Adventure Buddies

There have been a couple of things that have surprised me about living in France. How much people continue to smoke is one. How many people are willing to help you carry your stroller down the stairs of the metro is another. But one of the biggest is HOW MUCH I enjoy exploring the city with my children. I certainly know there are lots of cons to traveling with kids. There are lots of fears about what they can handle or how they might hold you back, but here in Paris I have done both. On my study abroad I was given a book of guided walks around Paris written by my professors. Some of them were assigned as homework and some of them were optional. As a student, I enjoyed the walks that I went on. I loved the sights, sounds, architecture, etc. Fast forward over a decade and here I am back in Paris with that same little book (which I dug out of a keepsakes box in my basement). This time I am attempting the same walks pushing a double stroller, sporting a diaper bag and saying, "Let's just not touch each other" every other minute.  But, boy is it FUN to go adventuring with these two little buddies! 

Tuesday, we went on an adventure to a park up north where I had heard they had an epic dragon slide. The slide totally lived up to its legacy. It was HUGE and the would-be sliders had to brave a gauntlet of obstacles to even attempt the slide. As soon as Gideon saw it he raced over to try, but I was not sure he was going to be brave enough and with only me to watch both boys I could not very well climb up there to bring him back down. So, nervously, I watched as Gideon slowly made his way up and up and up. Pierce and I made our way over to the bottom and watched as Gideon came flying out. He LOVED it and did it 20 more times. I could not believe how brave he was hanging out with the 9-13 year-olds also enjoying the slide. Meanwhile Pierce and I played on other parts of the park where we discovered that beyond dragons, this park could boast LOADS of little furry friends. I am convinced that Remi the rat’s entire klan was hanging out with us at the park. Pierce thought it was hilarious and wanted to chase them which totally freaked me out! But we played at the park for a while and then on the way home made our way to a second park which had the coolest sand conveyer belt assembly line! That night Benjin had the fun idea for me to go on a little date adventure with just Gideon. So, Gideon grabbed his bike, and I grabbed my running shoes and we ran/biked over to the neighboring chateaux. It was so fun to be out on an adventure with my little adventure buddy, hear his thoughts and talk about how much we love moving our bodies. 

On Wednesday we attempted to go to the Nation market to pick out an umbrella. (Gideon has been saving up for weeks to buy a kids umbrella, and Wednesday was the day.) Unfortunately, when we got there, it was raining and as a result many of the usual vendors were absent (ironically including our lovely umbrella man!) Gideon handled the disappointment really well. The rest of the day as we walked around in the rain Gideon and I kept joking to each other, “man! I sure wish we had an umbrella right about now!” Then we would both laugh and laugh.

We made our way from the market to the metro and rode over to Montparnasse (the art district) where we went to the Bourdelle museum (the old home/studio of one of Rodin’s students). We had a fabulous time learning about the various techniques and tools used in producing sculptures and statues. I was once again surprised how long Gideon’s attention span was for learning about art. On the way back home we all got totally soaked. At one point I looked at our reflection in the glass shop windows we were passing. I couldn’t help but laugh at our sopping motley crew. It’s not fun to get stuck in the rain, but way more fun to do it together! At home we pulled out the playdough and put our new sculpting knowledge to use pretending our tools were point chisels, tooth chisels and hammers. 

Thursday, we decided to finally visit the bridge that was made from the remains of the Bastille. So, we rode the metro over to the Concorde area and then went for a lovely walk. We walked past France’s version of the White House (where the president lives) as well as a bunch of embassies. That sparked a discussion about the purpose of embassies and why some countries go to war. We learned about how the Concord intersection was originally designed and how it has changed over the years. We saw some swanky hotels and of course walked across the bridge made from the stones of the Bastille. We ended by zipping over to a park near daddy’s work and meeting up with him for a picnic lunch. We stayed and played long after daddy had to head back to work and on our way home we picked up a pumpkin to carve. The boys were ecstatic about daddy, the park, and the pumpkin. 

Friday we headed over to Jardin des Plants to spend the day at the Menagerie (basically a zoo). Pierce was a walking machine and walked all over the zoo. All of a sudden, Pierce is really a little boy! He is getting so grown up! He was especially enthralled by the “flamants roses” (flamingos). But the real highlight for both boys was a mulch pit in the middle of the monkey house. Ha! There were no toys, no animals, no nothing -- just a bunch of chopped up wood chucks, but the boys could have played for hours. From there we made our way home to wait on the guy who was going to fix our water heater (no more cold showers --- woot woot!!) and then headed with Benjin to dinner at the home of some Venezuelan friends in the ward. They taught us how to make incredibly delicious arepas and their girls were over the top nice to our boys.

On Saturday, we spent the morning acting the part of American tourists. We climbed up Arc de Triumph and watched the cars race around. Then we made our way to the Latin quarter and the Pantheon where we had a picnic and explored the crypt (where people like Marie Curie, Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas are buried.) Then we came home so that Benjin could get on a virtual conference while the boys and I had an at-home Halloween party which included dressing up like Batman and Robin, making Halloween cards, watching a Halloween film and going trick or treating to the doors in our apartment. One of my favorite parts was walking up the street with my two superheroes to pick up a frozen pizza from the local grocery store. The French people around us LOVED the boy's costumes since it's much more of a rarity here where Halloween has only recently attracted participants. 

Gideon's attempt to take a picture of us....haha. 

+

Sunday and Monday were much more chill -- which was delightful! We read books, played with cars and sang songs. We drank hot chocolate, carved a pumpkin and went puddle jumping. Through it all Pierce and Gideon added both their two sense and their enthusiasm.  

Dressed up or not, these two little dudes really are my heroes. I love the way they see the world. I love how their eyes light up at little things like seeing a doggie or getting to have chips for dinner. Adventures come in many forms. Sometimes it the high-energy roller coaster kind that comes from climbing the Arc de Triumph and sometimes it's the "can we make it up the stairs with all the groceries?" type but either way -- it's way more fun to do it with my crime-fighting adventure buddies by my side! 

Love, 

La Famille Facer