Visit to the cousins in Paris, and a big surprise.

The first week-end in February, we packed up the car and drove to Paris with my parents for a visit to my sister Marie-Eve. She had organized a party for her youngest daughter's baby blessing.

We travelled with Lily the Giraffe; William's class mascot. Lily likes to go on adventures so William's teacher asked us to take her on our trip.

Lily in the car

Lily meeting baby Constance

Lily having breakfast with the cousins...

Tata Coco was here from Frankfurt to celebrate the baby blessing so we got to surprise her and celebrate her belated birthday. 

Presents one day and cake the next day.

On Saturday we went to visit the nearby Chateau de Vincennes, home of the Kings of France from the 12th century to the 18th. A must see for my 5 year-old obsessed with medieval architecture: Moat, dungeon, drawbridge, battlement, he found it all…  

the cathedral

And we spent a few minutes in a botanical garden near the castle before it closed (for safety most gardens around Paris close before dusk--not too reassuring I admit). 

At home, they engaged in countless pillow fights, human piles and man hunts of course.  

Watched a movie...

And on Sunday we had a huge family dinner with Luc's brothers after the church service.

On Monday the boys woke up to a surprise announcement: I had arranged to take them to Disneyland with a friend of mine and her 2 kids. As much as I would like to report squeals of excitement and gratefulness, the news did not generate the expected enthusiasm. Josh was interested but a little skeptical, and William was frankly more interested in playing with his cousins' toys while they were at school… Nevermind the first reaction, we headed for Disneyland with Grand-Papa.

 

It was a beautiful but chilly day. Our first stop to the dragon lair was not too reassuring for William but Josh was hypnotized.

William's favorite ride: shooting at Zorg in the Toy Story ride.

Star wars ride: NOT A FAVORITE

Slinky was another favorite

 

and cars of course...

lunch at Mcdonalds

The parachute drop

For a first visit to Disneyland, I think it went well… haha. It was a little bit overwhelming for the boys, one minute excited, the next scared, too many extreme emotions for one day… everything Disneyland claims to be; magical, thrilling and exhausting.

That was the end of our adventures in Paris. The next day, we packed up the car again and drove home. On the way home we stopped at a rest area on the freeway. It was my favorite rest area when I was a kid. The boys loved it too:

And home at last!
We created a lot of good memories that week-end.

 

Sweet dreams Lily and William