Day 2 -Nice and Corros

On the second day of our trip we decided to do some sight seeing outside of Nice. We drove to a small village Corros. It felt like we were walking through a movei set. You can't believe people actually live in these little tiny alleys. It was so beautiful- we strolled around for a few hours taking thousands of pictures it seemed every turn was picture worthy. I have included a few of my favorites. We felt so lucky to have happened upon this hidden treasure. If anyone has a trip planned to Nice it is definietly worth the drive to Corros. We looked at a villa while we were there thinking maybe we would stay there becuase it had a swimming pool. When we walked in, the caretaker took us up through the back stairs through what felt like a trap door and when he opened it all this water spilled over everywhere. His comment was "Those stupid Germans".
There were some Germans staying in the villa and they had set some water traps to check if anyone came in while they were gone. What is a water trap, you set a bottle of water in front of the door without the lid so when the door swings open it knocks the bottle over spilling water everywhere.

I guess they were a little paranoid. We decided not to stay there once we saw the pool filled with moss and mold. It was a fun drive back though, Mark called the "road" a goat path.

The kids are getting use to having a camera pointed at them everyday.

Mark is as tall as the doorway in Corros, he would have to be very careful coming and going.

In front of our apartment on Avenue de la Californie Ave. Getting ready to hit the beach across the street.

The kids were so happy when we got to the beach.

It took them awhile to finally get in the water, but Jesse and Annie couldn't resist a swim in the Medeiterranean.

The girls got a big surprise when this wave came up and was much bigger than expected. You should have seen them jump up and run.

The beaches in Nice are not sandy beaches, they are covered with little rocks (or big rocks) so it can be a little hard on the feet, but not these feet. I think they would have gone all night if we would have let them.

The boys learned how to skip rocks on this trip. They had a pro instructor- Mark.

The road trip begins

On Nov 1, 2007 we loaded up all 9 of us and headed off to Nice, France.

We got our bench seat the day before and added a seat belt so everyone would be buckled. Good thing we have little bottoms for a squishy back seat.
The journey lasted about 10 hours. We arrived and found our apartment and met up with the agent to get our key, unloaded the car and headed in.
The kids were amazing!! They really hung in there for a long drive without much leg room.

Halloween in France

The village of Bourron Marlotte actually celebrates Halloween. It is not near what it is in the States, but we did see other kids dressed up and out Trick or Treating. There were not many who answered their gates, but the adventure of it all was good enough!

We thought we did pretty good with the costumes considering the very limited supply.
The boys outfits are thanks to Dallas and his creativity. They were vampire capes with a little tuxedo piece attached to the cape. We removed the tuxedo portion from the cape and at Dallas' suggestion put them on their head and cut eye holes to create a "Bat Man" look. I thought it was very clever myself.
I know what you are thinking, this is not a costume! Every picture we see of Sophie she is wearing this- well you know how it goes, we all go through our "favorites" stages, we're just lucky this one happened to stretch through Halloween.

Retour de hérisson (return of the hedgehog)

Our little friend came back. When we returned from Trick or Treating, there he was right in the middle of the driveway. We were glad that we didn't pull in with the car. The kids costumes must have scared it because it scurried off into the bushes. Brave old dad, grabbed the leather gloves that his very prepared Father in Law had brought and picked him up so we could all have a closer look. He is very prickly and curled right up into a ball when he was touched.

Grandmère & Grandpère arrive

All the days have been X'd off on the countdown calendar- they are finally here. Annie and Jesse at the airport to pick up their grandparents. It was just like Christmas- Grandma had a bag like Mary Poppins, we never knew what she would pull out next. The kids had so much fun and loved their new surprises. It was a great way to keep Grandma & Grandpa awake. Grandma surprised Tifiny and made her one of her beautiful quilts. I love it- My mom has really turned into a quilt making machine and many have been the lucky recipients, I knew mine would eventually come- but I had no idea so soon. Lucky, Lucky Tif!!I will be so happy to have this to curl up in on a cold dreary winter night.

I guess being the only girl does have it's advantages.

(Don't let Grandpa fool you- he is totally asleep) It is so hard to stay awake that first day.

Sophie & Jesse show off some of their new treasures.

The good old sponge rollers- something that the girls had been missing- they couldn't wait to get them in their hair.

Aren't Grandparents great!!!!

We are so excited to show them all about our life here in France and see all the sights.

Du Museè Louvre

What an exciting day! The retour of dad. The kids are all ready and anxious to see him.

Little do they know what kind of a trip they are in for. On the way to the airport, there was an accident and we moved at a snails pace almost the entire way. It took us 4 hours to make a 1 hour trek. All of our excitement and enthusiasm was squashed and turned to frustration by the time we arrived (well not all of it). The thought that he was at the airport, right here in France and we were stuck on the road and couldn't do a thing about it was a hard one to swallow. The worst part was his plane arrived close to an hour early and so he had to wait for a long time. After our rendez-vous we headed to the Louvre museè.
Mark, Annie, Jesse, Dallas, Logan, Sophie & Mona Lisa
The Sphinx

Venus de Milo and the fam

4 angels, one with wings

Outside in front of the famous entrance.

A day full of adventure at every turn. The kids were very excited to have seen many of the things we have talked about for so long, one of which was their dad.
Our journey home was a carbon copy of our journey there. Another accident and another 4 hours. These are the days you are truly grateful for the DS, every extra snack you threw in and a little does of patience. Ahh France!

Chateau de Fontainebleau

One afternoon we were in town and the kids wanted to go see the grounds of the Chateau de Fontainebleau. So we pulled in and had the place to ourselves.

The grounds are really beautiful.

The pond behind us is full of very large fish, the kids were amazed.

Should this make me nervous?

She is never prompted!

Annie with the Chateau in the background.





Because we had the place to ourselves we had lots of photo ops, the kids were really big on it that day- this is just a little snip of what we snapped that day.

This is what you get when the kids want their turn taking the photos- try again!

Oh, not quite, try to get our heads in next time.

Voila, you did it!