1 Week at Home

Anna Belle got this Minnie Mouse purse at Disney Paris.  She's quite proud of it.

 Astros game.

 On Tuesday morning the kids and I will start our road trip with Grammy and Megan to Josh and Kayleigh's wedding in Ohio.  We're leaving at 3:00 AM to make sure the kids sleep well for the first few hours.  Meanwhile, we're enjoying our time at home with Daddy.

Disneyland Paris

 On the day before we left, Pappaw took Megan, Brady and me to Disneyland.  Megan and I had to laugh that we went to Disney World in November and it was hot, but Disneyland in June was cold.

 Orlando has the Cindrella castle, but Disney Paris has the Sleeping Beauty castle.

 The coolest animitronic Buzz... his face was a screen and looked quite "real".  Brady was a little frightened by him, but loved the ride so much that we went twice.

You could go one floor up in the Sleeping Beauty castle and see these beautiful stained glass windows, tapestries and the spindle that Aurora pricked her finger on.  The exit even had the tight spiral staircase that she climbed to get to the spindle.  It was magical.

 Each "station" had the story book opened to the appropriate page.

 Here's the view of Fantasyland from the back of the castle.  DisneyWorld is making upgrades to Fantasyland over the next 2 years, and I think the awesome landscaping in Disney Paris might have been part of the inspiration.

The air was cool and the lines were short, so we got to see a lot.  Here's what we hit

Buzz Light Year Blast (twice)

Oribitron 

Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Lancelot's Carousel (Brady kept calling them kerrosells)

Pinocchio

Tea Cups

A storybook boat ride with miniature figures from the Disney classics

Phantom Manor

Pirates Beach (playground)

Pirates of the Carribean

Shootin' Range

Aladin Tour

Brady's so proud he can almost hold his fingers in the "I love you" sign... What a cutie pie.

My favorite picture (in the teacups with the Sleeping Beauty castle in the background, with my favorite little guy).

Lastly, we saw this $50,000 crystal Cinderella castle... crazy?!

Our flight home went better than expected.  We had 5 seats to ourselves, in the extra leg room row, behind the restrooms.  3 of the seat cushions had been spilled on by the previous passengers, so we put a bunch of blankets down and let the kids roam a little.  We were pretty well acclimated to Paris time, so they weren't very sleepy (10 hour flight starting at 10am).  Anna Belle slept about 45 minutes in the middle of the flight, and Brady slept that last 90 minutes.

We're all so happy to come home and see Taylor.  On the flight, I told Anna Belle we were going home to see Daddy.  She got a really worried look and called for him for the following 20 minutes of the flight.

The Beach and Zoo

 This morning, we finally made it out to the beach.  We were one of the very few people out there.  The water was quite chilly, but the sun and sand were warm.  Here's a pic of my baby girl in her new French swimsuit.

 Anna Belle laying out, next to Aunt Megan.  For 14 euro, we got 2 chairs, an umbrella, access to a nice restroom and all the sand toys we could hope for.  

 The beach house that sold us the chairs, etc., was also a fantastic restaurant (Soleil Bleu).

 Here's the kid's meal (Daddy would have liked the mayo).

 The three girls got the Soleil Bleu Salad, which was my favorite meal yet.  The bowl has Basil Sorbet.  I think I was the only one at the table who liked it, but I'm hooked.  I'll have to figure out how to make it at home.

We went to a drive through wildlife preserve, which was really cool.  It had a lot more of the "scary stuff" compared to US drive through zoos.  There's no barrier between our vehicle and these animals!
RHINOS

BEARS!  (Look and Brady in the far right corner)

LIONS!

LIONESSES : )

More bears

Night on the Boardwalk

 Dinners in this area start late and last long.  We try to eat dinner at 7pm, though we're the only ones in the restaurant until about 8pm.  After ordering our food, Megan and I took the kids over to this nearby play area.

 Anna Belle was trying to stand on her head, which seems to be one of her new favorite things.

 Brady had a hard time climbing up on this, but I think it was his favorite bounce house.

 Anna Belle liked walking along this bouncy snake, which was staked in the sand.  It was probably 40 feet long.

 Brady liked the bouncy stuff, but he really likes this sand too.

 At many of our meals, we drink water out of a wine glass.  Brady proudly says, "Like Daddy."

 This was an awesome dessert.  By the time Anna Belle finished, it was all in her lap, legs, neck, elbows, knees, hair... I'm glad I had plenty of wet wipes.

 This beautiful carousel was just a little further down the boardwalk.

 We let Brady play in the sand for awhile before going to bed.  He's really excited about wearing his new swimsuit and actually getting in the water in the morning.