S + D + d + p + d: We found the Fountain of Youth!

Sunday afternoon stroll through the park. Sam looks like a model. Douglas: "One....two....threeeeee!"

"I threw it in the river, Dad!"

Forget the front pockets. I'm walking with my hands in my back pockets.

Monday morning Sam began her four weeks of French classes. I am playing the role of stay-at-home Dad. I told Sam after the first day that I prefer being a working Dad. :) I've been sick all week, which makes it a bit harder. Moms.....they're awesome. We do not have a bathtub here, so Douglas gets a shower every day. He becomes very upset when I tell him it's time for his shower, mostly because he knows I'm going to wash his hair every day.

I found some interesting signs as Doogles and I wandered about the city. This one is United States Boulevard intersecting with Russia Boulevard.

Here we have President John Kennedy Boulevard.

General Dwight Eisenhower Avenue

President Wilson Street

Kennedy Park

Monday evening we went out for pizza. Can you see the excitement on Doogles' face?

Five minutes later. "Another boring dinner of weird food. Give me rolls or yoghurt."

These are the only two things Doogles will eat right now. We are surrounded by fabulous food and Douglas prefers the worthless, processed rolls from the grocery store. Ah well, perhaps we will try a complete food overhaul when we return home. Have any of you tried that before with your children (forcing them to eat different foods)? Does it work, or do they starve themselves?

A neat corner building

FaceTime with Grandma Coombs on Tuesday night.

He was excited to show her everything, including his "hat".

In order to understand the following photos you need to read this article:
http://www.cooksinfo.com/vichy-water

We have the Celestin Source a few blocks away from where we live!

I make the pilgrimage to the "Fountain of Youth" each day. You laugh, but just you wait. I'll come home with a full head of long, flowing red hair, a thick, red Viking beard, no back problems, and I'll appear to be 10 years younger.

Douglas helps me fill up the bottles, but he won't drink the water. He tried it once and he started crying. "Don't want orange juice," he says. The water does have a slight sweet taste and it is mildly carbonated. I'm basically drinking a weaker version of Perrier, but it's free. They sell this stuff on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Vichy-CELESTIN-500mlx24-carbonated-bicarbonate/dp/B00EQ33GQC

As I mentioned above, I have been sick all week. On Tuesday the pressure and pain moved into my left ear. I took a pain-killer and suffered through the night. Sam also had a rough night because Douglas took a nap from 6-9pm, which meant that he was wide awake until 1:00am.

In the morning I had to clean blood out of my ear. Something happened during the night. I had headaches all week, along with severe congestion, but as of today (Friday) I am feeling much better. I'm still waiting for my hearing to return to normal. In the photo above I'm lying on my side after Sam put onion juice into my ear. Good old home remedies. Douglas gave me his "hat" to wear.

We went to an ENT doctor on Wednesday, but they told me that next Tuesday would be the earliest they could see me, and I would have to see a general doctor first to get a recommendation. Socialized medicine. I thought European medicine was supposed to be free and wonderful.

We have been drinking ginger-lemon (herbal) tea with honey and cayenne pepper, and taking vitamins and Ibuprofen all week. We are slowly improving.

The Lord is allowing us to be tried while blessing us at the same time. Douglas is back to normal. Sam is enjoying her French classes a bit more with each passing day. The weather has been gorgeous (70s during the day, 50s at night, with rain on and off). I found an essential oils store (it was closed at the time, but at least we know where it is located). We are learning new things every day and still having fun.