sept. 29.  2012

saturday-day 20 of our trip!

got up, got ready, and it’s down-pouring outside!  no!  i will not let it get the better of our day.  we head off to pezenas, and most things are closed…probably because it’s pouring!  it’s so much fun going through the french countryside with a gps and old maps on the gps.  we go on tiny roads that one wonders what to do if we get a flat or something…but we eventually make it where we need to go.  we decide to head to beziers to see if there are shops open there that we can go into, something to do inside.  not really, only a few open…still pouring.  we concede to the rain, head home, cuddle up and watch a movie.  even though it was raining, it was inspiring driving through the vineyards and hills of the countryside.  france is beautiful.

 

keep in mind-the pictures below may not show it well, but it is pouring pouring pouring.

 

sept. 28.  2012

friday-day 19 of our trip!

overcast and breezy, but promised the beach.  the fine brown sand in-between our toes is so delicious and smooth!  the kids love the play areas, and it starts to get a little too cool.  we finish our popcorn we made, the tuna, pickle and lettuce wraps, and other snacks, pack it into the car, and head over to walk out on the small rocky peninsula.  it’s absolutely calming, peaceful, and beautiful with the dark sky, mountains in the distance, and the calm sea.  time to head home-through the 9 roundabouts.  we love roundabouts!  we should definitely start doing these in the states instead of stoplights!  the girls keep designing their lego houses in our home time…they are getting pretty elaborate and detailed in their architecture.

this week has been a nice lazy one, but now it’s time to kick it into gear, and start seeing things.  tomorrow-pezenas!

 

 

 

 

 

sept. 28.  2012

thursday-day 18 of our trip!

what an absolutely beautiful day it was!  I think it was around 68 degrees.  we decided to head to beziers-and as we leave our little village, there is a round-a-bout.  well, i was trying to figure out which exit to take, and realized i had passed it, so i went around again.  a french woman driving behind me started yelling something and honking, and i couldn’t help but just break out laughing.  it was hilarous!  plus circling around 1 1/2 times can bring silliness on anyways.  what was she so upset about?  i just laughed throughout the whole day, and grateful i had no idea what she said!  i felt like chevy chase in european vacation.

on the way to beziers, we found a)the bridges i’ve been searching for that lead into the city that one sees in all the pictures of beziers, and 2)mall.

the mall is so different, from the mini parking stalls, paying for the potty, and of course the stores.  it was fun though, and trying to figure things out is always an adventure.  we bought some yummy snacks, sat on a bench in the middle of the open roof mall, and watched the koi swimming while we enjoyed the beautiful weather.  i found a protein bar with orange and chocolate, which has now become my new staple!  hopefully better for me than the patisserie.

ok-best bargain so far in france…water.  1.5 L of water for 17euro.  what a steal!

p.s.-all but the bridge photo was taken with the iphone…not the greatest turnout.

our little village on the hill from a distance…

sept. 27.  2012

thursday, day 17 of our trip-

we woke up thinking possibly the beach, but it was cold and rainy.  it ended up being the perfect lazy day…homemade crepes from a box.  turns out, they tasted like rubber, but once you apply a little nutella, it tastes gourmet!

we also saw a double rainbow-too amazing and beautiful.  we learned from wiki-

In a “primary rainbow”, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted while entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.

In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, red facing toward the other one, in both rainbows. This second rainbow is caused by light reflecting twice inside water droplets.

 
we of course did our math lessons, couldn’t do laundry-which needs to be done!, enjoyed playing battleship against each other on ipads, and watched a few shows.  i’m happy to report, no croissants or chocolatey desserts.  only a few bites of a baguette…i’m weaning slowly!

p.s. the photo from my iphone is an app translating french to english…not very helpful as you can see!

sept. 25.  2012

tuesday-day 16

no, not me topless.  thank goodness.  today we pulled up to a beautiful, find sand beach, only 30 minutes from our house.  and bam!  a topless woman right there, on the towel 20 feet from us.  my first experience being around a half naked person, and it’s weird how it doesn’t bother them, ESPECIALLY with children around…  but no bother, we ignored it the best we could, and enjoyed the beautiful weather, sand, and it’s brilliant here…at the back of the sand area, they have swings, slide, and ziplines for kids to do.  so much fun.  we tried the gelato here, gross.  but we headed back to an appt. at 4 for alex to get her hair and layers trimmed, and it turned out awesome, and for only 17 euro.  it’s amazing how one slides by not being able to communicate french very well…who knows what is being said, but there’s a lot of “oui” and head nodding on my part.  i love that before they end a phone call or when someone leaves, they always say “merci, au revoir.”  it’s lovely.  and “bonjour” before they say anything else to you.  nobody waves though.  we pass these old men every afternoon, and we’ve started smiling and waving, but no wave yet.  we’ll see if we can wear them down to wave eventually.  after hair trims, we grabbed some yummy chocolate chip pastries and soft baguettes.  it’s amazing they are only 1 euro each!  what a deal.  it’s easy to get fat here!

we took a walk after we had dinner on the terrace, and took a baguette to the nice couple who helped us get our car off the steep stairs our first night.  here are a few pic’s…don’t know if the stairs are noticeable enough, they blend in well!  glad we made it through that crazy, horrifying experience.

this is the rue we live on

we were pulled in over the sewer circle there…and stuck on this descent…oh bother.

the street we thought we could drive on…uh, that’s a no!

part of the wall from the medieval times that protected the village

just a beautiful archway.

sept. 24.  2012

monday, day 15

our  monday was lovely, even though i really don’t like ’em.  besides doing a bit of laundry, which by the way, i love hanging up outside on the line.  we ran to the market, did some math lessons, it was a relaxing day.  the girls played ball outside for probably 3 hours!  we had a lovely hen chicken we baked slowly, with some yummy potatoes, it was delish.

sept. 23.  2012

sunday-day 14

5:30am came quickly, as we of course go to bed late.  i’ve been a little anxious about the drive to and back from montpellier.  we found the train station, but couldn’t figure out the road close enough to it, so jarom walked over a couple of streets.  i will miss that fantastic man!  he’s so wonderful, an excellent father and husband, and just fun to be around.  we have a lot of laughs.  kisses and hugs, he was on his way, and i had the hour drive back home.  thank goodness we have been here a couple days, getting settled, figuring out the exits and roads that we need but are closed and how to get home.  i made it home seemlessly, thanks to prayers and gps.  the tolls here are quite pricey, and it cost me over 6 euro each way.

when i came through the front door, my amazing girls were all ready for church, had eaten breakfast, and were chilling watching nemo.  what awesome kids!  i got ready, and we headed the 6 miles to beziers, to the nearest branch.  we didn’t know what to expect, or find, but there was a building for the branch!  we walked in, and realized, we were half the primary.  i think there were five kids in primary, mostly from one other family, and ours added in made eight kids.  no young womens, because there are no young women.  so alex was with me in relief society.  there are only two young men, and they passed the sacrament.  the meetings started with relief society, then sunday school, then sacrament meeting.  thank goodness for a lovely gentleman who sat behind and translated for us.  made it way more enjoyable, and the spirit there was amazing.  i love how the gospel is so simple for us, and yet life changing.  it’s absolutely beautiful!

we came home, and realized we needed a few items, and even though we don’t normally shop on sunday, we figured since we are on a trip, we would go.  all the shops and stores are closed on sunday, except for a couple, but the grocery is closed, so we were helped to keep the sabbath day holy.  we drove about an hour, going back to the supermarche’, saw it was closed, and found our way back.  made dinner, took naps, and walked through our little town doing a bit of exploring.

the girls love sitting and building with the lego’s the owners have left, while we watch a show or movie.  they have been building with those lego’s since hour one, sitting and creating and designing, i’ve never bought them small lego’s because i didn’t think they would use them like the rest of the toys we buy.  so we might buy some when we get back to the states, but i’m guessing they won’t play with them as much.  it was a lovely sunday, long, but good.

now i have to learn to unwind my brain, not worry about things that need to get done, which is what my mind is always preoccupied with at home, and learn to relax and play and chill.  i’m hoping to regroup my mind, and i’m not sure how to express this, but concern myself less with all the busyness of what needs to get done, and hopefully strengthen my relationships with my kids even more, and listen and have fun with them.  i’m a little tired of being so responsible, i want to be silly and worry less about things and life.  it can weigh you down too much, and you forget to be child-like, and be happy, creative, imaginative, silly, and fun.

 

this is the primary room and kids…five kids before we arrived…

relief society, sunday school, and sacrament room…

sept. 22.  2012

saturday-day 13

jarom goes home tomorrow-sunday-so we wanted to see something in this area together before he heads home, and i’m on my own…like by myself, in a foreign country, with four kids, knowing no french, and still having to drive a stick shift.  like a saying i love says, “if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.”  ok, i’m scared.  it’s so much more comforting knowing you have another adult to help make decisions with and figure things out.  we’ll see how things go!

we made our way to carcassone.  there is a medieval castle there, actually the oldest and largest in all of europe.  52 towers, and absolutely beautiful.  we paid for a little train ride around the castle, listening to our headset about the history of the castle.  this was interesting…the castle was surrounded and the people on the outside were guarding so that no food or water could come in or out, and the people would starve inside.  the people inside decided to give their last pig all the food they had left in the village, which wasn’t much, and then dropped the pig over the castle.  when the outsiders saw all the food that fell out of the pig, they thought the people inside were still very well fed, if the pig had that much food inside of it.  brilliant!  that’s where the carcass in the name comes from.

we found lots of lovely, lovely shops inside.  these were the best shops we’ve seen in our journey, and they were inside this amazing castle.   not to mention the darn cookie or biscuit shop we found, and spent 32 euro’s on for a bin of cookies, that nobody ended up really loving, but of course, i still snack on them.  darn those purchases!

we headed back, the hour drive, filled up the car, which is freaking ridiculous.  our little mini van cost 40 euro to fill up half a tank.  ouch!  it’s as expensive as our yukon xl back home.

made yummy spaghetti for dinner with salad, watched the goonies together as a family…i love that movie, and it’s so fun watching it with our kids, it’s a classic for jarom and i.  we loved just sitting together, no technology invading our time, quiet, chatting with the kids, and laughing.  it was brilliant.  how can i incorporate this back home?  always stuff going on, i just want it all to be less, and slower.  a great end to a very fun and adventurous day.

sept. 21.  2012

friday-day 12

we have slept in-until 8:00…and decided to walk around the little town we are in, and of course, head to the patisserie…evil store for those of us who are addicted to bread.  i’m very gluten intolerant, and was on a very strict diet for months before coming here, trying to heal my gut as much as possible, because i knew there was no way i could refuse bread in france.  i’m sure i will be at square 0 when i get home!

we lounged, figured things out around the house, jarom did a load of laundry and hung them up to dry out on our terrace, enjoyed the lovely cool, overcast and breezy day.

we then ventured out to the grocery, one of them aldi-which they have in the states, and great prices i might add, and the other one called intermarche’ super, which was a large grocery for here, and more supermarket prices with more options.  we bought our goods at both places, and on our way home, decided since we were so close to beziers, to visit the city.  we keep seeing this beautiful picture of a lovely medieval bridge to the city, and thought how awesome it would be to see it.  nope.  but we made our way to the center of the city, and back to the very narrow, hard to drive incline streets that give you a heart attack, especially driving stick.  came home, made salad, rice and sautee’d veggies for dinner, which was so yummy!  lovely day, very relaxing.

a link to our town, magalas, france…  http://www.france-voyage.com/towns/magalas-11941.htm

here are some pic’s of our cute village home…

11th century church at the top of the rue from our home.

 

pic’s from our day:

sept. 20.  2012

day 11

up at 5am, everyone got ready and packed up the suitcases.  grabbed some food from the breakfast in the hotel, caught a taxi, and caught our first train from the rome termini to torino.  we thought we would only be taking three trains today, but turns out, four.  from torino, we caught a train to chambery, and then chambery to lyon part deux, and then from there to montpellier, france.  11 hours on trains, not including dragging everyone on and off them, just including riding on trains.  we got in at 8:30pm, caught a taxi(hopefully for the last time!), and headed to the airport where our rental car was-20 minutes from the train station.  oh, the beauty of the end of the day fiasco’s when you are tired and hungry and have to go potty.  but since we caught all our trains, i guess some things had to happen.  i got in the rental, but had to go tinkle so bad and couldn’t find the emergency break to turn it off and drive the rental up front so we could load it, and i had to hop out and run into the airport(which we were by) and came back.  i almost backed into the mercedes behind me when trying to pull out(it’s been about 14 years since driving a stick shift-and never in a mini van).  then girls needed to go potty while we were trying to fit 6 people, 7 suitcases, a large bag and six backpacks into a small minivan.  when coming back from the toilette the second time, i see jarom has the car loaded, his arm on the passenger seat overlooking his shoulder to back up, and the car moves forward!  oh, holy crap!  but luckily he didn’t hit anything, and i told him “no driving!”  he’s not on the list as a driver for the rental anyway!  ok, so we are driving a french car in france with french highway signs, and thank goodness for a gps from home.  we find the tiny village, and are driving the narrow pathways, and i disagree we are to walk our luggage up a steep hill, albeit short, to our home…(this is an old village where all the homes are stuck together and they are on narrow streets.)  i get the brilliant idea, that if we keep following the road around, we’ll come back to the road we needed at first.  so i drive, and then we come to a dead end, but can’t turn around, there’s no room.  jarom says, “look, follow that road!”  i didn’t even see it.  so I proceed to try and turn onto it, except it’s really this sharp turn down steps for people who are WALKING!  not driving.  so we’re stuck down this steep incline, and hardly any room to turn around.  it’s about midnight, everyone’s awake, hungry, exhausted, and we’re stuck.  the very nice people living next to where we are making all this commotion come out.  they help push the car while i reverse it, he moves his car so we can back up ours, and we get out, lug our luggage up the steep hill, jarom finds parking, we eat pasta we found in the cabinets with indian curry sauce on it because we are hungry and don’t care, and we fall into bed.

and, it was my birthday!  it was a great, exhausting, and fun day.  and the best part, i thought i was turning 37, but after some calculations, i turned 36, so in my mind, i just saved a year!  except the lines appearing on my face tell me otherwise, but i will try and not cry over those too much.  i can’t believe how old we are getting, we have four kids and one is a teenager, and i still feel like i’m in my 20’s.  i’m excited for each new chapter, but am in disagreement with how my body is taking it.  c’est la vie.