Life through rose-colored glasses.

I just watched as Amelie stared in fascination as a clown sang “La Vie en Rose” to her on the street corner. She didn’t take her eyes of his face even as he made her a balloon animal dachshund. When we walked away she asked me, “I know he’s a clown but all he said was bla lalala bla…” 

Marie-Pierre was an exchange student with my mom at Arizona State. When my parents went to Paris for their 25th they stayed with her apparently. She's been married three times, no kids and her house looks like a Versailles miniature. Everything is chintz and gold-leafed. We make sure the kids are never unsupervised. We make sure they're never really IN there. Marie-Pierre is a curator (not at the Louvre) so she's gone most of the day. 

"Tour eiffel at sunrise from the trocadero." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 22 Jan 2011.

We found a park in Paris that the kids could play at. Benj wrestled with them for probably an hour. It was nice to finally have him there. He’s been out pretty much since we landed at Heathrow trying to get gigs lined up. He plays usually every night at least, trying to sneak into bed at 3am, creaking along unfamiliar floors and stubbing his toes, hitting his head on unfamiliar furniture in unfamiliar homes. He says he’s used to it because of all the touring he's done but I can tell he’s still tired. Today was the first day I feel like we were all in the same place, mentally. Having to scramble to put this all together has been really interesting.  Pauly and Alice were the reason we came to Europe. We could have gone to Canada. Canada would have been easy. Canada would have been cheaper. 

"Inukshuk." Flickr Creative Commons. Web. 22 Jan 2011.

While Benj played with the kids at the park, I did rough sketches of the area and sold some caricatures. It’s not much to plan on but it made enough money for dinner. I wonder when the kids will realize that this is not our routine? I wonder when we’ll realize?