Day 2-Around town

Saturday Aug. 30th

We had a nice room service breakfast of fresh fruit, hard boiled egg (which seems like the only egg they cook here), and cereal. I mainly ate the large fruit plate that had the best strawberries I had in awhile. They were smaller then what you would find in a grocery store and tasted just like they had come from the garden. I just can’t get over what better quality their food is here in Europe. Our food gets injected with way too much crap. I am very tempted to start buying more organic foods, if I can afford it.

Our first stop was Printemps, which was the large and very high end shopping mall. It contained three buildings with a floor each devoted to one area. There was a men’s building with 6 floors of designer fashion. The Women’s building contained 8 floors of fashion. One of which was an entire floor all for shoes. This isn’t your normal payless shoe; this was all the hottest designers stuff. It was incredible. The middle building was devoted to house good items. I feel in love with the many china plate settings and crystal collections. There were also two floors for children clothes and we found some of the cutest outfits for the kids but way too over or budget to purchase. At the top of the building was a little café and terrace that looked over the city. This was my first view of the Eiffel tower. It was a gorgeous view and my excitement peeked.

Christa we took these next two pictures for you, you would have died and gone to heaven!

After Prinptemps we went to a more affordable store were I bought a couple of tops and a skirt to wear that night for our anniversary dinner at the Eiffel tower. After the shopping we took a tour bus around town getting off at the Notre Dame. We didn’t have time to walk inside. I was in need of a nap. But we did enjoy walking around the grounds eating the best chocolate ice cream ever. Oh my goodness, it was soooo good!!!!

Pictures from the tour bus:

Napoleon's Triumphal arch
Supposedly this is the number one place in the world for car accidents. It was crazy to watch the cars drive around it cutting in front of each other as they got on and off the round about. There was no lane markings and people were driving so fast. We didn't see an accident but kept excepting one every 15 minutes, it was crazy!

The sculpture and architect work was incredible. Everywhere you looked there was something to see.

This was in old moat.

The famous Notre Dame, So beautiful!

We then headed back to the hotel and took a short nap before getting ready for the Eiffel tower. We had made reservations with a tour group to have dinner on the Eiffel tower followed by a river cruise and then a show at the Moulin Rouge.

The Eiffel tower was beautiful. We ate with our group on the first floor. We skipped out on the coffee and walked up to the second floor before having to return to meet our tour group for the cruise. It was a hike to make it to the second floor. My legs hurt and I was exhausted. I couldn’t imagine hiking to the top. I am so out of shape. Unfortunately, even if we had time to make it to the top, the stairs leading up were closed and the price to take the elevator was more then Jared wanted to pay for, so we never made it all the way up.

Altitude 95 was our restaurant one the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. Very yummy!

This is us on the second floor after climbing 340 steep steps.

The river cruise was next and amazing as well. We learned a little bit about the history of Paris while enjoying the beautiful scenery. It was just beautiful.

By the time we made it to the Moulin Rouge, I was exhausted and had a horrible head ache. I didn’t think I would be able to make it till 2 am when we were scheduled to return back to our hotel. I had trouble with the idea of viewing the show before coming to Paris and since I wasn’t feeling too great once it was show time we decided to skip it. But we did get a picture of the famous building all lit up.

We took the subway back to the hotel. The subway has been most interesting considering I have never seen or used one before. There was a vender open on our way back and we stopped and got some crepe's. Again, very very yummy!

Day 1-Arriving in Paris

Friday Aug. 29

I took a shuttle down from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City Thursday morning after dropping RJ off at Preschool. I said good bye to Sammie (Jared’s mom) who was kind enough to fly out to watch the kids for us. I then tried to hold the tears back as I gave Savannah a hug good bye. She was screaming her head off. It was very sad. I made it down to Utah in 3 ½ hours and had another 2 hours to wait to board the plan. My plane went straight from Salt Lake to Paris. It took 9 ½ hours and was happily uneventful.

I took a sleeping pill but was still unable to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. The plane was completely full so there was very little room to move about and stretch. I was thankful when we hit ground arriving in Paris at 10:40 am, Friday. My baggage was one of the last to unload from the plane and I was the last to find my way to the waiting shuttle to take me to the hotel.

On the shuttle my first views of Paris were from the Freeway. I first saw an IKEA and then a McDonald's. The traffic was very heavy and their was tag all over the halls lining the freeway. It reminded me a lot like Oakland, CA. After passing an accident on the other side of the freeway, the traffic picked up. No different then the States.

Our hotel was situated on a little one way street in downtown Paris. It was a very nice, small, 4 star hotel that I would very highly recommend, if you could afford it. The company was paying for our stay or we might not have been able to afford it. I took a three hour nap after checking in as I waited for Jared to arrive. I was so tired and drained from the day’s events.

Once Jared arrived we walked down to a nice little French restaurant. I had the duck which was excellent and Jared had some sort of sea food, I really can’t remember. The atmosphere was everything I excepted. From outdoor seating along the cobble streets with candle light to the accordion players serenading the pedestrians. The musicians seemed to route restaurant to restaurant playing and asking for money from each table.

After our salad and entrées we enjoyed a delicious desert. It was some find of cream puff but it contained a vanilla ice cream in the center instead of regular cream. And then the top was drizzled with the most delicious hot chocolate sauce I have every had.

The dinner setting was so much different then what you would find in the states. The mood was slower. They didn’t rush you from one course the next. The bread appetizers was heavenly but not extremely filling like when you go to olive garden and fill up on bread before the main course. The portions were smaller but not tiny. After three courses I did not fill full or stuffed at all. I believe their food is prepared in a much more healthy way then our food in the States is. And when we were all finished we sat around for the check and even had to ask for it. They were in no hurry to rush us out for another guest. The dinner took about 2 ½ hours. Probably the longest meal I have ever had.

After the meal we walked around the streets of Paris for an hour, before I was just too tired and had to get to bed. My first impression of Paris is that it was just like any other big city. Lots and lots of tall building all pushed together. The first floor of each building was some sort of shop and the tops were all businesses or apartments. People were out at late hours enjoying the night life. I wasn’t too impressed at first. It looked somewhat like San Francisco or what I would imagine New York to look like. That night we looked at the map and realized if we had walked the opposite direction we would had found the river and the beautiful buildings you would normally think of when you thought of Europe.

The sign of our hotel all lite up. You can tell from the little street that it was very busy with people at 11pm. Luckily our Hotel room was in the back of the building and very quite.

First Day of Preschool

RJ started his 2nd year of Preschool today. He was so excited to see some of his old friends and make new ones. But he especially was excited to learn. He has been so interested in learning new thing lately. I really hope his love of learning sticks with him. This is a photo of him last year on his first day of preschool and then the 2nd one is from today. He is looking more and more like his daddy.

After school he said he had so much fun and they learned about Safety rules. He also drew a picture of Summer time for me to hang in my room. Which I think I will.

Monday at the Spray Park

So you might be confused by the last post. I am still in Idaho, Jared is however in France and has been the last week and a half. He is taking some classes and enjoying his time down in southern France. I leave Thursday and will meet him in Paris Friday. I am so excited for the break and the kids are so looking forward to visiting with Grandma.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine had some pictures on her blog from their visit to the Rexbrug Spray park. I had heard of the park but had never been. So Monday we set a date to go. I emailed some friends from St. Anthony and they met me there along with my Aunt and Seth. It was so much fun and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Kellie was thoughtful enough to get some pizzas and Lisa thought to bring something to drink. Thanks so much guys. It was really fun seeing you. And Jennie I am going to hold you to a BBQ the middle of Sept. You better do it then so I'll still have some Belgium chocolates to share. I really can't afford to eat them all. :)

So here is the Spray Park.

Watching the bucket dump water.Savannah's classic pose, one hand on her hip.

Savannah and Amber who is RJ's age. Sadly RJ was having so much fun with Seth I don't know if he evan realized Amber was there. But Savannah had fun with her since the other little kids her age didn't play in the water.

She is such a water baby!

RJ and Seth would go down the slide and then lay down in the sun and dry off and then down the slide again. They repeated that the whole time.

James and Parker were the other little kids with us. They are Savannah's age and were so cute just watching everyone but a little timid of the water. I think Parker did get try out the water a few times.

I love RJ's face here even though the picture is a little fuzzy.

We had fun. It was mentioned at one point to have a group picture. I guess we didn't get around to taking one. Maybe another day. Sometimes I wish we were still in St. Anthony. We have some great friends there with many great kids RJ and Savannah's age. Kellie, Lisa, & Jennie. Thanks for meeting me. It was fun.

I stayed at my aunt's house the rest of the day Monday. I had a doctor appointment. Everything fine. I had my blood drawn, not so fun. The nurse gave me a nice big bruise. Marilyn made dinner for us which was great since I haven't cooked anything for weeks now. We have just been eating frozen food and cereal. RJ also got another bee sting. His second one this month. They must be attracted to him. While there Savannah kept pretending to read to us. She found some Scriptures and she kept telling us it was scripture time. And she kept clearing her throat to read. Bot sure where she learned that from but it was really cute. Here is a video of it.

Jared having fun in France!

Bonjour! Just thought I would post a few pics from the trip that I am on. I am staying in Aix en Provence (see the map) in the southern end of France, near Marseille.

Pictures in Aix:

It is a beautiful area. Saturday we spent the day in a town called Cassis (just east of Marseille). We went to the town and also went swimming in the Mediterranean. It was cold, but nice. The water was quite salty, so much so that you could float on your back quite easily and lift up your head without sinking. For those of you who can't wait to ask the question, yes, there were many topless women. Please realize that only a minor percentage of them were worth looking at. Many were old women and it really wasn't what you would expect. The town was quite picturesque of France.

Sunday we went to Verdon Canyon. First we stopped at a old town carved into a mountain, then on to canoing in canyon.



Au revoir!