I mistakenly told my kids that today was the first day of school for all of their friends back in Minnesota. Imagine the complaints I got from them about us starting early! Oops! I need to learn to keep my mouth shut! Anyway, to all of you mothers out there who will finally have a quiet house, enjoy! Shed a tear or two if you must, but enjoy wallowing in the silence.
We spent the weekend driving to Bastogne, Belgium, the site of the famous "Battle of the Bulge" of WWII. It was very cool. We toured a museum that had those little audio tour headsets to carry around. The kids loved it. I will let you guess which kid and which husband loved it the most! I bought Michael a Battle of the Bulge comic book, he has since devoured it, logging in every detail I am sure. I feel sorry for any history professors that make an error in a lecture. Michael isn't super forgiving of those kinds of mistakes! Cool that the kids get a first hand look at a very pivotal point of WWII.
After struggling to find a hotel that would sleep 5 of us (use a French accent and say, "It is impossible!" a few 15 times, and see if it kind of bugs you after awhile!). As a note in point, it is impossible. Hotels rooms very seldom sleep 4 much less than 5 in Europe. We ended up getting 2 rooms in a town that seldom sees tourists (so much so that people asked us how we ended up there!) and bedded down for the night. Sunday we drove to Diekirch, Luxembourg, another site of a big battle in WWII. The kids were able to climb on tanks and tour another pretty impressive museum. Again, Michael and Jim were the last ones out, Connor, Daniel and I held in for much of the self-guided audio tour, then the ants in the boys pants kicked in and we were back climbing on tanks! American Veterans are still being honored here for all they have done for this little section of the world. It was nice to see.
This week we are planning on taking advantage of the great forecasted weather (high 70's/low 80's) and will get out as much as possible. Jim is going to Minnesota for 5 days leaving on Sunday. I (being brave or crazy we will see which) am planning on taking the kids to Paris while he is gone. It is about a 7 hour drive through Germany, Luxembourg then France. I am hoping to find a place to stay far enough outside of Paris to avoid ever driving in the city. I have heard it can be overwhelming and scary! We plan on using the city's train system to get around. If anyone out there has ever taken 3 kids to Paris by themselves and survived, I would love some pointers!
If you are near the Ranch Sunday evening, stop in and say hi to Jim, I am guessing he won't have much chance for visiting, so you would have to drop in on him. He is instructed to bring back syrup (it is $11 for a small bottle here) and Legos from the basement. Remind him, will you? All the best my dear friends! Tchuss!
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Hey Kathy...
ReplyDeleteDo they sell "Lyle's Golden Syrup" anywhere around you? It comes from the UK, and it comes in Maple Flavouring. While it's not the SAME as Mrs. Butterworths, it might suit. We can get a small bottle for about $4 in the local shops and it does the trick. Oh, and just remind Jim to pack the syrup in his checked suitcase, otherwise it will get confiscated at security. I lost four jars of peanut butter from my last trip to MN, because it is considered a paste. Argh.
Good luck in Paris!
xoxxo
Terri