Trip - Day 7

This tied for my favorite day of the trip. It was so relaxing and fun to explore.

After waking up in Mont St Michel, we headed to the Normandy Coast, not knowing what to expect. We wanted to visit some World War II monuments before heading back to Paris for the night.

As we drove along the beach looking for some historic sites, we found this farmers market. It was the greatest thing ever! So bright and colorful, selling such fun things! Our first step was getting a monster crepe with Nutella, to eat while we walked around.

If we'd had a way to cook these, I would've loaded up on artichokes and asparagus. They were huge and beautiful!

You can't tell from the picture, but these items are for very robust, curvy women. An interesting item to place next to the fruit and veggie stand.

Being neither robust nor curvy, my souvenir was a table cloth decorated with red poppies : ) I LOVED the tents with the table and bed linens, they were so pretty!

After finishing off our crepes, we picked up our daily bread and cheese. I want to know how to make french artisan breads! (Amber, this may be something we do when you move out : )

We picked up our other daily staples, strawberry tart and coffee eclair, and headed to the beach! We ate, watched the sale boats, and Johnny scanned the beach for old naked ladies.

There were two.

"Let's collect some of the seashells so we can take them home and make fun crafts with them! I'd love to decorate frames or wall sconces!"

"Ok Johnny, whatever you want to do."

Excellent place for skipping rocks.

Looking for more seashells.

We stopped here, read up on what occurred on D-Day and how important it was, and thought about how beautiful and special this place is.

Then said goodbye to the amazing beach.

Headed back to Paris.

We got back around 3:00 and our first stop was the Sacre Coeur. The place was a mad house, and no photos allowed inside.

The view of Paris was pretty spectacular.

After Sacre Coeur there was a lot of walking back to the car, driving in circles to find the car rental return, train rides to our hotel, and more walking to the hotel.

We shopped on the Champs Elysees, walked until it was dark, then stopped at a fun restaurant for a nice dinner on our last night here.

Johnny ordered the seafood platter (meant for four people) and didn't realize that it meant you got the whole crustacean, and had to crack and peel them yourself. I was totally grossed out! What made it more entertaining was that there were couples on either side of us watching what we were doing. As Johnny cracked the shells pieces flew everywhere, making me laugh. If one of the hideous creatures fell on the floor he'd shout "Quick! Step on it, it's getting away!", making me squirt water out my nose. This happened repeatedly. It was awful and hysterical. I still don't think Johnny's able to eat shellfish.

We biked to the Louvre for some night pictures, it was beautiful!

A view of the Arc de Triumph down the Champs Elysees.

We then headed back to our hotel to get as much sleep in as we could before our 5:20am train ride back to London in the morning. We didn't know that the next day would be packed full of complications.

Trip - Day 6

Yes, I am still doing trip posts. I have to get it all on here before I forget! That way when I am stuck in the house this winter with three crazy boys, I can look at these and remember that I got away once.

So, anyway, we were in the Loire Valley the day before, then woke up the next day and headed north/west to Mont St Michel.

We drove through the beautiful French countryside and saw homes like this.

It took us about 4 hours to get here, and would've only taken 2 1/2 had I not gotten us lost a few times. (Johnny is a very patient man.)

We got here, dropped our stuff off in our hotel, and realized we had half an hour before the monastery closed on the top of the mountain. Needless to say, we were rushed.

After getting onto the island we had this crowd to fight our way through to get to the top. Thank heavens I wasn't pregnant! (I usually am anytime we take a vacation...)

We barely made it in time!

Views from the top

If there hadn't been a piece of glass behind Johnny he could've plummeted 100 feet to the small courtyard below. I wouldn't stand too close to it, it freaked me out.

"Paige, take a picture of me sitting here. This is where I would do Algebra if it were my house"

"Why algebra? On an iPad?"

"I don't know."

"This isn't a house, it's a monastery"

"Hey annoying, just take the picture."

Yikes

We then hobbled down, back to our hotel room for something to eat and rest. I think I watched some movie in French while Johnny slept, and ate my weight in bread and cheese, and green olives.

We went back out to watch the tide come in then made our way back to the island to see it at night. Johnny bought me an ice cream cone, I'd been asking for one for hours, and we walked around a bit.

This place was amazing!

Some Advice...

I got these pots at Lowes today on sale and wasn't a fan of the muddy brown and blue color of the ceramic. I thought I'd paint them a fall color, like bronze, and then decided to throw a little gold on them too. I'm really into gold lately, weird considering I've always hated it.

It seemed like a good idea, but now I'm questioning it.

I feel they are a little Ceaser's Palace-esque

Too gold? Should I just do all bronze? Should I bag it and paint them hot pink?

I'm sure Johnny would love that.

Side note, taking all three boys to Lowes by myself is an adventure. Note to self, you ARE as crazy as everyone thinks you are, and giving them metal rods to keep them entertained will ALWAYS result in an eye, head, and hand injury.

Random

We were able to go to this craptastic game. I was going to wear red, but Johnny told me I didn't want to get booed as the only Ute fan in the sea of navy BYU students.

I shouldn't have listened.

I did enjoy watching the old men throw their hats down and yell at the refs like they had control over the game. Ridic.

Drake has been holding very important "firetruck" meetings in the back yard. The item on today's agenda: Cool Ranch Doritos or Cheetos? You decide.

Allbee Family Reunion

Two weekends ago we took a short roadtrip to California for an Allbee Family Reunion. This event was pretty momentous. My Grandpa Allbee died in 1981, right after my parents got married. His burial was the last time my dad's family had all been together. We have seen his 4 siblings at different times over the last 30 years, but the visits were few and far between and I hadn't seen most of my cousins since we were 10 years old or younger.

My dad's family life was great for a while but turned kinda tragic when his dad was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis that ate away at his ability to work and care for his family. My grandma suffered from a few nervous breakdowns and mentally checked out for a few years.

My Grandpa's grave was never given a headstone. My Uncle Dirk (Derek) decided now was the time to give him one, and this was the main reason for us driving out to Sacramento where my dad grew up. The experience was pretty amazing. My dad gave a great talk about his dad at the gravesite, and we then headed to my aunts home to eat some of their favorite meals from when they were kids.

The new headstone. I'm thinking Wilbur might be an awesome name for my next boy....not (sorry Grandpa)

Johnny did a great job keeping this guy entertained so I could listen

My dad is the oldest of 5, and the shortest brother at 6'2", I hope my boys get their height!

We were also in California for this guy, my 16 year old cousin Connor. He has Battens disease that is slowly taking away his motor skills. He is now blind, hard of hearing, and can't really walk. The disease will soon take his life, but a great desire he's had since he was 8 was getting baptized, and we got to see that the next day!

On Sunday we left Sacramento and headed to Redwood City for the baptism where my uncle lives, which is just south of San Francisco. I couldn't be so close to my favorite city and not stop by!

We had an hour and a half to show the boys the seals, hop on a carousel, and walk back to the car.

This baptism was one of the greatest experiences! Connor's mom had been against it for 8 years and finally agreed to it. My dad baptized him, my brother assisted, and Johnny witnessed, and it was amazing. I love the men in my life!

After the baptism we kicked it at my uncles for a few hours then started our long drive home. We stayed over night in Lake Tahoe then headed home the next morning.

The boys were surprisingly good in the car. They watched movies (Tangled, Cars, Despicable Me, Cars, Megamind, Cars, and on and on and on...)

Con had a 3 hour threshold, then cried and threw things. If Con threw a car at my head then Bubba hit Con, then Drake would reach across Con and hit Bubbs, then Con would hit Drake while he was across him, which resulted in 30 hours of me yelling "Quit hitting, no touching, I'm sorry Con - I won't yell, Drake you're not the mom! (Why?) I'm the mom! Bubba, don't bite Con! I'm sorry Con, its ok! (and on and on and on...)"

The car ride was magical.

We won't be taking any more road trips for a while, but I'm very grateful for this experience. I learned a lot about my dad's side of the family and I'm grateful for the life my dad provided me, considering where he came from.

And I guess I'm grateful for the opportunities my boys gave me to practice patience and love.......I guess.