Holiday Month

Back in November we went out to dinner at Rodizio, the boys love it. We had lots of meat, but the problem was it was the night before Thanksgiving. So 2 big meals in 2 days. And then I took one picture on Thanksgiving at my moms. A selfie after pie. 

Then December stuff...

We did our annual tradition of frosting sugar cookies at my moms. You know, she whips up 200 cookies and we sit and frost them all and take them home to our families. And one day I did lunch with Greg's sisters downtown. 

The 3 younger boys all had their Tanner Dance performance at the school. Rafe's was neat at the end they all got a candle and turned out the lights and danced a Van Gogh's Starry Night (which I love) my favorite one ever! And Bodie did the life cycle of frogs (see him jumping) in the yellow shirts. And Creed did his last dance of Elementary school. He had fun doing it with his friends but always says he thinks it's silly and dumb. His was too space and river and water.

I got a new iphone 8 and tried out my camera the week of a weird fog that left cool frost everywhere. Before x-mas break Rafe had his 1st grade singing performance. I thought I'd cry a little, since it's music with children and he's my last. But I was strong and didn't. The bottom picture he is rocking the baby Jesus. They sang all sorts of songs for different religions holidays. And we had to miss our ward party breakfast and Creed's Jr. Jazz basketball game to go to Alpine for the Bangerter Fam x-mas party breakfast. There's Greg with his cousins that were there.

Temple Square Lights with the Lorenzon Fam. A tradition to see lights and then go get dinner. We went early enough to beat the big crowds and then we ended up at Chili's for dinner. Always fun to be at Temple Sq. during x-mas time!

School got out on Thursday afternoon. Then we took the older boys to see the new Star Wars - which we were not fans of. The movie was entertaining, heck, it's Star Wars, but we were so disappointed in a lot of things, the character directions they went, the story they could have made so great we feel was a lame continuation of the saga. Thumbs down. Bummer man!

 Friday we went skiing at Brighton and had a furnace repair man come while I took the boys to get pictures with Santa. Nothing like waiting last minute. But we found the Santa Shack in Sugarhouse and the line wasn't long yet. Phew! He gave high-fives, low-fives, and bones for the boys. Jax had his arm around Santa and the younger 2 were kinda nervous but excited. They all rehearsed what they were going to ask for. Ha! Good visit with the Jolly ol' St. Nick!

               Christmas 2017! (ages 13, 11, 8, 6)

Jax the thirteenager!

Happy Happy Birthday to Jax! Homie J is 13!! And he is very proud of the fact that he is now a teenager. Like very proud. He thinks he's the bomb. He's known for a few years that he would be getting his rifle (270). He's been wanting it to go hunting with for years and has been waiting impatiently. Hooray the year finally came. He also just saved up this summer and bought his 9mm pistol so now he has 2 guns and couldn't be happier. He also got all the accessories for it, ammo, a strap, case, etc. I also got him new pj bottoms since he's grown 3 inches. And a button shirt.

That evening we went to get dinner at Costa Vida - since he likes the burritos. Me too. He also wanted a big chocolate cake from Costco. He also invited his BFF's Gradon and Gavin over to celebrate. While eating cake everyone smelled all the new x-mas candles we had out picking their favorites. Whatever entertains the boys. Ha! My mom and Amy came out to celebrate as well. He was a happy birthday boy. I can't believe I have a teenager.

I also can't believe this cute baby and fun kiddo is so excited to be older. He is always asking if we think his voice is changing. He is our built-in babysitter and claims he doesn't like it anymore and the younger boys all complain when he is babysitting. So now I bribe them all to be nice and not bossy while we are gone. We've started to use Creed more often to babysit which Jax is glad about. But we do pay him so I don't want to make it seem like we use him and don't reward him. 

We also always call Jax "baby Jax" because he eats like a baby. He makes a mess like a baby does. Food everywhere. On him, his face, shirt, the floor. He is a sloppy mess and it drives me crazy! He just laughs it off. Here in these pictures are a few pics of a messy baby Jax when it was fitting since he was a baby (1yr. and 18 months) . But as a 13 year old? Hmm.

And the naked one on the riding toy, too good not to show. I remember that day well. Sprinklers, wet pull-up diaper so we removed it and he loved being in the backyard naked and free. And a cute 4 year old face. 

I love how Jax loves to be with Greg and wants so badly to be apart of the grown-ups stuff. He loves movies and likes to watch them with anyone. He'll sit and watch the Hallmark Christmas movies with me, or a good romance, or the fun adventures - he's game. He isn't the best at getting his homework done but enjoys school. He texts me everyday to say Hi or ask if I'm home after school. If I'm not, then he goes with his friends over to hang out at the elementary school until they get out (since his friends have to wait for a ride with siblings). He has a fun loud cackle laugh, he bugs his brothers to death (sigh), he likes his room to be just perfect, he can be a good helper to have around, he loves church and loves being a deacon. In fact he just got put in as the Deacons quorum President. And this month he got his patriarchal blessing. Which he loved and we loved hearing it too! It was a neat experience.

For the most part he is a good big brother and good example for his brothers, now if we can keep the teenage attitude away. :)

Creedo is 11!

 Creed's big special day came and went. He got the items he wanted, a drone, a new knife I got him a tie and something else? But he was very happy to see his Ferrari poster I surprised him with. He's been wanting pics of sweet sports cars in his room. And then we kinda forgot while his b-day rolled around and he started asking for things (other things) so it was perfect. He also hung his calendar car pictures all around in his room. He was genuinely happy. In fact that night after he went to bed he came back up with tears and wanted to thank mom and dad for such a nice b-day and he felt so blessed and happy to get all he wanted. What a sweet heart! He got his favorite Subway sandwiches for dinner and Greg's ice cream shake "Heaven" for his treat. My mom and Amy came out to celebrate with us. And that day at school I brought him some sushi for lunch. He loved his whole day and it showed.

His friend b-day party was a few days later on Friday. We'd planned on doing 12 year old parties for our boys, like with Jax, but with this being his last year in elementary school (the schools changed the grade reconfiguration) I felt like it's better to have a fun one while they are still young enough and have the class and close friends enough to invite lots of friends. He had just a handful of girls come and he was so polite and nice to everyone and was sweet when opening all his presents. His friends hooked him up I tell ya! 

Creed wanted the same joust blow up that we got for Jax's party last year, and the whole party to be the same. So we brought over the Xbox for Just Dance had pizza and cake and basketball. But they spent most of their time playing Infection - tag running around the church. Geesh, who knew. I didn't have to pay the money or spend all the time doing the Xbox and blow up joust since all they wanted to do was a tag game. It did get used a little and I don't think anyone really did Just Dance or eat much pizza, but their faces were red, smiles were big, and lots of fun was had.

We had to find and gather them to do cake and ice cream. Creed was so tired (from all the tag running) he couldn't blow out his candles. Ha! Several tries and a few candles at a time, taking a breather, and finally Bodie had to help him finish it off. 

Here's the whole fun group. (2 friends weren't able to make it)  Wahoo for parties! Almost a deja vu from Jax's party last year. :)

This boy I tell ya, he's a charmer. He's smart, he's funny, he loves to cuddle, he is kind to friends, and his little brothers sure love him. He can have a temper, and can be mean to his brothers, but they still love him of course. He was a good kid to put up with Jax when they were little. In the picture's it's his blessing day (look at his hair?!) then he's 1, and 3 - with a black eye. He was so cute, gosh I miss little Creed. Now I get to have big Creed and he is great too. He's good at piano, will do anything to play video games, loves seafood and sushi and anything chocolate. He'll eat cereal 3 times a day if we let him, I feel I've repeated the same likes as last year, but he likes what he likes. He takes time for the pet birds, Jax never does. He loves his room. Loves his own space and the way he's arranged his things. His room is one of the cleanest in the house. Now how do we get him to clean the bathroom?

What a fun kid to have around!

Halloween in Seventeen!

 We hit our traditional pumpkin patch. Smith's grocery store! Then Creed was a scary circus clown/announcer guy for the 5th grade spook alley. Below he's with some of his group. I ran over to the school to check out his class's alley. And Bo and Creed teamed up for carving pumpkins at cub pack meeting.

Carving time! Greg was glad to have the older boys do their own and we were all glad to get the right tools for carving. Greg said it made it so much easier. No more kitchen knives! Ha! And I helped Bo and Rafe draw their faces.

The school parade! I love to go and see all the costumes. What a fun tradition! Bo changed his mind on a costume many times. I never did buy his current requests (eggs/bacon, Green Lantern, Hobo) so in the end when he changed it again, we had the stuff and he was ready to go as a devil. Creed's thing at school was him eating a banana and friends at school call him banana, I think. So he had to be one and wanted to be a peeling one. And I got some Pirate stuff at the dollar store for Creed's spook alley, then they changed their minds so I had the stuff and Rafe was more than happy to use it and be a pirate!

And I told Jax he can just use his dark knight costume, he was fine with that. He just had Young Men's halloween activity with Kamp Kastapolous and trick or treating to use it for. And he actually wore it to school on their costume day at the Jr. High.

After school, the kids came home, we then got ready again and headed down to our neighborhood garage soup party that we do every year. Yum and fun! Rafe decided he wanted to be Master Chief to go trick-or-treating, so he changed and I put some picture of him and I love Bo and then Jax in the back ground on the drive-way. And the sky was amazing!

Jax is Batman (dark knight), Creed the banana, Rafe the pirate! Rrrr! And Bodie is the Devil!

This year it started, we split up. Jax and Creed took off to the upper part of the neighborhood with Jax's friends. Sniff sniff. I knew it wouldn't last that we all go around together. Time to leave the family, the nest, and go out with friends. And then Rafe and I left early and went back to our house to answer the door and rest. One day it will just be Greg and I at home and no trick-or-treating. That is crazy! I'm trying to live it up while I can! Now what to do with all this candy?!

Rock'n Horses

 Back in September one evening we went with the Denzer's to go rock climbing. Up Ferguson Canyon. It was a fun night. Greg got all his gear and harnessed and helped everyone up. While Abe helped and belayed everyone.

The whole group, minus Andrea who was taking the picture.

Greg also got a climb in. And then a random picture of another pretty sunset! I love sunsets! I say that a lot.

*****

And then in October during fall break we headed down to Alpine to the Bangerter Farm (Greg's Grandparents) to ride horses. 

What a pretty backdrop. I did one half loop around the field and the horse was not letting me control him very well. I'm sure I wasn't steering him right, so I was getting scared and was done. Plus I'm allergic and didn't want to touch anything so I was done. Ha!

The other horses started following Creed, he couldn't get away from them. It was kinda funny. He had to dart to the gate and quickly close it so they wouldn't get out. They decided he was their leader for some reason. They must like him a lot.

We even got Grandma Lorenzon on a horse! And the boys were all dying to see Greg take off and show them some speed on a horse. That was fun to watch. And he had fun doing it. Then we hung around the farm for a while exploring and playing. Nobody lives there currently so it was quiet. The poor dog and cats were dying for attention. Greg always fills us with all his memories of being down on the farm and all the work and play he did.

Fall Stuff

 So let's see, what have we been up to? Good thing I take so many pictures to remember our life as it happens. 

The boys chill'n on the couch, sprawled all over as usual. Mid-wrestle J & C stopped and rested. So it looks like they are cuddling. he he. Creed played soccer, but I think he's done with it. He didn't find his mojo. The only pic I have of him he's laying in the sun resting. And one night, the sky looked like it was on fire! I Love sunsets!

I went with Rafe and the 1st graders to the pumpkin patch for field trip. There he is with his buddy Jonas and our next door neighbor Heath - they discovered each other and are friends now. We live right next door and never see those neighbors. We took our annual fall drive up East Canyon. It was a good year, we've had a lot of missed years of great color but this year was awesome!

And then I joined Creed and the 5th graders (w/ Daniel one of his bff's) on a field trip to hike and explore Millcreek Canyon. That was soooooo pretty. Just look at that bottom right picture. Hiking the side of the mountain among the brilliant oranges! Loved it!

I did my annual trip up to Park City with my friends from growing up/high school. We did a big cheese spread one night. (me, Amber, Kae, Aspen, Alison, Tawna, Becky, Jolene, Britnee) 

We went swimming at the Abbott's pool one evening (see Creed coming down the slide) after an afternoon at Lagoon with friends. Frightmares was fun, but the boys were all too chicken to do any of the haunted houses.

And I threw in a picture of the boys piling on each other wrestling. They are always doing that, ya know, wrestling. Boys!

 I arranged for the Visual Arts Institute to have a teacher come for the fall and do ceramics for all the lower grades at the boys school. (the upper grades will be in the winter) Anyways, it was a lot of volunteer hours for me. Ugh. Greg was glad when it was over so I could get back to all my other lists and projects I was neglecting. But it was neat to see all the kids leaves and owls they created. Bo and Rafe loved it! Everyone did! I am so glad I did it and that we are doing it at the school now! I was also in charge of the kiln and the volunteers for that. I can totally run it and do it. What a task?!

The school had an "assembly" and had skydivers come down to the school. That was pretty neat too. I also helped with Red Ribbon Week, I did the bulletin board. I'm trying to get all my volunteering in this fall because I'm supposed to be working come 2018. And we had crazy hair day, Little mini pony-tails and red and purple spray. Rafe had a mohawk, his pic is with the ceramics collage. And Creed got his arrow-of-light. And now he's out of Webelo's with me. Sniff sniff. Now I'm really not wanting to be the leader without my own child there. 

There are a few more activities we did that I will post about separately. 

A Baptized Bodie

 Bodie was really excited and looking forward to his baptism. He could have done it the day after his b-day, but we were in Cali. And for Sept. Greg and I were in Europe but we got home 2 days before cutting it close and made it work. 

Of course, Bodie flashing the peace sign, every time a pic is taken. Take note.

 I whipped up this invite while I was trying to get ready for Europe. On a side note, Bodie told our Stake Primary Pres. after she asked him a question about how getting baptized will make him feel. He said he'll "come out of the water like an emoji face that is smiling"!!  Ha, lol! I love it, so did she!

We got him his own new tie to wear and he was thrilled. Which was perfect because he got 3 tie clips from people as gifts. I saw him smiling all morning. Except the part he was supposed to read a goal he made to everyone in the chapel. I totally forgot about it, but he did good and was able to tell everyone the reason why he wants to be baptized, "to become a member of the church"!

Greg baptized him and confirmed him a member of the church. Have I mentioned how smiley Bodie was. And Jax gave a talk on the Holy Ghost before he got confirmed.

After the confirmation, a few friends took off. But here's the small brunch after. A nice summer Sept. day calls for hot cocoa. That was Bodie's main request for the food. Ha! My mom was a great help with the food and trays and everyone brought a food item to help. 

Creed was excited to take all the balloons after and breath in the helium. Bodie thought he was doing it to, but never did figure out how. Although he faked his high pitched voice thinking that must be how Creed does it. Silly kid.

A group family picture after. Lorenzon side and Williamsen's.

Bodie and our family. We are very proud of him and enjoyed his special day together! 

Dream Europe!

I have a few world cities and places that are on my bucket to do list. And we were lucky enough to get  to visit some of those! Greg had a business trip in Berlin the end of August. Perfect! I can fly over with his sky-miles points for free and join him. So I did. Now to be honest, Berlin - not on my list. But I flew in on Sept. 1st mid-morning and took a little nap while Greg worked at the hotel that day. Then we had lunch and I headed out to see some sites. Berlin is interesting, not the old gothic beauty that you find in Europe. A lot of rebuilt after the war so modern buildings. Some famous places like Brandenberg Gate I saw, Check Point Charlie, the new Holocaust Memorial - that was neat and sombering, I wandered the streets for a bit and went back to our hotel to get Greg. We stayed at the Westin Grand. It's one of the old elite hotel buildings of East Berlin before the war. And then there is Grafiti everywhere. Kinda their thing I guess. My item that was a must see for me was the Gallery Wall. It's a portion of the Berlin Wall that they used to have Artists come and paint sections in 1990. The have redone a few of them to new pieces over the years, so it is always changing. A few famous sections was fun to see. We ordered a nice restaurant room service for dinner. It was perfect.

And that wraps up Berlin. On to BARCELONA!!

We flew in bright and early Saturday morning and dropped our bags then headed out on the bus tour. I love those. It got us all around the city to all the places I really wanted to see. Like all stuff Gaudi, the famous architect. The big one was Familia Sagrada the famous droopy trippy Catherdral. Greg said it was amazing and beautiful and also bewildering and a monstrosity. I agree. We didn't get tickets to go inside though, next time. It's being finished for like the next 20 years. Then we saw a few other of his fun buildings, the Casa Mila, Parc Guell - the park up on the hill. And had lunch across from manzana de la discòrdia - the block of discord. Where Gaudi's Casa Batllo is and next to a few other famous architects buildings all so different from each other. 

We saw where the terrorist attack was just 2 weeks before we arrived. And then walked the Ramblas and shopped and our hotel was in the Gothic quarter. AMAZING! It totally reminded us of Venice and other quaint narrow allies of old, old buildings of Europe.

I LOVED Tapas! Brilliant! Why don't we have these all over in the US. It's perfect for me, I can never decide what to get at restaurants and when I do I always wished I got the other thing or I don't want to commit to a whole dish of just pasta or some other item. This way, you order like 8 items and have a whole plethora of yummy choices! We did that for both lunch and dinner. Ha! And we had several pit stops for gelato.

And we spent the evening at the waterfront. Greg swam in the Mediterranean Sea and I waded my feet. It was warm and great. A few nudists, that's Europe for ya. Such a fun beautiful city! One of our favorites for sure!

 Next stop on to Nice, France! (Pronounced... - neess).

The Côte d'Azur is AMAZING, that will be a word of the trip. So gorgeous. The water in the French Riviera was so blue and neat! Now the rocky beach in Nice was not ideal as other parts of the Mediterranean of course, but that didn't stop beach goers. I have been to Nice like 18 years ago or something with siblings Cameron, Amy, and my friend Jolene so it was fun to see it with different eyes and see what's changed and felt like I knew it and what to see with Greg. It was that way for all our stops in France. I had done it all and have always wanted to come back with my husband one day.

So we dropped our luggage again, luckily we packed light and just had one carry-on each. And wandered the streets, ate lunch, and then made our way to the port. Greg got to go on a SCUBA dive trip the next cove over or somewhere close. He enjoyed it. While I enjoyed going to the park on top of Castle Hill, there's an old Chateau there. I used the elevator up and spent a few hours enjoying the amazing views. Wow! And enjoyed some shade and people watching. It was a cool place to see and wander. Then Greg was done and we met up along the Promenade des Anglais (English Promendade along the waterfront) and had a great dinner at one of many many restaurants in Nice.

That night the moon light on the water and city lights and ambiance was so romantic and wonderful. 

Every day we also would Skype with the boys at home. It always would start out well, then by the end of the conversation the boys would be fighting over the chair or who gets to be seen on the camera, good grief. So we'd quickly say goodbye. :)

Next stop: Monaco! We slept in and worked our way to the bus stop to get the scenic bus to Monaco. It was a about a 45 min. ride, along the gorgeous coast through little towns like Eze getting to Monaco. The stop was right by our hotel and then we went up the hill to the Prince's Palace and wandered up there. When I was here all those years ago the one side of the cliff was under construction or something, so the first picture is the new port all built up and gorgeous. Then we wandered back down and took a water bus/taxi across the harbor (amazing yachts everywhere) to the other side of Monaco. All of 2 minutes to cross. But saved us 25 minutes of walking. Where we had lunch at the McDonald's with the most amazing view on the Mediterranean. Then walked up the steep hills to check out the famous Monte Carlo Casino. And all day long we saw sweet awesome expensive sports cars all over. Greg kept taking pics of them because he knew the boys would love to see them. They are so into hot cars, Ferrari, Mclaren, Lamborghini's, etc. We got them some Ferrari shirts as a souvenir. And we weren't dressed in a suit coat and nice clothes so we couldn't enter the inside of the casino. Ha!

We went to walk along the Monaco beach, way better sand, although big and grainy. But after the first part there was too much nudity. So we bailed and walked part of the Grand Prix track and wandered all the way back to the hotel until dinner time. After dinner we headed back up the hill to the palace to take in the sunset sky's and city lights. By this point I was sick of the same old boring selfie stick pictures. So you'll see a few more ideas being used for fun pictures. Ha! It was so pretty looking out over the unique Principality that is Monaco. It was the cleanest place you've ever seen. They spray down all their sidewalks and it's the only place that had doggy bags for the dog's poop. Every where else in Europe it would be all over the sidewalk, so watch your step. I was planning on showing Greg the amazing gold Train station to head back to the Nice airport the next day, but I didn't realized I had to pre-book tickets. So we took the express bus which worked out nicely to Nice. :)

Next stop, PARIS! We booked all our flights on Easy Jet. The budget quick airline in Europe. It was all so cheap to get around, $25 bucks here, $35 bucks there. Awesome time and money saver!

I really spent time researching all our hotels and was diligent about picking a good location in our budget. I think I did pretty good. Our hotel in Paris was right near the Notre Dame! Great neighborhood with lots of shops and restaurants. Right by the St. Michel/Notre Dame metro stop. Perfect. It's the stop you can get to either Orly or Charles DeGualle airports and straight to Versailles and all the famous stops like Eiffle Tower, museums, etc. All on the one line, no transfers. We only did one transfer when we went up to the Sacré-Cœur. And I used the new Paris metro map, way easier than what they had. Anyways...

We enjoyed Montmartre and seeing the Sacré-Cœur and the views. This is the area known for it's artists and artistic history. Lots of people around but I remember all those years ago when I was there before, we found some famous steps and worked our way down to the Moulin Rouge. So we did that this time as well. 

I took a picture of a picture I've had hanging in my house since before I got married. A photograph of Brassai, he was a famous black and white photographer in the early 1920-30's or something. You've seen his work. And I've always loved the steps of Montmarte! So I asked Cameron exactly where they were, which were just right there where we were at and I redid my own photo version. Leaves on trees but pretty good effort I must say.

 I really really wanted to go to the top of the Arc De Triomphe, but the wait was long and Greg didn't want to pay the $35 for us to do that. I think he regrets that now. I remember it had the best views of Paris! But we walked under it and high fived! Ha!

We walked through pretty Paris over to the Eiffel Tower. It was a bummer because the famous spot to go take pictures they had sectioned off because they are building something there! What?! Why would they do that to the world? How will you get your view of the tower in your pictures without anything obstructing your view? Whatever- hopefully it works out. And they had it gated off as they will be building a security glass wall around the tower. I don't know why they haven't protected it before. I guess all the terrorism attacks are making them think of stuff finally. Anyways, we created quite an audience when we were trying our jumping pictures. Only like a dozen tries. Ha!

Then next day we slept in, because man we were tired and jet lagged, etc. And took the metro/train to the Palace of Versailles! I had been there before in March so there wasn't much in bloom and it was dull and gray and they had just had a random tornado/wind storm destroy a bunch of trees all those years ago. So this time I was excited to see it better!

It was forecasted to be cloudy the whole time we were to be in Paris. But this particular day was sunny. So we hurried and did the gardens first while the sun was still out. We rented bikes to ride around the acres of land. This is the only way to do it. Walking is for snails! Ha ha! And we discovered by trying, that we could take those trusty bikes out of the side entrance of the park grounds and ride across the street to see the Paris LDS Temple. Perfect! I didn't want to walk the 3km to get there just to see it. It is small but the grounds were pretty. I saw pictures of the inside and stained glass from when it was being built so it was fun to see it. Then we hopped on the bikes and back to the gardens of Versailles we went.

 We were out on the bikes and there were few people the further you go of course, we came across some gorgeous little spots, like this row of trees I got a picture of Greg riding through in the blk/wht. We were super bummed they didn't have any fountains on. Lame! All this money they bring in and they can't run a couple of the main fountains?! What's up with that? Even if it were for like 10min. every hour. Come on! They only run them on certain days. blah blah. 

The bottom left pic is the Temple. After that we crashed at our hotel and I took a power nap. And then we headed out to walk the Seine and see some bridges, Pont Neuf  - the oldest bridge in Paris and the pretty Pont Alexandre, also saw the Louve, the Tuileries garden, and had dinner at one of bazillion Italian restaurants in Paris. Very yummy! And with all this french language everywhere it really made me wish we could bring our boys here someday as they are all learning the language. I can be patient and dream for that one day.

 After Greg's quest for hot cocoa we arrived at the Eiffel Tower at dusk as the lights came on! So neat! I have to say though, for Paris being the city of love - yes ok, but the city of lights? Not so much. It is a dark city. They need more lights! Make stuff brighter! Ha!

I have also had a black and white picture I love of the Eiffel Tower hanging in my house since before I was married. So as we walked around it, I saw a glimpse between some trees and redid my own version of the picture I love. Both of these I took. One in blk/wht the other in the color and gold looking lights. The boys were impressed when I showed them I was there and took the picture just like the one they see everyday hanging in our family room. What a fun and cool structure.

We crossed the Seine again to get to the steps of  Place du Trocadéro and the aquarium and get some pictures with a hundred other people doing the same thing of when the lights sparkle on the hour. For only 5 minutes. Really? 5, why not at least 10? Geesh, see it's not a city of lights.

We sure tried to spice up our pictures with the selfie stick. See, not so boring. He he!

Gosh, we sure loved our trip. It was a dream trip for me! I've been talking about wanting to do all this someday. And with Greg traveling to Europe so often it was great to make it a reality! I am so so grateful to my mom for being willing and able to babysit our boys so we could go and explore the world! 

Au Revoir Paris! Adios and Au revoir to Europe!