Charlotte's Web

Luke and I had company in March! We had the local nieces and nephews over for an outing to the theatrical play Charlotte's Web, performed by the Rochester Civic Theater. We had Ava for the weekend, Baden and Chloe for the day. It was lots of fun! We couldn't have taken any more children in our car!


Meet neice Olivia Kennedy Robinson! She's just a few months old at best here! What is very remarkable is that Luke is holding the baby! He didn't even give me dirty looks when I handed her to him. He doesn't like it when I force children on him!
Chloe and Ava played until 8pm. They were laughing and playing for the whole evening! I was eccstatic that they were keeping each other occupied!
Here is just a funny picture of Kaiser. He is loving this season of the year of ample sun! He was good with the children too. He was upset that we had to leave him home from the play!

Our Itinerary

April 4- 7 PM Depart MSP airport- to Rejikavik, Iceland. Don't worry, we'll be there way too early! Hopefully there won't be a passport scare! Katie couldn't immediately find her passport once when we were checking in and she spat nails and venom at me and accused me of taking her passport out of her purse. It turns out that she did have it, but for a moment we were all brainstorming as to how we were going to get her on the plane (eventually). Note MSP airport on the left and Iceland on the right.

April 5 - Early AM Rejikavik to Paris.

April 5- 1300 Arrive Paris Charles DeGaul airport. We'll try to figure out the metro to our apartment. Hopefully we'll be on time to meet our apartment attendant to receive the keys. Then we will have to hustle to look around the neighborhood while the Rue Cler Market is still open. MAYBE if we are still functioning after a short nap we'll be brave and take the Nighttime public bus tour to see the Paris sights lit up at night.

April 6 Today's big event is the Louvre! We'll seeDaVinci's Mona Lisa, and all the rest! How exciting! The best part is that today admission is FREE! It will be busy but we can spend all day there if we can last! This is the worlds most crowded museum! Then if we still can walk we'll go to the Arc de Triomphe and then to the place where the first shopping mall was invented the Print Temps. Then if we can make it to Notre Dame in time to hear a free organ concert at 4.30.

April 7 We'll see downtown Paris on Rick Steve's Paris walk. The stars will be Notre Dame, some museums, St Chapelle and maybe some street markets. Then in the afternoon we'll hike to a different area and do Rick's Monte Marte walk- Here we'll see the real Moulin Rouge, a few museums, the Sacre Coeur Church and a GREAT view of Paris as it is up on a hill!

April 8 We'll go see yet a further area of Paris on Rick's Marais Walk, we'll see a Holocaust museum, a Picasso museum and a Modern art museum (1900s). Then we'll head back toward the apt and spend the afternoon turning to evening on or looking at the Eiffel Tower.

April 9 This is our first and only day trip out of Paris. We are taking a 30 min train to Versailles. This is the palace of all palaces. This is the opulent building that sparked Le revolution - they taxed the poor and middle class for funding. They got sick of it and started civil war. This photo is of the extravagant fountains and gardens.

April 10 Today we see lots of Impressionists at the Orsay, and The Thinker at the Rodin Museum. We'll round out the day of museums at the Army museum which I guess is a MUST see according to our book. I think there is a lot of Napoleon stuff. Hopefully if we get through the museums we can take the metro to a street market and do some shopping.

April 11 This morning is "free." Later more impressionists at the Orangerie and Marmoton Museum. This photo covers an entire wall. As Monet aged, his eyesight deteriorated. To compensate, his canvas' got bigger and his brushstrokes broader- so the work is best viewed from a distance, rather than up close.

April 12 Take Metro to Charles DeGaul airport for an early afternoon flight to Iceland- with enough layover to have Luke stuff his belly with his most favorite hot dogs in the entire world! I am sure I'll take a few pictures to commemorate this event! Then Iceland to Minneapolis and then drive home!

Springtime in Paris is only 30 days away!

We have officially started to pack our bags! I have the suitcases open and packed some of the travel specialty items; the all purpose windbreaker /raincoat, umbrellas, travel pillow, converters, day bag, etc. We'll bring along some dried cranberries, cherries, granola, crystal light packets and other miscellaneous items that will travel well. I packed the salt and pepper and sugar free sugar. One addition I am packing is....a thermos! A small one that will be perfect for a pot or 2 of espresso. To keep us awake during the museums! The first museum in the itinerary is....The Louvre. So hopefully we will be able to survive it!

Luke and I need to do some work on the Itinerary. Right now it does not match up AT ALL with my mother and father's. Some overlap would be nice. Some.

The weather right now in Paris is a high of 50 F and low of 35F. Sounds just like spring to me! Fantastic.

We'll try to post our Itinerary with some generic photos so you can see what we'll be doing!