Williams' by the Bay: May 2012

Well, it's been just over a week since we've been home and now that I'm finally feeling a bit settled it's about time for a blog post and update for those wondering "WTF are you doing home??". So, we were supposed to be in France until June 1st and I ended up leaving with the kids April 28th. There were a variety of reasons that led up to my decision to leave early and it was one of the harder decisions I've had to make, but I feel like it was the best one for us. My travel friend and her kids are still there. They are having a great time and it looks like they are getting much better weather. The weather was not kind to us - it rained nearly every day we were there. Since I went into this trip not planning to do anything extravagant as the kids are a little too young to really enjoy big outings, I planned to do our same daily stuff like go to the park, take long walks, enjoy some local shops, etc. All of that was a bit harder to do when it was constantly raining out and lovely Air France broke my double stroller. I won't bore my fans (haha) with the rest of the reasons I decided to leave... instead I will provide you with a list of things I learned on the trip.

1. You'll often hear that French people are not known for being incredibly friendly. I believe this to be an incredibly accurate statement.

2. I believe that much of the reason that the French are not friendly is that they are too busy trying to live in a place that lacks many modern conveniences. I'd be pissy too if I had no clothes dryer, my house was 150 years old, roads were barely wide enough to fit 2 bicycles down, and it was completely acceptable to leave your dog shit on the sidewalk. (However, it is still really cool to look at the architecture... just don't step in sh*& while you're walking down the street looking at it)

3. When traveling on international flights alone with 2 children under 2, it's advised that you be heavily intoxicated the entire time. I did not practice this method, but I believe it would have improved my journey :)

4. KLM is hands down the best airline I've ever been on. I will make it a point to travel with them any time I have the chance to in the future.

5. The people of Amsterdam seem incredibly friendly. It is legal to buy and smoke marijuana in coffeeshops in Amsterdam. Coincidence? I think not.

6. Apparently, it is possible to eat a baguette every day and still be quite thin. I'm still trying to figure out the French diet plan, but if it's possible to consume that much bread and wine and still be thin, count me IN!

7. Almost all moms at the park in France seem to be "bench moms," not following their toddlers around the playground. Their kids seem much more mellow. Could it be that us hyper-involved American mamas are actually making our kids more needy? Hmmm..

8. Leaving your pretty awesome husband for a whole month is tough. I knew I liked him, but as it turns out, I really like him.

9. Even 19 month olds miss home. Gordon was seemingly legitimately sad for the first couple weeks. When it finally dawned on me that I never actually sat him down and told him we were on vacation, I did and it made a huge difference. The little guy probably thought we were never going home! Can't believe it took me that long to realize it.

10. Having no dog in a house with kids is a very bad idea. You actually have to clean up crumbs. Oh, Sophie... how we missed you!

I swear I had much funnier, more clever ideas for this post a week ago, but my brain is fried from getting back into the swing of things at home. Since we've been back the weather has been beautiful and the kids and I have been enjoying every bit of the sunshine outside every day. I knew I loved where I lived, but this reassured me that the Bay Area is the place for me. We've considered some other locations as potential places for our family, but I think the roots are going down here!

All in all, the trip was still lots of fun. It had it's up and downs, but Mandy and I shared a great deal of laughs even on some of the more difficult days. We checked out some cool places and enjoyed some delicious French food and wine. I picked up some good mama skills from her, Gordon (attempted) to learn how to share and play nicely with his faux siblings, we got to see some really cool stuff, and I'm much more confident about my ability to manage both kids on my own after traveling with them for 20 hours by myself! If I had it to do over again, I'd still go for it... you never know until you try something and regret is not something that sits well with me.

Here's some pics from the end of our journey and a few since we've been back home.. more blog posts to come, I swear I'm going to keep up on it this time!