Paris in the Spring

For Memorial Day weekend we took the train to Paris.  We decided about a week before we left and didn't realize until after the train tickets were booked that it was the same weekend as the French Open.  So Paris was a little crowded.  
   
All I wanted out of this trip was a picture of John David and the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, he spent much of the walk to the Eiffel Tower asleep so when we arrived and we tried to get him up he was not really in the picture taking mood.  
Another try... 
   
We headed to Jardin du Luxembourg. We wanted John David to be able to run around in the grass, unfortunately, the French don't let you on the grass so we had to stick to the walkways. This would have been a total bummer if it wasn't for this great little fountain, which had all these little boats.  When a boat would reach the edge the kids would push it back out "to sea" with these wooden sticks. Kind of hard to explain but John David loved watching the boats. 
   
On Sunday, we took the train from Paris to Versailles. I was really looking forward to see Versailles especially in the spring which is the only time they turn on the fountains. It was absolutely beautiful and the grounds were amazing. The line to get into the chateau was massive and while David and I would have really liked to see it we were fairly certain that John David wouldn't have enjoyed it so we stuck to the grounds. John David loved exploring and running around the beautiful gardens. We had a great lunch in the garden before heading back to Paris and then to Brussels. 
   

Champagne, France

For Mother's Day weekend we took a trip to Champagne, France with Julie's and Griffin's families.  We got hand, foot and mouth the week before so we almost didn't go, but I am so glad that we did (and no one got sick) because it was such a wonderful trip.  We rented this great guest house, which was huge and allowed for plenty of space for all three families.  The weather was wonderful and sunny and the champagne was delicious.


The HUGE living room in our wonderful guest house
 
We took one tour at the Mercier Champagne house, which had a train you could ride through their massive cellars.   The train was a big hit with the kids.
The Dads wrangling the kids
We also stopped by the famous Moet & Chandon champagne house, home to Dom Perignon. We did not take a tour here because we were not sure it could handle all the kids, but we did visit the gift shop!
 
On Sunday we visited one last champagne house on our way out of town, which was located in a beautiful French chateau. They let us have our tasting outside, probably so the kids wouldn't destroy their tasting room, and the kids got to run around the play.


The Moms!
It was a wonderfully enjoyable and relaxing weekend in an incredibly beautiful part of the world.