Questions I never asked as a child...

Looking through my credit card statement after the trip to Paris, it occurred to me that our kids went with us. By the way, American Express online has a cool new feature that causes the screen to flash red with a siren blaring in the background when you've spent way more than you should. This morning, it woke up the whole neighborhood. Anyway, given the attention I've paid to inanimate objects in La Ville lumière in this blog, it's easy to forget that we lugged the little ankle biters along. Speaking of our kids, having brought them to a foreign country a long way from family and friends, we sometimes find ourselves agonizing over our choice. Was it the right one?
Then something happens that reminds me that, although I had a great childhood, I spent 99% of it within a few miles of where I lived. The sensation that maybe we've done the best thing we could have for our kids when we moved is often the result of a mundane daily event. For example, we were returning from Lyon a few months ago when Robert asked "Are we still in France?" -- a perfect example of a question I never asked when I was a child; "What are we going to do at the beach in Turkey?" another. I could go on but (having shown the patience and fortitude to follow this blog) I think you get it. On a related note, this morning I've heard my kids talking to each other in three languages while lost in play (English, Portuguese and German)! I haven't figured out what causes them to "change gears", but they do it often and with an impressive fluidity. I hear the girls talking to themselves or each other in German every day now, a fascinating development over the last few weeks.
Anyway, in the interest of balance, I've decided to post a few of the many shots I took of our beautiful brood while in France. I can hear our relatives breathing a collective sigh of relief. The shrubs outside Notre Dame (above) were overrun with little birds. Sophia was enchanted.