Historical Heritage

Julia,

I had the pleasure of working with you on your first historical heritage research project! You chose to be Iulia Aurelia Zenobia...Queen of the East!

You read about her in one of your books and immediately fell in love with her because...well.. because her first name is pretty much your first name.

But then we learned more about her- and she's a quite obscure figure- and you were impressed with how she conquered different countries and stood up to her enemies!

And in doing your project, you conquered your fears too! The day before your big presentation, after so much work went into your costume with Miss Holly and making the research cards with Miss Emily and Miss Adrienne, you came home in complete devastation. You were trying to decorate your note card (your report) and put on too much glue and the entire thing got disintegrated into a pile of mush! But, you and Mama figured out a plan, and you cut out a page from your notes that you and I had taken, and you turned it into your card! Problem solved! And you were a Queen at your first Historical Heritage!

Aidan, last year you chose to be Neil Armstrong. But, you had a close second. Mommy and you had discussed several options and you were super psyched about one. You weaved a web of tale in your class last year, and luckily Miss Gwyn followed you the whole way.

"I could be that guy...you know...the girlfriend is dead and bleeding and the guy gets on top of her and kills himself!"

That's right... William Shakespeare! And this year, to be or not to be... you were the bard himself!

EuroWeinstein 2019: Paris Part 3

Ooh la la... do not mind us. We are just two more regular old French men enjoying another tres fabulous day en Paris!

The day started out with some PJ cousin cuddle time...and then quickly transformed into a true Parisienne day!

We hit the streets and started marching through the beautiful town towards our first destination.

The Anne Frank Playground, where you all played together, played with a class of French kiddos, and where -after Ross, Molly, Julia, and I went foraging- we had a delicious petit-dejeuner!

Our next destination was a BEAUTIFUL, ancient, stain-glass-filled chapel called "Saint Chappelle."

It is truly one of the most enchanting buildings I've ever been to! Each glass window tells a story... a little bit of the Bible. There are amazing things to see if you look hard enough (and I set you all on scavenger hunts to do just that!)  But the view from afar is gorgeous to behold as well. 

I think this is about when y'all gave up. 

Even though there's an ancient stain glass window of a lady hitting a guy over the head with a paddle...right there!

I call this one "Tired Jerks in front of Beautiful Ancient Church"

Then we skittered over to the Jardin du Luxembourg...where we saw flowers, fountains, a live band and...

A Puppet Show....In French. And you guys LOVED it and laughed so hard, and understood the plot, and were still talking about it months later.

After the play, you guys rode the merry-go-round and we started the long walk back home. The Helfords continued but we...we stopped and ate some famous Paris sushi...and that was JUST what the doctor ordered!

And with a belly full of delicious food, that made the day seem even sweeter: From the french morning...

to the French afternoon...

...and then the walk home...just the four of us along the Seine... taking in the views....

...and eating the flower-petal gelatto...

...which is always better shared among friends.

...and we made it home in time for cuddles with a squeaky-clean cousin!