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The kids have been loving the AirBnB at St. Malo. We are on the top floor so it reminds us Etienne’s 6-story house in All the Light You Cannot See. There was even a collection of sea-shells (shown in this picture) which reminded us of Marie Laure’s sea shell collection in the book. The unit was so fanciful and quirky. It had games for the children to play and fun spaces, like a little area where they could sleep together separated from living room by a curtain.

We started the day off with a carousel ride for Clarissa and Ammon. Ammon was sad the whole time because as I was on my way to him to give him his ticket, the ride started. When the person came to collect his ticket, he didn’t have his and he was really embarrassed and sad.

After the carousel, we all took a boat-ride to Dinard. Dinard was a getaway place for English people with consumption. It was a very charming place, and we could see St. Malo just across the way while we were there.

We spent our time at the beach in Dinard. We weren’t expecting to swim so no one brought swim-suits, but after we saw an amazing swimming pool set aside from the ocean that had ocean water, I ran back to our place for swim gear. The picture below is not of the pool at Dinard, but of a similar one at St. Malo so you get the idea. I had to run fast to catch the boat and not have to wait for the next one. I really enjoyed my run as I hadn’t been exercising and I was starting to feel sick, so it felt nice to sweat and to breathe deeply. After getting the swim gear, I drove 20 minutes to Dinard to meet up with everyone.

Lily, Ammon, Clarissa and I all took some turns swimming. And all the kids had tons of fun playing in the sand.

Towards the end of our time in Dinard, we are amazed at how low the tide was. In fact, a lot of the boats in the harbor were docked on the ground from the lack of water!

After our time in Dinard, we went back to St. Malo. We ate crepes outside at a cafe. I loved my goat cheese and honey crepe. Lily loved her scallop crepe.

Clarissa was in a super silly mood during dinner and she ate a TON of muscles.

Also, Lily was adorably teaching Clarissa math this evening. Below you can see Clarissa demonstrating her *in-progress* knowledge of fractions. Lydia is such a great teacher!

Walking around after crepes, we grabbed ice-cream and the most incredible donuts and stumbled upon a music group playing sea-shanties. We were memorized by the music. At one point Ammon disappeared and went away from us down by where the musicians were. He was dancing near them. We finally found him and had to correct him for running off (again).

We ended the day with a Ferris wheel ride. We had been using the possibility of it to help incentivize Clarissa to behave well. It worked! Overall she was very good today, and it was so fun to give her the reward.

Today was so fun. St. Malo is one of my favorite cities in the world, and I got to explore it (and Dinard) more with my favorite people!

This morning, we hustled out of our AirBnb without wasting much time because we had timed tickets for Mont-Saint-Michel. Before leaving, we said hello to our AirBnB friend. He must be friends with the owner, because he was also featured in the online brochure for the place!

Also, we had the most amazing view from our window. We were amazed to see how far the tide had receded given that it was all the way up to the city wall last night when we arrived!

Mont-Saint-Michel was absolutely stunning. It started out as a church that was built after someone had a vision of Michael the Archangel in which Michael told him to build a church on this rock. Then over time, it was added to until it became what you see today. It was ruled by a very powerful and influential abbot.

Prisoners would walk on this wheel to help raise and lower supplies.

I really enjoyed some of the colors and textures of the rock. I was reminded of the Alcatraz walls.

We were so lucky to have Lily’s foresight to get us timed tickets for the morning. By the time we were finished some areas of Mont-Saint-Michel were so crowded we actually couldn’t move at times. It cleared up a bit once we made it to the lower parts (featured in the video below), but you can still get a sense for the crowds.

We had oysters and other yummy food at a great cafe. It was awesome to sit outside!

I ordered an apple crepe with burning alcohol poured on it. The wind blew out the flame, so that part was a bit anticlimactic, lol.

I think Lily and I were both a little tired after how hard we had been hitting the previous week. We had a bit of emotional turbulence when a misunderstanding led to us eating at the restaurant featured above and not at a place she had read about and really wanted to go. We had some additional turbulence when we got separated on the way back, and I thought Lily took the bus, but she decided to walk, and I was unable to contact her. I was really stressed out that we were separated and she didn’t know there was an issue, so it was another misunderstanding. We talked through it and were able to still have a really good day even though there were two bumps in the road.

It was so nice to spend time on the beach after Mont-Saint-Michel

I got such a kick out of the sand crabs!

Meanwhile, my own little sand crabs (Lydia, Mary, Ammon and Clarissa) were playing in the sand and building wonderful structures.

We then went to old-city in San Malo. San Malo was very special for us because as a family we have been listening to the audio-book of All the Light you Cannot See. A lot of that book takes place in San Malo so it was so fun to think about the book while we were there. It was so fun to walk around old city. The shops were delightful, and it was amazing how old all the buildings were.

We went to a delicious crepe place for dinner called Histoire de Crepes. It was DELICIOUS. I especially loved the veggie crepe that Lydia ordered (and needed help with).

Lily had more success than I did with her flaming crepe desert!

Afterwards people got icecream.

And hugged

After dinner we walked all around the pier. We saw so many neat boats at the dock, including some that looked like pirate ships!

While walking towards the famous part of the wall that juts into the ocean, we noticed crowds of people. Lily asked someone and figured out that people were gathered to see the National Army boat of Argentina disembarking. It was on a journey of goodwill and just finished it’s visit with France. It was a beautiful boat!

We watched the ship sail off from the part of the wall that juts into the ocean. Everything was so beautiful. I got a photo and a video of the water because I was so taken by it. The light on the water makes me think of Monet and the way he explored the way light plays on water.

On the way back we past some big spot lights pointed at one of the city walls. We all had a lot of fun playing with our shadows.

When we got back near our place, I took the following photo and videos to show how high the tide was. Can you believe we were so far down the beach just hours earlier!?

Lily noticed this emblem on the sidewalk right outside where we were staying. It says, “The sea starts here.” When the tide is high enough, I’m sure it does!

Today was an extremely eventful day. Ammon started out the day still feeling sick. Poor guy.

We packed up on the morning to leave Paris and were out waiting for our ride around 9:30. Lily is always the hero with packing up. She is just so efficient, organized and good at it. I generally try to help, but I’m the supporting cast to her amazing energy that zaps all the chaos into organized suitcases that are ready to go. When we got outside we realized that our Uber driver cancelled on us and was not going to pick us up. Our AirBNB host then called two taxis for us, which was extremely nice of him. Lily took off in the first cab with Clarissa and Mary and I waited for the second cab with Ammon and Lydia. While waiting for the cab, Ammon started puking. Lily gave me two paper bags just in case Ammon started puking and he got both of them dirty with his puke. I was so embarrassed because the second cab driver pulled up right as Ammon was throwing up into the bags. The driver was in a button shirt, and very clean cut with gel in his hair. His cab was very nice and clean and had leather seats. I was half expecting him to say that he was not willing to take this bio-hazard family to the airport Avis rent-a-car, but I was so grateful that he still offered to take us. There was one more problem though. I now had no bag for Ammon in case he needed to throw up again in the car. I was just about ready to jump in the car with Ammon and just pray to God that he would not throw up. But at the last second, our airBNB host (the same one who called us the taxis) ran inside, grabbed a bag, and stuffed it into my hand. What a saint! 25 minutes into the ride, Ammon started throwing up. I was soooo grateful for that bag, and for the wonderful man who helped save the day. Thank you God for good people.

We waited a long time in line at Avis, but we finally got our car. While checking out for it, I learned that it was a manual transmission, and they had no automatics in the size that we needed. It had been about 20 years or so since I drove a stick shift, and even then I didn’t drive it that much. I felt very grateful for Suzanne and Jere (who both let me drive their stick-shift BMWs) so I at least had some exposure to a manual transmission. I worried though that it was going to be rough as it had been such a long time. The first time I hit the gas, I left forward with a jolt out of my parking space and then killed the car. That was cause for some concern. But then I settled down, and everything started coming back to me. I drove it just fine. It’s now a week later, and sure I’ve killed the car a number of times, and I’m still a bit jolty, but overall, I’m driving it with no problem. It has actually been really fun to refresh an old skill.

We took the long way to St. Malo so that we could see the war sites of Normandy. Our first stop was Omaha Beach. To prepare us, Lily had the whole family watch the movie The Longest Day. It is gut wrenching to imagine what it would be like to be one of the first to charge the Germans on that beach. You almost certainly knew you were going to die, but you also knew it was a crucial mission. The US and our allies actually freed France from Germany and turned the tide of World War II. The whole place felt sacred and had me thinking about my own commitment to noble sacrifice.

While the adults and older kids were having a transcendent experience, Clarissa was completely beside herself and wailing in protest. She literally could not process (at least not calmly) the idea that we would go right to a beach, and not play in it. Her wailing lasted a solid 10 or so minutes.

After Omaha beach, we went to St. Mereglise. This town is featured in The Longest Day, and thee town is very famous for the paratrooper that got caught on the church during entry via parachute. It is a very tragic story, because the paratroopers dropped at night to take the town by surprise. But someone’s house had caught on fire, and the German officials in the area were all awake and in the town square trying to help put the fire out. Thus, when the paratroopers landed, the German officials just gunned them all down. The paratrooper caught on the building was one of the only (and maybe the only) survivors, and he also died a year later, I think due to complications from his injuries.

Some of the paratroopers landed in swampy areas.

Remembering the heroes that died in World War II in Normandy was so inspiring. I felt a deeper conviction to make the sacrifices for good that my own life calls me to do. I am truly humbled and inspired by the people who died to save the world from a fascist dictator. Democracy is such a precious, fragile thing, and I’m so inspired every time I see someone stand up for it. I even felt a wave hope and inspiration go through my heart when I learned about Dick Cheney’s ad calling out Donald Trump as the greatest threat to American democracy. Politically, I have a lot against Dick Cheney, but the fact that he’s sticking up for democracy, and that his daughter is too as she runs the Jan 6 hearings, to me is another example of good people making sacrifices and sticking up for democracy. I thank the Lord for good people who stand up for goodness. It is honestly one of the things that most keeps my hope going.

After the adults and older kids got heir education, we gave the little kids what they most wanted. Something purely fun! Yay for carousels!

https://youtube.com/shorts/E1yWh3vqKIY?feature=share

In that same town, we then bought a bunch of yummy fruit and drinks at a grocery store and got burgers from a food truck. We were also delighted to find out that there was a magic show happening right while we were eating. It was in French, but the kids were still enthralled.

In the car, the kids had fun taking pictures.

They played a game where someone would make a face and then everyone else would try to copy it. How did they do?

We arrived late in St. Malo. What a wonderful day! Honestly, one of the best of my life. I was so amazed and touched by the World War 2 heroes.

Today Ammon was feeling really sick. He sweat a lot at night and had a fever in the morning. He was also extremely lethargic. Lily and I realized that he must have gotten heat exhaustion from the Versailles day (which was very hot) or a bug or both. Lily decided to stay home with Ammon while I took the girls to Giverny to see Monet’s home and gardens.

The way to and from Giverny was a CRAZY adventure. It has been such a gift to have Lily all the time on this trip. She is great with languages and even though she isn’t fluent in French, she knows some key words and can stumble through almost any interaction that we need. I on the other had was completely at a loss at the ticket machine in the train station. I did my best to look for Vernon which is the train stop I was supposed to go to. I couldn’t find it for the life of me, so knowing the train was leaving soon, I just picked a random destination and bought my adult ticket. Then I did the same for the kids tickets, but the machine only let me buy a booklet of kids passes, so I ended up buying about 10 kids passes. All in all, I paid 12.5 Euros. We jumped on the train and I was a bit worried that someone would stop to check our tickets (as happened yesterday on the way to Versailles), but I just figured I could look up with a puzzled look on my face, and display my 11 tickets for the wrong train and to the wrong destination and just hope they’d understand I was a very confused tourist and that they would have pity on me.

The way back was even more dramatic. Our bus was late, but we still got to the station two minutes before our train departed. We skipped buying tickets, ran strait on the train, and sat down with a good 90 seconds to spare before the doors closed. The next train left 2-3 hours later so we really wanted to make sure we caught this train. Again, if we got caught, I was hoping that displaying my abundance of tickets would solve the matter, lol. No one ever asked for our tickets, so I then started worrying that I underpaid for our journey. When we arrived in Paris, I tried to figure out again what tickets I was supposed to buy (now that there was no time pressure), but I still couldn’t figure anything out, so I just let it alone. What a crazy day of travel. But enough about the logistics! Let’s dive into our time at Monet’s house and gardens!

The garden was perhaps the most beautiful I have ever seen. And it gave me such an understanding into the inspiration behind so many of Monet’s paintings. Lily laughed when I told her over the phone that I didn’t realize that Monet was just hanging out in his own garden the whole time he was painting. I think the kids loved it too. Lydia did the flower close-ups (as well as the below rooster video). Didn’t she do a great job capturing the exquisite beauty of the flowers, and the um….the fascinating..uh…goofiness(?) of the roosters?

The inside of the house was so charming as well and it had so many of the beautiful colors from Monet’s paintings and garden.

After the house and flower garden, we toured the lily pond. We were on a time schedule because we wanted to catch our train. We moved through it pretty quickly, but it still made a huge impression (no pun intended) on me, and I assume on Lydia and Mary as well. Also, it was insanely crowded the whole time (I don’t even think it was peak time for crowds!), but that honestly didn’t really take away from just seeing what the place was like. It was incredible!

Here is Clarissa again breaking my back in the most adorable way possible, lol. The bus was late, so I stood like this for about 30 minutes. The girls got icecream at a nearby ice-cream truck. Lydia was startled by a bee and dropped her ice-cream off her cone, and the man was nice and gave her another scoop of ice-cream. Lydia returned the favor by tipping him. It was sweet.

As mentioned before, we barely caught the train without buying any tickets. Here’s me probably thinking about what will happen if they stop and ask us for tickets.

Here is Mary zonked out.

Here is Lydia zonked out.

And here is our silly mystery photographer looking as smug as ever. Lol, I love this picture.

Then we walked back to the apartment where we were staying.

We stopped at a park on the way and Lydia sat with me while the others played.

While I was in Giverny with the girls, Lily was resting, reading and taking care of our sweet Ammon. They also made it out for lunch, but he mostly sat there as he had very little appetite.

After arriving at home, we all went out for delicious Empanadas.

After Empanadas, I went home with Ammon who was still feeling sick, and Lily went around town with the girls. As soon as I got to the apartment with Ammon, he started throwing up majorly in the toilet on the main floor. He was such a champ about it. He just did it without any fuss or crying. Poor guy was really sick today.

I had such a fun daddy daughter day today. I love my family so much. Each person is so special to me. Off to more adventures tomorrow!

Today was another huge walking day. We went to Versailles!

We took the train from the famous St. Lazare train station. Monet painted it!

After a gorgeous train ride, we walked the rest of the way to Versailles.

When we arrived at Versailles, we were blown away by the opulence. It started out as a relatively normal Chateaux created by Louie XIII, but then Louie XIV went bananas and did much of the work to make it what it is today. Louie XV and Louie XVI also made enhancements, but Louie the XIV really did most of it.

The hall of mirrors was spectacular

There was also a hallway of huge paintings and also sculpture busts to commemorate famous battles in French history.

Then we toured the gardens. It was very hot, but the gardens were spectacular and I loved all the sunshine.

Clarissa had a hard time walking and I spent a lot of time carrying her (especially when she fell asleep). My back is still recovering (a week later) from all the carrying her in Versailles and on previous days, but I do love feeling so close to my little (and increasingly not so little) girl.

I neglected to take pictures of some of the pretty more narrow walkways, but the garden was a never ending array of pathways flanked by shrubs, bushes and/or trees. It was magical. We even got lost for a little bit on the way to the grand Trianon later in the day!

This is the Petite Trianon. The Trianons were meant to be places of retreat for when the pressures of Versailles felt overwhelming. The wife or mistress of various Kings usually occupied the Trianons.

My back is killing me……lol

A beautiful Grotto.

Marie Antoinette famously built an English cottage on Versailles because she loved the look of English cottages. So not authentic, but wow, they really did a great job recreating an English cottage. It was so charming!

Lily Commented a lot about how controlled nature was and how that was symbolic of how the government was controlling.

By this point, Lily’s feet were absolutely killing her. But being the adventurer that she is, she still really wanted to see the Grand Trianon.

We grabbed some orange juice before the walk to the restaurant.

We then took the walk to exit Versailles through the front gate where we entered.

Goodbye Versailles! We were dazzled by you, even though your history is very complicated. Wow that is a lot of money to through into a display of grandeur!

I was ASTOUNDED, that everyone slept normally through the night. I think Lily is right when she suggested that staying the night in New York one night may have helped with jet lag. I grabbed everyone a quick breakfast before we all headed out for the day. The bakery was right next to us, and I took this video of their nifty orange-juice-making-maching. The juice was delicious, as were all the pastries (the raisin one was sooo good).

https://youtube.com/shorts/c9BpYvM41lQ

We then walked to the Louvre and saw some amazing things.

Ammon and Clarissa really perked up when we got to the fancy possessions of royalty.

My favorite part was Napoleon III’s apartment. He wasn’t exactly shy about creating nice surroundings for himself…..

After the museum we crossed the Seine river on our way to Notre Dame and San Chapel. Lily is reading a book about the Seine and she has told us all sorts of interesting things about it on this trip.

We then stopped for some macaroons. Each kids got to choose 4 flavors.

We were walking down a cute walking street with lots of shops and we were (to use Lily’s words) accosted by a restaurant owner who convinced us that we really wanted to eat at his Moroccan restaurant. We were all hungry and next thing we knew, we were in his restaurant. Lily was a bit bothered that he was pushy, and I felt admiration for his tenacity as a sales person trying to get his business to succeed, lol. I can definitely see both sides of the coin though. Fortunately the food was amazing. I loved the giant cooked vegetables and Lily said the lamb was maybe the best she’d had in her life. So I guess, thank you pushy shop owner, lol 🙂 You can see him in the window below.

Of course we had to take a picture of Mary next to this pig.

Next we went to San Chapel. Forgive me for the over-abundance of photos, but San Chapel is very special for me. I think it was originally recommended to me by my humanities teacher (and major inspiration to me in so many ways), Dan Campbell, and I saw it when I traveled with my brother and AXB friends almost 20 years ago. I was amazed by it then, and I continue to uphold it as the most magnificent stained glass I have ever seen.

Then we went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

While walking around, Clarissa walked over a vent that was blowing her hair all around. I thought it was hilarious:

https://youtu.be/LziGyXpsl2s

Also, Lydia’s sandals were getting uncomfortable with all the walking, and we felt blessed to find some shoes that fit her perfectly.

I have been carrying Clarissa a lot so far on this vacation. She does her share of walking, but she poops out fairly quickly, and when I carry her she often falls asleep. This time when she fell asleep, we all stopped at a park while she finished her nap. Sweet thing. There was a small playground in eyeshot for the other kids to play at and Lydia had a quick face-time with Emerson. The weather was definitely warm, but it was gorgeous in the shade.

When Clarissa woke up, we went to the old French military hospital which has since been converted into the French army museum.

Within the complex there was a church and through the glass behind the altar you can see the tomb of Napoleon Boneparte. Certainly a noteworthy figure in French history, but also highly controversial.

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower and sat in the park near it, just taking it all in.

I should mention that Lydia and Mary have been nothing short of heroic. Clarissa is 4, which is very young to be doing all the things we are doing. Lily and I are getting our share of grey hairs, but we have been spared a lot of grief and tantrums because of all of the attention, guiding and entertaining that Lydia and Mary have done for Clarissa. Ammon also has been an incredible hero. He walked the entire day himself and overall had an incredible attitude. We was incredible.

We then went to the Arc de Triomphe. The arc was amazing to look at, but I was actually more memorized by how the traffic works around it. Take a look.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oQyzMfkXF6k

We then walked down the most famous street in Paris, the Champs-Élysées. I took a video to help capture the moment.

As we started making our way towards home, we found a replica of the torch of the statue of liberty that France gifted to the United States. It also (tragically), happened to be the place where Princess Diana died (she was hit in the tunnel right under the torch). Many people have showed their love for princess Dianna by putting locks on the chords around the torch. Locks are a sign of eternal love, and often lovers will show their love for each other by putting locks on chords on bridges, but they need to be removed because they weigh the bridges down. In this case people have used locks to show how much they love Princess Diana.

Before turning in for the night, we all got some ice cream at one of the thousands of out-door cafes around Paris (I love them so much).

we ate right across from the train station which we would use the next day for Versailles.

And yes, here is the proof that we walked almost 12 miles. Great job family!! I also have to give a major shout out to Lily who has build the most amazing itinerary and has planned and coordinated everything. This has been the most spectacular trip, and I have loved bonding with the family so much!!

We landed in Paris at almost noon Paris time. We immediately hit the ground running. We dropped off our bag at our place that Lily booked for us and then went to see the Paris Opera house.

The audio-tours helped occupy the little ones.

Charles Garnier was the architect and planner of the Opera house. It was built from 1861-1875 at the behest of Napoleon III who we learned a lot about on this trip. Like Napoleon Boneparte he’s a mixed bag. He did a lot of good and a lot of bad. I’m especially allergic to how he turned France from a democracy back to a monarchy by declaring himself emperor after he was democratically elected so he could stay in power for a very long time.

According to the original book about the phantom of the opera, he resided in booth 5. Here is his booth!

They now have his name on it!

For some reason, the below video would not embed, but it is a video of the actual theater hall where the performances happen.

https://youtube.com/shorts/U3GLuFy6KFo

I later saw the hall of mirrors at Versailles and I’m perhaps even more amazed by this room at the Opera house! I have multiple emotions. So incredible and magnificent, yet so pompous and over the top, when so many people were poor at that time. It’s a bit nutty.

Despite all the gold (which color Clarissa loves as she has recently declared it her favorite color), Clarissa really struggled in the opera house. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so instead of describing her behavior more, I think this picture basically sums it up.

She did like the dresses though!

After the opera house, which the grown-ups and older kids loved, we did something more on Ammon and Clarissa’s level and went to a Carousel. It was honestly a really cheap, lower quality carousel in my opinion, but that didn’t seem to dampen the experience at all from Ammon and Clarissa. I’m pretty sure it was their favorite thing of the day (maybe even of all the days in Paris). Kids really do have a gift of deeply appreciating even the simplest of pleasures.

We then went to Sacré-Coeur. It was incredible!!

One of my favorite memories from my last trip to Europe was the view from the Eiffel Tower. I knew we weren’t doing the Eiffel Tower view this trip, so when we got to this church and I learned that you could climb a whole lot of steps to get an amazing view of Paris, I was really excited.

The views were incredible! Paris is beautiful from all angles. We’ve really fallen in love with all the Baron Haussmann architecture (he was commissioned by Napoleon III to completely remake the architecture in Paris) and it was also fun to see it from a bird’s eye view.

Later we went to dinner. Paris so alive with its cafes everywhere. It seems that everywhere you look, there are people outside eating and socializing and enjoying life. Paris has an incredible vibe.

Thursday morning we woke up and went straight to Manhattan via the Newark airport shuttle, the airport air-train, and the rail-link to Penn-station.

All the kid played so sweetly while we waited for the rail-link.

https://youtube.com/shorts/FcFqs7R5w3s?feature=share

When we got out at Penn Station, I realized we were close to the SAP Hudson yard office where I just worked two weeks ago when I was in New York. I emailed the receptionist to see if I could take my family to the 52nd floor observation deck, and she immediately arranged it. I was so grateful. It was an incredible view and also free!

We then walked to our boat tour of New York. I helped Clarissa who still has a hard time walking long distances, well actually short distances sometimes too. Someday she might be too big for me to be carrying her……well, ok, maybe that day has already happened….but I’m still doing it……

The boat tour was amazing. I think we were most amazed by how beautiful the statue of liberty is. It’s so big, and the green is just stunning. We also loved the French connection since we were to leave to France the next day and the French gave the statue to the United States as a gift.

I also loved getting a great view of the One World Trace Center building. The tallest building in the Western Hemisphere (though I feel like it’s cheating a bit with that massive spire). It’s so neat that it’s height is 1,776 feet.

After the boat tour we ate pizza and rainbow cake at Carlo’s bakery. Then Lily got us tickets to the Rise exhibit and ride all about New York. we learned so much and the ride was soooo fun. The kids reported that the Rise ride was their favorite thing for the whole New York day.

After Rise, we went to Central Park and rented bicycles. We biked all around Central Park as a family. That was my favorite part of the whole day. At first, Clarissa was really scared and uncomfortable on the bike and refused to pedal (she just clutched the handle-bars tightly and said she was scared). But you will see in the videos below that she soon warmed up to the whole idea.

We got sweaty, thirsty and hungry from our ride so we had dinner at Pret-a-manger and then got ice cream from a street vendor.

We then made it to the airport to catch our red eye flight. It boarded later than expected and we spent a long time waiting in line. The kids dropped like flies.

But we eventually made it on and slept (some more deeply than others) our way to Paris.

Today we arrived to the airport on time to catch our plane to New York. Dad and Suzanne agreed to pick up our car from short-term parking to take it to their house for free parking (thank you!!).

We were in Newark by around 5:30, and to our hotel by 6:30. I swam with Ammon, Clarissa and Lydia until almost 8 while Lily and Mary had a dinner date together, and then I ate food Lily ordered in the hotel with the kid who swam. I ate sooooo much pizza and a delirious salad.

Lily is one of the most knowledgeable people I know, and it is because she is always pouring education into her mind. For the past several day (including today) she has been listening to Sam Harris podcasts on two-speed. She’s been sharing some with me to, and I also quite love him. We got our Covid tests today (preparatory to the trip) and listened to Sam Harris in the car to and from the tests. I focused on getting my work wrapped up by 6ish (which I did), and then Lily and I packed until late to get everything ready to go. Lily did the lion share of EVERYTHING. I mostly packed myself, cleared the car our, loaded luggage, and handled the electronics. Lily did literally everything else, and packed everyone’s clothes, got all our tickets and itinerary details together and not to mention she planned the whole trip and made all the reservations (which is a ton of work). I’m soooo grateful for all Lily has done to make this trip a reality. Thank you Lily!