Back in the day Wednesday!

I thought this time I would start out with Paris pictures and then tell weird stories after. Hope you enjoy!

My cousin Claire Vitale and me after spending the day in Luxembourg Gardens.


For some reason I like to make really weird and ugly faces. Kate and I are on top of the Arc De Triomphe.


Some of the group huddled together by the Cathedral in Strasbourg. The entire time we were there it was cold and rainy.

Most of the group went to Cleopatre the musical. It was awesome and we all had a lot of fun.

Me, the Gg, Kate and Claire in front of Sacre Coeur.

When my cousin Syd and her husband Chad came to France we went to a little cafe with my other cousins Andrew Patterson, Kate Patterson and Claire Ahlstrom. While we were waiting for our hot chocolate to come, Andrew started playing with is cup and said "We should play spin the bottle." Everyone at the table was just silent and gave him a weird look because everyone at the table was related. The rest of the time in Paris we would joke with him about it. So in this picture Andrew is pretending to play spin the bottle with me, my cousin Claire Vitale, his sister Kate and Aly a girl from the program.

In Strasbourg we found a little fair that had a few rides and I had to convince other people to go on this one with me. I love big scary roller coasters and rides, so the bigger the better!

Andrew and me waiting to get on the ride. He decided right before that he didn't want to go on it, so he held everyone's belongings.

This is another ride we went on in Strasbourg.

Aly and me on the bus, driving through Strasbourg.

This is the rum raisin ice cream that our director a.k.a my uncle Kelly ordered for the group and wasn't too thrilled to find out that it had rum in it. They brought out kids versions for my younger cousins and that is when my uncle freaked out.

When we were in Strasbourg we had a real Alsatian dinner with sauerkraut and everything! To be honest this was not my favorite meal and some of the meats were iffy. By the end of the dinner we had made a huge plate for one of the guys in the group; he didn't eat it all but he ate quite a bit.

We all looked so happy because we were unaware of how the food actually tasted. I promise I had more than a few bites because I felt bad that the program had paid for it and that people weren't eating much of it. We would dare each other to take huge bites and it was so nasty. The guy on the left side, at the very back is Chris and that is the person we gave all the food to.

We found this interesting thing at a park in Strasbourg and we have no idea what they do with it.

These little bouncing horses kept Aly and me entertained for at least 20 minutes. Also they weren't meant for people our size so if you really leaned back you could touch the ground and sometimes even fall off!

Emma and James on swings in Strasbourg. One of these two and I won't say who just wanted to sit on the swing and do nothing.

Aly and I would swing as high as possible and then jump off, which wasn't always safe because there was a river right next to us (there was a fence but it you were going fast enough you could go right over it).

The view from our hotel in Strasbourg! Don't worry the guy in the back is in a different room. haha!

For lunch Aly and I had these huge hot dogs in Strasbourg. They were so big it hurt our mouths to try and take a bite.

Everybody waiting to jump for the picture on top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Aly, me and Emma in an amazing jumping picture on top of the Arc de Triomphe.

I am not sure if I am confused, annoyed or what in this picture. Andrew, me and Aly on top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Claire Vitale, me, Aly, Kate and Emma walking up the stairs inside the Arc de Triomphe.

My host lady, Madame de Mazery (not sure if I spelled that correctly) and me.

The guys decided to pick up my uncle/the director because they could. From left to right: Abraham, Andrew, James, Chris, Grant, Zach and in front Kelly.

Last Sunday in the Paris Ward.

This is the Statue of Liberty in Luxembourg Gardens. It is a lot smaller than the one in New York obviously. There is larger one in Paris, located on the Seine River.

We all wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but unfortunately it was closed. Instead we took a lot of random pictures and I am sure the Frenchies thought we were crazy.

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took of the Eiffel Tower. The sunset makes it look even better!

My cousin Claire Vitale, The Gg (my mom's mom) and me at my aunt and uncle's apartment in Paris.

Left to Right: My cousins Kate and Claire, me, my cousin Andrew and James.

It took a few times to get this picture in front of Sacre Coeur because people would walk through our picture.

All of the girls sitting on a replica throne at one of the castles we visited.

Me, Claire Ahlstrom, Aly and Julianne heading over to Claire and my apartment for a sleepover! In my room there is a pull out mattress under my bed and then we piled some pillows on the floor, which I ended up sleeping on (not comfortable at all).

Aly liked to pick on me at the museums with the swords. We would wait in the gift shop when we finished at the museums so we had a little bit of time on our hands.

We wanted to participate in the Price of Right spin the wheel round, Mont St-Michel style.

These little contraptions are your best friend when you don't speak a lot of French and don't have a tour guide. They are our audio guides with really interesting information on them. The nice thing about the audio guides is that you can go at your own pace.

Julianne, Aly and me weren't willing to let our night in shining armour to disappear so we held on for dear life!

Aly and I just liked this cartoon so we took this awesome picture with it!

This is the hall of mirrors in the Palace of Versielle. It was impossible to get a picture without random people in it, so this is what you get.

Andrew and me in front of Mont Saint-Michel.

Julianne, Claire Ahlstrom and me in front of the Castle of Cheverny.

Chenonceau Castle

Night view of the Eiffel Tower.

BLAST FROM THE PAST!

Yes, I do get excited when I get underwear for Christmas!

Back in the day I would wander the neighborhood with some friends that later became known as the Red Head Gang, because Debbie Larsen decided that would be a nifty name. It included me, Kayla and Alyssa Ward. Sometimes we would even have Trina, Alysha or Lacy with us. Our little group even made up a song about Debbie's cat and performed it for her! It went something like..."Cali, Cali cat, Cali, Cali cat I love you..." I don't remember it that well.

Now for the reason I hate cats. When I was younger, I don't remember how old, I was over at Debbie Larsen's house hanging out. I was playing in her front room and I saw Cali, Debbie's cat, laying in there and of course I wanted to hold her. So I go over next to her and start petting her and then Debbie yells in from the kitchen "don't pick her up" by that time I had already tried to pick her up and she bit me. Debbie ran in the room because it was quiet and saw tears rolling down my face and freaked out, grabbed a rag and tried to clean it out. Later I went to the doctor because it was hurting a lot and there was a little bumb where she had bit me. Long story short I ended up having to take antiboitics it was infected.

Embarrassing Story
My freshman year of lacrosse the team had to run to Jordan and back to Bear Park. I of course forgot to bring my sneakers to practice so I was running in my cleats. On the way back from Jordan, we were running on the fake brick they had put in on the Sidewalks down Sego Lilly. Suddenly the two girls in front of my split and I didn't react in time so I slammed into a mailbox and fell to the ground. Not only was it embarassing because my whole team saw me fall but it was also on on busier street.

Thanks for reading I will try and come up with some more stories.