On the way back from Lyon

Now that I am getting bigger, Mamma thinks it is time that she gets back to work. She has had a few interviews in Paris and has a very good opportunity in Lyon, 5 hours South of here. We decided to join her when she is invited for an interview there and organize a little family trip to Lyon. On the way back, we got to stop in Bourgogne and check out some new climbing places.

Who said camping was not comfortable? 2 chairs just for me, my favorite comforter and some warm pancakes with nutella for breakfast!

I always thought Mamma had a perfect body: she is copying the Leonardo Da Vinci drawing to show it.

Papa playing in the same old bridge: we tilted the image 90° so it looks like he is doing something cool. In reality, he is just standing there with his arms in the air.

We are traveing quite light this time: the car is packed with camping and climbing gear. Just enough space left for my little car seat. Does not seem to bother me...

Bourgogne was rainy and cold so we headed back home and spent the last day of the week-end in Fontainebleau instead.

Having lunch on Mamma's lap in between big boulders.

Bouldering requires a lot of concentration and attention to details: tiny small holds are not always easy to find. Except for me. It's all a question of scale, tiny holds = big one for me.

You should put sunglasses to watch this picture. Dad is so painfully white that all the sun is reflecting on him. White before bouldering, sunburt red the next day :o)

Mamma is showing me little rock formations while I listen very carefully. I love the texture of rock. Wait until I can walk by myself and I'll become the best climber ever.

I like trees and leaves too. Even when I am crying, seeing some green calms me down. Definitely not a city girl.

My personal Sher-Papa driving me around in Fontainebleau. Great climbing but also great hikes with loads of bumps. My favorites.

USA - Day 1 - The Trip

3:30 AM, Saint Remy l'Honore

I am a so super sleepy but very excited: this is the big day. Time to wake up to get ready for the longest trip of my life. Today, I am leading the whole family to the other side of the big ocean , to the USA.
A little drinking with Mommy, while keeping an eye on Daddy: I have to get enough energy for this very long journey but also make sure that they don't forget my diaper bag and my best friend Lulli.

5:00 AM, Train Station

Waiting for the train to go to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. We already left the house 45 minutes ago and I am deeply asleep in my stroller, trying to finish my night. I usually don;t like trains in Paris so much: each time they stop at a station, they beep super loud when leaving again. That wakes me up all the time. It is so early though that it should be very quiet today.

9:00 AM, Paris CDG

We are about to board the plane to... Munich. I know, it is not the shortest way but that's the best thing Mom and Dad could find. I will seat on their laps, I like cuddling with them. It is a short flight too, and anyway, I like flying. Engine noise and turbulences are my best friends.

11:00 AM, Munich

The security people in Munich airport just detected some traces of explosives on my stroller. Aaaargh, they just discovered I was the most wanted terrorist in Western Europe! After some discussions with their superiors, they finally let us go. They made a fuss about the stroller but nobody ever checked all the liquids I was carrying with me in the diaper bag. Interesting.

The immigration people, the airline crews... everybody is so nice to me. We go through usual formalities with big smiles, they even give me my own seat on the plane between Mom and Dad so I get to travel in my own car seat. That ought to be a comfy ride.

Sometime during the 8+ hour flight, somewhere above the Atlantic

This is the perfect life: Mom feeds me on demand, I get to be hugged all the time when I am not sleeping, I can skip lines to go to the bathroom to get my diaper changed. I even watch TV on the little screen with Mom and Dad: moving pictures are so fascinating. 4-month old and I am already a TV addict!
My favorite trick: to make all the other people on the plane smile when dad carries me to the bathroom. Nobody can resist my super cute attitude. There is a little bit too much noise for me to fall asleep right away: I need to be carried/walked around the aisles and shooshed quite a bit. I end up falling asleep while hugging Papa, who then also falls asleep too when he comes back to his seat: he told me later it was the best sleep he ever had on a plane, holding me on his chest.

1 PM (US time), Washington DC, Dulles airport

Going through immigration does not take too much time: a little line but nothing as bad as what Mamma and Papa have sometimes experienced in the past. I look forward to showing my passport to the immigration guy: there is such a cute picture of me there.

2 PM, taxi on the way to Reagan airport

I am a little disappointed: I did not get to put my finger on the scanner at the immigration, I am supposedly too small for fingerprints. Says who!
Anyway, that does not bother me too much and I sleep the whole way between the 2 airports.

4 PM, Reagan airport

We manage to get to the airport earlier than expected and have more than 2 hours aheasd of us. I am getting exhausted: that's bedtime for me in France but here everything is so bright here. Did they screw up the sun or something? I am all confused. The noise of all other people traveling is not helping either: I can't manage to calm down, I need a little peace to drift to dreamland.
After a good bit of drinking, a lot of rocking in my stroller with the sunscreen on (it feels like night), mom and dad can finally enjoy a quite dinner and a little rest.

9PM, Atlanta airport

The flight was very short, I did not see a second of it. Very uneventful. Except for the very end: my car seat is stuck. Papa tightened the seat belt a little too much and nobody can manage to unlatch it. One of the stewardess gets very excited about it: she is upside down over the back of the seat in front and mamma gets afraid that she will fall and squooch me, so she takes me out of my seat. The captain saves us: he looks very impatient to get home and puts all the energy he has into it. I thought he would rip my seat to pieces!

11PM, on the road again

Everything is so much bigger in the USA: we asked for a subcompact rental car. Guess what we got: a huge 6-seater van. No need to try being space efficient to store my stroller or the rest of our luggage. We have about an hour and half of driving ahead of us: I sleep most of the way, except for a quick milk-stop. The whole family is exhausted, we all look forward to reaching our final destination.

0:30AM, Auburn, 28 hours after waking up

We're there! We get a warm welcome from Vincent and Katie. They quickly show us around but everybody (including them) is tired so we head to bed. There is even a surprise waiting for me: a super-cool new folding traveling bed, the Pogy bed. Papa put my sleeping bag at the bottom of it to make it super soft: I can rub my nose in it and fall asleeee...p. Zzzzzzz.

Getting ready to travel

I am quite excited: in 3 days from now, we will all be traveling very far North to visit Amma, Afi and the rest of the Icelandic family. This will be my first very big trip, I can't wait for it. Mom and dad have been repeating that I will love the journey: apparently, we'll get to take what they call a train and a plane: big machines to go from one place to another, much bigger than my car. Both make some noise and vibrate a lot: I usually love that, it makes me sleep like an angel, so I guess everything should be fine.

We are all getting ready to leave, trying to remember everything we should bring: I will be traveling light this time, only taking my stroller, car seat, some clothes and diapers. Amma and Afi already got a little crib for me there so I do not have to worry about not being comfortable at night.

This will be a good repetition for an even longer trip that they are organizing: the USA in May. That will be something, not every 4-month old baby gets the chance to travel that far so early. We'll be going to the beach in Alabama with Uncle Vincent before heading to State College in Pennsylvania for mom's graduation. That's where everything started too, mom and dad met there, my origins are somewhere there. Anyway, I don't want to say too much about that second trip now, we'll have time to talk about it later.

My new sunglasses, ready to go to the beach. I look like a star. (Notice that I am apparently not allowed to drive with those)