We had a very fun first week of no school. Soccer is finished up, school work is complete, we are free!!! We have spent some time relaxing at the pool, and doing some much needed shopping, cleaning and laundry. Danyon has discovered that most things, remarkably, are phones. He loves shooting the breeze with grandma while talking on his "phone". We also discovered that we had a hedgehog living in our backyard. He made a little nest underneath our weedeater. Sadly, the day after discovering that he was there, some workers found him drown in the pool.
We hope Dan had a good Father's day. We made him a special dinner, complete with a chocolate pie and strawberry pie. (Pies do not exist here in Austria. You can get strudels and tarts, but no pies.)We made a piñata for him. The kids had fun whacking it up. Deagan missed the first couple of times. Dyllan got a good hit on it and a few pieces of candy flew out, but Dakota got it to break and fall down. Dan hadn't gotten a hit in yet, so we made everyone wait until Dan had gotten a turn to hit at it and try to break it completely open. Then we dove for the candy!! That was Danyon's favorite part of the whole thing. He had his mouth stuffed full, his pockets stuffed full, and was still trying to pick up more candy. Dan enjoyed collecting all the love notes and fun treats inside, placed especially for him. We moved the party indoors pretty quick as the mosquitos were relentless.
There was another big surprise for Dakota that day. Her birthday is on the 19th of June, and we had planned a surprise trip to Paris for her birthday. She found out Sunday night, so that she would have some time to pack before we left. All talk, after that, was centered on Paris and all the fun we had planned, and naturally, how awesome Auntie Al and Uncle Danny are.
Wednesday afternoon, we headed for the airport. We had a smooth flight and had a driver pick us up at the airport. Being in Paris was exciting. We were staying with some people we hadn't ever met. We were acquainted with them through some friends from church. They wanted to do a house swap. They planned to come to Vienna during Spring Break. We told them that they could stay in the house, but we already had plans to go to Turkey that week. They took us up on the offer, but then invited us to come and stay with them another time. We took them up on their offer, and found ourselves staying at their house for the weekend. They were so nice and we were very grateful to have a place to stay and some insider tips on our trip.
Someone must have wished upon the right star, because we found ourselves in Disneyland Paris on Thursday for Dakota's birthday. None of the kids had been, and neither had Dakota. We had so much fun riding on the rides. It was interesting to see the Haunted Mansion in French. They had a lot of the same rides as we had seen at Disneyland Anaheim, and we got to do most of them. Space Mountain was my favorite back then, and it was closed both times I have been in my adult years. The only other disappointing thing was that Pirates of the Caribbean was also closed. I did subject the kids to It's a Small World --but only once. We hit most of the other main stuff. They also have a Disney Studios Park right next door. We were able to do some fun rides there, too. We loved it and the kids had a great time, I think. We stayed until the closing show, complete with fireworks! We did spend a lot of time in line, in the hot sun. Danyon has been going around the house lately saying "BeeDoh, BeeDoh, BeeDoh" (the fire engine minion from Despicable Me 2). We noticed that at the Disney park, he distinctly changed it to "B-O, B-O, B-O," just a slight commentary on the way Europeans smell when scrunched together in switchback lines with the hot sun beating down.
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For being such a religious city, we were
surprised to see that walking on water
was banned. |
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| Yum! |
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Sometimes I just don't get art.
What I do know is that this kid
should have been weaned years ago! |
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Dane is learning to accessorize in the
fashion forward country |
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| A Parisian picnic |
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| Apparently colored toilet paper is now chic. |
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| A Baker picnic |
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| Notre Dame is quite colorful |
Although a day at Disneyland is hard to top, since we were in Paris, we had to give it a try. We went to Notre Dame and saw the cool church. We headed to a park where we had a picnic lunch (Picnics are very Parisian.) Then we headed to the Louvre, where we tried to get some culture into our kids. We had a new tactic for this museum. We told the kids that whoever found the "Mona Lisa" first got a prize. This is the first art museum that we made it through all floors--even if it was at a run. We saw the whole museum--at least blurred. And partly, because there were bonus points for finding Venus de Milo, as well. As it turned out, Dan was the first to find the "Mona Lisa" and Dyllan and Dane found Venus. Actually, with the stroller, we found the museum very hard to navigate and found ourselves getting lost in the arts quite often--even with the maps. Finding elevators that got us to the floors we were trying to reach proved to be harder than it looks. After eating croissants, baguettes, cream puff type pastries and even Escargot (it was escargot pistachio chocolate pastry. The escargot part was just the shape of the pastry, but I ate it none the less), we found a Chipotle and ate a very American, Mexican meal and loved every bite!!
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Dakota couldn't help but get a shot of the
Abercrombie and Fitch French model |
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| The puddle |
The next day, we headed out to the Eiffel Tower. We were able to go all the way to the top. The day was a gorgeous day and we could see for miles!! This was THE THING that the kids had been waiting for. We were there, we saw it, we touched it, we took pictures, then we left. They have several carousels nearby and we stopped to ride the carousel and eat crepes. (We loved the crepes, but Deagan opted for cotton candy instead). After our lunch, we headed to the Arc d'Triumph. We shopped and meandered down the Champs d'Elysee. (Only bought postcards, but we still shopped!!) Then we stood in awe of the stained glass at Sainte Chappelle (although they were working on the rose window and we were unable to see it). We were all pretty worn out after all our walking, so we headed back to the house. Dan stopped to change Danyon's diaper just outside the Saint Chappelle. He laid the stroller seat back, took off his diaper, and then felt the sprinkle down his leg. Danyon was so excited he peed like a geyser, leaving his mark in Paris. All of us thought it was pretty funny, with the exception of Dan, who had a puddle at his feet. Once we got back to the house, we left the kids with Dakota and we headed out to a Parisian dinner. (The kids got Domino's Pizza at the house).
We went to Le Relais De l'Entrecote. This is a fun little restaurant serving the famous steak et frites! There is no menu at this restaurant. You start with a salad, then they bring you a steak (cooked to your liking as long as it is--Rare, Medium, or Well done) and French fries. The steak is covered in this yummy garlicy, buttery, sauce with something green in it. It was really good. Then they bring you more steak and more fries. It is so good. We finished our meal with a good Crème Brulee. After that meal, we walked down the Champs d'Elysee again and found the macaroon store--Laduree. This is THE macaroon store of all macaroon stores. We bought a small treat and loved every bite!
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| Still talking here! |
Sunday we spent the day in Versailles. We toured the chateau, where Danyon found his fascination with the audio guide. We walked amongst the musical fountains. We picnicked in the grass. We spent a nice day enjoying the sunshine, warm weather, and beautiful surroundings. You could rent golf carts, but we were too big a group. You could rent boats, but again, we were too big a group. We could rent bikes, but they were out of baby seats, so we just walked. And walked. And walked. Ate ice cream, and walked more. Dyllan's one request was to eat ratitoulle, but after finding out it has no meat in it and it is just zuchinni and tomatoes and other vegetables, she decided that wasn't something she needed to try. So, since we can't get American style pizza here in Austria, we went to Pizza Hut for dinner that night. You could hear audible MMMmmms, Ooooohhhhhs, and Ahhhhhs at our table--even if it wasn't cooked by Remy the rat. Overall, we loved Paris. We had so much fun together. It is fun having Dakota along. We're so glad she came. With all we were able to do and see, I think we conquered the city well enough. We covered the major sites, we not only experienced, but mastered the metro (and even found a mouse in one), and we ate more mouth watering baguettes and croissants than is polite to mention. With that being said, the number one lesson we came away with was, "Anyone can cook"--French accent added!
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| Chandalier in Hall of Mirrors |
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Danyon was so tired after we got back.
This is how we found him--complete with a
puddle of drool |
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