Theres a first for everything.....

today is the first time I ever recall wishing for a fatter butt. Today I wish I had a lot more padding actually because we are taking a bike ride, and my butt is killing me. I don't know how people ride bikes everyday, and I'm not sure why this seemed like a good idea. Well anyhow, it may be painful but it has been fun. We rode along the canal mudi, to an old city called agde. We sat next to some fancy restaurants on the water and enjoyed the view while eating our peanut butter sandwiches.We thought that was pretty great to enjoy the view for free and some American food actually tasted pretty good. then later we found an awesome little cafe on a skinny little cobbled street for some coffee and crepes. The best desert we have had yet. Hope it will pad my hiney for the ride home.
Tommorow we head to the land of the rich and famous. Monaco, st.tropez ,and what I'm really looking forward to provence, where I hope to see lavender fields and sunflower fields. So until next time...

I am really sorry...

I know I worried my mom and I hope I didn't make anyone else worry,because the last thing I wrote about was us Jim trying to get his stuff back. We were not dealing with hardened criminals, just a petty punk thief kid Who actually worked forthecampground. But regardless I'm sorry I worried you mom, Please understand that when we are driving from one plac to the next we have no Internet. Also each camp is different so sometimes they offer Internet, sometimes they don't. We are not foolish and are in very safe places. With the exception of thieves. Big deal it is only stuff. We are no more likely to come in to real harms way here than we are at home. So please try not to worry if you don't hear from us. Also what is wrong with dads feet? What did they say?

Speedos.....Speedos.... no success, in retrieving the stolen goods. Spent our last day in Spain,at the police department filing a report. It was interesting actually, kind of like when we first moved to grass valley and Brock broke his arm so we had the chance to acquaint ourselves with the local hospital. Speedos, here they call them proper swim atire. At home we call them banana hammocks. Here they are required. At home only perverts wear them. Well, when In Rome..... So Jim and the boys all barreled down the slides in their new proper swim attire. ( I should have packed a personal grooming kit for jimmy) They all said they shared a great laugh in the dressing room. Their must be a shortage of French music because all I ever hear over is American music. Right now it's " lay lady lay... Lay acrosss my big brass bed..." Funny how I actually love these ridiculous songs and wish I could belt them out right here right now. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be back in France. It feels like home to me now, after the detour to Spain. I feel like I am fluent in French. I am completely confident walking up to the bakery and proudly saying " janu Polly på France " ( I'm sure my French spelling is better than my English spelling) It means " I don't speak any French" Once that's cleared up I continue pointing like an American cave woman and make some grunting sounds pointing to the golden delicious baguettes I wish to order. Then ( I'm so smart) I use my fingers to show how many I want. Then I use my favorite word "mercy boucooo" " it's a hard ache nothing but a heart ache ," Oooh you know it's killing me they don't have karaoke. We still are all getting along well,although yesterday we talked about selling the boys at the nearest flea market. A two hour car ride from hell. Titty twisting, ball crushing contests, the window war, some screaming, farting, insanely loud laughing, and off the charts loud crying. We didn't sell them yet. I do wish we could make some friends. Haven't had any success locating a kingdom hall. It's harder than we thought. We seem to be the only americans at the eurocamps, which makes us feel really smart and cool but I'm wishing we would meet some cool people who want to put up with our caveman talk. Well folks I have to pay for Internet here,so may take me a few days to update my blog. Hope I'm not boring anyone, but I sure am having a good time writing about all the funny things that life throws at you. BONSWAA

Wars

Wars are being fought crimes are being solved....




Their is a war raging. A violent storm that of rage and vengeance. it's one that has been fought for generations. In families where cars exist, the war of who gets the window seat? The window seat is defended with such vigilance that you would think it was a life or death matter. The window seats I think are demonized, and when someone sits in them they Feel entitled to inflict bodily damage to anyone who tries to encroach on this territory. I wish they could invent a car with a seat on top or better yet I wish we could drive a limo around and close the window on the three raging brats in the back seat.
Jim is buisy trying to recover his stolen goods. He really is amazing, at the crack of dawn he was up investigating. He found out our suspected crook has a brother who works at the campground next door. He did some asking and found out he his name was Johnny. He walked to the next campground and saw a guy who resembled our suspect. He followed him until he heard someone call out his name. He then approached suspect number two and said " hey Johnny I hear from your brother you may have a computer to sell" A conversation ensued, in which Johnny ( suspect number two) openly talked about selling phones n such illegally. He bragged a out being able to crack phones and said " If I were at home I can get you just about anything" The nerve of a dirty rotten scoundrel! So we are waiting in the car packed and ready to peel out and jimmy is going to confront suspect number one and tell him to give us back our loot or else well turn him in the police, and he'll loose out on his privilege of going to college that he is enjoying. Well see how this goes.....

I failed to mention a few good things about Spain...

We had the best pizza in our life in Barcelona and it was cheap. Tapas menu are only nine euro. And although we didn't try, looked great. Also huge glasses of sangria.nice warm beaches. Enough said.

Inspector gadget is jimmies new name.......

I have a correction to make. We were not careless after all. That scoundrel of a criminal broke the window open from the outside. We saw this after further investigation. Jim is pretty sure he solved the crime also. We figured the crime had Tom e committed by someone on the inside foe the camp who knew we were out. Also Jim saw the eurocamp guy ( the shady one) staring in our car when we first arrived. Further research showed he has only been here two months , not three years like Tim the good eurocamp guy.Tim said in the three years he's been here he's never seen this happen.The shifty eyes and avoiding the conversation when Jimmie brought up the theft convinced Jim this is the crook who ripped us off. I have tried to not let this sway my opinion of Spain,but I am not impressed. Barcelona was as good as any city. Tim our camp host warned us though that if someone tries to wave us down and say we have a flat tire to just keep driving because they probably want to rip us off. So the whole day I was so overly Aware of thieves thAt it kind of rained on my parade. We become overly suspicious of eveyone, so when a man tried telling us their was something left on the roof our car, we smirked back " ya right buddy that's the oldest trick in the book" haha hahah you can't trick us. Later we found Coles journal on the top of the car.
So sianara Spain.Been there done that.

Spain- boobies and hooligans-

Spain is full of boobies and hooligans,




Yesterday we walked from our camp to the beach. The white sand and clear blue water made up for the ugly architecture here. As we walked down to claim our spot in the sand,the first thing the boys and I noticed is most of the women were topless. I remembered being warned of this but forgot until I got there. Every kind of booby you can imagine openly exposed, long tube like ones, round perfect ones, small strawberry ones. Young and old they all laid there seemingly unaware they forgot the tops to their swimsuits. Funny thing the only ones who seemed to notice was my boys and I.Even Jimmy walked by at first and didn't see ( or at least pretended not to) I had a really nice conversation with a sweet old English woman and tried not to stare at her tubes. I saw two middle aged men in speedos smoking right next to two hot chicks with no tops on and was amazed these guys seemed to care less. I guess in Europe boobs are like castles, seen one seen em all. Then it happened . Right next to me was a group of twenty something year olds. The girls of course were all topless,but I'd gotten used to that, but the young skinny very hairy man decided to take a swim. So off with his drawers....Twig and berries swaying in the breeze he casually walked to the sea for his swim. Again nobody seemed to care or notice except me who sat their with my mouth gaping open. Later he lit up a smoke and did some meditating naked. That was really entertaining. I imagined myself joining all these naked people, me running down the beach without a top, chariots of fire music playing in the background,the freedom and the sea air and warm sun on my bare flesh. I then imagined the shock and horror of my boys faces and how they would be scarred for life. Crazy imagination I have. Cool thing was within a few minutes they didn't seem to notice all the nakedness around them.
Hooligans.... We went to this ugly town for dinner last night hoping to try some Spanish food. We did, it was very good and the waiter who also owned the place was adorably nice. We came home to our trailer. Didn't notice anything. Not until this morning when jimmie was looking for his iPhone did we realize we were robbed while we were out last night. We were not savvy travelers. We left a window open and the criminals came in and stole jimmies phones and computer. So ugly! People are such jerks. We took a risk bringing it,but thought that we would outsmart the hooligans by our savvy travel habits, but we got a little to comfortable I guess. Grrrr. The only good thing is they didn't steal the whole computer bag which had jimmies camera in the bottom. I think they didn't want us to notice right away. Also they didn't steal my precious iPad. Poor jimmy.
Heading to Barcelona. Hopefully we won't be robbed again.

Yes one more drink...

And what's for dinner?and dessert?....

Something beautiful....

I knew that the time would come to see how european women live in their skin so much more gracefully than American women. I knew somehow they don't have the social anxieties of bearing their flesh without reserve, or without surgery or without boiling fat diet pills. I am here. Witnessing a beautiful woman oiling her round plump flesh and tanning effortlessly unworried of her stout figure. It is beautiful.I am proud and happy for Her. I hope to acquire this same sence of security possessed in a place where people are not judged by their jeans or the roundness of their oranges.And I may add I am in the perfect place to experiment with this desire,as the food is outrageous, and overcomes any desire to be a bony diet pill popping American.

Sleepless in sarlat... Sleepless in Sarlat.... I didn't sleep well my last night in Sarlat. It all started when Jim claimed he stepped on a cockroach. I examined the corpse attached to the bottom of his foot. Looked like a cricket to me. After asking me five times if I thought it was a cockroach I could see there was no turning back his assumption that he had indeed squashed one with his barefoot. It didn't really matter to me because, we already had eaten dinner so if I ate one, I didn't know it,if one pooped on my pork chop I didn't know that either and I'm still alive. I think that got him spooked for the night. Sometime in the middle of the night he swore he heard cockroaches on the curtain so he was up inspecting with his flashlight phone. Anyone who knows him knows it's impossible for him to whisper so he has to tell me about this in full volume. Then later he heard noises, up again...Then I guess all this had me creeped out because I kept dreaming that my scalp had some gross disease and I was pulling sheets of gross skin off of my head. We still managed to wake up fairly early and pretty quick here well be getting our first look at the mediterranean ocean.Hoping for a a good glass of sparkling wine and some tapas tonight.

Sarlat take me away...

Tonight is our last night in sarlat and the dourdogne region of France. It is reallly sad, actually I was just interrupted by the cute waiters dog jumping on me and my iPad and biting me.not a mean bite but a playful bite. Ok he's gone, so as I was saying this is a place I really hope to return to. I am somewhat cursed in that I can never visit a place without imagining myself living there,( just got bit again damn dog) ( I'm gonna drop kick him in the face next time) I stroll around here and can so picture living here. It is the most amazing place. Today we went to Sarlet and walked around the farmers market. I was totally in love. Anyone planning on visiting France should without a doubt come here. It's all the best things of Paris wrapped up into a manageable cluster. The winding streets,stone buildings dripping with ivy and roses climbing the walls. Cobblestone streets,charming cafe's but without all the hustle and bustle of a big city. The market was so much fun. One of the best things of eurocamping is the ability to cook for yourselfs. Today we found a vendor selling escargo in a pie pan all ready to go for only five euro. Brock and Cole asked for that for their dinner. Then we found a man selling olives and four different types of tapenade,which I bought the green one,some sort of basil tapenade. We rounded up some incredibly fresh tomato,asparagus, a few mushrooms and e en a truffle. Also we bought some truffle salt and truffle infused balsamic vinegar. Foodies understand what a delicasie truffles are. We are in the heart of truffle country.For anyone who doesn't know what they are , they are a very special mushroom that takes a pig to hunt for them. And let me tell you those pigs deserve a big pat on the back because the truffle is truly delicious. Tonight I sprinkled our grilled pork chops with the truffle salt.yumm! The olive tapenade went om some pasta with buttery galic,dried red pepper and fresh herbs from the market. let's just say dinners was enjoyed by all tonight. Brock and Cole absolutely love those snails.
So tomorrow we head out early for Spain,hope to be on the beach by the afternoon. We looked for the kingdom hall in Sarlet but couldn't find it. Brock prayed before dinner and asked that we hurry and find a kingdom hall because he really misses the meeting. I'm sure that prayer will be answered.
We are all getting along well,even Tristan and Cole seem to be bonding.The only thing Jim and I have disagreed on is soap. He has become such a determined miser in order to accomplish this goal,he insisted we buy bar soap because it last longer and is cheaper. Tonight I said I'm putting my foot down and springing for soap in a tube because I'm sick of cleaning up the slimy mess from the bar soap.So that was our big disagreement. Not bad for two weeks into this. Well that's all folks for tonight.

The pharmacy......

Next to the cheese shop and the chocolate shop and the bread shops the pharmacy may be my new favorite French hang out. After so much conversation. About our disgusting wArts we decided to head to the French pharmacy to see if they have any different cures. It was a little embsrasing to ask about the cure for warts,so I sent jimmmie in. Well well it seems we have our hands on some dr prescribed wart killer that singes the nasty little monster to a brutal death. So tonight while BBQ our dinner Jimmie pulled out the French instructions and his translator. We had a good laugh because you hold the dry ice fire down on the wart for twenty seconds, The translation said " hold your horses" that's because about second twelve my finger felt like it was going to self combust. But thanks to my childbirth training I hung tight and fried that little succer. BURN BABY BURN! Now I hold my head a little higher and feel this weird sence of pride that I am bravely killing this unwelcome visitor on my finger. Heck who needs the fire burning fat melter once you kill your wart you feel like a sexy mama all over again.

It boils like fire the fat away...

Today I decided to try something else French. After much enjoyment of croissants and bread and cheese and wine and beer,that I'd take look at the pharmacy to see if there are any diet secrets the French have with all this good food around. I saw all these boxes with a picture of a skinny woman pinching her bellyso I figured I must.b E in the right place.The woman at the pharmacy said " oh you want to be ready forzee summer" then pointed me to a box of packets that you mix with water and said while squeezing her trim leg " It boils like fire zeefataway"
All right sounds simple enough I'll try. I did climb 175 stairs today,but I was nursing a chocolate ice cream cone.I may come home from this adventure a new person in some unpleasant ways if I am not careful, or maybe I can just dri k this stuff and boil the extra calories away. Ill keep you posted on this one.

The knights templar...

Today we got a little history lesson,went to the a little of domme, where in 1307 the king had all the knights thrown into this prison under false accusations because he wanted to reclaim their land since he was going broke. The Knights carved into the stone walls. The first graffiti. The boys and jimmy all climbed up the tower walls to peer into the cross shaped windows and see the writing on the walls. We also took a cave tour in the middle of this tiny town is some magnificent caves that were discovered in 1912 by some ten year old boys who scaled a very steep cliff and castle wall to find. They were pretty awesome, filled with staligtites. This was Brocks favorite thing that he has seen. Cole was petrified. Poor guy, He is just like his gramma sharyn. I had to coax him in but he didn't like it. I kept trying to remind him these caves have Been here for thousands of years and his reply was( exactly that's why they are ready to collapse at any moment) Well he got through the end of it which popped out at a castle with most incredible view of this valley, the dourdogne river.
Jim makes a new friend every five minutes. He can't resist striking up conversations wherever we are.
If I were going to live anywhere I ever wanted I think this would be it. I cannot imagine seeing or being anywhere more peaceful and beautiful than this place.

Pool time....

Enjoying a little break from driving and sight seeing. I'm laying by the pool,soaking up the rays of sunshine. Brock and Cole are playing ninjas in the pool. They will be best friends forever I am sure. Bricks body is growing so fast he can't quite get a hold of his ninja moves. Pretty cute to watch.

One more thing about toilets...

If your lucky enough to find tp in France it's often pink. Just a little bit curious to me.I guess the French like pink? Also no luck with photos on the blog but Jim is putting them on facebook as I write this

The awesomeness just gets better and better...

So today we decided we had enough of the Atlantic ocean. To the dordogne region, Oh my gosh it's amazing. I can't believe it here. First of all, it's completely green and lush and full of wild flowers and mossy rocks and the most amazing trees. Then you add in chateaus and castles and rock walls. And if that's not enough there is more Fred flinstone homes built right into the rock mountains. Incredible! We just passed through all the coolness today, in a hurry to get to our campground so kids could swim and we could all eat. I was getting a bit nervous because it is sunday and we had no food and everything appeared to be closed. I had read our campground had a very good restaurant so we were very pleased to find it open. We slid up to the bar and had a great Belgium beer, then up to eat. WOW!!! How cool to discover the best food we have yet to have in France while camping. Only here can you camp out and eat escargot and duck and foigrau ( I can eat it but not spell it) THis is the very coolest place to stay, the restaurant and bar is in a very old beautiful house. The scenery is wonderful. Can't wait to wake up tomorrow. Well for now bonnuit!

Toilets

Toilets....
One thing I will never take for granted again when back home. We just stopped by a rest stop. The toilet was merely some sort of whole in the ground with a spot for your feet on both sides. Good thing I was doing squats for exercise at home. This will be valuable over the next month when I'll need that leg strength. I think I'm Going to put together a potty pack to carry around. I think I'll need that handy can of Lysol I brought, a clothes pin for my nose, rubber gloves, rubber booties ( because you know people are missing that hole and hitting where your stepping) toilet paper(their was none) and maybe hell maybe just a hazmat suit with a whole cut out in the bottom.

Loire valley.....vendee....


Well thank heavens for gps we made it safely to our destination in Loire valley. It is truly amazing. Don't misunderstand I love both London and Paris, but the French country is what I was really longing for. It is soooo beautiful! We had the most amazing blue skies, with puffy white clouds and perfectly pleasant warm weather. When we got to our camp sight it was everything we hoped for. The boys went nuts when they saw it. I think it's like a sandals resort for the working class. The first thing we noticed when we drove in was a skate park. Tristan was stoked. The mobile homes are great. Totally clean and comfortable. The First thing we did was stop at a store and make our first dinner. It is so much fun to cook somewhere else, different ingredients and nothing is familiar. I bought Dijon mustard, which is so good when you buy it near the actual Dijon area of France. then some chicken, some bouquet garni thing in the fridge section olive oil lemons potatoes. They use mostly this mâché salad greens which I rarely see in the states but is what they had most of. Parmesan.We were set. Oh I can't believe I almost forgot the most amazing butter and champagne that cost only about seven bucks. You can drink like a king here. Love it.
After dinner we went for a walk, got the first glimpse of the pool. Kids flipped. Then scouted out some go karts. I didn't think they would ever go to sleep. They woke up at the crack of dawn and they spent the whole day on those go carts and at the pool. The pool had three water slides which they ran up ,swung off of ,dangled from ,and compromised in every which way possible. The cool thing is they just don't have a lot rules here. They would have surely been kicked out of any park in the states for sure, but here they just let them run amuck. The Scottish park host just said " as long as their having a good time". The best part is they all had so much fun together. Tristan totally forgot about his headphones, and iPod. He just ran with the wind in his hair playing the way a boy should.
The next day we toured the Loire region. WOW!!!!! We wen to chateau usse. This is the castle that Disney used as it's inspiration for cindarellas castle. It was awesome. I loved it way more than Versailles. The setting is just so incredible. It overlooks the most pristine green valley. It's just so stunning, you should all google it. Hopefully tomorrow we can post some pictures finally. ( Were gonna try to figure that out)
A few more castles we saw then drove through vouvray. I think it may be the most beautiful place in the world. AND Fred flinstone could have lived there. Really cool houses built right into the side of rock mountains. I can't get over how much money must have been in France, because there is no shortage of castles, mini castles, everywhere you look. They must have been the homes of lords back in the day. I just can't get it out of my head. I have seen so many beautiful amazing things that I wake up dreaming of imaginary places that are similar to what I see but totally made up. that's a true story, to describe what an impression it made on me.
Jim has a new mission in life. To outwit the French governments road fees. The drive from Paris cost about 35 euro in road tolls. So yesterday while traveling to the town of tours,were following the GPS which told us to get back on the A10 which is one of the charge roads. Jim quickly went the opposite direction, convinced he could find a free way to get there. Long story short the way the GPS told us to go was free. Instead we paid 4 euro to make a u turn ( and an extra 35 minutes) to go back to the original spot where he defied the woman talking to us on the GPS. The good thing that has come with his determination to avoid the toll roads is we are driving on all the back roads and see a lot more this way.
I love French people. I seriously question anyone who disagrees. They are reserved,but so kind. They are so willing to be helpful,so gracious and mannerly.Today I ordered a bag of chips with my beer and they pored them on a plate. I thought to myself, How funny, that makes eating Chips so much more sophisticated.
Today we drove to the Atlantic coast. A really cool park with great waterside park for kids but were not impressed with the area. Seen one ocean seen em all. Tommorrow were headed to the dourdogne area.( I'm sure misspelled) Really looking forward to that.
We are really having a great time together. We are doing great getting along. Cole looked for sand dollars today on the beach and asked " mommy are they called sand euros here?" We all have at least one nasty wart which we spend a lot of conversation on. Tristan is the only one who successfully rid himself of the disgusting parasite. He told me he bit his off in class then dug it out with a pencil. I'm really getting to know my kids.
Well hope I haven't bored anyone, this is as much for me as all of you so I don't forget. I miss my friends and family and often think I wish so and so was here with me drinking this or eating that. Love you!!! Catch up soon

Technology rocks!!!!

Ok so some men figured out how to fly to the moon. That is nothing compared to the guy who created GPS.  Shoot time to go all update at the next stop. Headed slowly to spain.

The worlds crapiest tour...

Yesterday our friend Charles offered to take us back into Paris and watch the boys for us so we can have some alone time. How sweet is that? So we all decided it would be fun to see the underground sewer tour that we missed out on the day before because by the time we found it,it was closed. when we got their the first thing we said was " wow this is cheap !" Not easy to find a cheap tour of any kind here. So we paid and decended down the stairs into the dark underworld. Soon after our decent the kids said" Are you sure this isn't still a sewer because it stinks" I'm like " no this is where they filmed phantom of the opera it's gonna be so cool". Not much farther we could here the sound of rushing water and the sound of it falling. Tristan who was up ahead came running back dry heaving, as the sound was that of a river of sewer. Somewhow we missed the information that this is actually a real working sewer still. So we paid to learn about and see ad smell how parisians take a dump. What a deal. The kids were like " Mom this is the worst tour ever!" Tristan said "mom this is the shi###### tour ever!" I couldn't get mad because I had to agree. HahHa got to keep a sence of humor while traveling.
After that we decided to make Mexican food for our hosts. WHY In the heck Mexican? when we went to the market,you realize how far from Mexico we are. Terrible selection. after jimmmie braggging how good I make Mexican food, I thought this is going to be the worst meal of Anyones life here.But I pulled it off. We made tacos. It was Fu. Going to the market totally different than ours, and ohhh the cheese, the amazing cheese.
We had one of my favorite nights here, even though ludovics mom and dad don't speak much english, laughs and smiles are universally understood. they really are so sweet. we sat around and watched a French version of amican idol. It was pretty awful. I'm sure the French have many talents but I gather French is not one of them.
Today we are heading to Loire valley to our first eurocamp.Hope to have Internet connection so I can keep blogging. And still trying to figure out how to get pictures on here. Miss you all!

Buses, trains,and walking in circles.....

Yesterday we spent the better part of the day doing huge circles around the city. I am not sure if such a thing exists but, I think I had some sort of vacation blues. I kept reminding myself to be in the moment Nd enjoy everything I saw but I was loosing all hope that we were Going to have a good day.
then we found luxemburg park. the sun finally came out and we loved it. the kids had such a great ti e just rolling in the grass and tackling each other.It is the most amazingly beautiful place.
after that we stopped at a pub who was selling delirium beer for only 4 euro.Jim was elated, he said we buy that beer for ten dollars in the states. then we made friends with these French guys next to us. They ended up being so sweet. I am amazed at how nice French people are. He told me some interesting thi gs, he said the French media portrays Americans as being religious fanAtics.We had a great conversation about god and religion. Wethen asked if he knew a affordable place to eat. Log story short he and his pal ended up joining us for dinner, and we had the best time. Absolute sweetest guy, totally reminded me of Danny. as matter of fact Danny if your reading this, I invited him to stay with you. Us too but you so he can see sanfransisco.
It's light here till 10:00. That and the fact that we we're having such a great time, made us forget about the time. we had no idea it was well after midnight. hat meant we missed the train back to our friends house. Now I was in a kind of panic, no cabs around realizing how
Ate it was and that our sweet brothers and sister we're probably worrying about us. Our new friend invited us to stay with him, which was unbelievable to me. He tried to convince us it was pfectly ok. We no way could do that obviously but we did go back to his apartment and he called a cab for us. the cab driver had a heck of a time finding the place we were staying. when we arrived the family was totally worrying about us. It was awful, I felt so bad. The sister almost cried when we walked through the door. They had cLled both the hospital and the police. Ludvic was not so worried, but was up with his parents. Ire ally feel so bad about that. We had no phone to call, but our new French buddy offered his phone but iwas the one who saidI didn't want to wake them up.So we had him text ludivic and ask if it was ok to call but he never got the text. lesson learned next time call. Our dear brothers and sisters worry about their guests.

Paris with the boys....

today we took the boys into Paris. the family were staying with lives right above a train station in this really cool apartment. we first went to notredam. we all were sort of creeped out by it. They had the organs playing Dracula music. Very interestIng to observe. then we headed to the louve we decided not to go in because we figured the kids were to museumed out to go in today. we hung out in the Latin quArter and ate crepes. did tons of walking,I should come home skinny from this trip but I'm afraid all the walking can't keep up with bread and beer. I'm amazed that the French people have the tiniest washing machines and no clothes dryers. Ludivic reminded me though that French people are skinny so it doesn't require much room to wash their clothes.
the subways in Paris are stinkier than I remember. Cole has a hard time with the smells and the realization of so many germs around him. On the subway home tonight it was very squished and buisy. I had Cole and Brock on a chair and I was standing next to them. Across from them was this really gross drunk fat man. He kept falling asleep and I was terrified he was going to fall right on the boys or worse yet puke on them. Just as he was really heading for them like a cross eyed round sailor, a kind ghetto sort of guy grabbed his backpack and pulled him back in his seat. I will forever be great full to that guy, as I was so useless and having a panic attack that I don't think I would have dine anything but wAtch as that gross man squashed my beloved children. Cole would never have forgiven me.
I am so impressed with Cole. I told him how it's important to try to speak French as much as possible to have good manners. He has really taken that to heart, and try's so hard. He says mercy over and over and gets so many smiles. Brock is loving taking pictures. They all love the French friends we are with. I can tell that is a highlight for them.
I'm anxious to get to the country. I am really not a city girl. but I am having a beat time. Until next time... Aurvoir!

PARIS....

we took the train yesterday from London to Paris. Cry cool way to travel. The kids liked it also. so here we are in Paris. we are staying with brothers and a sister. It's really fun to see how people live different. Ludovic our friend here lives right above a train station.Can you say convenient! It's the coolest apartment.They came in two cars to pick us up with all our luggage at the train station.So kind. then the ultimate act of kindness, was ludovic carried my mammoth suitcase up the stairs. A winding spiral staircase to boot. They are so gracious. This morning they put a plate of croissants on the table and bread and nutela. I tell you, for anyone who has never been to France,you have never tasted a croissant.I am not sure what America does to bread,but it's nothing like what you have here.
Going to head to Paris

London....

It's pretty crazy here. It's like a huge New York with some castles tossed into the middle of the city. Londoners must love to shop because there are miles of shopping here. the best part of London is the diversity, you can eat any kind of food you can possibly imagine. We have loved the pubs, getting fish n chips and beer. THey let kids go in with you which is nice.
We searched for quit a while to find london tower. when we found the right bus Jim asked the guy ten times how to get there, finally Tristan yelled" DAD he said..." The guy said " Good the kid speaks English " so then he said he would announce over the speaker our stop. but when that happened we were all completely passed out drooling, catching flies the whole works, He had to come wake us up. I thought that was funny.
In the morning before that, we visited brittish museum. Saw lots of mummies,and preserved leathery dead guys. the kids liked the dead guys the best.
In London people are not very friendly for the most part.They will run you over by foot in the subways, and if your not careful plow you over with their cars on the street. I'm looking forward to Paris.
we have enjoyed lots of good food. The kids are really into the ham n cheese paninis.Everything is less sweet here. It's noticeable and really nice.
well that's all for now folks....Hope to be reporting soon

The Lion King

we took the boys to the lionking tonight at the Lyceum theatre. It was really cool. It actually made me cry during the first song it was so beautiful. I was so moved that after that I kept nodding off to sleep, infact my neck is sore from all the head bobbing. But with that said, For every moment I was awake I really enjoyed it. Tristan who protested going really liked it too. we all enjoyed.
Other than that we just walked around all day till our feet felt like they were going to fall off.London is a great city.It's really big though almost a bit overwhelming.
we had some great food today, There is a veery small moroccon deli near our hotel. this morning we were looking for breakfast and I opted to eat this Morrocon food for breakfast. It was awesome! for 5.80 pounds you choose 5 items on your plate, I had all vegetables and hummus and some lentils.It was sooo good. then we ate Indian food for dinner, I loved that too.
well thats all I can think about for now to tell. So till next time....

Bedbugs....

I truly don't care if I were being bitten by a truckload of cockroaches right now, I feel we all need the sleep so bad, But Jim is awake a few hours into our sleep,exsming the sheets with his flashlight phone trying to catch nasty little varmits in the act. He thinks he was bitten b something, I think he was dreaming. this requires another dose of sleep aid for me. He is telling me of the bedbug feces he's read about. I wish he would take my stress Aid.

One more potty fact.....

I found it fascinating that to flush the toilet in our hotel, there is a button on the ceiling above the sink! Weird ha? we searched low and then high to find it.

Oops I must be really tired....

Now I see where I was sup post to type so if you want to read about our day then click on the comment under the last post,that's where I wrote it. I'm to tired to figure out how to move it.

So far really enjoying my kids and we haven't even got on the plane yet

So far traveling with three boys is a bit more challenging it's taken over an hour just to check in, somehow getting 5 seats together on a full flight is rather challenging. But were all in good spirits, we have had very helpful airplane worker ladies, and hopefully wil be getting stripped searched soon.

Testing again

My errand companion, the best man ever!

A bilzzilion errands to be done in order to leave dot two months I need serious caffeine for the next few days

I would feel so brilliant if.....

I can figure out how to text pictures from my iphhone . I set it up but the stink in picture did not go through.

Trying to pack light is for the birds

This is truly proving to be a challenge to pack light, Let's just factor, it's not a girl thing. I went schooling today for all the remedies incase something goes wrong. I have jet lag pills,sleeping aids, something in case we catch a cold, something else for a flu. then there is the anti stress aids incase ( I mean for when,) I want to commit hairy carry on my family. and then there is the childrens version of anti stress aids to deal with Coles phobias of planes, trains and boats. nd of course motion sickness pills to deal with the new car smell that made me puke out the window in Paris last time. Of course I need something for the inevitable travellers tummy and the embarrassing isssues that follow that. so with all of that how will I have room for my shoes? I really want to pack my pillow, how about a hair dryer for my great new haircut? Hmmm decisions decisions......