oh, did i mention the florida thing?

A bit late to the party here; but, it's never to late for fun, right?  So anyways, we spent Thanksgiving week in Florida.  We drove down in 22 or so hours, spent 5 days there and then drove back in 24 hours.

The trip is, quite possibly, the most insane thing we have ever done.  Or, actually, it's pretty much business as usual around here.

We tried to leave the Nutmeg State on Friday night; but, we ended up turning around an hour out, somewhere outside of New Haven because we got a nail in our tire--it was the opposite of awesome.  We drove back home, slept in our own beds, got the tire fixed the next morning and then headed out again.

We got to Orlando, checked out the hotel, the Liki Tiki (no, I am totally not kidding) and then crashed.

The next day, Monday, and the three days thereafter were spent at one Disney park or another.

We rode the people mover ride 5 or 6 times.  Because, well, it moves people, I guess?

The kids had fun, but honestly, the parents were thinking harikari by the middle of the second day.

Also, the whole family rode the Tower of Terror.  It has that name for a reason, I think.  The Pups LOVED it though.  Not wanting to be a killjoy, I just said that "it [was] nice [they] enjoyed it so much."

And since we had already committed ourselves, we opted to go to Legoland Florida on Friday, you know, before driving back home...on Black Friday.  Yep, that's how we roll.  Literally.

I know there was doubt, but yes, I do believe that Parents of the Year trophy can be sent our way for 2013...yes, indeed...

We are getting a book made of our Florida adventures, because apparently that's what you do now.  If you come visit us, you can take a look at it and live vicariously through our adventures...

bonjour!

I meant to talk about our big family trip before we actually went away; but, isn't it so much better that I didn't and can just dive in now? Yes, let's go with that.

So last week, the Wandering Seals wandered across the Atlantic and spent spring break in France. We concentrated our adventures in Normandy with the occasional trip into Paris by train.

It was awesome, and when I saw "awesome," I actually mean mind-blowingly spectacular.
I am not going to lie, international travel with two kids is no cake-walk. It is not for the feint of heart, it is not for the weak, people! But oh, was it worth it!We left Friday(3/5) evening thinking that the kids would, obviously sleep through the whole flight there and wake up ready to go.
Obviously, we are fools. They were so amped up that it took them a few hours to finally sleep and by the time we got there, everyone was tired.

We stayed at a beautiful place in the town of Connelles, right on the Seine (our balcony gave us a great view).

We spent time in Honfleur, quite possibly, the prettiest fishing village, ever.

And we also went to Caen to see the World War II Memorial Museum.
We went to Paris, of course.


Twice, just to get in as much as possible (I can not go to the Paris and not go to Monmatre).
And we went to Rouen.

We also went to Bayeux.
We went to the American Cemetery on the D-Day Beaches and saw Omaha Beach (this was actually the whole purpose of the trip, really--or at least what sparked the initial plan to go).

We spent time in Lyon a la Foret (the prettiest village in France)
.And then we bopped into little towns near Connelles like Val du Ruil, Elbeauf, Louviers, Ande, and Herqueville to shop, eat and explore. We had a great time.
And in case you were unaware, the most popular tourist destination in Europe is Disneyland Paris. I know, it suprised me too, but if Rick Steeves says it's so, it must be true.I put 30% of our photographs from the trip up in flickr; but, there is no processing and no additional information there (because, seriously, I don't have time to comment on 300 images in a timely manner). If you want a little narration and would like to see pictures with a little bit more fine-tuning and more critical selection (hi Papa!) please check out my other flickr account here, there you will find only 10%--but that's still over a hundred pictures, so grab a snack, I guess.

Au revoir!

mousecapades

During the middle of October (last month), I went to Orlando to attend a conference, it was all about trends in records management. It was about as exciting as it sounds. In any case, one doesn't go to Orlando, or rather, the near vicinity of the Mouse's house and not bring one's family especially if said family includes wee ones. So the whole family went. It was a great inaugural trip for our new luggage.

We crammed a lot of fun in the few days we were in Orlando.

Papa's mom (aka, Grammy) flew out to have fun with us, which was pretty nice (it was also really handy when I attended conference sessions).

We found a Benihana steak house, which has just become this ridiculous tradition when we travel.

And we got a chance to see my oldest sister and her family. Thanks work, I had a great time!

More pictures in flickr. There aren't any pictures of my records conference though, because, well, records...get excited!