I'm going to make one.

Day two of Paris started a little later than day one. We woke up to rain and may have been a bit exhausted from day one so took our time getting moving. We thought we'd head for the Louvre but once we were ready to leave, the sun was shining and enticed us to head to Jardin du Luxembourg instead. We had a lovely relaxing time sailing boats in the Grand Basin, playing in the playground and riding ponies throughout the park. Owen is now on a mission to make his own sail boat...so much so that we were in the woods yesterday searching for materials and will be hitting up the hardware store tomorrow...where is my dad when I need him?!

 After hours in the park we decided to make our way to the Eiffel Tower...again. After a pit stop for food we arrived along with some rather dark clouds and many other tourists. We stood in line for 5 minutes and decided we'd rather go to a circus and come back the following day, so we jumped the metro and made our way to Cirque Hiver for an amazing show...that managed to knock our socks off even in French!

Can I have another croissant?

We just got back from an amazing trip to Paris! I get it and I think I am in love...

The boys were excited about two main things; the Eiffel Tower and croissants. Everytime they asked for a croissant we would say yes. Their record was 5 each in one day. Our trips to the Eiffel Tower weren't that far behind the croissant record as we went 3 separate times!

On Friday morning we grabbed a cab to Brighton station, took a train up to London St Pancras International and hopped the Eurostar to Paris. We were excited to go through the chunnel and even more to get into Paris. Our hotel was in a perfect location, with wonderful views and history all around us and a metro station nearby to get us wherever we decided to go.

Saturday morning after a breakfast of croissants, freshly squeezed OJ and hot chocolate/coffee, we went straight for the Eiffel Tower. After many ooh's and aah's from the courtyard of the Palais de Chaillot, we decided to walk down and get ready to climb...all the time wondering what in the world was that funny orange thing hanging from it. Once we got there we were informed it was closed as someone from Greenpeace had climbed it in the middle of the night and hung themselves from it to protest some fellow activists being detained in Russia.

We stayed and watched them come down while we rode a carousel but decided not to wait for them to reopen it to the public and to come back another day. So we headed to the beautiful Arc de Triomphe and strolled along the Champs-Elysees.

We then made our way to the Ile de la Cite to see Notre Dame. After going through the cathedral we went on a mission to find 'Love Lock' bridge and add our own lock. On our way we ran into some great street musicians and just as we locked up our lock it started to pour, so we headed into a cafe for a nibble and a warm drink.

After the rain cleared, we rambled through the Latin Quarter doing lots of window shopping and ended up seeing the city of lights lit up on top of the Tour Montparnasse before finally making our way back to our hotel and happily taking our shoes off and climbing into bed! What a crazy full amazing day! Now I've got to rest just thinking about it all...

FBF - Halloween through the years

2005 - Owen as Griffin

2006 - no photo...and I can't remember...boo.

2007 - Owen as a Pirate, Walter as his Parrot

2008 - Two cowboys

2009 - Dragon Owen & Fireman Waltey

2010 - Robin Hood (O) & Little John (W)

2011 - Ninjas!

2012 - Darth Vader (W) & Skeleton Man (O)

That was good timing!

After a forecast of rain for the past 5 days and not seeing much, we thought we'd head out to Sheffield Gardens this midmorning. Of course when we arrived, the sky turned rather grey but we carried on and enjoyed a stroll through the beautiful gardens. The gardens on this island continually make my jaw drop. After meandering, climbing and collecting, we were just on the last 1/4 mile when drops started to fall. We slowly made our way back to the car and with a few yards to go the heavens opened up. We all commented on our timing...especially as we can tend to get moving slowly on a Sunday. Now we are home for some sewing, dinner & a family movie night.

Counting the rings of the Redwood.

We looked but didn't see any Smurfs. 

FBF - October 2007

My babies enjoying some time with my dear friend Lindsay...who I'm really missing these days. You can see her goodness in her smile.