Williams' by the Bay: Rain, rain, go away... or at least go somewhere else until we leave!

So I don't have a whole ton to report as to our adventures as the weather has not been kind to us. It's not looking good for the next week either. I know, boo hoo... so sorry to hear you're in France and it's raining is what you're thinking. But seriously, being stuck in a relatively small house with 4 kids for days on end can be a bit maddening, yikes!

Anyhow, we're doing what we mamas do best, grinning and bearing it. We figure if our "Cheer up Charlie" attitudes go away then we'll start to worry. So what have we done since my last report... hmm.. Well, Sunday we went downtown by the river where they have a weekly flea market. Mandy and her girls are super into them. I decided to grab the kids and tag along, even though I'm not much of a flea market kind of gal. Garage sales, yes, but flea markets are just not my cup of cafe if you know what I'm saying. I figured, hey, maybe in France I'll like it more. As it turns out, I'm just as uninterested in flea markets in Europe as I am in the US :) Good news, the park was right across the street... bad news, it started raining shortly after we got there. But all ended well, Mandy and the girls got some quality "flea" time in and Gordon got some quality time in with the slides and see saw before the rain came. The perfect end to the morning was the little cafe that Mandy found on her way to meet up with us where she snagged a couple of chocolate croissants. There's nothing a little French pastry can't make better!

Mandy and I got a couple of babysitters for 3 of the 4 kids on Monday and busted out of the house for a few hours. Ah, it was, how do you say, "magnifique!" Unfortunately I still had to bring Claire along... while she will consider taking a bottle, it's kind of a pain for me to pump enough to leave for her and since she's such a great sport it was just easier to bring her and wear her. We headed to Rue St Catherine, which is about 10 minutes from us by car and is the largest shopping area in Europe. It's about .75 miles of straight shopping along that street and tons of shops and restaurants on the various side streets as well. We had a delicious thai lunch and then split up for a bit to shop. I managed to come up with a couple of cute gifts for people and got in a lot of good people watching. Overall I didn't think any of the stores were too spectacular, it seems as though they are so into American clothes and brands that it's really not that different to shop here, except it's just much more expensive. A pair of Guess jeans is about 200 Euro, so about $280 US - yikes!!

I continue to get strange looks when I stop places to nurse Claire. I'm not sure if people are surprised to see a nursing mother in public or if my hooter hider (nursing cover, yes that is actually the brand name of it) is something they don't see much of here. Either way I could care less, but it's interesting. I had this idea that Europe was so much more pro breastfeeding, but I've since found out that while many European countries are, France is not one of them. My attitude, as it has always been, is if you don't like it, don't look.. but my baby is going to eat when she's hungry. The other part of the odd looks could be because it's not at a standard French "feeding time". I'm part of the way through the book Bringing up Bebe and have learned that the French mostly adhere to a standard feeding schedule for kids starting at a couple of months old. Breakfast at 8ish, lunch at noonish, snack about 4 and dinner around 8PM. No snacking in between. what?!?! I'm considering attempting to shift the kids, but we'll see how well that goes when all of their friends are chomping on goldfish and cheerios around the clock. The book is good so far so I highly recommend the read. I actually asked an English speaking woman today about it and she said that yes, she too adheres to the feeding schedule. She was from Missouri but has been in France for 11 years. Anyway - long tangent. So the day away from kids was grand. It didn't rain (hooray!) and we got some much needed relaxation time.

Yesterday we decided to stay local and since the rain wasn't supposed to arrive until the afternoon, we walked about 3/4 of a mile to a cute little street with shops and cafes. We stumbled upon an adorable second hand kids shop, which all of my friends will know is my kind of place. Managed to pick up some great inexpensive outfits for Claire... she'll be looking very Euro by the end of this trip! It's funny to see how many of their clothes that have phrases on them all tend to be in English. Interesting considering kids here don't begin to learn English until around the 6th grade. After the second hand shop we made our way home and napped, then came the rain.. so it was movie night from then on. Mandy made a huge batch of veggie soup, yum! It was nice to help balance out all of the questionable food choices I've been making lately (hello carbs!).

Today we were yet again dealing with another rainy day, so we did a very American thing and packed everyone up and headed to the good old Golden Arches. Hey, the food is relatively inexpensive and the play place is a great haven for kids with lots of energy. Actually, McDonalds here is much nicer, more clean and seems to be quite the destination for these French folk. Many people just come in, get a McCafe and sit there with a laptop or paper... and not the geriatric crowd we're used to seeing. I'm talking young, sharp looking business people. So we got there before the play place opened and figured we'd pump the kids full of some food to keep them occupied.. got an order of fries and discovered a reason worth moving to France. They serve packets of nutella at breakfast time. Um, hello.... nutella in a squeeze packet. Wow. As you can imagine, Gordon was as dazzled as I was by it. He was eager to dip his fries in it and just suck it straight from the package. That's my boy. The kids spent a good 1.5 hours tearing it up with many other French munchkins looking for an outlet in the rain. That's where we me the lady from Missouri who commiserated with us about the bad weather, the crazy drivers, and the city being tough to manage with kids in strollers. Always nice to meet a friendly person who shares a language with you!

So that's been our last few days. We're continuously checking weather.com hoping for a change, but it's looking like we're in for another week or more of rain. Looks like there will be more McDonalds in our future! We're eager to check out a place called KiddoLand that seems to be like a Discovery Zone (for those who remember when they were around) or a Safari run for our San Mateo peeps.. Once the weather starts agreeing with us more we're hoping to venture out to the ocean - we're only 45 minutes from it. We've even talked about getting crazy and renting a house for a couple of days. And hey, Spain is only 2 hours away... ahh, the options are endless... oh wait, not really with 4 kids. But we'll get it figured out :)

Au revoir!

C, G, & C

Gman and mama see saw time

loving the slide

mama and Claire weighing down the other side of the see saw

happy baby!

My open mind and palette will still not even consider this.. raw beef, I'll pass, thanks!

The beginning of Rue St Catherine... let the shopping begin

For those familiar with Gordon's "bun bun", we discovered a shop here that sells all Kaloo brand toys.. apparently his favorite lovey is French and we didn't know it. We were destined for this journey.

Another morning of playing inside trying to make the best of a rainy day. shockingly they aren't fighting over a toy... ahh, the joy of 2 kids under 3 trying to get along. Deep breaths, mamas.