october 2.  2012

tuesday-day 23 of our adventure-

dang, we are enjoying our schedule-less life!  we slept in late, got ready, and figured out we would go to the zoo and aquarium in montpellier, an hour away.  except!-we were about out of gas.  two things that are an unpredictable occurrences here in france.  gas stations, and water closets(potty’s).  one never knows when they’ll find one.  we find and pull into a gas station that’s only automatic payment, and it won’t take my cards.  we called both banks to let them know we would be out of the country, and they love shutting them off when they feel like it.  so i’m stranded, can’t call anyone because i don’t have a french sim card, and also, no signal.  we had seen one other gas station up the road, so we decided to try that one with about 16 miles left of gas in our tank, and thankfully, there was a person there who not only took cash, the sweet older woman filled the car for me.  so nice!  by then an hour had gone by, so we decided to stay more local, and try and visit the chateau de cassan a second time since, but once again, they were closed.  we walked around the lovely vineyards and area, went to the grocery store again!, and headed home for dinner.

i did get out by myself for the first time in over three weeks, and walked and walked and walked up, down, and all around our little village on the hill.  it’s beautiful.

-a little about france-they love their time off, not working more than needed.  sundays-closed.  most everything closes at 5:00pm if it is open.  lunch is from 12:00-2:00.  school is closed every wednesday.  in the fall, some things are only open on weekends.  they take off five weeks a year, usually at least the month of august.  smart.  we work too much in america, and the easiness of technology has only made things crazier and busier.  why don’t we slow down?

p.s.-don’t you love when you get to have a picture all together, and your eyes are closed, and your daughter’s braces looks like she has black teeth?

oct. 1.  2012

monday-day 22 of our adventure-

we got our monday things done…sleeping in, laundry, cleaning kitchen, grocery shopping, math…we drove to a couple places to check out…a vineyard and castle, but we were too late, they were closed(5pm).  we grabbed some fresh bread, yummy yummy cheese that we lucked out just picking off the shelf-tastes yummier than cream cheese, lettuce and tuna wraps, and jumped in the car and drove to narbonne national park and ate our picnic watching the sun set.  it has a long walking trail all over the mountain-we just walked up a ways to a high point.  it was lovely.  driving home we enjoyed the gigantic yellow moon rising in the night.  beautiful.

 

 

 

sept. 30.  2012

sunday-day 21 of our adventure-

what happens when you don’t get up early and get to church with your kids?  you back into a thousand year old wall.  yep.  scratched up the back bumper, broke the light cover a bit.  hoping i’ll get a french shrug for it, and not a huge charge.  if you look at all the cars here, they are all scratched up.  ours fits in now!

lazy morning, get going, went to sete to walk around on this beautiful day.  it’s sunday though, which means shops and restaurants are closed, so we had a hard time finding food.  we finally found a market, got some bread, cheese, chips and salsa, and sat along the canal with all the boats parked.  it was beautiful…until an interesting couple came and sat on the bench next to us.  their daughter stood next to us watching us eat, and then her dad came over and signed if we would cut him some bread.   i normally don’t mind sharing, but i felt really uncomfortable and invaded on.  we drove to the top of a hill, and walked around a beautiful cemetery that looked out onto the ocean.  beautiful afternoon.  headed home and relaxed, because touring the beautiful french countryside for a few hours can be exhausting.  kidding of course.

a little about sete…as a place of human settlement, it has very ancient origins and the first human settlements here date to the bronze age (1100-800 B.C.).

 

our beautiful village, magalas-

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…