Paris: Day One

We left town after Seth got home from work. We were expecting the drive to take about 9 hours, knowing that we have six kids and we would never make it in that time, but hoping that it wouldn't take much longer. The GPS is super bossy and she kept recalculating our route based on traffic conditions. We ended up taking a few detours through some pretty places that were not quicker than a traffic jam. The drive in the dark wasn't very fun, we couldn't see anything, and the toll roads in France were killing us. We knew about them, but we drive a van that is over the 2 meter limit and cost extra at each toll. Ugh. When we finally got there the reception was closed, we knew it would be, and had called ahead to get the access code to the gate. We tried to check in via the kiosk and apparently after Seth paid for the first room the credit card company put a hold on the card so we couldn't pay for the other one. That was after we called before we left to let them know we would be living in Europe for six months. So we all crammed into one hotel room for the night. I think we did Me, Seth and Grace in the queen, Sariah, Ammon and Ada in one twin and Caleb and Arch in the top bunk. Luckily, Seth was able to sort things out in the morning.
Finally we were off to Normandy. We first stopped by the recreational part of the beach where the kids could play a little.

What a great experience it was to go to Omaha Beach at Normandy. It was awesome walking onto American ground and feeling such patriotism. America really is the greatest nation in the world. It was wonderful to learn about the brave  men who sacrificed their all for the greater good of mankind. I learned so much about the war and how critical this battle was and what it really meant in the fight of good and evil. It's astonishing to see what humanity is capable of, both good and bad.

After a somewhat somber visit to Normandy we headed to Mont Saint Michel. This place was amazing also. There is this little island at the very North of France. It has a monastery on the top and a little village around the bottom. You can climb up to the little lookouts and see the ocean or English Channel of whatever body of water it is that surrounds the little island. Okay, technically it's not an island, maybe a peninsula. The kids got a kick out of exploring, but it sure was cold and windy. We found a cute Japanese couple to take our family photo. They agreed if they could take one with us too. So we posed with them. I love that we will be the random American family that had six kids they met in France in their scrapbook.

 Check out Arch's shoes! He found some ground he thought was solid enough to walk on. He was wrong.