Happy Halloween!

Wes is a little young for trick-or-treating this year, but he helped out with pumpkin carving (he slept like a champ while we carved them).



And he was a good sport about dressing up just for fun.




Happy Halloween! We're off to celebrate by eating pizza and watching a scary movie, tiara and cowboy hat firmly in place.

People ask a lot how the dogs are doing with the baby. Here's the answer:




He's almost as good as a new puppy.

For all the Wesley lovers out there (especially the grandparents), a couple videos.

First, Wes having a serious conversation with his Da.



And then Wes and Mama playing at Starbucks.



Feel free to tell us how utterly adorable he is. Thanks.

Shiny happy babies

Wesley is generally a pretty easygoing baby. He usually only cries if he’s hungry, in need of a little attention, or needs to be changed. Once we satisfy his need, he’s all smiles again, especially when he needed to be changed.

This kid loves being changed. We’re not sure why, but whether we’re changing his diaper or changing his clothes, he’s always happy about it.

It’s not surprising then that he also like getting baths. There’s a moment in between coming out of the water and getting dressed where he yells because he’s cold, but it doesn’t take long before he’s happily cooing as we lotion, diaper, and dress him.

The last time we gave him a bath, he was so cute about it I told Ben to grab the camera so we could take naked baby pictures to embarrass him with when he’s older.







We ended up taking a lot of pictures. It’s not our fault the kid is so cute. I’m still pretty sure he wants to be America’s Next Top Model. Watch for him in Season 43.

Mon dieu!

Things that we’ve learned from French strangers:

You must not burp the baby so vigorously; you’ll cause brain damage. For life.

His bottle isn’t warm enough and we should stop feeding him with it.

His head is too cold. Always. We must keep it covered even if he is so warm he’s getting a heat rash on his forehead.

His neck is cold.

His head is not being supported enough.

You must pay attention so that his head doesn’t touch the wall next to you. This also may cause brain damage for life.

He is the cutest baby ever. He is si mignon, si chou, si beau, adorable, petit, oohlala! Despite all our attempts to kill him through hypothermia, beatings, and lack of head support, we must be doing something right, because all of Paris was completely taken with him.

Can you blame them?

This blog is way late, but apparently babies are tiring and take up every single second of free time. Add traveling to the mix, and all of the sudden weeks go by and I still haven’t found the time to write anything, catch up on America’s Next Top Model, or go to the bathroom.

So this is going to be picture heavy, but light on the witty story telling. Sorry. Having a baby hasn’t sucked my brain out completely; I’m still terribly witty and charming in person. You’ll have to just trust me on that though because I don’t have the time to charm you properly in writing.

This was Wes’ first voyage. He was a champ on the plane, a perfect little traveler.



The Bergerac airport was very very small.

The conveyor belt for the baggage was manually operated. As in, I had to keep pushing people bags down the rollers until the guys tossed our bags up there.


France was beautiful. We were in the Dordogne region, which is very quiet, rural, nice and relaxing.





We saw castles


There was a sign that said Do Not Touch. Apparently I’m not a very good listener.


We enjoyed drinks at cute cafés with Gamma.



We went to a goat farm to see how chèvre is made.


We ate lots and drank wine.


We went on hikes. It was very pretty until we got lost .


And at the end of a long day of hiking we hung out at the pool at the gîte.



Ahh, it went by so quickly and then we had to go back to the Netherlands. But not to worry, less than a week after we got back we left for Paris because Ben had another work trip.

Again, a great time. Paris never gets old. And this time Wesley accompanied me as I walked all over the place, to about 10 different grocery stores in three days(okay, I’m exaggerating. I only went to about 5, but some of them more than once).

We also did our usual breakfast on the step in front of Sacre Coeur.

Wes didn’t like it because we didn’t get any croissants for him.


And of course we had to take him to see the Tour Eiffel.

At two months old, he’s already an experienced traveler. We’re working on teaching him to buy his own metro tickets and order his own crêpes. No wine and baguettes until he can order for himself!

Il y a six ans...

Six years ago, before babies and Netherlands and traveling, and even before army life, on a beautiful October day Ben and I got married and started our real Morrison Adventure together.

This year, we were lucky enough to celebrate our anniversary with another beautiful October day. This time, though, we were relaxing in France, in a gîte that my parents rented for a month. It was a gorgeous location for what turned out to be a wonderful anniversary.

We started out the day with our special tradition of a photo shoot to add to our album of anniversary pictures. Each year we try to find a cool location and just have fun taking pictures. It's really neat to see ourselves grow and change from year to year and it'll be even cooler when we have an album with 50 years of photos in it.



This year, Wesley got to join in for a few photos.


We then spent the day going to a goat farm to see how chèvre is made, and to pet goats (the real reason to visit a goat farm!), and then spending a little time in the town of Rocamadour for lunch.

And then, THEN, the best part:

On the way home, Gamma and Papà told us that they were taking Wes duty for the remainder of the day! They had already said they would babysit while we went to dinner, but a whole free afternoon before that? Jackpot! And they're good, responsible babysitters, right?

Hmm, well... they were free babysitters, anyway..

We luxuriated in a long walk sans bébé, and then an episode of America's Next Top Model before dinner.

And then we got pretty and headed to La Belle Etoile restaurant in La Roque Gageac. La Roque Gageac is a really pretty little town on the Dordogne river and we left early enough so that we could walk a little, take some pictures, walk a little more.



And then, dinner...

was magnifique!

I had a langoustine ravioli and then cod with vegetables in a pea and coconut sauce, and Ben had foie gras (I know, animal cruelty, etc etc) with an onion chutney and then duck with a citrus glaze.


And the best part? Desserts!


And not just because I love dessert, but because these were really well done. A trilogie de chocolat with cinnamon ice cream for me, and a millefeuille de fraises with a perfect lavender sauce for Ben. Oh so good.

*Note: I hate taking pictures in restaurants because I always feel très tacky, but this wonderful restaurant had plenty of more obnoxious tourists than us, and being tacky is practically a requirement for American tourists abroad so we figured what the heck. We were very discrete about it. And we were much less obnoxious than the Canadians at the table next to us who were loudly discussing what "une tranche de lotte" was (it's monkfish). They were loud. And funny. We tried not to giggle at them, but we couldn't help ourselves.

After dinner we walked a bit more and then went back to the house and thought about how great life is, how blessed we are, and how nice it is to have good babysitters.