"Hold to the now, the here, through which all future plunges to the past." -James Joyce/Ulysses

So far November has been quite the month. Madeleine had her very first birthday (Thanks for the gifts, everybody!!!), she discovered both chocolate and vanilla, we took a family trip to Dublin, Ireland, where we rediscovered our love of Guinness, and, sadly, we are 57 days away from leaving Europe. I say sadly only because during a reflective conversation we had the other day, we determined that we have really enjoyed our European adventure and we agreed that living here has been brilliant. We have had the opportunity to see so many wonderful places, travel with family and friends, eat strange and wonderful foods and meet some great people. Now, that being said, we are equally excited to start a new chapter in the States and we are obviously still counting the days left. Oh yeah, one more thing, Sadie and I have developed a theory that Mad may be the reincarnation of a Greek person. This little girl has an insatiable appetite for both yogurt and of all things garlic lovers hummus!? Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks--have fun!

Above: Mad's first piece of Chocolate cake / Below: blowing out the candles on the cake

Like a moth to the flame!! Look at the focus in those kids eyes as they eagerly await their piece. I have to admit, I was kinda afraid for my life.

Getting crazy at the B&B

Madeleine was a little upset she didn't get a pint of her of her own but we explained how things worked and she cheered right up. This picture was taken at St. James gate, where Guinness was orginally brewed. The "gravity bar" is a great place to have a pint and take in Dublin from the bird's eye view.

Another beautiful Dublin vista!!

Can't wait to see all of you and we hope the luck of the Irish smiles down on you like it has us!!

The leaves are certainly changing

Unfortunately, it has been a little too long since we last posted. Since the last post, we or some variation of "we" have been to Oregon, Tuscany and Bulgaria, and we also enjoyed some pre-halloween fun in Germany. Here are some of the pics from those adventures...


Here is the gang at the fall festival in Wallau. Pumpkins, pan fried butternut squash with garlic sauce (delicious), washed down with a little pumpkin champagne--highly recommended.

Here is our little tree frog examining seasonal gourds. An ornamental gourd is all about color and shape (so she says).

On the left are Mad and I having some good times at the fest, and below Madeleine is looking for something to nibble on. These days, she is walking about 70% of the time.

Have you seen a more adorable tree-frog??

I will give you one guess where this is? Madeleine about to set flight down a tuscan road
The below pictures were taken in Oregon. Mad taking lessons from a cheetah. She must have been taking notes because she is way too fast for me.

Here is Opa with his hands full.

Big smiles on the Oregon coast.

When in Rome, right??

We hope everyone is doing well!

77 more days!!!

Go DUCKS!!!

Paris Encore

Ok, so maybe I had a little too much wine, but either way how many of you can say you dressed up as Borat and ran along side the Peloton at Le Tour de France? As you may have surmised by now, we recently took what may very well be our last trip (for a while at least) to Paris. We went with the intention of seeing the final stage of "The Tour" but the gods had something else in mind for the Trainor Clan. This is Madeleine and I enjoying a huge breakfast at what turned out to be a great American Style breakfast place. If you are wondering if Sadie and I recognized the irony in traveling to Paris to eat an American breakfast, we did. Unfortunately this place is only one of a handful of American Breakfast places we have seen in two and a half years so the Croque Monsieur had to wait.

The Ladies taking in the sites..

Laid some fowers for Jim and took in the tower.

Here is Mad navigating the apartment (which was about 200 meters from the Notre Dame, awesome find Sadie).

Ad hoc headgear, now that Mad is getting more mobile she needs some protection!! And here is the lot of us in the stairwell of the apartment, which must have been hundreds of years old.

Back on the train and living it up




These pictures are not of this last Paris trip but I needed to post them. (clockwise from the left) Madeleine woke up the other day, crawled out into the living room and sat in this beautiful ray of light coming in. I was fortunate enough to have the camera within reach. This is Madeleine about 60 seconds after waking up one morning, she wakes up and is immedieatly in a good mood!!! Not sure where she gets that from? And finally, post bath and feeling good.

Hope everyone is doing great!! All three of us are psyched to be headed back to the States to see some of you, it has been way too long. See you in a few weeks!! Love to all.

The summer just keeps getting better...

In lieu of celebrating Independence Day the "traditional" way, we decided instead to get irie at the Summerjam Reggae fesitval in Cologne, Germany. We camped with nearly 25,000 other folks who gathered together to listen to some great music and pass the uh, ehm, good vibes to one another. It was a great weekend, the weather held, folks were in great spirits, and as I said we saw tons of great music. If you are looking for some good Reggae to listen to (and haven't done so already) you need to check a band called Jah Cure on the Roots side of the house and The Black Seeds (from New Zealand) who are rootsy/ska blend, both will not dissapoint. There are some of The Black Seeds in the picture above. This picture on the right (with the Swiss flag) was taken by a a group of Swiss guys who provided us a few really hardy laughs. We appreciated the fine aftermarket needlepoint done to this flag so much we just had to have a family portrait taken. Take note of Madeleine's ear protection, she happily wore this cool safety feature whenever the music was too loud.




The picture on the left was taken in the tent right before bedtime and on the right is Madeleine on a mission to eat the camera or destroy Mom's sunglasses, whichever comes first.






















We set up the beach shade in the grass at the back of the seating area and took in the tunes. The heat was on so it was time to take a few layers off.

Later a westling match took place in the tent. Madeleine turned the tables on Mommy with the dreaded "raspberries to the stomach" routine!

Who doesn't love the having the upper hand?

One love,

peace ,

and happiness!

Jah lives..

Here are some pics of my recent trip to the UK. Took in the British Museum, the Rosetta Stone, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, and the Trinity School at Cambridge, it was graduation day. Very nice to drink a beer with hops in it!.

Happy Father's Day!!

Wow, what a great first Father's Day this was!! Sadie and Madeleine took me to Brugge, Belgium where we celebrated in style.

Brugge is an amazing place and a "must visit" if you are ever in Belgium. The city is roughly 1 square mile of pure European history dating back to around 1120.

(Brugge's famous 13th-century Belfry, housing a municipal Carillon comprising 47 bells. The city still employs a full-time bell ringer, Aimé Lombaért, who puts on regular free concerts.)

Canals, cobble stone streets, horse drawn carriages, homes older than the discovery of North America, fries and Mayo (not a big hit with us), Mussels and fries (a big hit with us) and the beer, wow the beer! Monks used by God as a vessel unto which to brew these fine concoctions, what more can I say, the result will make a believer out of you.

A few "typical" sites

We spent our days in walking around in awe of how beautiful a city Brugge is (the city itself is a UNESCO World Heritage site). The city is a museum, amazing!

(OK, one small break)

Madeleine was on her best behavior, hamming it up for whoever would look at her (which is usually most folks). She is crawling now, pulling herself up to standing and saying Dada (an extra father's day bonus for me :))

I am a lucky man! Thanks Sadie and Madeleine I had an unbelievable first Father's day. Love ya!!

No, not Brugge, but a great time nonetheless. Me and the big sis on Miami beach last week. Good times spent saucer-eyed at all sorts of uber-expensive Italian cars and huge bar tabs.