Here I was thinking I'd be home, snug in my bed by 10 o'clock tonight. First, we missed our connection by literally 2 stinkin' minutes! We even got a rippin' ride in one of those speedy carts that raced us from customs to our gate super fast. And we still didn't make it.
We were offered stand-by with 6 seats spread out all over the plane. The gate agent was so incredibly sweet as to finnagle a couple of pairs of seats so my baby didn't need to be attended to by a stranger :P and my 6-year old could sit with a parent, too.
And here we sit on our stand-by flight, a faulty plane. We are now de-boarding to go get on a different plane. How awesome that they had an extra ;-)
We shall see how this next chapter turns out. Now it's time to see how my 'separated' kids are handling this!
Hope everyone is having a less eventful evening than I :)
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adventure. Show all posts
19 April 2011
18 April 2011
Tale of Two Lawns...
The weather has been amazing while we've been here, maybe a little cold for a couple of days... but clear and dry. The past 4 days have been gorgeous. People flock to the parks ... and the lawns. Where they can't sit on the lawn, the park provides chairs so you can sit how and where you like OFF the lawn.
Sometimes I wish this was me...
peaceful, calm pique-nique by the pelouse...
But then I wouldn't have this...
or this!
Not to mention all of the other incredible, feel-good mommy moments I have had the good fortune to experience while on this trip
(as well as in 'regular' life)
I am sad that we need to leave.
We are just about all packed and it is time for bed.
Thanks for hanging with us while we traipsed about :)
There are a few more posts about the trip on the way...
I need more energy and time to craft something coherent.
Maybe tomorrow!
Today is a Granny's Gadgets day... unfortunately, the camera is packed and I don't know where my husband put it :( There will be one up as soon as I am back in my kitchen stateside. Thanking you in advance for your patience and understanding ;-)
17 April 2011
Fontainebleau
My husband kept pronouncing this "fountainbleu" like a fountain of bleu cheese. I had to correct him...
It's "Fontaineblow" ... like that line in Shanghai Knights.
We were going to go for the day... visit the palace AND the gardens AND the forest (which is a big deal on its own). But.... we left the house at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and it was a 90-minute drive... and we were all pretty spent before we even started.
Our hostess was awesome. She and her two kids accompanied us. The kids all had a pretty great time. The adults all felt pretty wiped from all the driving and agreed that it wasn't very much bang for the driving buck.
Fontainbleau is a very big historical deal in France. It is more important than Versailles... even though The Big V is a lot fancier. If you click on the link under the above picture, it will lead you to info about why... in case you want to know.
I took Big G, Baby X and our hostess' oldest son on the quickie tour. That is the tour for kids. You don't really stop and learn about much of anything, you just check out all the grandiosity and splendor and how big or small the beds are, how much gold there is on stuff, whether or not there are chandeliers or lots of naked lady statues... that sort of tour. The tour takes most people a good solid hour or more. We did it in 32 minutes.
Here are some highlights...
It's "Fontaineblow" ... like that line in Shanghai Knights.
We were going to go for the day... visit the palace AND the gardens AND the forest (which is a big deal on its own). But.... we left the house at about 1:30 in the afternoon, and it was a 90-minute drive... and we were all pretty spent before we even started.
Our hostess was awesome. She and her two kids accompanied us. The kids all had a pretty great time. The adults all felt pretty wiped from all the driving and agreed that it wasn't very much bang for the driving buck.
Fontainbleau is a very big historical deal in France. It is more important than Versailles... even though The Big V is a lot fancier. If you click on the link under the above picture, it will lead you to info about why... in case you want to know.
I took Big G, Baby X and our hostess' oldest son on the quickie tour. That is the tour for kids. You don't really stop and learn about much of anything, you just check out all the grandiosity and splendor and how big or small the beds are, how much gold there is on stuff, whether or not there are chandeliers or lots of naked lady statues... that sort of tour. The tour takes most people a good solid hour or more. We did it in 32 minutes.
Here are some highlights...
Battle Royale in the courtyard!
Jumping down off of things we shouldn't have been climbing on!
Being extremely cute on statues we shouldn't sit on while daddy watches us in the garden and mommy races through the palace with older kids!
Miss C getting her training run in...
the girl is a running machine, I tell you!
Those were the guys outside.
We were the guys inside.
Baby X was really into the audioguided tour gizmo... I think she learned a lot.
Napoleon's bed... she is right next to it. It is super short... like he was. I was surprised, but maybe he wanted a cozy little bed to snuggle into at night?
We saw several other rooms, but we were going so fast that I forgot to take pictures.
It was a quick tour.
I am not sure exactly how this happened...
it was the end of the day.
The kids enjoyed some cookies...
Q-Man expressed his 'done-ness' by curling up into a ball.
And my big girl has some issues with her socks... there were no visible injuries that would appear to require makeshift bandaging, so it must have been a fashion statement.
Miss C passed on the cookies (much to her dismay) but did find solace in a date.
Of course, no palace of great national importance and significance would be complete without
a pissing dog fountain.
Am I right?
Artemis with her peeing hound dogs... I remember that myth.
And check this out!
Traffic looks the same in France!
No special style or panache...
just lots of cars,
cranky people,
dirty air...
13 April 2011
A funny thing happened on the way to the Eiffel Tower...
Except for this one to make me feel better, there are no pics in this post.
There could have been... if I'd had a camera. But that would've meant I had the backpack, which would've meant I had the food and the warm jackets and the money and the tickets for the Métro and the keys to the house... and then there would be no story :P
As you saw in the previous post, the early part of our day was fantastically amazing! That Cité des Enfants just rocked the kids' respective worlds. Big, gigantic several thumbs up on that place. You should consider flying your family of young'uns all the way to Paris and enduring days and days of jetlag just so you can take them there. Ha! I'm kidding. But it seriously is a very, very cool and fun place... you saw the pictures.
The plan was to regroup for the afternoon and then head on out after dinner to the Eiffel Tower to see the sunset and then the sparkly madness that happens after dark.
We all bundled up... except me because I was carrying the two-year old in an Ergo so I just had a simple fleece pullover on, figuring she would help keep me warm. I handed hubby all my money and told him that was what was being done. Then I handed him the little wallet-thingy containing the Métro tickets for the family and told him that was what was being done. He grabbed the backpack of extra jackets and snacks and water, grabbed the keys off the hook, and away we went.
This house has a big, automatic, hydraulic gate that requires a clicker thingy or indoor button pushing. At the gate, Big G says, "Should I bring my bigger coat?" "Yes," I said. He went back into the house to fetch it and I told hubby I'd start on over to the station (THE only station) with the three younger kids. We'd meet the two of them there. "Okay," he said. "We'll hurry right on over."
Five-minute brisk walk. At THE station. The four of us hang out around the stairwell... feeling a little like a pack of suburban hoodlums. We amuse ourselves looking at the Métro map and the neighborhood map RIGHT THERE. And we look in the pharmacie window that has a few toys in it... RIGHT THERE.
Where are they?
We go down into the station. There is only the one staircase. They are not waiting in there for us. It is warmer in there, so we wait a bit inside... about 3 minutes or so (which is an eternity to a 6-year old). Then we figure they must be waiting for us on the street level. We go back up. Nope.
We go back down. Nope.
We go back up and figure they must still be at the house. Maybe they couldn't get the gate to close? Maybe they had a father-son 'dispute' and felt that the Eiffel Tower just wasn't going to happen that night? WTF?
We walk back to the house. Nope.
We walk back to the station. Nope.
At this point, Baby X was in tears, worried we were going to need to make a sign saying "j'ai faim" (I'm hungry) and beg to get food... that we'd be poor and hungry... and that daddy and I would get in a big fight and need a divorce. Poor girl :( I had actually thought of doing that about 5 minutes before she brought it up! lol
We decide to wait in the station because it's warmer and we have no extra jackets. They are in the backpack. Surely Big G and hubby will be back soon when they remember we have no tickets or money. Oh, no! Maybe they got hit by a truck or something? Maybe they were abducted? Maybe they think we were abducted? Where are they? Why is this happening?
Ninety minutes later... really... we decide to walk back to the house to see if, somehow, they managed to sneak by us or be hiding out in the house the whole time... or something. Nope.
We walk to the elementary school and sit on the steps... much to the dismay of the local teenagers who had been hoping to drink their beers there while listening to pop music (which they were able to do tonight)... which are on the route between the station and the house so we can see if they walk by... which they don't.
After sitting there for about 20 minutes while Miss C runs around having a blast in the dark, we realize how cold we are and go back to the station to wait. After another 20 minutes in the station, Daddy and Big G arrive.
Needless to say, it was a rather emotional reunion. But no one was abducted or hit by a bus, so we just keep reminding ourselves that all's well that ends well ;-)
There could have been... if I'd had a camera. But that would've meant I had the backpack, which would've meant I had the food and the warm jackets and the money and the tickets for the Métro and the keys to the house... and then there would be no story :P
As you saw in the previous post, the early part of our day was fantastically amazing! That Cité des Enfants just rocked the kids' respective worlds. Big, gigantic several thumbs up on that place. You should consider flying your family of young'uns all the way to Paris and enduring days and days of jetlag just so you can take them there. Ha! I'm kidding. But it seriously is a very, very cool and fun place... you saw the pictures.
The plan was to regroup for the afternoon and then head on out after dinner to the Eiffel Tower to see the sunset and then the sparkly madness that happens after dark.
We all bundled up... except me because I was carrying the two-year old in an Ergo so I just had a simple fleece pullover on, figuring she would help keep me warm. I handed hubby all my money and told him that was what was being done. Then I handed him the little wallet-thingy containing the Métro tickets for the family and told him that was what was being done. He grabbed the backpack of extra jackets and snacks and water, grabbed the keys off the hook, and away we went.
This house has a big, automatic, hydraulic gate that requires a clicker thingy or indoor button pushing. At the gate, Big G says, "Should I bring my bigger coat?" "Yes," I said. He went back into the house to fetch it and I told hubby I'd start on over to the station (THE only station) with the three younger kids. We'd meet the two of them there. "Okay," he said. "We'll hurry right on over."
Five-minute brisk walk. At THE station. The four of us hang out around the stairwell... feeling a little like a pack of suburban hoodlums. We amuse ourselves looking at the Métro map and the neighborhood map RIGHT THERE. And we look in the pharmacie window that has a few toys in it... RIGHT THERE.
Where are they?
We go down into the station. There is only the one staircase. They are not waiting in there for us. It is warmer in there, so we wait a bit inside... about 3 minutes or so (which is an eternity to a 6-year old). Then we figure they must be waiting for us on the street level. We go back up. Nope.
We go back down. Nope.
We go back up and figure they must still be at the house. Maybe they couldn't get the gate to close? Maybe they had a father-son 'dispute' and felt that the Eiffel Tower just wasn't going to happen that night? WTF?
We walk back to the house. Nope.
We walk back to the station. Nope.
At this point, Baby X was in tears, worried we were going to need to make a sign saying "j'ai faim" (I'm hungry) and beg to get food... that we'd be poor and hungry... and that daddy and I would get in a big fight and need a divorce. Poor girl :( I had actually thought of doing that about 5 minutes before she brought it up! lol
We decide to wait in the station because it's warmer and we have no extra jackets. They are in the backpack. Surely Big G and hubby will be back soon when they remember we have no tickets or money. Oh, no! Maybe they got hit by a truck or something? Maybe they were abducted? Maybe they think we were abducted? Where are they? Why is this happening?
Ninety minutes later... really... we decide to walk back to the house to see if, somehow, they managed to sneak by us or be hiding out in the house the whole time... or something. Nope.
We walk to the elementary school and sit on the steps... much to the dismay of the local teenagers who had been hoping to drink their beers there while listening to pop music (which they were able to do tonight)... which are on the route between the station and the house so we can see if they walk by... which they don't.
After sitting there for about 20 minutes while Miss C runs around having a blast in the dark, we realize how cold we are and go back to the station to wait. After another 20 minutes in the station, Daddy and Big G arrive.
Needless to say, it was a rather emotional reunion. But no one was abducted or hit by a bus, so we just keep reminding ourselves that all's well that ends well ;-)
08 April 2011
The Flight...
Was totally uneventful... while in the air.
After spending the early part of Wednesday frantically packing and taking care of the odds and ends that go along with going on vacation (thankfully, no pets anymore), we picked the kids up from school and whisked them to the airport... how's that for jet-set lifestyle?
Taking a trip as a party of 6 generates a lot of luggage. It just does. There is no way around it. Five checked bags and 6 carry-ons... plus a stroller and a car seat. It is SIX people, though. Count up the number of people before you make comments about the amount of luggage or make jokes about traveling light ;-)
We got to the airport 3 hours before the flight's scheduled departure and so had plenty of time to wander around, eat some food, get bored, watch Miss C run in circles for about an hour... then off to deal with security. It was a breeze. Whew. All of my old travelin'-mom skills came back to me. I know the people behind us in line weren't clued into how quickly we were moving for a family with 4 kids, but we zipped through.
The flight was not packed... such a bonus. And the flight crew was very friendly and helpful and professional. We flew on SWISS... two thumbs way up.
Everyone got at least a couple of hours of sleep, which really seemed to take the edge off for the rest of the travel-there phase. Baby X slept on the floor, the two boys shared three seats and curled up in the fetal position, Miss C had her car seat and the two grown-ups slept sitting up. The in-flight entertainment was exceptional. First leg of the journey... successfully complete.
Arrived in Zürich feeling good... except for Big G. He looked a little grey around the edges. He said he wasn't feeling so great.
After spending the early part of Wednesday frantically packing and taking care of the odds and ends that go along with going on vacation (thankfully, no pets anymore), we picked the kids up from school and whisked them to the airport... how's that for jet-set lifestyle?
Taking a trip as a party of 6 generates a lot of luggage. It just does. There is no way around it. Five checked bags and 6 carry-ons... plus a stroller and a car seat. It is SIX people, though. Count up the number of people before you make comments about the amount of luggage or make jokes about traveling light ;-)
We got to the airport 3 hours before the flight's scheduled departure and so had plenty of time to wander around, eat some food, get bored, watch Miss C run in circles for about an hour... then off to deal with security. It was a breeze. Whew. All of my old travelin'-mom skills came back to me. I know the people behind us in line weren't clued into how quickly we were moving for a family with 4 kids, but we zipped through.
The flight was not packed... such a bonus. And the flight crew was very friendly and helpful and professional. We flew on SWISS... two thumbs way up.
Arrived in Zürich feeling good... except for Big G. He looked a little grey around the edges. He said he wasn't feeling so great.
We took the connecting tram between terminals...
you can see he isn't very perky.
We needed to walk a bit from the tram area to terminal proper...
Used the bathroom...
and got some love from Daddy...
Assessed our carry-on situation prior to proceeding to the second
security checkpoint...
As we were loading all the crap stuff into the plastic trays and onto the conveyor belt,
Big G had the urge to purge...
no pics, luckily.
I caught it all in a ziploc bag I just happened to have handy...
Go, mom!
except for a little bit of splashing on my hands and a few splatters on the floor.
The Zürich security personnel were so sweet about the whole thing...
much more so than TSA would probably have been.
The second flight was only one hour... and it just flew by (hahahhaha!)
We watched the Alps for quite a while.
And finally arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
We made our way through the tunnels of moving sidewalks...
Claimed our baggage and found the rental car.
Here is where things finally got 'interesting'!
The beautiful, immaculately-new minivan (so if anything at all happens to it, they KNOW we did it :P) is the perfect size for us and our stuff. We got in and all remarked on how comfortable it is. Oh, and it has GPS! Great! That will be such a help! Except that neither my husband nor I have ever used GPS. I was able to get it to speak English and program a route, but we couldn't hear the lady tell us where to go. And it was really hard to keep watching the little screen and drive at the same time. We got really, really lost and had a little... tiff.
Finally we figured out the GPS thing and at that point it became very useful :P
When we arrived at the address of our friends' house, we became quite confused. There are often a few variations on an address that ARE quite important even if you think they are not. 'Bis' is important. 'A' and 'B' are, too. And so is 'T'. Our friends had included this important information, but my American brain just glossed over it. My French was good enough to get some help... even though Baby X remarked, "I think they know you're American, mom." Nice vote of confidence ;-)
And we found it...
Such a cool house ...
in
Les Lilas.
19 February 2011
Running Update
I was realizing that I hadn't written anything about running in a week! Yikes. All of my running followers might jump ship if I keep writing only sad things or about spurtles or my microwaving adventures. So for all 24 of you... yes, i counted you up :) ...here is the latest and the greatest about my most recent week in running...
did you get any of that? lol
No, seriously... I did actually run on Monday... after my husband got back from his weekend away. Before that was my creepyguy/hooptycar run. Well, Monday's run was awesome! It was a 6-miler to be run at 'maintenance' pace, which for me is supposed to be 10:00 per mile... according to that pesky Automated Training Program. And that is what I did... 6 miles @ 9:58 per mile average.
Now, I am going to admit that somewhere in the middle there I had to pee super badly. So badly that, in fact, my giving-birth-to-four-babies pelvic floor was taxed to the max... and beyond. Catch my drift? That slowed me down a wee bit... get it? wee? ... and I needed to go into the house for a minute and 33 seconds to deal with it. But I made up for it... the slowing down part... not the minute and 33 seconds... I just subtracted that ol' mess from the final time ;-)
So that was the run.
I was supposed to run two more times, but I had work done on my hip on Wednesday, and it was really feeling loose and good and I wanted to give it a little more time to get used to feeling so good. I planned to run on Thursday.
Thursday was from hell. Hell. My kids have ice skating lessons after school on Thursdays. This means that for 90 minutes I get to chase a toddler around a rink... up and down scary stairs, through the goal nets, away from the Zamboni... except this time. She wanted to be held the whole time. The. Whole. Time. And I was wearing awesomely supportive...not... rainboots because it was raining outside. So my hip was freakin' TOAST by the time we left there. Great. No run on Thursday.
Last night was pouring pouring pouring rain. Pouring. I decided it was the perfect weather to continue letting my hip chill ;-)
Today... well.... whatever....
Now, tomorrow... I will be ready for my long run. Rested. My hip feels good. Hubby will be home to handle the kidlets. 8 miles of lovely alone time!
But that means I'll have to go grocery shopping on Monday with all the kids in tow... those other shoppers might want to stay home cuz my kids are ker ay zeeeee!
did you get any of that? lol
No, seriously... I did actually run on Monday... after my husband got back from his weekend away. Before that was my creepyguy/hooptycar run. Well, Monday's run was awesome! It was a 6-miler to be run at 'maintenance' pace, which for me is supposed to be 10:00 per mile... according to that pesky Automated Training Program. And that is what I did... 6 miles @ 9:58 per mile average.
Now, I am going to admit that somewhere in the middle there I had to pee super badly. So badly that, in fact, my giving-birth-to-four-babies pelvic floor was taxed to the max... and beyond. Catch my drift? That slowed me down a wee bit... get it? wee? ... and I needed to go into the house for a minute and 33 seconds to deal with it. But I made up for it... the slowing down part... not the minute and 33 seconds... I just subtracted that ol' mess from the final time ;-)
So that was the run.
I was supposed to run two more times, but I had work done on my hip on Wednesday, and it was really feeling loose and good and I wanted to give it a little more time to get used to feeling so good. I planned to run on Thursday.
Thursday was from hell. Hell. My kids have ice skating lessons after school on Thursdays. This means that for 90 minutes I get to chase a toddler around a rink... up and down scary stairs, through the goal nets, away from the Zamboni... except this time. She wanted to be held the whole time. The. Whole. Time. And I was wearing awesomely supportive...not... rainboots because it was raining outside. So my hip was freakin' TOAST by the time we left there. Great. No run on Thursday.
Last night was pouring pouring pouring rain. Pouring. I decided it was the perfect weather to continue letting my hip chill ;-)
Today... well.... whatever....
Now, tomorrow... I will be ready for my long run. Rested. My hip feels good. Hubby will be home to handle the kidlets. 8 miles of lovely alone time!
But that means I'll have to go grocery shopping on Monday with all the kids in tow... those other shoppers might want to stay home cuz my kids are ker ay zeeeee!
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