Birthday Love

This year Ben, the kids and friends made my birthday so enjoyable.  Ben dropped by The Paris and brought me back my favorite meal, the honey lavender chicken, and then served up a delicious cake from Tulie's Bakery.  The kids made me cards and friends sent me some thoughtful gifts.  What really set this birthday apart, however, was my chance to get away for the weekend with Ben.  We went to California and for 3 days did whatever we wanted.  We ate at great restaurants, stayed at a quaint hotel in Calistoga and rented bikes and rode around beautiful vineyards.  I  am a lucky girl!

The Big 5

So Lila got not just 1 but 2 birthday parties this year.  I had originally planned a family party up in Logan but Lila wanted a party with some of her preschool friends.  Fortunately she was content with just inviting a few girls and we put together a little tea party.  Per Lila the theme this year was to be mermaids but pretty much anything princess like still made her happy.

The second and larger party took place up in Logan at the Johnson's backyard.  Their yard is big enough that it essentially feels like a park.  All the cousins came over and we barbecued hamburgers and chicken.  Lila was "spoiled good" as her Grandma Johnson puts it and came home with a trunk full of presents.  She also requested that she graduate from the balance bike and so we got her a real bike that she is currently working on learning how to ride.

Paris

The first place Liam and Lila wanted to go when we got to Paris was the Eiffel Tower.  When we eventually got there we decided that the line was too long and wasn't worth the hours of waiting.  We ended up strolling around the tower and the park.  Liam said it was enough just to touch it!  We also found a delicious Italian restaurant nearby and then found a ferry that took us on a ride along the Seine.     

The day we made it to the Louvre it was freezing!  Again we decided it was too hard to take the kids inside and opted instead to go across the street to the smaller Museum de Orsay.  I was not disappointed since the museum is inside an old train station and there are lots of sculptures for the kids to see.  Paris has such an amazing amount of fantastic artwork!  It is hard to go wrong going in any of these museums.  

Another day we found a great place for croissants and hot chocolate and met a woman who told us we had to go to Napolean's tomb and the war museum.  Liam thought some of the old tanks, swords and guns were cool but after learning more about world war I and II decided it was just frightening and wanted to get out of there.  I don't blame him at all.  Seeing all the gas masks and holocaust photos made me want to run.

Ben and I found one afternoon where we were able to leave the kids at the apartment with the babysitter and visit the Arc de Triumph and walk down the Champ de Elysees.  We also figured out the Metro system and wondered up to Montmarte and later made it to see a quartet play at Saint Chapelle.

On our last day in Paris it finally warmed up and we visited the Rodin Museum and Luxembourg gardens.  The gardens at the Rodin museum are lovely and it is so fun to see all of Rodin's sculptures scattered along different pebbled paths.  Last but not least Lila was able to ride an old carousel in the Luxembourg gardens before we went back to our apartment and packed.  The kids did great and hopefully this will be a memorable trip for them.  

Versaille

We visited Versaille on our way back to Paris.  Liam couldn't believe how long the line was and started doubting his desire to even go.  We had to do a little coaxing but got him through the line and into the palace.  The palace was pretty amazing but the gardens were even more impressive and worth the wait. We almost skipped the gardens since it was an extra fee and was cold and wet outside.  Fortunately Ben decided for all of us that since we were there we had to go and at least walk through it before we left.  We were all so glad since it ended up being the best part of the trip to Versaille.  

Amboise

Visiting the chateau in the town of Amboise was one of the days I will always remember from our trip.  It happened to be a chilly and wet day so when we finally ventured up to the chateau there was hardly a tourist in site.  The raining had just recently stopped and consequently we were able to run around the grounds and tour the chateau pretty much by ourselves.  After standing in long lines for tickets or shuffling in crowded room it felt great to be free to explore the burial place of Leonardo Da Vinci all by ourselves.

Cheverny and Leonardo Da Vinci

Cheverny was a beautiful chateau to visit and had a little different feel from the other places we had visited.  When you walk inside you can explore the first 2 floors but can't go up to the top floor because a family still lives there.  You can also hear about 50 hound dogs on the premises that are occasionally taken out for hunting.  The grounds were also beautiful and the kids preferred spending most of our time running around the gardens.  

Right in Amboise where our apartment was located is the house of Leonardo De Vinci.  Apparently he lived his last few years there and was buried nearby.  Inside felt a little more Italian and the kids loved it because there was a cat sleeping on Leonardo's bed.  Outside there were some replicas of some of his inventions and we found it to be a pretty kid friendly place. 

Chaumont and Chambord

So the photo below is of a chateau called Chaumont.  The most memorable thing about Chaumont was the rain.  The chateau sits on a cliff above a small town and river and after walking up to what we thought was the entrance we headed up a steep incline in the rain.  After carrying Lila up the long, winding, very wet and steep road we soon discovered that we had taken a wrong turn.....back down the hill and finally up another one to this majestic chateau.  Everybody wanted to kill me as the rain and wind pounded down and completely soaked us.  Despite the rain it did have a lovely courtyard and view over the river.  Ben spent 5 euros on a plastic poncho that looked like a garbage bag and broke in 5 minutes!

After recovering from our trip to Chaumont we headed to another well know chateau called Chambord.  Chambord was a hunting lodge for the French kings.  It is definitely a sight to behold even as you approach it by car.  As you can see it has more chimneys than you can count.  Three stories up it has a great view of the countryside.  It also is known for its winding exterior staircases.  This was an impressive chateau and the largest one we visited the whole trip.