Church. Park. Overstimulation.

We stopped in the church of Saint-Sulpice on our way to Luxembourg Gardens a few days ago. It was impressive (inside and out) and not very busy, which is always nice.
The inside of the church...Justus and Chooch standing on the "Rose Line" - the Paris Meridian (made famous by the book DaVinci Code).Outside in the square by Saint-Sulpice.Then back to Luxembourg Gardens... Justus loves watching the mini-sailboats on the little pond. You can rent them out and you push them around the pond with a big stick.
FREEDOM!! The boy loves to run :) Piper was taking a little snooze in her stroller - sleeping peacefully......that is until she was attacked by a family of 'friendly' Iranians who were seriously mesmerized by her. They were so touchy-feely and in her face for so long that she finally broke down crying, which still did not deter them!I guess that is the price to pay for being so dang cute!!

Still Loving It

So here's the latest... there is a big park by the Lourve (Jardin des Tuileries) and one of the first days we were here Justus noticed the Ferris Wheel. Every time we saw it he kept begging to do it, so despite the ridiculous price for a 7-minute ride, we did it (well, Jess & Justus).
All he kept saying the whole time was "It's not slippery. I want it to be slippery!" Ha ha! By 'slippery' he means the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling. He is a bit of a thrill-seeker!
We did have some amazing views from up there though......at least I was impressed! When Trav asked him what he saw from up there, he said "a red Mini Cooper!"We finally made it inside the Notre Dame (no photos though). It was crowded and crazy (well, like pretty much everything here!) but we did it.Afterwards, we strolled around the little island (Paris has two 'river islands' - the one with the Notre Dame is the Ile de la Cite) and found this cute (but expensive) candy shop. Please notice the one thing we let Justus pick out! Ha!
We visited the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum, and I must say that we enjoyed it more than we thought (for not really being all that into modern art). But they did have one Rothko (we like him), some Picasso (he is famous), and some pretty amazing views over the city. On Saturday, the rest of the family we are living with arrived! This means that our kids are getting some serious non-stop attention and they are loving it (and let's be honest...so are we!).
Eleni (a.k.a. "Chooch") was teaching Justus her yoga moves!Strolling the streets together, Chooch and Justus holding hands, and Everett holding Justus' tail (yes, it's a leash people and trust me, this kid needs it to stay alive!).
At the Musee de l'Orangerie - definitely one of my favorite museums ever - in a room full of huge Monet paintings.They were awesome.The kids: Everett, Justus, Owen and Chooch (not pictured: Piper). Love them.

So far...

Okay well I know I am going to get easily overwhelmed with the amount of pictures I'm going to be taking here, so I thought I would just post some highlights of what we have done so far... starting with our visit to this awesome candy cart (that's my kind of cart!!).
Notre Dame by day - we still haven't gone inside but it's still impressive just to walk around the outside.Snack break :) This boy has not complained once about all the walking and I'm sure he's taking at least twice as many steps as the rest of us!Just a few of hundreds of book stands you pass as you walk along the Seine River.
Walking by the river and enjoying the AMAZING weather.
The Louvre. The hugest museum in the world. I would need like 8 pictures pasted together to show the entire outside. We haven't gone inside yet but I hear it takes days.
A view of the Eiffel Tower from across the river. It was all sparkling and glittering when we stopped to look. This is as close as we've gotten so far.
Happy Piper. She loves cruising around the town and she gets lots of 'oohs' and 'aahs' :)
These streets are why it is so fun to walk everywhere in this city!
Dinner with friends at our place (Kendall, her mom Leesa/Gamma, Andrew, Sam, Travis, and the kids). Please notice Trav's ridiculously HUGE plate of spaghetti. This picture really does not do it justice.
We hung out this afternoon at the 'Jardin de Luxembourg' (Luxembourg Gardens). There is a big palace there, a large fountain and pond, lots of trees and flowers (it smelled amazing) and I hear there's a big play area with a carousel (we still have to check that out).
She steals the scene every time!
Playing at our apartment. They even cuddled together in bed tonight. They are the cutest!!

Paris!

We are here and loving it! The city is amazing. The food is great. The apartment is gorgeous. The streets are packed. The weather is WARM. I am so excited to be here for a month!!

Walking to the grocery store... I could get used to this.

Notre Dame at night (we are staying right around the corner).

Now come visit us!! XOXO