France family vacation
We got back last week from an 11 day - 2 wedding - 2 continent trip, and we are all still recovering from the fun, stress and jetlag.
First was NYC and cousin Jeffrey’s wedding.
NY was HOT - we didn’t do much sightseeing there as stepping outside the hotel resulted in us all being drenched with sweat. We did walk all the way to Central Park on the first day and had fun playing in the water sprinkler playscape.
Rosie was fighting some sort of bug and was running a bit of a fever on Saturday and Sunday. So we spent a lot of time just hanging out in the hotel room with GiGi (my mom - who came to town especially to hang out with the kids while we went to the adults-only wedding) and playing with GiGi and ordering room service was just as fun (probably moreso) for the kids anyway.
Then, off to France with Bubby (Joe’s mom) for cousin Neil’s wedding in the Loire valley - and sightseeing in Paris on the way there. That leg of the trip started off on a sour note when we got to the airport (at 7pm) and found out that our 10pm flight was delayed until 11:30pm - ugh! We were not happy about it - but resigned to the fact and settled down for a long wait. The wait became a lot longer as the flight continually got delayed later and later, and we ended up not leaving JFK until 3 in the morning. With 2 EXTREMELY tired and cranky and screaming and crying children and having waited at the airport for 8 hours - it was not a fun way to start the trip. We arrived in Amsterdam tired and hungry and of course missed our connecting flight - but hopped on the next flight out to Paris - and got a second wind and renewed energy once we finally arrived.
We spent 3 days exploring Paris - the parks and playgrounds mostly - though we did do some typical touristy stuff like take a trip down the Seine River and we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower (only to the 2nd level - the 3rd was closed for some reason when we were there).
Joe and I went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe during naptime one day, saw great views of the city, the Eiffel Tower and Champs Elysses.
Joe and his mom also got to go to the Musee d’Orsay on the first morning there - while I met up with a mommy friend that I met via the internet for a park playdate with her 2 adorable kids.
Our last night in Paris, we walked down and had a picnic along the Seine as the sun set, and it was so relaxing and unbelievable, like something out of a movie, with a group of guys playing guitar to add more ambiance to the scene.
After Paris, we took the TGV (high speed train) to Vendome in the Loire Valley for cousin Neil’s wedding.
We rented a car and drove with Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy to the small town of Troo (known for its caves and troglodyte dwellings).
We explored around the Loire Valley for a couple days, went to Vendome - which was one of the larger towns in the area - and saw a really beautiful church and went to a couple restaurants there.
We went to the small town of Montoire for a couple meals and grocery shopping - and we drove to Amboise and saw the royal castle where Leonardo da Vinci is buried -
and Rosie got a princess crown
Neil and Annabelle’s wedding was beautiful and fun. The ceremony was in a field of wildflowers outside Annabelle’s family home, and the reception was in a castle (moat and all).
There were a lot of other kids at the wedding, so Rosie and Sammy had lots of playmates, and everyone and everything was so well thought out and accommodating and family oriented. It was great, there was so much love evident everywhere!
It was a lot of work with the kids, and I joked to Joe (more than once) that it wasn’t fair that he actually got a vacation from his job, but I had to work overtime on my job for the length of the trip. Aside from a few episodes of extreme tiredness and crankiness resulting in both kids screaming at once, I think both Rosie and Sammy did really well, considering all the traveling and moving around and changes to the schedule they had to endure. We tried to make time each day to cater to the kids and find a park or someplace fun for them to play and run around and just relax and be kids (thus most of the photos of the trip are of playgrounds).
We are blessed and lucky to have been able to have that experience and share it with our kids. There were probably a lot more practical ways we could have spent our tax return this year, but how often do you get a chance to go to a wedding in the countryside in France? The photos and memories are priceless, and I hope that these early trips will foster a love of travel and adventure in both Rosie and Sammy. Even if the best part about traveling sometimes is coming home and sleeping in your own bed.
