Premier means First

Today, we met our first exchange student!  We were feeling nervous and excited as we drove to pick him up at the airport...but I kept telling myself that he was probably even more nervous than we were.  There were many other families at the airport also picking up their exchange students.  Kids were pouring off the plane from Japan, Sweden, Germany -- all to spend the next year in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  

We were pretty proud of our welcome sign.

On our way home, we stopped home for lunch at Red Robin, of all places.  We gave Abel three choices: the 5-8 Club for Jucy Lucys, Lake Nokomis to eat outside by the water, or Jude's favorite Red Robin.  So that was the choice!  

When we got home, Jude gave Abel a hysterical tour of our house, pointing out things like where the cat food is and how to operate the dimmer switch.  We hung out downstairs for a while and then Abel went up to his room to get organized.  He hung a huge French flag on the wall for ex-pat pride!  

Jude spared no time persuading Abel to play foosball (le babyfoot)  downstairs, where Jude got his butt kicked, 2 games to 3.  Then, like Jude's dream come true, Abel asked him if he wanted to play outside so they spent time outside playing soccer and basketball. 

Jude is pretty much in heaven.

We served spaghetti, caesar salad, and garlic bread for dinner.  Liz made sure to tell him we didn't make anything fancy...and I spent the whole time being nervous that he hated the food we served.  But he did clean his plate, so it couldn't have been too terrible!

After dinner, Abel brought down some gifts that he brought from Sete for our family, including some cookies, a beautiful dish that says "a la mer," a polo that says "Sete" for Jude, and this amazing France-shaped dish.

Our beautiful gift, direct from France!

So our first day with our first exchange student is over, and it was amazing and awkward and wonderful.