Paris in the Rain
At the end of September 2018 the kids and I took a train to Paris. We had the clothes we were wearing, a change of clothes, and a pair of pajamas each in the back pack on my stroller (gb pockit stroller-best EVER). We had train and airbnb reservations for a week in Paris and a few days in Lille, France.
I knew that being the sole adult responsible for four tiny humans was going to be a HUGE responsibility. I didn't want a ton of luggage on top of that. So, every night I would wash our quick dry clothes in the washing machine at our airbnb and hang them to dry. Pajamas were not washed every night. I bought the diapers I needed as we went. This actually worked out really well for this longer trip. Nine months later we went for just 4 nights to London and I packed clothes for each day since I knew I could carry it on all on my back in a bigger pack.
This was our first trip after landing in Europe and getting adjusted to jet lag. It was HARD. Y'all, it was so hard. I speak French and I lived in France for a year when I was 20. I thought the trip would be a cake walk. But what I didn't account for was the fact that my four young children had NEVER (really) been on public transportation, NEVER (really) been in a country that spoke a foreign language, and never traveled without two adults to cater to their every need. In fact, even after the trip I found life in Europe difficult. I will never forget lying in my bed feeling bewildered by how much I was yelling at my children. I did not have trouble being a mom of four in Texas, but being a mom of four in Europe was killing me slowly.
By the end of our time in Europe the kids and I had it figured out. We'd all learned how to travel together. We'd grown to be patient and more graceful with each other. Most importantly, Baby J wasn't taking her clothes off in train stations anymore and that was a HUGE help.
Another thing I learned from this trip was that it is WORTH it to pay $$$ for whatever you need to not-lose-your-ever-loving-mind. Thankfully I have an incredible husband who agrees! After arriving in Paris and realizing that I actually am not superwoman and cannot carry two toddlers, a folded stroller (no matter how amazing), and a backpack up all the many broken escalators of the Paris metro, I found the first available cab company with car seats to take us to all our remaining sites for the rest of the week. Thank goodness I speak French and could (mostly) communicate with this cab company because they didn't speak a lick of English. At one point we had a miscommunication because I was saying "Wait, wait wait!" and they heard, "oui oui oui!" Y'all, lol. It was a mess, but it could have been so much worse.
It rained at the Eiffel Tower and the line was long and we couldn't see a thing. But the kids still talk about the Eiffel Tower ALL. THE. TIME. Who cares if I or even they had fun? They remember it and their world view was EXPANDED. Praise the Lord for the selective memories of children. Can I get an AMEN?
I planned in "days of rest" for our trip. Below are some photos from our "days of rest." I'm using quotes because MY KIDS ARE CRAZY. Keeping them from completely destroying our AIRBNB during these days was NOT restful at all! lol
We visited the Chateau de Versailles. I got a golf cart to drive around and that was great, but the kids' favorite part as the wheel chair ramp off in the corner of the gardens. Because, kids are just like that.
Also, my toddler threw a fit in one of the halls of the Chateau de Versailles and I plan to never. let. her. forget. it.
Our best day was at the Jardins de Luxembourg. It was seriously just the best way to spend a day with 4 young kids. But even that day ended with a kid puking in the rented car seat of the luxury van we'd hired to drive us home. No perfect days on this trip, people.
I've probably skipped a few days here, but oh well. We took the train to Lille at the end of our trip and stayed in this TINY apartment. It was adorable. There was no washing machine so I made the kids stomp on their clothes in the bathtub and we smelled not-so-adorable for the remainder of our trip.
We don't have a TV and I rarely let the children watch shows on my computer. We watched a LOT of TV on this trip. The kids watched so many French cartoons. One day they watched 8 hours. It was their job that day. Whatever. I was tired.
Lille was great. We went to their little zoo and their little amusement park which had the best rides for kids their ages. We had a great time. But I changed our tickets to go home a day early and left our airbnb with a night paid for that we never used because I WAS SO DONE WITH THIS TRIP!
I didn't exactly cry when Books picked us up at the train station, but I might have screamed with joy.
Efteling- A Fairytale Adventure
Friday morning I realized we were about to leave the Netherlands and had not been to Efteling, which many had described to me as the Dutch Disneyland (it's much better!). I considered going for the day as it's only a 50min drive from our house, but ended up booking us a night in their Holiday Village which included Friday and Saturday's entry into the park. We threw some clothes in a bag and off went.
The drive was super easy. I've driven 50min in Houston traffic before so this was cake. In no time we were pulling up in front of the pretty magical entrance to our Efteling holiday village- Bosrijk.
My expectations for the accommodations were pretty low, so I was really impressed by what we found. I paid an extra 25 euros to choose our location within the village and got a great spot close to the reception and restaurant as well as the parking lot and "train" stop which taxied guests to the park.
Calvin was still pretending to be sad about our trip at this point. He'd wanted to go back to Plaswijk park in Rotterdam for the day but I vetoed that idea. As my children are super spoiled with adventures, he had the incredible privilege of sulking over our trip to the largest amusement park in the Netherlands. Wait for it. You'll see his smile pretty soon :)
The little train saves you a 10 min walk to the park which isn't so bad. It's a paved footpath that meanders through a little forest. But I heard there would be a lot of walking inside the park, so we opted to hop on the train which came by our holiday house every 30 min.
The entrance to Efteling is interesting.
I took this photo on the last day as we were leaving in case you're curious about the outfit changes.
Efteling is not trying to grab your money at every corner, but the first thing inside the park is a little store and I wanted the kids to get in the spirit of the park. So of course I dressed my little dolls up. Calvin's shirt has a little cape on the back and Oliver got a little wizard's necklace.
I photoshopped this little map below of the park to point out to you two of my favorite rides; Symbolica and Droomvlucht. Do you see the little pink circles and yellow highlighted names? These rides are 100% family friendly and just completely magical. They can both have very long waits, but we managed to get in to Symbolica first thing with only a 5 minute wait. The next day we road Droomvlucht and the "20 min" line moved quick and no one complained. It was totally worth it.
It's too dark to take photos inside that really show you how magical it is, so you'll just have to trust me. Don't miss these rides!
Each little section of the park has rides for all ages, so whatever path you choose you will find something fun to do. The Efteling app was super helpful for knowing where we were going and what we were going to find when we got there. There is a lot of walking in this park so make sure you bring your stroller and carriers and all the things you'll need for that. My 6 and 8 year old never complained. The 4 year old needed a piggy back ride a couple of times, and the baby was in our stroller the whole time.
The trash cans are even fun!
There is a train that goes from the north west side of the park to the south east side. They may put up a fuss about you taking your stroller on even folded up. Luckily, we have the smallest profile stroller on the market (GB Pockit stroller- $150 on amazon) and no one said a word when I quietly tucked it under our seat on the train.
One last thing I want to mention about the Bosrijk holiday village is that the menu had veggies and dip for kids' appetizers for dinner, and the buffet breakfast, while expensive, was seriously really good. They even had little characters come visit us during meals. Super fun for them.
We had a fantastic time at Efteling and I really do recommend you guys take a day or two to see this park with your kids if you get the chance.
A Western Mediterranean Cruise With Kids
As a child I went on a couple of cruises that I enjoyed, but as an adult cruising has not appealed to me at all. If it ever crossed my mind, I always just dismissed it as not the way I liked to travel.
But in April we found ourselves faced with a first world dilemma. Our time in the Netherlands as expats was quickly coming to a close and all we’d really seen was, well, a heckuva lot of the Netherlands. We wanted to see more of Europe with our kids while we had the opportunity to do so free of jet lag.
Cruising was so not an option in my mind that when it dawned on me it would be the easiest way to see several countries in one go without a ton of packing and repacking for six people, it was as if I had single handedly discovered cruising as a method of travel. It was an “ah-ha” moment of epic proportions. I texted all my friends, called all our parents, told everyone I saw- have you ever considered a CRUISE?!!
A month later we boarded our first ever cruise as a family, and we had the. best. time. We saw Barcelona, Pompeii, Naples, Rome, Pisa, Cannes, and Palma Mallorca sleeping every night in the same rooms aboard the Norwegian Epic
I knew how stressful traveling with four young kids could be, so I researched and meticulously planned every day to ensure we had the fewest possible hiccups on our vacation.
Day 1
Fly Amsterdam-Barcelona
Despite my careful planning, our trip immediately began with a few “hiccups.” Firstly, our chauffeur didn’t show to take us to the airport. Our van here is small and doesn’t normally fit all of us an our luggage. But, in a stroke of luck, we’d randomly decided to pack in these large, soft duffle bags. When we realized the cab wasn’t coming, we were able to just barely squeeze all of us and our two huge bags into our van and drive ourselves to the airport in Amsterdam- a 40 minute drive.
At check in, Books asked if I’d remembered to grab the booster seats. I had not. As we were going through security and finding our gate, I quickly contacted all our tour guide and pre-booked cabs and asked them to bring the necessary car seats.
Once we were inside the terminal sipping on some much needed coffee, I realized I’d left my printed pack of tickets and itineraries at home! I had a moment of panic before Stephen pointed out that we live in the digital age and nothing actually needed to be printed.
At this point I felt all kind of flustered. I’d planned this trip to a T! How could everything have fallen apart so quickly?!
We did the only thing we could do. We kept our chins up and pressed on. We ended up having more fun than I ever dared hope we could have.
Once in Barcelona we checked google maps for a well rated restaurant called near our hotel called La Porca and ended up having some of the most incredible Spanish/Mexican/Mediterranean fusion tapas for dinner. I remember it as being the most to-die-for food I’d ever tasted. Books said it was good, but I probably enjoyed it more because it was my first real big meal after six weeks of dieting. He may have had a point!
Day 2
Hike to a Castle and Embark the Norwegian Epic
When embarking on a cruise, you generally have two options. Be there early and wait a bit so that you’re the first ones on the cruise, or show up after the crowds have come through so you can walk right on the boat. Seeing as how we were traveling with eight very impatient little feet, we went with option 2.
This left us with approximately 8 hours to kill from the time our children woke up until our cab was scheduled to pick us up and drive us to the boat. So, what did we decide to do? We hiked up a mountain of course!
Admittedly, I had no idea our walk to this playground in Jardins de Joan Brossa would actually involve scaling the side of a mountain. If I had known this, I probably wouldn’t have brought the stroller.
While difficult, it was a nice way to burn off the tapas calories from the night before, the early morning weather was cool and sunny, and the views from the mountainside trail were quite spectacular.
We played for a while at this playground until it was time to get in line for the cable car, Teleferic de Montjuic, that ascended the remainder of the mountain to an old castle/fortress. We waited about 15 min in line for it to open up and got right into a cable car. The views up the mountain were so incredible!
At the top we walked around the Montjuic Castle, had a snack break at a little cafe inside, and learned a lot about this history of Catalonia from the little museum rooms inside. From the rooftop we saw our ship docked in the bay and got very excited about heading back down the mountain to get on our cruise!
We opted to walk back down instead of taking the cable car. We followed a beautiful little winding path through a park. The foliage was beautiful and there were little play areas along the way. At one point we stopped at a hillside slide and Oliver took a couple of rides down. It was too fast for the other kids.
By noon it was hot and we were very glad we’d climbed up the mountain early that morning when it was still cool. We had another meal of tapas before grabbing our bags at the hotel and hopping into the cab for the short drive to the cruise port.
When we turned into the cruise port and saw our ship, J yelled out in her precious adorable baby voice, “I so cited!!!”
After a quick security check and registration, we walked right on to the boat without ever waiting in a line. The rooms were already open so we carried our bags straight up and unpacked our things before the emergency drill and dinner.
We spent our first evening trying to convince baby J that we were already on the boat. She couldn’t believe we’d actually boarded a ship unless she was on our balcony!
Day 3
At Sea
Our first day on board was our only day spent entirely at sea. It was perfect because the kids really wanted to explore the ship! The Norwegian Epic has excellent amenities for kids. There was a rock wall, arcades, pools, the longest water slid at sea, a kids club, and more. We generally do not let our children have screens to play on. We don't have a television in our home. So when we told the boys we'd purchased them each an arcade pass, they thought they'd died and gone to heaven!
Day 4
Pompeii & Naples
We homeschool our children and so the week before the cruise we spent a lot of time watching documentaries on youtube about the places we planned to visit on our cruise. It was raining heavily the morning our chauffeured van picked us up and drove us out to Pompeii.
The crowds were very thick inside and at times we were just drenched with rain. But our private kid-friendly tour guide was AMAZING. We told her at the beginning to speak mostly to our 8-year-old as he was the one who would interact and remember the most. He dazzled her with his knowledge of what happened at Pompeii and learned even more listening to her engaging discussions. It was completely worth being soaked to the skin and surrounded by dozens of tour groups to see and learn more about this fascinating historical site.
After the tour, our driver picked us up and took us to a pizza restaurant he recommended on the mountain of Vesuvius (the mountain that erupted and buried Pompeii). Naples is where pizza is said to have been invented, and we devoured every bite of ours!
The tour was then supposed to go on to a short hike to the top of Mt. Vesuvius, but the weather was so bad on the mountain that there was zero visibility and it was not worth the walk. So, our drive improvised and took us on a short driving tour of Naples which was by this point enjoying beautiful sunny weather. He then dropped us off at a little castle on the sea and we took a little look around before heading back to the cruise ship.
Day 5
ROME!
The highlight of our trip was, of course, Rome! This trip aligned perfectly with our place in the book Story of the World Volume 1 as we had just finished studying Rome! Incidentally, everywhere we went on this vacation was once part of the Roman Empire! The van picked us up at the port and drove us 1.5 hours to the city where we had a quick snack before our golf cart tour picked us up!
This tour was SO so fun. It was a fantastic way to see the inner city of Rome and I only wish I had booked it for longer than 3 hours. Our tour guide parked the cart a block away from the Pantheon and walked us to see it. On our way we walked passed a building that sounded like it held a gym where kids were playing basketball. He pointed at the building and said, "That's my high school." My jaw hit the cobblestone street. Talk about a local tour guide! He was way cool and we just love love loved this tour!
Actual real life archeologists in action!
All of our kid-friendly guides had these awesome books for each location that show a photo of the historical sites as they look today, and then had a transparent page that you could lay over the photo that showed how the site looked in earlier times.
This little church near the Pantheon is the Santa Maria Maddalena church which has these super innovative ceiling paintings. They create optical illusions that make the ceiling look more domed than it actually is. Such a cool quick stop and worth popping into if you're near the Pantheon. And these paintings were done, like, a really long time ago. How's that for accurate info?
The next part of our golf cart tour was the absolute best. Gelato recommended by a true local guide. It was so creamy. So amazing. So EVERYTHING. We would totally go back to Rome again just to have this gelato. I am ruined for life to all other "gelatos." Giolitti
Here are a few photos from the rest of our tour.
The Trevi Fountain was so crowded!!
The golf cart dropped us off at a restaurant near the Colosseum called La Taverna dei Quaranta
which I found through a foodie blog. Our guide confirmed it was a good local place and complimented our kids for a good tip before driving away.
We liked it a little bit (ok maybe a lot). Roman pizza is actually said to be a bit different from Naples pizza. I think it was thinner?
After lunch we met our kid friendly tour guide for the Colosseum and Roman forum
Claudia was excellent! We really enjoyed our time visiting these sites. Baby J and Sister A began to get a bit tired during this part of our day, but they hung in there well with a little help from Books.
I forgot to mention that our golf cart tour guide gave us some time in a little toy shop where we bought the kids each a little toy to encourage them to keep going on our busy day. Later that night Big Brother used his Pinocchio puppet for some parental abuse!
Day 5
Pisa
After two very full days of site seeing, we planned just a half day excursion to Pisa. We slept in (sort of) and spent the morning relaxing. I even got in on some of the arcade action. It was nice.
Our driver was born and raised IN Pisa and was super sweet. We got the obligatory pictures and visited a bit of the river area and downtown before hitting up a playground near some ancient ruins of some sort. Tuscany is so beautiful.
Day 6
Cannes
I planned nothing for Cannes because the ship anchors out at sea and you take little boat thingies to shore right in the middle of the main boardwalk area. We did some swimming, ate at a fancy restaurant and walked back to the boat to get ready for a special evening on the boat.
We spent a little bit of time relaxing from our beach day in the sun.
At 6:30 we went to the dinner theatre room on board for dinner and a circus show. It was INCREDIBLE! Honestly, it was completely worth setting aside a night to stay up a little late for this. We were all amazed!
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Day 7
Afternoon in Palma Mallorca
Our final day of the cruise was a half day spent in Palma Mallorca. I originally planned to let the kids stay on board the ship as I knew nothing about this Spanish island and didn't know that it would be worth it to get off. But we were having such a great time on all of our excursions, that I booked a private boat charter last minute. Our boat guide turned out to be Australian, which was fun for us as we lived in Australia once upon a time. I think this was the day most enjoyed by everyone in our family as it was beautiful and relaxing. I highly recommend booking directly through Lee for a tour of the island if you ever find yourself in Palma
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This was the perfect way to spend our final day on our cruise. Our kids returned to the ship that evening so happy and full of energy. It is such a beautiful memory.
Day 8 & 9
Disembark Norwegian Epic, Casa Batllo, Mosaiccos, and Fly Home
I'm almost out of space for this blog post! So I'm going to combine days 8 and 9. We spent 2 nights in Barcelona following our cruise. The highlight of our time in Barcelona was our early access pass into the Gaudi designed and built Casa Batllo followed by a 1 hour mosaics class for the kids at Mosaiccos
We had a spectacular trip! Thanks for reading!
London With Kids
This week I took the children to London for three full days. We stayed in a somewhat suspect airbnb near Waterloo Station as we'd just come off a cruise and couldn't really splurge on anything too nice. It was actually a convenient area to stay, even if the front door had only a flimsy lock and the neighborhood seemed a little sketch (shhh don't tell my mom).
Day 1-Monday Afternoon
Train from Rotterdam-London
Any truly decent International vacation as the only adult responsible for four young children should, of course, begin with an abundance of sugar and shoe shopping at the train station. Because what is a 4 hour train trip including a changeover in Brussels without sugar highs, sugar crashes, and extra, unnecessary baggage?
Two little girls already tired on the way to the train station.
Cookies n Cream Brownies because mommy isn't allowed to buy coffee without getting the kids a snack.
We had an hour before our train left so the girls ended up with new shoes- Well played Rotterdam Centraal Station. Well played.
Hour 1- So fresh. So full of patience.
During our train change in Brussels I stopped to get us these crazy expensive (and delicious) vegetarian Thai wraps for dinner. Turns out doing so almost made us miss our train. We were herded through security (I didn't know there would be security...) by a few scornful train station personnel only to arrive in our fancy seats and discover that our tickets included a hot meal. This poor, delicious, $12 Thai wrap ended up in the trash can when my kids opted for train food.
The scenery was gorgeous!
We arrived in London at 6:30pm. An hour later, with prayers that the front door lock would hold up against a boogie man sneezing down the hallway, we snuggled up in our beds and fell fast asleep, eventually.
Day 2- Tuesday
Changing of the Guards, Tower of London & a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Themed High Tea
Sam, our tour guide with British Tours, picked us up at our Airbnb (with a little bit of dismay at our chosen location) and took us to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. Like any good, true, London tour guide, he did not take us to the palace to wait with the crowds. No, he took us to the warm up locations of both regiments and had us RUN ALONGSIDE them as they marched towards the palace for the ceremony.
Now you may think that running with a toddler the size of a preschooler on your shoulders next to a man you just met holding your other little girl on his shoulders while your two little boys trail along behind you doesn't exactly give you the happy, relaxing vacation vibes. To you I say where's your spirit?! Where's your adventure?! I dare you not to smile and enjoy yourself when standing three feet from a regiment of uniform clad Brits donning bearskin hats and playing French horns. Just you try it.
The kids got a chance to play on the playground in St. James Park by the palace before we took off for the Tower of London with our lovely, surprisingly swift and agile guide, Sam the man.
The Tower of London has a lot of interesting history that I'm not going to share here. It also houses the Crown Jewels which we did go see. Watch a documentary if you want to know more about it. But here are our photos which is really all that matters for this blog.
After the Tower of London, I Am Sam raved about my kids so I'd give him a good tip then dropped us off at 1 Aldwych for the kids' favorite part of our day- a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory themed High Tea!
Day 3- Wednesday
Double Decker Bus Ride, Sky Garden, London Eye, a cool playground, Rainforest Cafe, and Matilda the Musical
The children welcomed Wednesday's cloudy dawn with cries of "I'm hungry!" and "give me the remote!" So, I quickly hustled them out the door to begin our rainy day in London. I shelled out a couple bucks for a double decker bus ticket and we all piled in for the ride of our lives. The boys each grabbed a sister hand and popped right up to the top front seats. They enjoyed their view loudly and happily while groggy, work-bound bus passengers stared in a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
Once they tired of that, we hopped off the bus and discovered we weren't too far from the Sky Garden- a rooftop garden and cafe in one of the City of London's highest sky scrapers. The entrance was free and the kids *forced* me to take pictures of them.
I shuffled the kids over to the London Eye where we boarded one of the little pods straight away and took an electrifying 40 min journey around the largest ferris wheel in the world. This was the first time I can ever remember hearing Jane say, "I'm not having any fun doing this." LOL The other kids enjoyed it though. It was definitely a morning of great views!
Big Ben all covered in scaffolding.
I paid a couple extra bucks a ticket for these little binoculars that they loved.
The boys are looking at Buckingham palace in this photo. You can see it there surrounded by trees.
At the base of the London Eye was this great little playground. We would have stayed longer but it was time for lunch! We made our way toward a fish and chips restaurant I'd read about online, but along the way we passed a Rainforest Cafe. I decided the kids would really enjoy that experience, so we ducked in out of the rain for a lunch with elephants and gorillas and jaguars that the kids thought was absolutely magical.
Finally we sat down inside the Cambridge Theatre to watch the kids first live musical performance! Matilda was such a great show for their ages. The girls even made it a little into the second act before we had to go out and play in the lobby. I'm really glad we got to do this!
Day 4 - Thursday
Kensington Palace and the Diana Memorial Playground
After a quick viewing of Kensington Palace and its Sunken Garden, we were the first kids in the Diana Memorial Playground when it opened at 10am. We didn't leave until 5pm. I only got one photo of the kids, but I did run around to take a few more of the grounds before we left so I could share with y'all how great it was. There were so many more little pockets of play areas that I didn't take photos of. They played happily all day long. After 7 hours I had to drag Jane away kicking and screaming.
Day 5 - Friday
Train DIRECT!!! London to Rotterdam
We woke up at 5am to catch the train home. We were all tired and grumpy.
The End!