Spring Break Part 2-Paris

So, as previously mentioned, Jason could not get off the official week of spring break.   But he was able to get the week after.   Thanks to the website "Scott's Cheap Flights" I found a killer deal on a nonstop flight to Paris, so we decided to check it out.   I had never been there before, and it was definitely on my "bucket list".

We had a wonderful trip!   The kids did great with the time change and better with the food than I expected.   We also completely lucked out with the weather (about time, since we have had some pretty rough weather on recent trips!).  Spring was in full force, with flowers blooming and trees budding,  we really could not have timed it better.

We spent 5 nights in Paris and saw more than I expected--the kids did a great job keeping up and we averaged 10 miles of walking a day.

On the first day, we were able to meet up with Jeremy--who was in Paris on business, which was pretty cool.  We saw the Notre Dame with him, and took a boat tour on the Seine.  

  
We got a museum pass in Paris and took advantage of seeing many museums.   The Louve was overwhelming and overcrowded, but we kinda felt like we had to visit for at least a short while.   We followed it with a ferris wheel ride for the kids, and a climb to the top of the Arc d'triumph.

 

A hilight was a trip up the eiffel tower at sunset.   The elevators up are attached to the side--a fun ride.  

Jason and I loved the Musee d'Orsay, which is an old Parisian train station.  Ethan and I  also climbed to the top of the Sacre Coeur.

  

On Wednesday, we took a day trip to Versailles.   Unfortunately, the French rail workers decided to strike that day, so our train was delayed and rerouted.   The kids were amazed at the amount of gold at the palace, and I loved the gardens, which were even more immense than I realized.   The place made me want to revisit my European history textbook from high school!

 

Our final day in Paris was almost 80 degrees, and we spent the better part of the day at the Luxembourg gardens, where the kids got to run around, see a puppet show, play with wooden boats, and have a picnic.  


 

The following day we headed out to the coast, with a stop at Monet's house and gardens along the way.   The gardens were absolutely breathtaking--I could not believe how much was in bloom so early in the season--and the sites of so many famous Monet painting looked virtually unchanged form 100 years ago.

 

Ww chose Dol-en-Bretagne as our home for our two nights in the countryside, and it turned out to be a great base.   The apartment we rented was right on the main strip of town, and staurday morning we awoke to a lovely farmers market right outside our door!  

After picking up some lunch items (and breakfast treats, including some delicious homemade yogurt), we headed to the nearby Mont St. Michele.   Jason had always wanted to check this place out, (though, admittedly, I had never heard of it), and I am glad we made the track.   It is a mystical island, accessible by bridge or on foot in low tide, and reminded me a lot of hogwarts' castle from Harry Potter.  Surely JK Rowling must have gotten inspiration from it!   It started back in the 700s and was added to throughout the years--so historical, just breathtaking.  In the afternoon, we headed to the nearby walled city of St.Malo, which was also very nice and had a really nice beach.

Sadly, the next day,we had to head back to SF.   A great trip though, we sure felt like we got away!

Spring Break Part 1-Chicago

The kids and I just spent 5 days in Chicago (Jason was stuck at work).   We had a nice time with my dad, and were able to meet his new girlfriend, Christa.   Christa is a very sweet person and quite an accomplished musician--she plays the harp.   Dad met her on a hiking trip.   They seem to get along great, and it is really nice to see him so happy.

Anyhow, the Chicago weather was a bit chillier than last year when we visited.  On Tuesday morning, Alaina woke me up by squealing, "Mom look out the window."   The ground was covered in about 2 inches of snow!   Enough to make a snowman.

The snowman didn't last, but Alaina sure got a kick out of it.

The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousin Zachary, who is talking up a storm.   It was the first time that he could really play "with" them, so that was a treat.  We also got to celebrate Dad's 69th birthday!

We also visited out friends the Kurinsky's (forgot to snap a picture :( ), whose kids are getting big, and of course, went up to Wisconsin to see extended family.   My grandma looks great at almost 95, and she enjoyed seeing the kids again--it had been since July.   We joined Aunt Judith and my Dad's cousins for lunch.   A highlight was meeting Kris and Rod's granddaughter Paisley, who at 1 year old, out-behaved my children by a mile.

On our last day in Chicago it was a bit more seasonably warm, so we headed downtown and walked to the kids new favorite--Maggie Daley Park.   After plenty of romping around for the kids, we introduced Christa to The Berghoff for lunch, before catching the train back to Park Ridge.

Spring Celebrations

We celebrated 2 holidays this weekend: Passover and Easter.


On Friday, Ethan went to a flashlight egg hunt, which he deemed a "total bust", after only collecting 3 eggs.   Alaina had better luck at an egg hunt on Saturday.  

We also enjoyed coloring easter eggs.




Saturday night we did Passover-Eileen prepared most of the food, although Jason smoked a brisket which turned out delicious.

 

Today, the kids found their Easter baskets (after we briefly played an April fools joke on Ethan, suggesting he didn't get one this year).

 

 We had our neighbors over for an Easter brunch and another egg hunt.  The weather was beautiful and we were able to eat outside.   Afterwards we took a nice hike, and saw lots of blooming wildflowers.   A beautiful day!

 

March Madness

I have had a very busy two weeks, and have neglected this blog.  Here is what we have been up to:

I flew to Washington DC for a week last week for a work conference.   The conference was great, but it was a long time away.  My flight to SF was delayed and I got in early Saturday AM.  That weekend, we had plans to visit our friends Sue and Ben and their kids.  We met at a local aviation museum--here is a pic of pilots Cruz and Ethan in a 747:

We spent the night at their home.   The adults had a great dinner out and the kids enjoyed their sleepover too.

The next week, I headed to Phoenix for another work conference.  Yes, Jason has been towing his weight as a dad recently.  My return flight from this conference was also delayed, almost 4 hours, and I got home early Sunday AM.

Then today, Ethan had a piano recital.  Ethan did a nice job at his recital, but it was the first receipt that he verbalized his nervousness to me, and I could tell that the "stress" made his performance more challenging.   It is interesting to see how that has developed.

Anyhow,  I am tired!   And glad to be home for awhile.

Boys Weekend/Girls Weekend

We have wanted to get Ethan out skiing one more time this season, and this weekend seems to be best for our march schedule.   However, Jason was on call until Saturday am, so we could not leave until early Saturday....A six am departure, followed by a day of skiing followed by the loss of an hour of sleep did not seem like a good plan for Alaina....so we decided to split the weekend.   Jason took Ethan to Tahoe and I stayed home with Alaina.  

Almost every single hotel/air bnb was sold out on the north side of the lake (It has finally started snowing, in March....), so they headed South, to Sierra at Tahoe.   Apparently, Ethan improved a lot over the two days of skiing, and they even got a coating of fresh snow on Saturday.

Meanwhile, at home, the girls also had fun.   I asked Alaina to pick a special activity, and she chose a trip to the zoo.   We brought her friend Keegan, and they had a blast.   Most importantly, she kept her sleep schedule and didn't turn into a crazed cranky girl.   She didn't even seem too upset to not ski.   A win-win.

Fan Mail

Recently at Alaina's preschool, her class did a unit on mail.   They learned about letters, and mailboxes, and stamps, etc.   For the culmination of the project, they each chose one person to send an actual letter to via the mail.   They each composed "letters" and addressed envelopes to their pen pal.  Alaina chose Ethan.   Now, I have to say, when I heard about this, I was highly doubtful that anything that she addressed would actually make it to our house.   But sure enough, several days later, it arrived:

And inside:

 

I have to say, so cute.   I am going to miss this age for sure.

Back to the Big Island

Last week we took a trip to Hawaii.   Jason was unable to get our usual February break off (he got a bad vacation lottery number this year, more on that in the weeks to come....).   But we wanted to get away for a bit, so we pulled Ethan out of school the week before break for 4 days and headed to Hawaii.

We started our trip on the Hilo side, heading back to Volcanoes National Park.   We really enjoyed our time there 5 years ago, pre-Alaina.   Unfortunately this time, the weather did not cooperate, and it was mostly pouring for the two days we were there.   We were not able to hike.   The clouds cleared briefly to see the caldera for a few seconds both by day at and night, but mostly it was a pretty unenjoyable experience.   Why do you do in the pouring rain?  Well, we found a bowling alley that provided some indoor entertainment.

Alaina, our less anxious child, was nervous about going to the volcano.   Before we left, she drew a picture of a volcano erupting onto 2 houses.   When we headed to see the volcano glow at night she completely freaked out and did not want to get out of the car!

  

After visiting the volcanoes, we crossed the island on the saddle road that separates the two sides of the island, and traveled between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.   Both of these volcanoes are over 13,000 feet in elevation, and the road goes from sea level to over 6000 feet in between the mountains.  A neat drive, for sure.

The reminder of the vacation was spent on the beach.   We taught Ethan how to body board and he had a blast in the waves.   Weather was much better on the other side of the island, though we still had one rainy day.   But we got to enjoy three beautiful Hawaiian sunsets and definitely felt relaxed.   On our last night, it rained again and we woke up to a snow covered Mauna Kea, as well as a snow covered Haleakala in the distance on Maui.   Pretty cool to see.

     

This was one of the first trips where we noticed that the kids are getting a bit more self sufficient--now that Alaina can swim we didn't have to be in the pool with her every second, which was pretty nice!  They are growing up.