Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with my sister Jan, and much of the rest of the Mars Clan. Mom and Dad were there, along with the families of Erik, Dan, Dave. And several of Jan's friends from church. The kids all enjoyed hanging out, watching movies, jumping on beds, etc. Those of us who run ran a 5 mile race in the morning.

We have so much to be grateful for. During our traditional 'candy corn sound-off' (each person gets two candy corns, and tells about two things they are grateful for) Eliza (age 3?) touched everyone's heart with the sincerity of hers - Jesus.

Paris

Linda and I had the opportunity to visit Paris, and it was wonderful. I had been invited to participate on the Ph.D. thesis jury of a student at this University: http://www.lmm.jussieu.fr/index.html. After discharging my duties at the University, we spent the weekend exploring Paris. Here's a photo of me in front of the 'champ de Mars', and another of me in front of the University.











Here are some photos of Linda. In front of the Eiffel tower, biking along the Seine, at the Arc du Triomf, and in front of the Louvre.





This is a strawberry desert that we got from a bakery. We decided that its true that the French know how to make the best food. We tried a number of French cheeses, many of which were completely new to us.

The professor who invited me turned out to be a great lover of organ music. So much so that he had a full blown organ in his basement, which he played for us. Of course the pipes were 'electronic'. But the sound was incredible.

I took several runs along the Seine while staying in Paris. I was surprised at how compact the city is. I was able to cover the distance from our east-side hotel to the Eiffel tower and back in one run.

Running Update

I've been running plenty lately, about 5 miles a day. For the year, I'm on my 3rd pair of running shoes (I show below new and old shoes). I just hit 952 miles since I started keeping my log about a year ago.

For Turkey Day, many of us got together at Jan's and ran the Turkey Trot. It's a 5 mile race. The weather was perfect this year. Dave (came in 14th!), Ben, and Marissa smoked us all. Dan, Erik, and I all came in at the same time - 41:46. Margaret and Janis also ran a great race. Dan and I ran the whole race yo-yo-ing for position. I was really trying my best to beat Dan, and every time I thought I was well past him, he'd blast by me. During most of the race, we did not see Erik. But on the last 1/2 mile, Erik popped up from behind us, and we all 3 finished together. I actually don't remember our finishing order, because the finish line queue had backed up, and we all ended up in a bunch together. After the race, we each recieved a pumpkin pie (see photo below).

Amaya's New Look

Amaya has officially joined the ranks of the myopic, among whom are already counted many of her family. We love her new look, and especially the Princess Jasmine design she chose for her frames.