Thursday, April 30, 2015

Whoops, I've been lazy. BUT I WAS IN PARIS

Yeah, that's right.  I went to Paris.  

YEP!  Surprise trip planned by my husband and Liz's...incredible!

Pretty sure this sums us up perfectly.


Notre Dame!  WOW!

Of COURSE you have to get macaroons in Paris.  

Champs Elysees with 2 of my favorite girls ever.

Get nerdy with me.  


Yeah, this is Hagrid's chair.  and I'm sitting in it.

I can't recommend going to the Catacombs enough.  Just incredible.



Lots of drinking....

DAY 1:
So we took the Ice Train from Kaiserslautern to the heart of Paris.  Train was fun and fast.  Ran very smoothly.  We had all been up since like 4:30am, we were tired, but totally jazzed to be there!
Took a cab to Notre Dame.  It was INCREDIBLE.  I felt like singing "God Help the Outcasts", but I refrained somehow.  

Caught a Hop On Hop Off bus from there to the Champs Elysees.  Saw it, it's BEAUTIFUL.  The area around there is very busy, but it's one of the few places that wasn't totally dirty. (Yeah, Paris is pretty filthy)  We walked around the shops and had lunch and cocktails at a little cafe.  Cocktails were SO good!  It was a gorgeous sunny day, so there we were, just walking around Paris in sundresses drinking cocktails.  (AM I IN A MOVIE?!)

After that, we got the bus to the Eiffel Tower.  Can I just explain to you how amazing it is to see something like that in person?  I mean, countless movies and TV shows...and I got to go there.  WOW.  It's enormous and so we stopped there and had drinks at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.  I feel like I'm bragging, but this was totally on my bucket list!

Stayed there for awhile, and ended up missing the last bus pick up!  Had to cab it back to the train station because we were staying in Saint Denis (because that's where the Harry Potter expo was).  Got our luggage from the train station and found out that we couldn't just take a train there.  We had to catch a bus to the subway station and then take the subway to our destination.  Now, this is a pretty daunting task for 3 tipsy girls at night in a foreign country.  BUT WE DID IT!  The bus drove by the Moulin Rouge, and it is in a REALLY shady part of town.  Rats.  Got onto the subway successfully and managed to figure out which stop to take.  Found our hotel, got some food, and promptly fell asleep.

DAY 2:

Woke up and got ready for the day, and headed out thinking we would get a cup of coffee and a croissant for breakfast.  
NEWSFLASH: Saint Denis is really unpleasant and shady.  Nothing was open and it was filthy. Every establishment had weird people in track suits who looked like they were part of some crime group.  We were almost worried to step into any place.  Not that it mattered, apparently France does breakfast until like 10, and then no place serves anything until noon.  It is so bizarre.  We had to stop and get money from an ATM and this guy came up and started to try to get my attention and just became more aggressive as I ignored him.  We took a cab right outta there.  

Then, HARRY POTTER EXPO!  It was incredible, guys.  Real costumes, props, and all kinds of stuff from the movies.  It was put together SO WELL.  I got Delilah a Quidditch shirt and a Ravenclaw magnet for me...as well as a million pictures.  Seriously, I couldn't have asked for anything more from the expo.  It was just so awesome.  Truly something every fan should be able to do.  

After that, hopped a subway back to Paris for lunch, drinks, and just walking around.  We walked through this AMAZING graveyard.  Europe knows how to do graveyards, guys.  It was beautiful.  Well kept too!  Walked through the catacombs (only a 45 min wait in line, so it wasn't bad!).  I think the catacombs is in my top 5 favorite things I've done out here.  It was hauntingly beautiful.  The amount of bones...I can't even describe it.  There's no barrier, if you wanted to touch them, you totally could.  No, I didn't touch any of them, yikes!  Just thinking about how many dead people are down there, it really makes you quite somber.  I loved it.  

After that, we walked around to different cafes having snacks and drinks.  It was just a blast.  The girls I went with, I don't know if I could have had more fun with anyone else.

Back to the hotel (navigated the subway successfully) for more drinks and silliness.  

DAY 3:
We are tired.

No showers, too tired.

Gather up stuff and get going.  Subway was no problem, but we had a long wait for the bus.  We were in a super shady area of Paris (after leaving Saint Denis and actually having men call out to us at like 7am and drive backwards down a road to then just drive next to us slowly as we walked).  Waiting at the bus station, we DEFINITELY saw a shop that was a front for something else.  It was just an aisle, but people would go in, and different people would come out. Some weirdo high lady was trying to talk to us about how much our bags are worth and "talk fast, talk fast"...people smoking hookahs and looking like they are in the Russian or Czech mob driving up in front of us and going into the shop...then a bum fight.  Luckily, our bus came, and we made it out of there intact.  Phew. 

Took the ice train back and ended up next to some pretty funny Germans who were making jokes about messing with us while we dozed without realizing that I understand some German and Amanda speaks fluent German.  We visited and laughed with them the rest of the trip back.  Fun times, very happy.

Made it back home, and Delilah ran to me and cried a little saying she missed me so much.  That made me really sad and happy.  It was our first weekend away from each other and Ben's first time with her by himself!  He's never had her overnight without me!  Her only overnights without me have been with my mom and I'm always there bright and early to get her.  

I was a pretty incredibly trip, and I'm so thankful for Ben doing this for me. 






Sunday, April 19, 2015

Yard Sale and a BIG SURPRISE!

First, here's some meal planning:
Breakfast:
Waffle and fruit
Cereal and juice
Yogurt and toast
Oatmeal with PB2, honey, and Juice+Vanilla
DAD CHOICE

Lunch:
Quinoa and chicken
PB&honey, crackers, veggie
Spaghettios and avocado
Quesedilla
DAD CHOICE

Dinner:
Vegetarian quinoa burritos
DAD CHOICE

Snack:
Cucumbers/carrots/cottage cheese/almonds

Activities:
Work on letter book
Start number book


Ok, now onto the weekly stuff.  Ben worked evenings this week, so we were thrown off a bit.  

Planned for a yard sale all week with some friends, and sold quite a bit of stuff over the weekend.  Saturday and Sunday were spent outside hanging with friends and making some easy money.  

Found out what Ben and our friend Eddy have been planning in secret...they planned a FREAKING TRIP TO PARIS FOR US!  Amanda, Liz, and I will be heading to Paris via train on Friday morning for a weekend girls' trip!  
Catacombs!
Eiffel Tower!
Moulin Rouge!
Notre Dame!
(I'd like to go to the Louvre, but I'm saving that for another trip)

We are also going to the HARRY POTTER EXHIBITION!!!  Props, costumes, and basically a huge walkthrough of authentic Harry Potter stuff!  Like 10,000square feet.  I'm beyond excited.

I have never had a girls' trip before.  The only time I've left Delilah overnight, it's been with my mom and I've always come back early morning the next day.  
I obviously have full confidence that Ben and Delilah are going to have the BEST time.  

I'm so excited, and I just can't believe he planned this for me!  What a wonderful surprise!!!


We had a BBQ at Seewog on Saturday.  This is Eddy. Delilah loves Eddy.  

Delilah also loves Loki.

The gorgeous weather allowed us to get out on a new trail...and we found a log cabin!


Enjoy the week, I know I will!


Sunday, April 12, 2015

Food and activities!We


Breakfast:
Waffle and juice
Oatmeal with PB2
Greek yogurt with honey and fruit
Cereal and apple juice
Kid choice

Lunch:
Chicken/quinoa
Shrimp salad
PB&Honey, fruit, veg
Pinwheels with crackers
Leftovers

Dinner:

Snack:
Homemade granola
Protein/veggie/fruit shake
Cottage cheese
Granola bars


I slacked last week because of Easter...so I'm back on track now!

Here are some of the activities we're going to do this week (on top of the ABC stuff we're already doing)

(we will at least start to paint the popsicle sticks this week)



Now, some updates:
We did designer bag bingo last Friday.  I am not huge on designer stuff, but it was just something fun to do.  However, when I walked in, I spotted this super cute carry on type bag...leopard print!  Everyone in the group said that if anyone won it, they'd give it to me.  It's now happily residing in my home.  Thanks, Danny!

I made some super cool Harry Potter mugs and sold 5 of them in one day!  Waiting for some more white mugs to get stocked so I can make more!



The Easter Bunny hooked Delilah up big time!  Necklace, Kinder eggs, chocolate, The Little Engine that Could, water color paints, water color crayons, and a water color pad!


Only the coolest Easter baskets have Kinder eggs

Had Easter dinner with our friends and it was wonderful.

Ordered Delilah a big girl bike and Ben put it together after working an incredibly long day AND picking up new people from the airport.  Didn't get home until 8pm.

KMCC did a (very tiny) Comicon, and Delilah was absolutely stoked to see some Star Wars characters.  

My little sweetie at the Comicon.
I'm making a Storm Trooper blanket!


Did a workout at the gym this morning, so my legs will be wrecked tomorrow.  Just got back in from taking Delilah to her first bike riding lesson.  She was doing AWESOME...and then she fell.  
"There's blood!"
"The wheels are broken!"
"Why did this happen?!"
After I cleaned her up and put bandaids:
"I think I can walk now."

Love that girl.  
Love this sunshine.
Love my life.