The next few weeks are really shaping up to be good ones. On Friday, I'm flying to San Francisco for our (mostly) annual girls weekend with my college sorority friends. It's always so fun to spend time with those girls reminiscing college days and sharing stories about our new adventures. Also - NO KIDS! As much as I'm looking forward to that, when I get home we leave in just a few days for Europe trip #2. I am much more excited about this trip than I was for our last one. First thing, we're not flying all over the continent - just staying in a small area. And most important, we're going to Paris.
I am hoping it's not too crowded there but we're definitely getting into the tourist season. I've actually been doing a little research ahead of time on fun things to do, and I'm really looking forward to the family bike trip we'll be doing through Monet's Gardens. We've been doing quite a bit of bike riding at home since Uri finally got a bike (and since we ditched the trailer) and it's such a fun way to get around together. And I find that the things I really enjoy doing as a family usually involve the outdoors. To me, a train ride, picnic and a bike ride sounds like the perfect day.
But that's not all we have planned! I have been looking into a babysitting service so that Uri and I can go out to a nice lunch & afternoon together. Lunch is the new dinner! Besides those two big plans, I am just going to stroll the city and see what I can find. I'm bringing the umbrella stroller this time because Anna just keeps growing. If people thought we looked silly with the carrier before, this would just be crazy. After Paris, we'll be going to a not terribly interesting town in Germany as well as Brussels - where I am looking forward to photographing the Mannekin Pis ... hopefully he'll be wearing a fun outfit. Also - belgian waffles & belgian beer. The one hitch is that I'm flying to Europe with Anna alone. Uri has to leave a few days early to hit Boston - so it's me, the luggage, the stroller and the kid. I feel okay about it though. I'm going to leave plenty of time for everything and I've found that a mom and a kid traveling alone attract a lot of help and sympathy from bystanders.
This is definitely the year of the travel adventure for me because just one month after Europe we do Alaska with the Mouse. We've had that trip planned for some time, we're going with the grandparents for Anna's 3rd birthday. Disney even has this little thing where Mickey calls you on the phone to say he's looking forward to seeing you. I made the mistake of trying it yesterday when I was registering online and now Anna asks every hour or so if it's time to go on the boat with Mickey. Oops. It's hard to explain "two months from now" to a toddler. I'm not doing any more Mickey calls until right before we leave. I never thought I'd take a cruise - it seemed terribly unhip to me even just a few years ago. But with kids and grandparents - it sounds PERFECT. Also, Disney does such a great job making sure everything is enjoyable and seamless. Alaska here we come!
Any other year, that would be enough. But since this is my year of adventure, I'll be going to The Blathering in October. With all of these awesome trips, I really hope I don't get pregnant anytime soon. Fingers crossed.
