stumped
Contrary to popular opinion, I love my kid. I really do. But what I realized is that I love her WAY MORE when she’s isn’t on vacation with me.
Let’s just say that my 3 previous visits to Paris minus Maya were quite different from this one. But since I’m thrilled to be in Paris regardless of the fact my kid won’t stop asking why there is no CPK on the Champs-Elysees, I’ll shut up and let the pictures speak for themselves.
Tea time at London's Fortnum & Mason. I won't detail the resulting stomach ache from ingesting large amounts of gluten.
"Feeding" the swans at London's Green Park.
On the balcony of our Paris hotel. Messy hair all around.
At the top of the Eiffel Tower. Moments before Maya dropped chocolate all over her Burberry coat.
It took no less than 10 shots before we got the Eiffel Tower in the middle of us.
Room service at our Paris hotel - 5 mornings in a row. My dad is at home in Los Angeles shaking his head in disapproval right now.
Shopping with my mother-in-law at Galeries Lafayette.
Okay, we all knew I couldn’t leave it at that…
If Maya doesn’t stop…asking the French-speaking waiters why there is no kid’s menu…telling me she needs to go potty when I can’t find a 20 cent coin for the bathroom anywhere…losing her train ticket over and over again, I am dropping her off Charles de Gaulle so she can hop on the first flight I can find. To wherever it may be going.
To all you moms out there who are able to effortlessly juggle 4 kids while on a vacation (and you know who you are) – I am stumped.
While I'm not going to win Mother/Wife of the Year Award anytime soon, I haven't killed anyone yet or shot myself in the head. And that, my friends, is how I calculate success these days. 
FANCY THAT FANCY THIS 
Send her to me 🙂
It looks like you are having a wonderful time. Anything good at chanel!?
There were a ton of amazing things at Chanel but unfortunately I had to leave them there!
sighh… there is always something good at Chanel. Ameena, sadly i had to leave all the lovely things there as well. stupid mistake. should’ve bought a souvenier…
Better to buy Chanel in dollars than in Euros anyhow, right?
stunning photographs!!!seems you guys are enjoying europe trip.love the crockery at Fortnum and Mason.Your coat seems burberry too.
keep enjoying and have fun.
Despite some of the annoyances you mention, looks like a great time is being had by all. Good for you.
You should call your blog “Fancy That, Fancy High Tea”. Clearly I am insanely jealous of all your High Tea experiences.
…You can feel free to be insanely jealous of my childless travelling. 😉
Maya has a burberry coat?! Wow. She is far better dressed than I am. I say fill Maya with crepes then she’ll be ready for a nap!
Love these photos, especially the one of you and Maya.
Sounds like you’re having a great time, despite traveling with child. Don’t you get any alone time on a vacation? It is key! 😉
I am totally green with envy at this trip of yours!! It looks absolutely wonderful!!
Nice vacation!!! Tea, room service, french streets, Chanel…so great… you have to let us in on your shopping results!
Of course Maya is as cute as ever, and the Eiffel tower picture is really cute – what a beautiful couple 🙂
Thank you Elin!
“to wherever it may be going”. Too funny!!! I can barely find coins for my own trips to the bathroom while not losing my purse when in Europe, I can’t imagine trying to accomplish all that for two people!
Ahhh but the photos are so lovely as are you! It looks like you had a truly fabulous trip with great locations and decadent eats =)
Sounds like a good time. Those bathroom coins were the bane of my existence when me and my two boys were in Switzerland and Italy last summer. Nothing like a kid who has to go NOW and a mom who has no change.
Your trip looks wonderful! I want to do all of those things. Even juggling Maya, I can see you are having a great time.
i think next time you should take me along as your maya helper…
fun fun fun!!…glad your enjoying ameena!!
🙂 you look like youre trying NOT to strangle maya in the pic of you two on the balcony. lol
Threaten to leave her at the top of Notre Dame with Quasimodo. 🙂
The tea tray looks delicious, by the way.
it costs to go to the bathroom? wow. i’ve always wanted to go to paris. lovely picture of you and ali, by the way.
At least shes having a good time right? 🙂
I would imagine the positive of having multiples is they eventually get old enough to entertain each other. I definitely see the advantage of traveling with a nanny even for 1 🙂
Poor Ameena, hard to believe sometimes that such a cute little girl can be such a terror (I bet Mr P thinks the same thing about me ;)).
*kisses* HH
I was waiting for you to update us! Looks like y’all are having a fun trip. 🙂 I’m sure Maya’s having the time of her life, which is pretty awesome considering your thoughts…LOL!!!!
BUT YOU ARE IN PARIS!!!!
I’d take a pre school with me to just smell Paris Air!
just once!
you guys look BEAUTIFUL…
have a great trip!!!
i love it, me too!!!
More pictures please! The pictures have been the one bright spot in my brief writing, client filled day. Oh, and how adorable are the teal cups and saucers in the first picture? 🙂
It is really nice of you to still take your daughter on vaca with you 🙂 Even if she drops chocolate on her gorgeous jacket LOL!
And somehow the camera catches all of Maya’s angelic moments, inducing so many “awww”‘s from all of us.
That first statement is hilariously awesome 😉
Lovely pictures, Ameena! I just wished you could relax a little, at least in vacation!
Why does Ali always look so funny?
Nice pics! Random – have you guys checked out the theater on the Champs-Elysees? It isn’t CPK, but it is quite an awesome experience;) So pretty inside…
lol. Maya mischief on vacation? Say it ain’t so. hehehe…
A good friend of mine recently went on a cruise with her three boys and two nieces. All under the age of 18. Along with her husband, too. How she handled them all is beyond me. Yet somehow she survived.
Oh, I love Maya’s hair! I shaved mine off a few weeks ago and hoped it would grow back to something nicer than before. Wishful thinking
Ah yes. The joys of traveling with children. We’re at Disney right now with the three boys and I’m ready for a vacation to recover from my vacation. enjoy the rest of your time there!
Oh Maya…Oh Maya.
I’m not sure if my favorite part was the shopping you were actioning at Galeries Lafayette (preach) or the fact that Maya is still searching for a CPK.
You’ve got to give the girl some credit – she has some pretty bold moves in her arsenal.
Maya oh Maya .. you are too cute. I sometime wish we could have met. Something tells me I will have fun with Maya 😀 beautiful pics .. have fun dear
oh my my….i’ve got both kids drewling around me…and ayla asking when we get to have such a gorgeous high tea…i mean, ridiculous!!! you did me proud w the fabulous pics, keep em coming pleaze!! loved every moment, totally living vicariously thru you all…want to know all about the damage you and your MIL have done in that beyond gorgeous boutique and all the wonderful coffee you’ve had wout me…give maya lots of puppies and tell her she’ll have to go over every detail at our sleepover. think of me,
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Maya is growing up into a little lady. When will you marry her off? 🙂 My parents are still trying!
well you sound exactly like my mom ” hey k, i love you so much more when you’re in your own apartment, eating your own food and annoying your own roomies”!
Maya or no Maya, Ameena, you know you had a lovely time! You guys know how to travel in style!
Great photos and I am sure even more gorgeous in real life…looks like you are having a wonderful trip even with the curious young one there 🙂
Thank you Alicia!
Well well well! That sounds so unfair. I would like to hear Maya’s account of things soon. Right now, her mom sounds so biased somehow.
Maya, you have my sympathies. Go ahead cutie :). Enjoy your trip.
Beautiful Pictures. 😀
Really beautiful pictures, Ameena. Thanks and enjoy<3
This is why I despise taking my 3 anywhere, way more work to go anywhere!
Forget vacation, how do you even juggle four kids, period? Gotta hand it to those parents.
Love that Eiffel Tower picture! Doesn’t sound like you’re having fun, but it sure looks like you are. Have a great rest of the trip, Ameena.
Wow Ameena, I’ve stood exactly where you stood getting that Eiffel Tower shot – think I took a whole bunch before I centred the stupid thing too. I don’t know if it’ll work for you girlfriend, but my Mom used to pretend she didn’t know us on holidays…., she’d look at us aghast just like all the people around in horror & usually make some statement to them about people not bringing children up correctly & march off with her nose in the air. Kris & I (fairly used to her behaviour) would meekly follow at a safe distance. Try it…., it might just work huh.
I’m with you on the room service for breakfast……., is there anything more decadent? I think not!
Hi Ameena! I’m back from vacation and I’m happy to be catching up on my blog reading — I missed you! Hope you’re having a fabulous time on vacation…you really are a supermom!
I see those women ALL the time. Traipsing around Rome, Paris, Milan. Babies in tow, strapped to their bodies, sleeping in a stroller, or dare I admit walking perfectly by their side! I shake my head in disbelief and say a thousand prayers that one day I am just as fortunate. If not, it will be the Spaniard’s responsibility. He promised and I am holding him to it!
I think I tell you this often, but Maya is so dang pretty! So are you! I LOVE the pic of the tower between you guys. My husband wouldn’t have had the patience for that many retries and out faces would have shown it…haha! Glad you had so much fun. I can’t wait to visit there one day. I’ll be asking you for some tips since you’ve been a few times!
Ashley – you are too kind. Thank you!
No mother can juggle 4 children while shopping in Paris, well unless she is French and even then don’t they start free full time preschool at 3. Enjoy !!!
You are not alone. 1 or 5, kids can be a tad bit of a nightmare on vacation. That’s why our grand vacation this year will be to a nearby water park. No planes, hotels or luggage involved.
All joking aside, sounds like a fabulous trip! I commend anyone who has kids, let alone travels with them!
Thanks for sharing the photos!
And, by the way, I would definitely spill something on a burberry coat!
Great pics. Looks like you are having a lot of fun.
I am totally with Maya on this one. Really why don’t they have kids menu ? is it because the french’s adult menu already serves kids portion sizes ?
Glad to see Maya recovered from her plane flight! Sounds like you’re having a (mostly) good time on your trip, although I can understand the difficulties of traveling with kids – and we don’t even have any yet! You have my sympathy for all the aggravations and stress of traveling. You’re getting some beautiful pictures out of it, though! Love the one of you and Maya on the balcony, and I’m impressed by the picture in front of the Eiffel tower – did one of you hold the camera? Good aim! (Even if it took a number of tries 😉 ).
Enjoy the rest of your trip, Ameena!
Looks like an awesome trip! I love the pic with the Eiffel in the middle. We have some like that. I am glad you are enjoying Paris despite Maya’s never ending questions.
This post makes me miss Paris! I think I will be in france for a while this summer though, so that will be nice. I have never had room service. My parents didn’t believe in it, and I have never stayed in a nice hotel on my own (and even if I had, I probably wouldn’t be able to afford the room service!). But room service at a fancy hotel IS on my life to-do list. 🙂
Gah, your family is so beautiful. Im glad you are all having a lovely time 🙂
Seriously, when I saw that picture of you and Maya, I thought: Who is that young person next to Maya? I thought Maya’s an only child? Was it a cousin? Then I read the caption. Yowza!
You have no idea how much you just made my morning!! Thank you for that my friend. 🙂
HOPPY EASTER !!!
Paris, I miss you! I can remember how it took us a million shots to get the tower in between ourselves. So glad you are having a lovely time and enjoying the eats too.
Hate how your have to pay to use the bathroom! Your daughter is too cute though! Enjoy!
Ameena! You are simply gorgeous!
As are Ali and Maya – she’s going to be beautiful.
Oh well…I’ll take being in Paris anyday with a kid versus sitting here in northern Canada 😉
Hopefully one day you and Ali can take a solo trip – when “little” Maya is off to college! And you’ll be wanting her back! …maybe 😉
Oh – well croissants and thin crust pizza is involved – I would take the gluten and deal with the consequences 😉 Wait – is pizza and pasta a Paris thing or more Italian? See, I must travel to learn these things right?!
Looks and sounds like you are having a blast (kids menu or not:) )… She will grow up soon and will be shopping with you!
Love the photos- your hair may be messy, but it’s straight and gorgeous nonetheless.
True story for you to tell Maya: I was in France visiting a french family and the mom served the kids up their lunch. i said: “wow, that looks amazing, what is it?” She said: “Brains”.
So there you have it. If there was a kids’ menu, Maya probably wouldn’t like it anyway 🙂
Hope you had a great time! (I think you’re home??)
Love your honesty. I had a total meltdown with my kids less-than-adventurous eating when we were in Paris. The plane/ticket option would’ve been a nice one.
Nice photos. After all the “stumps”, you still have so much energy in blogging while away on vacation. Salutation to the Queen Mother of all 🙂 no pun intended!
Have a great Fun, It seems you are having a wonderful time.
ameena, adopt me? I swear I won’t ask questions or steal crayons.
I can just picture you trying to get that tower in the middle of your heads 🙂
How wonderful for Maya to have memories of her trip to Paris with you and Ali. It reminded me of what Bruce Paltrow said about taking Gwynth to Paris when she was a little girl. He said that he wanted her to see the most beautiful city on earth with the man who first loved her and would love her the longest. As one Daddy’s Girl to another, I totally understand that. However my father detested vacations and don’t get him started on room service!
I’m so glad you and Ali made it the Palais Chaillot for that gorgeous nighttime shot of the Eiffel Tower between you. Tres romantique!