Happy Easter everyone! This is our second Easter in Albania. I can't believe we've been here a year now! It's amazing how fast time flies. Asher wasn't even crawling a year ago, and now he is running (and jumping) circles around everyone! :)
In preparation for our community Easter egg hunt, Sean decided it was time to teach Asher about hunting Easter eggs :) My family had sent out some plastic eggs, so we had what we needed! Sean took a few of the eggs, put chocolate chips in them, and hid them around the room. Asher liked the eggs by themselves to begin with, and picked up on the "finding" part. Then when we tried again and he found his first egg, he sat down, opened it, and found the surprise. He was thrilled with his find! Every egg after that, he would find it, sit down and eat the chocolate before he moved onto the next egg...
We didn't put in the chocolate the next time Sean practiced with him. And he did great! Watch out everyone! We were ready to take on those kids! Or so we thought :)
Then the big event came and Asher was set to go!
Checking out the starting line :)
On your mark! Get set! GO!
Quick! Avoid the giant Easter Bunny!
Unfortunately, once he was allowed to go, he didn't quite go for the eggs. Let's just say he might have gotten a little overwhelmed by all the people :) He just stood and looked at all the beautiful eggs littering the ground around him.
And then he warmed up a little bit after some encouraging words...or something :)
And he remembered what to do :)
Yay for Easter!! And here's a picture from last Easter - Look how much he's changed...or not ;)
Then he saw that his friends were getting eggs...
and decided he wanted those too :)
We "encouraged" him away from from stealing the eggs, yum...
mmmmm, chocolate, so good!
Back to the hunt!
Found one!
We love our little boy!!
Easter Bunny time!
Asher's not so sure about this one, haha.
Success! And here's a picture from a year ago to see how much Asher has grown!
After the hunt, it was time to run around with friends,
Eat some more candy,
And hang out!
On our way home, we stopped by the park for the after party.
Cheesing it up all the way there :)
Happy Easter!!
Oh, and in case you haven't heard, we are going to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico for our next post in October 2013! Woohoo!
**This post has been the bane of my existence for the past few days...I finished it, somehow deleted it, found it on google reader, had to copy and paste the words, and reload ALL the pictures again, then had to figure out why the words were all highlighted in white (still didn't figure that out, but worked around it), and then I finally posted it AGAIN - only to find out that somehow half the pictures got rearranged out of order. blah. But i fixed it, and it's done now, I hope, so there you have it....Paris.***
When a fantastic deal
comes up on airfare, it should not be passed up. So, when a fantastic
deal came up to fly to Paris, we jumped on it! Sure, Paris was not really on the top of our list (don't shoot me for saying that), but we could not pass up such a good fare. We booked it, and off we went!... or at least off we tried to go...
The first 36 hours of our trip were not the
greatest. First, as we pulled up to the airport, I remembered that I had
left all of Asher's bottles - full of milk - in the fridge... there's never as good a time as the
present to start taking him off the bottle, eh? I was not happy about my
oversight. Second, as we walked into the airport and located our
flight on the monitors, we saw that it was delayed 2 hours. We stood in
line to check our baggage, and were told that we would not make our connection
in Rome, therefore we would have to reschedule our flight, so "please go
stand in that long, long line you see over there. Thank you."
We stood in line, learned that the reason our
flight was delayed was due to the fog outside, and that the plane was not able to
land. We were told we might be able to make it if the plane took off within
the next 30 minutes...it didn't. After waiting 4 hours - during which time
I could have made a trip back to get the bottles - but I didn't want the flight
to miraculously arrive and leave without me, so I didn't go. The fog
finally lifted, we got booked for the next flight out of Rome to Paris, and we
took off.
The third kink in our trip was because of our
stroller, or actually our lack of a stroller. You know how in America,
you check your stroller at the end of the ramp, and then it magically appears
when you get off the plane? Well, apparently Alitalia airlines does not do
that. When you leave the stroller on the ramp, it gets checked all the
way through to your final destination, through your layover and everything. If you had a
mellow, relaxed child, this would not be a problem...when you have Asher, a
tired little boy who was already stuck in one airport for four hours, and never sits still, well... momma has a mini breakdown when she finds out
she doesn't get her stroller for the layover. I wish I could have thrown
myself on the floor and throw a full on tantrum like Asher does.. .growing up
stinks sometimes :) I very much despise Alitalia airlines at the moment,
grrr. But we did eat at McDonald's, and I had a fountain soda, so that
helped soothe me some. It's funny how seeing McDonald's is such a
wonderful thing, especially when it's not a favorite of mine back in the States.
We finally landed in Paris, and took a taxi to our
apartment. As we got closer to the place, we realized that we had rented
an apartment in little Asia! Surprise! haha. We go to Paris and stayed in
Asia. It was pretty great. I love Asia. We had Chinese food
one of the nights we were there. Pretty good stuff! They told us
you could see the Eiffel Tower from the apartment. When we got there, we
ran to the window and looked, and looked until we found our "view" of
the Eiffel Tower - Can you find it or what we could actually see of it?
The night of our arrival, we decided to go to the
Eiffel Tower to see how to go about purchasing the tickets. It
was beautiful weather the entire time we were there, so walking was not bad at
all.
The next morning on our way to the Eiffel
Tower, we had our fourth problem. The metro stopped mid-station for at
least a half an hour. This is never good with Asher, who was stuck in his
stroller, with a crowded train, and wanting to get out... it was a very, VERY
stressful 30 minutes, to say the least.
Our fifth and final situation happened in the
line to get up to the Eiffel Tower... The line was long, so Sean stood in it,
while Asher, Florida, and I were in a little park until the line moved up to
the corralled section. Let's just say it all started when we had to
tear Asher away from the sand box, and then it just got worse and worse from there.
Never has Asher had a bigger melt down than he did in the line of the
Eiffel Tower line. He screamed, SCREAMED, for a good 30 minutes, at
least. People were all about giving advice, but not about giving up their
place in line to let us through so we could get up there, and let child down so
he could run around and calm down. I was pretty much in tears, and Asher
was inconsolable. It was one of the hardest moments as a mother, and all
I could do was pray that he would calm down. Once we got out of the sun,
and into the elevator, he calmed down and from that point on in our trip, for
the most part, he did great!
This shows how long the line was at night It was pretty long, even if you can't really tell from the picture. But look how huge the Eiffel Tower is!
Sitting in front of the Champ de Mars. This part reminded me of the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Shauna and Florida (Our friend and babysitter, who was a lifesaver on this trip!)
After checking it all out, we went out for dinner at a French restaurant. Sean had Coq au vin.
It was pretty good - I know Asher liked it! And the French bread too! mmmm
It was dark by the time we left the restaurant, and as we were walking, we saw this beautiful site. I think this was one of the most spectacular view we saw on the trip. Unfortunately, it was way past Asher's bedtime, and we had already had a long day, so this was all we got of the Eiffel Tower at night
The next day we actually went to stand in line for the Eiffel Tower. There was a park right across the street, so we took Asher there to play, while Sean waited in line. Asher had a great time :)
(That lady stayed like that for at least 10 minutes - pretty impressive if you ask me!)
Asher playing in the sandbox in front of the Eiffel Tower...the calm before the storm :
And then we took him away and made him stand in line for 40 minutes. We didn't get any pictures of him during his complete melt down since we had, ya know, more important thing to do. But this picture on him on the ground at the top of the tower reminded us of it :)
Look, I'm on top of the Eiffel Tower ...What's the big deal that you made me wait in that horrific line??
Our ride up the tower
Still deciding if he is happy or not
This is how I looked pretty much throughout the trip :) Stuck behind my camera!
The "We just got to the top, and Asher worked me pretty well" picture.
And then the "Phew, he's happy, now let's out ourselves back together and restart" picture.
The river Seine and the Champ de Mars
The Arc de Triomphe is in the top left - Louvre is the middle top right. Yeah, we walked that far!
Arc de Triomphe
The Louvre
Something else...
We Survived!!! Now let's get down and go find some pigeons!
I see you little birdie... and you are all alone...
ATTACK!!!
And if you are wondering - Yes, the blankie went with us everywhere. And yes, it was filthy and covered in so much Parisian dirt by the time we got home. The first thing I did when we got home was to throw that thing in the hot cycle of laundry :) We love you blankie!
I see ducks!! I'll climb the fence!! Let me at 'em!
Making friends in Paris over pigeons :)
He's already chasing after girls - sheesh!
There were accordion players everywhere we went. It definitely gave Paris that romantic ambiance.
We walked from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomphe, and Asher slept the whole way. It was
great!
Next stop - Arc de Triomphe, but first we had to get there...some of the sites on the way:
One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong :) Can you figure it out?
Live Art
The Arc!
And then he awoke, and he was hungry :)
From there we took a stroll down the Champs Eylsees...
Saw some very expensive stores - This one's for you Ligia!
Ate some good but super expensive baguette sandwiches...
Watched some awesome street dancers...
And then relaxed and let Asher play...
Sometimes, you just gotta let them do what makes them happy... In this case, rolling around in Parisian dirt :)
Wash him off, and we are on our way!
Stroll away family, stroll away :)
There were lawn chairs all over this park on the Champs Eylsees. It was great to see everyone just enjoying the day by relaxing and just doing their thing.
And then we hit the Louvre, but it was time to go home at that point. A good way to end the day.
The next morning, we took a train down to the Chateau de Versailles
This is Flat Stanley, our niece sent him to us from Arizona, asking for some pictures of him in Albania. But why take pictures in Albania when we were about to head out to Paris!!
(Don't worry, we got pictures in both. We really do enjoy Albania!)
The gates of Versailles
When we went to tour the house, surprise, surprise! You couldn't bring in strollers... and Asher had just fallen asleep... you can imagine my frustration. We ended up taking turns. Sean and I went through, while Florida started with Asher at the baggage check, and then we came back and Florida went through. He slept the entire time, so it worked out fine... stupid stroller restrictions. Don't they realize how important strollers are to the sanity of parents!?!
These next two pictures are of amazing paintings that looked like the people were actually sitting there. Incredible!
King Louis
Oh the opulence!
The Queen's Room
A painting of the coronation of Napoleon's bride - it was huge, and absolutely incredible!
Asher after his good nap.
To the gardens!!
The gardens of Versailles were probably one of my favorite parts of the trip. There was a lake that people picnicked by, bicycles, other random forms of transportation to rent. The weather was beautiful, the sites amazing, and there were lots of areas for Asher to explore... safely, and independently.
Look! Asher found a wine bottle....in France! That's unheard of!
Marie Antoinette's Home - Tiranon
Marie Antoinette's Bedroom
I love the bold, bright colors!
A "behind the scene" shot of Asher. He had his moments :)
On the way home from Versailles, we stopped by Notre Dame..
Asher found a friend with whom he could practice his "bark."
The gargoyles
The incredible stone work
One of my favorite pictures
Flying buttresses!
Asher enjoying the view, and room to run around in a park beside the cathedral.
Love Lock Bridge -
Apparently, you padlock the name of you and your true love on the bridge, and it binds you together.
The streets of Paris
The day of our departure, we went to our final destination, the Louvre
Here's a little taste of how trying to take pictures with an active little boy goes...
Quick take it!
Too late! We tried :)
Inside the pyramid and heading down the lift they have for strollers :) Fortunately, Asher was asleep by this time. He slept through most of the Louvre - it was great!! He even slept through us lugging him in his stroller up and down too many flights of stairs to count :) Good job little man!
Hammurabi's Code - The first written law known to man
And he woke up at the very end - Way to go Asher!
...and found some more pigeons outside :)
Sneak attack!!
Look, Feet!
And that concludes our trip to Paris. It turned out pretty well. We saw all we wanted to see, and made it home in one piece. Next time we go, if there is a next time, we go by ourselves without the kids :)
