Growing E

Just a quick update on E, she is turning into a butter ball. This is her today, kicking back in her donut.

Cité des Sciences - the best thing you could do with your kid in Paris!

If you are on your way to Paris and have a child over the age of 2, visiting the Cité des Sciences is a MUST. We were there on Saturday, and while the kids and S have been before, it was my first time. I sent S there 6 months ago as I had heard only excellent things about it, but I am so happy that I have finally made it there  and seen for myself just how amazing and special the museum is. We went to the 2-7 year old section, which you book into in advance due to high demand and thankfully keeps the exhibits inclusive for everyone. It can not get too crowded this way, and makes your hour and a half session action packed and exciting. There is so much to do!

 It is all interactive and educational and includes: animals that you move onto different sensor pads based on footprint, skin type, & number of limbs which sound out the animal sound if you are correct; amazing lazer pens (about the size of your 2 year old) that show your writing/drawing in the dark; a car that you screw on and off pieces such as headlights, wheel nuts, horns etc.. as well as fight the other kids for a turn to drive; a maze to run through (over and over again!); an excellent building section where you dress up in hard hat and jacket and haul, hoist, wheel, push, 

carry and build with lightweight foam bricks 

around a construction site; a water section that was the hugest hit for our boys of taps, buckets, running stream and bits that float along it, hoses, and spilling things; a wind section which I was disappointed not to get the boys into but something for next time; fun section of mirrors; and then into computers where kids very quickly worked out what to do with touch screens (and I was quickly lost); and really a whole lot more that I could go on about forever. Don't miss out because you think it is too far away, go to 

Parc La Villette and make time for this museum! 

children's homemade oven

While in Brussels I went to the fabulous Dutch shop Hema (love it!) and picked up a few things, two of which were kids kitchen items on sale and cute red polka dot tea set. After I moaned a while about how one can not buy everything one wants for their kids due to insane expense, and the whole sexual stereotyping in kids toys (I would love them to have a lot more of the 'girlie' toys, but unisex and boy toys are money enough, let along the girls things!) my friend 

mentioned that she had used an old box and had drawn on it for her daughters orginial kitchen piece. This got me thinking, as I had been  green-eyeing kids kitchens for some time, that I may as well make my own. Here is the product of 2 pampers boxes, a bit of paint, and a 

trip to Ikea for a few knobs:

Brussels

We spent the weekend in Brussels, which was so lovely. Miraculously, and if you have ever spent any time there you will truly appreciate how miraculous it was, the weekend was mostly sunny! 

We arrived late Friday night, and then woke to the most gorgeous spring day. We stayed at the fabulous apartment of our friends who were away over the weekend (sad but also convenient!) who have loads of warehouse space and a very large terrace, so the kids had the most wonderful time playing with our hosts toys and books and watering their terrace plants (oh, about 5 times each day) and generally having enough space to run around. We took a walk on Saturday morning in the old neighbourhood, taking in Parc Egmont, Le Petit Sablon, our old street and house front, into the Grand Sablon where we bought Wittamer bread and admired their chocolate window display for easter, bought chocolates at our favourite Pierre Marcolini, tried the macaroons at

 Marcolini Patisserie (as that was new for us), picked up a divine tulip bouquet at the flower shop near Flammant, and then walked back to the apartment taking in a gorgeous clear vista over the rest of Brussels on the way (catching the Basilica and the Atomium from afar). On Sunday we had friends over to the apartment for brunch (quiche, pizza, salad, cheese, and the obligatoire beautiful gateaux) and it was wonderful to see two of our birth friends and their now 2 and half year old girls.

Hotel du Nord

Last Tuesday night I went to Hotel du Nord for dinner to catch up with a couple of friends. I highly recommend it! The food was great, the ambiance spot on, the service attentive (though our waiter was actually a bit too wacky, verging on annoying, though everything else about the restaurant totally compensated for his strangeness), and the wine very nice (I am no wine buff, all I know is that it went down well). It has made my list of favourites... though the only draw back is that it is a bit of hike away, being over at Canal St Martin.

Growing

I have to call this growing, as this has been a long time ambition of the boys. About a year ago we were out with a friends daughter who is about 8 and she climbed this statue/gate/thingy (oh so eloquent!) on the Champ de Mars. Ever since the boys have failed in all attempts to emulate her, that is until yesterday, when they kept asking me to help them, and I took my usual approach 'if you can't do it on your own then your too little/young to do it'. To credit their persistence they did it, and I was happy for them.

Promenade Plantée

Today I enjoyed spring along the Promenade Plantée, also known as the Coulée Verte. With another mummy friend, we sought a tranquil escape from les enfants (I did take the sleeping baby though). It is a disused railway line, turned into an elevated walkway planted with an abundance of trees and flowers, all beginning to bloom. It is in the 12eme, beginning at Avenue Daumesnil (near Bastille), and we ended at Parc de Reuilly, found a moroccan cafe for a refreshing thé a la menthe (and a very decadent chantilly laced ice cream sundae) then returned back along the elevated viaduct. I would suggest visiting it in another week when it will be in full bloom, although it is already lovely to walk at tree top height along a stretch of Paris on such a stunning spring day as we enjoyed in Paris today. For more info on it you could check out here. Oh it is a great thing to do with kids (for those not seeking to escape theirs), except if taking a pousette you have to get it up a number of steps to start (though there may be a lift, I did not look), as Parc de Reuilly has a kids play area. 

Another Spring post - first football session!

An absolutely beautiful day today on the Champ de Mars. I had a crazy moment this morning, where I realised 3 kids under 3 was a complete nightmare, boys were running round the house naked to high pitch laughter and screaming, the baby would not stop crying, and I just wanted to hide from all mothering requirements. So I found the energy from within (via a caffeine shot) and took them all outside with footballs and blankets. The blankets for E and I to sit in silence together, the footballs for the boys to exhaust some of that inexhaustable kid energy. And yes, that is a shot of me with sun!!! Sun in Paris - yay!!!! I was a new person after this vitamin D intake.

Vaux Le Vicomte

This is us visiting my new favourite Chateau, Vaux Le Vicomte. While we did not go into the castle, next time we will, it is fully furnished and supposedly beautiful, we did wander the gardens and enjoy the serenity and majesty of this magnificent place. It is probably a little early in the year to really capture the spendour of the gardens (plus the scaffolding on half the chateau), but give it another month and I am sure spring will make its mark, and this place will be divine for the tourist or local seeking something special. The castle has a rather tragic story, with the downfall of Fouquet, imprisoned for a crime he did not commit at the hands of jealousy. The gardens were designed by André le Notre, and I read that Fouquet and le Notre found a perfect harmony between architecture and the environment. I guess that is what happened, as all I know is that I loved the place and felt so happy to be there, feeling now that it worked its harmonising magic on me.

There are candle light evenings all through summer, fountain displays, costumes (princes, knights and musketeers) available to hire for the kids, a beautiful display of carriages in the stables and soon an Easter egg hunt for children which I will not be missing.

Spring!

Spring is finally coming to Paris! These are some of the first daffodils/Jonquils blooming across the Champ de Mars. We are in high spirits as the long winter fades into the warmer spring, and colour returns to Paris.

Google maps

Yesterday Sean found the boys in the google maps image for our street number address in Paris! I remember seeing the google car with the camera on top of it driving past our building a couple of times, but never really thought about what that would mean. It looks like they have smudged O's face (on the left) so you can not see it clearly, and H is looking off to the side, but it is definitely them, and most probably looking at an excavating machine or crane at work at the time on the building across the road. So, if you know our address, have a look yourselves, or better still, check your own and see if you or your kids were also caught on camera.

Look what MY clever mother made!

I can't help but boast about how clever my mother is. She made me this beautiful colourful knitted blanket for E, which I LOVE.