Girls just wanna have fun!

As most of you already know, my BFF and I love to travel together. We began our tradition of journeying many years ago when we were in high school...a simple shopping trip to Tallahassee, Florida turned into a 3 day vacation at Disney World *laugh* Thus began our journey through 7 states and 11 countries (many of them more than once) together. Although we have sometimes invited others on our adventures, we have decided to travel solo through many of them...until this trip. We decided that it was time to initiate a new member into our gypsy band of travelers...and that new member is...Alexis Michelle Eichenberger!

Because Scott was sent back to America for a week of work, Shannon decided to drop in on me and see what Alexis and I were up too. We decided to just play it low key and enjoy a quiet week in Brugge. Okay, anyone that knows us just laughed at that last sentence. Clearly, we must go somewhere...anywhere...we just want to explore the world!

Shannon and Alexis relaxing by the canal in Brugge

Deciding Paris was just as good a choice as any, we rented a car, loaded up our stuff (and a giant amount of baby stuff) and off we went! Shan was a little nervous about driving having always had Josh around to drive her...especially in foreign countries! (Although I can't really say anything b/c I usually have Scott to drive me around!) But she did what needed to be done and got us to Paris in one piece...even though there were some truly nerve racking moments at the Arc de Triomphe (if you've ever been there you know what I mean)!

After checking into our hotel next to the Eiffel Tower, we visited the Louvre (which had just closed) and then ate dinner at the Hard Rock...we decided to turn in early b/c we were still having flashbacks from the Arc de Triomphe and Alexis was getting a little sleepy *haha*

A view of the Eiffel Tower from our balcony

The Louvre

The Eiffel Tower at night is beautiful.

Let me just insert here what an angel Alexis has been so far. Really...she might be the most well behaved child in the history of the universe...of course, I could be biased but Shan agrees with me...I swear...she really does!

But I digress...

Anyhoodles, this morning we visited the Musee D'Orsay and viewed some truly stunning pieces by Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, and one of my faves, Toulouse-Lautrec. Alexis viewed the first half and then napped through the rest. We are clearly trying to get a head start with Alexis' art appreciation education!

Baby Bjorning it at the museum

Shannon and Vincent Van Gogh

A view of a Monet

Isn't my little sleepy head adorable?

From there we moved onto the Eiffel Tower where we snapped quite a few pics and then we headed on to the Champ Elysees to visit our good friend Louis (Vuitton, that is) and to purchase a few necessities from Sephora.

We rounded out our day by another leisurely stroll through the Eiffel Tower's promenade before we had a leisurely dinner and headed up to bed. Might I also add that Shan and I have enjoyed watching the Olympics (in French) every day...but not nearly as much as Alexis has *LOL*

Alexis doesn't get to watch TV in Belgium so she was enjoying her vacation treat.

Before I forget, let me just state this simple fact...the French don't like Americans...unless they have a baby with them! They love us! Seriously! They go out of their way to make sure that we are accommodated at all times. We have decided that we will now only travel if we have a baby to accompany us! *laugh*

Wednesday did not start off on a very good note....We weren't able to find our parking ticket for the parking garage in Paris. This is a very serious offense in Europe...anyone that has ever been there can testify to this *laugh* After Shan filed a claims report (no, I'm not kidding) and the little man followed her over to the car to make sure that we weren't stealing the car that we rented (yes, it is a BMW but that really isn't a big thing in Europe) and she filled out numerous paper work, we were finally off to our next destination...Disneyland Paris!

Yay...we finally got the ticket to exit out of the parking garage!

Alexis and I had never been before (and Shan lost her pics from when she was there last month) so we decided a trip to the Magic Kingdom was in order! We had an enjoyable afternoon there (lunch and slushies included) but the funniest thing that we have encountered yet on this trip was when I decided to breast feed Alexis in a secluded spot near a cast member area. All of the sudden Mickey, Tigger, and some other weird character came out for a photo-op. Which would have been fine had I not been indisposed when 100 people came running over to get their pic taken with me and my boob...I mean the Disney characters. I took it in stride however and quickly pulled down my shirt and pushed people aside so that Alexis could have her turn with the characters...funniest...thing...ever! Sadly though, we had to leave a man behind...my delicious slushy...b/c it got lost in the fray.*sigh*

Me innocently feeding Alexis

You see my nursing bra Alexis is hanging onto?

You think she'll appreciate these pics when she's older?

The masses that joined me in breastfeeding!

From there we headed on over to Fere-en-Tardenois, France to the Chateau de Fere where we had previously decided to spend the night. The chateau was built in the 16th century right next to a castle that had been built in the 11th century but has since become ruins. It is absolutely beautiful...pictures to come later. We were a little nervous about getting there, however, b/c the directions said that we should go "through the village and then an additional 3 kilometers"...we were confused about what constitutes a village...as opposed to a city! Anyway, we found it and enjoyed wandering aimlessly around it and the ruins!





For dinner we ate at the chateau's 5 star restaurant (not that we had a choice...we're in the middle of nowhere) and had some kind of asparagus jelly thing with a poached egg on top and some shrimp mousse...they just gave it to us...we don't know why. Since we were in the champagne region of France we also ordered a bottle of champagne! We chose the demi-sec as opposed to the brut and found it to have the perfect amount of sweetness. They also kept bringing us the tops of everyone's champagne bottles. We didn't know why so we asked and they said it was a tradition. We decided it must be the tradition of giving the prettiest people in the restaurant everyone else's champagne tops...it works for us!

Alexis joined us for dinner...in her jammies.

Our French cuisine

Because Alexis had been so good today we decided not to push it and had dessert delivered to our room while Shan went outside to take some night shots of the ruins! All in all we had a very busy and super fun day!

Waiting on dessert.

Alexis has had such a big week (besides her road trip) developmentally. She's now mimicking others, laughing louder, grabbing at toys and enjoying her tummy time. Shannon and I went to have her 3 month pictures this past weekend and she was too cute. I can't wait to pick the pictures up on Tuesday.


Until next time!