Ely's in France

Corsica

2007-06-10T09:13:00.000+01:00

My parents were our last visitors here in France. They came for two weeks, and we spent the middle ten days on a trip to Corsica and the south of France. Before moving here, I didn't know much about Corsica. It's an island that's been a Region of France for a couple of hundred years. Napoleon is the most famous Corsican. It's a popular vacation destination spot for the mainland French, but since most of them can't go on vacation until July when their kids are out of school, we enjoyed fewer crowds and cheaper hotel rates. We decided to get there by an overnight ferry (a bit like a mini-cruise ship), arriving in Porto-Vecchio in the southeast and departing from Ajaccio in the west. In between, we stayed at Bonifacio at the extreme south and Sartene, a village in the interior of the island known as the "most Corsican of Corsican villages".

Our ferry departed late in the day from Marseille, so we took the day to see some of Provence on the way.

We drove through Roussillon, which is famous for it's many shades of ochre, which were once mined and used as painting pigments.

As well as Gordes, which the girls and I had seen before.

We finally made it down to the dock an hour or so before the ferry was scheduled to leave, and after driving onto the boat, the girls were eager to get to our rooms. Their favorite thing was playing on the bunk beds.

But we finally got them to go up on deck to catch some of Marseille as we departed.

We got into Porto-Vecchio around 8:30am, and after a standard breakfast of pain au chocolat and coffee, we drove south twenty minutes to one of Corsica's most famous beaches, Palombaggia. It was the prettiest beach that any of us had ever seen. The girls couldn't wait to get into the water, even though it was freezing!

We knew the water would be cold, so we bought them some shortie wet-suits to wear before leaving.

But there were quite a few jellyfish in the water, so they spent more time playing in the sand.

And since it was her birthday, making Allison a cake.

On the way back from the beach, we got a rare picture of the four of us where we stopped for lunch.

According to our guidebooks, over the last few years, a lot of small adventure parks have opened up all over the island. The basic idea is that with the minimal amount of safety gear required, you traverse between trees on bridges made of various combinations of rope and wooden planks and zip lines. We stopped by one that had been closed down (or perhaps not yet open this season), so Summer could play some. She loves this kind of thing and already has plans for what we have to build in our backyard once we get home.

It was unbelievable how dangerous some of this stuff was. There were wooden platforms attached to trees that were thirty feet up in the air. A place like this wouldn't stay open long in the lawsuit-happy US.

That night for her birthday, Allison and I went to dinner alone (a rare treat). The food was excellent, but perhaps the most memorable thing was watching the moon rise from behind a mountain across the Porto-Vecchio bay.

The next day we drove down to Bonifacio on the straightest highway in Corisca and stopped off to see an another amazing beach.

Bonifacio is split into two parts.

The lower part (where we stayed) surrounds a harbor and mainly includes hotels and restaurants.

We rode a small train up to the upper part, where we walked around their charming, narrow streets.

Everyone we talked to and all of our guide books mentioned that a boat trip around Bonifacio was a must. We were also told that the sea can get rough when it's windy. The wind was blowing hard the first day, so we decided to wait until the next day to go. But it was blowing even harder, so only my dad and I, the two least prone to motion sickness, took the tour. It was certinly impressive but thirty minutes into the hour tour, my stomach was ready for it to be over. Among the sites, we saw a lookout used by the German's during WW II.

And Bonifacio itself perched high on the cliffs.

After a rainy day in Sartene, we drove to our final destination, Corsica's capital, Ajaccio, where we found a lot more for the girls to do. We took them to Cupulatta, which is a huge turtle sanctuary with thousands of turtles, including one that was upside-down. He struggled for a few minutes before we found a stick long enough to flip him back over. Once we flipped him over, he was so exhausted from trying to right himself that he couldn't even stand up.

And Summer finally got to do the one thing she wanted most of all, riding a pony. It's something that we'd promised her before we left, but many places weren't open yet or not open on the days we were there. Finally, she was able to join a class with kids who came weekly to a riding center to take lessons. Being in a class was a much better experience than just sitting on a pony walking along a dirt path, which was the option at another place.

She almost fell off when her pony started to trot, but her teacher caught her just in time.

And kept a closer eye on her for the rest of the hour.

There are 91 watchtowers that line Corsica's coast. They were built in the early fifteenth century to counteract the growing number of pirate attacks; the network of watchtowers could alert the whole island of an attack in under an hour. Along the way, we saw a few in the distance from the car, but the only one that we got near was at the far end of the Ajaccio peninsula. Past the one at the end of the main island, you can see another one in the distance on the Iles Sanguinaires along with a more modern lighthouse.

From the base of the watchtower, we had the best view so far on the island.

That night we took the ferry back to mainland France. In the morning, we first drove to Cannes (Allison hoped to see some celebrities and dreamed of getting a picture holding Suri Cruise), and then ended up taking a gorgeous drive along the coast until we reached Agay where we stayed in a nice hotel right on the beach with a great restaurant.

The day before we drove back home to Barraux, we took the girls to Marine Land, which is pretty similar to Sea World.

Marine Land is part of a group of four other parks, including La Petite Ferme du Far West, for which we bought a combined pass. The girls had the most fun of the whole trip here. They chased around farm animals, played on a huge inflatible structure, rode mechanical horses, little boats, got their faces painted

rode ponies,

and played with fun house mirrors for the first time.

The next day we headed back home. With each girl watching DVDs, the five hour trip went smoothly.

Overall, it was a great vacation, and we couldn't have done it without my parents who did so much to keep the girls entertained with much less sleep than they normally get.

Fraises

2007-05-16T22:45:00.000+01:00

There are a few strawberry plants in the backyard, and today there were a few ripe strawberries that Summer couldn't wait to pick. After we brought them inside, we waited for Allison to finish putting Samantha down for a nap before we tried them. For ten minutes, Summer insisted that one of us had to watch them at all times. Luckily, we each got to try one before they ran away. They were tart but still good.

Spelling Lessons and Crazy Hair

2007-05-15T22:44:00.000+01:00

It has been rainy and cold here all week, so we have been having many pajama days. This sounds fun, and it is for a while, but after being in the house for two days straight and getting a bit stir crazy, we have been struggling with finding fun and time-consuming things to do. The girls have become big buddies over the past few months, and Samantha loves to follow Summer around and be her student, baby, pet kitty, emergency room patient, and various animals needing rescuing. We got out the chalkboard, and Summer instantly became the teacher. It surprises me how long Samantha will sit and listen to her.

We also decided to play beauty shop to display our wide assortment of clips and hair bows. The girls did my hair, too, but it wasn't quite as cute as theirs.

Donkey

2007-05-09T22:43:00.000+01:00

Today we went to a small park near my work that had a couple of goats, some chickens, a peacock, and the girls' favorite, a donkey.

(By the way, I took a picture of a bunch of flies eating crusty stuff out of the donkey's eye, but Allison won't let me put it up).

Les Grottes de Choranche

2007-05-05T22:41:00.000+01:00

It's been rainy here for the last couple of days, so I decided to take the girls to Les Grottes de Choranche, which is a series of caverns about an hour from Grenoble. We showed up between two larger groups of people, so we got a private tour from a guide who spoke simple enough French for me to understand most of what he was saying. The most interesting thing I remember is that the caverns continue on for 30km. The inside was impressive, especially since there was a lot of moving water. The pictures don't do it justice.

There's not much to do around Grenoble when it's raining, so I was pretty proud of myself for thinking to go visit the caverns. But it turns out the water levels in the cave are affected by rain that somehow drains through the mountain. A few small sections of the caves were already closed, and the guide told us that it would probably all be closed in the afternoon. So I wasn't so smart after all.

The tour climaxes with the guide leading you up some stairs into a dark chamber. He then cues up a choreography of music and lights that gradually reveal the impressive structures and a cascading river that comes out of no where. It's all a bit cheesy, but it's hard not to get sucked in by it.

Chateau du Miolans

2007-05-04T22:39:00.000+01:00

We took the girls to visit a castle about thirty minutes from our house, le Chateau du Miolans. On the way there, we heard Samantha in the back seat talking about baby Eiffel Towers, and then we looked outside:

We went on a rainy Friday morning, so we had the whole castle to ourselves, which made it very enjoyable. Summer had a lot of fun exploring, but eventually her standard response after going through a new doorway was, "It's just another dirty old room."

Dressed to Kill

2007-04-27T22:38:00.000+01:00

We've had a big problem with wasps here recently. They make nests under the roof tiles, which are very hard to get rid of. Even when we leave the windows shut, they find a way to get inside. We've killed at least a dozen in the house. And despite this being quite thrilling, I decided to go up on the roof with every can of wasp spray they had at both grocery stores in Pontcharra (three by the way) and kill me some wasps. I was stung by a bee a few days ago, so I went a bit overboard with protection.

No more wasps in the house so far.

Frog Hunting

2007-04-25T22:36:00.000+01:00

Since arriving in France, I was encouraged by a few of David's coworkers to join Open House Grenoble, which is an English speaking organization for people living in Grenoble. Amanda, the wife of one of David's coworkers, invited us to the Teddy Bears' Picnic to go frog hunting. Basically, several moms who are members of Open House and their children met at a nearby pond where we each brought a snack, frog catching gear, and our child's favorite stuffed animal.

Summer was very excited to go frog hunting. On the drive to the pond, she spoke nonstop about how many frogs she would catch, how she would throw them back into the water, and what they would be like. Only after arriving at the pond did we realize that we were actually going to have to HUNT for the frogs and that they would not be lining up to jump into Summer's bucket.

I was quite surprised by Summer's determination and persistance. She squatted by the water's edge for almost an hour, pitching her net into the water and avoiding the mud (and other smelly gunk) being tossed into the air by the nearby frog hunters. We actually didn't see ANY frogs in or near the water the entire time, but Summer did get to play with a frog that her friend Ellen had caught before most of the children had arrived.

My First Bee Sting

2007-04-23T19:50:00.000+01:00

With a subject like that, you were probably thinking, "Awww, I wonder which girl got stung." Well, the answer is none of them. I have no idea how I've made it this far without getting stung by a bee. (I've never broken a bone either, but we have two months left here yet.) I went for a run this morning and while going down a road that zigzags down a hill, I saw a man in a funny hat working out of the back of his van. As I got closer, I saw the tell-tale can of smoke. My excitement at seeing my first real-live bee keeper was short lived as I was soon attacked by a bunch of angry bees. I kept running as fast as I could, wildly swatting at the bees like a mad man. I only got stung once, but all in all, it was probably worth it as the bee keeper now has his first interesting blog entry in weeks.

Summer peut faire du velo

2007-04-22T22:15:00.000+01:00

Summer learned to ride a bike today. The Craigs have a small green bike that Summer had enjoyed riding with training wheels on the front porch. Sometimes she would go outside without telling us, and we'd crack up when we saw her zoom by the living room window. Today, she insisted that we take the training wheels off. We'd tried this back home a few times with a hand-me-down bike that was probably a little too big for her. Allison recommended that we go to a gravel soccer field that's just up the hill. This turned out to be the perfect place since it was very flat, wide, fairly soft, and empty. I held on to her the first time down the field, and after that she took off on her own.

Samantha was a little grumpy at the attention that Summer was getting.

But then she joined in the fun and quickly got over it.

Summer rode for about forty-five minutes before I had to drag her home. She's mostly figured out how to turn and get started on her own, but stopping is still a crapshoot.

(One more unrelated thing. On the way home from Grenoble yesterday we drove through a little rain, and then saw the end of a rainbow actually touching down in a field. We'd never seen that before.)

Mowing

2007-04-21T22:16:00.000+01:00

I'd been putting off mowing the Craig's lawn for too long. I had my share of excuses, including that each town in France has restrictions on when you can mow that vary by day of the week. The general rule is not too early, not too late, not around lunch time (which explains why our neighbor who has an even bigger yard than ours had to mow in a morning and afternoon shift), and not on Sunday. The alpine meadow look had started to grow on us, but as much as Summer insisted, I wasn't able to leave the flowers and only cut the grass.

Funiculaire

2007-04-18T21:15:00.000+01:00

We have been waiting for the Funiculaire to open this year, which is a pair of small, slow trains attached by a cable; as one goes down the steep mountain, the other goes up, etc. It is near our house, and we spot it every time we drive to Grenoble. Summer and I went there today and enjoyed the views on the way up. We shared our seats with a French gentleman, who was wearing winter clothes for the ascent and was carrying a large backpack. We noticed other people dressed similarly as we got off the train, and all were carrying large backpacks. I assumed that they were going on a long day hike. I was a little embarrassed because Summer and I looked like typical tourists in our short sleeves and flip flops, and I was hoping that we wouldn't be too cold at the top.

Summer was excited to discover a park at the top, where she played alongside French children for half an hour or so. Only after that did we come upon a large, grassy field that hugged the side of the mountain. It was there that we discovered that the people on the train were paragliders. Summer and I sat there for several minutes and watched the long process of getting the parachutes untangled and straightened, and waiting for the go ahead from the instructor. It was amazing to watch the paragliders run off the side of the mountain and then to see them come back up once their parachutes caught the wind. Summer was begging to go, but I don't think she understood what it all entailed.

As we were walking to catch the train back down the mountain, I noticed that Summer had caught some butterflies.

Our descent was quiet, as we were the only passengers traveling back down before the train was closed for a two hour lunch break.

I mentioned before that we could see the Funiculaire's tracks cutting into the side of the mountain from the highway. We also noticed a very tall waterfall to the left of the tracks, which we wanted to find a way to get closer to. Shortly after our descent down the mountain began, we heard falling water and realized we were the closest that we could get to the waterfall.

Even though we have been here for only three months, I am happy for all of the beautiful and different places that the girls are getting to see. Samantha probably won't remember much from our time here, but I think Summer will remember most, if not all, of it.

Provence Part Deux

2007-04-15T21:53:00.000+01:00

I took Friday off from work, and we spent a long weekend in Provence. We took some windy roads through the mountains down to Aix-en-Provence, where we first went to go see Cezanne's studio. His studio has been preserved since he died a hundred years ago. After I filmed a short movie (one frame below), I found out the hard way that they don't allow pictures inside the studio.

We took turns playing with Samantha outside because you're supposed to be quiet and not touch anything inside of his studio. She can do both of those things but just not at the same time.

Next we walked into the city center, where we found an almost magical candy store, La Cure Gourmande.

We were lucky enough to stay with the parents of my friend Ezra, who moved to Austin from England four years ago. They are six years into restoring a house that was first built around 1550. The inside magnificently blends in modern designs.

They live outside of Pertuis, which is a small town outside of Aix-en-Provence, and there is no other house in sight, with the exception of the neighbor that shares one wall of their house. I think the two houses used to be one because the neighbor was actually born in the room where Samantha slept. He's lived in the house his whole life and never ventured farther than Marseilles, twenty miles to the south. It makes me happy that you can still find someone like this.

The girls' favorite attraction was their dog, Tuffy, and it didn't take us long to find out her unsanitized German name, Tuffschitt. Seeing the girls around the dog convinced us that we'll have to get one in the next couple of years. Maybe we'll give it a French name.

They also introduced us to some funky-looking local tomatoes. They have a thinner skin and taste better, too.

On Saturday we picked up lunch in Aix-en-Provence and headed down to the coast. We keep the windows down since the car doesn't have AC. The girls get a little hot sometimes, but it's not too bad yet.

In the masterpiece 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', Robert Pirsig says that you can't really experience a place boxed up inside a car. That's just glorified TV. Whereas on a motorcycle, you're out in the open and able to take in everything. And there's nothing wrong with being hot and worn out and smelling like two hundred miles by the end of the day. Going on a road trip with the windows down captured some of this allure. We'll see if I still agree with him in June.

We drove through the Camargue to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, where we found a small beach. The girls had lots of fun playing in the sand and running away from the waves.

We spent the night in Montpellier, and on the way out of town the next day, we stumbled onto a zoo. You can tell this is a French zoo because there's an old man wearing a beret.

Since it was early, the only other people at the park were joggers, and we had it mostly to ourselves. After going through the gates and seeing one peacock, we had to walk ages before seeing any animals. We did see lots of wooden cutouts of animals, and I honestly started to think that we somehow misunderstood the signs, and in fact this was just an animal-coded network of jogging trails. But soon enough we saw some kangaroos. It's amazing how effortlessly they hop around.

We took a small detour on the way home to see the Pont du Gard, which according to Wikipedia is part of a Roman aqueduct that carried water 50km from Uzes to Nimes, while only losing 17m of elevation (less than two feet per mile)!

Close to home, we stopped off at our favorite park in Grenoble, where the girls got to play for a little while before piling back into the car one last time. Samantha's favorite thing was walking over a rope bridge and then sliding down a long slide feet-first on her belly.

On the way home, we all had fun sticking our hands out the car windows. It's nice when you get to re-experience that kind of thing with your kids.

Elfi's

2007-04-11T21:14:00.000+01:00

We have been doing many fun things outdoors lately, but Summer was extremely excited to visit Elfi's, an indoor play area for children.

She has been to a couple in Austin before, but none were this big.

Because Summer isn't attending school here anymore (Long story! Basically, she was very miserable because of the language barrier.), we are finding that many of the places we visit during the week are empty because the children are in school. Summer shared the entire area with one boy, who left a little while after we got there.

Warmer Weather

2007-04-10T21:18:00.000+01:00

For quite a while, Summer has wanted to build a vine to swing on, and after her failed attempts with string and tape, David constructed one for her out of some rope and a plastic pipe we found in the garage. He promised me that Summer won't get a concussion like he did the last time he tried this kind of thing twenty years ago. While hundreds of dollars worth of toys sit untouched inside, this cheap toy has entertained her for hours over the last few days.

We have been enjoying the warm, spring weather over the past week and have spent many afternoons outside. David took the girls out for a drive this weekend and spotted a field of sheep, which they loved to watch. We're getting used to living in a rural area, but we're still pleasantly surprised every time we happen upon something like this. Over the past few days, we've even noticed a horse in the backyard next door.

We definitely spend more time in the Craig's yard than we do in our yard in Austin. We're enjoying the tall trees, collecting pine cones, looking at the mountains, and watching Nathalie's tulips open and close each day.

Pâques

2007-04-08T09:22:00.000+01:00

Today is Easter (Pâques in French) and the girls woke up to a pile of candy brought by church bells instead of the Easter Bunny.

We'll all be eating a lot of chocolate over the next few days, which come to think of it, isn't much different from the rest of our time here.

Annecy Again

2007-04-07T20:56:00.000+01:00

Everyone piled in the car and we drove a "small hour" (as the French like to say) up to Annecy, where Allison wanted to do some shopping while I entertained the girls. The highlight of the day was renting a boat and taking the girls out on Lake Annecy. It was a little chilly but otherwise perfect.

Since the boat's top speed was just above a crawl, both girls got a chance to drive it. In general, Summer was scared that we were going to crash into the land that was straight-ahead, albiet fifteen minutes away, and Samantha insisted on turning the wheel all the way to the right and keeping it there. Given Summer's propensity for motion sickness, this didn't last long.

Summer then got to pedal a horse around the park there. When she started her ten minute (for 3 Euro) turn, she had the track to herself, but by the end she was jockeying with ten madly-peddling terrors who spent more time looking for their parents than watching where their horses were taking them.

While mom wrapped up her shopping, we three went for ice cream downtown. Samantha lost most of her second scoop, but Summer was nice enough to share with her.

The girls were worn out, so we took the scenic route home while they napped.

Museum Grenoble and Les Oeufs de la Bastille

2007-04-06T20:01:00.000+01:00

David has been working "Austin hours" a few mornings a week, which means that he is here until lunchtime (without working), goes into work until 6pm or so and then works a few hours at home in the evening. This has allowed us to do more sight-seeing with the girls and to do some fun things with Summer that would otherwise be difficult with Samantha. Summer is quite proud of this new setup and extra attention.

Last week, Summer and I visited the Grenoble Art Museum, where she led me around, enjoying various works by Chagall and Matisse. We then took a ride up in Les Oeufs (small, egg-shaped cable cars), which took us up to the Bastille. It was cold and windy, so we stayed up a few minutes, enjoyed the view, and rode the eggs back down the mountain. We're hoping to do this kind of thing at least twice a week.

Joyeux Anniversaire Samantha

2007-04-01T19:57:00.000+01:00

We celebrated Samantha turning two with two parties, one when my parents were here and one on her actual birthday. We celebrated with two cakes as well.

Samantha has had a language explosion over the past few weeks and has also been asserting her independence: "Let go, Momma, me do it!" She is very interested in numbers right now, both in English and Spanish, and is especially intrigued by the number nine...why, we have no clue. And yesterday, she pointed at a picture of a smiling girl and said, "Sad, no. Happy, oui!".

Alex and Long Ears

2007-03-30T19:56:00.000+01:00

Summer has made a few friends here but has had a little trouble playing with French children. She gets frustrated not being able to communicate with them and looks forward to playing with her friends who speak English. This includes Sammy, who is the daughter of one of the Craig's friends.

We are taking care of Sammy's guinea pig (Alex) and rabbit (Long Ears) this week while the French schools are on another two week vacation and Sammy and her family are in the UK.

Paris with Gran and Grandad

2007-03-25T19:54:00.000+01:00

We introduced European life to my parents by spending a few days in Paris. We arrived after a three hour high-speed train ride, which entailed a lot of Dramamine and Samantha being entertained by a Dora Sudoko sticker book.

We did a lot of walking and touring the Paris subway system (much of the time with our heavy suitcases and stroller). While David attended a conference for work, the rest of us went to see the Eiffel Tower. It was very cold and windy that day, and we were even caught in a few hailstorms. The Eiffel Tower hadn't changed much since David and I were there on our honeymoon (LONG lines of tourists and school groups waiting to ascend, hoardes of gypsy-type women asking for money, and guards with machine-guns patrolling the grounds), so Samantha and I decided to forgo the long lines and chase pigeons instead.

Samantha was impressed with the tower, and every few days since our trip stands up real tall (usually after climbing onto something she shouldn't) and says, "Tower, Eiffel Tower!"

Summer's favorite thing by far since we've been in France was going to the top of the tower with my parents. She was in awe of it's size and insisted that she could see Austin from the top, which she described as a dark rain cloud in the distance. Summer also took to Parisian shopping and suckered my parents into buying her various souvenirs, including a Paris totebag, a coin purse with "Paris" spelled out in rhinestones, an Eiffel Tower statue, and several postcards.

My parents got to see the other tourist hotspots (Louvre, Notre Dame, Champs-Élysées, Arc de Triomphe), and David and I enjoyed kid-free dinners while my parents stayed with the girls. We enjoyed our time there but were glad to return to our much-quieter village in Barraux.

The day before my parents flew home, I drove them to Turin, Italy, which was only a few hours away. Despite being told to just "follow the signs", we found the city relatively easily but had a nightmare of a time leaving the city due to construction and lack of a good map. Upon arrival, we parked in what I decided was a "scary" part of the city but found a welcoming restaurant, where we enjoyed delicious pizza, pasta, and a very friendly waiter who was not shy in showing off his knowledge of the English language (January, February, March...). Our comparison between what we've seen of France and Italy was this: France is much prettier and cleaner, has better road signs, and much more considerate drivers. Still, growing up in Texas where you can drive twelve hours and still be in Texas, we were intrigued by the opportunity to visit three countries in just a few hours. After Turin, I drove my parents to Geneva, where they spent the night before flying home early the next morning. Much to my mother's dismay, I drove home alone on a road I'd never been on, with one headlight working, and a dead cell phone battery. I was fine. :)

Swapping Visitors

2007-03-18T23:18:00.000+01:00

I took my sister back to the Geneva airport today and killed a couple of hours waiting for Allison's parents to arrive at the same airport. I spent a little bit of time down by the lake including checking out the flower clock, which looks pretty much the same as when Allison and I saw it nine years ago on our honeymoon.

While driving around, I also saw these cool mirrors that help you avoid certain death when making a blind turn out of a fortified neighborhood.

Although I wasn't used to them, and it took a bit to figure out that the cars weren't driving on the right side of the road.

Skiing

2007-03-17T23:15:00.000+01:00

Today Sharon, Summer, and I went skiing. We drove an hour and a half to Courchevel, which is a famous ski area nearby. We had a local guide, Anton, who I work with and is lucky enough to live nearby. I was a bit nervous since I hadn't skied in six years, but he pointed out that a lot of rich people come to Courchevel and they usually aren't great skiers, so the slopes aren't too tough. Summer had never skied before, and I was rusty, but we made it down one long run with her skiis between mine.

Afterwards she either wanted to ski down all by herself or sled, so Sharon and I traded turns watching her sled. At the end of the day, I was glad to make it off of the slopes without getting hurt.

2007-03-16T23:07:00.000+01:00

David's sister is here this week, and we've all enjoyed having her here. She brought us many goodies (Cheerios, Chex, 10+ cans of black beans!!, rice krispie treats, and more!)! We took her to Chambery, Grenoble, our village in Barraux, and Vizille (where a stick kept Summer entertained for an hour).

Most of those trips centered around grabbing something quick for lunch and taking the girls to a park, but the weather was great (sunny and in the low 60s), so we couldn't complain. We spent a lot of time in the car, and Summer is still complaining of motion sickness, but her doctor said to give her half of a Dramamine, and that seems to be helping (but not always).

The highlight of the week was visiting Mt. Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe. We visited and ate lunch in Chamonix, which is the skiing village near the mountain.

From there, we took the Aiguille du Midi cable car, which takes you up in two stages to 3842m and is the closest you can get to the top of Mt. Blanc without climbing!!

There were incredible views of the French and Italian Alps.

It was somewhat stressful chasing Samantha around, as one of us always had a tight grip on the hood of her jacket. Summer enjoyed playing in the snow, although she had a difficult time adjusting to the altitude at the summit and basically fell asleep in David's arms. On the way down we were first in line for the cable car and got a prime spot at the front (but Allison got crowded out of the way by a creepy old lady).

On the way back, we stopped by Annecy again where David played with the girls in the park while I took Sharon into town to find dinner. The park is right next to a large lake, which comes in handy when you roll over a pile of dog crap with the stoller.

International Women's Day

2007-03-08T23:05:00.000+01:00

I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks, as we have our first round of visitors coming to France! A few of David's colleagues were in town this past week, including Trey and his wife Joy who live near around the corner from us in Austin. The girls know Joy well, so we were all excited to spend two days this past week sightseeing with her. My favorite day by far was last Thursday, when David took the day off from work so that Joy and I could go by ourselves to Annecy, an hour drive away. We've been told that Annecy is the "French Venice" because of the canals that run through the city.

While Joy and I did visit the tourist hotspots (Le Palais de l'Isle and Le Château d'Annecy), we spent most of our time shopping. I brought very few clothes with me to France and needed to get a few things, so Joy and I enjoyed finding some bargains. It was a much more relaxing day than the day before with the girls, and it was nice spending the day with someone who speaks English!! When we got home that night, David teased us because he discovered that it was "Women's Day" (whatever that is?!?), so we celebrated it in style with a full day of shopping and gabbing! :)

2007-03-04T22:47:00.000+01:00

A rainy forecast kept us away from Milan this weekend. Instead, we decided to go south to Avignon and the surrounding area in Provence. A co-worker recommended a ferme auberge there and made a reservation for us. Allison hurt her back on Friday, and was having trouble getting comfortable on Saturday morning. Much to her disappointment, we decided that I should take the girls by myself. This gave her the best chance to rest her back, and to not disappoint Summer, who was very excited (even though she still thought we were going to Italy). I was unsure how things would go on my first trip alone with the girls.

On the trip down, we stopped at a crocodile farm.

After a few wrong turns, we ended up at our ferme auberge.

From what I can tell, a ferme auberge is like a farm plus a bed and breakfast (well more like a "dinner, bed, and breakfast"). You come there for a fabulous French dinner and then spend the night because you're too full to drive home. (We weren't brave enough to try sitting through the meal with both girls even when Allison was planning on going, so instead we ate pizza in a piazza in downtown Avignon.)

The girls' favorite thing there was all of the animals. Summer loved to chase the rabbits.

They also had ducks, chickens, and geese, which I guess are the source of their wonderful meals, and a horse, which they are probably saving for a special occasion.

We were all worn out and slept well on Saturday night except Summer and I both woke up a few times after confusing farm animal noises for Samantha crying. Even though we went to bed late, the girls woke up early as always.

We had a small breakfast with the only other occupants, a nice, older French couple. They didn't speak any English, but I spoke enough French to keep things from being awkward, and for them to demonstrate that in some places in France, you drink coffee out of a huge cereal bowl. They enjoyed the girls. Samantha can only say a couple of things in French, but "au revoir" is one of them and it always leaves people smiling.

We had a lot planned on Sunday, so we got an early start and headed to Fontaine de Vaucluse, where we went on a small walk to see the spring that emerges from the base of a mountain. It's been rainy in Grenoble for a couple of weeks, but the weather today in Provence was perfect, and we all enjoyed just walking around taking in the sites.

The girls were ready to get home to mom, so we drove through our other destinations, including Gordes. When I first saw this small city built on a hill, it took my breath away. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Overall, the girls had a lot of fun and held up well despite spending so much time in the car. They got along well except for a couple of times when they were very tired. It wasn't too bad having them both--although coordinating trips to the bathroom was never easy.

We all missed Allison and can't wait to bring her back down there.

Happy Birthday, David!

2007-03-01T21:45:00.000+01:00

David is the first one in our family to celebrate a birthday here in France. Samantha and I will also have birthdays here, but Summer is very disappointed that she won't be able to, as her birthday is in August. As a compromise, we had a 4 1/2 birthday party for her on February 10. She was very excited, as we had a few presents, party hats, and a pastry with a candle for her to blow out. She seemed to think that this was just as important and fun as a regular birthday, and we played along with her the entire time.

David didn't seem to be quite as excited for his birthday as Summer was, but I guess turning 31 isn't near as fun as saying you are four and a half. The girls and I went to the local bakery and picked out a raspberry cake, a fresh loaf of bread (une flute), and various other pastries. I also made him a roast with vegetables, and we decorated the house with balloons and Dora decorations that we found at the grocery store. All in all, David had a nice birthday, and we are preparing for Samantha's second birthday next month.

Deux Points

2007-02-27T21:41:00.000+01:00

While we have been to the doctor a few times already here in France, Summer also got the opportunity to visit the ER late Monday night. She was about to go to bed and banged the top of her head into a very sharp corner of a nightstand. While I stayed home with a sleeping Samantha, David and Summer drove 25 minutes to Grenoble's ER. David's very helpful coworker, Philippe, met them there to help translate. Summer was very brave and left with two stitches ("deux points" in French). She will get them out next Wednesday. We are definitely ready for things to calm down a bit!!!!

The Greatest Show on Earth

2007-02-25T21:10:00.000+01:00

On Friday, the circus came to town for three days, and today we decided to go check it out since it was on our street and only half a mile away. As I recall, I've only been to the circus once when I was a little kid. Since I was much smaller then, everything seemed so much bigger.

There were two kinds of tickets: "chaises" (chairs) and something else we didn't recognize for 5 euro less. We decided to pay the extra 20 euro just in case we were stuck standing holding the girls up for an hour and a half. It turns out the other tickets were for bleacher seats at the back of the tent, whereas we were in the front row with the bigwigs, close enough to see the dust crack off the end of the whip, smell the lions and feel the gentle mist of mud on our cheeks when the camels ran by. The show started off with the animal tamer with two lions and a tiger. It was too intense for Samantha, Summer, and Allison because they were only four feet away from us, and one of the lions kept snarling and swatting its paw. I thought it was the best part of the show.

After that there was a juggler, a girl who climbed a rope and did tricks, two boys riding unicycles, two large horses that could run in circles, a donkey, a llama, two girls with hula-hoops, two snakes that the kids got to touch, a clown that directed members of the audience in a performance of Romeo and Juliet, the aforementioned camels (which were huge), and Allison's favorite, the monkey riding on the back of miniature pony:

The show concluded with a bunch of suckers paying ten euro to get their picture taken with a lion cub:

It was a small scale production, but we had a lot of fun. The show had the same intimacy that makes the Austin Zoo so pleasant.

Park of the Golden Head

2007-02-23T23:42:00.000+01:00

We've received lots of packages from back home with things we can't get over here. Today, we got one from my mom, and the girls were excited especially with black beans, which is a staple of their diet in the US but isn't available here. Most of the day, Samantha on her own would say "Tay-you Wowwie" (translation: "Thank you Grandma Callie.").

I took today off from work since it was Summer's last day of winter vacation. We had planned on going to Milan for the weekend, but Samantha has a cold, so we decided to stay closer to home by going to Lyon. We first set out to buy Summer a Buggy Board. It is basically a flat piece of plastic on wheels that attaches to the back of Samantha's stroller and lets Summer "ride" on the back of the stroller. She loves it and has already paid off during our Lyon visit. However, Samantha had to have her turns as well.

We ate lunch across the street from the baby store at a Carrefour. I eat lunch at Carrefour in Grenoble two or three times a week, so eating at a different Carrefour was especially a treat for me. The food was about the same, it was more spacious, and the waiters were not nearly as fun.

Carrefour is the second largest retailer in the world, and the two that we've been to are an enormous cross between a grocery store, a clothing store, a Best Buy, and a cell phone provider. They include a strip of stores along the front that most resemble a mall, and include a few restaurants. This was a good choice for us because Samantha doesn't have the patience to sit through a normal French lunch, so we could easily take her into the store to wreak havoc while Allison or I ate.

After lunch, we drove another hour to Lyon through a few tunnels and past what smelled like a fertilizer factory. We had a few things on our agenda, but the only thing we got to was the Parc de la Tête d'Or (Park of the Golden Head). I've never been to New York City, but I'd guess it was like Central Park but on a smaller scale. The park surrounds a lake, and we decided to circumnavigate it. We started off by taking a tunnel under the lake to a small island.

But the real fun was on the other side. There was a small zoo with giraffes, which we don't have at the Austin zoo, cotton candy, and some small bumper boats. The girls had a lot of fun.

On the way home we hit a lot of traffic but eventually made it to IKEA. We only got a few small things, but it felt a little bit like home, well as much as a Swedish Furniture Warehouse can. We didn't leave the store until close to 9:00, which is well after the girls normally go to bed and still had over an hour ride home. We've been a little bit more relaxed about getting the girls to bed early. Last weekend we had dinner at a colleague's house and Summer didn't crash at their house until 11:00, and we didn't get home until close to 1:00. On the twenty minute ride home, Samantha was awake and very excited about driving around when it's dark and going over so many (elongated) speed bumps.

Saturday in Chambery

2007-02-18T14:00:00.000+01:00

We spent Saturday in Chambery, which is about thirty minutes away from Barraux. We got off to a rough start, as I backed over the curb on the way down the long drive way. I'm used to driving to work in Mark's Citroen AX, which is shorter and more nimble than the Xantia. The front wheels spun out on the gravel as I tried to make it back up over the curb. The girls were a bit freaked out, but since this wasn't the first time I'd done something like this here, I didn't panic. It took several tries and some creativity to get us on our way. The only casualty was a small solar powered light. [Sorry Mark and Nathalie. Where can I get another one of these?]

On the way to Chambery, we saw a lot of traffic heading toward and away from ski areas. This time of year, French children are off from school for two weeks for a winter break, which most people in the country use to go skiing. The specific two weeks vary by the zone of France. (Summer was off from school last week and this coming week). Anyway, Saturday is a heavy travel day as some people finish up their break and others are just starting it.

After parking at the Palais de Justice in perhaps the nicest parking garage we'd ever been in, we set off in search of lunch. With Samantha, the stress of eating anything inside a restaurant is usually not worth it. So we bought some panini from a small shop that opened to the street and a two very small pizzas from a boulangerie, and we ate them in a small park that was reserved for 3 to 6 year olds. We decided to risk it and let Samantha play there too.

To get the girls away from the park, we promised them dessert, but when we went back to the places we'd seen earlier they were closed--we're getting used to the fact that most things close from around 12:30 to 2:00. We did eventually find a chocolatier where we quickly ate our desserts and coffee before Samantha tore the place apart.

We decided to just walk around the city center until the stores reopened. The center of Chambery is quite old, full of beautiful buildings, alley-ways, and is generally open only to foot traffic, which allows us to let our guard down a little bit with a four year old who loves to remain exactly ten feet behind us.

Once everything came back to life, Allison wanted to do a bit of shopping. In France, sales ("Les Soldes") are heavily regulated and only permitted twice a year: once after Christmas and sometime in the summer. We're nearing the end of the winter sales, and there's very little left, but that doesn't stop a woman from searching for the one thing that she wants and is a steal. She finally found some 11 euro shoes for Samantha that originally cost at least 60 euro. Having filled her urge to have spending money feel like making money, we were able to head home after a quick carousel ride.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2007-02-14T23:08:00.000+01:00

Valentine's Day didn't feel the same this year, probably because I was running around town that day trying to find David a gift. Late that afternoon, the girls and and I drove to Pontcharra's Centre Ville to visit the chocolatier. We had driven by before but had never seen it open and were hoping it would be open then. Luckily it was, and we parked at a much bigger post office that I discovered and walked down the cobblestone streets to the shop. The lady inside was very nice, and I was able to tell her in French that Summer is allergic to nuts and to recommend chocolates and desserts without them. We picked out an assortment of chocolates, eclairs, a piece of chocolate truffle cake, and the girls' favorite, bugnes, which remind me of small pieces of funnel cake. David enjoyed the chocolate and we will definitely go back there soon. We received many Valentine's gifts and cards from family and friends, and the girls had fun playing with their goodies. We love getting mail and appreciate everyone sending us things from home!!

Real Snow!!

2007-02-10T23:42:00.000+01:00

I am feeling more confident driving the stick-shift here and drove David and the girls this morning up a snowy mountain (about 40 minutes away) to take the girls sledding. They both had a blast, although Summer is starting to complain about motion sickness while riding in the car. Summer saw many kids skiing and wants to go skiing very soon.

Ou est la poste?

2007-02-09T22:11:00.000+01:00

I have yet to go to the post office but finally discovered it on a walk with the girls through the village. I have a stack of cards that I have been wanting to mail since we've arrived, but the post office is only open two hours a day and is closed on Wednesdays. I can only buy stamps there and cannot send mail from our home, so I am hoping to make it there sometime next week. We were very excited to find it and were surprised at its size. We love the mountain views all around us!

Catching Up

2007-02-09T21:11:00.000+01:00

This post will be lengthy, as we have been without internet access for almost two weeks. I am quite happy that I can once again email family and friends.

The Plane Ride(s!!!): Overall, the plane rides were on time, and our luggage was practically waiting for us in Lyon, France, when we arrived. However, traveling with a 22 month old and 4 ½ yr. old was quite overwhelming and tiring. We left Austin in the late afternoon, switched planes in Washington, D.C., and then flew overnight from D.C. to Frankfurt, Germany. The first leg of the trip was quite fun...Summer was excited to be on a plane and Samantha was relatively good as long as she was watching a Dora DVD.

The overnight flight was ok. Summer slept almost the entire flight, but Samantha only slept two hours, and I was constantly trying to keep her from screaming and waking up the sleeping passengers. The flight from Frankfurt to Lyon was only about an hour, but both Summer and I got sick on the plane due to lack of sleep, lack of food, and a very bumpy ride. Everything got better from there, as we were greeted by two very cheerful French coworkers of David's, who happily pushed our seven Texas-sized suitcases to their cars. We were welcomed with lots of snow and enjoyed the hour-long drive to our home in the small village of Barraux.

We were very glad to get to the Craig's home and were amazed by the beautiful scenery and breathtaking mountain views from almost every window.

Settling in: It has taken a couple of weeks for us to feel like we are finally settling into some sort of routine. We got to Barraux Thursday, and David went to work on Monday. During the past two weeks, I have been learning how to drive a car with manual transmission, trying to remember some useful French phrases from college, entertaining the girls all day, and taking care of Summer while she has been sick (read more below about our doctor visits!).

Grocery Store Adventures: It has been quite an adjustment getting used to the grocery stores here. We have only gone grocery shopping on Saturday afternoons, which is probably the busiest time to go because most stores are closed on Sundays. We are all enjoying how much the French love chocolate. There are many different types of chocolate pastries (Summer's favorite is pain au chocolat, basically a rectangle-shaped croissant with chocolate inside), breads with chocolate chips and chocolate fillings, chocolate puddings and yogurt, and chocolate cookies. Where we would find many different varieties of sandwich bread, there are numerous varieties of bread with some sort of chocolate. This is also the same with the yogurt and cheese. In one store, there was an entire aisle with different flavors of yogurt, including raisin and rhubarb. In the meat section, there is a selection of horse meat, which David says he will try but I refuse to buy. Much to my enjoyment, I discovered that Old El Paso has many "dinner kits" and have already made tacos, chicken fajitas, and guacamole more times than I can count. Overall, the food here is very fresh and seems to contain less preservatives than food in the US. If any of you have a good horse meat recipe you'd recommend, please let me know. :

Salmon vs. Seulement: We have been enjoying the very good and very inexpensive French pizzas. While eating with the girls in a café, David ordered two pizzas with "seulement" (it means "only" in French) cheese and tomato sauce. After a few questions from the waiter, David realized that he didn't pronounce each syllable of seulement distinctly enough, so it sounded like he was ordering salmon pizzas, which were on the menu. While we did get cheese pizza that day, David picked up some pizzas for dinner a few nights later, and we were greeted with two very smelly salmon pizzas (with lemons on top!).

Three Visits to the Doctor: Summer has had three visits to two local doctors, who speak a little English. We were surprised at the differences between the doctors here and in Austin. The doctors we go to share an office in the bottom of an apartment complex and act as their own receptionist during the appointment. They answered their phones several times during our appointments to schedule other appointments. They were nice, and we were able to communicate using simple phrases and gestures in both French and English. We paid cash for our visit and were surprised that without insurance, the visit cost 24 Euros (about $31). Summer's doctor visits included getting a TB vaccine (required in France) in order to attend preschool. She went back for a third visit this past week for a cold, pinkeye, and an ear infection and is back to her normal self now. We're hoping to stay healthy for a while, although David came home today from work with pinkeye. We were surprised and lucky that the doctor was able to see him at 8:15pm.

Summer and the Ecole Maternelle: Summer and the Craig's youngest daughter, Diane, also swapped preschools. The kids here don't go to school on Wednesdays but go on Saturday mornings. Summer's school goes for three hours in the morning, and all kids go home for two hours for lunch and then return for classes until 4. We are sending Summer only in the mornings, and she is slowly adjusting to not being able to speak much English with anyone at school. She has been singing English songs to her class and has already made many friends. Summer has been quite interested in speaking French and was overheard the other day speaking it while playing with her Barbies. The view right outside her school is amazing.

Help!!!: Many people in Barraux have been very helpful already, including Nathalie's good friend, Kathryn. She stopped by on our first day and has been available to answer all of our questions. Kathryn is British, and her husband is Scottish. They have three daughters. Their middle daughter, Samantha, goes to Summer's school. She has been very sweet to Summer and has been introducing Summer to her friends and also waits for her everyday at school to play on the playground. Kathryn's youngest daughter, Emma, is two days older than Samantha. We recently had a playdate with them, and they are also coming over next week.

Various other mothers from Summer's school who speak English have approached me and have offered their phone numbers and their help if we ever need anything. Everyone here seems very excited to meet us and even more eager to help.

Things We Miss: While we feel like we are getting adjusted to a new life here and know that the five months will pass quickly, there are still many things that we miss (in no particular order):

Television shows in English: We are planning on watching our favorite shows online, and I was excited to discover the first season of Grey's Anatomy at the Craig's house. David recently found out that his work rents videos (some in English) for very cheap, and we have started watching the first season of the Sopranos.

Certain foods: Summer tells us at least once a day that she misses her soymilk. They have various brands of soymilk, but none of them taste the same for her. She will only drink water and occasionally juice, and when she's especially grumpy, she wants to go straight back to Austin to drink her soymilk. We have yet to find raisin bread, popcorn, black beans, cottage cheese, macaroni and cheese, and a good snack cracker, like Goldfish or Triscuits. These are mainly foods that the girls miss, so I am bribing various family members to mail these to us.

The obvious things we miss include speaking English while out running errands, etc., our family, and our friends.

We are sleeping pretty well here. Summer is still sleeping in our room, and Samantha has adjusted well and is sleeping in a crib in the bedroom next to ours. The girls are going to bed a little later than they did in Austin but are luckily sleeping later in the mornings, too.

Here a few other pictures from our first two weeks here: