June 14, 2025
The boys were somehow up before 8am despite another late night. These late summer bedtimes are slowly wearing on Kyle and I as we now have zero alone or solo time because our sleeping patterns now match the boys’. I hung up a load of laundry, still worried it won’t be dry by the time we leave early tomorrow morning. Our Vernon apartment is on the top level of a small building near the Seine and the ceilings and windows are all pitched so the cross breeze to dry clothes is lacking. Packing light has meant a constant stream of laundry to ensure we all have clothes to wear. Then I tinkered with the espresso machine, made a few latte-adjacent drinks and took off for a solo walk. The boys eased into the day with a cartoon and Kyle took care of some trip admin. One of the airlines we were meant to fly in Asia is shutting down before we make it there, so we need to rebook a portion of that trip.
We had a late-morning mini homeschool session. Ollie started focusing more heavily on fractions as he is keen to learn more about “business math”. Lenny continues to work through his sight words and simple subtraction.
This afternoon, we headed to Giverny to see if we can visit Monet’s house and garden. All of the tickers were sold out online for today, but at just a 15 minute drive away, felt like a low risk gamble. We walked onto the grounds to see a long, snaking line at the end of ticket window. With no other plans for the day, we figured we might as well wait it out. We relied on PokemonGo and bathroom searching to kill a bit of time. Ollie “evolved” his first Pokemon today and he was SO jacked up. Lenny has no idea what it means, but has learned to parrot Ollie’s reactions to all things Pokemon, so both were quite pleased despite the ~45 minute long line.
The gardens were wildly crowded as it was a Saturday afternoon. We noticed some Viking cruise ships docked on the Siene near our apartment and saw multiple group tours at the gardens as well. The kids were not terribly interested in the tour, but were happiest when they saw plants that they recognized like bamboo and any plant with spikes that Lenny deemed “Cactus!!” We wanted to tour the house as well, but were met with another very long line to get in. After having already toured the gardens for over an hour, we knew the boys were at their max for art and culture for the day.
We crossed the Seine and drove back to Vernon. There is a great playground next to our assigned parking spot so we stopped there briefly. Lenny was really starting to lose it after so many consecutive late nights and early-ish mornings. We decided an easy dinner at home while we packed up for our flight tomorrow was in order. The boys watched a Pokemon movie and ate quesadillas while Kyle and I took on “flight-packing” which is a more vigorous version of “car-packing”.
