Due to stinky internets the final postings will be posted post my return to america. 4 days!!! It's great to travel but there really is NO place like home.

Our final day in Paris. We had a great day that began with a trip to Le Jardin D'Acclimation, a cute amusement park near their apartment. Our favorite ride of the day was the swings and since there were no lines we went 3 times.Tut and Ram were feeling rather ambitious today and decided to ride one of the bigger roller-coasters alone. Tut is obviously having the time of his life but Ram looks like he was regretting his decision.

The fun mirrors outside the park could provide hours of amusement.

After a quick bite to eat we headed to the museum Les Arts Decoratifs for the exhibition of Ralph Lauren's car collection. We only got this one photo before being forced to put our cameras away. It was a great exhibition though that I'm glad we got to see.

We then went around the corner for some tea and desserts by the Louvre. The boys were surprisingly cooperative for a photo shoot.

Then we headed for home to finalize packing for our trip to St. Tropez in the morning. We're all super excited to be heading back to the beach. One week recharging our tans and then home!

We are once again in Paris. Our last few days in London were great! All week I had been trying to orchestrate a visit to all the big monuments with out much success. Yesterday morning I had finally gotten to the natural history museum, which was fantastic, with the impression that once i returned we would be going to the London eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace etc. However, upon returning to the apartment (pictures to follow in later post) I was informed we would be going to the cinema for a viewing of Cars 2. It's partly set in London and halfway through the movie I was disheartened to think that the bulk of my London sightseeing could be attributed to a children's film. But thankfully Lucy, my co-nanny this week, stated that Trafalgar Square was a short walk from the theater and Buckingham Palace was just a bit further. Amid some protesting we marched our charges through the streets of London in quest of some sights.

The march.

Me by a giant lions butt in Trafalgar Square.

Buckingham Palace. The Queen was not at home.

That evening I had plans to meet up with Ollie again for some pub hopping and more sight seeing. He had a late night at work and what was suppose to be an around 8 but hopefully no later than 10 meet up was pushed later and later. I finally got the ring at 12 to meet him downstairs and after a quick conference we decided to skip the drinks and go straight for the tour. We agreed to stroll and see the sights until there was more yawning then talking. For having both worked full, long days we surprisingly lasted until 2.

This is all my camera could see of Big Ben, it was more detailed in real life.

The view across the Thames.

After zipping past all the sights we headed to Covent Garden known for it's shopping and night life. It is a super cute area but apparently at 2 am it fills with all the young and crazy as they attempt to stumble home. I almost stepped in a giant puddle of vom, then passed a person who was probably responsible for the vom (passed out and surrounded by a concerned crowd), strolled past a young man in a business suit sleeping off his evening, and just as we were about to search out a cab nearly walked into the middle of a bar fight (full of cursing, bottle throwing and chaos) that had spilled onto the street. Our first thought was... riot? but thankfully it was just a bunch of drunkards who were quickly subdued by the more than present police force. Ollie is an excellent navigator and at the first sign of trouble had us detouring onto a safer route. We hailed a cab and headed for some much needed sleep.

London thus far has been great. Our trip has been a bit stifled by the rioting but it seems they've run their course for now and not a moment too soon. I am ready to do some serious sight seeing. I was able to go and visit my good friend Ollie for the second time last night. We decided to have an evening at his house to avoid any possible riot unpleasantness. It was wonderful to meet all his flat mates and have some delish pasta compliments of Chef Ollie.

After dinner we took a quick stroll around his neighborhood in search of an open wine store. We came upon what we've termed a peace riot. A group of people gathered around a guitar on the street having a sing-along to Beatles songs. Although the riots have been awful it's always great to see communities come together in times of stress.Ollie in front of his humble abode at an ungodly hour of morning before sending me off in my cab.We went to the science museum with the boys and their friends. They were obviously very intrigued.
Here is a mural made entirely of gum balls. Super neat but not very appetizing.

From the museum we zoomed to Zara's for a yummy lunch of sushi. Something I've been craving for weeks now but I just didn't have the guts to attempt a spicy tuna roll in Egypt. This strawberry meringue with sorbet inside it was a scrumptious way to end the meal.

After lunch we went to the park to run the kids around to insure sound sleepers this evening. The park creators must think there are giants looking for places to sit because the benches were extremely tall. I know I'm pretty short but being able to swing my legs around like a kid is a bit ridiculous. This photo is courtesy of Ram. He insisted we get a couple of takes, some with sunglasses and some with out.

We hope to hit the Museum of Natural History tomorrow. I've also yet to see Big Ben, London Bridge, or any other important landmarks. We've got a lot to see before saturday!

For some reason I always feel a little nervous going through customs. You may think this silly, me being a sane and law abiding citizen, but I can't help but worry that i'll be found wanting for some reason and be refused the right to travel. This fear was almost realized yesterday. We were to take the train from Paris to London, had filled out our landing cards and proceeded through the border control line. Name? Melissa. Nationality? American. Occupation? Nanny What's your purpose for traveling to the UK? Holiday. Well for those of you who don't know and I certainly didn't it is illegal for a foreign nanny, even if they are with their foreign family, to work in the UK. I of course (for any border agents out there who are avid readers of Missy June: Nanny at Large) was not planning to work but meet up with a close friend, had to fork over his contact information before being pulled out of line, and placed on a bench to wait... indefinitely. Nefretiti and the kids at this point were told to proceed to the train while I awaited my interrogation to see if I was deemed worthy of entrance. She of course would never abandon me in such a fashion and stood around trying to get some answers about why I was being detained. We soon realized however that the longer she hung around the longer they planned to wait to question me. So we agreed she should proceed through and after handing me the Paris apartment key and giving me all pertinent contact information we said our farewells and hope to see you soons. Not 2 seconds after Nefretiti was gone my captor was ready to take me to the interrogation room where I was asked a slew of questions. I managed to answer all her questions satisfactorily and could catch the next train. Yay! I also found out at this point that they had called my friend and given him the 3rd degree as well. Once on the platform I found that Nefretiti had also missed the train and we all rode together, happy to be on our merry way.

Despite the rough start london has been very lovely. It's a beautiful city and I can't wait to see more of it. Just hoping these riots stay out of my way!

It has been a busy few day! Since my last post we've left Sardinia, spent a day and a half in Paris, to finally arrive in London. Whew! Quite a whirlwind. As much as I would have loved to stay in Sardinia my body is reveling the lack of sun and strenuous activities (the wing, sandcastle building and peddle boating.)

Paris, though short, was very relaxing and pleasant. We had a wonderful man helping us get around and he was very interesting and great with the kids. He took us to a wonderful park where you could rent small sailboats to send across the fountain. The kids loved it! They also enjoyed cruising around in a mazerati.

Crepes for lunch! Cheese, egg, and ham. Delish!
Reorganizing for the trip to London, it was pretty easy because we had an unlimited supply of bathing suits and a very limited supply of warm clothing as would be needed in the Uk.It was almost all for naught though, when I got held by customs before boarding the Eurostar. Full story tomorrow but thankfully I made it to London! Here I am enjoying my first London Taxi. Photo courtesy of Tut.

Preparing to take out The Wing, a flotation device that is towed behind a tender at high speeds.Giving the sign to go faster. It was comical because one would be giving the sign to go faster while the other would be flashing the sign to go slower. Shortly after this I was cajoled by the boys to go for a ride by myself so they could drive fast and crazy. It isn't called the wing for nothing, I flew. I flew high and I flew twice because Tut was desperate for the chance to drive and fling me into the sea.

One of the treasures pulled from the sea by a guest of the boat. Question of the day, can it be eaten?

Holding the now dead octopus that was spear fished by the same fellow. Random fact that I learned today, in order to kill an octopus you must turn its head inside out. You must also beat it on a rock or hard surface for at least 15 minutes before attempting to eat it.

A delicious drink concocted by Kim the boats den mother of sorts. Lime juice, fresh mint, and a bit of sugar in the raw. Yum yum.I've been painting my postcards this summer and it has been wonderful practice and saved me a lot of money in the process. Once I'm sure everyone who was sent one has received I will post the entire collection here. Until then here's a quick one I did of Ram on the beach today. Had some trouble with his eye but didn't turn out too bad in the end. Now I shall take 4 ibuprofen and head to bed. Hopefully my body will still work tomorrow after what I put it through today.

This morning I was folding my clothes preparing to pack when I received the exciting news that we may be staying extra in Sardinia. As much as I love Paris, being on the boat has been a ton o' fun. We went to the beach not knowing our flight fate but returned to the boat with a victorious 2 extra days! I have lots of photos but I fear my blog will become redundant with the amount of sandcastle and peddle boat photos I've been posting.

I awoke to find Tut and Ram already engaged in some early morning fishing. It was a rather successful venture with Tut pulling in 2 and Ram with 1.

After releasing all our catches it was time for breakfast before scooting off to the beach. Our goal today was to make another massive sand castle, as bog as me. They kept having me stand by the mound as a measuring stick.Tut and Ram are standing on top of the mound mid build to pack it down a bit.We brought in Marie for the finishing touches, she's the best at using the sandcastle molds.Back on the peddler for my daily leg routine. Between sandcastles and peddle boats i'm getting a full workout.

Lunch then more swimming, this water trampoline was tied to the back of the boat. The little guys turned it into a ferocious game of king of the mountain and threw you in the water if you tried to climb on.

They brought their desire to fight with them back onto the boat and zeroed in on Antony as their target. That's 4 little guys, 3 girls, and 3 big guys vs. Antony. He somehow managed to slip away every time. But once someone removed that railing he's holding it was only a matter of time and I'm proud to say I was the one to finally take him out. I was dunked as well but it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

Got a photo of the helicopter landing on the yacht, like woah!

Todays sand castle ended up more of a mound. Do not be fooled by its simple appearance into thinking that it was easy to build. To amass that much sand took a very, very long time! The boys wanted to build it as tall as me but we decided it was near impossible to do. This is about an hour into the build. You will also notice we had a different crew member with us today, Sean, from Zimbabwe. It has been really interesting to hear where everyone is from and how they got involved with the boating business.

We then took a break from this exhausting work to take out the peddle boat. The wind was very strong and peddling was hard going. The kids had Sean and I working like dogs as they "helped" by kicking their feet off the back. At one point I had turned because it sounded as if there was a fight brewing and it's a good thing I had because somehow Ram had managed to drop his net off the back and without alerting us had jumped off the back to get it. He was on the verge of a breakdown and was calling out to us when I finally spotted him. We all had a good laugh though once we had fished him back onto the boat. He informed me he had yelled "man overboard" and couldn't understand why we hadn't stopped to help him. I told him he should yell louder next time he decided to leap into the sea.

Here we are nearing the finish of our day. I know it doesn't look like it grew much but we had a bit of an issue with a child thinking he could demolish it and we would happily rebuild it for him. He was sternly informed that he was out of his mind but we had already been set back by a good half a foot by the time he stopped his demolition.

Lunch, soccer, a quick shower and then off to dinner. We were just getting parked for dinner when the door was opened so the kids could file out they spotted a ferrari parked next to us. They were so excited and wanted to have a photo session with it. Tut's picture was my favorite. He got so serious cool.

I think in my previous blogs I have failed to mention that in addition to the boat we sleep, eat, and play on, there is another boat. Below you can see the boat used for zipping to different ports. The day boat if you will.

We spent most of our day on the beach. The Peddle boat was rented again and I had my first go at peddling. This may have been mistake for as soon as the kids realized that mine and Freddy's leg power combined made for fast going we were forced to zoom the entire swim area at full speed. By the end we could barely move and had to push down our legs with our hands to maintain speed. As if that weren't exhausting enough as soon as we got back to the beach it was time to play in the sand.

The humble beginnings of what is to become and epic expanse of tunnels and walls.Ram working hard creating tons of small squares to decorated the top of our barrier wall.Tut pretending to look busy while the rest of us slave away. He said at one point he was the project manager and went about ordering more tunnels and walls to be built.Nearing completion. I'm working on a volcano as the two boys discuss the various pros of having a volcano near the castle. The main perk being that all bad guys will be burned up as they try to invade.And finally the finished project! 7 holes one for each person working with tunnels connecting them and a barrier wall surrounding the whole thing. Our 7th worker bee is Marie and she is behind the camera in this one.After a long day on the beach we had lunch then decided to take out the tender. We got up close to a lot of the boats in the bay. The boat below which is called "A" is by far the largest and most impressive looking. Nobody can decide if it is aesthetically beautiful but it is definitely unique.

It is hard to tell how huge this boat is from the photos but if you can imagine that it fits close to 7 other smaller boats plus some odd jet-skis inside of it you may begin to understand.

We also saw a helicopter landing on one of the yachts today. Unfortunately I was unable to secure a photo.

Post tender ride we went land side and the boys found some italian buddies to play soccer with. Amazing how fast you become friends over a game of football.

Tut driving the boat after soccer. The ride was pretty crazy as we whipped back and forth through the water. He had a hard time going straight.And the icing on the cake was that a hotel in the bay was having a big party that ended with fireworks! It was beautiful with all the boats, a cool gentle breeze, and the fireworks reflecting off the water.