Traveling is one of mine and Keith's favorite thing to do. Now living in Paris, with almost a year and a half down and possibly just a year left, our intentions are to go to as many places as possible. Living in Europe, things are so much more accessible, by trains or just a short flight. Most of these places we would never see in a lifetime. The kids have been traveling since they were babies so I think they are starting to enjoy it as much as we do. One of their favorite things to do is put a pin in the Europe map. We have marked all the places we have gone. Don't get me wrong, our travel budget is blown...BIG time.

Which leads me to our latest adventure...Greece. I am in love with it. We started out in Athens to see all the historic sites: the acropolis, temple of Zeus, the coliseum where they finish the marathon, etc. It was great. I won't lie though, Athens is a bit run down with the economy and one day in town was plenty (It was also unfortunate that we missed LeBron James by a week). While we were there it was amazing how many people approached us with Keith’s Cleveland Indian hat and Lance’s Ohio State hat. Keith actually met a guy that used to live right down the street from where he grew up. Small world. Back to Athens…what was really fun was the nice feeling of sitting down for dinner in a square. Everyone was so friendly, food was good and most of all, everything was super cheap.

Then we were all in anticipation for our next stop, the Greek island of Crete. We rented a villa in the Chania area, just down the street from the beach and with its own pool. It was awesome, exceeded all my expectations, and the island was absolutely beautiful. We had a pool, a little playground and room to run all around..the kids were in their glory. It made me miss my house even more. The room, the fresh air, the freedom of the kids to play outside whenever they wanted. Oh I miss this. Oh yeah, Keith loved the barbecue area, which we utilized a few of the nights. The kids were little fishes in the pool. Lance can already swim mostly on his own but Peyton was also determined to do that. She just had a blast. Some of the nights we went down into the little village of Plaka or Almyrida to have dinner. As I mentioned earlier the dinners were cheap and every dinner ended with complimentary dessert and shots...yes I said shots. Of course we couldn't offend them so we had to do at least one (they would leave a small bottle). I do have to talk a little about the customer service. At first we thought it was similar to France (with the addition of a smile). What I mean is that when you order dinner you are not sure when you will get it or in which order. Keith and I realized that it wasn't bad customer service it was just the fact that there was only one waitor/waitress serving all the tables. This was almost everywhere. They were all family-run businesses. The good thing was that they were very hospitable and kid friendly...very different from Paris.

Have I also mentioned how beautiful the Old Town Chania was. It was gorgeous, Beautiful old streets and restaurants on the water. We spent an afternoon there just walking around and of course trying out some ice cream. We probably should have spent more time there.

Everyday was perfect and now we are back to our Paris apartment. Re-entry from our holidays are always hard but this one is different. Even my little boy Lance broke down in tears the night before indicating he didn't want to leave. I know..I know he is only 6 and he will change his emotions every few minutes but it just broke my heart knowing we were going back to our apartment and not our house. Yes, I know it is Paris we are going back to but it is just everyday life within the beautiful city around us. We still have to worry about the kids making to much noise for our downstairs neighbors and also what the weather is like so we can go to the park or not. I grew up in an apartment and lived to tell about it but I also know how claustrophobic it can get.

All in all the vacation was one for the books and we are not sure what will top this.

To back track a little there was so much that went on prior to our vacation. I will do a brief summary (as brief as can be) to catch up.

In May and June lots of our best friends and family came to visit: The Davis came then the Fahrneys and then the McNallys came. It was awesome having them all here. I mentioned this in the past but it brings bits of home to us in Paris when everyone comes, plus we just have a blast with each of them and our kids just love playing with all of their kids.

We headed to Amsterdam the beginning of July for a long weekend. We stayed right down the street from the old Heineken factory. Oh, and we did the Heineken experience. It was a great tour and ended with some Heineken tastings...woohoo. The rest of the time we just really enjoyed the city and all the canals. Everyone was so nice there, spoke English, were super tall and all really good looking. Of course we also took a daytime stroll thru the famous red light district. It was interesting...I can't imagine it at night.

kids enjoying some entertainments as we hit a shop

right here defines Amsterdam...a bike and beautiful flowers.

Then came Bastille Day in Paris. We just returned from Amsterdam and headed to our good friends flat to watch the fireworks. They were amazing this year! The fireworks usually don't go off at the Eiffel Tower but usually just across the street at the Trocedora. This year they had fireworks actually shooting out of the tower. It was amazing! Anyone who knows me knows how much I love fireworks and will never miss a Bastille Day fireworks (since I am missing the 4th of July one's)

this picture doesn't do it any justice, they were spectacular.

Then came my birthday and Keith surprised me with a day to the Champagne region. Champagne is my favorite drink and I have been wanting to go there for some time. The good thing is that it is only about an hour and a half away. We actually went with a tour. The tour included visiting the abby where Dom Perignon lived. It was so pretty and just so old. For some reason there weren’t many tours that day so our small group got a personal history lesson from a man at the abby and then he busted out in song for us. It was amazing. Then came the tours of the champagne houses. It was really interesting learning about how champagne is made and walking thru all the caves. Of course the big highlight was doing the tasting at the end....YUM!!!! And we didn't have to drive...score!!! I do have to add that another highlight was visiting the town of Reims. Such a cute town with an amazing historic cathedral. This town was demolished during the First World War. In pictures it reminded me of a scene from Saving Private Ryan, just rubble. It is amazing how they rebuilt this cathedral and town. Oh yeah in the mean time we bought about a dozen local bottles of champagne you can't get anywhere. What a super fun birthday. My husband is the best!!!

We then had our friends the Mclaughlins come visit us for a long weekend. It was fun having them in town and they enjoyed all the tourists spots with their kids. Lance and Peyton also loved having their kids in town to play with.

On that Sunday was one of our favorite days...the Tour de France. Keith and I look forward to this every year, and as usual it didn't disappoint. Seeing how fast they go up and down the Champs Elysées is just amazing.

The following weekend we headed over to London to visit our friends The McLaughlins, yup you are reading this correctly we just saw them but now it was our turn to visit them in London! It was so fun. Since we have been to London many times we decided to do something different and take a tour out of town. We went up to Leeds Castle. Wow, what a pretty castle. I find it so interesting that all castles and chateaux really vary based on the country they are in. We then stopped at Cantebury, which was really cool. We then took a day to hang out, shop around, and go on the London Eye. What an awesome view. London is great, especially because they speak English... I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive.

Then was my little boy's birthday. 6-years-old, I can’t believe it ! We had no plans on doing any kind of party until he asked for one. Now you have to remember that in August everyone is on holiday (vacation) but lucky for us a few of his good friends were around to help celebrate. The good thing was that the weather was warm (which is a rare occurrence these days in Paris) so we celebrated the best way with lots of water balloons and squirt guns!!! All the kids had a great time!!! Prior to the party one of Lance's presents was going to the top of the Eiffel tower. We have been here a year and a half and have not yet been to the top. For my birthday last year we only made it to the second level, because it was so busy. So we got up early and got in line before it even opened. We only waiting about 45 minutes and we made it to the top. It was really cool!

Made it to the top.  Lance is taking it all in. — Made it to the top. Lance is taking it all in.

Then came a sad day for us. We had to say goodbye to some good friends that we made in Paris. Lots of people say goodbye especially in the expat community but these are friends that we have had a blast with in the past year. We have spent holidays together, watched college football together and even vacationed together. We will miss the Mattei family. The best thing is that we know that we have friends for life.

Which brings me back to the present time, our re-entry back to Paris. Our dog came back from Doggie Camp after almost 3 weeks, the kids start vacation bible school next week, and a week later school starts. Oh yeah, I am able to run again. All of you know that I don't do well when I can't run. Well a pulled hammy put my running on a halt for a bit. It doesn't shock me, I had some pretty intense races the past few months. The good news is that I got my swimming game back during this break...because that was really all I could do. It felt good to get in the pool a few times a week. I gave it until we returned from holiday and after a month of laying off, I have run the past few days and it feels good, not great, but good. I am glad I didn't sign up for some of the early fall races since I won't be in great shape for them. However, by October I should be back, if all goes well and the hammy cooperates. As long as I am running...I am happy!!!

There is so much more that has happened these past few months but I don't want to bore you anymore, so I will just add some random pictures at the end.

With fall coming we already have people booking their stays at our place for the next year so get your reservations in for the Nate Suite (we named our guest room after our great friend and very first guest).

Things are going well in Paris as much as I say I miss home and all my friends and my family.

Sorry this was such a long one.

Thanks for reading!!!

Love and miss you all!

Life is good in Paris!