Blouins in France: February 2014

A couple of weekends ago the weekend started of to be nothing too special........rain, rain, and more rain, and D busy with school work. The kids and I settled in to a day at home with a fire and some fimo clay. D had been a acting a little strangely regarding having to meet a classmate at school to work on a group project, and what time they were supposed to meet. I kind of stopped paying attention. Finally, he headed out, and about half an hour later came back home and shouted in the door that he forgot his backpack. Well......I got up to see him, and to my surprise my very special big sister from Calgary walked around the corner! Apparently D had to pick her up from the train, but was waiting all morning to hear from her as to what time he needed to pick her up. This is why he was acting so strange! Needless to say, the kids and I were all very pleasantly surprised and excited to have such a special visitor. She was only able to stay for the weekend, as she had to get back to Florence where she was working for the week, but we made the most of it :o) Thanks for the visit Jenny :o)

Can't help but get a little teary eyed at such a wonderful surprise :o)

Ever since the first day we arrived in France, back in August, the kids have been asking when we were going to see the Eiffel tower. We explained that though we were in France, the Eiffel tower was still 900 km away. We put a great deal of thought into deciding on the best way for our crew to visit Paris, since everything that we have heard of Paris told us that it really isn't a place for kids. We were starting to doubt that we were all going to make it there. However, after things settled after Christmas, we began looking at our options. After a great deal of time spent researching, we found something perfect for us - Davy Crockett's Ranch and a visit to Disneyland Paris with a day excursion into Paris. Davy Crockett's was a Disney hotel (comprised of hundreds of individual cabins) located about a 7 minute drive from Disney. And being that we were in January, the slowest month of the year, we were surprised at the deal we found! Before we could change our minds, we booked us in for 4 nights, 5 days. The only kicker was that we needed to have a vehicle, as there was no shuttle from the Ranch to Disney, therefore......we loaded up the Touran, and headed north 900 km on our family adventure to Paris! We arrived Thursday night, in time to head to the Park for the fireworks show (awesome, awesome, even in the pouring rain), and spent Friday enjoying the rides in the Park (13 rides to be exact.......very awesome because there were no lines). Saturday we headed on our guided excursion, to Paris. This tour included a bus tour through the city, a 2 hour lunch stop with free time in front of the Louvre, a 1 hour boat tour down the Seine, and a tour to the second level of the Eiffel tower (by far, the highlight!). Sunday was a day at the Park, and then..........Monday we headed home. Definitely a trip to remember :o)

All packed up and ready to go.

Marcus' favourite thing in the world right now is Mickey Mouse, so we were quite excited to see his reactions to Disneyland.

Our fearless leader :o)

Though the drive was long, the countryside was very cool. This was one of many Chateau's we saw.

Arriving at Davy Crockett's Ranch.

Quick visit to the Park upon our arrival.

All were impressed with the lit up castle, even in the rain!

Getting excited......

I promised Daryl this would be the only time I asked a stranger to take our family photo.

Mathieu and Marcus trying to get the sword out of the stone.

Daryl and his princesses in the castle

Mathieu, still trying to pull out the sword.

We were all excited to see Marcus' reaction to Mickey. So precious.

Posing with Mickey.

First time in the teacups.

Our surprise princess we got to meet was Tiana.

Marcus eating his chocolate crepe on the tour bus, headed for Paris.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Stephanie taking it in on the tour bus in Paris.

First sight of the Eiffel tower. For the record, mommy spotted it first.

Getting closer to the l'Arc de Triomphe.

Getting closer to the Eiffel tower.

Love this picture. Mathieu listening to the narrative, taking photos, and singing 'Oh....Champs Elysee....'

Picture says a lot. Just got off tour bus. lil M taking off, big M angry at something, C excited about the Eiffel Tower keychain that mom just got ripped off buying, S belly ache not allowing her to walk (thankfully it didn't last long and we were able to regroup)!