Mont Saint-Michel

Daron described this perfectly when he said it ranks among his top 5 things he’s ever seen.  This abbey-fortification was begun back in 700AD.. it stands on this lone island out in Normandy… driving out to it is quite breathtaking. (Wikipedia detail: The island has been a strategic point holding fortifications since ancient times, and since the 8th century AD it became the seat of the Saint-Michel monastery, from which it draws the name.  Current population on the island: 41.) Luckily we went in the morning before all the throngs of tour buses got there. The tide was in when we arrived, and by the time we left, attendants were parking cars where the water had been, but the tide went out. Crazy! Good thing they know the schedule of when the tides go in and out or cars would be floating off to sea. Stephen kept exclaiming as we walked thru the Abbey that perhaps aliens came and helped the monks build it… how else could they have hauled those huge stones onto the island back when there was no causeway? Lovely stained glass windows, huge arches, and just a gorgeous old ancient feel.

The cute little cobblestone walkway up to the Abbey was just like Harry Potter's Diagon Alley...

Driving back home the 12 hours was delightful… delayed just a bit (2 ½ hours) by Dad accidentally putting unleaded fuel in his diesel-only rental car ~ resulting in the local French roadside assistance duder who came and happily siphoned the gas out of Dad’s car (for a small fee of $200) … hey, what a fun little surprise on our trip! 

The gas mis-hap was so timely, after just passing a car that had crashed and turned upside-down on the road. We are feeling so grateful that we haven’t had any accidents, and that we’re having a great time. Stephen said the sweetest prayer of gratitude (“we know not how indebted we are to You for keeping us protected as we drive”) and we had just read an amazing Ensign article “Make Yours a Great Life”, about how our futures are determined not by our conditions, but by our faith, our choices, and our efforts. That we all have challenges to live thru, but we determine how we’ll go about being successful or not – look at Mary with raising the Son of God in such a turbulent social climate – and Moroni and Mormon watching the destruction of their people, but still rising above it all to fulfill their destinies… Joseph Smith overcoming persecution and obstacles in his life to achieve what he did. All such great examples of how we never have cause to complain about anything when people all over, past and present, can and do overcome incredible difficulties to achieve success. So yes – the gas mistake was just a minor little thing in the grand scheme of things. I’m grateful for a loving Dad who has the heart of a child, and just floats thru life being happy – that’s a great example to me.

Normandy: "Time will not dim the glory of their deeds"

Remembering World War 2: The Beaches of Normandy, The American Cemetery, and Pont du Hoc

Just a 3-hour drive from Paris, we had one of the most memorable sight-seeing experiences of our lives. Sterling loaned us “The Longest Day” movie to watch before we went to the beaches of Normandy, which was so wise. We watched it with the kids and talked about how incredible it was that so many American (and British, Canadian, and French) soldiers willingly gave their lives to come over to a country that they didn’t know just to fight for freedom. And so many didn’t even make it off the boats alive... shot immediately, or stepped off into too-deep water and drowned. We stood in the sand on Omaha beach and imagined how the Germans felt when they saw the Allied forces coming over the horizon toward them.

At Pont du Hoc, we walked among the bombed out holes in the ground where our pilots destroyed the German bunkers. (Kenny fell into one of the bomb holes and got thorns all over his hands and legs. That changed the dynamics of the rest of the trip… stopping to find a pharmacy for tweezers and numbing meds, and pulling all those stickers out of his skin as he screamed. It helped to put ‘Tangled’ on the laptop when we got back to the Formula1 hotel to distract him.) This whole day was beyond unforgettable… I think my favorite was walking barefoot along the beach, and solemnly walking thru the rows of almost 10,000 soldiers buried. Unbelievable.

The American Cemetery memorial is incredible - stories and videos of the real men and women and their lives. Actual grenades, guns and helmets on display. It leaves you simply speechless.

Point du Hoc: the D-Day bombed out battleground. Probably the most amazing of it all - it feels like you're right there where it happened, since the bomb holes are still there. Kenny fell in one crater accidentally and the ensuing experience of digging out his thorns was quite memorable...

 

EuroDisneyland Paris!

What a fun day – running around EuroDisney with Mom and Dad. After having done the US Disney parks, it was great to add this one to our list. The truth is, we seemed to be the victim of many unfortunate circumstances that made it rank a bit below our other Disney adventures (several rides breaking down after waiting in lines for hours, wheelchair fiasco including them not letting Mom’s wheelchair status let us to the front of lines, etc.) but they had many different rides, which made it super fun – seeing the variations on what we’re used to.  The food was great, and all the people were very friendly. The entrance to this park was the MOST beautiful of any of the Disney parks we've seen - incredible lush colorful flowers everywhere. Here we are on Dumbo and the kids' all-time favorite: Thunder Mountain Runaway Railroad...

Luckily Stephen’s bloody nose happened during our 1 1/2 hour-long Pirates wait, so we didn't miss out on anything.  (Here's Daron helping Stephen pinch his nose... it looks like they're praying but really they're just sitting waiting...well I don't know, Daron might be crying... this was right before the announcement that the ride was all busted up and we couldn't even go on it. Hello, where's my rain check??)

The whole day was a good experience ~ Daron’s got many ‘pluses’ to start off his feedback letter to Disney. 8-)  Here's a cute video of us braving the subways, and of course Kenny with his leash that Grandpa made him...

PARIS!

Well this has surely been a wonderfully memorable experience! Our first (and probably last) stay in a Formula1 Hotel... but atleast we're still alive. 8-) We drove 2 cars about 8 hours to the outskirts of Paris... a gorgeous drive... to arrive at our hotel with very teeny-weeny rooms. (It was a good deal for Mom and Dad 10 years ago, so we figured we'd try it out -- but it's located in a not-so-safe part of town with questionable crowds, so we were happy to survive it.) 8-)

So here's our hotel, here we are getting into our rooms, then Mom saying let's go get pizza...

Then here's Mom with Kenny finding out the ghetto-place nearby doesn't serve pizza...

So we finally ending up at McDonald's!

Day 2 was super fun -- riding the subway trains into Paris (the capital and largest city in France). Thank heavens Daron has good navigational skills!

We found a great 90 minute tour of the highlights of Paris in a red double-decker bus! Perfect way to see it all.  Notre Dame, The River Seine, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees and The Eiffel Tower... all of it amazing, and a perfect, beautiful day to see everything.

After the bus tour we walked and saw more...

Then ended our sight-seeing trip with a perfect little Parisian lunch of pizza and pasta, Mom and Dad's treat. So sweet!

Kas rides a bike!

Better at '8' than never! 8-)

So fun to have Grandma and Papa here to walk the kids back home from the bus stop!

Perming mom's hair... I told her she's going to have to fly back over every few months so I can redo it...

Having fun!

We're loving having Mom and Dad here... they especially like the eggs that sometimes have feathers still attached to them...

Here we are at the top of the Jura Mountains looking at the beautiful scenery... Kenny was excited to join us on his no-school free-day Wednesday!

Dad just told me to write that he loves our home. He's so cute. It is very cozy here... tomorrow we'll run around Geneva a bit. Not too much - mom's not a 'run-around' person. It's so great to host them because there's no entertaining to do! NOT that we don't like to entertain - it's just easy and relaxing to hang out and just go places if they want to.  We've been plotting out our upcoming weekend trip to Paris, Disney and Normandy, staying in Formula 1 Hotels. We're so excited!!

Mom and Dad are finally here!

Only 2 1/2 months seems like it zoomed by, when we went to get Mom and Dad today - it's so great to have them here for a month! And perfect timing, during the kids' spring break - they can join us for Paris and Disney and Normandy and fun playing. Steevie woke up with a bit of a sore throat, so it worked out perfectly for him to skip school (we have a real excuse, since they're sticklers about that) and he loved going to pick them up with me...

Then we did some fun sight-seeing, driving around to some of the cute Swiss places we love -- the tulip farm...

(Mom stayed in the car for that stop...)

Then our favorite little chocolatier patisserie/confiserie for some yummy European treats...

And now they're napping. It's gorgeous perfect weather here now, so it's great timing to take them all around!  The kids are especially excited to show them all the flowers in bloom everywhere... here's Kas at a cute little place in downtown Nyon by a castle near the lake -- so much to do and to see!

Funny moment with Kenny -- in church yesterday, we had amazing speakers. But by the last one, Kenny was ready to get moving onto Sunday school class, so he asked when it was over, and I said, "he's about to say amen and be done." So about 3 minutes later, he said, "Mom, you said 'in about to', and it's been 'about to.'  I love how everything's black and white with kids. One of the speakers talked about that -- remembering to stop and enjoy our little precious children and listen to them because we can learn so much from them. It's so true. 

It's happening...

People said the language would 'just come' to the kids - it's been 2 months and we're seeing it happen. It is so rewarding! Daron walked over to get Kenny after school Friday and he greeted him, and Kenny asked him "Es Kassie en la maison?"  Daron answered, no she's not at home - she's still on the bus. To which Kenny answered, "no! Say it to me in French!" So Daron tried to answer in French, and Kenny responded with, "now ask me how I'm doing" - so they kept on going in French. Hilarious. The kids are doing great, and I'm keeping up my Rosetta Stone and talking with moms at school and friends in the park. Daron feels the most bummed that he's not able to devote the same amount of time to learning the language, but his HP job is going well, and that's a wonderful blessing.

So these flowers...   one of my favorite little activities thus far has been my short outing I took yesterday to a local flower farm! There are thousands of multi-colored tulips growing in this cute field off the road, with a hand-painted sign saying "Caisse" (basically meaning 'fund') next to a bucket where you put in your money. It's the honor system ~ 1 franc per flower!  So I just roamed thru the flowers and picked what I wanted. Loved it.

Last night we hosted such a cute family from our ward for dinner -- 3 darling children that our kids just loved. Good food, good talk time... they've traveled the world, speak several languages, and had great advice on fun vacation spots from Monaco to Slovenia. Here they are playing a game at 10pm... you can tell from their half-closed eyes that they were at the end, but still not wanting to stop playing!

So now that it's Spring and getting to be warmer 'sandals' weather, I noticed a friend's cute toes and asked where she got them done -- oh, just a little Swiss pedicure place for $100. Just for the pedicure. I think I'll go ahead and keep trimming my toes myself and put that on my Christmas wish list for when I return to Texas. 8-) 

Thumb Suckers and Activity Days

Steff sent out this adorable thumb-sucking picture of Callister... and I realized that although Kenny is 5 years older than him, he's still doing it too!

Today the kids got to go to Activity Days at the church, and celebrate the church's organization in 1830... they played fun pioneer games and got to make butter!

The Chocolate Festival, The Train Park, and Conference!

What a fun day -- and it's not even over yet!! We started today in Versoix, the charming little village a few kilometers over, enjoying their Annual Chocolate Festival ~ (although hard to measure up to the Cailler freebie room...

Next we drove an hour to the Swiss Vapeur Train Park in Le Bouveret - a whole amusement park set up with miniature steam trains! Like Zube Park in Houston but longer rides and surrounded by the Swiss Alps! The whole park has cute miniature castles and gondola rides and ponds with huge fish and waterfalls - so darling.

Thank heavens they had Nutella crepes for Daron...

Then back to enjoy General Conference in our home, projected on our living room wall like our own little movie theatre! A very fun way to watch it; instead of having it at 11am, thanks to the 7 hr time change, we did it from 6-8PM... then we put the kids to bed, and now we'll have a date for the 2nd session from 10PM - midnight!