Riding the Mimi and Papa circuit--April 19th and 22nd

I'm so very blessed that my children live within a day's drive of me. When Beth was in NY, it was excruciating to have her, Greg and Evie so far away. I was able to capitalize on this by attending 2 of Evie and Laynes activities.

First was Evie's preschool bird program.  Evie was the cutest little chic-a-dee you ever did see! She went in front of the whole group during her turn and calmly said her lines...ending with an adorable sing-song voice saying, "Drink you tea", for the chic-a-dee song. Each kid gave info about different birds. They sang a cute rendition of "Rockin' Robin" and then they got their "Lady Bug Wings", which signify the end of 3 yr old class. I must admit I had to stifle a tear or two.  I was so proud of Evie, it couldn't be easy for a little one to perform in front of a good size crowd. She handled it expertly!

It couldn't have been that long since her Mom was singing and performing??

 
This is Evie's copy of the following art work, amazing! It was hanging on the wall at preschool.

A couple of days later, John, Abbey, Elijah and I got to go to Laynes soccer game. I know absolutely nothing about soccer, except you can't use your hands, and you want to get the ball into the goal. Anyway, I loved watching my sweetie run and kick the ball! Her dad was her coach and they had a practice and then 2 games. The weather is just starting to get warm, so it was nice to be outside. I also got to play with Waverly and Lyra(when she let me), while Layne was taking a break. I'm proud of her and her drive to succeed!

Look at her go!!

I love all of these blessings and their parents! I'm proud of their parent's for getting them involved in extra activities. I'm also so very thankful that I live close enough to go and see them perform!

Chinese dance at All Children's Day

It was a busy afternoon. After meeting Natalie Coughlin, Abbey performed at the All Children's Day festival. She did the Flower Drum dance.

Her two favorite things...swimming and Chinese Dance, all in one day!

Abbey swims with an Olympian-May

Abbey got a chance to participate in a clinic with Olympic Swimmer Natalie Coughlin. She was beyond excited to be able to get into the water with a real Olympic swimmer. After the clinic, she was able to get Natalie's autograph.

Last Day in Paris

So...after our time at Versailles, we headed over to the Musee' D'Orsey. We had heard how wonderful this much smaller museum was and all we heard proved true. We saw so many wonderful famous works of art.

The museum used to be a train station, this was the original clock.

After we got out we enjoyed a stroll along the Seine. The weather was gorgeous!

We took a cab to our hotel and started to walk off the beaten path.

Our first stop was at my favorite French place...

We then started walking. We were walking with native Parisians. We saw where they live, shop and socialize. These were some chalk drawings...

Ealier in the week, I wanted to stop at a spot and get a picture of the Eiffel Tower. John didn't think it was the correct place, so we didn't get off of the bus. As we walked, low and behold, we ended up here...

and I got my picture

We walked back and went to what ended up being our favorite restaurant.

We then went and walked down the Champs d'Elyses one more time. We went over to the Arc De Triomphe one last time.

As we were going back to our hotel I got this pic of the sun setting by the Arc! So beautiful!

As we started to pack, John took one more look toward the Arc.

And so ended the most wonderful vacation. It was so wonderful! John and I saw some amazing sights. We experienced several different cultures and saw some major historical places.  But the most wonderful part was our time together. We are so blessed to have each other. We love new experiences, but it doesn't matter where we are, whether in Paris, London or Raleigh, as long as we are together life is good!!

I'm so grateful to the Lord for providing for this trip, and to my grown daughters who didn't blink an eye when asked to take care of Abbey and Elijah. They both gave the younger two fun experiences.  To Daniel who made it clear he would do whatever he needed to to ensure we got to take this trip. My grown babies showed amazing love to me and John that touched my heart!

I'll never forget this trip....aka "We'll always have Paris"!!!