Paris trip prep

Sophia and Brady were very helpful with our packing. They discovered that our extra large suitcases made perfect little beds to play in. At first they were just hiding inside them and playing peek-a-boo. Then came the pillows, followed up finally by the towel blanket. The kids did pretty well with our departure, but we're not sure how well they comprehend "9 days". Hopefully we'll be able to bring back some fun toys and dress up clothes that will make up for it all. :)

Our flight over was pretty uneventful. AirFrance is a really nice airline, and the plane was packed. The meal was really good, and HB and I had a French red wine with our meal to kick off the vacation. They have a pretty advanced entertainment system for each seat that includes the choice of a handful of movies, about 10 different games and the standard TV and music. The remote detached from the seat and you could hold it like a Nintendo controller for the games. Its amazing how a nicely a game of Solitaire can help the time and miles slip past.

Yesterday was a French holiday to celebrate the end of WWII, so a lot of shops were closed, but more importantly there was no traffic from the airport to our apartment. We shared a cab with a retired couple from Naples FL who were staying about 5 minutes from our studio. It was sunny at the airport, but the clouds collected as we neared Paris and we ended up unloading in front of our studio in the rain. It was a light sprinkle, but enough to discourage exploring the immediate surroundings. So we decided to take a short snooze since we didn't get much sleep on the flight over.

Around 12 we started out towards Chuck and Coryn who are staying near Place Monge on Rue Jussieu. There were plenty of shops and sights to see on our way from Place De La Bastille homebase. By this time, some shops had opened and the sun had appeared to greet us, making for a perfect day for a walk. We took back streets to arrive on Pont Sully which took us to the new Arabic museum which has an amazing front facade of windows filled with metal apertures to regulate the amount of sunlight entering the museum.

Heather and I met up with Chuck and Coryn in a cafe located just next to them for a small lunch snack to get us through till dinner.

Here are a few more pictures that I took as we walked around on our first day. I'll need to add some further detail to them tomorrow morning, because to my surprise, HB is ready to leave after only 70 minutes!!! WOW.


Heather and Coryn lighting a candle in Notre Dame.


During our walk home from dinner we passed through Place Des Vosges which has a collection of cafes and art studios. We'll be heading back there to look through a few of the studios and their art work.

Sand Box

Sophia and Brady got to play in the new sandbox this weekend. I brought in the second ton of sand and dumped into a big pile. It was fresh from the bags, so each one was a new load of wet sand making the pile higher and higher. Sophia took off her sandles and played in the dry sand. She wrote her name in the sand using a stick. Then a bug was flying all around and landed on her arm. She showed me and then told me that it was stinging her, it must have been one of those new stinging flys you've heard so much about.

While Sophia and I played in the dry sand and kept relatively clean, her brother was in his version of heaven. Climbing to the top of the sand pile and then rolling down it head first. By the time I got the camera, he was covered in sand.



We've had to put a moratorium on his sandbox play for a few days because sand found a way into the elastic of his diaper, and now he's got a pretty bad "sand-burn" rash on both legs. I'd like to say maybe he learned a lesson from it, but I think its safer to believe that he'll be out there again diving into the sand box as soon as we let him.

We finished up play time with a family picnic on our table by the little house. Both kids were starving and ate a pretty good lunch. Sophia even had sparkily eyes from the crust she ate on her way to joining the Clean Plate Club.

It was nice to enjoy the 80 degree weather and welcome spring officially. We finished off the day with burgers and hotdogs at our neighbors the Bells. More playing and running around for the kids.

Sophia singing Jingle Bells

I asked Sophia to sing me a little song, but she said she wasn't later and that she'd do later. "in 23 minutes". (For those who don't know yet, Sophia's favorite number is 23, and to her thats a big big number, so you'll either get 23 or just plain 3 when you ask her to pick a number). I set the timer on the microwave for 23 minutes and when it went off I had to prod her a bit, but she eventually sang for us. At some point I'll need to create a lyrics sheet of her version, its the best! I hope everyone enjoys it, if you leave a comments below, I'll be sure to read it to her.

Here is the video: