Happy Royal Wedding Day

I am insane I know, but this morning I got up at 3:00 am and watched all the William and Kate wedding hooplah!!  Sophia must have been just as excited to see the Royal nuptuals, because she woke up too.  I am sure she will be crazy and cranky today.  This will sound terribly unpatriotic, but watching the royal wedding made me feel like our country is just a little bit tacky in comparrison.  I hate that in our country the only things anyone gets excited about are celebrities and trashy tabloids.  Anyway.... It was a really sweet wedding, I loved the dress, I loved the hats, I loved all the pomp and proticol and ceremony!  I also love Prince Williams name, it is awesome, how cool to have such a long name.  It is His Royal Highness Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis Mountbatten-Windsor, he also has several titles.  It is all very fairy-tale-esque don't you think?

Stage One Dance competition

Wow, the girls tore it up today at the dance competition.  Audry's group got High Gold for their Material Girl routine.  They were just excited that they beat out the genies this time.  It seems like at every competition this year there has been a studio with girls dressed like Genies and they always beat our girls, but not this time!

Shelby's group was one girl short due to a food injurry that happened two days ago.  They handled it great and adjusted really well.  They got Platinum and first place in their category for Tap, and 3rd overall for the competition. They also got a precision award for Tap.  In Jazz they got High Gold, and first in their category, and 7th overall.  They also got another trophy that we can't figure out what it is for. 

This competition was a lot of fun!!

Versailles

Here is a tip, don't go to Versailles on a Monday.  It is closed.  Too bad nothing online says this, well maybe their website says it, but none of the travel sites I looked at.  The up side is that it was almost completely empty, and we could walk around the gardens for free.  They were actually filming a movie inside the Chateau so that was kind of neat to see through the windows.  Another tip, don't eat at the restaraunt down by the water, it is not good!!! It is also very expensive.

Stravinski Fountain/Pere Lachaise Cemetery

Some other neat spots in Paris.

Stravinski Fountain at Centre Pompidou

Jim Morrison's grave at Pere Lachaise cemetery.

Drinking Orangina!!!!

Notre Dame

Sadly no Quasimodo!  We did, however, hike up the 400 really old, really uneven steps to see the bells and the view from the top of the towers. And then we got to hike back down! 

The Louvre

The first Sunday of every month in Paris, the museums are free.  We decided that since it was going to be a rainy day and it would be free, that Sunday was a good time to go to the Louvre.  We got to see a lot of really famous peices of art, and really bore Shelby to death!  We rode the Metro and were able to use the entrance to the Louvre from down in the Metro, that way we avoided a huge long line out in the rain!!! 

Eiffel Tower

We walked to the Eiffel Tower with the girls, it is super easy to find since it sticks up higher than anything else in Paris.  We decided not to go up in the tower because the lines were crazy long, but instead we took a ride on the river Seine on a Bateau Parisienne.  Shelby really enjoyed listening to all the historical information provided on the boat ride, she was full of facts the rest of the trip.  Amelia was lulled to sleep on the boat.

Arc De Triumph/ Champs Elysee

Our apartment was very close to the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triumph.  I was sad that I didn't have a chance to really shop, but the girls had a fun time sight seeing and I can always go back and visit all the designer stores later!

Ooh La La

We took Shelby and Amelia to Paris for Spring Break.  Audry was planning on coming too, but then once we got to Grandma and Grandpa's house in UT she decided she wanted to stay with them instead.  She and Sophia had a great time while they were in UT.  They went to the treehouse museum and they got to see Tangled at the movie theater. 
We were able to get business class on the way to and from Paris so that made a huge difference.  It was a great flight, Shelby and Amelia thought it was fun to live the high life up in business class with the ice cream sundaes and the eye masks and all the movies and games and free drinks you could ask for.

We rented an apartment in Paris instead of getting a hotel, and I loved it, totally the way to go.  For some stupid reason I didn't take any pictures of the apartment.  Oh well, maybe next time.  It was just a block away from the Champs Elysee, and the Arc De Triomph.  We had an "inspiring" view of the Eiffel Tower from the bathroom.   These pictures are from the website for the apartment, the owner, Gabriella, was awesome and very easy to work with if any of you are thinking about going to Paris.