Unexpected Surprises

Today started off with more rain, so we took it easy at home and figured that would be our day. I put the girls down a little earlier for their naps since we were home, and then when they woke up around 3:30, the kids wanted to go on a walk. It wasn't raining at the moment, so we set off down Rue Damremont, a street I like a lot since it has neat shops and goes uninterrupted for a long time. We turned off on a little side street and I saw these flowers growing above the doorway. They are not in a planter, they are just growing in the dirt trapped by the pigeon pokes. Life will find a way!
Life will find a way: check out this bicycle in the 3rd floor window. Warren thought that was a great idea to make sure your bike didn't get stolen.
Once back on Damremont, we then turned onto Abbesses--I asked Warren, "Straight or left?" and he voted left. What a great choice! Abbesses is a great street with all sorts of shops and sights. I will definitely go there often. We found this shop that had this fabulously colored pasta in the window. Everything you see on the left is pasta; check out the blue and white bow ties in that jar; if you can, look just to the right of those bowties, and note the colored stripes. That is long pasta noodles that have a rainbow of colors running the entire length. I plan to go back and buy some, just for fun.
We kept walking and then Boom! There was this church. It was built in 1908, I think, which makes it really new by Paris' standards.
As we passed the open doors to the church, I glanced in and there was this huge window, all lit up by the afternoon sun. The picture is nowhere near as good as the real thing, but still, you get and idea.
Across the street from the church was another carousel--this one kind of a miniature, airbrushed, state-fair looking spectacle. But it really was very fun for the kids to ride. Better than all the classic-looking ones we've been on. This is the kids anticipating the ride after I said yes.
After the ride, we walked just beyond the carousel and there was the entrance to a park. Yeah! We went in and saw 2 toys. Not so great, you would think, but we spent almost an hour playing on them.
They have the best spring teeter-totters here.
The kids played that they were King Midas on the castle and delighted in turning my scarf and my cell phone into gold, then undoing it when I would complain that I was choking or couldn't call Andy. Thanks Annie for exposing them to Muppet Fairy Tales!
What a lousy shot, you say--you can't even see the kids! Well, that's because keeping with the whole surprise theme for the afternoon, it started to rain again while we played at the park. Luckily, we always have our umbrella along and the girls have great ones built in. Also, note Warren just gnawing away at the baguette we'd bought earlier on our walk. He ate almost the whole thing.

Since the park was right next to the Metro stop just prior to our usual one, we called Andy and told him to get off one early and meet us. He did and so we showed him all our favorite places we discovered as we walked home in the drizzling rain together. Here, Andy buys cheese at a fromagerie--our first time buying from one. Usually we just get it at the supermarket. It was called bretard. It was good on bread, better on crackers, and best along with grape juice. (Grape juice is amazing here!)

I told the kids we'd buy flowers on the way home, so we stopped back off at this florist and bought the red and white daisies. To walk into the shop was heaven--it smelled divine!

When we got home, Abigail's hair--which is curly anyway--was fabulously curly from all the moisture in the air. It's hard to tell that from the picture, but I thought it was cute anyway.
Total steps today: 8713
Tomorrow Grandma Lindy gets here and the kids are so excited--me too! Oh, just for funnies: at the park, I noticed what my kids were wearing. Abigail wore her shirt inside out underneath her dirty jacket, and had her blue crocs on her feet, since I'm sure they do such a great job of keeping her feet warm. Avery's tights had huge black dirt streaks all up her legs from playing outside this morning, not to mention her filthy jacket. Warren, as usual, had his jeans on backwards. We looked pretty classy. I think I was the only non-nanny at the park, because none of the other women looked remotely like the children they were with.