In the Neighborhood

Yep, we went to the Eiffel Tower--again. I think that is inevitable when you "live" in France but you're in vacation mode. Every time I see it I am still impressed by it's grandeur. Warren and Abigail, of course, remembered their "dance." While Aunt Nat went to the top floor, the kids and I checked out the 2 parks nearby. Warren made a good friend, a girl just about his age. They played the entire time together: telling secrets, playing pirates, buiding stuff in the sand all the great things creative minds do. I was glad he enjoyed the time so much; if our new friend is reading our blog, thanks for making our day extra fun at the park. Drop us an email or leave a comment, if you'd like.

We walked past this store and I loved all the red awnings and red flowers in the windows--the picture really doesn't do it justice. As we passed, I also noticed the ground-level flower beds were all red, the workers wore red shirts and there were several matching, red, bicycles. What a statement! My mum would've loved it.

About every other day, Warren picks me flowers from our "meadow." (He took this picture) Today instead of just picking the top few inches, Warren got the stems, too. We ate dinner with them at the table. Oh, and later he picked more for Abigail, Abigail picked some for Avery and Avery picked some for Warren. Proof that giving is fun.

Last night Warren was coaching Abigail on how to climb our tree. It was hilarious! When she did well he would get so excited; when she didn't do what he advised, he became so frustrated. Hmm--a dose of parenting reality? At any rate, he was so proud to teach her and she was so proud to make it up by herself a bit.

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.

Flashback

So, today we didn't take any great pics. We did go to stake conference in Versailles, which was great; it was broadcast from Salt Lake and our prophet, President Monson spoke. I appreciated his counsel that if I want to develop patience, study the life of Jesus Christ. So I'm going to put my faith in his words to the test and trust the blessings will follow. We also had a family sing along, but we'll spare you the videos of that.
So, here are some fun pics and videos from other days that we didn't post.

In the Jardin des Plantes there is a carousel called the "Dodo Manege." It's a carousel that only has extinct or endangered species on it. Hence the panda bear. Notice how their heads are tilted the same way.

Avery was addicted to this puddle. She kept walking away from it, then back. She splashed and jumped and got her clothes dirtier than any other Parisian child I've seen. Oh well. Tacky Americans.

More Dodo Manege. Sivatherium. That's the answer to the question you're asking right now.

One more shot of the weird giraffe-deer animal, different kid. The video at the bottom is from the day we were at the D-day Beaches in Normandy last weekend. It was evening and the shadows were especially long. Avery discovered hers, and was subsequently freaked out by it. A few minutes into this funny happening, I realized, "Hey, I should film this." So I did. Enjoy.

Worth 1000 Words

It's Fathers Day tomorrow. So thank you Andy for 3 beautiful children--I am quite sure most of their better qualities come from you. And thank you for always being the one to get up in the night and first in the morning. I love how you alleviate every stressful situation lately with tickling or asking the kids if they still have their head, nose, foot or whatever body part it was that got hurt. I love you and so do the kids.

Delightful. Beautiful. Imaginative. Charming. Happy. Playful. Content. Abigail.

Nat and I couldn't find Warren around the playground beneath Sacre Coeur. Then we heard a voice call, "Mom! Aunt Nat! Look at me!" Curious. Thoughtful. Handsome. Mischievous. Methodical. Daring. Focused. Intense. Happy. Warren.

Little Mama. Happy Helper. Adorable. Snuggly. Cuddly. Determined. Aware. Thoughtful. Walking fast. Easy to laugh. Sunshine.

Avery conquered her fear of grates today, intentionally seeking one out on the way home from the park and walking on it. So when we were at the Opera House--think "Phantom"--we got a picture of her standing on the beautiful grate.

Warren's b-day Last Week

We were in Normnady for Warren's 5th Birthday, so we celebrated the night before--May 29th. For dinner he chose french fries and mini pizzas, straight from Picard, the frozen food store.
We opened presents and did his party inside since it was cold and damp outside. It's been like that a lot lately.Warren is inspired by the Eiffel Tower. He has constructed it from foam packing peanuts that stick together, in 3-D paper, in drawing, has bought himself a glass sculpture of it and routinely tells Abigail that one of the 3, yes 3, Eiffel Tower keychains--2 of which people just gave to her for being cute--is his. So he was thrilled to get Grandma Lindy's gift of a wooden model of the Eiffel Tower to build, and if he decides to, paint.


Here is Warren opening his gift from us, Kapla blocks. They are so great--he's played with them many times before at the AZ Museum for Youth. I recommend them for anyone--anyone, adults too--3 and up.


This is the worst--and funniest--H B-day song ever. Just listen. You'll know what I mean.
Blowing out the candles on the cake he chose, and later "dive bombed" with his fork. If you gave me money and you're wondering, "Hey, what did they buy for W from me?" remember that we bought him rollerblades and a helmet last week--thank you Blakes, Sarah and Lewis--and that in our 2 week vacation at the end Warren is on the lookout for one of those German-ish Nativity/Christmas decorations that spins when the candles are lit. Our friend has one and he really wants one. So we kept some money back for that. Thanks everyone for letting us buy what we want him to have. You are the best.