I had a morning of meetings, and then Zari and I went running around noon. It's fun to have someone to keep me motivated, and vice-versa.

I did lots more video editing today and produce a first draft of a new pedagogical tool. Next step is to test it out in some workshops and get feedback!

Dio is busy studying for a big math exam. He's frustrated with his teacher, who just writes down solutions but doesn't explain them. So they're left to try to figure it out on their own, and then the class average is really low because they often don't understand the material. Sigh... I do wish there were a stronger commitment to effective pedagogy here. It can be so inflexible and top-down, with the teacher as the unquestioned authority.

Inga is working on an oral presentation about sexism in women's football (soccer).

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Busy day filming and then video editing. I got caught up in it and didn't manage to go running. I'll do it tomorrow!

Zari just finished a big scholarship application. I told her that tomorrow is job search day.

We really need to buy groceries...our poor kids are complaining that there's no food.

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Our New Zealand friends treated us to an amazing breakfast this morning! The kids were in awe. My Sunday morning pancake breakfasts now seem boring in comparison :)

Ivy was gone almost all afternoon helping her friend at her little brother's birthday party.

Inga had a game this afternoon, winning 4-0. Inga scored 1 and assisted 1.

We watched a movie version of La Peau de Chagrin (Dio is prepping for a writing assignment about the book). It was low budget but actually pretty enjoyable to watch.

A picture of Ivy with the 2 youngest girls...

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Inga came home at 6 am this morning after an overnight bus ride from Barcelona. She didn't sleep more than an hour on the bus, so she went to bed and didn't get up until 1 pm! (And that was after we had to wake her up 3 times.)

Zari and I went running this morning, around the port and then up and over the Chateau.

Ivy had a game and scored a hat trick, with the overall score 6-2. She said she did some of the most beautiful goals she's ever done.

Dio and Inga went to the Vauban sports stadium to exercise.

Our friends visiting have been having so much fun--especially their 3 little kids. They adore Ivy and Inga. Ivy went with them this morning to an activity and came home saying, "Wow, it was so tiring to have to keep an eye on all their kids!" It's so cute--they're always saying, "Ivy! Ivy! Ivy come over here!"

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Life has been speeding by. Inga is loving her homestay family in Barcelona. They have a dog so she is in heaven.

Zari had her firefighting day. They had to dress up in full firefighting gear, go into containers with their vision totally obscured and find the mom and baby mannequins, and put out fires. Her instructor told some crazy stories--some really tragic--about his time firefighting.

Eric has a friend from his university days visiting with his family. He's now a creative writing professor and is finishing a study abroad program in London. Fun to catch up with people after all these years. Two of their boys played soccer on Monday night with Eric and Dio and had a great time.

We have more friends arriving on Friday from New Zealand (well, they are living in France but originally from NZ)!! Super excited.

Dio is memorizing an English presentation. He's been walking around uttering phrases about the downfalls of the gig economy and the illusion of independence among self-employed contractors.

What else? I gave a MFM Series Grand Rounds for the Kaiser system this evening. It went really wall and marks the start of a pilot program offering vaginal breech birth at two of their hospitals in Northern California.

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Inga leaves early tomorrow morning for a school trip to Barcelona. She'll be gone for almost 5 days. Very exciting!

Zari had her first day of STCW Basic Safety Training, most theoretical fire-fighting. Tomorrow is partly in the water, practicing basic survival skills such as deploying life rafts. Wednesday she gets to suit up in firefighting gear and put out fires!

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Lots of changes around here, mostly fun ones! Zari arrived on Wednesday and is working on summer job hunting. She's doing a course all next week (STCW Basic Safety Training) so she can work on boats. The yachting industry is huge in this part of the country, and we hope this may open up job opportunities.

Ivy and Eric are currently at a tournament in Montpellier.

My cousin and his wife visited me--besides seeing him briefly at my sister's wedding (which I don't remember with any specifics, unfortunately!), I hadn't seen him since I was a kid. It was fun to catch up on our lives, children, etc. Zari and I joined them on a hike to Mont Boron and then a quick tour of the coulée verte.

Inga has some exciting soccer news but we can't say anything about it yet. But she has new motivation to work on her physical and mental conditioning.

We watched Exit 8 tonight. Great movie.

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Happy birthday, Dio!!

I have a giant 6'2" 17-year-old. How is this possible?

We did our usual reading of the birth story, followed by opening presented. Zari joined us by video call. I made an almond pound cake with almond buttercream and cherry jam inside the layers. It wasn't super fancy like Ivy's cake--Dio didn't have strong opinions about the decoration. So we dusted gold dust over letters spelling out his name.

School starts again and it's going to be difficult waking up 2 hours earlier than usual.

Dio's birth story: https://rixarixa.blogspot.com/2009/04/dios-birth-story.html

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Spring break is winding down. We have no soccer games this weekend--a rare event.

Dio's friends got a true American/Canadian experience this morning with a pancake breakfast. Toppings included maple syrup, whipped cream, peanut butter, various jams, and Nutella.

We finished The Queen's Gambit this evening--quite a fun series. What can we watch next?

Also here's a funny picture of me at the Philadelphia breech conference. I volunteered myself as the "mom" so Betty-Anne Daviss could demonstrate fundal pressure on me. I climbed up on the "delivery table" to make it real 🙂

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Early birthday sleepover

Dio's birthday is in a few days, and he's celebrating with his best friends by having a sleepover in Le Chateau. They went out with Inga and Ivy to the park and to the beach this evening. I love having a horde of teenagers who go do things together.

I'm making them a pancake breakfast for the hungry hordes tomorrow. It may be the first time the boys have had American pancakes.

Zari will be here next week! She is waiting for one more final exam. She's got her housing set for next year--living in the same place. She's going to take a STCW Basic Safety Training course soon after she arrives and then apply for yachting jobs.

Here's a picture of me selling books at the recent breech conference in Philadelphia.

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Four days in Philly

I'm back from a whirlwind trip to the USA for a breech conference in Philadelphia. I was so busy that I didn't take a single picture--aside from pictures of the presenter's slides. But fortunately other people took pictures and sent them to me!

Eric and Inga came back from Senegal this evening. Inga is happy but exhausted and says it was an emotional experience to visit a lower resource country.

Time to get my jet-lagged body to bed!!

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Laid-back Easter

We didn't cook anything fancy but it was still a great day with delicious food. I made pancakes for a very late breakfast--10:30 am! Most of us slept in, me included. I hate wasting half the morning but I have to admit that it felt great to sleep.

I took Inga to get her Hep A injection for her trip to Senegal...ironically it was easier to get an appointment today than tomorrow.

We all went to the new coulée verte in the afternoon. The kids and Eric did juggles back and forth over a low wall. I read and basked in the sun.

I made chicken in mustard sauce--classic French recipe, often made with rabbit--with roasted potatoes and a tomato, cucumber, olive, and feta salad. Eric cooked up a huge stack of crepes for dessert with all sorts of toppings: whipped cream, creme de marrons, Nutella, bananas, strawberries, blueberries...

We decorated easter eggs with markers this time, instead of paint. It worked well. It's harder to see the pale colors since the eggs here are all brown. We haven't done Egg Wars yet and it's already 10:15.

We have a free day tomorrow and I really really want to go hiking. We have a bit of a teenage munity, though. They don't want to go hiking and would rather just sit around the house. I might have to do a "too bad--we're going" move and just make it happen. I am such a mean mom.

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Quick update because it's past midnight...

Inga had a game and they won 7-0, with Inga scoring 3 goals!

I had some time to read at the beach and get Vitamin D therapy

We watched "Project Hail Mary" this evening...super fun

Eric's youngest brother and his family was featured in the news. Due to Trump immigration policies, he suddenly found himself barred from re-entering the US after a brief ski trip to Canada, despite having a work visa, and now is trying to figure out how to support his family of 5.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/canadian-family-stranded-in-ottawa-after-being-denied-re-entry-to-us/

This administration's policies don't just affect other people in faraway places. We could have the same thing happen to us if, for some reason, a border agent decided to deny Eric entry into the US.

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France went on Daylight Saving last night...and I woke up EARLY (not on purpose). Ugh. Why??? I feel like I'm constantly sleep deprived, which is not what I would have expected at this age and stage of life.

Ivy's sleepover went really well. Not surprisingly, she was really tired the next day! We now have a guest in Le Chateau for a few weeks, then it's mostly open again starting mid-April through mid-May. Anyone want to come visit?

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Happy birthday (again)!

Ivy is celebrating her birthday with a "soirée pyjama" (sleepover) with her 4 closest friends. She helped me make a cake that has outdone her previous cakes. How can we top this next year??

It's 4 layers of red velvet cake with chocolate buttercream. Mushrooms made of marzipan, ivy leaves made from white chocolate dyed green, moss made from coconut and petit beurre cookies blended with food coloring, and bark made from dark chocolate.

Here's to hoping the girls get some sleep tonight!

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Happy 13th birthday Ivy!

From now until Halloween, we will have 4 teenagers. It was like yesterday when they were little teeny kids ages 1-7.

Once Zari was awake and on a WhatsApp call, we read her birth story and opened presents. Then Ivy, Inga, and Eric headed off to soccer.

The kids' high school back in the US had a trip to Europe over spring break, and they were in Nice today! Inga and Dio connected with some groups of students during their free time. Such a fun blending of 2 worlds that usually don't touch each other.

We had a potluck dinner to celebrate Ivy's birthday with 4 other families. It was incredibly fun and incredibly loud. Good times. This pictures shows a part (but not all) of the kids, plus all of the adults.

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The boys go spearfishing, the girls go for coffee

Eric and two of his Canadian friends went spearfishing today, the first time for the other two. They caught two fish and one cuttlefish. It was a gorgeous day for the first time.

While the boys were out hunting and gathering, the girls had their own gathering at a cafe overlooking the beach. It's debatable who had more fun :) We had Argentina, Taiwan, Canada, Colombia, and the USA represented at the table.

I filmed a new breech module this afternoon. It took about 1.5 hours to set everything up, test the microphone and adjust the sound at least 10 times, get the lighting just right...then I filmed the whole course. Then I got on the computer and discovered that the autofocus kept going in and out of focus. I have to refilm the whole thing!

It's Ivy's birthday tomorrow. I will officially have 4 teenagers as of tomorrow. I can't believe it!

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In hot water

My aunt and uncle left early this morning--too soon! They will need to come back next year.

My dad and mom took a trip to Ikea to find picture frames for the sketches. Now I need to find a place to hang them up.

We're planning Ivy's birthday party sleepover. The theme is mushrooms and forests. We'll make a cake that looks like a stump covered in mushrooms.

Oh, the day started with a surprise, and not the fun kind! The power abruptly went out in the apartment, so I first went to the circuit breaker and flipped the one switch that had tripped. No good, no power. I finally isolated the problematic circuit and it was the water heater. then I walked to the water heater and quickly saw why...it was actively leaking hot water all over the electronics! This wasn't a leak at the plumbing connections; it was from inside the heater itself and signaled that the heater was totally kaput.

So we spent a good while draining the tank...without water because there was no shutoff valve going to the water heater. Then we made 3 trips to the plumbing supply store to be able to install shutoff valves. Then we ordered a new hot water heater, set to arrive tomorrow. So for now at least we have cold water in the apartment, and we can shower downstairs at my parent's.

Always something to keep us on our toes! Thank goodness we were home, because if we'd been gone all day, we would have come back to a completely flooded apartment and likely damage downstairs in Le Chateau.

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Rainy hike, delicious lunch, sketches

I went on an early-morning hike to Mont Boron with my parents and uncle. My aunt opted to stay home and explore Old Nice since she had a knee that was hurting. It drizzled on us the whole time. I felt ok during the hike, but afterwards I got chilled and couldn't get warm the rest of the day!

I had lunch at our favorite restaurant (l'Eau de Vie) with my parents and aunt and uncle. It's fun to catch up and get to know them better as peers. Most of the times I visited them, I was a child. I saw them once soon after I got married...and then 26 years went by! I'm having so much fun getting to know them as people.

At one point the conversation turned to childbirth. She had her first by C-section due to a lethal fetal abnormality incompatible with vaginal birth. She never got to see or hold her baby--such a shame. It's what was done at the time, but imagine how many mothers still grieve from never having seen their child. She had her 2nd as a hospital VBAC and her last 3 at home.

After dinner, my uncle (an artist) did quick sketches of the 3 kids. I grew up wandering around his art studio in Idaho, looking at his landscape paintings, lifescapes, buffalo hides, and antlers.

You can check out his artwork and support him at https://steve-spencer.pixels.com/

We have some Canadian friends over to play cards. They're here for 3 weeks over spring break. They rented from us last year and want to come back to Nice as soon as life/work/kids allow!

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Marathon meeting day

Phew! I finished my last round of meetings just a few minutes ago! Too many meetings for one day.

I started my first meeting at 9 am. This one was for a friend--supervising some finishing work on her apartment renovation while she is out of the country.

11 am: work meeting to go over workshop scheduling

1 pm: interviewing a candidate for a job

3 pm: Meeting to talk about finding a meeting space for a training event

3:30 pm: interviewing another candidate for a job

4 pm: meeting with our accountant (waited for 45 mins, he ultimately was stuck driving so we rescheduled)

7:30 pm: rescheduled meeting with our accountant

8 pm: Team meeting for work

9-9:30 pm: Meeting with one of our instructors

Eric and Dio are off at his late night soccer practice. Ivy had practice this evening, and Inga was at a friend's house all afternoon and evening. My parents and aunt and uncle visited Eze and Monaco today and were blessed with gorgeous weather.

ps--we made it into the Irish Times!

https://www.irishtimes.com/abroad/2026/03/13/st-patricks-day-irish-abroad-how-are-you-celebrating-send-us-your-photos
 

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