This year so far has been a crazy, head turning, upside down kind of year!!! At the beginning of the year we had an interesting vacation both here and abroad. Our plans were to leave from DFW with Jason's mom and fly to Boston, Iceland, then to Paris to begin our 2-week European vacation. Mother nature threw these plans up in the air and decided to close the airport in Boston, day 1 of our journey. With the other hundreds of passengers, the airlines got some flights out for us the next day; only hitch was that we were split up with no flights able to accommodate our 5 party group. Here's how is
should have gone: Vicki and the boys to Las Vegas, then to NY, then to Paris the next day, arriving 4 hours ahead of Jason and I. Our flight was scheduled to leave the next day and go straight to Paris. This is
how it went: Jason's mom graciously took the boys on the "trip" to Las Vegas, then to New York the next day. They were supposed to get out of New York the same day, but "The Polar Vortex" dropped in on those plans and "stranded" them in New York for 5 days. Now, I would love to be "stranded" in New York with Vicki, especially at the Four Season's! The boys and Vicki did their best, under their circumstances, to get out and see what New York is all about. The boys became proficient in riding the Subway, getting the lingo of a New Yorker, and of course tasting all the delicious food! It is nice that the boys are older and stronger to hold their own bags, stand in line alone and follow directions. As all this was happening, Jason and I got a 2nd honeymoon in Paris!
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| Packed and ready for flight! |
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Vicki had taken care of all our our travel arrangements, so it was a mad scramble to get in contact with her and the owner of the Paris apartment we were staying in without having international calling on
our cell phones. I didn't realize how expensive a phone booth call is nowadays! The apartment was a quaint 2 bedroom with a closet for the kitchen. Though small, everything in it was efficient, and close to everything! Our days were spent site-seeing, walking, riding bikes, eating, eating, eating; and our nights............!!! It was beautiful to see the city still decorated for the holidays and all the lights at night. Our sites included Notre Dame, SacreCouer, Arc de Triumph, The Louve and so many other places the streets took us. We shopped at the local stores and farmers market for our breads, meats and cheeses and found that Parisian wine is really cheap and good tasting!
Thank goodness the apartment had Wi-fi and we were able to connect with the rest of the family through Viber (you should check it out!), and email. Everyday was wondering if the rest of our group was getting out on a flight and do we need to meet them somewhere. Finally, on the 6th and last day of our Paris vacation, the boys and Vicki got to see (in a mad dash) Paris. They arrived early in the morning and our train to London was leaving at 1 pm, which left us 4-5 hours to get them to all the major points of interest. We did it, but our feet were burning from tearing up the cobblestones on our dash around the city. Andre got his Nutella crepe and promises were made to bring them back one day so they can experience more of what Paris has to offer. We were moving on....
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| Early cold morning at the Eiffel |
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| Break time after a fast-walk across town |
We scheduled the Eurostar train from Paris to London for something different in travel. The train was comfortable and fast, but lulled our weary travelers to sleep along the green countryside. We used the Tube to get from the train station to our stop in Kensington where our apartment was waiting, and Jamus! The apartment in London was spacious enough for 6 and was very modern. Plans were made to visit the sites via the tube or bus, they both were great for getting around. We visited the Tower of London, Borough's Market, and a night walk to Kensington Palace (to see where baby George sleeps!). More site-seeing the next day with a train ride to Windsor Castle, then a stop at Harrods for dessert. Thank goodness for good maps as many streets turned into different names at intersections (of 8 different directions!). Our sights included St. Pauls Cathedral, inside and from the top, Kensington Palace in daylight, Hyde Park, and Hard Rock Cafe. We all enjoyed seeing Wicked and having high tea at Harrods. There is so much to see and do in London, there will be a trip again sometime soon. The weather held out for us, though cold, there was only one time of complete downpour with hail, the rest was sunny, cloudy or just slightly drizzly. Our flight home was non-interesting, thank goodness! There are so many more pictures that were taken, however my computer is acting up and I think there is limited space to upload.
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| Train station in Paris | | | | | | | | |
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| Tower of London |
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| Make way for the Scotsguard! |
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| Windsor Castle |
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| Trying it on for size |
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| Harrods! So many desserts to choose from..... |
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| Cold day at Hyde Park |
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| Andre is in heaven, burgers! |
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| I don't know what this was about, but its cute! |
Back in the states, our trailer was being stored by Jason's grandmothers house in Bullard, TX, so that's where this crew laid for a couple of nights to regroup before hitting the road to Phoenix, AZ. The road to Phoenix was a smooth one, getting in earlier than anticipated. All of us were delighted to have sunshine, warmth and a pool. The RV resort is an older one with really tight spaces and filled with "snow-birds". It is about 30 minutes from Phoenix, but one of the only ones that allows for our 55 or younger crowd. At the RV park they have an activity sheet that was filled with interesting things for the boys.....or so we thought. Who knew that the ice-cream social was only for "snowbirds 55 or older" crowd, and that it would make our boys feel really out of place?!? Mean older people!, we'll splash you in the pool! The boys enjoyed areas
around the RV park for hiking, and the skate board park. Things were looking good, we were settling in.....then our world gets turned upside down. Jason had been inquiring about a job back in Reno, NV and got the job. (We have been toying with the idea of ending the traveling for sake of the boys wanting to go back to school with friends, and having a double income again). Great!, but that meant that I wouldn't be able to complete my assignment in Phoenix. I called to give them notice of my leaving and got the wind knocked out of me when they said, "uh, no you won't work next week, you end right this minute". Ok, after a few minutes of adjusting my thoughts I was ok with that decision they made, I going to be moving after all. Plans were being made in Reno, NV. Unfortunately, the next day the job in Reno told Jason, no we can't hire you due to a non-compete clause (same facility, different company)! Sucker-punched and knocked to the ground! The shock of all this took about 2 days to wear off before I am able to talk about it without a Kleenex in hand.
Thankfully, Jason's mom, Vicki has a big house and there is room for us. So this is where we have landed until we have a direction to go. We are done traveling and are eager to both get jobs somewhere to settle down. Our applications are out everywhere, we are sitting by the phones anxiously waiting. Of course this all happened on a long weekend which has made our wait even longer.
While our journeys have been interesting and mostly enjoyable, it is sad to have them end on this sour note. Things happen for a reason, and I hope its a good one!
