Low key

It's another low key week around here.  I don't mind.  It's warmed up outside, but it's windy and rainy.  Not my kind of weather.  Oh well, soon the sun will be shining.

We started the week walking the baby doll stroller around

and reading books to baby dolls

received a sneak peak at some birthday morning fun

cruised while brother took a short nap before our play date

ready for a play date

Friday we're planning an outing to Mannheim while daddy is at work.  I'm getting brave and desperate to find some fabric so I'm going to check out one of their craft stores I found online.  Will see if they have what I'm looking for.  

In other news our new car is in transit here so we should have it next week.  Hopefully it won't be in customs for the 10 days it could be.  I'm NOT enjoying being up, dressed and out the door with kids in tow by 7 am on the days I need the car.  Come on new car...get here soon :)!

Have a great day!

Mosel Valley

On Saturday I was away for a total of 13 hours, by myself, no hubs, no kids.  Just my bestie and I with a bunch of other random strangers.  We took a bus tour up to the Mosel.  It was an awesome day.  Definitely what this mother needed to regroup and refresh.  I think all mother's and fathers need to take a day away and enjoy themselves.  It's much needed.  Even if you think you don't need a break or ever could leave your babies, you should think about it.

Our drive up the valley was winding, cold, and lots of snow with beautiful views.

We made 2 stops on the trip.  Our first stop was in the quaint village of Bernkastel-Kues.  Much of the village was closed because of winter, but we were able to enjoy a bakery for some warm tea and pastry.  We then walked around the village and it was beautiful.  The roads between the main road were tiny.  I mean tiny!  I think they do a lot of walking in this village because there's no way a vehicle and pedestrians can walk in the same road.

Our second stop was at the wine factory they had chosen for us to visit.  It was the Weingut Am Rosenberg in Osann.  When we first walked in, it stunk!  I guess after 4 hours of drinking wine the smell went away and we were used to it.  It was fun!  Mr. Brosch Jr. was the owner and he also took us on a tour and explained how he made his wine.  He didn't show us the process, which was a bummer!  I was really hoping to see how wine is made, juices flowing, that type of show.  Oh well, it was still A LOT of fun.  We met many new friends and I have 4 more bottles of wine to enjoy!!

When I got home I was frozen and Nick had to take a picture of my hands.  ha!  Not like it's anything new, but it still amazes him how frozen my hands get.

The kids were great for Nick.  He says they're only bad for me.  I believe it.  I've heard that kids are better for one parent than the other.  I'll have to figure a way to break them of that though, or else I'll be on A LOT more trips.  I was secretly hoping they would be bad for him, ha!  You know, the whining, crying, screaming type of day, hahaha!  No luck :(

When my friend sends me the pictures from her camera, I'll post more.  Her camera is the one that we took all the pictures of us together on.  

Stages

2 weeks ago last night we separated the kids into their own rooms and from the second night of that transition they have both been sleeping through the night.  Wonderful!

For the past week Xander has been screaming before bed, trying everything to get out of bed.  I have to say that I caved in and gave him his "wan-more" item (snack/drink) for 3 nights.  Last night I decided to just give him a snack/drink before even putting him in his bed.  Didn't work.  He still screamed at the top of his lungs.  I had to go in and remind him that it was night time and time to go to sleep until morning.  Didn't work.  He throws everything out of his bed.  Nothing new.  After 30 minutes of screaming, I go in, lay him back down and tell him that everyone is going to bed and that he needs to be a big boy and stop crying and fall asleep.  10 minutes later, he's asleep.  Wonderful!

I can remember when he would do this before he turned a year.  So I told Nick that we're going to have to let him figure out his issue on his own and we have to stop going in there.  I have 2 problems with this though.  First, I'm terrified he's going to wake up Sterling and then she's not going to go back to sleep.  Second, he likes to throw everything out of his crib and then he'll be cold.  He'll learn, I know, but that seems so harsh to me?  I would go in after he falls asleep, but when I've done this in the past, he wakes up.  Not good!

Who's the sweetest baby ever?  Sterling!  She is constantly laying her head on us (and the dog) and cooing/babbling something.  All I have to say is "sweet-baby"!  LOVE!!!

Who hates sharing?  Xander!  I think to myself, "how in the world am I going to teach these kids sharing?".  This past week we have been working on not throwing balls in the house.  Yesterday was my limit.  Xander threw a ball smack in Sterling's face.  Not nice at all!  I know it was an accident, but he's got to start listening.  Since having the balls in the toy room is not working in eye sight, the balls will be removed and put away in the Armoire today.  I will conquer this challenge.

I went 4 days without a Pepsi.  Yah me!  I'm a Pepsi addict!  No joking.  I could have one for every drink I drink.  I only drink 2 max a day, but would have more if it wasn't so bad for me.  So I decided to try to kick this habit, cold turkey.  The first 2 days were horrible and I had the worst headache a person could ever have.  The next 2 days weren't bad, but last night I had a craving, no headache, just a craving for one.  So I had one.  Why do I do this to myself?  I want to stop.  I need to stop.  It's just to darn hard!  I tell myself to cut it down to one a day, it works for awhile.  Honestly, I see myself creeping back to them.  I've been looking at the Soda Stream thingy thinking this will help.  I don't know.  I don't want to waste money.  Then I think, I'll just switch to Diet Coke.  Some people/magazines say it's better for you than a regular soda, but then the other critics say it's worse for you.  How in the world am I supposed to decide which one is better?  I know which one tastes better...ha!  But, that's about all.

Getting help from a spouse is another stage challenge we're in.  For me, I feel that I could use some extra help when hubby gets home.  I'm usually in the kitchen cooking up some dinner and the kids are usually at my legs screaming or holding onto them so I can't move.  I wish I had a gate at my kitchen entrance!  Anyways.  I also feel like my job is more exhausting than his job.  Do you feel me?  Watching two kids until 21 months IS exhausting.  I do know and understand that hubby wants some down time to unwind.  But.  I can't process that when the kids are at my side screaming, wanting something, needing a diaper change, whatever it is they are screaming for while I'm trying to cook.  Could I use some help please?  Hubby is typically a GREAT helper and taking the kids away from me so I can get things done, but those "other" days are frustrating.  Let's take last night.  I guess hubs had a rough/long day at the job and wanted to rest without being bothered so he was on the computer.  I'm in the kitchen rolling out dough to make soft wrap bread to go with our turkey bacon ranch club wrap we were having for dinner.  Chopping up romaine, dicing up tomatoes, cooking bacon...that's splattering everywhere.  This is where I get upset because both kids are at my side fussing while hubs is sitting on the couch surfing the web.  Help please!  I don't enjoy having the kids in the kitchen when I'm cooking because the contents are hot (especially splattering bacon!) and if they start going crazy they could get injured.  I'm not interested in seeing that happen or taking that chance.  (Hopefully we'll have a normal sized entry into the kitchen that I can block off at our next home!)  Hubs finally gathers the kids.  I'm able to finish up dinner and get it served.  We enjoy dinner.  After dinner is another area I like the kids away.  I enjoy cleaning up the kitchen at the end of the night and having it clean and ready for morning.  Bath nights this is usually not a problem, but non-bath nights, the kids are full of energy.  It probably takes 20 minutes of uninterrupted cleaning to get things put up.  I guess I feel that if the other spouse IS around, why can't I do things without being overwhelmed with all the tasks and the kids?  I do it all.  Every day.  Nothing new.  But.  Keeping the kids entertained away from me while do things would be much appreciated.  I could use that "break" too.

Tomorrow I get it!  I'm going to be gone ALL day (only 12 hours of it)!  I'm so excited.  My bestie and I are taking a tour to the Mosel Valley.  How exicting!  Drink me some wine and take my worries away.

Have a great day!

Life lately

Having only 1 car has left the kids and I "stranded" in the house.  It's made some of our days miserable, but at the end of the day we are all on the floor playing, laughing and dancing.  It has got to be the best time of night.  I will be glad to have 2 cars again.  Should be about 2 more weeks.

Sterling turned 10 months last week!  I ordered her birthday supplies so we can decorate.  I can't believe in less than 2 months she'll already be ONE!  My oh my, where does time go?!?!  She's doing so much.

(I made this onesie and bow, I love it!)

~I was concerned she wouldn't walk early because she would NOT put pressure on her legs.  I guess practice was all it took because this girly is cruising along the furniture, pushing her baby stroller, and pushing on everything to get to where she wants.

~pulling up machine 

~She's still not "traditional crawling", but her butt scooting gets her to where she needs to be...and quick!  We are thinking she's going to skip the traditional way and do things "her" way.  

~She has 8 teeth and 2 more are on the way.  

~Her fine motor skills seem so advanced.  She understands how to play with toys in the manner they are to be played with.  I'm still working on getting Xander to understand the "right" way to play with some of his toys.  

~She eats everything!

~says da-da (all. the. time!), ba-ba, and just last night added ma-ma!  I've been joking with her that if she don't stop saying da-da all the time, mama was going to ignore her...ha!  It worked and all the practice of me forcing ma-ma into her vocabulary was a success last night (now if only she'll remember to use it all the time!)  She also babbles a million other things which I have yet to figure out

~wearing size 18-24 months

~size 4 shoe

~size 4 diaper

Xander has become very jealous in the last month.  He loves to sit and cuddle with me or just sit and watch Elmo...but he's most content sitting next to me.

  

He's started picking out his own clothes...this is the result, not too bad

We build forts

We dress like a jailbird..ha!  This was the funniest day!

Likes to photo-bomb his sisters pictures

Still loves the outdoors, even when it's only in the 20s, and screams when it's time to come in 

Xander's also getting his 3 year molars and boy is he cranky.  Maybe that's the reason for the extra cuddle time?  

~he's wearing a steady 24 months in tops, but 18-24 in bottoms

~size 7 shoe

~size 4 diaper

~we attempted potty training him last week.  We went 2 hours, had 2 accidents.  I realized though that he is NOT ready.  He would continue playing and not even realize that he had wet himself.  Once he can recognize that he pees, I think we'll try again.  He would also tell me "NO" every time I'd ask if he had to pee or if he wanted to be a big boy.  That's okay, I'm not going to rush him as he's probably too young still and he'll be ready when he's ready.

~we received an email from Xander's birth mom.  She don't say much, but it's nice to get those random emails.  She mentioned that Xander's big brother is turning 4 in a few weeks and that she's also 14 weeks pregnant.  We congratulated her and wrote back a nice long email sharing what we've all been up to, and shared a few pictures.  I wonder if I ever share too much with her because we never get a response back until months later?  I think it's a bit strange, but maybe that's how she is?

  

Our doggie even had extra loving this month.  Sterling is always all over him, sometimes sweetly, sometimes aggressive.  

I gave him a haircut on Monday morning.  I love his hair short, but man it's cold out and I think he's not loving it right now, ha!

I contemplated stopping the blog.  I have this horrible OPSEC (operational security) phobia right now and considered deleting all my posts.  I went on my facebook and deleted all but 4 pictures, removed almost all of my posts, and deleted my current location.  Then I come on my blog and look at my stats and see that I have a lot of traffic, good? bad?  I'm hoping everyone has good intentions and not stealing my content/pictures, not sure, but I notice a lot from Russia.  I don't have a problem with people from Russia, I even have a very close friend who's Russian.  I'm not sure what came over me.  Oh, then my sister sends me a blog post she found about sharing pictures online.  That really made me want to stop the blog.  I talked to Nick about it and he said I shouldn't stop, but I still thought about it which is why it's taken forever to write something.  I may end up going private to feel more OPSEC and safe about sharing our story.  But I also feel, maybe someone else is/are going through the sames things we went through and maybe our family can be inspiring to someone out there??  I also don't feel I share private photos that would be embarrassing to my kids one day.  I should be fine, right?

We still don't have word on our next assignment duty location.  We did receive an email from the assignment team stating we should receive notification by the end of February...yah!  This just means I have to get thinking of a new blog title, soon!

Until next time...Have a blessed day!

Dec random photos

This is 14 days overdue, but I still want to document the random pictures from the end of December.

cleaning up from dinner (i haven't been blow drying or straightening my hair lately and so i go around with this crazy look, haha!) 

Xander was in love with this hat during the month of December

practicing her skill at playing the piano, professional one day??

We sold Nick's car (in one day!) and bought a 2013 BMW which is in production right now!  We're living as a one car family right now and it's not as bad as I'd thought.

Sterling turned 9 months and discovered a taste for pasta...and decided to paste her face with it

trying to get a picture of them together in front of the tree on Christmas Eve

very very happy baby!

the best decent picture that day

all the rest looked like this!

i absolutely loved this dress!  I can't wait until she's walking on her own, it (and many others) will be so much cuter on!

Auntie sent her kids' baby stroller for Sterling, but Xander decided it was for him and pushed around his beanie from Christmas last year

I received them AWESOME slippers from my sister...I LOVE them!

went sledding on our first snowfall

played at the park

Well, there you have it.  We've been busy, but life with kids is always busy.  I have a love-hate relationship with "busy", ha!!

Have a great day!

Meal Plan

All week I was looking on this website for menu ideas and suggestions to make life a little easier.  Well I found it!  Make meals ahead and freeze!  Simply perfection!  I made my menu plan on Friday night, went to the store Saturday morning and started cooking that night and finished Sunday.  I found this ladies blog through my sisters new blog, which also can be inspiring and motivating to get things done around the house.

So, I prepared peanut butter sandwiches, ham and cheese Stromboli  breakfast sandwiches, pre-cut cheese for crackers, 2 frozen pizzas, I froze all that...plus made another pizza to eat for dinner Saturday and turkey bacon ranch wrap for dinner last night (homemade soft bread wrap with this).  I was in the kitchen a lot, but I'm hoping/thinking that by doing this it will allow me time to do other things and not be in the kitchen too much during the week.  On a typical weekday, I forget to eat breakfast because I'm busy getting the kids eating, cleaning them up, changing diapers.  Time gets away from me in the mornings!  It's usually around lunch time that I remember I hadn't ate.  Not good!  So, these breakfast sandwiches will be handy!  I already ate today :)  Only took 1.5 minutes in the microwave to have a nice hot sandwich.  The best part...it's all natural, no preservatives or additives   And it's only 270 calories.  

I hope we can stick to this because it will be so much easier once school starts back next month and later in life when the kids are older and in activities.  Just really smart to start doing and getting used to.

Here's to a more simplified life this week (and hopefully longer)!

Have a great day!

Sleep

Sleep is a hard thing to come by in this house.  I'm exhausted.  Both kids are up in the middle of the night.  Last night I ended up having to rock Xander for 20 minutes and then he went to sleep for another hour and then sleep again for 2 hours and on and on.  Last night had to be our worst night since Xander was 10 months old and I was 8 months pregnant.  Xander started sleeping through the night shortly after turning 10 months and slept through the night until recently.  I think moving Sterling into his room was a mistake because that is when all the wakings started to happen.  Sterling has never slept through the night, but was down to once a night wakings.  Then we had Opa's visit and the kids staying up hours and hours past their typical bedtime.  It's been 3 weeks of no sleep and it's becoming hard to function.  We've tried keeping them up, slowly moving the time down.  We've tried different nap times.  We've tried waking them up in the mornings to make the sleepy for naps and then ready for bed at the "normal" bedtime.  It has not worked.  

Yesterday we moved Sterling's crib to the playroom because I didn't want her sleeping overnight in the playpen.  It's too hard of a surface to have her sleep that long.  Naps were okay in there, but not overnight...IMO.  I'm not sure if she remembers the room but she woke up screaming and jumping, looking around like she was confused.  I gave her a 3 oz bottle to settle her down, but an hour later, she was back up.  I let her fuss and about 20 minutes later she was sleeping again.  Maybe we're just going to have to resort to the cry it out method.  It's hard for me, honestly.  But now that they are in their own rooms, maybe it will be easier?  

Xander has been a koala bear lately and not letting me go.  He holds on so tight.  I love his cuddles, but he also needs his sleep.  That's where I get torn at what to do.  Do I get him after he's been sleeping for 3 hours and starts screaming?  Should I rock him now?  Or should I let him cry it out?  Tough!  Although, I'm the one waking with each kid each time they wake, it still disrupts Nick's sleep.  It's been hard waking up in the mornings.  

How long do we give trying a new schedule a try before it does not work?  

Here's what we're thinking of trying for the next month.  Because we are having a hard time waking up in the mornings, we will go to the gym at 8pm, back home by 930, kids in bed, then we get ready for bed.  The problem with this is that at the end of the night, I'm exhausted from being on my feet all day.  So, I HAVE to make a sacrifice to do this, but I'm willing to.  In the end, it will definitely be helpful for us (to get healthy), and hopefully helpful in getting the kids on a regular routine that they can feel comfortable sleeping through the night...or at least only 1 waking.

Ok, well, thanks for listening to my ranting about my lack of sleep issues.

Have a blessed day!

Much needed day!

The kids have been sleeping horrible since their Opa was here and spoiling them rotten.  We're still trying to get them on a schedule to sleep through the night.  While Opa was here, they didn't go to bed until 10 or 11 (probably later while we were in Paris!), so their typical bedtime routine is out the window right now.  We tried this week to put them back on it cold turkey, but it just has not worked.  I think we're going to need to adjust bedtime every few days by a half hour until we reach our 8 pm bedtime.  Should be interesting.  Tonight they went down at 1015 (because that's when we got home!).  Xander was up ALL night last night.  He kept telling me "wan-more", so I'd offer him something to eat or drink, but he wasn't interested.  He ended up sleeping with us, but was so restless.  I was thinking something was wrong, but I asked him if he had a owie anywhere or if anything hurt, he said no.  We're one tired family!  (I should be in bed since both kids are actually sleeping right now, ha!)

So, why was today a much needed day?  Well we spent the whole day at our friends.  I love having adult interaction, but not in big groups.  We also spent last Sunday there.  I made knoephla soup to take over there.  They loved it!  Thanks Stacy for the recipe!  We also went out on a walk in their village.  Fresh air was much needed for ALL of us!  They are the family with twin girls 2 months younger than Xander, so they stay cooped up in the house a lot because it's a hassle to take two 19 month olds and a 3 year old out.  They are the perfect hostesses also (especially if you like to eat, ha!).  They always have so much food to eat and drink tea.  Anyways, on our walk, I was telling her that I wanted to apologize for being such a horrible friend this past year.  I told her that because she always had her family at her home that I felt uncomfortable coming over a lot.  They speak Russian so again, with a language barrier, and I just get uncomfortable not knowing what people are saying.  Her family is really sweet though!  Xander loves her mom and we'd always joke that Xander understands Russian because he took to her so well.  Loved it!  I felt so much better telling her why I didn't visit often.  I felt horrible that I wasn't what a friend is supposed to be.  I should be a friend, even when everyone is around.  I think it's awesome that we lived doors apart at our last base (for 3 years) and now will be stationed at the same base overseas (for 3 years).  That just does not happen very often and to have military friends for 6 years, that's like new family members!  I doubt we will be stationed together at our next base so I'm going to make these next 6 months our best!

Have a blessed day!

Holidays 2012

We debated and debated about taking the kids to go see Santa.  I really wanted them to because that was my most favorite thing to do every year as a child.  Nick, he wasn't too keen on the idea...probably because growing up his mom never made a big deal out of the holidays.  I'm not saying I want my kids to think Christmas is about Santa and presents.  I want them to know about Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.  But we can celebrate the birth of Jesus by opening presents, that's perfectly okay.

So, on the day before Christmas, we headed to our community center where there would be Santa.  Of course, it didn't go as I imagined, but that's okay too.

Both are curious

but then "stranger danger fear", ha!  She had the people behind us feeling sorry for her.  Let's be honest now...I was hoping Sterling would pull on his beard since she's SO busy, ha!

On Christmas Eve I put together the toys and also painted a door sign like ours here for our neighbors across the hall.  I had to have it done and wanted it on their doorstep when they opened their door Christmas morning.  They loved it!  I did it very similar to ours because she kept commenting how much she loved ours.  It was a late night for me (2 am)!  All worth it though!

before the kids woke up

Sterling received a baby Stella doll...I love it, it's so soft.  I think she wanted the doll right away

This was the 3rd gift Xander opened and lets just say that he was NOT interested in anything else. We tried to hide the thing, but he climbed his way to it!  He was obsessed and still is to this day!

Checking out some of their loot

Overwhelmed with all the crap loot!

After waking up from his nap, this was his new favorite toy!  He has a great shot too.  We play basketball a few times each day and it never gets old!  Best gift ever...well besides the wooden German toy, ha!

Xander loves to help lately too.  As he opened each gift, he put the paper in the recycle bag.  Big boy!

What have I learned?  Let's take it easy next year on the gifts.  We bought each kid 5 gifts, but then with all the gifts from grandparents and aunts and uncles, they received WAY too much.  I follow this blog and think it's so smart the way they did Christmas and gifts.  They gave each kid a gift from each of the following categories: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.  I think this is brilliant, Heather!  I think I'm going to use this guide for all holidays that involve gifts.  I already started for their birthdays and bought 3 books for Sterling.  I think I will have the most difficult time in "something they need".  What does a 1 1/2 and 2 1/2 year old "need"?  Besides food and diapers?  I'm excited and think this will help cut down the amount of stuff they receive.  Now, I can't help how much grandparents buy, but it will help.

We took down all their previous toys to our storage room so we would have room for the new toys.  With having such a small playroom, it's a good thing we did that before.  We left a few toys out so they wouldn't be "toy-less" for a week.  It worked and they can have all their toys when we move in 6 months...as long as we live in a bigger place :)

I made Christmas dinner.  We had ham, chicken (for Opa),  home style mac n cheese, stuffing, green beans, and pumpkin pie.  This was my first time cooking a whole chicken and a pumpkin pie from scratch.  We'll just say they were not edible.  I felt horrible because the chicken was still a little pink and that was the only meat Opa would eat.  He's not a pork or beef eater.  I guess all my cooking before this day made up for the undone feast.  He was complementing me everyday saying he didn't know I was so domesticated.  How sweet.  I did do a lot of cooking and baking while he was here and he seemed to enjoy it.

--------

don't mind the bed head hair

getting used to it

New Years we stayed home and played.  Xander received an amazing gift from friends.  It took putting Sterling on it before he liked it though.  The first time we put him on it and pushed the button, he jumped off so fast and ran away.  It was hiliarious!!!  I wish I had a video of it!

We pray 2013 will bring lots of joy and many new and fun memories!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Have a blessed day!

Paris

Nick and I headed to our weekend getaway while Opa kept the kids.  We left Friday morning and came back Sunday morning.  We rented a car so we could have a micro sized car while driving in Paris.  Good thing we did because there lanes in the city are not distinguished.  Pretty much you drive where you want, get honked at, and go where you want.  It's nuts!  About half way there I noticed our GPS flashing red.  Weird because we had it plugged into the cars cigarette port.  Against all odds, we got a car that the port does NOT work!  We freaked out, Nick thought about turning around and going home, but I said no way.  On we went.  We decided to turn the GPS off to reserve what little battery there was.  When we arrived at the city, I turned the GPS back on, hoping it would survive until we got the the parking garage, which was a few meters from the hotel.  We missed a turn, but found our way back to the road we needed.  The GPS was being really slow for the fast paced, quick turns in Paris.  We found the garage and checked into the hotel.  That night, we went walking around for 3 hours and enjoyed a Doner for dinner.  Okay, I didn't enjoy it that much, but Nick really did.  

Saturday morning we got up and ready to spend the day out.  Rain!  Oh rain, why do you have to spoil such fun?!?!  We went out for 4 hours and my poor hands felt like they were going to drop off.  I really hate having raynauds at such a time when fun is possible.  We walked all the way near the Eiffel tower.  Was probably about 5 blocks away and we decided to head back to the hotel, probably 4 miles.  We were able to enjoy the Christmas market and window shopping.  Such amazing stores in Paris.  High end, that's for sure!  It was beautiful and I loved it.  I just really hate the my hands ruin everything...all the time!  I have gloves on with hand warmers inside...still don't work.  I even bought special raynauds gloves last year, don't work!  It sucks!  Nick was telling me that he always knows when my hands start hurting because I get quiet and are focusing too much.   He's right.  I do get quiet and that's when he said it was okay to go back and warm up.  You'd think warming up would be great, but not really.  It seems to hurt just as bad, if not worse, getting them warm again because they burn and tingle so bad.

Our pants were wet up to our thighs, so when we got to the hotel we undressed and hung our shoes, socks, and pants on the external towel/room heaters.  We stayed in for 2.5 hours and ventured back out.

This time our focus was on seeing the Louvre and the Notre Dame.  We made it to the Louvre and started walking towards the Notre Dame, but we forgot our umbrellas on the trip (because it had stopped and the forecast didn't show any for the rest of the night), and it started raining and our camera was getting wet!  Not good!  We tried putting it in our coats, but it still stuck out and was getting wet.  Nick wanted to head back.  We dropped the camera off at the hotel and walked down the road to an italian restaurant I found online. It was delish!  Finally a meal I enjoyed.  We got back to the hotel around 10:30, showered and went to bed so we could get up early and get out of the city before it was crowded.  And since the GPS was red on the way in, we weren't sure we'd find out way out with bumper to bumper traffic.  Early it was, 4:30 we were walking out the hotel, at 5 we were out of the city!  It was perfect.  We were expected to be home around 9:15, but I guess we took a wrong turn because we were now down towards the southeast of France.  Good times!  We finally arrived home about 10:45 and man was it nice to see my babies!

Let's talk about this hotel...this was it, besides the tiny bathroom i'm standing next to as you walk in the door.  European hotels are expensive and small.  This micro sized room was $540 for 2 nights! The bed was not comfortable.  The water was hot.  The location was great for us.  In the states, we pay a lot for a room, however, the room is usually large and has lots of nice amenities to it.  These here...nothing.  Okay, you get some towels to use and shampoo and soap if you forgot yours.  It was fun though and I'm glad we went...even with the high prices :(

this was taken before we went across the bridge to get to the tower, that we never ended up getting to...ha!

on our walk back to the hotel to warm up

Palais de la decouverte

from the Louvre

playing with the camera settings

we liked the night vision setting!

Louvre

on our walk to the Notre Dame

This bridge was pretty awesome.  It had millions of padlocks locked to it.  It's the "love padlocks" which symbolizes everlasting love!  How cool is that?!?  

this here...well it was my "if I know where the ferris wheel is, I know how to get around"...ha!

Even with the rain, cold, and dreary weather, we had a great time.  All thanks to Nick's dad for keeping the kids so we could have a break away.  Because we couldn't see everything we'd hoped, Nick wants to come back with the kids.