It's A Small World After All

Dumbo The Flying Elephant from tsechief on Vimeo

We did not actually make it on the Small World ride at Disneyland Paris, but we did discover it can feel like a very small world when most of the inhabitants appear to be in one theme park. Disneyland was just as crowded as everyone said it would be and we did spend almost an entire day standing in lines, but did we have the best time ever? Oui! The kids were so excited to just be there amongst all things Disney. It is definitely the happiest place on earth in their books.

Paris is amazing and beautiful. We arrived at our hotel on Thursday evening and found a familiar sight---Toys R Us--it was even open on a holiday and in the evening. Imagine that! Of course we had to peruse the toys and play a bit. We bought an umbrella for the stroller and our first Dora Uno card game. Hours of fun for the whole family. We are realizing why it is that Europeans are able to sit and eat for hours at a time. Many restaurants have playgrounds inside and no, we are not always eating at McDonald's--though we have had McDonald's in both France and Belgium. In fact, a restaurant here in Waterloo, LaPomme, has a playground in the garden (backyard) just like you would have in your home. We played (ate) there on Wednesday night. We found another restaurant with a playground near our hotel in Paris and enjoyed our dinner (playtime).

Friday was all about Disneyland. We arrived when they opened and stayed ALLLLLL day long. It was so much fun and completely exhausting. We were all asleep instantly once in our beds.

On Saturday we headed into the city. We explored the Eiffel Tower--this involved another half day of waiting in line. We were saved an extra half hour of waiting time because of our large family. Though we were not large enough to be considered a "group" which was defined by 20 or more, our double stroller was too big to wind through the line so a very kind gentleman helped us by letting Mommy go up to the front to purchase tickets and then allowed us to use the wheelchair elevator to get on in front of many very irritated patrons. However, they should realize that they were saved an extra half hour of three restless children standing in line near them. We were quite amused by a large tour group of non English speaking Asians who repeatedly took pictures of Nathan and Hannah. At first, they took pictures of the two of them playing and then, on the elevator, they started standing near them and posing for more pictures. One gentleman was holding up the elevator from leaving because he was leaning out trying to get a good shot of our children with his family. Very bizarre...

We didn't see that group again on the next levels, but we did see quite an eclectic group of people. All kinds of American honeymooners, German families, Spanish families, French teenagers... We heard more English spoken in Paris than anywhere in Brussels. We didn't hear as much English spoken at Disneyland, but there is a lot of universal language in parenting. We saw exhausted child after exhausted child and they all had the same tone to their voices that our children do when they are exhausted. We saw that children from everywhere pick their noses and that parents everywhere are repeatedly telling their children to do something or not to do something to no avail. At times, we jokingly quote Bill Cosby from his long ago stand up routine, "Come Here!" "Come Here!" "ComehereComehereComehereComehere!" "StopitStopitStopit!" Not only do we now understand why that was funny, we are living it.

Considering that we spent most of Friday and Saturday standing in line, our children were angels. They rarely complained and we felt our first trip as expats was a success. It wasn't easy, but life with three little ones isn't always easy. We had such a great time that we decided to stay an extra night and found an available room in the Hilton near the the Arc de Triomphe. The area (Champs Elysse) where we spent our last night was so tourist friendly that we found we could easily communicate without speaking much French. We also found that there are 24 hour Pharmacies in Paris which can provide a traveler with almost any item one might need. Including diapers for an infant. For some reason, Mommy packed entirely too many diapers for Hannah and not enough for Sarah. We also learned that we should know the weight of our children in kilos while purchasing diapers. Because Sarah hasn't had a check up since her 6 week appointment, I am not even sure how much she weighs in pounds, but I would guess around 15 or so? I thought I was doing pretty well when I guessed she weighed 8 kilos, but immediately lost all confidence when the woman behind the counter looked at me as if I were crazy. She brought me two packs of diapers one for 7-9 kilos and the other larger. I chose the smaller size, but found that Sarah will have to grow into them because she obviously is not quite ready for the 7-9 kilo range. True to form, she didn't complain once.

We shopped at the largest Disney store we have ever seen. It was one of the few things open noonish on a Sunday and found many of the elusive lunch boxes we have been searching for since Nathan started going to school full days and needed one. He happily chose a Power Rangers lunch box and was thrilled to take it to school today instead of the IKEA tupperware box he's been using.

We had a special guest along on our travels. Nathan's preschool class mascot, Rainbow, came home with us for the long weekend. He had already traveled home with each of Nathan's classmates and it was Nathan's turn. Rainbow came home with us after school, suitcase and all. Though he travels light, with only a toothbrush, pajamas and a scrapbook detailing his previous adventures. We read through the adventures of Nathan's classmates and Rainbow each evening and Daddy spent Sunday night filling in our own chronicles with Rainbow, including pictures. Nathan was excited to have his part of the scrapbook read aloud in school on Monday when Rainbow returned to school. Rainbow had been to Disneyland Paris before (though both times, he wasn't actually allowed to go into the park--no dogs allowed and we actually forgot him, but thought it was a good thing in hindsight since we had enough to keep up with). This was his only documented trip to the Eiffel Tower this year, however. He was a very good guest and loved by Hannah even more than Nathan.

This week we are settling back into reality after a wonderful weekend. We did see that some work has begun on the house and we hope to move into it in about 34 days (not that we're counting). Today marks one month since we arrived in Belgium and we have all settled in as best we can considering we are set up temporarily. This week we have several big projects like taking Sarah to the clinic for her 4 month vaccinations, taking Daddy's suits to be dry cleaned, and going to the post office. (I know those don't sound big, but to put it into perspective, it took 2 weeks for me to get up the nerve and to practice what I wanted to say to make the appointment for Sarah). Mommy has learned to park in the garage in the cellar, which has made coming and going quite a bit easier, though it does take several turns to get into and out of the parking space. I still feel like I am riding a roller coaster each time I drive into and out of the steep driveway to the garage (I'll have to take a picture of that).

Off to practice French while folding laundry. Au revoir!