The Week in Review...

Well, another busy week full of fun to share...


Monday was a holiday so as you saw by the last post, we spent the day at the beach.  Super fun!!


Tuesday we finally picked up the car.  YEAH!  You'd think these days with computers running everything and moving to a somewhat modern country that a money transfer from our US bank to our French bank would be painless and take milliseconds.  Nooooo, for some unexplainable reason it has to take days.  Lesson learned...have the money already transfered before going shopping!


Anyway, we got a lesson on how to opperate our car, packed the tiniest tot into her new carseat and drove our little orange car out of there. The dealership was so sweet, they gave it to us with a completely empty tank of gas.  So, a quick lesson on European fuel prices....for everyone in America who complains about high gas prices, we filled the tank of a small car for...brace yourselves...75 Euros.  That equals $105 dollars at the 1.4 exchange rate!!!  But, as I thought about it, it kind of equals out.  Everything here is 1/4th the distance to get anywhere.  If I went half way across the state of New York, I'd have gone to a whole other country here, maybe two!


And to think...I can get a tasty bottle of champagne, okay, sparkling wine, for 4 Euros ($5.60)!!  I guess it all equals out. :)


We also went to the town Marie (Town Hall) and got info on all that we needed to inscribe Taylor into our local public school.  We like the ABC School, but are thinking he needs to be immersed in French before he hits the equivalent of 1st grade when the real lessons start.


Wednesday we packed up our little car and moved back up the hill.  We were sad to leave the beautiful Port apartment, but Grandpa was coming home the next day.  Our new view...

Not bad, but the balcony isn't big enough for my lounger and the hill is not fun to walk up with groceries or two tired kids. Plus you can't run next door to the market or across the street to the bakery.  (Maybe these are pluses actually, it IS swimsuit season.)


Of course since nothing can be done in one day here, I took all the paperwork back to the town Marie and in my broken French got the paperwork filled in to then take to the school.


Thursday J worked hard to find a good work space in the tiny apartment and I hung out with Emm downtown for her Gym class, picked up my first paycheck (yeah) in France, and did a bit of window shopping.


Then, together we spent a third day on this chore, and went to the Terra Amata public school down our hill to meet with the Director.  Lucky for us there was room in Taylor's age group.  The classes in France go by birth year.  He'll be with all the 2006 births, so he won't necessarily be the youngest in his class anymore.  The bad thing, his class will now be twice the size so he won't get as much personal attention.  We really have to work this summer on teaching him more basic French.  Ok, Daddy will have to work on that with him and me.


Friday after T came home from school we piled into the car and drove along the coast visiting a few of the towns next door.  Villefranche is still one of my favorites!  We drove around St Jean Cap Ferrat, ate in Beaulieu's port, played at a park in Villefranche Sur Mer and came home all in a matter of a few hours.  It's sooo beautiful here.  I feel like I'm on a permanent vacation living here.  Shouldn't life always feel this way?

Villefranche sur Mer

Cap St Jean Ferrat...

Beaulieu...

Saturday Taylor had a "Spectacle" at his school where all the classes performed skits/musical numbers.  I added a video but didn't cut it down.  So don't feel obliged to sit through the whole 6 minutes, although it is awful cute (biased, I know).

Sunday we got back in the car and went all the way to Italy and ate in Ventimiglia.  There was a "little" parade, The Battaglia di Fiori, that had just ended so we hopped in and walked along.  Too bad we didn't set out a wee bit earlier...

Charlie was King of the world. He had quite a grip on that window!

My next car...

Following the band.

These floats were decorated completely with carnations...the town folk compete with the decoration and construction of intricate displays depicting baroque figures for this yearly celebration.

A street in the center of Ventimiglia.

Thanks for hangin' with us.....


Whew, I gotta start making shorter posts. :)