For anyone who has asked

Why my sister is living in North Carolina, randomly, for five months, I give you . . .

. . . the beach.

Now I kind of want to live there, too. Who wouldn't want to live on "Topsail Island," on Topsail Beach, in fact, which you reach by driving through "Surf City," and which has an astonishingly wonderful lack of both neon signs and high-rise hotels. Just rows and rows of cute little beach houses (or beach mansions in some cases).

We played in the sun and sand. Not the water, though; no, definitely not the water, as per Evelyn's demand.

(action shot)

(Laurel's beach house (1/2 of it anyway))

When it rained, we drove to Wilmington for McDonald's ice cream cones and diet cherry limeades, and visited Costco, Sam's, a non-ghetto Old Navy, and Super Walmart within minutes of each other (twice).

We also took a very interesting and informative visit to a museum on the site of a former Civil War fort, where Evelyn decided she loves to run around outside in the rain.

Can we go back next summer, Daddy? Pretty please? Evelyn promises to reprise her role doing cute things such as spending an entire morning calling both Laurel and I "honey" and making "ice cream" cones with her bristle blocks.

Or taking off her pajamas instead of sleeping. Whichever seems funner at the time.

We took a blogging break, . . .

. . . and here are some of the things you missed. (Sadly our trip to Kansas and St. Louis will have to remain "the lost week" for now since I have no pictures of our fun with Grandpa and Careen.)

Evelyn examining her Easter basket a day late.

Evelyn caring for the babies, hers

and mine.

Evelyn trying peanut butter for the first time.

And finally, Evelyn playing clothes horse in preparation for our trip to the beach.

See you in a week!

Travel Log: Paris 2009 Edition

As I find them excessively annoying to include and this is, after all, my blog, all accent marks have been omitted.

Friday May 8

-Arrive at CDG approx 11 a.m.
-Take RER B train to C train to Invalides stop.
-Walk through park to Hotel St. Dominique (clean, big bathroom, close to lots of stuff - we recommend it).
-Check in.
-Walk past Eiffel Tower,


Arc de Triomphe,

(view looking towards a more modern Paris)

(view toward Louvre)

then down Ave des Champs Elysees to Pl de la Concorde (where Louis XVI was excecuted),

(one of 8 ladies representing French cities)

(Egyptian obelisk)

through Jardin des Tuillaires, and around the Louvre,

ending in the Cour Carree.

-Note to self: I now understand why the French revolted. Main Street thinks Wall Street is bad? They should check this place out. The gargantuan, 650,000 square foot palace that was "too small" for Louis XIV, who then built at Versailles. I would have revolted too. Although funnily enough, they loved XIV; it was XVI they hated (all that "economic crisis" stuff I guess).

-Visit the shopping mall at Carrousel du Louvre for a good look at Pei's inverted pyramid. Think to self that its contemporary design fits much better into this setting than its right side up twins' do among the above-ground Louvre architecture.

-Accidentally stumble on hip part of town near Right Bank.

-Eat pain au chocolate. Visit stinky fromagerie where we are not allowed to buy anything because it is "too late" even though the store is still open.

-Eat dinner at sufficient but forgettable Parisian Italian restaurant.

-Ride 4 to C back home.

Saturday May 9

-Take 4 train to flea market (Les Puces) - eh.

-Take 4 back to Notre Dame - Interesting fact: It was basically in shambles a couple centuries ago and part of the reason they were able to get the money to restore it was Hugo's novel.

(stained glass window in Notre Dame)

-Visit St. Chappelle with its walls and ceiling of practically uninterrupted stained glass - truly too spectacular for pictures to do it justice.

-Receive email from John: "Good morning. Evelyn has a message for you. Here goes: Momma, I love you. Momma. Phone! Please Please Please. I love the Phone. Nanna Phone."

-Miss Evelyn a little.

-Drink hot chocolate in a little cafe around the corner from the Louvre.

-Visit Louvre.

In typical tourist fashion, see virtually only two things because we're so overwhelmed with its size (and it's getting close to closing time), the Mona Lisa and Napoleon Crowning Josephine (just after crowing himself). Napoleon's mother is in the painting even though she had refused to go. The painter put her in as a favor to Napoleon, a little fact we learned the next day while staring at another version of the same enormous painting at Chateau Versailles.

-Read Wikipedia entry about Josephine.

-Dinner on Blvd St. Germain in Latin Quarter at Cafe Mabillon - good fries and more hot chocolate.

-Berthillon ice cream on Ile de St. Louis.

-Walk along Champs Elysees at night to Arc de Triomphe.

(It gets dark very late in Paris this time of year.)

-Climb 284 stairs to top for view of Tour Eiffel,

including a light show.



-Walk home by way of Eiffel Tower.

Sunday May 10

-Walk down Rue Cler (very typical Parisian street around the corner from our hotel) to market near La Motte Picquet Grenelle subway stop. Love it! Grab olive bread, cheese, raspberries, cherries, and cherry tomatoes for breakfast on the go.

-Catch the C train out to Chateau Versailles.

-Walk through the gardens at Versailles while fountains are running. Immense. That's really the only word.

-Take tour of the Chateau - largest palace in Christendom. Think to self that the picture of Napoleon crowning Josephine is almost as large as my apartment (600 square feet for the picture, 650 for my apartment). Look at golden gates outside the chateau and identify with French Revolutionaries again.

(Hall of Mirrors)

-Drool over lacquer-type painted trim in Dauphin and Dauphine's offices.

-Take train back to Invalides stop.

-Drop by the sculpture garden at the Musee Rodin for obligatory "Thinker" posed shot.

-Walk to Musee D'Orsay, former train station that now holds the later end of the Louvre's collection, especially a fantastic impressionist collection. Marvel anew at Degas, Renoir, Monet, Manet, etc.

-Walk back to Ile de St. Louis for more ice cream at Berthillon.

-Take train back to Rue Cler for dinner at Cafe du Marche, which is closed, even though a waitress this morning told us they'd be open until 11 p.m.

-Eat dinner at a lesser cafe.

Monday May 11

-Leave CDG almost exactly 72 hours after arrival.

* * *

Paris was absolutely lovely, just as expected. I prefer it to Venice, Rome, and Florence (although those were wonderful, too) and can't wait to go back with John someday. If you live in New York, you should absolutely do a weekend there while there airfare is low.