Today I woke up on the wrong side of the bed for some reason... but by the end of the day I was feeling great. It had a lot to do with Tuileries Gardens (right behind the Louvres), because we had so much fun.
Here's what we did:
We took a walk from our apartment to the Bastille area, and walked around Victor Hugo's house. On our way, we found some beautiful gardens and took some photos...
This is just a normal cafe on the way, but they are so cute.
This is the outside view of Victor Hugo's house and our cute little Maddie.
Once we got to the Bastille area, we went to the market (everything you would want and more). We bought some $5 croc wanna bees for the kids and lots of fruit (that wasn't super great :( super bummer ).
Walking through Paris isn't ideal for kids because they walk so slow, and usually want to play, but when we stop... they love playing around. Even on grafitti covered seats :)
Emi picking out some salad...
Trying to feed pigeons...
Chasing pigeons...
After our walk to the Bastille area, we went back to the apartment with crying and tired kids! We kicked off our shoes, put Emi to bed, and relaxed a little. I forgot we were out of toilet paper- so I took Maddie on an adventure to get some groceries and an extra map. 1 hour 1/2 later, we accomplished our task- but my visa didn't work at the checkout lane in the store which was SUPER embarrassing in front of everyone when I couldn't speak French (at least very well to explain what was going on!). Anyway... after an ATM stop, everything worked out, and Maddie was so helpful to have with me. She was so patient and kept on telling me that everything would be ok. What a great little helper.
After our break- we walked to Tuileries Garden to walk and play with all the fun things they had set up.
Being goofy...
Chilling out on the grass... playing through the hedges.
Maddie had fun racing around and running as fast as she could go...
And then Dad joined in...
They have an amuzement park set up for the summer... and we had a BLAST. We chose this slide as our first ride... super fun!
This picture makes me laugh so hard, because Emilie's face looks so scared! I felt her tense up when I was holding her, but I didn't see her face until tonight when I was uploading photos! Poor girl :( But, I think she had fun because she was laughing at the end!
Our second choice was a 2 story car ride with bubbles. It was awesome. Maddie chose the motorcycle and Emilie chose the pink car. Love this ride.
Then Maddie chose this roller coaster and rode all by herself ! Yay Maddie!!!
One of my favorite things to do is ride the Ferris Wheel because the view is terrific. The plexi glass ruins photos, but this is our view of the Eiffel Tower...
View of Sacre Coeur...
My view of the gang in our little pod...
View of modern Paris on the right... I can't wait to go there and see the Modern version of the Arch de Triomphe...
After the gardens, we started back to home for dinner etc. On the way, I dropped our house keys! AGH! I was about to cry. Why? This can't happen! Luckily I noticed pretty quick, and knew exactly the area that I dropped them. We looked and looked and looked... nothing. Looked, and looked. Nothing. Then, I knew someone must have picked it up. Before we completely gave up hope, I asked some guys outside of a disco if they had seen some keys... and luckily they HAD! O My gosh. A serious miracle. I am going to bed happy.
We aimed to get to Versailles at 9 am this morning, but it ended up more like 11:15 because of kids, and just the wear and tear of getting out that early. But- we finally did it!
Unfortunately, one of the train lines was canceled, so that added a lot of time to how long we thought it was going to take us- but again... "Noth'ns going to stop us now..."
If he hasn't told you already, Steve loathes Versailles. I think it's because last time we came, there were 5 million people and we only toured the main Palace (and he hates rococo). So, this time, we skipped the main Palace, and just toured Marie Antoinette's estate and the gardens. We had a great time...there is just too much to see- I think it would be great to do it in 2 days!
We stopped on the grass and had a picnic which was one of the highlights of the day. Unfortunately, Maddie got stung by a bee... so that was a little dramatic. But, after it wore off, she was a champ and was already feeding the swans and ducks. This place is out of this world. I would love to go back in time and see these people live here. It must have been quite a sight. And- to see them dethroned and then later decapitated... crazy.
In the love dome...
I think the Hamlet is my favorite. If I were Marie-Antoinette, I would definitely have stayed here. I don't think I've ever seen the water lily's like this... and of course the house is gorgeous.
Out of a storybook... it's kind of funny to see the "real" thing after seeing so many replicas of this type of look.
All of the buildings were closed unfortunately, but the gardens were alive. The pond was packed full of carp.
I was excited to go the little farm (obviously for the kids)... and they really liked it.
This pig was so overweight... we didn't know if it was pregnant! It's stomach was dragging on the grass!
So beautiful and relaxing...
In front of Marie-Antoinette's Petit Trianon.
No detail overlooked.
We loved this place!
Most of the crowds are at the beginning of the grounds... and it was so tranquil to get away and overlook the grand canal (they brought venice to them!). I would have liked to spend more time here, but because it takes so long to walk around... we were already running late!
A more modern portion of the gardens (obviously added later).
As we were walking back, we heard blasting classical music and stumbled upon the fountain performance! We were mesmorized to the water synchronized to each stanza... it was awesome.
Watching the show...
The mobs of crowds leaving Versailles when it closed at 5:30. I would love to have a cool friend who could get me into this place for a private tour. That would be awesome. 
