Jardin d'Acclimatation

Today I made good on my birthday promise to Warren that we would ride roller coasters. Natalie wasn't feeling well and graciously offered to stay home while the girls nap so Warren and I could have a mom-son date. I knew just the place. Welcome to the Jardin d'Acclimatation, where peacocks strut, 5 year-olds can ride coasters, playgrounds abound and other assorted animals--cows, roosters, geese, birds, brown bears, goats, donkeys and sheep--call home. This is a little friend Warren made and that we spent a lot of time at the beginning with, since neither his parents nor me could find the park from the Metro, then we waited for the train, rode the train and headed for the same playground. I wish I'd been more brave and asked for their email. Warren assumed I had and as we left the park later, was pretty bummed I didn't. I could've just given them our blog address. Oh well. Next time I meet someone so nice, I will.

Warren was thrilled as he anticipated his first roller coaster ride. He loved the 2 we went on, never scared, just laughing. You can see a few more pics of him on rides in the slideshow above.

Did I mention in my description above that there is also a water play area within the jardin? It was very fun, sort of a toned-down and less crowded version of the one at Tempe Town Lake.

Okay, here's a picture of the water area, but I don't include it for that reason. Notice the man working on building the wooden deck: the gap he is filling, the unattended circular saw, the power cords strewn about, the assorted tools...you get my point. This is France. They have minimum ages on all the playground toys, but hey, kids can run all around the work zone! I saw a dozen kids just jump right over where he was working. I just laughed; they must be much more relaxed about liability here. It's actually nice. Sometimes I see cars hit other cars as they park, or even a biker as they drive, and it's no big deal. They check it out, "c'est na pas grave," and they are on their way. I love it.

These teeter totters were snail ones, and since my kids still maintain their escargot house, we had to have a picture and play on them.

We went on this ride twice; the irst time I went with him, the next time he went alone. And loved it. He kept shouting, "I can almost touch the trees!" One of Warren's favorite rides was the "horse" ride. These electronic horses galloped all around a rail, and after all the stories I' ve been making up about Jacque the little French pony, it's no wonder he loved it.
At one of the many fabulous playgrounds, there, of course, was a spider web. 2, actually. They were connected. Warren was in heaven. It was a really great day for both of us; I never once had to do any "discipline" junk, and it reminded me that Warren really is a great kid, he just has 2 sisters that he lives in a small apartment with. He wore a pedometer all day that he borrowed from Nat, and it registered over 34,000 steps! Mine was just over 17,000. I have a new found appreciation for how it must feel when I ask the kids to "hurry up!" or "catch up!" They are already walking twice as fast as me. Anyway, we had a great time. It was nice to have unhurried time for just the two of us.