Mostly picture of Sadie running around Versailles

Last week, Sadie and I took a quick trip to Paris. My uncle Joel and his fiance, Charles, were visiting there so we headed over to meet up with them. Sadie has historically gotten a little afraid with meeting new people, especially men, so before the trip I showed her pictures of Joel and Charles so she would know what to expect. It worked great and she ended up really liking both of them. We had some good meals at which Sadie surprisingly behaved herself and she was such a trooper, going the whole day with no nap and going to bed around ten!

This trip to Paris was a lot more relaxing than our previous one. We weren't just constantly going and trying to fit in as much as possible. My hotel was pretty close to the Bataclan theater and there was a pretty big military presence in the city. There were armed soldiers stationed on the street where I was staying and also elsewhere in the city.

Anyway, most of the pictures I took were of Sadie at Versailles so here we go! They are pretty much all action shots since she never stops moving.

Sadie and Joel:

Sadie and Charles:

This last one is just in front of a random fence by the marche aux puces. She just stopped there and asked me to take a picture of her.

It got pretty rainy on the last day we were there, but I did get some pretty cool '50s dresses at the flea market, and I even managed to talk the guy down. Basically every time I go to France, I realize how much more comfortable I am with French than with German. We ate at one place where the waiter either didn't or wouldn't speak English, and I even managed to ask questions and stuff about the menu with no major problems. Sadie and I will be going back to Paris in March to see Disneyland and I hope to get some more pics then!

Advent Child

Thought I would do a quick post with some pictures of Sadie engaged in some pre-Christmas activities.

We took Sadie to the Christmas Market and thought she might enjoy the merry-go-round. Weirdly, it wasn't like ones in America where the entire platform turns; the cars/horses/whatever actually moved around. This meant that an adult couldn't stand on it next to her. We weren't expecting that but we gave it a try. She really had a lot of fun just sitting in the car. However, once it started up she was not happy. She was crying, looking around for us, and eventually started trying to get out. Hunter had to grab her off as it was moving by because we really thought she was going to launch herself out of the little car. For a while after, she would still bring up the "scary car." I guess she just wasn't ready to ride by herself.

So, after the carousel fiasco, I thought she might like to try some kinderpunsch, which is basically non-alcoholic gluhwein. However, she drank too much of it through a straw before it was fully cooled and spilled it on herself, so that was also a bummer. I couldn't even get her to hold the boot for a picture so here she is sitting next to it.

But, not everything was terrible! I got us a small Christmas tree (you can see, it's pretty close to Sadie's height) for our apartment and Sadie had fun helping us decorate it. We don't have a ton of ornaments for it but Sadie is enjoying it and not tearing it apart.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope to have some more pictures of little Sadie to post soon!

Born on the Bayeux, Part 4: The Last Few Pictures

So, 2 months later, I finally post the last pictures from our trip to France. I'm hoping to be able to post more in the coming weeks, since Sadie is now going to a playgroup three days per week, which gives me a little more time to myself. I miss her so much, but it is nice to be able to use the computer without her pulling me away.

We started out in Amiens, where we had spent the night. Of course, they have a cathedral there as well:

And this cute little alleyway canal, which we both thought looked like something from a medieval fantasy videogame type setting.

There is also this tower that's pretty clearly designed by the same person as the modern church from the last post:

Our last stop for the day was in Laon. There is a big church up on a hill. 

So, it took a long time, but that's our trip to France!

Born on the Bayeux-Part 1

Last weekend, Hunter had yet ANOTHER holiday (Corpus Christi, I believe), so we took a little trip to France. We rented a car in Brussels and drove to some cities along the north coast, including Boulogne-sur-mer, Calais, Dunkirk, Le Havre, Caen, Bayeux, Rouen, Laon, and Amiens. The main thing we wanted to see was the Bayeux tapestry, and then we saw that Omaha Beach was really close to that so we figured we'd go there, too. Then we realized we were there on June 6, so I guess that worked out.

So anyway, our first stop was Dunkirk, which was an important site in World War II. Because of the war history and it's proximity just across the channel, most of the towns we went to seemed to be pretty big destinations for English tourists. However, I used mostly French and people didn't usually just switch to English.

Pirate-looking ship parked in the harbor

War Memorial

I really liked the way this window was darker on the inside

Church from the outside

We next went to Calais, which is where you can get ferries to Dover.

The Hotel de Ville

Rodin Statue

Sadie and I

We walked around Calais for a while, including down to the beach. I even ended up getting a little sunburnt!

Our last stop for the day was in Boulogne-sur-Mer. We stayed at a great bed and breakfast. Since we were the only people there that night, the owner gave us the biggest room, where Sadie had her own bedroom. This was pretty close to her normal sleep situation, so she went to bed close to her regular time and Hunter and I could hang out for a bit.

An old church

And some shots of Sadie goofing around:

So that was the first day! I'm going to continue this later. It's really hard for me to find time to write posts, but I think if I break it up maybe it will be a little easier.

Another Sweater for Sadie

I just finished another knitting project. I got some yarn from the redditgifts yarn swap, and the giver suggested I use it to make something for Sadie. There were four skeins in four different colors, so I looked up a pattern that would use about that amount that had different colors in it. I found the Rydberg pattern from Ravelry that I thought would work well.

It didn't take me very long at all to finish this. I don't know the exact date I started, but it was probably near the beginning of May, and I really only knit for an hour or two a night while watching TV. Anyway, I'm sure you wanna see the pics!

She really did NOT want her picture taken!

Since Sadie wasn't being a totally cooperative model, here's a better shot. It hasn't been blocked yet, which I'm hoping I can block out some of that puckering around the edge.

I got a great pack of vintage buttons off Etsy, including cherries, bows, and butterflies but I thought the yellow on these was a great match:

Close-up of the bottom edge, with i-cord bind-off

So I did make a few changes to the pattern. As written, it takes only three colors, but I had four, and probably not enough to do it the three-color way. So once I started the part with the pattern, I changed the main color from blue to white, and then when I got to the bottom I went back to blue. I also added an i-cord bind off to the-- button edge? placket? I don't really know what it's called, but you can see where that red border is in the picture. I had planned to only add it to the outer part that could be seen when the sweater is buttoned, but that sort of cinched it up a bit so I had to do it to the other side as well to make them the same length.

I have two more projects going right now that I am excited about. One of them is a gift, so I won't be posting anything until it is received; the other is to donate through a group on Ravelry called Bundles of Joy. The group donates knit items to a maternity ward on a reservation in South Dakota and I am making a blanket to send there. Hopefully it won't be too long until I can post some more finished objects!