Okay folks, I’m going to make this quick because quite honestly I’m already over it just from rounding up everyone’s photos. And when it comes to the “What I did for Summer Vacation” posts, we’ve all kind of been there and done that. At last count, I’ve written about 10 of them, and they have all started sounding pretty much the same. Unless we end up stumbling across a bigfoot or one of the kids grows a third arm, I think there’s not much new to say.

Yes! Steve and I went to Paris, and yes, it was awesome – IT WAS PARIS FOR GOD’S SAKE! AND, we were staying with friends. Yeah, it’s like that. We ate all the great food and drank all the great wine wine and saw all the great history stuff and spoke all our horrifically horrible French.

Yes! The kids were treated like royalty by their doting relatives and given everything short of matching blue ponies.

Yes! We saw the mountains, the beach and the finer points of the Central Valley.

Yes! We are tanned, and tired, and all 5 pounds heavier.

The pictures will sum it up much better. You can click through at your own pace over on Flickr, or you can watch the exquisitely crafted slideshow (not really) over here – but be warned, it will take you a while (about 14-ish minutes at last count) – and it has audio. Oh, and you probably don’t want to watch it unless you really like looking at our kids. Just sayin’.

(Photo credits go to Grandma Judy, Grandma Dani, Aunt Celene and myself – taken with various cameras and phones – accordingly, quality will vary. Amended photo credit: Shannon S. Yodowitz, because she threatened to sue me if I didn’t give her credit for the four photos she took. Effing lawyers.)