Paris Airshow - 20 June

Before heading off on a 2 week summer vacation , Sean very keenly took us all along to the Paris Airshow. I was keen, but must say, not so sure it was what I had imagined. I think I have seen better out at the Richmond RAAF back home. Perhaps I was just way out of my league, and all those exhibitors in all those exhibition halls that I totally ignored were really the most important part of the show, not the flying, which is all I went for. I also thought one would be able to climb on, into and around more, whereas it seemed mostly like we were not allowed to touch anything. So anyway, we braved the Saturday crowd with three children in tow, and walked the space making our way to the flying show part, and enjoyed what was on offer along with thousands of others. Towards the end however, everyone growing tired, and scared (the fighter planes are soooooo noisy), we headed back to the car before the end. Cutely for the boys, we could catch a little motorised train back to the makeshift carpark, a huge green space now filled with thousands of cars. I was feeling slightly disappointed at this point that I had missed seeing some kind of group air-o-batics, as that is what I had imagined seeing more of, we got off the train and started walking the grassy slopes back to our car. Suddenly the hugest thing seemed to be skimming over us, and we realised that we were now right under the flight path of the airplanes performing, the perfect view! Rolling above us was the Airbus 380, absolutely the hugest thing, can not believe it did not just fall out of the sky, but still such gracefulness. More jets whizzed past us, and finally we saw a fantastic display of acrobatic, smoking, planes, the Patrouille de France.  Here in the carpark our view was clear and being on a hill felt so close to the planes, with green space for the kids to follow running in circles and no worries about crowds or loosing them in the chaos. To be honest, I can't believe we ever left the carpark to begin with.

   

drums

I feel overwhelmed by the variety of things you can buy for kids. What is best? What would they really like? What will be interesting for longer than 1 hour the day it is given, discarded and never looked at again? Should it be educational (counting, reading, rationalising), even in the vaguest sense? Should it just be so much fun that you want to do it over and over again (thinking slip 'n slide all summer long)? Should it encourage creativity? If it makes noise am I going to resort to breaking it on the sly as it drives me increasingly over the edge?

The boys are fast approaching 3 with their birthday in August, and while they do have some requests (Buzz Lightyear and Woody for H, and a new helicopter, yellow car so far for O), and I have some ideas (puzzles, books etc..), I keep seeing things that thrown me and I think 'oh yeah, that would be great too', and I realise there is just so much out there, what on earth should I be choosing? 

Most recently we were at a friends place, well, really a friend of a friends place, a house with a garden in the outskirts of Paris. It was the most wonderful day, probably just because she had a garden growing wild strawberries along with a heavily burdened cherry tree requiring much relief, and the icing for the 3 year olds, tortoises in the garden! Not only this, but the house was at the edge of a forest, where we all took a long walk in the rain, splashed in a few puddles, and explored the lifecycle of the frog when we came across a pond with tadpoles. At this point there was no need for any toys, and I wondered if a house and garden might be the best birthday present for all of us. Driven inside by the rain and the need for food however, we soon discovered the real highlight of the day - a toy drum set. The boys LOVED it, it makes different loud sounds, and most definitely requires excited banging, one of our most recent favourite past-times. Should I be considering this? I might check out ebay and see what I can come across, as long as it is cheap, as I do worry that this could totally fall into the category of 'destroyed by mother driven way way over the edge by constant racket'.