Ilse dislikes Halloween more than I do. I’m just uninterested. She, on the other hand, is forced to wear uncomfortable clothing.

I would just like to take a moment to point out that I have a cute dog. I have a cute dog. I’ve noticed that most of the photos I’ve taken on my phone camera are of my dog, including this one. I can’t help it: she always seems to be posing.

I think it’s a brother’s duty to make fun of his brother once in a while. I found this picture of my brother at my mother’s house, and I think it’s funny-looking. Meanwhile my mother was pestering me about updating my blog, so I decided to take care of both responsibilities at once.

I have no idea why my grandfather has this hanging on the wall in his kitchen. We’re not even remotely Irish. I’m assuming it was a gift, but it still seems very odd. Anyway, this is the one day of the year when its presence makes sense. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Friday we arrived in Paris after a very long journey. We met the owner of our vacation apartment and got the keys and the lay of the land from her. We had dinner at Le Sketch, a place we found next to a fountain called “Le Fontaine de Mars” on the corner of Rue Saint-Dominique and Rue de l’Exposition. Ash had the magret de canard au poivre (duck in pepper sauce). “C’est magnifique!” David had the veal. For dessert we shared an excellent tarte tatin. It was good because it was “just a little tart.” Then we walked to the base of the Eiffel Tower and looked at souvenirs.

Saturday we had pain au chocolat and café crème (which was trés bien) at Le Den on the corner of Rue de Grenelle and Rue Cler. Ash was able to get our train tickets for the week in French, and we went to Parc Disneyland for Halloween. It was crowded. We liked the architecture, the dragon lair, and the castle, but the only ride we went on was Phantom Manor. “Trés frighteningue!” (I don’t know how to say “scary” in French.) We saw Ash’s friends Erinn, Christina, Carlos, and Casey in the “Once Upon a Dream” parade. We also saw the “Fantillusion” parade, which David called “the electrical parade part deux.” We bought some souvenirs for the nieces before we left.

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Ilse wishes you a "hoppy" Easter! This photo is from her Cadbury audition, naturally.

It’s funny because there are both lemon blossoms and lemons on the tree at the same time. I didn’t know they worked like that.

Thank you, Mom and Lisa! Ilse loves my birthday present, and I think it looks very nice in our room.

I’m a happy birthday boy when I get my free bag of fresh tortillas from Disney’s California Adventure. This year I had a very happy birthday. I got my tortillas, and Disney bought me some t-shirts.

See, if you’re a normal person, Disneyland gives you a free ticket on your birthday. But if you’re an annual passholder like me, you already get in free on your birthday… so instead they give you a $69 Birthday Fun Card, which is just like a gift card but with TONS of terms and conditions (like, “no food” and “no discounts”). I used my Birthday Fun Card to buy a cool 80’s Mickey Mouse t-shirt and a Monorail t-shirt.

My mother has been begging me to post pictures of the house all decorated for the holidays, so here it is! Amusingly, I took all the decorations down today.