Bonjour Paris!

We're finally here in Paris. We're Parisiens!

We arrived on Friday after a really long flight. There was a theme to our travels--mishaps and misunderstandings! It made everything memorable to say the least.

First of all we had a lot of carry ons because we were carrying our valuables. No problem on the dinky flight from Florida to D.C. but of course Air France insisted we check the extra one on the big flight. It was ridiculous and I argued because technically we had no diaper bag and with a baby you're allowed that extra carry on, but they insisted that our diaper bag was more like a suitcase so we had no choice but to comply because we were already the last ones to board. Of course Seb in his grumpy haste accidentally gave them the bag with the baby diapers because he'd mixed up the carry ons. Luckily I had one diaper in my purse but it was still a soppy flight with just one change in over seven hours.

For the transatlantic portion there was some sort of mix up where our seats were canceled and we ended up separated for the entire flight, all three of us at opposite ends of the plane! Eventually they got Little S together with Seb but we never did get to sit together or get a bulkhead seat for the baby so she was literally a lap baby the whole seven hours which made eating or drinking impossible. We were so relieved to get to Paris and get out of the plane! Then we realized much to our horror that our seven bags never made the flight and Air France had no idea where they were. We spent two days in an airport hotel standing by waiting and biting our nails because of the things we threw in our luggage the days before leaving like jewelry and childhood photos, flying by the seat of our pants--dumb mistake. Finally they found six of the bags and eventually the seventh, but whew! what a time to lose our bags! Everything important we owned was on that flight.

Even our plans for where to stay this week have been confusing. The original idea was for me and the kids to stay with the in-laws for the first week back but when we visited them yesterday mother in law had a fit about our cat and said it was rude of us not to tell her we were coming with it so now we're back at the hotel. I can see her point about the cat but life is short and given the choice of spending a week with my grandkids with or without a cat I wouldn't care one way or another about a germy cat. Especially since our cat is old and fat and sleeps all day. Anyway, better to have her be honest right away than live with the tension of it all week.

So yes, one short week in Paris before we leave on vacation in Haute-Savoie with all of our bags. Life is definitely crazy right now!