Saturday, March 15, 2014

Super Besse

The French school calendar is one of my favorite parts of living here.  The kids go for 8 weeks, then get out for 2.  Love it!  It gives us plenty of time to take trips, hike, ski and just relax and have fun.  We kicked off our latest school break with a couple days of skiing at Super Besse.  




To give you an idea of how much our French is progressing, we thought we had signed the kids up for two days of ski school, but we had actually only bought their ski passes.  By the time we realized our mistake, ski school was full, which meant that Ethan got to run his own little ski school--haha!

Baylor and Emory picked it up quickly and had a ball.


This chick, on the other hand...


Gave me an ulcer.

Ethan taught all three to "make a pizza slice" with their skis if they needed to slow down.  

Baylor and Emory totally got that.

Kennedy didn't make a wedge once.

As soon as she'd get off the chairlift, she'd put those skis straight out and fly down the mountain!  Every time she fell or got tangled up in a net, she'd lose at least one ski, goggles and a mitten or two.  

Me:  Kennedy--why aren't you making your pizza slice?  Do you not understand how to do it?
Ken:  Because I like to go fast.
Me:  You can still go kinda fast but be under control too if you make the pizza slice.  Then you won't fall and have to put all of your stuff back on.
Ken:  No, thank you.  I'll just go really fast.

The beginner slopes have a teleski lift that pulls you up to the top of the mountain.  Inevitably, one of our kids or one of the ski school kids would wipeout on the teleski, let go of the bar, and the workers would go get them and put them back on.  No big deal.

Kennedy, on the other hand, would fall off of her skis, but hang on to the bar while the worker is running next to her yelling, "Arret!"  and Ethan and I are somewhere behind her yelling for her to let go. Every time she would fall off her skis somewhere between the base and the top and let it drag her all the way up.  Hysterical!  Wish I had a picture.

Super Besse was awesome.  We had lots of laughs and the kids loved learning how to ski.  Cheers to the French school calendar!!!  And God bless the skiers and snowboarders who dodged Ken for two days straight!


Thiers


A few weeks ago, we headed up to Thiers--a town 15 minutes away from Clermont that is famous for its high quality knives.  





Beautiful cathedral.


I'm pretty sure this is Saint Augustine--the great theologian from Northern Africa who helped the Christians of his time sort through important doctrinal issues.



Sunday, February 23, 2014

Montpeyroux

In France kids don't go to school on Wednesdays until second grade which is awesome. It gives you a full day to explore the city and surrounding area.  Last Wednesday we met up with the Williams kiddos and headed to a farm in Montpeyroux.


Check out this pig.  


Only in France...



The farmer saw how much the kids were enjoying the animals and motioned for them to follow him.  He opened the door to one of the barns and they got to meet this baby goat.


Afterwards, we explored the little village of Montpeyroux and walked all the way to the dungeon at the top.  Fun day with these little adventurers!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Party + Visitor = FUN Sunday

One of Baylor's best friends at school is a little boy from Mexico City named Andres.  He is adorable.  And the added bonus for me is that his mom is awesome AND speaks great English.

Today was Andres' Birthday party.  

He celebrated by giving Baylor a ride on his Harley ;)


Seriously...how cute is he?!?


The fun day continued when we got home.  Tim Lyle, one of our closest friends from Greenville, came over for dinner.  He brought all kinds of goodies for the kids--mint Oreos, candy, headbands for the girls, a claw for Baylor, fun socks.  He and Laura knew exactly what they'd like--living in Prague will do that to you!  We had a ball chatting and catching up.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Sister Love

These two...


When I tuck them in at night they're in separate beds, but when I check on them later, they're always in the same bed.  

Love that.  

They've been through so much together in their short little lives.  I hope that they'll always be this close.

On Friday this guy lost one of his front two teeth!


In France the "Petite Souris" (little mouse) comes to take the tooth and leave a few €, rather than the Tooth Fairy, so Bay was super excited about that.

Check out this awesome moving job.


This is a shelving unit that I convinced Ethan I could help him move because I so wanted it out of the Guestroom.  We somehow got it through two doorways, but because the steps spiral, we didn't have enough space to make the turn.  It was probably too heavy for me to begin with, but when he said we needed to bring it back up, I started laughing and accidentally dropped my side!  

So, it sat lodged between the basement and 1st floor for a few hours until Ethan sawed it in half.  

Never a dull moment!

Friday, February 7, 2014

We need one of these in SC!

A restaurant attached to Geant Casino WITH a play area.  Heaven.


Need to make a mental note that the treat in the kids meal isn't pop rocks.  It's an envelope of seeds.  Emory learned that one the hard way.


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

A small slice of America

Watching the Super Bowl halftime show on their lunch break...


Wish I had recorded the dance party that took place immediately afterwards!