Fall colors...

Lyon bathed in yellow...

Mark looking handsome and distinguished during a Sunday walk.

Parc de la Tet d'Or (literally golden head)--at its golden best!

An abundance of leaves.

An abundance of turtles.

The smell of caramel corn was so strong as I took this photo!

Enchanted paths...

Enchanted waters...

A growing Budha belly...

A place to meditate...

Ducks in a row... (actually, pigeons)

Strange happenings...

Halloween night...the two of us haunted by the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer we were watching (season 6, episode 1)...a knock on the door...

In the USA it would have been some trick-or-treaters, but not in France (no such sort of celebrating for Halloween here). We opened the door to a costumed person, though. A girl was standing there, dressed in hundreds of silver sequins with shiny silver hair. She explained that she was getting married in a few weeks, and she needed to go out on our balcony. Turns out this is part of a tradition here in France, much like a bachelorette party, called enterrement de vie de jeune fille (word for word translation: burial of life of young girl). The French term for bachelor party is similiarly enterrement de vie de garçon. Our "young girl" ran to our balcony, threw open the windows, and howled down to all of her girlfriends, who started clapping and laughing as she successfully completed the dare.

I must admit, this is my first real pregnant-looking photo!

Another strange occurance happened on a walk today. I was out exercising on the beautiful streets of Lyon, when a car pulled up with very loud music blasting out of its open windows. Usually this type of sharing only annoys me, as the chosen music is rarely to my tastes (I'm not so big a fan of gangster rap). However, as I listened to the music, I had no choice but to smile. A spunky, jazzed-up version of ...The Hokey Pokey was playing loud and clear, for the entire block to hear!

You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.....you do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around....Great exercise music!

Just a photo...

This was taken in the summer while on a walk with our friends Kari and Jonathan. I have never seen so many swans in one place, and the addition of the contrasting black duck and ducklings made it all the better. What a wonderful planet we live on!

I was sick all summer, but I still managed to do a little living. There is so much to catch up on with this blog!

It's been a busy week. As many of you know, we are moving to a new apartment, and we hopefully will have a rental contract signed soon. That's a big accomplishment in France!

Bisous and more soon...!

Some pregnancy details...

I just wanted to share a few of the details of our experience of the pregnancy thus far. It's going to be very fun highlighting this experience from the perspective of doing it all in France, I must say, so stay tuned over the next few months!

First, let me just say thanks again to Audrey for making the video (posted in my last entry a few days ago). In case you didn't know, most of the photos she used of baby animals with their mothers were photos I took during our travels in Tanzania in spring of 2007! Also, many of the other photos were of Mark's PhD defense last December and also of the Butler family Christmas party last year. The photos of the beautiful, luminescent clouds were from the sunrise she and Ruth stayed up to see after they found out the news of the pregnancy! She also added a few photos of my family, of friends, etc. You did an amazing job, Audrey!

And Ruth, thank you for constantly burning a candle in our lil' L's honor (also pictured in Audrey's video)! It warms my heart and means the world to all three of us!

Thank you to everyone for your support, excitement and warm wishes! We feel extremely blessed to have been helped and encouraged by each one of you. :)

Soooooo, today I officially start week 20 of this experience, or in other words, it's almost half over! Amazing! I spent the first 16 weeks fairly miserable from all-day morning sickness. Eish! The hardest part was craving all kinds of stuff that was impossible to find in France (like refried beans)! Overall, it was very hard to get many of my cravings satisfied, and all I wanted was to have one day back in Pasadena, surrounded by my favorite restaurants. I am now finally getting an appetite and beginning to show a small Budha belly (just the beginning, I know)!! Lil' Lentil (a name we gave the baby when she/he was about that size) is due to join us sometime around the end of March. Personally, I am crossing my fingers for the first day of spring (March 20)--what a cool birthday that would be!

A couple of photos...

I took this photo when lil' Lentil was about the size of a lemon seed (about 6 to 7 weeks)

This was lil' L's first photo, at an 8.5 week ultrasound. Can you see tiny feet??

And lastly, here is a poem that I wrote just before we called to share the news with Mark's sisters. This poem came to me in less than an hour's time, which is amazing considering how un-poetic I usually am. We have used this poem several times in breaking the news:

MK went to Paris

MK went to Paris
During four wonderful days.
They had so much fun
That they came home a bit dazed

Not realizing that
A little stowaway had been stowed,
Not in their luggage,
But in a more secure place, for the road.

Normal life resumed
For MK in France
For two happy weeks
Until Kendra, by chance

Began to suspect,
After visiting the loo,
That when they came home from Paris
They were more than just two!

Testing, testing, testing!
It was the resolution
To this monumental question:
Would HCG hormone come out of solution??

After 3 minutes of waiting
For the life-altering news,
MK looked together,
Their hands fused

And Oh! the rush of emotion
As they looked at the test,
Keeping hearts calm,
But expecing the best!

Two clear lines said it all,
MK had conceived!!
They hugged long and tight,
Then went to the balcony to breath!

Wow! Oh my goodness!
Happy day! What this means!!
Not anything less
Than the fulfillment of dreams!

That was many days ago,
Now the news has sunk in.
MK, they're so happy,
At each other they grin.

Kendra has listened for years
To all the pregnancy lore
And realized, it's true!
She has craving's galore!

And nausea and fatigue,
They constantly tickle
Her tummy as she runs
For the next round of pickles.

Mark's been a hero,
A pillar of strength.
Many trips to get groceries
And listening to Kendra, at length

Go on about her anxiousness
And hormone-induced fear,
Holding her tight as she worries,
And as she sheds a few tears.

And their stowaway is growing.
Kendra feels her womb pull.
It's now passing they size
Of a little lentil!

Lil' Lentil they've named
Their little bundle of joy!
Who knows what will happen,
A girl or a boy?

Lil' Lentil is growing
At an exceptional pace.
Last week, for the first time,
A tiny heart began to race.

Kidneys, liver, and lungs,
Lil' Lentil has these.
And next week lil' Lentil
Will have tiny arms, tiny knees!

And so you can see
Everything is on course
For this tiny new being to appear
Around March 24th.

And so, do you understand?
Aunty Audrey, Aunty Ruth [or insert your name here]?
Lil' Lentil needs you!
So important, it's the truth!

Needs you every day
To love and to pray
For safety and health
In every possible way.

And next March
It will happen, you will see
Lil' Lentil will be here,
Little hands, little feet!

And then the moment you've thought of
For a long while,
Your eyes will make contact...
And then a big baby smile!

And now we're three...

Hello, dear readers!!!

We've been MIA for three months now, but with very good reason. The following video tells the story, made as a tribute by dear Audrey on the night she found out she'll soon be an aunty... and stayed awake with Awnt Ruth to see the spectacular sunrise!

More soon, very very soon... So much to say, there is!!!

Hang Gliding!! Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 7...

The next day dawned bright and clear, and we decided to give hang gliding another run. We were successful! It was sooooooooooooooooo fun! It's the closest way to being bird-like I'll ever be, and oh, the freedom of soaring.....!

The landing field is green and clear.

Helmet Heads

Mark, my Dad, and me, prepared for departure...

A good-bye kiss...

Mark prepares for take-off.

As we were riding up in the van to the take-off location, Bernie (the lead pilot) told us the order of take-off would be the order of our birthdays. So I said, "ok, that's easy...Mark (June 13), then me (June 14), and then Dad (June 15)!"

Just as Mark was ready to take off, a cloud rolled in, and so the waiting game began before we could safely take off. And so, while we're waiting, you can see the promotional video from the hang gliding company we used. It shows what the take off is like as well as the beautiful setting of Interlaken:

Still waiting for take-off.


I give a safe-flight shaka to Mark

Get ready to run....


And he's off!


Yahoo!


Soaring with the birds..



Whee!!

Coming in for the landing...

And now Mark is the star of this super-exciting hang-gliding movie experience:

Awesome!

Dido (my pilot) and I were taking our time setting up the glider, so we broke the order of take-off. Dad was up and ready to fly! Here he goes!...

Walking to the take-off point.

Waiting for the perfect moment.

Can you find him?

It's a bird...no, it's a plane...no....it's Super Dad!

Soon to be back on solid ground...

Sorry, Dad, I don't have many photos of you because you took your photo CD home with you! What did you do that for?? :)

So, it was my turn next. So far I had been doing very well, keeping the butterflies under control.

I got the best helmet, hands down!

Then we started waiting...and waiting...and waiting some more. I think Dad had been on the ground for at least a half an hour before we took off. Dido was calling Bernie on his cell phone, talking excitedly in German. The clouds were rolling by...

Dido and me before take-off.

Still waiting, while farmers gather hay... (Bernie took this photo while burning time). Mark said it was 30 or 40 minutes of waiting before they saw me break through the clouds! A very long time for this girl's nerves. I kept thinking of Audrey's bravery when she went skydiving, and how she landed safe and sound. That calmed me down enough to go through with the whole thing. A couple of paragliders took off while we were still waiting, waiting...

With only a few seconds warning, we take off, and plunge into a cloud!

We're not in the cloud for long, and bright blue skies await us as we break through.

Dido knew what he was doing. We waited so long to catch the perfect wind, and once we were in the air, we climbed and climbed. Talking with Mark and Dad later, I found out that I was the only one who got so high up in the air. The waiting was worth it! I could see the snow-capped peaks of the Alps and the blue lake waters of Interlaken. So Beautiful! At one point, a bird (the size of a seagull) flew just below us, I could almost have reached out and touched it.

And with the height we acheived, Dido took me on an air-borne roller coaster, doing dives, dips, and tricks galore! Wahoo! Fabulous!

Reluctantly landing...

And now it's time for my starring role:

I stand up, wobbly legged from the adrenaline, and scrape my chin off the ground.

It was an honor to share this with Mark. Skydiving was a big part of his life before he met me, and he has a huge adventure streak that has him itching to take certain calculated risks (like going river rafting and plunging into a class 4 rapid, but that's another story). After 7 years of marriage, I worked up the courage explore the sky with him, and now we can share the experience, on common ground. And I would have no qualms about going again, and again, and again...

Thanks for helping me do this, Mark! I loved it, and I love you.

Mom and Dad's Europe Extravaganza, Part 6...

Ok, I know I promised I would be posting every day, and I know some of you have been waiting a very long time for hang-gliding photos! I just got out of the mode, to the extent, in fact, that I forgot the camera on our trip to Paris last week. I didn't take a single photo... I am so behind with all I want to post, though, that there will be plenty to keep this blog occupied for awhile, Paris or no Paris.

And so, on with my parents' European Extravanza! After a failed hang-gliding appempt in the morning (air currents were unpredictable), we headed up the canyon from Interlaken to find some sleepy little Swiss villages high up in the Alps. We found the perfect place, and a whole lot more...

We visited Trummelbach Falls, a waterfall enclosed within a mountain, that drains glacial water from nearby Alpine peaks. The falls is divided into 10 chutes (smaller waterfalls that make up one big waterfall) as it makes its way down the mountain. We came during the spring runoff (where virtually every ledge in the Alps that was capable of having water run-off of it, indeed had water running for its life over the edge), and so Trummelbach was all the more spectacular. The water shot through the crevices of the mountain with deafening ferocity. When we came out of the caves, all of us were soaked to the hilt with ancient (and freezing!!) glacial water.

Mark set the record for absorbing the most water, as you can see by how close he is standing to this section of the falls.

A view from an opening in the caves near the waterfall.

So, one of the funnest things about the Alps is that many tiny villages and high peaks are all linked by gondola. So, we got on board, and let ourselves be hoisted up to Schilthorn peak. This was our view.

It's amazing to me that such a view could be had without major physical exertion (it took us three days of hiking to reach views like this in the Himalayas)! While I absolutely loved experiencing the peaks in this way, I vowed to myself that someday I'd be back to do it on my own two feet.

We were gazing at this spectacular view, when suddenly a tiny trickle of what we thought was water (another spring waterfall) turned into an avalanche! Incredible! We watched it for a few seconds before the sound reached us, and the sound kept booming for awhile after the snow-shower stopped.

And...quite amazingly, there's a restaurant at the top of Schilthorn, with surprisingly good and relatively inexpensive food! The restaurant revolves, and so, if you take your time eating, you get a 360 degree panorama with your lunch. Quite a bargain!

The drink menu...

And at last we made it to the sleepy little Alpine village we were looking for. We got off the gondola in Murren, and then hiked down to Gimmelwald, both tiny communities, with their primay access being the gondola. It was lightly raining when we arrived, which only added to the beauty.

Green hills with a spectacular snow-capped backdrop in every direction, the peaks hidden in the clouds. As we were walking down this road, a resident was practicing his swiss horn, so we listened as the tones echoed on the cliffs and as the wildflowers danced in the rain.

Waterfalls and wildflowers...