Day 30 - I love a happy ending

Day 30. Who are you

If you don't know me by now, you will never, never, ever know me. Oooooo...... Oh wait. That's a song. But really, if you don't know me, then I recommend reviewing the posts from this 30 days series.

Here it is in a nutshell:

I am a daughter of God who has been blessed in many ways. I love my children, my husband, my family, and my friends. I have some challenges, but in my mind, I live a charmed life, and I try my best to enjoy every day.

The end.

Day 29 - Why is there still so much I don't know

Day 29. In the past month, what have you learned

I've learned quite a bit in the last month. Here are a few things of note:

• I have a gift for motivating people
• My soon-to-be five year old is not physically ready for kindergarten
• If I want to get important things done, I must set goals
• I'm smarter than I think I am
• I'm not as smart as I think I am
• For some children, hugs are a better motivator than time outs
• Paris is not an ideal location for Spring Break, at least not if you want to see the sights. It's worse than Disneyland in the summer.

Day 27 - Don't you have something better to do?

Day 27. Why you are doing this 30 day challenge?

In my blog, I document happenings in my family's life. So this time, I thought it would be fun to share more of what goes on inside my brain. Mostly this challenge has been fun, but I probably won't do anything like it again. At least not for a while. I am pretty busy, and there are several important things that I should be doing with this time. All in all, it has been fun. I hope you enjoyed it.

Day 26 - That's what friends are for

Day 26. What you think about your friends

Here in Germany, my friends are like family. We rely heavily on each other. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without friends. They help me to laugh; they schedule much-needed girl time; they support me through Erick's tough training schedule; and they offer advice.  I feel so blessed by my friends. I don't deserve most of them. But I am extremely grateful for them.

Easter abroad

Our last day in Paris was Easter Sunday. We found the church, which had changed location since I lived here over 10 years ago. They now meet in the building that served as the Institute building off of St. Merri. We walked past the Centre Georges Pompidou to get here. 

Church services were fun. They have Sunday School classes in French, English, and Chinese. In sacrament meeting, non-French speakers can wear headphones to hear missionaries translating the talks. It was a beautiful Easter service. Here we are after church in the courtyard:

From church we walked to the Louvre. We knew it would be crowded, so we didn't even bother trying to get inside. My handsome hubby was looking very French with fresh baguettes in his backpack:

A close-up of a wall of the Louvre:

The day was so hot, I let the girls take off the jackets that went with their dresses. They were very grateful:

See the archway below, behind TJ? It's the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. It's an arch that represented some of Napoleon's victories. It's much smaller than the more famous arch that we saw earlier in the week:

We walked through the arch to get to the Tuileries Garden for our Sunday picnic. After lunch, we let the kids play and pulled out the kite that TJ got from Grandma B:

Pure joy.

I can't get over how lucky we are. How many people get to spend a Sunday afternoon flying kites with the Louvre as a backdrop. I will cherish this memory forever:

The dads would not be left out of the fun:

While the moms did... mom things:

Last stop: The Sacre Coeur - the highest point in Paris. We came here for the view. Unfortunately, so did a million other people. It was so crowded that it was difficult to keep track of everyone. But we did get a glimpse of the city below:

And the basilica above:

My beautiful family. Well, most of it anyway:

The girls wanted a picture of them in front of the Eiffel tower again. Unfortunately, it got washed out from the light in the background. That letter 'A' in the background is the base. Love that Bailey is always trying to ham it up:

Good bye Paris. 

...until next time.

Day 25 - Where did I put my pen?

Day 25. What I would find in your bag

• keys
• a pocket-sized calendar
• gum wrappers
• chapstick
• Euro
• dollars
• military ID card
• a diaper
• baby wipes
• pacifier
• teething ring
• my camera

Versailles +

On Saturday of our Spring Break vacation, we took a train to Versailles. We are all wearing our new Paris/France t-shirts that we purchased the day before. Such tourists:

We opted not to take a tour of the inside of the castle with the little kids, so we made our way around back to see the famous fountains and gardens:

By the time we got there, the heat was so intense, I felt that I would melt. Luckily, the wind picked up and blew some of the fountain water our way. The kids had a blast running in and out of the spray and getting all wet:

La famille sans David:

My boys:

I took way too many pictures of the gardens. There are so many hidden treasures amid the trees and shrubs. We didn't see them all. But here are a few of my favorite pictures of the day: 

I'm a little tea cup...

We ended our hot day with ice cream:

As we started walking back toward the train station, we were hit with a downpour. It rained so hard that we all looked like we had jumped into a swimming pool with our clothes on. It was an adventure!

Au revoir Versailles:

This happened to be the Saturday before Easter, so magically the Easter Bunny and Grandma B were able to find our hotel room and drop off a few holiday surprises when we weren't looking:

It was a good day.

A year in pictures: Week 33...er...A day in Paris!

 A year in pictures: Week 33


I really shouldn't title this post Week 33, because it only covers the first day of this week. So instead of getting four million photos in one post, we will do Paris one day at a time. That takes it down to more like one million photos. That's manageable, right?

Friday 22 April

The Eiffel Tower

The Metro

The pictures above are my favorite from the day. But now you get to see way too many photos of what we actually did. We spend the extended weekend in Paris with two fantastic families. In total, we had five adults and nine children.

Paris is crowded during Spring Break. I'm talking like Disneyland crowded. We had to watch our children very carefully to make sure they didn't get lost. Most of the time we had them all holding hands. My girls didn't complain as long they got to hold hands with Cael:

Our first item on the agenda was to head back to the Eiffel Tower. We saw it the night before, but let's face it, day and night are two completely different experiences. It was time for our daytime experience. As we walked, we saw some glimpses of our destination:

We made it! Now for the proof:

My girls wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower more than anything. Remember what I said about Disneyland? There is a reason I do not go to Disneyland in the summer. This is it:

Instead of battling the crowds and waiting in that long line in the heat, how about some ice cream? Deal:

I guess we will be going back to Paris again. My girls still want to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I don't blame them.

Next on the agenda. A boat tour on the Seine. Cael sat with us. You can see Becky, his mom, waving her arms in the background. Such a good mom:

Dad and TJ were on the boat tour too:

Some views from the boat included Notre Dame cathedral among other things:

After the boat tour, we were off to the Arc de Triomphe. Apparently, Napoleon had more than one arc built. This is the biggest, most famous one:

Our friends appeased me by allowing me to walk to the creperie just outside my old apartment. It was so fun to have all those memories come flooding back:

Mine had bananas and lemon. Delish!

A view of the street corner and apartments. I can't believe it was over 10 years ago that I lived here. Crazy!

Last stop. Notre Dame:

After we walked around for a bit, we found a park around back, you know, near the flying buttresses. We rested and picnicked there.  When they closed the park, we knew it was time to go home.

Off to the metro. Here are the kids waiting for the train:

It was a very fun day. By the end of it the kids were a little tuckered out: