Jumping in the rain & a new temporary home

How is it that kids are jumping castle magnets?   Right after a late breakfast on the way to our favorite park we ran into a small kid carnival located right on the street corner. There was no way I could get a group of kids past all that! Each activity was 1 Euro and the it was worth it. Zane and his big friends jumped in the jumping castle until they were exhausted and Dude found a little car track for kids his age. I giggled when I notice that each uninterested activity operator/ employee was smoking a cigarette and some even didn't even turn their heads from the kids to blow out the smoke. That would never fly in the US. After about half an hour it began to rain, Dude got off his bike and stood under an awning with me, but Zane and his friends continued to jump since the castle had a covering... or so I thought. After about 11 minutes Zane and his deliriously happy soaking wet friends came to find me. "That was so fun! It was so cool that the jumpy castle had small little holes to let the rain in!". I took the about 10 more minutes to realize how uncomfortable, cold, and according to Zane painfu,l wet jeans and clothes were. By then it was too late because we were already in McDonald's ordering French fries. After our snack we headed to our apartment for a change of clothes and I dragged their little butts to a laundry mat to dry their clothes. Dryers are rarely used on France. From what I'm told people are perfectly content on washing their clothes at home (washing machines are located in the kitchen) then hanging them to dry inside the house or if possible on a clothes line outside. Once we left the laundry mat we headed to our new apartment on a new side of town. The area was lovely and the weather cleared up. One of the first things we ran into was, you'll never guess... A PARK!

The best part about park hoping is watching the kids interact with French children Zane does a great job of making friends despite the language barrier. While they played their school owner surprised then with an assortment of regional candies from all parts of France.  Once we got back to our new place the kids quietly played with each other, as is the norm in France then we all tucked ourselves in for a nice long sleep.