The conclusion..... It has been a great ride. An unforgettable experience that will fill our minds with great memories and our hearts with new friends. We have been inspired by wonderful places filled with nature and cities filled with art and history and culture.We have grown closer as a family. The boys have learned so many new things. They have opened a door for learning. They now all have the desire to learn foreign languages and I think history will be more interesting to them from now on. They learned about people, and how to respect different cultures. They have seen firsthand the safety, love and warmth we can have with Jehovahs people anywhere on earth. They have made friends young and old and cherish them equally. They have learned how to travel and be street smart avoiding thieves but not letting them stop us from coming. Cole has been released from a genetic disposition of fear of trains, boats and planes. I hope that he will never let fear of some imagined danger stop him from enjoying life to the fullest. We have all learned how to save money both before and during a trip. How to spend it in all the right places and have no regrets. Many valuable lessons I hope to take home with me. Yarmo who I love to sit and listen to his kind words of wisdom told me " sometimes when you travel you see that there is the way of thinking that you have thought to be right and sometimes you see that there is also a different way and sometimes that way is better" This is so wise and so true, and some people get so stuck in there way of seeing things and doing things that they really believe its the only way. Even worse they may look down on someone who thinks or does different. What a shame. Life can open so many doors to new and better thinking. A few habits I hope to adopt. Clothes dryers are wasteful when the weather is good especially. We survived two months without using one. It was actually relaxing to hang the clothes and collect them after the sun had dried them without charge. europeans if they have a dryer ,refrain from using it because its expensive. It is for us too. propane is a huge expense. Americans have just become to lazy to use a clothes line. Food habits are different also. I admit I am a bit of a food hoarder. I have often bought things just because they are on sale and they sit in my cabinet and collect dust. It was so rewarding to buy enough food for a day or so, eat every last bit, then buy more. No more fake food either, we ate liberally of bread and cheese and natural meats and felt very healthy and good. For two months I never once thought about what I was eating and what effect it would have on my waste. It was liberating. The result is that iether I have not grown in size or I have had to much fun to care.( although I have to admit I have been concerned about the health of my liver a time or two) It makes me wonder what all this unnecessary worrying does to your metabolism. This may be the hardest thing to adopt but I will try. I vow to live simply and am looking forward to another purge of unnecessary clutter. I really suck at painting but I found time for it while traveling and loved it and I want to keep making time for creative relaxing parts of my life. I mostly learned from watching other people. We had the great privilege of being invited into the lives of really amazing families, and I loved seeing how kind and soft they spoke to each other. Never let the reserved nature of a swedish person fool you. I think they are some of the most fun loving people on earth. I theorize that because of such long and dark winters that they have it in their blood to seize the best moments of every day, and when the sun comes up they relish every second of it ,living life to the fullest extent possible. So much I want to bring home. So as we end this journey, I am thankful. Very, very thankful. I have to give all the credit to jimmie who accomplishes every thing he sets out to do. I would have never thought we could do this, but he never lets my skepticism dull his ambitions. I have had an amazing time and am ready to come home and suck the joy out of every day the way a bee gets every last drop of nectar. It may have been obvious to stop and smell all the flowers and notice every sunset and stay up late every night when your traveling because that is what you expect to do. But why stop now? It takes six weeks to create a new habit and we have had more than that. So if I can bring home this zest for life I am bringing home the most valuable souvenir ever.

The conclusion..... It has been a great ride. An unforgettable experience that will fill our minds with great memories and our hearts with new friends. We have been inspired by wonderful places filled with nature and cities filled with art and history and culture.We have grown closer as a family. The boys have learned so many new things. They have opened a door for learning. They now all have the desire to learn foreign languages and I think history will be more interesting to them from now on. They learned about people, and how to respect different cultures. They have seen firsthand the safety, love and warmth we can have with Jehovahs people anywhere on earth. They have made friends young and old and cherish them equally. They have learned how to travel and be street smart avoiding thieves but not letting them stop us from coming. Cole has been released from a genetic disposition of fear of trains, boats and planes. I hope that he will never let fear of some imagined danger stop him from enjoying life to the fullest. We have all learned how to save money both before and during a trip. How to spend it in all the right places and have no regrets. Many valuable lessons I hope to take home with me. Yarmo who I love to sit and listen to his kind words of wisdom told me " sometimes when you travel you see that there is the way of thinking that you have thought to be right and sometimes you see that there is also a different way and sometimes that way is better" This is so wise and so true, and some people get so stuck in there way of seeing things and doing things that they really believe its the only way. Even worse they may look down on someone who thinks or does different. What a shame. Life can open so many doors to new and better thinking. A few habits I hope to adopt. Clothes dryers are wasteful when the weather is good especially. We survived two months without using one. It was actually relaxing to hang the clothes and collect them after the sun had dried them without charge. europeans if they have a dryer ,refrain from using it because its expensive. It is for us too. propane is a huge expense. Americans have just become to lazy to use a clothes line. Food habits are different also. I admit I am a bit of a food hoarder. I have often bought things just because they are on sale and they sit in my cabinet and collect dust. It was so rewarding to buy enough food for a day or so, eat every last bit, then buy more. No more fake food either, we ate liberally of bread and cheese and natural meats and felt very healthy and good. For two months I never once thought about what I was eating and what effect it would have on my waste. It was liberating. The result is that iether I have not grown in size or I have had to much fun to care.( although I have to admit I have been concerned about the health of my liver a time or two) It makes me wonder what all this unnecessary worrying does to your metabolism. This may be the hardest thing to adopt but I will try. I vow to live simply and am looking forward to another purge of unnecessary clutter. I really suck at painting but I found time for it while traveling and loved it and I want to keep making time for creative relaxing parts of my life. I mostly learned from watching other people. We had the great privilege of being invited into the lives of really amazing families, and I loved seeing how kind and soft they spoke to each other. Never let the reserved nature of a swedish person fool you. I think they are some of the most fun loving people on earth. I theorize that because of such long and dark winters that they have it in their blood to seize the best moments of every day, and when the sun comes up they relish every second of it ,living life to the fullest extent possible. So much I want to bring home. So as we end this journey, I am thankful. Very, very thankful. I have to give all the credit to jimmie who accomplishes every thing he sets out to do. I would have never thought we could do this, but he never lets my skepticism dull his ambitions. I have had an amazing time and am ready to come home and suck the joy out of every day the way a bee gets every last drop of nectar. It may have been obvious to stop and smell all the flowers and notice every sunset and stay up late every night when your traveling because that is what you expect to do. But why stop now? It takes six weeks to create a new habit and we have had more than that. So if I can bring home this zest for life I am bringing home the most valuable souvenir ever.

Memories in stockholm....and Rat attacks..... Vasa, This three hundred year old ship is Stockholm's largest tourist attraction. It was very cool, and I felt like it was one of the most interesting museums for children. After touring the museum, CC ,Yarmo, Carl and jeanette and all of the kids headed to a cafe on the water. All over stockholm is these great outdoor cafes where you sit and eat and drink staring at the water, interesting boats and beautiful architecture. It is my favorite way to spend my time here, and if I could I would sit there all day waiting to be hungry or thirsty the next time. Right next to the cafe was a place that rented canoes and paddle boats. So as we sat enjoying our beers the boys paddles around the water in front of us. It was all going great until brock had the brilliant idea to ram a big red pole in the water. I am not sure exactly what the pole was, maybe a marker of some sort. Well long story short they got stuck on it, and jim and carl had to take a canoe out for a rescue mission. I think they liked this. When carl said they were stuck on a pole, I expected it to be a small pole that perhaps they didn't notice but once they were set free a rubber pole that was bright red and six feet tall emerged from under their boat. I guess they could not claim to run it over by accident. Later that night we went to a jazz club called stompen. Just a two minute walk from our place, is this really cool place with all sorts of fun strange things hanging from the ceiling. Things like a mannequin leg and old wagons and old boots. Inside this tiny dusty little club a old hippy with dred locks down to his ankles played guitar with the band. He was so old and soooo good. The whole band was great and played funk music , jimmie was in heaven. We all stayed till the bitter end dancing until they finally shut us down. The next day CC, planned a picnic in the park. We were able to meet Cecilias sweet family and I thanked her dad for making her because I love her so much. We were able to be with all the people in sweden who we have made connections with at one time, and it was surprising how in such a short time we have so many friends here. Linea who spent a week at our house brought her parents and grandmother. We adored this girl so it was great to meet her family. Linea also had a friend visiting who is a friend of my friends at home and a cousin of friends in tahoe and here we met her in stockholm. Such a small world. It was a great afternoon and a great way to spend our last day. We decided to go to stompen again. This time Carl, Jeanette and CC and our boys joined us. The music was great again, this time very old men playing big band music. The singer was eighty years old and has been playing at this club since he was sixteen. How cute is that! I think its a great thing about europe that you can bring your kids to bars with you. The kids came running up to me and said" we love going to bars because the bartender just gave us a free coke!" It was so fun to have them here with us on this last night because they have grown equally attached to all of our grown up friends. The sweetest thing happened. The trombone player made a special announcement that a young man named brock requested a special song. He asked him to play Loui armstrong Wonderful World. He said brock wanted to dedicate this song to his mother. Brock looked up at me with those big soft brown eyes and melted my heart. He then led me to the dance floor and we danced to the song ,slowly rocking back and forth, My sweet little angel in my arms. I think he melted everyones heart in that room. People clapped and he clapped and he looked so proud that he had done this. It was so precious and I will never forget it. Sadly the night had to end. As we were leaving the funniest thing happened. CC spotted a big rat on the walk back scurry behind something. Soon jimmie saw one too and was amazed by the size of it. I never saw one, but as we walked a little further one of those furry brown little monsters scurried right over the top of my foot. I screamed and cursed so loud I am sure all of stockholm heard me. As I felt this heavy soft animal on my foot I naturally kicked as hard as I could and felt it dislodge against me. For several seconds I did a frightened screaming chicken dance and I may have pulled my dress over my head but I didn't care all I could think was ,get this thing off me.I was wearing a long dress and sandals and I am so glad that it didn't get caught up my dress. So GROSS! That gave us all a good laugh to end the night with. We had to say our goodbyes. Sad. The time had come. Two months has flown by for us. I cant believe its over. I am leaving my heart in sweden.

Alice Cooper and an amusement park.... The views expressed in this blog are strictly mine and are not intended to offend any alice cooper fans. They are only my opinions and this is my blog so I can express them. We have not stopped hearing the question " when will we see carl and his family again?" from the day we left their house. We all love this family, but the boys especially are smitten. So to them it was a dream come true to hear they are meeting us in stockholm. Alice cooper was playing a concert at the amusement park. So of course we had to join them. I really hate amusement parks and I hate rock bands like alice cooper so this was a huge parental sacrifice for me. The only thing that made it all seem better was being with our friends. So off we went. When we splurged on the wrist bands you would have thought they boys won the lottery. They were so excited they jumped up and down hugging and thanking us. This is exactly the kind of money we never spend at home especially since we had been planning this trip, so it was cute to see how appreciative they were. Tristan ran straight t the giant tower which takes you into the sky then drops you from it.Zero hesitation. Brock and Cole got in line for what looked like a junior roller coaster. What they didn't know though was behind the walls was a pretty scary ride that took them high into the sky and swung them around very fast. You could hear cole screaming back in denmark. The freaks come out at night. Soon all the alice cooper roadies were surfacing. The ugliest bunch of sweeds I have seen. Black hair and lips. Guys with skintight leggings cowboy boots and dreadfully long ugly hair. At least the people watching made up for my growing distaste for theme parks. The music was dreadful, almost as dreadful as the weirdos who stood shaking their heads to what they considered to be a beat. I went with jeanette to get a closer peak, I have to say I love her personality. She just grabbed my hand and took us exactly where she wanted to go. She is really cool and I like her because She is one of the few people who say whats on their minds and I find it refreshing. So we got a closer look at this very ugly man who is famous for his crappy music. He had some sort of guillotine on the stage which he pretended to cut off his head with. If I had to stay one moment longer, I would have used it to cut off my own head. So I guess one thing I can say is that I am really getting to know myself, I am comfortable enough in my own skin to not feel compelled to like things other people like. yes I can go with the flow as good as any, but its good to know what you love and what you don't. Off to see the ship museum today. Should be a great day.

The island...... Saturday morning we walked across town carrying all our food and beverages for the weekend and boarded a fairy bound for a small swedish island. The boat ride in itself was enough fun for one day as you could see from the water how really beautiful stockholm is. A little over an hour later we reached our destination. Marcus and Esa were waiting for us with their two toddlers in tow. As we stepped off the boat we couldn't believe how beautiful and mysterious this seemed. Their are only less than 100 homes on this island and no cars,so it has a really wild and free feeling. The trail to the house was so beautiful. Aylas granddaughters held hands, while wearing their rubber boots and picked wild blueberries and strawberries on the trail. That was such a cute sight. i was surprised to see how private their cabin was, for some reason I expected all the houses to be right next to each other, but they have the most serene green grassy area, and from the cabin you can see the baltic sea, every now and then the white sails of a boat would gently roll by. We again were blessed with the most incredible warm weather. This meant a lovely day swimming in the sea and warming ourselves on the rocks. Esa is a fabulous cook. For lunch we ate traditional swedish lunch with pickled herring and lox and potatoes. I really love this. For dinner we ate a meal that we could have gone to the most expensive swedish restaurant and not had it be that good. They grilled all sorts of fresh vegetables which they served with this incredible chevre mousse. Then their was grilled venison with caramelized onion compound butter which she had made. She and marcus are so incredibly hospitable and generous. They prepared the most delicious meals which we ate on their deck enjoying the peaceful sounds of nature. They also have a great sauna that we spent hours in, then would run to the sea to cool ourselves in the fresh cold water.. The best part came in the evening though when we all went into the sunroom, in a candlelit room we sat all night sipping champagne and coffee. jimmy and marcus took turns playing the guitar and singing and then the real treat came when esa this sweet, soft spoken girl privileged us with her singing. It never fails to amaze me when small soft people can surprise you with such a powerful strong and angelic voice. She sang traditional swedish songs that made momika cry. Her and marcus sang a lovely duet, together they filled the room with a magical combination of music that warmed our hearts and as I sat there and drank in the sweet music I knew this was an evening I will never forget. Soon Yarmo even sang a song, some sort of finnish song and from what I have been told this is a rare treat. He was giggling so hard that he had tears in his eyes. I absolutely love yarmo and alya( even though I know i am horribly misspelling their names and the names of their offspring) Yarmo is one of the few men in my life that I would give the complement of reminding me of my father. He clearly has no mean or dishonest bones in his body. He is a more outgoing version of my dad but like my dad he is one of those people who wouldn't have it come up into his heart to be unkind. Ala is equally as good and kind and one of the funnest woman I have ever known. So in this room full of windows with the glow of the soft swedish summer air and candles and champagne glasses and some of the best people I have met in my life we sat laughing and singing and talking until the sun welcomed a brand new day to do it all over again. This whole weekend was a real treat. When monday came and we boarded our boat to stockholm we all waved from the deck of the boat and said goodbye to our new friends until the island slowly disappeared out of our sights, but never our minds and hearts.

Stockholm with cc and momika, ayla and yarmo,...... Were having a great time in stockholm. I have decided it is the prettiest city. Our friends live right in the heart of the old town. It is so cool. The whole time I have travelled in Europe, I have been enamored with the idea of living on one of those narrow, cobblestone streets. Who really is cool enough to live here? I think to open your window in the morning, smell cofee from cafes and bread baking and hear the sounds of people sweeping their store fronts and chatting and hanging their clothes out to dry in the sun would be such a interesting and colorful way to live. That is exactly where our friends live. They have the most amazing apartment. I am so impressed with the way they live. They have exactly everything they need, Just where they need it and absolutely nothing that clutters up their life. Gheeze, why is this so hard for americans? I think I packed more clothes in my suitcase than alya has in her closet. To much stuff, its a terrible plight. You could drown in it. Its so refreshing to see how well you can live a much richer life with less stuff. It makes me want to go home and clean house and purge all the clutter. I am hoping jimmie is getting the same idea since he has a lot more stuff than I. Anyhow its so great to be with our friends. They have had six children who are all as sweet and kind as their parents. Again, I cant say enough how wonderful friends are. Some people go their whole life and don't have one really genuine friend. We are so blessed to have a seemingly endless sea of the worlds best people . It is really great to learn from others. If you keep a open mind and heart, you can learn so much from your friends.. What comes about naturally by some people can be learned by others. So as much as my miss our friends at home, we also are making friendships here that will last forever.Saturday we have been invited to go stay in a cabin on a island. Its going to be great. I am sure that will be some fun blogging. For now, sovgat.

Sweden..... As we got off the plane in denmark, The crisp, cool ,ocean air felt all to familiar. I instantly thought about my mom and her danish roots and wondered if there was some sort of genetic disposition that made people love this crisp air. It instantly reminded me of being in Oregon. AS we crossed the airport isles, I looked around and felt oddly aquatinted with these blue eyed blonde, square featured Scandinavians. They all resembled my brother John who takes after my moms Danish side of the family. I also pictured my grandpa with a cigar hanging out of his mouth, a sparkle in his steel blue eyes, tall and confident. We took the train to malmo where our friends picked us up at the train station. For the first time in weeks we were with friends, A world record in our lives to go that long without the company of companions. They helped us carry our mamoth suit cases up the tall stairs to their car. We were greeted with the warm christian hospitality that is so precious to our heritage. Cold champagne, then a much missed mexican taco dinner. It feels so good to be among friends. Everything we have seen and experienced would have been so, ten fold in the company of friends. The next day our friends had a party. A banquet of swedish food. Its delicious,different from anything else I have had on this trip. Pickled herring, really fresh boiled new potatoes,sour cream and onions. YUMMY! We now have many new friends we hope will come to california for a visit. I am going to have to go on a serious diet when i get home. Jeanette loves to bake,and has had a Table full of the yummiest desserts ever.Sweden is really beautiful. I think tomorrow we will venture into copenhagen. This will end up being our favorite part of the trip just chilling out with good friends.

Making up..... As we made our way back to paris, we had our first fight on this trip. I was so mad at him that we had an almost silent two hour car trip. I made sure to breath heavily through my nose, just so he would know how mad I was. When we got to our sight near the champagne region of france, instead of celebrating our last real night in france,we were ignoring each other and I for one ,was thinking unpleasant thoughts . We went up to the restaurant for some dinner. They had a grassy area with a park and a bounce house for the kids to play on while they wait. I sat down with a book and a glass of wine still stewing over our day. After a little while though I started feeling sad that we were wasting precious time like this. I went over and spied on jimmie and the boys who were engrossed in a game of tackle on the bounce house. I had a mental battle with myself. Part of me wanted to hang on to being mad, as if letting go of my anger excused his annoying behavior. But as I watched him play with the kids my stone heart melted away. Yes its true,he can be very frustrating, , but as I watched in silence I started singing a song in my head," he's close enough to perfect for me" Soon he stopped jumping, and We shared a much needed hug and kiss. As soon as he came to join me for my glass of wine, the band started playing our wedding song.( eric clapton you look wonderful tonight ) We stared at each other in disbelief at the timing. Jim was convinced it was not a coincidence. Over diner, I sat very thankful that our family has had this time together. Sure, we have some bugs to work out, who doesn't? But we go together like peanut butter and jelly. Sometimes more like gasoline and matches.We have had the most amazing six weeks together. At home we fill our lives with a nonstop swinging door of friends and family. Though I wouldn't change a thing, I sometimes wondered if we would do all right together in the absence of so much commotion. The answer is a resounding YES! We really enjoyed each others company ( most of the time) With the end closing in on us and the realities of the real world coming ever closer it was time to contemplate the benefit of us throwing all caution to the california wind we left behind ,and see if this was all worth it. Yes, we spent our life savings, which was not much, and ignored all the conservative financial advice we were raised up to believe is so beneficial, But in return we gained the largest gain in a six week period ever. No maybe not financially, but on a million other ways. We will always remember this. If I had some catastrophic accident tomorrow, and had to picture myself in a happy place to escape some sort of pain, i would have to choose which happy memory to go back to. My family skinny dipping on a row boat in cinquetera, jim and I trespassing ,and drinking our coffee as the sun went down in st tropez, my silent jog in dordogne with the smell of jasmine, old stone and warm spring air, Us walking across the london bridge, then enjoying mooshy peas, beer and fish and chips, the boys giving the most genuine bear hugs to some sweet couple we never met in italy after enjoying the most amazing meal on earth. How about the french village of chateau double with friendly amazing people who made us feel part of their special lives for a evening. The best pizza on earth in barcelona.The beauty of the women who basked in the warm Mediterranean sun in all their naked glory. Even the skinny hairy man mediating with his nuts and hot dog hanging out. If I had to choose a happy memory, my brain would probably burst from All the confusion of choices. With all these happy thoughts why waste more time being pissed off about the misgivings of my mate,( as the english call their friends) So with that said, we carried on and had an awesome evening. The band consisted of two old farts with a few teeth. The restaurant was an old stone building as quaint as one would hope for in champagne. The music was better and better the more champagne we drank. We had to do that, we were in champagne after all. As we were finishing our dinner, I saw inside the stone restaurant people gathering to dance. Young and old alike, they raised their hands, shook their butts scooted their feet. We had to join. The rest of the night all five of us danced the night away. At one point I looked across the dance floor, dripping in sweat from head to toe,smiling from ear to ear, and every single human under that roof was dancing. I looked across the room and an eighty year old couple swayed back and forth smiling happily at each other. The girls who were working behind the bar hung on to each others shoulders as they sang and tossed back and forth. I looked down and brock was holding his hands in a fist like position while swinging to the beet. It may have been the happiest moment in my life. And for the first time in the last several weeks, with the music uniting the obvious language barrier, we finally fit in. We were european.

Anxiety attack in geneva..... After a great drive into Chamonix, enjoying the picturesque mountain peaks, amazing waterfalls and serene green valleys we headed to geneva for a music festival. A simple pit stop at the gas station, turned in to an almost severe panic attack. As I apprehensively approached the stall not knowing what to expect, ( i have learned to expect the worse) I was delighted to find a vey clean stall, that included the luxury of a toilet seat and paper. I excitedly closed the door behind me relishing this refreshingly clean toilet facility. It wasn't until I was finished the panic set in. you see, I somehow picked the stall that did not include an inside door handle. So after closely examining the piece of metal where a knob should have been ,I looked under the door to see if I could fit. A three inch gap was between the floor and the bottom of the door. I looked up, maybe I can scale the bathroom wall and climb over, Another three inch gap awaited my eyes. Even before all the cheese, and bread and beer this would have never worked. I stared back at the metal piece. Maybe Switzerland has different style of door knobs. No matter how I gazed at the metal piece, the two holes like wicked eyes stared back at me, and offered no hope of escape.It was then the panic really kicked in high gear. My only chance was to scream for cole , who had visited the boys room for help. He tried to help but couldn't get the door to budge. By this time, I had sweat accumulating on my upper lip. I was concentrating on my breathing, as I ferociously shook the door.Soon a woman came in and kindly offered to get help. Before long someone came with a screw thing and let me out of my sanitary prison. That was enough anxiety for one day. Music festival in geneva is great. Its a fun and clean and very safe feeling city. No fears of crooks or hooligans here. The only thing that will give me bad dreams is that bathroom door. Food was great too. The music festival was filled with international food tents. We had some amazing curry chicken from madagascar. Sweden is getting very close and I am really ready. I miss being with friends. I miss the kingdom hall. We have tried again today to find a meeting. We were all dressed and ready and followed the googled address but were once again disappointed that their was no kingdom hall there. So in sweden, were all looking forward to going to the meetings. Well bon nuit.

French alps........ Now we are in the french alps, dynamic jagged mountain peaks jut out of emerald green valleys. Lakes as blue and clear as tahoe, but surrounded by charming, ancient towns. Annesy is considered the venice of france. Its pretty amazing. A huge lake, with water that channels into canals , which go into the city. The old buildings are built on these canals and you can walk across the water back and forth over bridges stopping at pubs, cafes , shops. So cute. Sparkling clean also. I like it more than paris. If you want to come to france, this would be one of my top recommendations. We have had a lot of rain today. Its okay. We have had fantastic weather the whole trip so we really cant complain. Going to visit geneva tomorrow. Were getting excited about sweden, and looking forward to being with friends. We ate the most delicious lunch today. Fondue that was ooey, and gooey and divine. I may weigh five hundred pounds by the end of this trip, but its all worth it. Well that it for now folks.

Venice"....... Move over Montecarlo, venice ROCKS!!!! It is awesome here. OK its official, I love italy just As much as france. Venice has to be the most beautiful,romantic, city in the world. FANTASTIC!!!! Imagine, a city with no cars. Only boats, and gondolas to take you around. With the absence of cars, there is no stress of getting run over first of all. Then there is the quiet. You never realize when you are in a city, no matter how lovely it is, the constant drumming sound of cars. Its like when you are cooking, and you turn the fan on the oven to get the smoke out. It serves a purpose, you need the fan. But you forget to turn-it off. Then you suddenly realize your in a bad mood. its not till you turn the fan off that your good mood returns. Also, the architecture, is just fantastic. Jimmy said its like Disneyland on crack. We took a sunset gondola ride. tristan and brock have a new career path and want to be gondoliers when they grow up and live in venice. I am down with that. We are now in lake garda. Its also wonderful. The campground is great here. Right on the lake. So tonight we sat on a dock and watched the sunset, while geese nibbled on jimmies hands. Truly a beautiful sight. I wish i could engrave these memories into my brain, etch every detail, every scent, and sound, and taste. But especially, I want to freeze-dry, the kids into my memory the looks of wonder, and astonishment at new things, their faces when they try something new. The genuine bear hugs they openly gave to the brothers and sisters and other people we have met along the way. The sweet and tender moments I share with jimmie. I know in the end this is what I will remember, and I will forget all about the time they all annoy me to the point of insanity.

Personal space and sign language....... There are only a few negative things about traveling through italy ,but I feel compelled to mention them to any potential future travelers. The first is personal space. Or I should say ,lack of it. You see, in america we all have a level of personal space, a boundary that only a few socially dysfunctional, awkward people don't abide to the rules of. Here in Italy, that rule of personal space doesn't exist. Wherever you go people are breaking this law. When your in line, you can feel them breathing down your neck. Slowly inching their way across the boundary line that us americans have installed from a young age. I try to slowly turn my head around to look at them as if its going to set off some sort of alarm, but they don't seem to hear the alarm. I try to inch forward, but then they just creep up behind you , the way those daddy long leg spiders do when I'm in the shower. When your not looking, they sneak across your border. Yesterday, we did a history bike tour in florence. It sounded like a good idea at the time. Florence is a beautiful city. Once again though, I have had enough of cities. Of course we couldn't find the spot where we were suppose to meet the people, which meant a lot more high speed running in my flip flops. Once we found the place,my mood was sour. Then we take off for our bike ride, our tour guide teacher sounded like daffy duck. ( so said tristan) Her english was so strained, that she twisted and contorted her face every time she spoke, with the veins in her neck looking like they would self combust,she sprayed the words out. The bike ride was enough to give me a coronary. The personal space boundary doesn't exist even when its a pedestrian or bicyclist and the space invader is a motorcycle or car. Even if your in the cross walk, they bring their car or motorbike within inches of you. I was worried beyond sanity about cole especially. He seemed so wobbly on his bike, my overactive imagination kept playing out the scene in my head. A car hits him, I pull the person out of the drivers seat with my bare hands, I wrap my hands around his neck and starting throwing the assailant into the ancient buildings, but then I realize he is one of these hot ,italian stallions, so I decide to grant him mercy ,kiss his cheeks and warn him to never intrude our personal boundary again.He bows his head, kisses slowly my hands, with those deep brown eyes begging for forgiveness. I send him on his way. Fortunately this never happened. I did play traffic control most of the time though. I would stand with my bike in a very authoritative position with my hand in a position that yelled STOP! I took on busses and motorbikes and cars this way until everyone was safely across the street. All I needed was a blue cap and a whistle and I would have been complete. Sign language has been my go to language when all else fails. When i went into the store at the gas station, I tried explaining that I want to pay for pump number seven. The woman stared back at me blankly. So then I used my sign language, and made my fingers into the shape of what I thought was a pump, but I think she thought it looked like a gun. She looked a little startled, more like I wAs trying to say" this is a stick up" than" can i pay for gas?" People use sign language at me too. Yesterday we stopped for gas. As I walked in,the old duffer gas attendant, was checking me out. He tried to talk to me. " I'm sorry i don't speak italian" Pointing to me he says " Bella ". I get that. " thank you" but as I put my bag of pastries on the counter he starts shaking his head, talking italian then puts his hand right on my tummy!!! Talk about personal space betrayal. So then I start laughing hysterically because this old guy feels its ok to warn me to not eat these ,to watch my girlie figure. The nerve! So I use my sign language to make a fist. We both laughed. i thought this was so funny. So I am learning new ways to communicate. How valuable it would be to speak a foreign language, or like many people here, speak many languages. I am getting over my personal space issues and learning that, well," when in rome" I have learned that so many words can be spoken with smiles, laughing, warmth in the eyes. So with my unfortunate, ability to speak only english, for this I am grateful.

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The grimes....under the tuscan sun.....

We arrived yesterday and we were so pleasantly surprised by this park. Its more of a resort than a camp ground. Last night the boys and I went for a evening stroll. We wandered into the disco. Yes thats right, this campground has a disco that is geared for children. After some guys played guitar and sang a great rendition of a pink floyd song, the music began. There was maybe three families in the " disco" all sitting on sofas staring at the DJ. We sat there a few minutes, and I thought to myself I have to teach these boys to not worry what peering eyes think, they need to get out there and enjoy life and dance like nobody is watching. I considered just running onto the empty dance floor and trying to breakdance. I was glad I didn't when I realized the DJ was still educating the campers on the campground activities through the loud music. then the time came when it was time to boogie. They looked at the sleepy bored parents and children in the room, No one seemed to respond. Not that I wanted to, trust me, but I felt it was my parental duty to teach my kids not to be wall flowers,so I jumped to the dance floor and with cheeks burning red from embarrassment, I busted my white girl moves like nobodies business. After the first song I was totally feeling it and not long after that my cheeks were only red from the hotness of salsa/ frankenstein moves. Tristan was the first to join in, then brock. Reluctantly cole gave in and we all three danced until they shut us down. It was only four songs later.
Tuscany is gorgeous. Going to explore florence tomorrow. The time is closing in on us like one of those big , looming,church doors. I wish this could last forever, with the exception of having friends and family with me, but that is what the new system is all about...This is just a tiny, shadow , a little glimpse, soon to be nothing more than a memory(, sometimes overshadowed by crooks and hooligans) of what life will be like one day,when, this brilliant freedom and exploratory joy will last forever and be enjoyed by everyone. Thats what Im talking about........

Rome

ROME......


I was apprehensive about going to Rome. All the talk of pickpockets and gypsies and a dirty city did not really make it sound so great. Any apprehension I had was gone like the wind as soon as I got there. I absolutely LOVE Rome. It is the most fantastic, amazing city and most definitely my favorite.
After leaving the little coastal villages we had a little rain in our parade. Our day on our private,paddle boat was the best day we had had on our whole trip,but when we got back to our car , our great mood came to a screeching halt. There was a parking lot available for a few euros when we arrived,but there were also many cars parked on the street closer to the town, so jim,always the miser decided to park on the street and avoid paying. What we did not know is the street parking is only for residents. So when we got to our car we were welcomed with a fat ticket. As if that was not enough to pay for our crime, an angry local felt it necessary to teach us a further lesson by breaking the driver side mirror off. Needless to say, Jimmies mood quickly turned sour. The worst part was all the toll roads we had to stop at. The mirror was tied with a shoelace and rolled up into the window of his seat, but every time he stopped to pay the toll he would forget, which made the mirror crash ferociously into the side of the car. Next would come a lot of screaming and ranting. It took several stops before we all could remember to have the back seat passenger roll the window down to deposit the money.
We had a bitter end to our beach day but it quickly was replaced by something good. As we approached our campground on a very quiet street we spotted three witnesses out in the preaching work. We stopped to say hi and tried our best to visit,despite that we know no italian and they knew no english. After a short visit the sister invited us to our home the next evening for dinner.
The next morning we woke and went to the Vatican. We decided to pay for a tour guide.This is a great way to spend your money we decided. The guide highlighted all the important parts. The boys all really enjoyed this. It seemed to bring history to life. I really feel like this opened a door of learning for them. I cant imagine that they wont love learning about history from here on out. It is a fascinating place to visit. The wealth of the vatican is obscene. We loved learning about michael angelo and seeing his amazing work. WE learned how one of the popes sidekicks insulted him so in return he painted him in one of the scenes of hell, with a snake eating off his penis. A very passionate artist indeed. We saw how he disagreed with Martin luther, who saw it was unscriptural to pray using rosary beads so he incorporated that disagreement i to one of his works also.It was so cool to be standing under the work of a man who knew martin luther, even though they did not agree. Michael angelo had enough of his own battles with the church but unlike martin he lived to be 89. We also saw a huge marble bath that Nero's wife would bath in. The marble they said is absolutely priceless.Its more the size of a small pool. She used to fill it with donkeys milk. We just read that morning in the acts book, how paul was released the first time by nero but then how nero burned rome down and blamed the christians because he wanted the land. Really its such an interesting place.
We drove then to patricias house who had invited us for dinner. We had a great evening. We tried our best to communicate, and I was surprised that it was easier than I thought. She had a very sweet husband too. She was so incredibly hospitable. There is so much to be learned while traveling like this. Not just the facts of history, but we can learn from other people. She cooked this fabulous pasta that is romes specialty. As if that was not enough, there was three different types of, crostini bread with different toppings all from their garden, then there was this delicious rice balls dipped in their homemade superduper fresh olive oil. Though our words were barely understood we were able to gather how she came into the truth. It was like a game of charades. She demonstrated how witnesses had knocked on her door, and she tried to hide. Then she peeked out the window and saw a very pregnant jehovah witness leaving. She felt kinda bad she had not answered the door to her. Then the next several days wherever she went there was a jehovahs witness, on street corner, bus station etc, they kept trying to talk to her and so she thought, man I cant get away so I may as well see what they have to say. Needless to say she had been pioneering for 26 years. Her husband was so cute. This sweet little guy kept trying to grab their cat for a snuggle. He wanted to cuddle that grumpy cat so bad, I felt sorry for him and wanted to go get him a nice cuddly kitten. The kids really melted the hearts of these people. We found out their son had died eight years earlier. With tears in her eyes she told us this. Cole and Brock especially were attentive to our hosts and ate everything they were given,even the bulgar salad (which was awesome but not something they would normally eat. ) By the end of the night the boys couldnt stop hugging this couple, and this sweet pair showered the boys with their italian cheek kisses squeezes and hugs. They asked if we could leave the boys in Italy with them. Joking ofcourse. I tell you, we have met so many warm and wonderful people, but there is something so special when you are with your brothers and sisters. A feeling of warmth and security and love that is just not found anywhere else.
italians.... I love them. They have a really great culture. loud, gregarious, generous and friendly. They love children. In general, everywhere we went the people are so nice to the kids. I love this about the culture. None of this children are to be seen and not heard crap. Last night we ate at our camp restaurant, they put up a bounce house for all the kids to jump in. None of these safety rules like in america. A bizzilion kids flipping, swinging, bouncing, screaming,diving. Nobody got hurt miraculously,but they sure had a great time. I wish i could have little mini italian people to carry in my pockets, because every time I felt sad or blue I could pull them out and they would make me some pasta and kiss my cheeks and I would always feel happy.

We ended up staying two more days in rome because it is so awesome. The most intersting, beautiful city in the world. I am sure of it. So much history, amazing food,amazing people. We spent a good part of our days in rome chasing jimmie at a full speed jog. Let me tell you, its a good thing he has so many great qualities because I was tempted to pitch an ancient brick at him a few times just to slow him down. Every bus, every line for a museum is a urgent rush for him and I swear his legs have jets under them, to make him walk so fast. Finally I had enough running and climbing over. Fences so I put my foot down. NO MORE RUNNING!! ok he promised. I know he tried hard to keep his promise, but as his friends say "squirrel" We were enjoying our open tour bus ride. When it came to the tower of the church that had six hundred stairs, he said we have to get off here, this is the one last thing i wanted to see. So as he gets off the bus he finds out he has ten minutes before it closes, Off he goes, Here we are running full speed to keep up with him, Im wearing a dress, mind you, and flip flops. He charges across a street, jumps a fence, runs speeding across a courtyard. By the time I catch him, Our friend ( a sweet girl from alaska,traveling alone whom we adopted for the day) says "I cant believe my eyes, he jumped over the fences past the security guards who were guarding the now closed dome,so fast they never even saw him, and he disappeared behind the doors" I was so glad kasandra found this funny. I cant believe she seemed to enjoy being with our crazy family. I really wanted to pitch jimmie off the coliseum walls at this point. So after a few minutes, he sneeked out of the closing church dome happy he had succeeded in seeing one last thing. I hope to come back to rome on a girls trip and do it without feeling like I just ran a marathon. So today I sent him on his own to sight see so We can all have a break.
Rome is a place I could spend a entire week or two easy.
Today we head back into tuscany. Going to see florence, then venice. Good thing about venice, is the boats will force a little relaxing I hope.
Well thats all for now folks. CHOW!!!!!

The grimes family yacht..... So after admiring the fifty million dollar yachts in Monaco, and observing the people sitting quietly on them looking kind of bored, we all agreed if we had our hands on that boat for an hour we would really have fun with it. We would swing from the balconies, blast the music, dive-bomb off the slides,skinny dip in the hot tub, dance like crazy. Really go for it. We looked into renting one for a day, 5,000$ Well as you can imagine, not in our budget. So here we were in italy, cinqueterre. An amazing part of the Italian riviera, with five ancient villages clinging to the oceans edge. No cars aloud. So you have the choice of paying for a trail and hiking on foot , train, or boats. Our first look at an Italian village. I LOVE IT!! Ok it's not France, which I would say is prettier in a way, but I love it just as much. It's so colorful, and happy feeling. The buildings are most likely Monaco and more....... So We went to Monaco because when you come to the south of France you just have to see that. It's pretty amazing, but personally I've had enough of super rich towns. jimmy paid nine euro for one beer. That is enough said about that. We left Monaco and headed for our first camp on Italy. It is very close to Monaco. It was so interesting, to come out of a tunnel and be in another country.We stopped for gas, and everything was different. The language entirely different of course, and we know NO Italian. The French are so calm when they talk. Everything is understated and flows like a gentle river. The Italian is opposite. Lively and loud and flowing more like a roller coaster. The clothing and architecture is different too.High heels galore. I am talking serious stilettos,and this was at the gas station, not Milan. We love italy. Grocery shopping is so fun here. The seasonings and pasta and quality of meat and vegetables. AMAZING! Last night I made a yummy dinner with all my finds. We have some of our best times sitting in our trailer with our cooked dinners just chatting. We are all so relaxed and end up having great laughs and conversations. JImmie loved my sauce so much last night that he huddled with the boys and had them massage me while he did the dishes. Man that must have been some good sauce. So sweet. I have the best husband. As I was laying their on my stomach, having my back and feet rubbed I said" I think I have gone to heaven" Tristan who was working on my feet said" yah but I think your feet have gone to hell" referring to my callouses. Before long they were singing I like big butts and I cannot lie. I'm afraid to say what their inspiration was. We went to meeting yesterday. I didn't understand a word, but we all loved it. The congregation all sang so loud and lovely. The warmth was just what you would imagine of italy. I absolutely love this culture. I think everyone in that kingdom hall came up and tried to talk to us. They were so beautiful and loving. They do the side hug kiss on the cheek thing, I can't get it right. I still hug like a hamburger, straight from the front and wrap my arms around like buns grabbing the patty. With this said, I ended up head butting a few people and accidentally ended up kissing their mouth instead of cheeks. Good thing Italians have a sense of humor. Well Internet has been hard to find. Hope to find some today, got to get in touch with Annika. We think she's coming after all, and were so excited. We all miss her sooo. We actually miss all our friends and family very much. Hugs and kisses to you all. Monaco and more....... So We went to Monaco because when you come to the south of France you just have to see that. It's pretty amazing, but personally I've had enough of super rich towns. jimmy paid nine euro for one beer. That is enough said about that. We left Monaco and headed for our first camp on Italy. It is very close to Monaco. It was so interesting, to come out of a tunnel and be in another country.We stopped for gas, and everything was different. The language entirely different of course, and we know NO Italian. The French are so calm when they talk. Everything is understated and flows like a gentle river. The Italian is opposite. Lively and loud and flowing more like a roller coaster. The clothing and architecture is different too.High heels galore. I am talking serious stilettos,and this was at the gas station, not Milan. We love italy. Grocery shopping is so fun here. The seasonings and pasta and quality of meat and vegetables. AMAZING! Last night I made a yummy dinner with all my finds. We have some of our best times sitting in our trailer with our cooked dinners just chatting. We are all so relaxed and end up having great laughs and conversations. JImmie loved my sauce so much last night that he huddled with the boys and had them massage me while he did the dishes. Man that must have been some good sauce. So sweet. I have the best husband. As I was laying their on my stomach, having my back and feet rubbed I said" I think I have gone to heaven" Tristan who was working on my feet said" yah but I think your feet have gone to hell" referring to my callouses. Before long they were singing I like big butts and I cannot lie. I'm afraid to say what their inspiration was. We went to meeting yesterday. I didn't understand a word, but we all loved it. The congregation all sang so loud and lovely. The warmth was just what you would imagine of italy. I absolutely love this culture. I think everyone in that kingdom hall came up and tried to talk to us. They were so beautiful and loving. They do the side hug kiss on the cheek thing, I can't get it right. I still hug like a hamburger, straight from the front and wrap my arms around like buns grabbing the patty. With this said, I ended up head butting a few people and accidentally ended up kissing their mouth instead of cheeks. Good thing Italians have a sense of humor. Well Internet has been hard to find. Hope to find some today, got to get in touch with Annika. We think she's coming after all, and were so excited. We all miss her sooo. We actually miss all our friends and family very much. Hugs and kisses to you all. older than France, and painted more colorful as they were in Spain. The paint was chipping off many of the buildings,which just added to the ambience. All the color of peoples clothing and linens hanging above from their windows also added more life to the air. Something about it just made me want to dance my way down the streets. So that's when Jim showed up like a prince with the grimes family yacht. Move over Donald trump, ....here come the grimes...It was this amazing blue yacht, to match the color of the endless Mediterranean sea. It glistened in the sun like a sparkling diamond,floating toward us. The boys leaped for joy!!! We all dove into the water for our excursion into the deep blue. It even came equipped with our own waterside. We pedaled our boat, as fast as we could to the open water. ( did I mention it was a pedal boat?) The best 45 euro we spent so far on this whole trip. For three hours we took turns pedaling to the next town. All the while dive-bombing,singing dancing, even a little skinny dipping. I have the most fantastic photo of Tristan sailing through the air, with nothing but the sea and blue sky surrounding him. ( though I've been sworn to not share this photo) It's priceless. We had absolutely the best day of our lives yet. So here we are in Rome.Actually just outside of Rome at our camp. As we were driving up the road , just near our camp, we saw three people walking . Two men dressed with ties, sporting book bags, a woman with a modest skirt. One look and we knew we were just about to meet two of our brothers and our sister. A very scattered conversation, some more sideways hugs and kisses. We are going to the sisters house for a spaggeti dinner tomorrow. So lovely to meet our dear family wherever we go. This camp is cool too. Laundry is half the price of everywhere else and the best part free internet! So that means I can upload twenty pages of this blog,because surely I have family and friends who are missing us as much as we miss them.

Monaco and more....... So We went to Monaco because when you come to the south of France you just have to see that. It's pretty amazing, but personally I've had enough of super rich towns. jimmy paid nine euro for one beer. That is enough said about that. We left Monaco and headed for our first camp on Italy. It is very close to Monaco. It was so interesting, to come out of a tunnel and be in another country.We stopped for gas, and everything was different. The language entirely different of course, and we know NO Italian. The French are so calm when they talk. Everything is understated and flows like a gentle river. The Italian is opposite. Lively and loud and flowing more like a roller coaster. The clothing and architecture is different too.High heels galore. I am talking serious stilettos,and this was at the gas station, not Milan. We love italy. Grocery shopping is so fun here. The seasonings and pasta and quality of meat and vegetables. AMAZING! Last night I made a yummy dinner with all my finds. We have some of our best times sitting in our trailer with our cooked dinners just chatting. We are all so relaxed and end up having great laughs and conversations. JImmie loved my sauce so much last night that he huddled with the boys and had them massage me while he did the dishes. Man that must have been some good sauce. So sweet. I have the best husband. As I was laying their on my stomach, having my back and feet rubbed I said" I think I have gone to heaven" Tristan who was working on my feet said" yah but I think your feet have gone to hell" referring to my callouses. Before long they were singing I like big butts and I cannot lie. I'm afraid to say what their inspiration was. We went to meeting yesterday. I didn't understand a word, but we all loved it. The congregation all sang so loud and lovely. The warmth was just what you would imagine of italy. I absolutely love this culture. I think everyone in that kingdom hall came up and tried to talk to us. They were so beautiful and loving. They do the side hug kiss on the cheek thing, I can't get it right. I still hug like a hamburger, straight from the front and wrap my arms around like buns grabbing the patty. With this said, I ended up head butting a few people and accidentally ended up kissing their mouth instead of cheeks. Good thing Italians have a sense of humor. Well Internet has been hard to find. Hope to find some today, got to get in touch with Annika. We think she's coming after all, and were so excited. We all miss her sooo. We actually miss all our friends and family very much. Hugs and kisses to you all.

I can't get enough of France...

I can't get enough of France.....
We are in the Provence part of France now. We unfortunately fell upon one of the very few bad weather days here, and it has been cloudy, cool ,and raining at times. But that has not dampened our zeal. So instead of working on our st tropez tan on the beach we took a drive in to Provence. We explored mid evil ,almost ,ghost towns. Very cool. We strolled around the sleepy little towns in practical disbelief that they were real. We had so much fun examining all the interesting doors and wishing we could open them all and snoop in. In one village we climbed up the hill to find a small castle,that is now a hotel and restaurant. We tried to have lunch but it was closed . They let us climb around though and we stood on the tower and looked down at the beautiful valley below.
By the time we finished that town I needed a bathroom. The only public bathroom was one of those weird porcelain holes in the floor. I was horrified to use it ,but desperate. I couldn't bring myself to step on the footholds on the side of the bowl thing,so I tried to pee keeping my legs off that nasty thing. It didn't work out well. I ended up peeing all over my shoes. I cursed that stupid toilet thing, I cursed my shoes, and I cursed a beautiful rich land filled with enough money for the best castles wine and cheese but can't provide a decent stinking toilet.
We stopped for lunch at a cafe with fantastic views. Cole and Brock were more interested in the moral decay of ants. Cole watched the ants on the ground and declared" mom that ant is cheating! I saw it mating with one ant, then it saw another ant and mated with her" Then Brock said " aaahhh mom this ant is trying to carry his dead friend and he dropped him." Cole watched for a bit the ant struggle to pick up his friend,then reached down and picked up the dead ant and tried to put him on the back of his grieving friend to help him out.
As the day went on I tried not to focus on my pee pee shoes. Our destination was verdon lake and gorge. It's the French version of the grand canyon. on the way we stopped at a cheese farm. We all really loved that. We bought some honey and really creamy,stinky cheese. They let us go into their barn and pet all the animals. The goats and sheep were so adorable, soft and friendly little animals who doled out the sweetest little lamb kisses.
As we climbed the mountain heading to the lake we drove through tunnels carved out of the rock that opened into amazing views of the canyon and mountain peaks. We stopped at one of the viewpoints and watched no less than thirty hawks sailing below us, seeming to have nothing better to do than take in the canyon and river views. It was both astonishingly beautiful and nauseating for me at the same time. The rest of the road trip, I tried to focus on the pee on my shoes instead of the cliffs of death and insanity on the side of me. The pee shoes were a great distraction from the thought of us all plunging to our death on this narrow , ridiculously high road that seemed to be right out of a James bond movie.
So here we are now at the lake, Brilliant and blue. We got here to late to rent the canoes and go up the canyon, but jim and the boys went for a dip and now we are chatting with some swedish girls, so gotta go.

We made a whole village of friends...

We made a whole village of new friends.....

There really is no short way to tell this story. So if your not interested I recommend not reading. The beginning started this morning in the cool, ancient village with the crappy public toilet. You see, it was our first real stop of the day. We were starving. We had not eaten any breakfast, and were craving a real breakfast. This is something that doesn't exist in France ,especially rural France. Let me rephrase that, it's difficult to find a American breakfast here, meaning bacon and eggs and such. We had only a little cash and the bakery was closed. So we find this tiny, and I mean TINY market. We had packed some cheese, so I went to see what I could round up.I was able to buy a single loaf of bread. The man said , after counting the loads in a paper bag, " no sorry they are all reserved" So we were in such a small town that they actually reserve their bread. ok so I bought what we could and we sat on a park bench eating our bread cheese and apples. The view was stunning!The village built on a cliff overlooking a magnificent canyon. The guy who sold me the bread was very nice, ( which will matter later)
After exploring a bit we got in the car and headed down the road. that's when we came upon the cheese farm. We spent our last cash on some cheese and honey. So I thought , we better get some more cash. I thought I remembered seeing a ATM machine in the last town. So we drove through the little town looking. We didn't see one. So we saw a man sitting outside a tiny restaurant enjoying an afternoon glass of wine. We asked for his help.Like so many French people we have met he was completely willing to try to help us despite his limited English. We had a brief conversation with him, but as we drove away we both said " what a nice guy" We both talked about how remarkably friendly people Are here. Also we asked about the restaurant he was standing in front of and found out that they specialize in truffles? Jim really wanted to try those, so we agreed we would come back for dinner.
So as evening came we rolled into the town.We asked the woman if it was ok to eat outside. In front of the restaurant, was kind of like a town square. The square itself looked over the valley with the most excellent view. So I thought to myself, this is why we haven't been eating out this last year, so we can enjoy it somewhere special like this.On the other side of the square was the village bar. Very small, and hardly recognizable as a bar. Before long the boys started complaining of being bored, so I said hey go play with those kids who were running through the square playing football. ( actually what Americans call soccer) So with the help of a woman from Belgium at the table next to us,they learned in French to say " can I play?" Before long the kids were immersed in a game of football , chasing the ball up and down the village streets. All the kids were so so cute. Some boys gave Tristan some French coins to keep as souvenirs. All we had with us was one American dollar, which they seemed thrilled to get. By the time dinner was over the kids had a new group of friends.
The whole while were eating our dinner, sitting in awe both of the view from the table of the canyon and also of this bar. It seemed all the towns people were gathered there together . Every now and then you could hear them burst out in some type of cheering. We couldn't help but think wow, what a great place to be from. As their kids all played in the carless street, boys chasing balls, little girls dancing and playing with cats, parents all laughing . It was surreal, like a magical place from a movie. Jim went to the bar see if he could pay with his credit card for a drink . No. Ok. To bad he really wanted to. Within A few moments later, a man walked to our table and said" I'm buying you a drink it's on me" It was the same man from the restaurant earlier in the day when we asked for help finding the bank. ( which we never found) So sweet! So as we sat their sipping apple brandy, Jim had to go and visit. I hesitated for a few minutes,but then I couldn't resist either. Before long I was visiting with a very friendly woman named Sylvia who was married to the man I bought the bread from. Her niece was this darling girl who is trying to learn English. We ended up staying for a long visit. By the time we left the whole village of people cheered us. Come to find out they thought jimmy was James blunt.haha.It was such a great night. The young French girl may come stay with us I California hoping to learn English better. And we now have many invitation to stay with people in that village. We probably wouldn't, but it was so cool to make friends with a whole village.

St tropez grimes style....

St tropez grimes style......



Where do I start ? So much I want to say. We had our first look at st tropez yesterday. We drove into the land of the rich and famous not really knowing what to expect, except,well...the rich and famous. Well, let me tell you one thing they know how to pick the primo land. Really, truly, a remarkable landscape. The only way I can think to describe it is, napa valley butted up to the mediteranian sea. The town itself is full of old quaint,buildings of course. They are mostly peach, like in Spain.Somehow though they are much cuter. Many have teal blue shudders on the windows, and bouganvalia, this bright pink flower grows everywhere. Also jasmine and lavender and ivy are growing either in old clay pots or directly up the buildings. Tiny, windy, alleys which I really love cute caffe's , loads of fancy shops. I saw one jewelry shop selling diamond martini glasses, can you imagine that? Some Louis purse shop selling ridiculous ugly purses for thousands of dollars. And ridiculous looking women buying them.
Never have I been somewhere more entertaining to people watch. I am fascinated by the motorcycle riders here.At home it is unusual to see females on their own bikes. Here it is commonplace. Not only do they cruise around, weaving in and out of traffic,completely cool and collected looking, they often have a cigarette hanging out of their mouth, high heels, and sometimes a little dog sporting his own leather bomber. . As for fashion, it's it's another world. All the rich people , or wanna be rich people ,are dressed ,so you know it. The men are all walking around with pink or red pants, rolled up on the bottom, and sweaters wrapped around their shoulders. I don't think ,it's incase they get cold. Even old farts are dressed like they just walked out of a GQ magazine. The women all walk around in spiky heels, skin tanned and leathery. Just fun to watch.
So today we wanted to do a little wine tasting and maybe dinner out. So the great thing about eurocamp is they have a babysitter service. So after doing background checks on our little dutch babysitter, we ditched those turds and headed out for a date. After enjoying the best mojito ever, we set out to find some food. We had skipped lunch and it was to early for dinner, so we found a market and bought some salami, cheese, baguette, a cheap bottle of rose wine. We found ourselves a park bench in the harbor and had the best view in all of st tropez! As we sat there, a brilliant idea was born. I thought, what if, wherever we went that was special, we pulled out a table cloth, some candles some dishes and food and made our own first class dining experience? Here we were sitting , enjoying the same thing that these people in fifty million dollar boats are enjoying, but we spent only 18 euro. Why not get some take out and make a beautiful table wherever we go? For instance, a sandy beach in monaco, a vineyard in Tuscany, a mountain peak in Switzerland ? And why not do the same at home? The best part of any dining experience is the atmosphere. So lay out your tablecloth on whatever you can find, light your candles, crack some wine and enjoy. We liked our idea so much we went and bought a table cloth, some cute melamine espresso cups,and some cheap take out coffee. We headed back to the docks, climbed over a railing and set up the most romantic coffee date ever. As we sat there surrounded by all this extravagance,I took a good look around. What made this place so beautiful was all natural.The water ,the green mountains, the blue skies, even the gray puffy clouds. All of this is free , and natural and wonderful. At that moment I had everything that I ever wanted, drinking coffee with my best friend on a forbidden dock in st tropez.

Languedoc and bike riding along canal built in 1600's

sometimes you get the best things when you least expect them.....




After a grueling bike ride along the beautiful mudi canal we had a unexpected end. First let me say that we took a wrong turn on the way to our destination,which made the ride longer than expected. So on the way home, I tried to to take in my surroundings. this canal was something on my top picks to see,with it's emerald green water, lined with huge trees draped in ivy. The tree trunks,were really pretty. I have never seen trunks like that. They are bluish grey swirled with shades of olive green and very smooth. ( I hate things that are not smooth) I tried really hard to put out of my mind the burning sensation in my rump. So I pumped as hard and as fast as I possibly could.Like I was in a race against Niels Armstrong. I used mental images like my friend back home who coached the mountain bike olympics egging me on. we made it almost all the way home and then jimmie saw a place he had to stop for a beer. it's a restaurant/ horse stable/ beer pub/ very expensive coffee machine. I welcomed the break so we stepped off our bikes and went in. We ordered some fries for the kids to snack on, and I visited the toilet. Pink toilet paper again, but as I sat down I realized the floor was completely covered in ANTS! GROSS! This place is like being In The heart of a cowboy movie, ( except in the middle of France) Jimmie said he loved it ,and it made him think of Bucky, who he is missing. I sat down and began the biggest fly swatting event in my life. Flies everywhere! Their is horses tied up in front of the restaurant , just hanging out, because they live practically inside this place. Jimmie decides to order a burger, Are you kidding me? The germaphobic king wants a burger here in this place? I decide to have. Another beer to renew my fly swatting energy. As our chef and waiter and owner I think, lights the fire for cooking we hear the bug zapper in the kitchen going nuts! Frying bugs left and right. He gets his burger. I've started my second beer so I say " oh what the heck " I take a bite. I can't believe it. it's the most amazing burger I have ever had in my life. The meat is not formed into a patty which makes it more like a sloppy Joe, the cheese melted and gooey and oozing is more like a high quality bri, a few sauteed onions ,amazing bun ( of course all bread here is amazing) I shooed the flies away dove in and ordered my own. The best burger of my life.

Theres a first for everything.....

today is the first time I ever recall wishing for a fatter butt. Today I wish I had a lot more padding actually because we are taking a bike ride, and my butt is killing me. I don't know how people ride bikes everyday, and I'm not sure why this seemed like a good idea. Well anyhow, it may be painful but it has been fun. We rode along the canal mudi, to an old city called agde. We sat next to some fancy restaurants on the water and enjoyed the view while eating our peanut butter sandwiches.We thought that was pretty great to enjoy the view for free and some American food actually tasted pretty good. then later we found an awesome little cafe on a skinny little cobbled street for some coffee and crepes. The best desert we have had yet. Hope it will pad my hiney for the ride home.
Tommorow we head to the land of the rich and famous. Monaco, st.tropez ,and what I'm really looking forward to provence, where I hope to see lavender fields and sunflower fields. So until next time...

I am really sorry...

I know I worried my mom and I hope I didn't make anyone else worry,because the last thing I wrote about was us Jim trying to get his stuff back. We were not dealing with hardened criminals, just a petty punk thief kid Who actually worked forthecampground. But regardless I'm sorry I worried you mom, Please understand that when we are driving from one plac to the next we have no Internet. Also each camp is different so sometimes they offer Internet, sometimes they don't. We are not foolish and are in very safe places. With the exception of thieves. Big deal it is only stuff. We are no more likely to come in to real harms way here than we are at home. So please try not to worry if you don't hear from us. Also what is wrong with dads feet? What did they say?

Speedos.....Speedos.... no success, in retrieving the stolen goods. Spent our last day in Spain,at the police department filing a report. It was interesting actually, kind of like when we first moved to grass valley and Brock broke his arm so we had the chance to acquaint ourselves with the local hospital. Speedos, here they call them proper swim atire. At home we call them banana hammocks. Here they are required. At home only perverts wear them. Well, when In Rome..... So Jim and the boys all barreled down the slides in their new proper swim attire. ( I should have packed a personal grooming kit for jimmy) They all said they shared a great laugh in the dressing room. Their must be a shortage of French music because all I ever hear over is American music. Right now it's " lay lady lay... Lay acrosss my big brass bed..." Funny how I actually love these ridiculous songs and wish I could belt them out right here right now. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be back in France. It feels like home to me now, after the detour to Spain. I feel like I am fluent in French. I am completely confident walking up to the bakery and proudly saying " janu Polly på France " ( I'm sure my French spelling is better than my English spelling) It means " I don't speak any French" Once that's cleared up I continue pointing like an American cave woman and make some grunting sounds pointing to the golden delicious baguettes I wish to order. Then ( I'm so smart) I use my fingers to show how many I want. Then I use my favorite word "mercy boucooo" " it's a hard ache nothing but a heart ache ," Oooh you know it's killing me they don't have karaoke. We still are all getting along well,although yesterday we talked about selling the boys at the nearest flea market. A two hour car ride from hell. Titty twisting, ball crushing contests, the window war, some screaming, farting, insanely loud laughing, and off the charts loud crying. We didn't sell them yet. I do wish we could make some friends. Haven't had any success locating a kingdom hall. It's harder than we thought. We seem to be the only americans at the eurocamps, which makes us feel really smart and cool but I'm wishing we would meet some cool people who want to put up with our caveman talk. Well folks I have to pay for Internet here,so may take me a few days to update my blog. Hope I'm not boring anyone, but I sure am having a good time writing about all the funny things that life throws at you. BONSWAA

Wars

Wars are being fought crimes are being solved....




Their is a war raging. A violent storm that of rage and vengeance. it's one that has been fought for generations. In families where cars exist, the war of who gets the window seat? The window seat is defended with such vigilance that you would think it was a life or death matter. The window seats I think are demonized, and when someone sits in them they Feel entitled to inflict bodily damage to anyone who tries to encroach on this territory. I wish they could invent a car with a seat on top or better yet I wish we could drive a limo around and close the window on the three raging brats in the back seat.
Jim is buisy trying to recover his stolen goods. He really is amazing, at the crack of dawn he was up investigating. He found out our suspected crook has a brother who works at the campground next door. He did some asking and found out he his name was Johnny. He walked to the next campground and saw a guy who resembled our suspect. He followed him until he heard someone call out his name. He then approached suspect number two and said " hey Johnny I hear from your brother you may have a computer to sell" A conversation ensued, in which Johnny ( suspect number two) openly talked about selling phones n such illegally. He bragged a out being able to crack phones and said " If I were at home I can get you just about anything" The nerve of a dirty rotten scoundrel! So we are waiting in the car packed and ready to peel out and jimmy is going to confront suspect number one and tell him to give us back our loot or else well turn him in the police, and he'll loose out on his privilege of going to college that he is enjoying. Well see how this goes.....

I failed to mention a few good things about Spain...

We had the best pizza in our life in Barcelona and it was cheap. Tapas menu are only nine euro. And although we didn't try, looked great. Also huge glasses of sangria.nice warm beaches. Enough said.

Inspector gadget is jimmies new name.......

I have a correction to make. We were not careless after all. That scoundrel of a criminal broke the window open from the outside. We saw this after further investigation. Jim is pretty sure he solved the crime also. We figured the crime had Tom e committed by someone on the inside foe the camp who knew we were out. Also Jim saw the eurocamp guy ( the shady one) staring in our car when we first arrived. Further research showed he has only been here two months , not three years like Tim the good eurocamp guy.Tim said in the three years he's been here he's never seen this happen.The shifty eyes and avoiding the conversation when Jimmie brought up the theft convinced Jim this is the crook who ripped us off. I have tried to not let this sway my opinion of Spain,but I am not impressed. Barcelona was as good as any city. Tim our camp host warned us though that if someone tries to wave us down and say we have a flat tire to just keep driving because they probably want to rip us off. So the whole day I was so overly Aware of thieves thAt it kind of rained on my parade. We become overly suspicious of eveyone, so when a man tried telling us their was something left on the roof our car, we smirked back " ya right buddy that's the oldest trick in the book" haha hahah you can't trick us. Later we found Coles journal on the top of the car.
So sianara Spain.Been there done that.

Spain- boobies and hooligans-

Spain is full of boobies and hooligans,




Yesterday we walked from our camp to the beach. The white sand and clear blue water made up for the ugly architecture here. As we walked down to claim our spot in the sand,the first thing the boys and I noticed is most of the women were topless. I remembered being warned of this but forgot until I got there. Every kind of booby you can imagine openly exposed, long tube like ones, round perfect ones, small strawberry ones. Young and old they all laid there seemingly unaware they forgot the tops to their swimsuits. Funny thing the only ones who seemed to notice was my boys and I.Even Jimmy walked by at first and didn't see ( or at least pretended not to) I had a really nice conversation with a sweet old English woman and tried not to stare at her tubes. I saw two middle aged men in speedos smoking right next to two hot chicks with no tops on and was amazed these guys seemed to care less. I guess in Europe boobs are like castles, seen one seen em all. Then it happened . Right next to me was a group of twenty something year olds. The girls of course were all topless,but I'd gotten used to that, but the young skinny very hairy man decided to take a swim. So off with his drawers....Twig and berries swaying in the breeze he casually walked to the sea for his swim. Again nobody seemed to care or notice except me who sat their with my mouth gaping open. Later he lit up a smoke and did some meditating naked. That was really entertaining. I imagined myself joining all these naked people, me running down the beach without a top, chariots of fire music playing in the background,the freedom and the sea air and warm sun on my bare flesh. I then imagined the shock and horror of my boys faces and how they would be scarred for life. Crazy imagination I have. Cool thing was within a few minutes they didn't seem to notice all the nakedness around them.
Hooligans.... We went to this ugly town for dinner last night hoping to try some Spanish food. We did, it was very good and the waiter who also owned the place was adorably nice. We came home to our trailer. Didn't notice anything. Not until this morning when jimmie was looking for his iPhone did we realize we were robbed while we were out last night. We were not savvy travelers. We left a window open and the criminals came in and stole jimmies phones and computer. So ugly! People are such jerks. We took a risk bringing it,but thought that we would outsmart the hooligans by our savvy travel habits, but we got a little to comfortable I guess. Grrrr. The only good thing is they didn't steal the whole computer bag which had jimmies camera in the bottom. I think they didn't want us to notice right away. Also they didn't steal my precious iPad. Poor jimmy.
Heading to Barcelona. Hopefully we won't be robbed again.

Yes one more drink...

And what's for dinner?and dessert?....

Something beautiful....

I knew that the time would come to see how european women live in their skin so much more gracefully than American women. I knew somehow they don't have the social anxieties of bearing their flesh without reserve, or without surgery or without boiling fat diet pills. I am here. Witnessing a beautiful woman oiling her round plump flesh and tanning effortlessly unworried of her stout figure. It is beautiful.I am proud and happy for Her. I hope to acquire this same sence of security possessed in a place where people are not judged by their jeans or the roundness of their oranges.And I may add I am in the perfect place to experiment with this desire,as the food is outrageous, and overcomes any desire to be a bony diet pill popping American.

Sleepless in sarlat... Sleepless in Sarlat.... I didn't sleep well my last night in Sarlat. It all started when Jim claimed he stepped on a cockroach. I examined the corpse attached to the bottom of his foot. Looked like a cricket to me. After asking me five times if I thought it was a cockroach I could see there was no turning back his assumption that he had indeed squashed one with his barefoot. It didn't really matter to me because, we already had eaten dinner so if I ate one, I didn't know it,if one pooped on my pork chop I didn't know that either and I'm still alive. I think that got him spooked for the night. Sometime in the middle of the night he swore he heard cockroaches on the curtain so he was up inspecting with his flashlight phone. Anyone who knows him knows it's impossible for him to whisper so he has to tell me about this in full volume. Then later he heard noises, up again...Then I guess all this had me creeped out because I kept dreaming that my scalp had some gross disease and I was pulling sheets of gross skin off of my head. We still managed to wake up fairly early and pretty quick here well be getting our first look at the mediterranean ocean.Hoping for a a good glass of sparkling wine and some tapas tonight.

Sarlat take me away...

Tonight is our last night in sarlat and the dourdogne region of France. It is reallly sad, actually I was just interrupted by the cute waiters dog jumping on me and my iPad and biting me.not a mean bite but a playful bite. Ok he's gone, so as I was saying this is a place I really hope to return to. I am somewhat cursed in that I can never visit a place without imagining myself living there,( just got bit again damn dog) ( I'm gonna drop kick him in the face next time) I stroll around here and can so picture living here. It is the most amazing place. Today we went to Sarlet and walked around the farmers market. I was totally in love. Anyone planning on visiting France should without a doubt come here. It's all the best things of Paris wrapped up into a manageable cluster. The winding streets,stone buildings dripping with ivy and roses climbing the walls. Cobblestone streets,charming cafe's but without all the hustle and bustle of a big city. The market was so much fun. One of the best things of eurocamping is the ability to cook for yourselfs. Today we found a vendor selling escargo in a pie pan all ready to go for only five euro. Brock and Cole asked for that for their dinner. Then we found a man selling olives and four different types of tapenade,which I bought the green one,some sort of basil tapenade. We rounded up some incredibly fresh tomato,asparagus, a few mushrooms and e en a truffle. Also we bought some truffle salt and truffle infused balsamic vinegar. Foodies understand what a delicasie truffles are. We are in the heart of truffle country.For anyone who doesn't know what they are , they are a very special mushroom that takes a pig to hunt for them. And let me tell you those pigs deserve a big pat on the back because the truffle is truly delicious. Tonight I sprinkled our grilled pork chops with the truffle salt.yumm! The olive tapenade went om some pasta with buttery galic,dried red pepper and fresh herbs from the market. let's just say dinners was enjoyed by all tonight. Brock and Cole absolutely love those snails.
So tomorrow we head out early for Spain,hope to be on the beach by the afternoon. We looked for the kingdom hall in Sarlet but couldn't find it. Brock prayed before dinner and asked that we hurry and find a kingdom hall because he really misses the meeting. I'm sure that prayer will be answered.
We are all getting along well,even Tristan and Cole seem to be bonding.The only thing Jim and I have disagreed on is soap. He has become such a determined miser in order to accomplish this goal,he insisted we buy bar soap because it last longer and is cheaper. Tonight I said I'm putting my foot down and springing for soap in a tube because I'm sick of cleaning up the slimy mess from the bar soap.So that was our big disagreement. Not bad for two weeks into this. Well that's all folks for tonight.

The pharmacy......

Next to the cheese shop and the chocolate shop and the bread shops the pharmacy may be my new favorite French hang out. After so much conversation. About our disgusting wArts we decided to head to the French pharmacy to see if they have any different cures. It was a little embsrasing to ask about the cure for warts,so I sent jimmmie in. Well well it seems we have our hands on some dr prescribed wart killer that singes the nasty little monster to a brutal death. So tonight while BBQ our dinner Jimmie pulled out the French instructions and his translator. We had a good laugh because you hold the dry ice fire down on the wart for twenty seconds, The translation said " hold your horses" that's because about second twelve my finger felt like it was going to self combust. But thanks to my childbirth training I hung tight and fried that little succer. BURN BABY BURN! Now I hold my head a little higher and feel this weird sence of pride that I am bravely killing this unwelcome visitor on my finger. Heck who needs the fire burning fat melter once you kill your wart you feel like a sexy mama all over again.

It boils like fire the fat away...

Today I decided to try something else French. After much enjoyment of croissants and bread and cheese and wine and beer,that I'd take look at the pharmacy to see if there are any diet secrets the French have with all this good food around. I saw all these boxes with a picture of a skinny woman pinching her bellyso I figured I must.b E in the right place.The woman at the pharmacy said " oh you want to be ready forzee summer" then pointed me to a box of packets that you mix with water and said while squeezing her trim leg " It boils like fire zeefataway"
All right sounds simple enough I'll try. I did climb 175 stairs today,but I was nursing a chocolate ice cream cone.I may come home from this adventure a new person in some unpleasant ways if I am not careful, or maybe I can just dri k this stuff and boil the extra calories away. Ill keep you posted on this one.

The knights templar...

Today we got a little history lesson,went to the a little of domme, where in 1307 the king had all the knights thrown into this prison under false accusations because he wanted to reclaim their land since he was going broke. The Knights carved into the stone walls. The first graffiti. The boys and jimmy all climbed up the tower walls to peer into the cross shaped windows and see the writing on the walls. We also took a cave tour in the middle of this tiny town is some magnificent caves that were discovered in 1912 by some ten year old boys who scaled a very steep cliff and castle wall to find. They were pretty awesome, filled with staligtites. This was Brocks favorite thing that he has seen. Cole was petrified. Poor guy, He is just like his gramma sharyn. I had to coax him in but he didn't like it. I kept trying to remind him these caves have Been here for thousands of years and his reply was( exactly that's why they are ready to collapse at any moment) Well he got through the end of it which popped out at a castle with most incredible view of this valley, the dourdogne river.
Jim makes a new friend every five minutes. He can't resist striking up conversations wherever we are.
If I were going to live anywhere I ever wanted I think this would be it. I cannot imagine seeing or being anywhere more peaceful and beautiful than this place.

Pool time....

Enjoying a little break from driving and sight seeing. I'm laying by the pool,soaking up the rays of sunshine. Brock and Cole are playing ninjas in the pool. They will be best friends forever I am sure. Bricks body is growing so fast he can't quite get a hold of his ninja moves. Pretty cute to watch.

One more thing about toilets...

If your lucky enough to find tp in France it's often pink. Just a little bit curious to me.I guess the French like pink? Also no luck with photos on the blog but Jim is putting them on facebook as I write this

The awesomeness just gets better and better...

So today we decided we had enough of the Atlantic ocean. To the dordogne region, Oh my gosh it's amazing. I can't believe it here. First of all, it's completely green and lush and full of wild flowers and mossy rocks and the most amazing trees. Then you add in chateaus and castles and rock walls. And if that's not enough there is more Fred flinstone homes built right into the rock mountains. Incredible! We just passed through all the coolness today, in a hurry to get to our campground so kids could swim and we could all eat. I was getting a bit nervous because it is sunday and we had no food and everything appeared to be closed. I had read our campground had a very good restaurant so we were very pleased to find it open. We slid up to the bar and had a great Belgium beer, then up to eat. WOW!!! How cool to discover the best food we have yet to have in France while camping. Only here can you camp out and eat escargot and duck and foigrau ( I can eat it but not spell it) THis is the very coolest place to stay, the restaurant and bar is in a very old beautiful house. The scenery is wonderful. Can't wait to wake up tomorrow. Well for now bonnuit!

Toilets

Toilets....
One thing I will never take for granted again when back home. We just stopped by a rest stop. The toilet was merely some sort of whole in the ground with a spot for your feet on both sides. Good thing I was doing squats for exercise at home. This will be valuable over the next month when I'll need that leg strength. I think I'm Going to put together a potty pack to carry around. I think I'll need that handy can of Lysol I brought, a clothes pin for my nose, rubber gloves, rubber booties ( because you know people are missing that hole and hitting where your stepping) toilet paper(their was none) and maybe hell maybe just a hazmat suit with a whole cut out in the bottom.

Loire valley.....vendee....


Well thank heavens for gps we made it safely to our destination in Loire valley. It is truly amazing. Don't misunderstand I love both London and Paris, but the French country is what I was really longing for. It is soooo beautiful! We had the most amazing blue skies, with puffy white clouds and perfectly pleasant warm weather. When we got to our camp sight it was everything we hoped for. The boys went nuts when they saw it. I think it's like a sandals resort for the working class. The first thing we noticed when we drove in was a skate park. Tristan was stoked. The mobile homes are great. Totally clean and comfortable. The First thing we did was stop at a store and make our first dinner. It is so much fun to cook somewhere else, different ingredients and nothing is familiar. I bought Dijon mustard, which is so good when you buy it near the actual Dijon area of France. then some chicken, some bouquet garni thing in the fridge section olive oil lemons potatoes. They use mostly this mâché salad greens which I rarely see in the states but is what they had most of. Parmesan.We were set. Oh I can't believe I almost forgot the most amazing butter and champagne that cost only about seven bucks. You can drink like a king here. Love it.
After dinner we went for a walk, got the first glimpse of the pool. Kids flipped. Then scouted out some go karts. I didn't think they would ever go to sleep. They woke up at the crack of dawn and they spent the whole day on those go carts and at the pool. The pool had three water slides which they ran up ,swung off of ,dangled from ,and compromised in every which way possible. The cool thing is they just don't have a lot rules here. They would have surely been kicked out of any park in the states for sure, but here they just let them run amuck. The Scottish park host just said " as long as their having a good time". The best part is they all had so much fun together. Tristan totally forgot about his headphones, and iPod. He just ran with the wind in his hair playing the way a boy should.
The next day we toured the Loire region. WOW!!!!! We wen to chateau usse. This is the castle that Disney used as it's inspiration for cindarellas castle. It was awesome. I loved it way more than Versailles. The setting is just so incredible. It overlooks the most pristine green valley. It's just so stunning, you should all google it. Hopefully tomorrow we can post some pictures finally. ( Were gonna try to figure that out)
A few more castles we saw then drove through vouvray. I think it may be the most beautiful place in the world. AND Fred flinstone could have lived there. Really cool houses built right into the side of rock mountains. I can't get over how much money must have been in France, because there is no shortage of castles, mini castles, everywhere you look. They must have been the homes of lords back in the day. I just can't get it out of my head. I have seen so many beautiful amazing things that I wake up dreaming of imaginary places that are similar to what I see but totally made up. that's a true story, to describe what an impression it made on me.
Jim has a new mission in life. To outwit the French governments road fees. The drive from Paris cost about 35 euro in road tolls. So yesterday while traveling to the town of tours,were following the GPS which told us to get back on the A10 which is one of the charge roads. Jim quickly went the opposite direction, convinced he could find a free way to get there. Long story short the way the GPS told us to go was free. Instead we paid 4 euro to make a u turn ( and an extra 35 minutes) to go back to the original spot where he defied the woman talking to us on the GPS. The good thing that has come with his determination to avoid the toll roads is we are driving on all the back roads and see a lot more this way.
I love French people. I seriously question anyone who disagrees. They are reserved,but so kind. They are so willing to be helpful,so gracious and mannerly.Today I ordered a bag of chips with my beer and they pored them on a plate. I thought to myself, How funny, that makes eating Chips so much more sophisticated.
Today we drove to the Atlantic coast. A really cool park with great waterside park for kids but were not impressed with the area. Seen one ocean seen em all. Tommorrow were headed to the dourdogne area.( I'm sure misspelled) Really looking forward to that.
We are really having a great time together. We are doing great getting along. Cole looked for sand dollars today on the beach and asked " mommy are they called sand euros here?" We all have at least one nasty wart which we spend a lot of conversation on. Tristan is the only one who successfully rid himself of the disgusting parasite. He told me he bit his off in class then dug it out with a pencil. I'm really getting to know my kids.
Well hope I haven't bored anyone, this is as much for me as all of you so I don't forget. I miss my friends and family and often think I wish so and so was here with me drinking this or eating that. Love you!!! Catch up soon

Technology rocks!!!!

Ok so some men figured out how to fly to the moon. That is nothing compared to the guy who created GPS.  Shoot time to go all update at the next stop. Headed slowly to spain.

The worlds crapiest tour...

Yesterday our friend Charles offered to take us back into Paris and watch the boys for us so we can have some alone time. How sweet is that? So we all decided it would be fun to see the underground sewer tour that we missed out on the day before because by the time we found it,it was closed. when we got their the first thing we said was " wow this is cheap !" Not easy to find a cheap tour of any kind here. So we paid and decended down the stairs into the dark underworld. Soon after our decent the kids said" Are you sure this isn't still a sewer because it stinks" I'm like " no this is where they filmed phantom of the opera it's gonna be so cool". Not much farther we could here the sound of rushing water and the sound of it falling. Tristan who was up ahead came running back dry heaving, as the sound was that of a river of sewer. Somewhow we missed the information that this is actually a real working sewer still. So we paid to learn about and see ad smell how parisians take a dump. What a deal. The kids were like " Mom this is the worst tour ever!" Tristan said "mom this is the shi###### tour ever!" I couldn't get mad because I had to agree. HahHa got to keep a sence of humor while traveling.
After that we decided to make Mexican food for our hosts. WHY In the heck Mexican? when we went to the market,you realize how far from Mexico we are. Terrible selection. after jimmmie braggging how good I make Mexican food, I thought this is going to be the worst meal of Anyones life here.But I pulled it off. We made tacos. It was Fu. Going to the market totally different than ours, and ohhh the cheese, the amazing cheese.
We had one of my favorite nights here, even though ludovics mom and dad don't speak much english, laughs and smiles are universally understood. they really are so sweet. we sat around and watched a French version of amican idol. It was pretty awful. I'm sure the French have many talents but I gather French is not one of them.
Today we are heading to Loire valley to our first eurocamp.Hope to have Internet connection so I can keep blogging. And still trying to figure out how to get pictures on here. Miss you all!

Buses, trains,and walking in circles.....

Yesterday we spent the better part of the day doing huge circles around the city. I am not sure if such a thing exists but, I think I had some sort of vacation blues. I kept reminding myself to be in the moment Nd enjoy everything I saw but I was loosing all hope that we were Going to have a good day.
then we found luxemburg park. the sun finally came out and we loved it. the kids had such a great ti e just rolling in the grass and tackling each other.It is the most amazingly beautiful place.
after that we stopped at a pub who was selling delirium beer for only 4 euro.Jim was elated, he said we buy that beer for ten dollars in the states. then we made friends with these French guys next to us. They ended up being so sweet. I am amazed at how nice French people are. He told me some interesting thi gs, he said the French media portrays Americans as being religious fanAtics.We had a great conversation about god and religion. Wethen asked if he knew a affordable place to eat. Log story short he and his pal ended up joining us for dinner, and we had the best time. Absolute sweetest guy, totally reminded me of Danny. as matter of fact Danny if your reading this, I invited him to stay with you. Us too but you so he can see sanfransisco.
It's light here till 10:00. That and the fact that we we're having such a great time, made us forget about the time. we had no idea it was well after midnight. hat meant we missed the train back to our friends house. Now I was in a kind of panic, no cabs around realizing how
Ate it was and that our sweet brothers and sister we're probably worrying about us. Our new friend invited us to stay with him, which was unbelievable to me. He tried to convince us it was pfectly ok. We no way could do that obviously but we did go back to his apartment and he called a cab for us. the cab driver had a heck of a time finding the place we were staying. when we arrived the family was totally worrying about us. It was awful, I felt so bad. The sister almost cried when we walked through the door. They had cLled both the hospital and the police. Ludvic was not so worried, but was up with his parents. Ire ally feel so bad about that. We had no phone to call, but our new French buddy offered his phone but iwas the one who saidI didn't want to wake them up.So we had him text ludivic and ask if it was ok to call but he never got the text. lesson learned next time call. Our dear brothers and sisters worry about their guests.

Paris with the boys....

today we took the boys into Paris. the family were staying with lives right above a train station in this really cool apartment. we first went to notredam. we all were sort of creeped out by it. They had the organs playing Dracula music. Very interestIng to observe. then we headed to the louve we decided not to go in because we figured the kids were to museumed out to go in today. we hung out in the Latin quArter and ate crepes. did tons of walking,I should come home skinny from this trip but I'm afraid all the walking can't keep up with bread and beer. I'm amazed that the French people have the tiniest washing machines and no clothes dryers. Ludivic reminded me though that French people are skinny so it doesn't require much room to wash their clothes.
the subways in Paris are stinkier than I remember. Cole has a hard time with the smells and the realization of so many germs around him. On the subway home tonight it was very squished and buisy. I had Cole and Brock on a chair and I was standing next to them. Across from them was this really gross drunk fat man. He kept falling asleep and I was terrified he was going to fall right on the boys or worse yet puke on them. Just as he was really heading for them like a cross eyed round sailor, a kind ghetto sort of guy grabbed his backpack and pulled him back in his seat. I will forever be great full to that guy, as I was so useless and having a panic attack that I don't think I would have dine anything but wAtch as that gross man squashed my beloved children. Cole would never have forgiven me.
I am so impressed with Cole. I told him how it's important to try to speak French as much as possible to have good manners. He has really taken that to heart, and try's so hard. He says mercy over and over and gets so many smiles. Brock is loving taking pictures. They all love the French friends we are with. I can tell that is a highlight for them.
I'm anxious to get to the country. I am really not a city girl. but I am having a beat time. Until next time... Aurvoir!

PARIS....

we took the train yesterday from London to Paris. Cry cool way to travel. The kids liked it also. so here we are in Paris. we are staying with brothers and a sister. It's really fun to see how people live different. Ludovic our friend here lives right above a train station.Can you say convenient! It's the coolest apartment.They came in two cars to pick us up with all our luggage at the train station.So kind. then the ultimate act of kindness, was ludovic carried my mammoth suitcase up the stairs. A winding spiral staircase to boot. They are so gracious. This morning they put a plate of croissants on the table and bread and nutela. I tell you, for anyone who has never been to France,you have never tasted a croissant.I am not sure what America does to bread,but it's nothing like what you have here.
Going to head to Paris

London....

It's pretty crazy here. It's like a huge New York with some castles tossed into the middle of the city. Londoners must love to shop because there are miles of shopping here. the best part of London is the diversity, you can eat any kind of food you can possibly imagine. We have loved the pubs, getting fish n chips and beer. THey let kids go in with you which is nice.
We searched for quit a while to find london tower. when we found the right bus Jim asked the guy ten times how to get there, finally Tristan yelled" DAD he said..." The guy said " Good the kid speaks English " so then he said he would announce over the speaker our stop. but when that happened we were all completely passed out drooling, catching flies the whole works, He had to come wake us up. I thought that was funny.
In the morning before that, we visited brittish museum. Saw lots of mummies,and preserved leathery dead guys. the kids liked the dead guys the best.
In London people are not very friendly for the most part.They will run you over by foot in the subways, and if your not careful plow you over with their cars on the street. I'm looking forward to Paris.
we have enjoyed lots of good food. The kids are really into the ham n cheese paninis.Everything is less sweet here. It's noticeable and really nice.
well that's all for now folks....Hope to be reporting soon

The Lion King

we took the boys to the lionking tonight at the Lyceum theatre. It was really cool. It actually made me cry during the first song it was so beautiful. I was so moved that after that I kept nodding off to sleep, infact my neck is sore from all the head bobbing. But with that said, For every moment I was awake I really enjoyed it. Tristan who protested going really liked it too. we all enjoyed.
Other than that we just walked around all day till our feet felt like they were going to fall off.London is a great city.It's really big though almost a bit overwhelming.
we had some great food today, There is a veery small moroccon deli near our hotel. this morning we were looking for breakfast and I opted to eat this Morrocon food for breakfast. It was awesome! for 5.80 pounds you choose 5 items on your plate, I had all vegetables and hummus and some lentils.It was sooo good. then we ate Indian food for dinner, I loved that too.
well thats all I can think about for now to tell. So till next time....

Bedbugs....

I truly don't care if I were being bitten by a truckload of cockroaches right now, I feel we all need the sleep so bad, But Jim is awake a few hours into our sleep,exsming the sheets with his flashlight phone trying to catch nasty little varmits in the act. He thinks he was bitten b something, I think he was dreaming. this requires another dose of sleep aid for me. He is telling me of the bedbug feces he's read about. I wish he would take my stress Aid.

One more potty fact.....

I found it fascinating that to flush the toilet in our hotel, there is a button on the ceiling above the sink! Weird ha? we searched low and then high to find it.

Oops I must be really tired....

Now I see where I was sup post to type so if you want to read about our day then click on the comment under the last post,that's where I wrote it. I'm to tired to figure out how to move it.

So far really enjoying my kids and we haven't even got on the plane yet

So far traveling with three boys is a bit more challenging it's taken over an hour just to check in, somehow getting 5 seats together on a full flight is rather challenging. But were all in good spirits, we have had very helpful airplane worker ladies, and hopefully wil be getting stripped searched soon.

Testing again

My errand companion, the best man ever!

A bilzzilion errands to be done in order to leave dot two months I need serious caffeine for the next few days

I would feel so brilliant if.....

I can figure out how to text pictures from my iphhone . I set it up but the stink in picture did not go through.

Trying to pack light is for the birds

This is truly proving to be a challenge to pack light, Let's just factor, it's not a girl thing. I went schooling today for all the remedies incase something goes wrong. I have jet lag pills,sleeping aids, something in case we catch a cold, something else for a flu. then there is the anti stress aids incase ( I mean for when,) I want to commit hairy carry on my family. and then there is the childrens version of anti stress aids to deal with Coles phobias of planes, trains and boats. nd of course motion sickness pills to deal with the new car smell that made me puke out the window in Paris last time. Of course I need something for the inevitable travellers tummy and the embarrassing isssues that follow that. so with all of that how will I have room for my shoes? I really want to pack my pillow, how about a hair dryer for my great new haircut? Hmmm decisions decisions......