In the past two years we have made a few trips down to Paris - I think Scott and the boys have been three times and I've been four (one more visit with my parents). Each time we go with the intention of going up the Eiffel Tower - and each time we promise the boys we will. Well, each time the lines have progressively gotten longer, and since we always seem to save the Eiffel Tower visit for the end of the day/trip, the view from the top had yet to happen. So last weekend we drove down to Paris with the sole intention of doing nothing but all things Eiffel Tower, and, although the line was probably about four hours long (no exaggeration - and much longer than we've ever seen) we made it up. We ended up forgoing that ridiculously long line, however, and decided to walk up, thereby shortening our wait to about 45 minutes. Walk up?! - you say. Yes, it's possible to walk up to the second level - over 600 steps in all. It didn't seem that bad, though - but of course, I wasn't the one carrying the 35 pound 3-year-old for a good chunk of the way. But Will did great.
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| Having a treat after a long hike up. |
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| Taking in the view from the very top - Scott was about having a heart attack at this point. |
It was a great little trip - all we did was hang out around the tower - had a picnic, walked a little - it was nice and very relaxing. We even drove a little around the city - down the Champs de Elysees, around the Arc de Triomphe, saw the tunnel Princess Di crashed in - you know, the touristy stuff. I love Paris.
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| Hard to get a good view - but this is the Statue of Liberty on the Seine in Paris. The New York versions sister (albeit much smaller) - west facing - representing the United States and France's ongoing friendship. |
A couple of weeks ago the city of Waterloo, Belgium put on their annual reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo - Napolean's last battle. Because we had a birthday party to attend on Sunday, when they do the actual battle reenactment, we decided to head down on Saturday with some of our friends. It's pretty incredible - they have over 600 actors walking around, completely in character - in their camps, gearing up for the battle. And as it had been rainy and muddy, it apparently painted a very likely picture of what it was like for all those men nearly 200 years ago.
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| The climb to the top of the Butte de Lion - a monument built high on top of a hill. |
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| Below you can see where the camps were set up - this was the English/Prussian camp, I believe. |
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| A very brave Will and Claire trying to gain a better view - Bo was freaking out at this point - terrified they were going to go tumbling down. |
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| The kids took off for the top, so Scott was voted the man for the job of going to get them. |
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| The older kids - and Scott - actually made it all the way to the top. It looked like a pretty nice workout. |
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| It actually is quite a long way up there - the pictures don't really do it justice. |
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| Enjoying a cold one after his workout. |
Scott's been playing basketball here on Sundays since we moved here. As it's co-ed, he's been pestering me to join in almost weekly. Since our time here is wrapping up I decided not too long ago to humor him. Every year they have a "World Cup" tournament - each team is made up of players from the same country (although, after the U.S., German and Belgium teams, they all become pretty mixed). Anyway, each team needs one girl on the floor the whole time...and you can imagine the rest. We got fifth. It was a very poor showing by the Americans. But I actually had a lot of fun, and have been playing now pretty consistently for the last few months. The first time, after about five minutes up and down the court, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make it, but it's been getting a little better each week.
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| We actually had fans...this was our littlest - Sofie May. |
Today was the boys' last day of school. It's just unreal to me that it's over - and Will's gone to school here for the past two years. It makes me a little sad for him - he's made some good friends here and he really likes his teacher. It just seems so
final - if we were moving in the U.S. you know there's at least a possibility of seeing these people again, or moving back...but here, it's just over. Last night the school had a dinner for all the maternelle classes (preschool). I was reminded again how very different things are here, just in the food that people bring to potlucks - US.: jello salad and calico beans; Belgium: quiche and lots of fancy, stinky cheeses. It was nice, though, and the boys had a lot of fun. It's always a bit of a lesson in humility for me to get together with a bunch of French-speaking people. I do my best to try to look like I know what people are saying or that I'm busy with something on my phone, but more often than not, I just feel very out of place - I hope I can always remember how that feels and try to be a little more inclusive of people when the shoe is on the other foot.
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| Will and one of his favorite friends, Patrick (sounds like Patreek - and you better get it right). |
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| Will and Madame Catherine (Cat-reen). |
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| Bo and Madame Laura (roll the 'r':) |
The rest of our days have been spent having play dates, trying to sell all of our furniture, etc., and just trying to get things wrapped up for our big move - oh, and at my new favorite hang out - the laundromat, as our washing machine's broke. I'm not sure where the time goes, but at the end of every day, I still seem to have a very long 'to-do' list. The boys and I are planning on moving in a little less than three weeks. I'm equal parts sad and happy. Tonight some friends are having a going away party for us - adults only, very excited! But the worst part is certainly having to say goodbye to the people who have become our pseudo family here for the past two years.
And finally, this is what it's like trying to get a decent picture of Bo lately - I swear it's harder now than when he was one!
And...Scott's going away present from some of our friends. Hilarious. And very fitting for our family.
Until next time,
Jackie
