For our big trip during spring vacation, we decided to return to one of our all-time favorite destinations; Paris and Disneyland Paris. We broke the trip up rather well, this time. Instead of doing Disneyland for days in a row, we broke it up with visits to Paris and Versailles in between. That gave our feet a bit of a break, and helped us from getting burnt out on any one thing.
But first things first. In preparation for our trip, the girls and I researched fun Disney nail art. Then spent Sunday afternoon painting our nails. Packing? Sure, but you have to set priorities, you know. 🙂
I am not the greatest at nail art, having just gotten started, but we sure have fun with it. Also, many designs are meant for large adult nails, and it’s hard to shrink them down for tiny little girl nails, but everyone was very pleased with the results, and that is what matters most.
Alexandra wanted the cute aliens from Toy Story. They are actually upside down here. The eyes are on top, and then the clothes start underneath. But if she made a fist, she could see her aliens right side up, which is how she wanted them.
Sophie went for red and white dots, with Minnie mouse heads. I should have left the “face” off, but the bows turned out super cute. Can’t wait to try them again.
Sarah’s was a very understated Disney style, but it also turned out the best. Notice I learned from Sophie’s and left off the face. She wasn’t sure she wanted them at all, so I was very happy she changed her mind and joined in the fun.
I went with Mickey pants and had to just giggle every time I looked down and saw them. It was such a fun, easy way to get really excited for our trip and make it seem extra special. I think this might need to become our new tradition; special nail art before every trip.
We spent most of Monday driving to Paris, with plenty of bathroom stops and a freeway-side picnic lunch. We were all excited to get to our hotel, as it was a place we had never stayed before and it looked so nice from the website. They were actually all individual 2-story houses, with small yards and a nice balcony. This way we could save a bit of money on eating out all the time, and Chris would have a chance to eat, well, anything. 🙂
Oh.my.goodness. When we pulled up early Monday evening, we were shocked. Rather than the individual houses that were shown on the website, it was rows and rows of connected houses, with no yards, and a tiny strip of cemented over patio in the back. The different rows were crammed so close together, that the kids started a new hobby of spying on what the neighbors were having for breakfast! The furniture was not nice at all, and the whole place stank. They said they were non-smoking, but we are guessing that was just a suggestion, not a guarantee, going by the odors that were embedded in all the fibers. Oh, and there were ants. Lots and lots of ants in a trail from the porch, under the huge gap by the front door, through the living room and into the kitchen to the trash can. So we had to move that outside, and open the door every time we wanted to throw something away. Fortunately, Noah is a great ant stalker and managed to smash most of them for us.
We seriously considered packing up and trying to find another place to stay, it was that nasty. But it was late, we weren’t sure anything would be available, and the kids were not nearly as grossed out as we were, so we decided to tough it out. After all, we were only really going to be there for a short time in the mornings and late evenings. But we vowed to never stay there again. shudder
Anyway, once we decided to stay, we quickly unpacked our bags and headed over to the grocery store to buy some supplies. We all love this giant mall that is right close to Disneyland Paris. It has fun playgrounds, and tons of fun shops, plus a giant grocery store. France has fun stuff like Golden Grahams, Doritos, and those squeeze pouches full of different flavored applesauces, that we just can’t get in Switzerland or Germany. And brioche, lots and lots of brioche, both plain and chocolate-filled. yum!
We got to bed at a semi-reasonable hour, considering it was vacation, and the next day we headed out to explore Paris.