looks a lot like Southern California.  The coastline is cliffs and beautiful little inlets for silky sanded beaches.  There are also a lot of cave formations that I will have to come back to see for myself since my foot is in no shape for coastal hiking.

Anyway, there is a lot to tell as this is going down in history as our best family vacation.  I'll write a real blog post  when we are back and settled!

A New Doctor, A New Approach

At my 24 hour check up with my surgeon, he gave these basic instructions. (In your best German accent) "It's JUST two holes [in your foot], go home and use your sticks, don't put any weight on your foot for 6 weeks, then we'll do an X-ray". No cast to protect it? It was literally my naked foot, limp and swollen, with 2 bandaids covering the incision points. What about icing and elevation? What about therapy? He was not amused by my questions or the mention of my brother-in-law who is a PT and suggested this or that. He insisted that I am young (thank you!!) and didn't need to do any of that.

 The next morning I called my family physician, who sympathized with my situation and warned me that this was a fairly normal experience in Luxembourg. She agreed to call one of her coworkers and see if they could get me into another orthopedic since I would not be able to do so on my own in a short period of time. Thank you Doctor Tunstall!!! It was very good of her to help!

 Upon meeting Dr. K, he informed me of a completely different approach, oh and looking at my X-rays, said he probably wouldn't have done surgery. You can probably imagine my frustration. But what's done is done. That's when I really wanted to get a 3rd opinion, but knowing it was nearly impossible, I took a chance on the new doctor with hope he would be more reasonable. Decision made and cast prescribed. Getting the cast on and with putting some very light weight on it for balance and such was MUCH better.

 A week later, I returned to the hospital in downtown Luxembourg for an X-ray. Oh, but the X-ray machines have been having problems today, so were just going to take your cast off so the doctor can see your foot. WHAT? What's he going to see? If you need to give me a new appointment time, I will come back! So, the tech went off to call the doctor. Meanwhile, the downtown hospital of the capital city of the wealthiest country in the EU got their X-ray working. Amazing! Glad Jeremy was able to meet me at my appointment, because I tried, but could not figure out a way to climb a tiny step ladder with nothing to hold onto with a broken foot. This picture just makes me laugh at the ridiculousness of my entire experience!

Bone growth looked great, swelling down, no cast needed. An ankle brace to prevent lateral movements ought to do it from here on out. Right! So, I spent the next 2 weeks with my foot elevated a lot and not wearing the lame brace. I tried ordering an air cast boot to wear, but without a doctors prescription, that was tricky too. Needless to say, the doctor didn't think I needed it. I did. Now at 4 1/2 weeks post-op, still on crutches, I agree, I finally don't need the cast or a boot. The ankle air brace may actually become useful in 2 weeks, when I'm off crutches. 2 MORE Weeks! Well, we are SO incredibly blessed! We are off to Portugal to spend a week... That should help pass the time :)

With that, I'm done writing posts about my medical adventures, I hope!!

Surgery in the Grand Duchy

On Monday, we took the boys to school and I nervously headed into surgery. Jeremy helped me into my gown, but was not allowed to stay with me any longer.

 Note: Luxembourg is a very wealthy country and known for some of the best PUBLIC healthcare in Europe. Well, in comparison to my experience in American private healthcare, I was less than impressed. It's scary to think it is like the future of American Public healthcare. In fact, our pediatrician in The Woodlands, came to a conference with the EU in Luxembourg to learn best practices of their public healthcare systems. His conference was in Kirchberg--exactly where I was!

 I headed to anesthesiology to have my leg numbed. That was an experience I never want to relive. Imagine a soldier getting a slug dug out of the back of his knee with no drugs in a bloody war scene. It was only slightly better than that. Seriously, there was no explanation about the procedure, what to expect or what to do if it's getting too painful. But don't worry, if you start crying and telling them it hurts and you can hear your blood pressure monitor alarming, they won't ask for consent, they will just give you 'something to relax'.

 After the torture was over and my leg was numb, I was taken to the OR. The surgery seemed to last forever... I've had 2 c-sections. It wasn't all that different, except that it's a foot instead of a belly. But after a baby is born there is so much excitement and distraction to pass the time while they stitch you back together. So, it just seemed long. Off to recovery!

 Here's where the American medical system can really save some money! Shove all the post-op patients in to one big ward and mostly ignore them. Nevermind recovery rooms (shared or private), offering water or food to the patients who just fasted for 24 hours. Only pain meds for the people who moan the loudest. Doctors and anesthesiologist are off the hook too. No need to make sure your patient is recovering ok before leaving the hospital-- that's just an unnecessary medical cost!

 Most of the patients in the ward were dozing on and off from their anesthesia. Unfortunately, I got to experience it fully sober. Jeremy wasn't allowed in to see me nor was I to be released until feeling came back to my feet. I was told the anesthesia could last 6-8 hours. I was only 3 hours in when I arrived. After about an hour and a half, a nurse say me crying and asked if I needed something--YES! Is water too much to ask? She brought me a dixie cup! I downed it and quickly asked for another. Food? I got a vending machine style Madeline cookie. Imagine a Twinkie without the filling. Yep, that was my nourishing post-op snack.

 Now it had been an hour and a half since I entered the recovery ward. I could hear Jeremy asking to see me at the nurses window. Nope. So I asked if I could get my cast and leave. Well, no prescription for a cast and still can't wiggle my toes. This time I insisted on WHY? She explained that I need to feel my foot to get out of the bed and walk on crutches--it's a far walk to the car. REALLY? No cast and I have to walk a cross the hospital grounds to the parking garage--no wheelchair? I somewhat politely informed the nurse that there was no sense in waiting for feeling because I would NOT be walking out on crutches! But there was no prescription for a wheelchair?? I assured her that my husband would find a wheelchair!
Either I was that convincing or they really needed my space in recovery (pretty sure it was the latter), so they wheeled me to the dressing room to meet Jeremy. They yanked (yes, it was that unpleasant) my IV out, cut my hospital bracelet and gave me my clothes. Done! So, I started asking really stupid questions like, now what do I do? Elevate, how often do I ice? Is there any medication? Don't worry, you will see your doctor tomorrow is all I was told. Oh and if it's painful, you can take the standard 1g dosage of Tylenol.
Now back at home, my lower leg was still numb, but where they dug the bullet out and my whole upper leg was in a lot of pain. Too bad I cleaned out my medicine cabinet and threw away all the extra Vicodin from previous surgeries. Tylenol didn't cut it. At 11pm-- 14 hours after the 6-8 hour anesthesia was given to me, I still could not feel my foot or move my toes. Just happy that I wasn't still in that terrible ward, I went to bed. I awoke at 3am with throbbing pain in my foot--YAY, I can feel my foot! boooo Tylenol! Thanks to my family praying for me, I was able to get back to sleep for the night.

Jeremy had to do everything for 3 days following surgery. I was useless. He was great and he got a little glimpse of the demands of a mom every morning before school. I planned meals and grocery lists. He shopped and cooked. Then once I started moving more, I could cook with a chair in the kitchen so he didn't have to do it all.
My friends were great too. Flowers, magazines, chocolate and pastries were some of the gifts they brought on their visits. I wouldn't have survived the last 5 weeks without all the friends who came to have coffee with me! I only had 2 days that I was alone.

SNAP

As most of you know, 5 weeks ago I had just finished coffee with a friend and was 1.4 miles into my morning run when I turned my foot and 'snap!', I broke my fifth metatarsal.  

It was a beautiful, warm sunny morning and I was just warming up.  I don't really think there was anything in the path that caused my foot to turn, just a quick unfortunate step the wrong way.  I hobbled up the the bus stop (after a quick scan at the organic shop for something I needed) and took the buses home.  When I got off the bus in Limpertsberg, I was pretty worried about how bad the "sprain" must be, but managed to get home to ice and elevate.  After 45 mins, I tried to stand up and tears came flooding!  I was less upset about the pain, but the fact that this was a serious injury and I had no idea how I could pick up kids from school in 3 hours. 

Jeremy was at a conference in Munich where he was so quarantined that we had barely said hello each morning.  He would not be able to leave for another 36 hours, so I needed to figure this out!  I tried to gently put my foot down and started crying again.  I decided that I had to call him.  He was sweet enough to know I wouldn't call if it wasn't an emergency.  He booked the next flight home and my sweet friend, Jeannie, took me to the hospital.

Jeannie called her Doctors office and they recommended a hospital.  Upon arrival, we were not amused (at the time) to find out that while we went to the "Urgences", they were not an Emergency room today.  Huh?  But we were at an emergency room--right?  Well, apparently Luxembourg has a unique system of rotating which hospital is considered on-call for emergencies.  You have to call the emergency line in order to know that information. Wow. Maybe a tip the doctors office should have given??

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The clinic wasn't busy, so they were happy to see me and order an X-ray...no guarantee of a doctor, but we proceeded.  It was an obvious break on the X-ray and the head traumatologist orthopedic surgeon came to see me.  The German, no non-sense, doctor explained that the distance of separation of the bones necessitated surgery to screw it into place and we would do that on Monday.  I would not bear any weight on this foot for 6 weeks.  He also assured me I chose the best Hospital in Luxembourg with the finest doctors.  Later, I would form my own opinion on the subject. 

Still not thinking much about my foot, but completely freaking out about how life will change for the next 6 weeks... who will bring kids to school, cook, help clean the house, and the worst part--what on earth will I do?  

I'm so thankful to have so many neighbors and friends who called daily to see how they could help and if they could take kids to the park, etc.  Amalia immediately started calling people to find me some help!  By Sunday, we had hired a sweet gal who came 2 days a week to help with house keeping and to take the boys out to ride bikes and play.

Visit to the Vosges Mountains

I'm excited to have something new to write about!  We just returned from our visit to the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace/Lorraine regions of France.  We chose to make this visit because the boys have been so disappointed that everyone we know in the US has had snow and we have had the most lovely mild and dry winter for Luxembourg!   Seriously, our spring flowers are blooming and my allergies have kicked in!  First of February for allergy season is even early for Texas!!

Our first stop was in the mountains.  The Vosges are a small mountain range, not impressive like the Rockies or Alps, but pretty, easier to drive and only 3 hours from Luxembourg.

The boys had such a great time playing in the snow and shouting "snowball fight", though Blakely definitely didn't want to get hit with a snowball and Colden was willing to aim at my head every time, but don't you dare get close to his!!

The unseasonably warm winter weather has left the ski resort not in the best skiing conditions.  So we decided to skip skiing ourselves and made a ski lesson appointment in the morning for Colden.   After plenty of time in the snow, we headed down into the Alsace Valley to check into our adorable hotel, l'Auberge Alsacienne.

The town of Eguisheim was just picture perfect for an Alsace wine town similar to where we explored this summer in the Northern-most area of Alsace.  Many of the wine tasting rooms were open, so we bribed the boys with snacks and playtime in each of the squares so we could stop into a couple!  We just love the Reislings and Pinot Blanc's grown in this region.  They also make Muscat wines that have a dry finish rather than sweet... Really nice for an aperitif!

Saturday morning, we headed back to the ski resort, where it was snowing and prepared Colden for his first ski lesson!  He was so excited, couldn't stop talking, and did such a great job.  We couldn't watch all of it because he seemed to be distracted by us and we really wanted him to learn from his instructor.

The instructors report was great. He did well learning to snowplow and said he was surprised it was his first time.  Colden's report was that he knows how to ski and doesn't need an instructor again.  He liked going fast and just falling :)

Blakley put on Colden's skis to try it out a bit with daddy and thought it was fun.  So, I think we may have a new family sport to pursue.

It's Already February!

I have not forgotten about my resolution to blog consistently, but honestly, there hasn't been very much interesting to write about.

Taking my French class has been very time consuming and brain consuming, but my language has improved remarkedly.  I can speak (properly) in past and future tense pretty well and my vocabulary for practical use has increased as well.

I have also been knitting and crocheting quite a bit whenever I get to finally sit down.  Colden's hat is one of my favorite little projects.  Blakely and I got new hats too!  Isn't my cowl funky?  I love how it turned out.  The other navy, grey and yellow item you see is an infinity scarf that I made for J.

Finally, we have been consumed with planning out some of our travels for this year.  There will be some more interesting posts coming!!  French Alps, Portugal, Italy...  I am SO excited.  We are SO blessed!

What do we miss?

We are often asked about what we miss from home...Goldfish is my first response!  It's a funny thing, those silly little cheddar crackers!  We really try to eat primarily fresh whole foods and very little out of the box, but we still miss Goldfish!  There is nothing quite like that here.

It's funny though, one day we will live somewhere else and will have a whole new list of things that we miss from our time here!

For example, the cocoa here is so dark and rich... Why anyone would prefer Hershey's, I do not know, except that you haven't experienced anything different.  Have you ever heard of speculoos?  It's kind of like graham crackers (which we can't get here) but better!  It is darker in color and a richer flavor.  You can buy speculoos ice cream, cookies, crumbs for baking and even comes in a jar like peanut butter.  Trader Joe's has a product that I've tasted, cookie butter, that must be the same.  It's pretty much sugar in a jar--something I wouldn't personally buy, but YUM!

Oh and the dark brown sugar.  It's nothing like our American brown sugar.  It's so dark and rich and full of flavor.  I made my first batch of cookies with it and they were the best cookies I think I've ever made!

Are you hungry yet?

We sure are missing some of our usual Mexican products and that is a tough one.  For now we will just get our Mexican food fix at a cute Mexican restaurant in centre.  We met there for lunch today and it was delicious!

Always nice to have a lunch date with Jeremy too :)

Back in the Swing

We are finally feeling back to normal on our usual schedule with school for the kids and for me, my social agenda!  This week, I started private lessons with a French tutor.  It brings back many fond memories of French class in high school.

A big highlight of our week was getting a package from Nana!  Among all of the goodies, Blakely is SO happy to have new playdoh.

The weather is pretty Seattle-like in that is rains often and is overcast a lot.  That said, if I were in Seattle, I would consider this a very good fall/winter compared to most.  We have some really great indoor pools here in Lux and often this is our Friday activity of choice.  We are lucky to get the pool almost to ourselves on Friday afternoons because all of the other kids are in school!  We are blessed to have a private school that allows us to elect our half days.

In the family pool, Colden loves the floating boats... You can also see a big black slide that runs outside of the building in the background... This is the best.  They boys climb two stories up to ride it down laughing and racing over and over.  We usually spend 30-45 minutes just on the slide.

I love how this pool was designed for young families... You can't see it here, but there is a family bathroom right next to the baby pool which is as warm as bath water.  They set out a basket of water toys for kids to use freely.

And if you have a baby who just needs to stay dry, a playpen!

That's what we are up to!!

My favorite thing about Lux

You can find something good in every city or town that you live... I usually find many things that I like in all of the places that I've lived.  But, the people you meet can make it really great.

For me, I met this super cute, super fun gal, Ariane, with two sweet little boys who live a stones throw from my house.  Scott is mentionable too :). He is kind and complimentary and always fun to be around!  Ariane has been such a great friend to explore Lux with, endure the long weeks when our husbands travel and endless play dates with our boys!  Next week, she is moving to Seattle and I will really miss her!

Of course there was a party!  I hosted a little brunch for her this week.. It was a fun and I am so happy to have met a few more of her friends!

Ariane said to me today... "This is not over". So sweet, agreed!  I now know how some of my friends felt when I moved.  I can't say that I really experienced that much before.  We (even growing up) were always the one's who moved.

We will look forward to our next visit, vacation together,  or whatever life brings!  Until then, you and your family will be missed!

Bonne année 2014

Happy New Year!

I have been anxious to start blogging regularly again, and that is just what I plan to do now that we made it through the busy holiday season and our schedule has turned to normal this week!

We are so excited and are feeling so incredibly blessed to have another year of adventure ahead.  This life here is such a dream for me and we plan on fulfilling some of our travel dreams this year as well.  I will do better at blogging more often, so please subscribe or check back often to see what we are up to!

We celebrated the end of 2013 with a trip to Paris.  I love Paris.  Probably due to my French language and history studies in my younger years.  I've been many times and it never disappoints.  In fact, I think it's better every time I go.  I think of it mostly as a romantic city.  So, this trip was a bit different!  We took the Martins (Jeremy's parents) and the boys.

This was the Martins first time in Paris (Robert's first trip out of the USA!!).

We didn't attempt to see everything, but we were sure not to miss a few favorite sites such as La Tour Eiffel, Cathédrale Notre Dame (below), Louvre (from the impressive exterior) and Jardin des Tuileries.

After soaking in the 850 year old cathedral, we strolled through Saint Germain, maybe my favorite area of Paris past the cute cafés, fancy pâtissiers and Paris fashion to Jardin du Luxembourg.  It was a bit disappointing to see the gardens dormant for winter, but the kids playground that we came to find made up for that!  We played for almost 2 hours before we felt the first few drops of rain.

We managed to wake up to another dry day in Paris!  We headed to the Eiffel Tower and then rested our feet on a Seine River Cruise.

We enjoyed some quite good café food near Musée du Louvre where the boys (also first-timers in Paris) were thrilled to get some little Eiffel Tower souvenirs and we took lots of pictures!