Bon Jour

We have been in France now for over two weeks and I have failed at blogging for those of you at home who were interested :) But 12 children, sickness, jet lag, sightseeing and catching up with family you haven't seen since Christmas has taken precedence!

Here is my photo montage so far...

Will did AMAZING on the flight... I could travel internationally with a 4 year old all day long!

Cooper on the other hand was a little bit more touch and go :)

Our first full day we headed to Versaille.  We were able to meet up with my dad who has been working there all summer.

Homeschooling with teacher Stephanie in the Lourve

I love this picture of Cooper (don't mind the food on his face).  This is when we walked home from the lourve just the two of us and got locked out of Alysons apartment for 1.5 hours :)

I love this picture too.  We didn't all plan the black dresses but it looks nice :)

This night we went to the opera house and saw the ballet "The little dancer".  It was amazing and probably my favorite thing so far (I have alreay been to Paris several times so this is the first unique thing I have done this trip... and it was ballet...and I didn't have kids... and I got to dress up :))

We were in these neat little booths, I told Kelsey I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman when she went to the Opera.

Happy Bastille Day!

July 14th was Bastille Day.  From Alyson Balcony we could see hundred of soldiers on horse, tanks, and all sorts of vehicles and uniforms rolling through the streets.  From the moment the kids woke up that morning there was a soldier at the corner with a camo vehicle.  Will was in heaven!

We headed down for the parade (Alyson and Mack got to sit in stands with all the other important people :)) about a 1/2 mile walk with 10 kids and a ladder in hand.  We got to see some of the parade and fly overs before the down pour began.  We headed home with the kids and watched the rest on TV and were still able to see some of it from the balcony (The street was kind of like the staging area for the route.  The street we can see from their balcony leads to the Etoile/Arc de Triomphe).  At the end of the parade there were paratroopers which we could also see from her her balcony, the boys thought it was SO neat!

We were excited that Uncle Mack came home in his uniform so the kids could see him.  It is not normal for him to walk through the streets in uniform but on Bastille Day the streets are full of men in ALL sorts of different uniforms, so he didn't stick out quite as much :)

Cutie... we went to a museum around the corner that was very kid friendly.  The got to dress up just like the paintings.

And they even posed for their own painting.

This was neat,  you can sail boats in the Tuileries.

We then picniced in the green area in front of the Lourve.  The kids found a world cup soccer ball in the hedges and here they are picking teams.

Cooper thinks he is one of the big kids in all things and is ALL about balls right now!  Notice the eiffel tower in the background.  This is what I imagined on this trip visiting my sister, doing parks and picinics with neat monumenets in the background... not actually doing the monuments with small children :)

Notre Dame

The Seine next to Notre Dame was more exciting for the boys than the church to watch the boats.

Pat got in town on Saturday and we headed to the Eiffel Tower.  The choice was to wait in line just for tickets for two hours with 11 children  or get tickets immediately and walk.  So yes we are nuts we walked up the eiffel tower!  The kids actually did amazing and it was kind of neat to do.

They enjoyed climbing on it until they were told to get off.

Pat stood up to his fears and went up to the first level with us.  He then headed down with Cooper when we headed up one more level.

My sweet boys.

This picture actually turned out ok!  We need to photoshop Jonathan in, he had stayed home with his daddy.

This was neat, an old fashioned hand cranked carousel.  All the outside riders are given these sticks and try to catch little rings as they go around.  A bit difficult for the 4 left handed kids we have (which is crazy, each couple has one lefty and NONE of us are south paws (do you like that... can you tell I am married to a basketball loving husband?!)  Notice the tower behind the trees.

We have eaten WAY to many baguettes.

I thought this was humourous, how we fill an entire bus stop.

Saturday afternoon my parents, cousin, and grandmother headed out to a home in the Loire Valley with 11 of the children for a week.  My Dad emailed us all months back and said Merry Christmas 2010!  They are watching this kids for a week allowing us to do as we choose in Europe.

We spent the first few days together and then scattered a bit.  Steph and John are celebrating 20 years this August and headed to Prague.  Pat and I had a trip to Germany planned.  The french air traffice controllers decided to strike thus we were unable to get train ticket reservations.  So we quickly changed plans and reservations we have had for months and headed instead to Versaille for a night and the Charters the next day.  One benefit of Pat traveling for work is all the hotel points he has.  We were able to stay at the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace... a 700 euro (about $875) room for local taxes of 3 euro... my sort of deal!

On Sunday we went to church and then headed to Suresnes.  We picniced overlooking Paris and behind us was the US Cemetery.  It is the sight of one of the 8 American Cemeteries in France.  And unique in the fact that unlike any of our cemeteries outside the US it has both WWI and WWII graves.

Well, there is half of our trip to France, au revoir for now!

I can't gaurantee I will get to do this again before we leave (like I mentioned I am without kids this week!).