It's kind of strange to be back in a place with four distinct seasons. Although August was wet, it was still easy to tell that it was summer: the days were long, it was warm when the sun shone, and Parisians were out of town on vacation. Well, it's just as easy to tell that fall has begun. The trees are turning all kinds of colors and raining their leaves down on us - this is new for our kids, and it's hard not to be as excited as they are when they kick at the piles of leaves on the sidewalks. We're also starting to get a taste of the cool fog that fall often brings. Last weekend we drove out (yes, our car arrived) to the Chateau de Chantilly, only an hour away but through beautiful deep forests along the way. We've been using the weekends to take at least one daytrip out to nearby castles, as the kids really love exploring them. At one of them, Vaux le Vicomte, they even had period outfits in childrens' sizes for rent, so the kids dressed up like little 18th century dandies for their walk-through.

Adham's work is going well. He's getting used to the very different pace of General Services compared to the Consular work he did in Dhaka. There, it was almost all casework, doing more or less the same thing over and over again. In his current job, it's more about projects, big and small, which are constantly beginning and ending, and which can take anywhere from a couple hours to many months to complete.

Crystal has been spending lots of her time commuting, because both boys have begun school, and their schools are in different directions from our house. Fortunately, they're both liking their programs. Tasman is a big Kindergartner now, and Atlas is in a bilingual Montessori preschool. They really enjoy learning French, so we're trying to encourage that with reading in the language and practicing with them some of the things they've learned.

The word has gotten out that we are now in one of the world's most alluring cities - we're on track to have four visitors in the month of October alone. We love the company, so if you're thinking of heading this way, let us know and we'll try to squeeze you in!