In case you didn't know, my husband was essentially gone all summer. He was is New York, then Houston, then New York, Houston, London, New York, Houston, Geneva, New York... You get the idea. At first it wasn't so bad when it was only three or four nights a week. Then it became five nights a week out of town. Jim was so wiped out from these trips that he basically would crash when he came home. I would wash all his clothes and repack him up for another week out of town. I don't know how people who travel for work all the time do it... So exhausting...
Add to the fun of no husband, no friends... See most everyone leaves Paris for the summer. This may not make sense if you have never experienced the throngs of tourists that flock to Paris for the summer. Most Parisians just leave. French companies routinely give five to six weeks of vacation and French employees use IT ALL. They go to their summer homes. Or to relatives overseas. Most of the kids in James' class fell into this category - they were gone. As were the two girlfriends I had made here in Paris.
So it was just me and kiddos all of July. We had fun, at least, I think we did. We visited the parks twice a day and tried to see different things in the city at least twice a week. The aquarium provided a place to go when it rained... But mostly it was me and kiddos entertaining each other. When Jim got word in late July that he would be needed in the States for about three weeks straight - it was time to go with him. Instead of Jim flying home to Paris for the weekend to simply rest and do laundry, he could fly to Atlanta and see us. Plus he could still get his laundry done.
This meant a 9 hour flight by myself with the kiddos. What was I thinking!?!?
They actually did great. I did break out the Benadryl - just a little - to help them get a nap at least. Two hour naps and the portable DVD player were all I needed.
We visited three states and six cities in 18 days. It was a whirlwind. The first few days were sort of a blur as we adjusted to a new time zone and tried to shake the jet lag. My first order of business was to get mexican and margaritas!!! After two margaritas that first night I crashed when the kids did at 8 pm. Jim was able to join us on two legs of our trip. At the very beginning at Aunt Kelly's house, and at the end in Memphis and Nashville. Then he made the flight back to Paris with me and the kids.
I call it my "big, fat trip" because I ate my way through every state and city we visited. The scale proved it upon our return. However, most of it is now gone and we are back to our fresh food here in France.
Here are some highlights from our trip. There were lots of hugs and time with grandparents:
After a couple of nights at Aunt Kelly's in Atlanta, we were in Gulfport, where we painted and splashed... And cooked seafood. I ate shrimp at every meal I think...
At Uncle Matt's in Jackson, we visited the the new Children's Museum which was awesome and swam some more.
In Jackson, we ate some more. All of my family was gracious enough to let me pick where we wanted to eat since I had been missing out on the foods I loved. Let's just say the McAlister's in Grenada will never been the same. That was our meeting point to meet Jim's parents and head to Memphis. Pictures of Memphis and Nashville to follow...
