Answers. And what we've been up to lately.

Sorry we've been awol for awhile.  We've been busy around here getting into the swing of summer.

First, the answer to the question that you couldn't google to find the answer from our vacation: What did Linda do in Paris for 4-5 hours by herself?  
I went fabric shopping.  It will always be one of my favorite days.  After taking the train into the city with The Guy and the kids, I stayed on the train when they got off.  I then navigated the trains to get myself to Montmartre(the arts district).  I then wandered toward La Basilique du Sacre Coeur.
Luckily for me, the fabric district happens to be right next to a really lovely landmark in Paris.   I got to browse fabrics while in the shadow of a lovely building.  I spent quite a bit of time browsing through some famous fabric stores.  Tissus Reine was one of my favorite places(I wish I'd had a camera so I had pictures to share, but with only one camera someone had to be without it).  In Tissus Reine they have these 3-4 foot mannequins that are dressed in clothing made by the fashion design students in the area.  The clothing on these mannequins was amazing.  Then I checked out Marche Saint-Pierre where I found some lovely cottons for the girls.  And I also had a great time in Les Coupons de Saint-Pierre and found some fabric for me.

After getting my fill of fabric shopping or realizing that I couldn't carry any more bags or realizing that I hit my budget(one of these things is true) I walked up the hill to Sacre-Coeur to wander around the church.  It is a lovely building.  A few pictures can be found on their website.

I continued my adventure by walking back to the train station.  On the way I passed a store that was selling clothing at ridiculously low prices(a euro or two for a child sized shirt), so I stopped in and found a few things for The Little One and Woof-woof.  I also happened to find a dress for myself.

It didn't look quite like this when I got it.  They didn't have any in my size, but I loved the material so I bought the largest size I could find - a European 50(equivalent to a US 18).  Picking that size was perfect for two reasons - 1)I knew that I was getting enough fabric that I could work with it and 2) it was long enough that I could make a dress out of it.  I spent a few days last week making it fit me.  And now I own a dress again(it's my first dress in about five years).

After the clothes shopping I really made it to the train station.  I didn't have a ticket to get back on the train(I was just planning on buying one), but there was no station agent to sell me a ticket so I was feeling a bit stuck.  I had passed on my way into the station a bunch of men trying to sell me a ticket that I didn't want to buy(I wondered if they were legal or not).  One of the men noticed that I couldn't buy a ticket at the automatic window(annoying US credit cards that don't work in Europe) and he offered me a ticket.  He wanted 2 euros for a day pass.  I told him that I'd buy a ticket for 1 euro but that was it.  His friends laughed at him(and told him not to) but after realizing that I was seriously not going to pay more he sold me the ticket for 1 euro.  Ha!

I navigated the trains back to the Louvre area.  I wandered around the grounds of the Louvre wishing I could go inside.  Then I walked into the Jardin des Tuileries to find my clan.  I found them near the pond with the sailboats.  Unfortunately their time was up with the boats right when I got there so I didn't really get to see them in action.  And then you know the rest of the day.

So what have we been up to since we got home?  We hit the stage of "What are we going to do this summer?" and "I'm bored".  We've been navigating these since.

We sat down and made our Summer List.  The kids loved giving any idea they could to put on the list.

As you can see we've already crossed a few things off.  There are definitely some we'll never get to...

One day while the kids were playing with melty(perler) beads I heard, "Oh no!"  I walked in to find this:

 These things hurt when you walk on them.  Luckily the broom made quick work of them.

We've also been to a few museums.  N's girlfriend came for a weekend visit(I didn't get any pictures of her) so we tagged along on some of the trips they took.  Here N and Sweetie are trying out their exoskeletons.

I still can't believe that N ever got out of that skeleton.  It seemed to be a pretty tight squeeze.

Here is a quote from some exhibit in the museum that I really liked.  Not that I'll ever own a farm, but still cool.

 We've also gotten bored, had plenty of water fights, played with friends, said goodbye to friends who are moving, played games, gone to activity camp, gotten bored, read books, had tea parties, missed The Guy while he's been on business trips, climbed the stairs, gone down the stairs, climbed the stairs, (okay that's what the Little One loves to do), and been having a great time.