While I Was in Paris

My mom introduced the boys to water beads.  The boys loved them! 

Water beads starts off as little pellets and when submerged in water they grow.  John had a good time watching them grow by making water dots on paper each hour.

Look at those eyes.

Okay, back to the beads.

The beads come in all different colors.  You can buy them at almost any craft store.  They come in the dried pellet form and in jars with them already about this size.

The cool thing is that if these beads are left out to dry they will go back to in the little tiny pellet forms.

My mom told the boys they could play with them however they wanted.  Apparently this is what Anders thinks is cool.

Gus made a camera and wanted my mom to take a picture of him taking a picture. 

My mom started a book that we still need to finish.  I thank my mother every time I pick up that darn thing.  It is an incredibly boring book.  But somehow this book managed to win a Newberry.  Gus picked this book because it is about a dog.  Go figure.  And because it is about a dog this kid needs to finish it.  I've never been so determine to teach this kid to read to himself.

The boys also enjoyed building puzzles with my dad.  This is actually 3 puzzles in 1.

Grandma lets them eat in the living room.  Grandma is so cool.

The Fiene boys couldn't be in Texas without visiting the Blaschkes. They had fun swimming.

The boys also had fun hanging out with Uncle Mark.  Gus is like Mark's mini-me so I love when they get to see each other.  Mark and Gus "get" each other.

My Travels Abroad: Paris-Day Two

Our first stop in Paris the next day was the Eiffel Tower.

See all these people taking pictures in front the tower?  They were smart.  This is the best place to take pictures in front of the tower.  It was drizzling and Hans and I didn't want to get off of the bus. I got off for two seconds to snap this photo.  We regretted this later when we tried to get a picture in front of the tower from a different place.

Then we stopped at the Dome les Invalides.  This was the Royal chapel, directly connected to the Church of Saint-Louis.  The dome house the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.

From the dome we made our way to Notre Dame. 

This is Stacy.  Stacy and I are a lot alike.  She was also on the youth part of the trip with Hans and got to know him well.  Stacy and I had a good time making fun of Hans the second half of the trip. It was truly a bonding experience.

There were a ton of people "modeling" in front of the cathedral.  Stacy decided to give it a try.

Hans decided he should model too.  

Actually, the ONLY reason I'm posting this picture is to tell you all that while I was going through picture from our trip Anders kept telling me that daddy looked like a "pretty, pretty, princess" in this picture. Must be the poncho.  Hans immediately threw the poncho away.

We stood in a fairly long line to get into the cathedral.  This was the only picture I took inside.  I was thoroughly distracted by the fact that they were holding mass in the center while a ton of people were just walking around.  I felt pretty icky about the whole thing and Hans and I skedaddled out of there pretty quickly.  It was beautiful in there.  But I believe the church should have the right to close while having services.

The weather was drizzling on and off that morning.  After we came out of the cathedral it started to pour.  So a group of us ate at a little cafe to wait out the rain.

My hunky hubby.

Hans and I would like to come back for our 15th anniversary and stay in one of these little apartments for the week.  I can dream, can't I?