Castles, Paris and Dreams Coming True....

Of Castles and Paris and Dreams Coming True....


A  million years ago when this baby was six and she had a thing for Cinderella and castles,

Belle doing her best Cinderella imitation.

 I took her to Paris with this friend, Diana,

Diana with my two beautiful girls.

 and her two beautiful daughters,

Kayla and Courtney.

Friend Diana wasn't a big traveler then (she's certainly gotten over that!) but she had promised her daughters she would take them to Paris.

I love to travel and so she invited me along. The hubs, being a sensible man, said "Ok, go. But you can't leave me with THREE kids. You have to take one." Since Boy screams on airplanes because he can't clear his ears and Bunny was only four, Belle (my easy traveler) got to go.  

We had a fabulous trip and the five of us went all over Paris, to Giverny, to Versailles, then took the Chunnel to London and had a few more fabulous days there.  It was totally magical - a dream come true.

(This is where I wish I had completed No. 24: Organize all those photos.  All the Paris pictures are printed, not in my computer. When I asked what I should bring with me on this trip/move I never dreamed that all my photographs would be the one thing that I didn't bring but that I wish had.)

Bunny never forgave me. She says she is still owed a trip to Paris. She reminds me of this multiple times every year and has been reminding me for the last 11 years. 

Fast forward to last Saturday night.  Diana's oldest daughter got married in a fairy tale wedding in a beautiful castle.  It was a Cinderella event.  Bunny and Belle and I went.

Dunafon Castle. Yes, a real castle. 

Right here in Colorado.

And all of us together with Diana and her girls made Bunny remember that she STILL has not been to Paris.

Imagine  my delight this morning when I clicked on one of my favorite blogs, French Essence, and the author, Vicki Archer, is offering a week stay at her vacation home, Le Petit Bijou, in Provence for one lucky winner. While Provence is not Paris, it's close enough. If I can get to one, I can get to another. 

*image

Why yes, I could spend a few nights eating at this table.

So, I'm entering her little contest and crossing my fingers. And if I can't win, then why don't you? Here's a link to enter.   SOMEONE will win and if it isn't me then I would just as soon it be someone I know. 

And then maybe we can all have our "happily ever after". 

And Bunny can get to Paris.  And Provence.

It would be a dream come true.

Once again- In honor of starting something new

Again, in honor of starting a new project.
One that is still unfinished in my mind, but according to the law- she's done.

This is my middle child, my 911 baby in every sense of the number.

Born beautiful, with a head of black hair that never fell out, but instead grew out into a white blonde. She was doing ombre hair before it had even been thought of.

She rolled front to back at 3 months, back to front at 4 months and at 4 months and one day she learned how to roll from point A to point B.
I could not put her down and expect to find her in the same place ever again.
At 8 months, she walked. And at 8 months and 1 week she ran.
She climbed everything.
We had to screw the dressers to the walls.

She loved Cinderella and tea parties and animals and tiaras.

Belle started partying young and has never stopped.

And she loves herself some sparkles.

She grew into a fearless child. She was my first for stitches, first for the emergency room and first in a cast.

White sand, clear water.  Belle's idea of Heaven.

A beach baby from the very beginning, her first flight was to Cozumel at nine months.

She has grown into a fearless young woman. 

She figured out how to combine her love for animals with her love for speed. 

And how to con her daddy into buying her a horse.

She figured out how to combine her love for the beach with her love for speed.
And how to con her daddy into buying her a surfboard.

She wanted to be a mermaid.  She probably still does.

Rafting Brown's Canyon.

This is a girl that believes in dressing for the occasion.

A mermaid with a tiara.

She was a fierce soccer player.

She did  not like giving up that ball.
She also did not like the broken ankle, pulled hamstring, broken jaw and sprained ankle (the other ankle) that came with high school soccer.

Somehow, she has grown into a beautiful young woman that still loves parties, animals, and tiaras.
Along the way she has added boys to that list. Eek.

Happy 18th birthday, Belle.

Wow!

To see my other little projects, click here and here.