Day 5

It's always the darkest before the dawn.

When we used to travel frequently with the kids, we would talk about and remind ourselves that it took 5 full days to regain humanity when going through 9 time zones.

Day 4 was always the worst. It was always that day when we'd look at each other and ask "What the f were we thinking? Why the f are we here? Why on EARTH did we think this would be a GOOD idea?" I think dissolution of relationship probably entered into both of our brains... at least briefly. Every single time. But because we did it so much, we KNEW that it was Day 4. We KNEW that the awful part was almost over and the bliss was about to begin. We KNEW it. We had so much practice doing it.

When Day 5 would start off feeling like the Apocalypse, we would look at each other... knowingly... and say "Day 5." By the end of that day, all hope was restored and life was glorious once again.

We are out of practice.

It's been 5 years since we've done this.

Today is Day 5.

We all woke up kind of scattered. Except Q-Man. He kept sleeping. We had early afternoon plans so it wasn't a problem... yet. In an effort to keep us on the adjusting-to-the-time-difference plan, I attempted to wake him up around 10. He woke up, came downstairs, then went back up and crawled back into bed. I went up 30 minutes later and he said his tummy was hurting. If you read about our 'frolic' at the Louvre, then you know where this is going :( Click there if you missed it. Or don't.

After he threw up... in the toilet YAY! ... not on the floor at the Louvre or in the line for security at the airport... he went back to sleep for the rest of the day. Daddy stayed back with the sick boy and the toddler, which allowed the two older kids and I a grand day out. My husband is really smart and really kind :)

Apparently, that was the only time he threw up all day, and he slept until 3. He feels much, much better. Wonder who'll get it next? No. Don't even think that!

"So what did you do?" you are wondering.

First, we went to the Musée de l'Orangerie and saw the enormous Monet Waterlilies with some of our stateside friends...

They were all I had imagined them to be... 

gorgeous.

Then we went to the Cluny Museum... the National Museum of the Middle Ages. A gallic-roman bath ruin and really, really old castle filled with really cool really old stuff... the kids LOVED it.

Big G found a gargoyle that reminded him of his Louvre experience...

And I found out that Jesus was a breastfed baby!

When we were done there, the kids were hungry. They had something they have never had before... really.

Almost 9 and 11 and a half... and this is the first time 

they have ever eaten something from 

McDonald's.

We walked with the fries through the Quartier Latin and then over the bridge to the Ile de la Cité and...

Baby X's supermodel photo shoot in front of Notre-Dame.

While we were walking around taking in these sights, I saw a lot of people who had run in yesterday's Marathon de Paris... if you missed my post yesterday with the highlight video of the leader pack at 15.5 miles, click here. I could tell they had participated by the way in which they went up and down stairs and kept telling their non-running companions "no... I'm okay. I got it."

As we were nearing home, eating still-warm-from-the-oven bread from the boulangerie (that's bakery ;-) ), Big G remarked, 

"This day just went from excellent to AMAZING!"

That, my friends, is Day 5.