Halloween, Or Lack Thereof....

As a reference for weather, (and one reason WHY I'm living here...) I'm showing you a picture of last year's Halloween in NYC.

Please take note of the scarf, gloves and down coat I'm sporting.  You can't actually see the layers I've put on the kids under their costumes but E does look like she's gonna pop.


On Friday, T's school had a little show to end the trimester and celebrate Halloween.  This is about all you get here for this holiday...

This week and half of the next week is a school break for the kids here in France and just our luck it's decided to rain.....the last two days have been quite soggy...

To keep us occupied we built lego cars.

A glimpse that clear skies may be in our near future.  Maybe tomorrow.....

See, not always blue skies and sunshine. :)  But at least I'm only sporting a light coat and scarf (mostly for fashion-sake) over here.


Now, since France doesn't really do Halloween like I'm used to we've decided to skip out and go visit......SPAIN.  J got the bug and spent all afternoon organizing.  And that's it, we fly to Madrid on Thursday and come back on Tuesday.  


Apparently Halloween has a bit more of a following in Spain.  We'll let you know.... 


(Hmmm, may have to get some new costumes.)

English Spoken Here....

Ahhh, just what the doctored ordered.  A short trip to London, a country that speaks my language. :)

I have to admit, simply stepping up to the check-in counter at the airport felt very refreshing as I could now understand all that was being said around me.  I felt a slight exhale now that I didn't have to think about every word I wanted to say and find that I couldn't locate any of those words (en Francais) in my poor, tired little brain.  Even Taylor was happy.  He kept correcting Emm back into English when she would say "Merci" to someone.  I think his brain was happy for the rest, too.  J was on the feel good wagon as well and said it felt really good to be there.  Every corner contained a memory from his childhood and he had fun showing his family where he grew up.


BUT, the problem with London, of course, is the weather!  We just don't like being cold, so living there isn't likely to be in the future for us.  We were lucky though that after the first day of overcast skies, the sun came out for us.  Like a shining beacon in the English skies.


We made the trip to see family that came in from Australia, J's brother and his family, and to cuddle their new baby. Here's a little glimse of our travels.....

Just landed...

Perfect that this was our cab from the airport.

Just a crazy Smart car covered in astroturf.

Ahhhhhh, finally!

The world's tallest man at "Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium".

One of T's cousins, this one, was born two days after him.

J's brother and his two sons.

Sooooo many lovely parks.  London is so green!

A trip to London isn't complete without a stroll through Harrods!

The amazing food halls.....

We walked 10 feet away from the counter, tucked into a corner, and devoured our chocolates!

YUM! The city (country) of pot pies!!

The beauty of Harrods...

Daddy's old school uniform (available in Harrods), hasn't changed...

Daddy's old grade school.

She just loved holding her new cousin.

An old fashioned #9 bus sits outside T's school in Nice and London had just brought 
some of the old buses out of retirement...

So we had to take a ride in it!

 Well, there are plans to return to London, quite often if it's up to me.  There are so many more things to see and do and I'm pretty sure I'll need some English therapy here and there!!

Weekend Recovery....

This weekend was just what the doctor ordered to get me out of the funk that the rude French drivers put me in.


I awoke Saturday with Friday's frustrations behind me and we got ourselves together to meet with the Meet Up group at a local farm, Graine-Ficelle.


It's not like your average American farm.  This farm is soooo very quaint, something right out of a magazine.  And they even do cooking classes and educational activities for kids on Wednesdays.  We think we may have to come back for cooking lessons and the Sunday brunch.

The farm is situated at the foot of this mountain/hill, just below St. Jennet, a little ancient town perched on the side of the mountain.  It was a great little visit and afterward the family drove up to St. Jeannet to see what is was all about.  WOW, I love these little towns!  Sooo beautiful.  There are these lovely cobble stone streets and old buildings.  We ate at a restaurant with a gorgeous view and hopped back into the car and was home in 20 minutes.  You can get out of the city and into another world so easily here.  Great when mommy needs a break from the city crazies. :)

It's perched there just above the yield sign and the trees...

A closer view...I love these old town that just hang onto the side of the mountain.

My flash was no match to the sun!

Then Sunday James piled us back into the car and we headed off to a Sugar and Chocolate event in Antibes.  YUMMY!  We checked out Fort Carre before the exhibition.  

Catching a bit of the soccer match before heading up to the Fort. 

The views are great!  That's Nice way over there.

Nice little nature trail to the Fort.

Watch out, pricklies!!

Once we made it to the Sugar and Chocolate thing it seemed the exhibit was a competition for sweets.  Some made out of cakes, some chocolate, and some pure sugar.  There were samples to be had and treats to buy while the entries slowly came out to the tables.  We spent all the euros I had in my purse. :)  

After all that sugar we headed to Juan le Pins to sit at a beach cafe and have some food while the kiddies played in the sand. I'd have even more pics but my battery ran out. :)


Friday?  What Friday???