Normandie and Monet's Giverny

The next morning after a disappointing breakfast we were off to Normadie. We think the GPS was set for the shortest distance route because we went on every back country farm road from St Michele to Normandie… we cut through a couple farms and felt like everyone we saw was surprised to see us on their road. It was neat, but definitely had us holding our breathe that we would actually make it to the beach. It seemed like a miracle, but we did it!

Ryan’s Grandpa Creamer was a gunman on one of the barges that dropped off infantry men on the beaches of Normandie. Very, very cool. We felt a huge since of gratitude for the bravery of our grandfathers and their families as we contemplated their actions and read the words dedicated to them. We are touched as we toured the cemetery and memorials dedicated to them.
From there we drove to Giverny where Monet lived and cultivate his beautiful gardens and painted many of his most famous masterpieces. Once you get past the tourist stuff and into the gardens it’s hard to describe how good nature can make you feel. The gardens were so lovely and I could hardly get enough of the famous Japanese water lilies ponds. The girls really enjoyed it too, wanting picture after picture of them with their each of their “favorite” flower.

We loved it there! It was fun to see his house too. The children’s books were a great resource to the life of Monet.

Sst Michel Road Trip

We packed our bags and loaded up our car for a trip to Mont St Michel, Normandie and Giverny.

It was so fun to get outside of Paris and see the French countryside! It was beautiful! I especially loved seeing all the old homes and barns that have been there a couple of hundred years and the cows and sheep grazing on the hillside.

We stopped at a little restaurant for lunch and ordered from an all French menu… that was interesting. It was a little better than just closing your eyes and pointing, but not much. It was a fun surprise to see how close our food was to what we thought we had ordered! At this pit stop Ryan stopped in at an electronic store and once again, as much as I think he is a little excessive and obsessed with gadgets, the GPS he came out with has been worth its weight in gold!! –It saves all of the arguing over going left and right. We just sit back, look out the window and wait for the cute little British voice to tell us when to turn. (There is an American English setting too, but in France we prefer the directions from the voice of the British gal.)

So the pictures of Mont St Michel speak for themselves. Let me just say it was spectacular. I’d like to meet the hard working crew who built it. The architect was just fulfilling a childhood dream of secret passageways. Think Hogwarts School from Harry Potter without any of the scary stuff and that is close to what this Abbey is like. In a few of the chapels they had musicians playing. It was really cool. I was surprised how you couldn’t hear them until you were a few feet upon entering the door. On the very top chapel with a girl playing the harp (the chapel reminded me of the chapel in the Sound of Music where they are hiding from the police) opened onto a huge patio 200-300 feet above the ground. Outside there were seagulls just playing on the air currents, hanging out and soaring to the music. The view was awesome!

That evening we stayed in a little bed and breakfast. It was kind of what I expected quaint little rooms with shared bathroom in the hall. Ryan said his thoughts of a romantic B&B were slashed when I made us each sleep with one of the girls because of my paranoia not knowing who is down the hall.

Tour and "Something Evil"...

We set out to show our “dads” what we have been doing everyday for the last two plus weeks. We walked to the train. “…It’s much further than I thought it was…” “Now where do I go?” We were satisfied!

First stop Eiffel Tower. We had to do a photo opt with Ryan and Quinn! Next crepes, ice cream and fries for everyone!! Two carousels rides times two please! What’s not to like about France?!

Second stop, stand in a loooong line and go up the Eiffel Tower with the rest of France!! Wow! It’ is an amazing structure! And no doubt about I’m a little afraid of heights, though I’m able to enjoy myself if I don’t think about it. It was neat to see all of Paris sprawled out in all directions.

Next stop TOUR de France on the Champs Eleyese!! Yippee! There was definite excitement in the air and the streets were packed! The crowd was about four people deep everywhere. We stood on a side street near the Arc de Triumphe. It was fun to watch to watch the racers zoom by in front of us then zoom by on the other side. Isn’t the last day of the tour a kind of formality? If so their speed didn’t show it! They were flying! Then the team cars would follow and zoom by just as fast! My little Cannon Elph could barely get two shots in before they were out of sight. It was funny to see the creative things people did to improve there vantage point. They were on benches, bikes, poles, step ladders (we saw several) and piggy backing. I’ve never been on Ryan’s shoulders before, but now I see why they enjoy it! I got some great video and pictures from up there!!

Once again the kids were troopers. I’m not sure how much they got out of the Eiffel Tower or the Tour de France. They were much more interested in each other’s toys and our iphones than they were about Lance or anyone else!
After the tour we went to Allison and Jon’s friends’ house Emmanuel and Carolyn. They arranged for a babysitter and we adults went out to dinner. It was SO nice. Having a babysitter was the most exciting thing of the whole day for the girls! Well, they did like the carousel and ice cream.
So we left the cute babysitter with six little girls. Five of them five or under! She spoke great English, but the poor thing had to go on a diaper hunt in the apartment building. She couldn’t find the ones we had in our bag. When we returned she said, “we had a little diaper problem and I had to clean her up”, pointing to the bathroom with a tub. “Then Quinn added, “I ate something evil!” Ryan and I are still shaking our heads trying to figure out where she came up with that one! I felt really sorry for the babysitter at that point! We gave her a tip, but I’m not sure you can pay enough for a diaper like that!

Bienvenue Papas!

Bienvenue!!
Welcome! The Dads and Quinn came today! We dressed up in matching outfits and sparkly Paris berets to welcome them. It was SOOOOO, SO wonderful to have them! Quinn defied all the records by staying up the ENTIRE flight. I can barely stay awake on a one hour flight, let alone an international flight across the ocean! Ryan said she finally closed her little eyes just as the tires touched the tarmac. She slept through the deplaning, customs, rental car pick-up and drive to the house. She probably would have slept all day, but the sound of her sister’s voice and patting woke her up. She was instantly recharged for several hours of playing! I could hardly keep my eyes, hands and lips off her. It was so good to hold and squeeze her!! –Ryan too!

That evening we went to Chateau Vaux de Vicomte built by Louis XIV’s finance minister. It was amazing! King Louis XIV was so impressed when he saw it that he threw the minister in jail for embezzlement and immediately hired his architect and landscapers to go to work on Versailles. The chateau and gardens sit on several hundred acres. On Saturday evenings they light thousands of candles throughout the garden and chateau. It was incredible to walk through the immaculate gardens with paths and statues and fountains and terraces more impressive than the last. It’s gives new meaning to the Jane Austin movies when people go and take a turn about the gardens. What a fabulous part of life! --The iron mask was filmed there and Tony Parker and Eva Longoria were married there.

Super Size My Laundry

Super size laundry
Everything is smaller in France including the washing machines. Don’t get me wrong. my mission taught me to be grateful for washing machines and I’m not comparing France to Argentina, I’m just saying these are not the super sized, super fast, professional grade machines that we’re use to in the USA . It takes an average of two hours to do a small load. So when French women say they spent all day doing laundry…they did!

I went on my first solo trip to Paris without Allison, because no shopping party would be complete without the manitory return trip. Yes, we both had a return. Allison took hers back right away. (She was treated the way you’d imagine French people treating you with a return. Not too nice about it.) It took me a few more days to analyzing, but I decided there were a few things not worth my Euros. I decided that I wanted take it back before Ryan and Quinn arrived, knowing Ryan would be bugged at having to do a return… Allison agreed to stay at the house with the girls and work on the Primary program while I did the return. (The girls were having a wonderful day at home and we didn’t have the heart to travel an hour each way for a return.) So, I got my first taste of being alone in a country where I didn’t understand a word anyone was saying. I felt like a recently returned missionary without my companion for the first time. It was a little weird! And I have to admit it was a little intimidating. I went to a store at a different location and was quite proud of myself for finding my way! The lady was really great about my return. No hassle. On my way back home I made a quick stop at the grocery store and was back to the house in three hours! I wonder what the French people thought of my running to the train and back in a skirt carring all kinds of bags! ---Just another crazy American, I'm sure!

Day 13 - Jacquemart-Andre Museum

Who is this masked beauty??
Since we have the whole Paris thing down and have had so much time to enjoy the city we don't feel we have to rush out the door everyday. Today after a bit of play and breakfast we packed our bags with snacks and made our way down the hill. Today we left (for the first time) in the rain. I was a bit worried that we'd get soaked considering the rain from the night before, but as we opened the gate to the street Duce the house cleaner pulled-up. She generously insisted on giving us a ride to the train station. It took us 3 minutes in her car. It's amazing how a couple of days without a "necessity" really helps you to remember to be grateful for the small things! I don't mind walking, but I'm really grateful I don't have a 30 minute one way bumpy stroller walk every time I want to go some where! I really appreciate having a car to zip around in. Even buckling car seats seem like a sweet pleasure now!

The Jacquemart-Andre Museum was an excellent museum for children. The Museum is the home of an upper-class French couple who had no children and spent their lives collecting art. When they died they willed their home to the state. The dining room has been made into a beautiful cafe. We had a great lunch and amazing dessert there. (It was similar to a pistachio macaroon with cream and raspberries in between.) It made it on Allison's "best of the best list". I thought it was really good, but I've enjoyed almost everything!

The museum had a wonderful activity station for kids. They had masks, shields, flags and coloring pages that children could decorate with markers, glitter, sequins, feathers and stickers, and amazing costumes to dress-up in. The girls loved it!! They decorated darling masks and absolutely loved dressing up in the fancy renaissance costumes.

The home had amazing furniture, art work and tapestries. Most of the home was left as it was when the Jacquemart-Andres lived there.

On the way home we stopped by a bakery that we had passed at lunch time. The line was out the door! We all got a pastry and bought a baguette for dinner. My éclair was nice, Kate's mini fruit tart was better. The baguette was crunchy on the outside and soft and airy on the inside. Just right!

It's Princess Kathryn!

Day 12 - Sacra Cour

Bring on the tourist's stands! We are ready to buy our souvinors!! We shopped a few stands bartering as we went trying to determine where the best deal was. Then we went up to the Scared Heart Chapel and had a breathtaking veiw of the entire city. Great real estate! Then we followed the little cobble stone road around the corner to the artist square. There were probably 50-100 artists with their easles painting away. I got a cute water color for each of the girls. They had a few great oil paintings, lots of people doing portraits and charactures. We headed home early today. We relaxed in front of a movie and has time to play.

We had a huge down pour. It was one of those great summer storms that are still nice outside and it just cleans and cools everything off. It was wonderful until we walked through the dining room and their was water all over the floor! Water started coming through the ceiling!! Yikes! We gave Bruno a quick call and he sent some friends right over. They didn't seem to conserned about it, but we feel SO bad! Since everything is made of cement or plaster there is nothing we can do. It is actually very lucky we are here to keep an eye on it, but still not fun for the Delattes to come home to!

Day 11 - Musee de Poupee

The doll musee was interesting, but cute. It is very small, but we all enjoyed it. The special exhibit is Barbie, so you can imagine how thrilled the girls were. I saw a couple of babries that I has when I was a girl. Kate loved seeing them and we have decided to look for my old barbes hen we get back to Grandma Wilson's. We did some great window shopping on little narrow streets and came upon the best ice cream parlor in Paris! We'll have to go back!

Day 11 - Gardens of Luxemburg

Kate & Sophie at Luxemburg Playground

Today was such a fun day for all of us and especially the kids! We went to the Gardens of Luxemburg and stayed all day! The girls ran and played and played! First we played around the pond, then had a picnic, then played in a big play ground (children and adults have to pay to go inside the chain-linked fence to play. There are chairs around the outside for parents who don’t want to pay. We forked over the three euros and went in with the girls.) It was pretty comical how many Americans were playing at the playground too. At least a third if not half of the kids were from the US. We met some from Wisconsin, California, New York, Iowa, Texas and Maryland. We also hit the Marionette show that has been in the park for years. We rode the carousel that had the rings the kids try to "lance" each time around (it’s also been there for years) then back to the playground, ice cream and a metro ride home! They girls slept like rocks!!We met Allison's French friend Carolyn at the park. Carolyn has traveled to the US several times so her English is very good. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed meeting her and sharing traveling stories with her. She has girls the same ages as my girls so that was fun, although her girls were home with the nanny.The popular topic of conversation in Paris is, “how is your English” or other foreign language... Apparently one very good way help your children learn another language is by hiring a foreign Au Pair. An Au Pair is basically a live in nanny or babysitter but treated more like part of the family. The Au Pair helps take care of the children and probably does a little around the house for 30-45 hour a week in turn for room, board, language lessons and an “allowance” of about $200 a week. Hmmm... interesting idea!

The mouse had no idea what he was in for!

Day 10 - Sainte Chapelle & Musee D'Orsay

I thought I'd already hit the "must see" catherdals between our trip to Italy a few years ago and the one's I'd seen in Paris already, so I wasn't too worried about seeing Le Sainte Chapelle...I'm glad Allison had it on her must see list! It is very small but so beautiful! The Chapel was built in 1238. It is two stories and orginally the upper level was only for the King and his court and there was a private entrance from the palace. The bottom was for the place staff. The bottom is very impressive, but the upper level is jaw dropping. The upper two thirds is all stained glass on the top level. Each square tells a story and each row represents a book of the Old Testiment. It is just amazing!! King Louis IX is paid 40,000 livre to have it built and purchased the Crown of Thrones 135,000 livre and kept them in the chapel. (Whoa!!)

Next we walked through the bird market on our was to the Musee' D'orsay. The kids loved the bird market and were really disappointed that we couldn't take a bird home. We thought about getting a bird for the Delattes, because that is the name of their house. "The bird house", we decided against it...

The walk to the D'orsay was so much fun. There were a lot of street merchants selling old books, postcards, old maps and replica maps, old menus and prints. Allison got cute vintage posters for her kitchen.

At the Musee D'orsay we cut right to the front of the line and in a special door for strollers. The immediately went to the 5th floor for lunch by the old train station clock. Lunch was asi asi. (so so) But where the lunch was lacking the art made up for it. Especially the masters of Renoir, Von Gosh, and Degas. I loved the sculped ballerina by Degas and the ballet class. I also really like the picture of the mother and child in the crib. The book stores in the museums are amazing too!!

Day 9 - Relax

Ahhh...today we slept in (without guilt) and stayed around le masion. We did our laundry, grocery shopping, and had a nice lunch of cheese and fruit. The girls played and watched a movie and we enjoyed being French. Everyone got to bed relatively early and rested for the week ahead.

I think we are all missing our dad's and Quinn and are counting the minutes until we can have them with us!! (Hopefully they are missing us too!)

Day 8 - Mona Lisa, Angelina's Hot Chocolate, Monet

Ok, can a day really get any better than visiting the Louvre, having lunch and the most divine hot chocolate in the world and seeing Monet's water lilies?? In case you're wondering it can't! The day was absolutely amazing!!

Each of these activities exceeded my expectations! Wonderful, fabulous, incredible!! I loved, loved, loved today!!Ok, can a day really get any better than visiting the Louvre, having lunch and the most divine hot chocolate in the world and seeing Monet's water lilies?? In case you're wondering it can't! The day was absolutely amazing!! Each of these activities exceeded my expectations! Wonderful, fabulous, incredible!! I loved, loved, loved today!!

Smile Mona Lisa!!

Future mummy... Kate invented this pose all on her own!

Egyptian mirrors...

Day 7 -Opera & Cafe de la Paix

The Paris Opera House

Today was probably my favorite day! We started off the day by stopping in at the most beautiful restroom in Paris. It's free and right outside of the Madeleine Chapel. Each stall has its own sink and stained glass on the stall door. It's very pretty and CLEAN!

Next we hopped on the double decker bus for one whole stop and got off at the opera. It was breathtaking! Everything was so ornate and the carvings were exquisite! I tried to imagine how special it would have been to be part of such an elite group. It was all so grand. The pictures don't do it justice. The girls loved knowing that this was were the best singers and dancers preformed. They were running and leaping and twirling all over the foyer. Once we made our way to the entrance and up the main staircase, I think they were impressed or overwhelmed, because the dancing slowed and they were just looking around at everything, soaking it all in. Apparently we were really lucky to see the ceiling of the auditorium. It seemed a bit more vibrant than the rest of the art work.

The Three Little Dancers

After the opera, we had a wonderful sit down lunch at Cafe de la Paix. It's been around since 1892 and in the guide book it says that "anybody who is anybody has been there". I totally agree because we were there today! It's very pricey, but something Allison said we just had to do! So, Kate and I shared an amazing club sandwich, with pieces of bacon all over the top and a huge berry sundae. It was the most expensive club sandwich and ice cream sundae I’ve ever had, but both were excellent!!

Cafe de le Paix

Back on the bus for a drive through and around the Louvre and off at the Cathedral de Norte Dame. There was a man feeding the birds little pieces of bread from his hand and he helped us feed them out of our hands. It was a weird sensation to have the birds’ pointy little claws walking on you. The Cathedral was really impressive. We got there right in time for the 5 O'clock mass. A woman was singing a beautiful scripture or something in French and it was kind of like a chant. The whole cathedral just stopped and soaked it in for a few minutes.

It was close to the time we needed to head home, but we made one more stop at Du Pareil au Meme, a children's clothing store. It was ridiculous how cute things were! Allison and I went crazy. I'm really glad they didn't have a bigger store or collection because I wanted to buy matching sets of everything for the girls!

The 8 O'clock train was packed tonight and it was so hot we were sweating buckets and the kids were exhausted! Allison overheard some French people saying that we "English women" were standing there with our kids in their strollers taking up what they felt like was more than our fair share of space. Ha - we'll let the English take the blame for this one! Pretty funny what people will say when they think you don't understand.

Day 6- Arc de Triomphe on Bastille Day

We are a little bummed that we are sleeping until 11 am when all of Paris is waiting for us to come and explore!! We get into the city again around 2 pm. Today we went to the Arc de Triomphe. It was really neat because in the center of the arc they had a huge French flag Flying for Bastille Day, June 14. There were a lot of military people all dressed in their issued clothing at the plaza and in the streets. They were mostly travelling in groups and I wondered if it was their assigned duty to be out in uniform or if they just were partiotic and maybe like the attention. Everyone was taking their picture and asking to have pictures taken w/ them. They were like celebrities! There were a lot of people in the metro and on the streets! We made our way to Pauls on the Champs-Elyees for a tasty mozzerella, tomatoe, pesto sandwich and then to the park. Everything is so lovely! What a fun day!!

Pictures coming soon!!!

Day 5 - Eiffel Tower and Dinner Party 2

We are off to the Eiffel Tower! It is so fun to come up the metro, round the corner and see such a breath taking sight! Again it was SO beautiful and so exciting! The Eiffel Tower IS Paris!

The plaza was full of people. There was street dancer, groups playing soccer, people buying crepes and others selling trinkets to the hordes of tourists. After our photo shoot and dance performance by the girls we walked down to the base of the tower, where Allison insists are the best crepes in Paris. –I have to agree with her, especially the strawberry with real whip cream! Ooooh lala!! Delicious! Kate had whip cream all over her face and couldn’t have enjoyed it more! There was the cutest carousel there that the girls rode too. All made for another great photo opt! --The best part was the enormous cotton candy that Chloe got! It was seriously half her size or more. It was gigantic! We decided to ride or walk to the top when the Ryan, Quinn and Jon are here. I can hardly wait to get Quinn some cotton candy!! She is will be in sugar heaven!

We strolled down the Seine River to the Champs Eyeless to work off a little of the sugar high. The sales must have been beckoning us because they were everywhere begging us to come in for a look. To be honest the store that got me the most excited as we went a couple of blocks was the Disney Store. (I know I am surprised myself. I must just love my kids!!)

That evening we were invited to another of Allison’s “American French” friends. The Durrants are practically American she says. They had graciously invited us and three other couples dinner in honor of Bastille Day. They had a great apartment in the city and were great easy going hosts. We had fabulous meat off the BBQ ( Ryan would have been impressed!) a tomatoes casserole and incredible cheese & bread after the main entrée. They promised us fireworks from the balcony. We heard them, but figured that would be it, then all of the sudden they started flying over the next apartment building and we had the most amazing view. I don’t think I’d ever been so close. That was followed by ice cream and a macaroon from Laudee. They macaroon were scrumptious…even the little box they came in was worth drooling over. I’m going to have to go there…. I’d probably just get the box if I could, but I’m sure ever thing is to die for!

Another great party!! The kids broke their record and were up until about 2 am. Fabrice Durrant drove us home and we came through the front door at about 3 am! Tre’ Bon!!

Oh, the girls got treated to the movie “Up”. It’s not even showing in the theatres here yet! I’m not sure how they got it, but some how they are hooked up!!

Day 4- Parisian soil

Well after our late night with the neighbors we woke up around 11 am to music coming from downstairs. ...I guess the the Delattes wanted us to wake up! We decided to take our first trip into Paris so after a few last minute instructions and the passing of the keys we were off.

Figuring out the train was a little tricky & confusing, but we made it and stopped in at the Louvre. When we came up from the underground metro and stepped onto Parisian soil and saw the beautiful buildings I started tearing up. It was so amazing to finally be in Paris!

So we walked over to the Louvre. It is SO amazing!! HUGE and beautiful! It's hard to imagine someone actually lived there! I was snapping pictures like the battery was going to die any second. "Stand here. Now stand there, now there...smile." Who knows if I even got a good picture! Finally we made our way into the Louvre, just in time for lunch! And by the time we were finished we decided that we didn't have enough time to see all we wanted, so we browsed the beautiful book and card shops. We had so much fun and we found several books we had to have!!

I think the girl’s favorite thing was trying to scale a small stone pyramid that is just under the glass one that is jutting down from the ceiling. It was like a kid magnet! I think every kid that walked by it had to try and scale it!

We were some of the last people to wonder out when the museum closed. We were happy to make our way home to an empty house.

Day 3- Shopping Party 2 and Dinner Party 1

Today was definitely Shopping Party II. But instead of a clothing we stocked up on fabulous French groceries. Since we wont have a car when the Delattes leave for Mariselle they suggested we stock up on groceries. It was fun to watch Allison get excited about her favorite food from before. I was overwhelmed by the choices and varitity of new foods. I probably would still be there trying to figure out what to buy. I'm really excited to try the yogurt. Somehow I haven't had any yet, but people look like they will melt just thinking about it. I think we got six different types of cheese and at least a dozen different favorite snacks of the Baddley girls from times past. Turns out the little girls LOVE Les Madelines the best! They ate almost an entire sack this afternoon.

Sandra whiped up another great meal in a matter of minutes this afternoon. Afterward we hung around the kitchen and help her prepare for dinner. She prepared a Maroccan meal with cocous, eggplant, lemon, squash, prunces, onion and chicken. She added several different spices and didn't even think about the quanity. In my opinion is a sign of a great cook. Then she showed us an easy way to make a pear and apple tart. It was So fun!

We decided the girls needed a little change of pace, so we walked into town to go to a bank. The girls walked a lot of the way and played at the Hotel DeVille. We grabbed a baguette on the way home to hold us over until dinner.

Tonight the Delattes entertained us and and three of their neighbors. I experienced my first French dinner party. I'd heard that it's not a good party in France if it doesn't end at 2 am. If the dinner is set to begin at 8:30 it is very fashionable and exceptable to show up a couple of hours later. We fed the children then had them watch a movie and hopefully fall asleep, however they were going strong at 11:30. Aghhhh! I think we put the girls to bed at least five to six times before the evening is though. Im afraid we will pay for it tomorrow!Anyhow rest assured it was a good party, I guess it's easy to make it last until 2 am if you don't sit down to dinner until 11:30 p.m. However, I do have to say the French have the art of conversation mastered. They talk about everything from the neighbors' dogs to how they love Prresident Obama! They are quite intellectuals, yet don't take themselves too seriously. They question us again about how we never drink wine.... "Never? ...Never ever?? The husbands will nevery know they smile. " Anyway, their neighbors are very kind. Everyone speaks enough English that I never felt left out of the consersation for long. I attribute some of it to French's Latin base, being some what similar to Spanish.

Day 2
We called today Shopping Party! Sandra said lets go shopping. We don't even hesitate to agree. At first I thought we were going grocery shopping, but then learn that we are going clothes shopping. Lucky us! Sandra took us to a higher end outlet mall and had a good "shopping fix." Allison and I shop well together, because are both slow. We both like to look at everything them make our purchase. My favorite purchase was a skirt with really cool embellishments and I think Allison would say her favorite store was Petit Bateau or Le Cruset. The girls stayed at the house with the De Lattes 15 year old twins and spent their time having another dreamy day of grand adventures in the garden. When we came home Kate had her backpack on just like Dora. It was obvious they felt a sense of freedom going in and out of this new place as they pleased without their mothers.

Day 1 in France

Le Masion de Perchoir

(The Bird House)

Bonjour!!

We made it to Paris...without using all of our technology. I think Kate may have watched 1 and a half movies. And that is approximately the same for Sophie, Chloe and Allison. I think we must have had a good tail wind because we made it in about 9 hours! None of us slept well, but I that is a small sacrifice to make to get to travel to the City of Lights. Even from 200 ft in the air France looks beautiful... old, green, quaint. We arrived at 10:30 am local time. That makes the middle of the night back home but you would have never known it. (oh yeah, except that Kate & Chloe both burst into tears on the way to the car. I'd already forgotten.) Sondra popped out of the crowd with a little wave right away. The picture Jon emailed worked like clockwork. Their little van easily fits us all. We were worried the van would be more of a Honda Civic, but we were pleasantly surprised!

On the way to the house Allison chats it up with Sondra in French. I am so proud of her! Brunoy is very quaint and beautiful. It seems like there are flower boxes with a geraniums mix everywhere. After winding around dozens of small streets Sondra pulls over, jumps out of the car with Allison while I wait in the car with the girls. They return with long, baguettes sticking out of a bag. I decide we are OFFICIALLY in France!

Finally we drive along a road with a beautiful canal filled with lily pads and lined by tall trees to our left and tall homes on the side of a steep hill on the right. After a couple of blocks we stop in front of la Masion. Here we are! From the window I can see a bunch of kids sitting on the steps. They stand up and descend the 70 steps to welcome us with a "Bonjour" and a kiss on each cheek! --This delights Kate our little romantic! The family is darling! Five children...very unsual in France! (--No they are not Mormon or Catholic) Our bags disappear and we follow them with our mouths hanging open. The house is approximately 130 yrs old, four stories tall and lovely. Sondra shows us around right away (Allison says this isn't something the French do. She wasn't even allowed to go the bathroom during a 5 hour dinner party. I guess since we are staying there without them these are different circumstances, but it just goes to show how lucky we are.)

We get the three bedrooms on the 3rd and 4th floors. Their children have vacated them for us. The upper floor just has one bedroom. It is their twin 15 year old girls. Chloe & Sophie will use it. It's absolutely charming. Very princess like! Kate and Chloe hardly notice though because they have been shown the box of barbie dolls in the little guest house.

The afternoon is spent taking in the French air, playing barbies, looking for bugs in the gardens and having a leisurely French lunch. A neighbor pops in durning lunch for a bite, then a niece. I'm wondering now if it is a coincidence or it was planned. If it was planned I'm wondering how we were perceived?? I hope we passed!!! Later we take the 20 minute walk to the train station. The homes along the way are amazing. It seems like it was definitely and probably still is an affluent neighborhood. Some of the homes are in good repair and some could use some work, but the combination make everything all the more charming. (Do I sound like I'm in love?)

The grocery store is having a sale. We see some clothes and just go nuts. They only have things on sale twice a year and we think everything is fabulous. I'm sure now they are surprised at how excited we can get over grocery store clothing. Looking back on it I am a little surprised myself. Ha!

Sondra keeps asking us if we'd like to sleep. We insist that the don't for fear we wont wake up. Alli and I finally decided well sleep a bit and set our alarms while the kids watch a movie and we all wait for dinner. They eat so much later than us Americans...Plus we are waiting for Bruno to come home to say hello and thank him for being so generous to let us stay in his home. I end up shutting my alarm off and Alli has to wake me up. She was right. I do want to keep sleeping. The girls have had a dreamy day. Playing and running in and out. They seem very happy, until suddenly Kate throws the attitude into over drive. She insists she doesn't like salmon. What?? Since when? I take her upstairs for a lecture which quickly turns into screaming. The whole house is alarmed! Oops!! Does she want cake or ice cream they ask? No, no we make it through dinner with her on my lap. Me spoon feeding her. Her blood sugar goes up and she says a darling Merci to all on her way to bed. JET LAG!!!

Bruno is SO kind. His English is perfect and it is great to meet him. He and the whole family have made us feel very comfortable and welcome. We got to bed happy, right after dinner.

Pictures coming soon!

Paris Eve

Twas the night before we flew Paris and all through the house things were scattered and strewen about... My bags are particially packed, but need to be analyzed and eliminated one more time. Ryan has been busy being my personal electronics store. I have to admit I'm actually starting to appreciate his obession for adapters, splitters, retractable cables & headphones, ipods, RCA/ipod adapter chargers, converters, battery operated back up power, laptops, mini mice, etc! Whew! He has gadgets!! (Flash light anyone? That is another obession for another post.) --We've actually spent the better part of the last two nights making sure our electronics are up to snuff, downloading movies. Heaven forbid we get on a plane to France for a month without 70 hours of video viewing pleasure on our 3 ipods, 2 iphones, 1 laptop and an mp3 player. I mean what are our kids suppose to do w/ themselves without movies?! Pathetic, but prepared!! ( I promise to NOT let them veg!) Time to find the perfect little gadget bag for all the goodies! Tomorrow at this time I'll be waking up in Brunoy, France!