Today Was the Bomb

Today was the bomb. Literally. We started off our day at the Hotel des Invalides, and there are cannon everywhere. Despite Warren being super interested in cannons a few months ago when we read about the Independence Day celebration in "Farmer Boy"--for weeks he asked me about shooting them and if he could make one, he used his food to design one yesterday--we couldn't get him to take a picture with one. So, we created some envy and had Andy take a picture with one.

It worked.

Avery, of course, would not be left out. This cannon has angels decorating it that you might be able to see, and Avery definitely fits in as a cherub.

Abigail loved climbing on a row of about 10 cannons and then "riding" them, as she called it.

Warren was pretending to be a cannonball here. Of note, all the cannons had their own name. Some had animal faces or other decoration. It reminded me of how some WWII planes had paintings on them--or am I just imagining that? The cannons also have an arrow pointing, I assume, which end to load and fire from. It would seem that should be obvious, but I suppose it was a predecessor to the safety warnings that are plastered on everything now.Avery is doing really well with all the different walking surfaces here; cobblestone like this is really tricky though, and she fell flat soon after we let her walk around. But she learned. Here she is confidently striding along.
Made in China? (just kidding--I have no idea what it says)

Even though the French don't have yards, they still love nature and it's beauties. I appreciate how they take the smallest area, like this window, and fill it with flowers. Little displays like this are on every building; I especially liked how this window had flowers on the sides too, not just the front. I might try this at home.The next two are sentimental; as we passed this statue in the road I said, "That looks like Washington." So I checked the name--it was. So I got a picture of me and G. Washington in Paris together.

{oops--I accidentally deleted this picture and I'm not going to take the time to add it back in. Just imagine! You all know what G. Washington looks like. He was on a horse.}

Once a Westwood Warrior, always a WW Warrior. This one is for you, Sarah. I was even wearing an orange shirt.Avery and I play in front of the Eiffel Tower. Also, a small glimpse of Spring treasures in Paris.

This park is just down from the Eiffel Tower. Avery went down the slide all by herself and was so proud.All day long, Abigail and Warren had been begging for icecream. If Avery could talk, I'm sure she would've joined in. But Andy and I refuse to spend 3.50 euros per cone. That's like $5.25. Multiply that by 5 and that is really expensive icecream. Anyway, we stopped by a supermarket, bought these really yummy icecream bars for 3 euros and ate them on the luscious lawn. It was heaven.
After we ate, the kids had renewed energy and we played for a long time on the grass before finishing our walk back to the metro. Andy is so good at making the kids laugh, especially when one of them starts getting cranky or sad. I really appreciate that.
Total steps today: 18,583 (about 6.5 miles)
French words I learned: pendant (during); meme (even, same); pieton (pedestrian)