Lovelies in my Life : Mama and Mini Francophiles

For Scarlet's 16th birthday, I'd love to take her to Paris. And today we're wearing our most Parisian stripes and berets, in the hopes that our ensembles will keep the dream alive (or better yet, that the French tourism board would come across this very post, see our mama and mini go to Paris looks, and think "We want them here. Our country needs them here", funding it immediately! ;)

Speaking of, Elliot has requested that his 16th birthday trip is to see the Statue of Liberty BUT he is worried that he'll fall into the water. I think he envisions us scouring up the side of the statue with suction cup hands and feet which would allow for a very real possibility of falling right into the water. I remember making that same trip with my parents at 13 and walking around her crown. That was the first time I set foot on American soil, my first experience with snow (Washington DC and a family of South Africans somehow completely unprepared for freezing temps - which led us to a department store to buy gloves and scarves and felt to me like I had suddenly stepped onto a Christmas movie set). And that was our first time in Florida, a place that bewildered me with its swimming pools surrounded by "mesh" to keep the alligators out of them. Though I don't know why that seemed so funny and strange when our doors and windows in South Africa were covered with iron bars. Of course we also went to Disney World on that trip and it was kind of amazing. Always loved Disney. And not only all of that plus lots of time spent in Tulsa, Georgia and South Carolina visiting extended family BUT we even spent a long, long day in Rome, visiting mind-blowing places like the Coliseum and St Peter's Basilica, all while dealing with ravenous appetites that could not be appeased by the meager pizzas offered in Rome that day, after gorging ourselves on American pizza for a full month. Plus I'm sure my parents were fresh outta cash after that extravagant trip with 3 children. Ha! Wonderful memories.