Day 7- lounging, biking and celebrating...

The day before was so very dreamy but we knew day 7 would need to be WAY slower. Lyra was having trouble sleeping the night before so we decided to let the girls sleep as long as they wanted. Again.

The boys headed out early to see the catacombs. I’ll let Jorge tell you all about that creepy goodness.

One of my favorite parts of the Parisian apartments are the big giant windows. You can feel the breeze no matter where you are and hear the bustle of the city. It feels like you are out even when you aren’t. I just did laundry, cleaned and pretended I lived there. I may have also looked up apartment rentals.

When the girls finally woke up, we walked down to the patisserie and grabbed some brunch. There was a flower market, grocery market and pharmacy all right by the apartment. Each day you only buy what you need and after work hours you see dozens of Parisians buying their evening baguette on their way home. It is a lovely way to live.

The green of the Eiffel Tower was directly behind our apartment and the tower itself just a block or so away. The girls and I sat on a bench on the green just admiring the tower, eating and chatting. We headed over to a little park to play for a bit. I watched as Lyra gathered up her courage to invite a new friend to play in French. She must have asked me 10 times to repeat the phrase to her.

She got close one time but couldn’t quite make it happen. I was so proud of this little girl for trying. It’s scary to put yourself in such a vulnerable position. *I* was so nervous ordering the food each day in my very pathetic French, but each day we got a little braver, a little more confident.  

The boys ended up taking much longer than we anticipated so when they finally arrived we headed back to a part of the city in search of some gifts to take home. By the time we rode the metro over it was almost time for me to go back to the apartment to meet Jack for a night bike tour we were doing.

The rest of the crew went on while Jack and I headed to our adventure. We didn’t really do any tours, mostly because they add up for six people and seem to take so much time but biking through the city at night sounded fun.

In big families, it always feels like one kid is kind of getting lost in the shuffle and need so you just keep switching the focus around all the time. It’s really nice to have one on one time when you get a chance, but I find it almost always requires intention. It’s especially awesome when you find something in common that just you and the one kid like to do….hiking, biking, outdoorsy stuff is it for Jack and me.

So Paris is a bike lovin’ city through and through. You can find bikes to rent by the hour and day almost everywhere you turn and there are a good amount of bike lanes thorough out the city. …BUT I didn’t anticipate how crazy it is to ride IN that traffic with those cars, taxis and buses- oh my Lord. I have mad respect for you RVA bikers. We survived and besides getting to ride around the courtyard of the Louvre,   Jack was mostly stoked there were no helmets.  Side note- When I returned back to the apartment someone had eaten my baguette I saved for dinner and everything was closed. This may have sent me almost over the edge, but I found my way back. (barely)

We ended our last night in front of the Eiffel Tower to celebrate Lucy’s birthday. It was the perfect way to end such a trip. Hope that kid has a million more celebrations so special and memorable.

We were SO full, full of joy, full of gratitude, full of a good kind of tired. There was a deep-in-your-bones kind of grateful to have had so many wonderful experiences together. We were total rookies in the craziest ways and learned so much.

The one question that each person asked?

“Where are we going NEXT?!”