Family Vacation

We've had plenty of travel opportunities since moving to Europe and have enjoyed being able to do some intensive site-seeing.  However, the vacations we've had have not been very restful.  We decided that it was high time for a "do-nothing" vacation.  So we had our first relaxing, low-key vacation as a family a few weeks ago.  We found a house to rent in the teeny-tiny town of Braux, just north-west of Dijon, FR.  It was a perfect location and just what we had hoped.  We took walks in our little village, played on the jungle gym in the back yard, ate peaches off the tree and grapes off the vine, swam in the pool and did a little non-intensive site-seeing.  I want to go back...

 We went to a local market (about 15 minutes away) our first morning there.  We bought honey, some green beans, bread and jam (ooh, the jam was good!).  We strolled through a community garage sale and then had beef bourguignon and lasagna for lunch at a little cafe.  Laura took time to play in the pedestrian zone while mama finished eating.

 She's growing up...doesn't she look like a little girl here?

 Anything can be a toy when you are 22 months old.  This chain entertained her for at least 5 minutes.

 There were three rental houses on the property in addition to the house where the landlord lived.  Our neighbors were Austrian and (of course) spoke excellent English.  There were 8 of them traveling together (2 families) and they invited us to their brick oven pizza night.  It was fun!  We rolled out our dough, choose our ingredients and then had to bake our pizza in the brick oven without shoving it into the ashes.  It is hard!!  Everyone made a pizza and then shared it with the rest of the group.  I was stuffed by the end of the night.  I also experienced having goat cheese (yum!), tuna (not so yum), creme fraiche (didn't really notice it), an egg (not too bad) and various other unusual ingredients on my pizza.  It was a fun evening and an enjoyable new experience.  Meanwhile Laura dozed away next door while we watched her on the monitor - it was a night out!

 My pizza had goat cheese, zucchini, olives, peppers, bacon and creme fraiche.  I thought it was pretty good and it didn't get singed a bit.

 On our way back from a walk in our little village (also a belly shot for those who have been asking).

This is what Laura does when we tell her to smile.  She's also gotten so heavy that she now requires the two arm hold :)

We visited Flavigny - another teeny little town - one rainy morning.  They are known for their anise factory as well as being the film location for the movie Chocolat.  It was a very quaint town with lots of ups and downs.  I loved the pretty stone house and all the beautiful flowers decorating them.  We had a delicious lunch at the co-op cafeteria (quiche for me and potatoes and roast chicken for Tom) and just enjoyed a slow morning. 

 The gate to the city.

For our last outing, we drove across the valley (10 minutes) to an old chateau and church on a hilltop.  They were closed, but we enjoyed walking the grounds around them.  The view were beautiful and we were the only people there.  It was so peaceful and quiet.  Laura discovered that chestnuts are fun to hunt and we found a plethora of them!  Her constant chant was "nother un" meaning she wanted to find more to step on and extract them from their spiny shells.

All in all it was a great vacation.  Just the rest and together time we needed in the midst of Tom's crazy work and preparations for Baby Brother's arrival.

More pictures to come!  We also saw our friends Matt and Stephanie, but I don't have any photographic evidence...yet!

Papiliorama!

We visited the butterfly gardens one rainy day when Tom was off of work.  Laura loved all the animals, especially the ducks and the monkeys.  We visited all the areas: butterfly garden, night creatures, rain forest and petting zoo.  I did NOT like the night creatures.  There were hundreds of bats flying around and while they never ran into you, it was unnerving seeing something flying towards your fast extremely quickly.  You could feel the wind of their wings as the flew past you.  I couldn't get out of there fast enough and tried to hide behind Tom most of the time.  It didn't phase Laura and we did get to see a sloth.  I don't think I'd ever seen one before and it was pretty cool.

Checking out the fish and making her fish face at them.

 She didn't like the goats - not even the babies.  She kept close to Tom and kept saying, "no, no, no" in a pitiful voice.

 One of the many butterflies we saw.  It felt like it was raining butterflies in there.  Laura couldn't stop doing her butterfly sign.

Vainly looking for the ducks that she'd chased away. 

Bonus picture of Laura at the fountains at the shopping center close to our house.  It was actually warm enough one morning to go play in the water!

1er Août

For the Swiss national day we decided to do a mountain brunch again. We hiked in, ate at a mountain farm and then hiked back to the car.  We did it this year with 7 children!

 We walked through a lot of cow pastures on our way to the farm.  Laura loved this part.  This cow actually licked Tom's hand which she thought was great.

Part of our gang.  The farm we are heading to is at the top of the white road you see in the distance. 

The terrain was fairly uneven and at times a little tricky to navigate.  I had been very careful to step around cow piles and puddles and over the big rents in the ground that the cows cause.  I came down this path after hearing someone say that the dirt was firm.  I misunderstood or he misspoke because the dirt (and other stuff) was NOT firm.  I planted my right foot in nice squishy place where I sank to the top of my shoe before  managing to pull it out.  Lovely!  I think the cow is laughing at me. 

 At the top!

She was supposed to be sleeping...

All in all it was a fun day, though quite tiring.  Laura loved it and did great despite a missed nap.  Maybe we'll do it again next year with baby brother in tow!

I was looking back through pictures and realized that I'd missed quite a few in my updates, so I'm traveling back in time a little bit.

As far as life in general, things are going well.  Baby Brother will arrive in less than three months!  I'm getting bigger (it feels like I'm a lot bigger than last time) and this little one is a gymnast.  I'm always getting kicked and poked and can occasionally feel him hiccup.  Laura continues to be sweet, though she has definitely entered the 2's phase.  She likes to be independent and does not like her will to be thwarted!  She's still my precious little girl, though.  Always hugging and sharing and blowing kisses.  I love to hear her say, "wuv oo!".  How it melts our hearts :)

3/26 - Goofy girl playing with Daddy

3/27 - More pictures from our visit to Hauterive.  I really love that place and looking at these pictures make me want to go back.  Maybe we can squeeze in another cookout before Brother arrives.  Laura loved throwing rocks in the river.  Here she is showing her dirty fingers to Daddy.  She hates to be messy.

 

Look, Daddy, a rock!!

 A halfway decent picture of L.

This is what she was doing most of the time. 

Looking at the minnows with Tom. 

 Easter 2011

 She was smiling and playing and laughing up a storm before we started taking pictures.  Then everything went blank.  I promise, we were not torturing her.

5/7 - After a visit to the Villars chocolate factory (they have the BEST hot chocolate!!) we walked over to the botanical gardens.  Laura meandered so Tom took the opportunity to take pictures.

At the gardens Laura didn't care about flowers, fish, bees, trees, etc.  All she wanted to do was throw rocks in the grates.  I wish I knew what was going on in her little head!

Wedding Photo

I should have gotten a picture of the three of us in front of the beautiful chapel in which Lisa got married, but didn't think of it in all the activity.  Fortunately, Lisa's photographer snapped this one of us at the reception.  It was the end of the day and we were all tired, but the picture still turned out.  I love the look on Laura's face.  I had to jump up and down (literally) to get her to smile, but it seems to have worked!  It was a fun day full of good memories - thanks for a great party, Lisa and Jonathan!

4th of July and More

We had our first 4th of July in the States in 4 years.  When did GA start selling fireworks??  Laura loved pointing out all of the flags.  There were lots of them!  We didn't do much to celebrate, but it was really nice to be in the US for the holiday.  We did enjoy the firework show from the neighboring country club and Laura slept through all of them.  She barely moved a muscle even though they were exploding right above the house!

 Playing at the local park.

Four Generations all together!

 Aunt Ellie - Laura loved Ellie!  A month after getting back and Laura is still talking about Ellie.

Summer Happenings

We've had a busy summer, but a good one.  My sister got married in July, so we went home for a month in order to attend and to be able to participate in some of the pre-nuptial festivities.  It was great seeing Lisa so happy and excited.  During that month, I got to meet up with two of my girlfriends from college at Panama City Beach.  It was wonderful to have some quality girl-time and fun to introduce Laura to her first beach experience.  It was great to be home for awhile and spend some quality time with friends and family.  

 Laura loves putting on her boots.  One evening, she decided to walk in circles around me wearing nothing but boots and a diaper.  Silly girl!

 Laura's first day at the beach.  She wasn't sure what to think.  We managed to get her wet, but she didn't want to get out of the stroller or walk on the sand.  Sigh - she doesn't know what fun is!  The next day we got her in the water and she was giggly and happy - thanks to Cristina for encouraging us all that it could be done!


Proof of a successful trip into the water!  The water was a perfect temperature and Laura really liked the up and down of the waves.  She did not like the breaking waves, but once we got past the breaking, she was happy as could be.

 Laura and I spent a few days with my parents down in AL.  They have this great park nearby, so we took Laura one (cloudy!) morning and she loved it.  I loved that it wasn't steaming hot at 10am.

 She was very focused while climbing.

 Well, at least when she wasn't making faces at the camera.

Three sisters all together at a fun shower for Lisa.

 Getting pampered before the big day.

The beautiful bride!  The photo doesn't do her justice, but it's the only one I have.  Check out the pro's pictures here: http://www.ohsnapshotphotography.com/blog/?p=1469