Paris for the weekend

Daniel was supposed to come home last weekend. Sunday was Mother's Day here in France. Plans changed and he tried to find a way for us to join him in Toulouse. No go. All flights booked (especially the return). We tried a few other options and then he decided to drive 5 hours up to Paris and we took the train over. It was a free Saturday from school.

The kids in the Floral Park in Vicennes.
On the "White Train"





A squirl we saw drinking;


Playing on some sculpture;





In front of the hotel;







I remembered last minute that my friend Laurel, whom I met on the Antarctica cruise, was going to be there that weekend. She didn't have time to come over and I didn't see how we could get over there... Luckily, I pulled up her old email and it said where she was staying. The reservation was in her name! Contact was made and we spent Sunday lunch together (after Friday and Saturday were spent with the uncle and Daniel's sister).





Upon our return, after the cab pulled up at almost 8pm, we found a dead baby bird on our driveway. I really didn't have time to deal with a dead baby bird but I certainly wasn't going to leave it. The kids were both mortified and facinated. I went and got an old washcloth and wrapped him up. I buried him in the garden, much to Davina's horror.

We had to have the Death Talk. We talked about how small and cute he was and how sad it was that he died. They wanted to know what happened to his feathers and I explained that he was so small that his feathers hadn't even grown in yet. They thought it was sad that this bird didn't grow feathers and learn to fly and do all the other bird things he was supposed to do. We put a brick over the spot where he's buried and Davina put a flower on it today.

Davina visits the European Parliament

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament

Here in Strasbourg, for one week a month, the European Parliament comes to town, clogging up our streets and filling up hotels. Once a year, we get to see the inside. Talia had a birthday party and Ronnie was with Daniel visiting cousins so I took Davina.











She's unhappy because "It hurts my but".



There were preformances all over the place. Here is some Hungarian dancing;







This is "Gospel Kids" (yes, the title is in English), a gospel group with a lot of St. Jean children participating.





Here's some information on them in French;

http://www.gospelkids.net/



There were more preformances inside;



Lots of free stuff being given out by the various organizations present, including balloons;







A few escaped;



View from inside;



View of the Human Rights Building from inside Parliament;



Check out my future diplomat;





She threw off the translation earphones (which were off anyway) because "there is no music".













Outside they had some baby animals;





I knew it had been a long day for her when she wasn't enraptured. Usually, animals of any type hold her attention!

Odd pictures

Talia loves her baby sister (perhaps sometimes a bit too much...);



We're finally having decent weather. The kids took advantage to hang out on the lounge chairs;







Davina goes shopping with Mommy. Here she is on the tram;





We happened to pass by Place Broglie with the old City Hall. I told Davina that Mommy and Papa got married here and she loved getting a photo in front of it. It's actually the exact room too, the window in the background;





Since we're having good weather, I bought the girls some not-quite-so-matching dresses but ones that go together.

Managed to get a good undie view of Davina;

My kids finally see the circus!

May 1st is a national holiday here (makes it hard to forget Barbara K's birthday;). I took advantage to finally take my kids to the circus. I've wanted to do this for awhile and decided to wait till Davina turned 4. Partly, I didn't want her scared like I was at age 3 and also, it's expensive.

Some of the circuses that come here seem a little seedy so when I saw this one, I thought, this is it!

http://www.cirque-gruss.com/

Filming wasn't allowed but I found this promo video on YouTube that shows the exact show we saw;



The elephants were impressive but this is from an old show.



The music was actually more like Cirque de Soleil. Perhaps they immitate is. They didn't play actual traditional circus music and the clowns weren't all masked up either (just one).

We came early to visit the zoo;

Pony petting;









Llamas;



Camels;





One had a floppy hump;



Ostriche (which they didn't use, not sure why). Davina declared "It is NOT cute". I love them and their long eyelashes. They thought it was funny that Mommy tried to ride one in South Africa;



The best were the Elephants;





They got a pre-show shower;