Paris, France

Ahh, Paris...with a two year-old. After many months of helping Mason build "big towers" with his Legos, we (along with my Mom and Paul) took Mason to the romantic City of Light to see the most famous "big tower" in the world. Paris did not disappoint any of us, although trying to see it all with a two-year old in tote is not something I would recommend to the average traveller. We pretty much did it all - the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Rodin Museum, a Seine River Cruise, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacre Coeur Basilica, while along the way eating heavy French cuisine, unbelieivable French pastries, and changing a dozen diapers (one of these things is not like the others).
In the above picture, Mason was signaling "touchdown" in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that the "real Notre Dame" football team got trounced by Michigan the day before. He just seemed so happy, I didn't want to ruin it for him.
On Sunday night we ate at a very traditional French restaurant called L'Auberge Bressane. While Mason was completely fixated on my glasses for some reason ("Daddy, glasses, right there. Right there, glasses," as he pointed his stubby little finger about one inch from my face), I decided that dealing with a two year-old boy is very similar to dealing with a drunk friend. Both are loud and obnoxious, and often beligerent. Both have trouble walking, and tend to fall on their faces occasionally. Both have incredible emotional swings, laughing hysterically one minute and crying the next. Both are apt to be fixated by something completely ordinary, like my glasses, or a motorcycle, or a dog eating a flower. While I pondered this thought, Mason managed to pull a large picture frame off the wall behind me and it came crashing down on the back of my head. Luckily it didn't break, but the whole restaurant stopped conversation to look over at our table. After that lovely incident, I poured the rest of our wine bottle into my glass. If you can't beat 'em...