Tag: Travel
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miracle baby
baby sparklet slept until 10am this morning, which isn’t exactly news …… except that at 10am we were taxi-ing down the runway on a flight to Austin, Texas.
that means she slept through (1) getting dressed at 6am, (2) loading the car and unloading at airport parking, (3) boarding and offloading the airport shuttle, (4) being taken out of her car seat and passing through security, (5) preboarding the aircraft, and (6) the aircraft pushing away from the gate.
actually, it wasn’t until the safety briefing ($@&#% volume-deaf stewardesses) that she finally decided to open her eyes and wonder what the heck was going on.
speaking of, I wonder if she is going to develop a complex about sleeping … it seems like each time she wakes she has a reasonable chance of being in completely different place than when she went down (museum, park, airplane, etc).
back to the miracle … due to her sleeping so well we didn’t have to start her feeding until after “wheels up,” which means we sidestepped the whole ear-pain/pressure thing and we’re halfway through the flight with nothing louder than a gurgle.
in semi-related news, we’re on the way to aunt nadine’s wedding to soon-to-be uncle nadav.
I started packing sparklet at about 10am yesterday, and by 2pm we were we were running to Target to buy the biggest suitcase they had in stock.
even so, we still look like we’re on a month-long trek through Nepal, and without the benefit of a legion of Sherpas.
we’ve got the new suitcase (packed exactly to the 50 lbs. limit), a roll-y bag complete with bridesmaid dress and approximately 237 diapers, a bag full of enough pumping equipment to empty the panama canal, the diaper bad, a car seat and a stroller.
next time, I’m getting a C-130 cargo plane to “advance” (pre-stage?) our trip.
now, normally, I’d bring a laptop to blog/upload photos over the weekend … but my back started weeping at the thought of another 15 lbs bag.
unfortunately, that means I’ll be blogging/uploading baby pics via the iPhone and its 36-dropped-calls-in-one-day, who-cares-about-3g-if-you-can’t-get-reception network brought to you by AT&T.
I’m not sure I’d expect another update before hell freezes over, or Luke Wilson gets his self-respect back … which ever comes first.
UPDATE: we landed, in heavy turbulance. still not a peep. it’s hard to refrain from being cocky … but I persevere, mostly so I don’t jinx us for the return.
See all the Photos on Flickr:
baby’s first flight -
photos: the best of europe
not everybody has the patience to sort through 800+ photos from a family vacation, so i have distilled out about 70 of my favorites from scotland, london and paris. there is more commentary on the trip to come (UPDATED: it’s here now) but wanted to get the pictures up quicker than my weary brain can draft real blog posts.Explore the Photo Set:
Photos: The Best of Europe (Slideshow) -
Rue de Rivoli
Paris has turned out to be the big surprise for me on the trip — i thought i was going to hate it, and was only doing it to buy off my wife for spending seven days in a car running around a nation she’d already seen.And i have to say, i was partially right. Paris is an ugly, ugly city during the day — there seems to be no sanitation in the traditional sense, the people on the sidewalks aren’t terribly nice, and it was painfully obvious that I just wasn’t in Kansas anymore Toto.
But Paris at night, is just stunning.
I have a feeling we’ll be back — we didn’t get to see even half the things on our list, but when we do come i think we’re going to do another long weekend and not even going to try adapt to the time change.
We’ll just get up at noon, and stay awake until 2am, and do Paris the way that God intended — at night.
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
Rue de Rivoli, Paris, France -
Notre Dame
friends of ours came to Paris of their honeymoon. they basically rented an apartment for two weeks, and packed a bunch of books, and just lived a normal Parisian life for two weeks (sans blackberry, i hope).i thought they were crazy — turns out they weren’t.
we ran around like tourists for the first 18 hours we were here, before we started dawdling longer and longer in the cafes around the tourist attractions than in the attractions themselves.
the cafe at Notre Dame is a great example. it’s a horrible tourist trap, and it was horribly overpriced, but sitting there drinking liquid chocolate for two hours is one of the top memories i’m taking home with me.
See Slideshow the Photos on Flickr:
Notre Dame, Paris, France -
Avenue de Champs-Elysees
See All the Photos on Flickr:
Avenue de Champs-Elysees, Paris, France -
Place de la Concorde
See All the Photos on Flickr:
Place de la Concorde, Paris, France -
Jardin du Luxembourg
See All the Photos on Flickr:
Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France -
Eiffel Tower
See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
Eiffel Tower
![[]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/4339303264_d0b6a8dd7f.jpg)
![[Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512095986_4781bef68c.jpg)
![[Hotel Caron de Beaumarchais?, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511333801_0cf3be2371.jpg)
![[Rue de Rivoli, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511332723_98e7f3f397.jpg)
![[Notre Dame, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512141470_9cb63b813f.jpg)
![[Notre Dame, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3511330575_4b3f015e6e.jpg)
![[Avenue de Champs-Elysees, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512140504_72c7782f4f.jpg)
![[Place de la Concorde, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512138910_ddb2c14fbb.jpg)
![[Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512135818_9594fa0f8d.jpg)
![[Eiffel Tower, Paris, France.]](https://theparkerfamily.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/3512097262_a9f82d028a.jpg)
of course, it takes “two” airports to “tango” us home … so, we probably won’t make it back to DC before March. our flight for Sunday has already been canceled, and we’re guessing our new flight for Wednesday will be called off in the face of yet another snowstorm facing DC.
for the record, i can think of MUCH worse places to be “stranded” than Austin, Texas.