A View From Ivry!

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As many of you know, this is my favorite CANDY!!

And the boys love this stop at a market in Paris!

click on images for a full view

My recently planted clippings that I brought back from the States.

Went to the garden shop the other day and bought window boxes and flowers for all of our windows and balcony.  Every year since living here (9 now!!), I have been saying that I was going to get flower boxes and each year I did not do it - until now!!!  I am loving them!

And after about 2 weeks, we are having rain tonight (and I guess for the next few days).  My flowers are loving it!!

Photos taken with my cell phone as my camera is dead!  Click on each for a larger view.

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These are the type of photos that I find on my camera from time to time. Samir is always taking photos of himself!!

Happy Mother’s Day to those who will be celebrating on Sunday. 

May is a month full of holidays here in France.

May 1st:

Labour Day

Ascension (a “movable” holiday depending on when Easter occurs)

May 8th:

Victory Day

May 12th:

Pentecost (another “movable” Easter holiday)

May 15th:

  One of the BIGGEST French holidays of all - La Grève (the strike)!!  There will be a major teachers’ strike on this day - meaning no school again!!

Cannot even believe how lucky we have been with the weather since I have returned to Paris.  The sun has been shining every day and the temps have been 23°-25°C (mid 70s F).  Gorgeous!!!

The only problem with all of this has been that, since we have all of the windows opened in the apartment, the flies are moving right on in!!   Went to the store yesterday and bought a fly swatter.  It has become Samir’s new weapon - he goes around the house all day swatting the flies!!!  Poor little buggers - watch out for Samir!

You know, I have always said that a great business idea for France (and Europe) would be window screens.  hmmmm…..

Mother - the plant clippings made it safely to Paris in my bag! My mother has a couple of plants that were mine when we lived back in the States - so they are more than 10 years old now!!! I kept saying that I was going to take some clippings back with me to France. Well, I finally did on this trip. I am rooting them right now. Let’s hope they thrive as long here.

Our flight back home on Thursday/Friday was not as good as going over to the States. We had a KLM plane going over - great staff, good food, loads of good movies on the individual TV sets, and arriving a bit early into New York. Coming home, we had a Northwest plane (an alliance with KLM) and really did not like it at all. It was a small plane, no individual TV sets, so-so food, not very friendly staff, and we were nearly 2 hours late leaving Newark (arriving late into Amsterdam, therefore missing our connecting flight to Paris). I think that we will definitely stick with ALL European flights for our next trips.

We did not arrive to our place until about 4pm yesterday (supposed to be in at noon). We were all so exhausted. We ordered out for some Pizza Hut for dinner, then the boys and I zonked out at about 10pm. We all slept until after 10am this morning!! And we have lasted okay all day today (it is nearly 9pm here now).

And speaking of 9pm - the sun is just setting here in Paris!! Oh I really love Daylight Savings time here!!

Did some grocery shopping today. Mohamed was great about keeping the house clean and doing his laundry while we were gone but he did not shop. Also began to unpack some - still a ways to go though!! When we go on a trip, I generally pack us up in about 1 hour. But it takes me about 3 or 4 days to unpack!!

Guess what is on the breakfast menu for tomorrow morning??? Yes, fluffy banana pancakes!! We brought back 3 huge bottles of gooey, sugary pancake syrup!! YUMMY!!!!

And finally - the boys were thrilled to be home to play their Playstation video games! Kids!!!!!

ps - was so wonderful to be home with hubby!!  Just love him so much!!  awwwwww……

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I have missed the last couple of weeks of the Photo Hunt due to a 2-week vacation back in the States with family and friends. We had a great TIME…

…at the wedding of my niece Jaimee.

…dancing at the wedding reception (the boys there in the front doing the Macarena).

…visiting with family (my wonderful Mother and niece Nikole).

…and just plain ole relaxing in the park!!

Vacation is over now - guess it is time to get back to work!

click on all images to enlarge the view.

Just a quick note - we made it home safe and sound about 2 hours ago.  It was a longgggg trip with lots of delays.  It is so nice to be home.

Miss everyone back in the States and Love you all very much (especially you Mother)!!

Well, our vacation in the States is coming to an end today.  We head out to the airport this afternoon to begin our journey home.  We arrive back in Paris at noon on Friday.

We have had a really great, relaxing vacation here.  Wonderful to see those that we could, chat on the phone to others, and missed not seeing some others.  We love everyone and will miss you all.

BIG HUGS!!!  Catch you back on the other side of the Atlantic!