A bientôt Aix en Provence....

And our 10 months in Provence has come to an end.....

We are down to our last 12 hours in Provence.  We will miss Provence.  It has been an amazing journey, and well worth every little bump in the path.  We have made some wonderful new friends, learnt a new language, saw a little more of the world, and spent some great time together as a family.  We played hard right until the last possible minute, and it is with mixed feelings that we board a plane back to Calgary, Alberta, Canada tomorrow!

Saying good bye has been hard, but, I guess that means we had a wonderful year.  And, as someone said to me today, not "au revoir", but "a bientôt"--not goodbye, but just "until later".

So, A bientôt Aix......you will be held fondly in our hearts.....

 

12 days.....

What to say.....12 long days....12 incredibly short days.....
It is with mixed feelings that we prepare to head back home.  We arrived Aug 24th, 2011, and after 10 months, we will hop a plane and move back to Alberta.  It is harder to say goodbye to our adventure here than I thought it would be.  In the last few months, I feel that we have really become a part of this community.  The boys have made some really good friends, who they will be sad to leave behind: there has already been talk of coming back for vacations, and Skype dates!  I have met some wonderful moms, who I am sad to leave behind as well.  I will even miss the teachers at the schools--having helped with the classes all year!  I will really, really miss the sunshine and heat!!! Oh, and very few mosquitoes!!
But, I also cannot wait to be home.  To see our families, our friends, and do all our normal "stuff".  I can't wait to be in a bigger house (more than a 100 sq ft), and for the kids to have some space away from each other!!  I can't wait to drive my van, and have a box of Wheat Thins!!!  And how nice it will be, to just walk into a store, and get what I want, without prepping myself first as to what words I need!!!
And on that note--wouldn't you know--I think I starting to speak a little bit of french!!!  It first started Monday.  I dropped Joshua (and all the other boys) back at school after lunch, and as he walked into the school, I realized I forgot his swimming bag at home!!  I had 10 minutes to get to the house and back before they left for swimming.  I had 2 little boys with me, and 600 M there and back--MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!!!!  I quickly ran up to the school door, and threw out to the Jacob's teacher standing there: "J'ai oublié Joshua's sac pour la piscine!!  Je cours a la maison très vite."  Might not have been perfect, but I didn't get a "Quoi??"    And, since my little boys are rockstars--we made it!!!!
Tuesday was library morning at the preschool, and without Todd here to help this week (he got a job back in Calgary--that's right, he has to go back to work!!!), I was going solo!!  Which meant, more French!  Too bad I am just starting to feel comfortable using the language, and I only have 12 days to go....Oh well--I told myself all I wanted out of this year, was to be able to go back to Okotoks, and be able to help better at the kids French Immersion school, so I think I accomplished that goal!!!
But, I think that is enough blabbering for one day!!!  Here are a few, unrelated to this post, photos!!  All from the last week!!!

As part of the Fete Committee, I helped 2 other moms build these baskets for the year end festival tomorrow night.  This was the first time the school built "Paniers" for raffling off.  I think they look great, and have been a big hit.  Tickets were for 1 Euro.  Notice all the fancy cutouts and wrapping on the baskets themselves--yeah, that was me being creative.....

Another lost tooth!  All Joshua wants for Christmas is his two front teeth!!   

Fort building at its finest!!  

We were joined by two of the other Canadian (from Toronto) families for an afternoon noon at the base of Mt Saint Victoire!  A wonderful afternoon, with a lot of great boys!!!

The head chef of the family!  

I cut all the vegetables, but Noah made the salad all by himself!

Lancer la Vache!!!!

Okay, so we didn't launch any cows this past weekend, but Joshua was able to launch a water ball from a catapult as we finally made it out to the Château des Baux and the Carrières de Lumières.  It was an amazing adventure, and my only regret is that we didn't find it sooner, so we could go back and enjoy it over and over again!!! 

Joshua is on the far side, in the red t-shirt.  He pulled the rope, which in turn pulled the pin.  He also got dubbed a knight after he helped!

The drive out to Baux de Provence is relatively flat, with vineyards and orchards along the roadside.  The, all of sudden, these hills (the Alpilles) appear in front of you.  From the direction we approached from, you could see a row of rocks--cliffs, really--and built into them was a ruin of a castle.  You could see how the castle had once stood strong, but overtime, nature had gotten the best of it.  

We continued on past the Chateau, on roads carved out of the Alpilles, to the Carrières des Lumières.  The caves were once a quarry, and it is spellbinding to walk into them.  You enter through a grand rock face, and walk through a swinging door.  Nothing prepares you for the vastness once you enter!!!  The cave is in darkness, with classical music playing, and a light show projected upon the walls.  Paintings of Van Gogh and Gauguin fill the walls, and the floors.  I will admit, I had a few tears come to my eyes in the first moments of being in the  cave, as the astounding beauty washed over me.  I know the video on the website will not do it justice, but really, click on the link above and watch it.  


We continued our day by next wandering back up towards the Chateau.  We entered through a pedestrian only village, with quaint shops, and restaurants.  It is these little villages that I love--cobblestone streets winding as you climb the hill, gorgeous views as you look out over the village walls, some buildings in ruin, and so many little paths to follow.  


 We entered into the castle and made our way towards the Catapult launching.  The boys were amazed by the size of the catapults, which we looked at while waiting for the activity to begin.  Once the show started, the performers asked for some "petits enfants" to help--Joshua's hand shot up and he was picked!!!

We wandered through the ruins of what was once a grand château, with the boys wandering into many nooks and crannies, and proclaiming "I am sure this was the dungeon" or "this is where they must have made the weapons".  Really, we have 3 experts on castles.....

  

Joshua was also able to partake in the shooting of a bow.  How could any little boy not fall in love with this Château???  

 And to end of tour of the castle, we joined in on a duel (and discussion of medieval weapons...).  Nathan and Joshua both got to help out this time, with Noah saying, "When will I be big enough???"  Nathan was given an axe-type weapon twice his size, and Joshua a club that he could barely hold up it weighed so much.  I worried for their safety the entire time they were up there, as they weapons looked like they could really hurt someone, even in it was just by accident.....


 Both boys got "knighted" again at the end, and I wish I had videoed this part!!!  Nathan was asked to step out from the line, and kneel down in front of one of the performers.  He held his axe up straight, and kneeled down, resting his forehead on his weapon.  He looked truly humbled to be receiving this great honour!!!  
 Joshua approached next, and while down on one knee, attempted to hold his mace up tall--it just wasn't possible and it kept falling to the crowd.  Of course, this got giggles from the entire crowd, and Joshua just shrugged, grinned, and finally laid it on the ground beside him...Seriously, between the two of them.....I was one proud mamma!

As you may have noticed, our Mr Jacob was absent!  He was out for a weekend of camping with the Scouts!  We are very proud of Jacob for setting out on these overnight adventures, where it is a full weekend of French, and new foods......


    

Prague

The kids had a three day weekend last weekend, with the Monday being the holiday.  They also don't have school on Wednesday.  So, we came up with the brilliant plan to take them out of school on Tuesday, and go somewhere......

But we didn't really plan this vacation in advance, so as off the Friday morning, we still hadn't booked to anywhere!!!  By noon, we had decided that Prague was the destination.  We had heard many great things about Prague, and it certainly didn't disappoint!  

It was a beautiful city, with grand architecture and colour.  It was kid friendly, with many playgrounds and restaurants that even had a kids corner in them.  The prices were also very reasonable, which made it even more attractive! 

It feels kinda crazy that we just decided last minute to go to Prague.  We are really going to miss the opportunity to visit so many places.  We really tried to take advantage of that this year, but it still feels as though we have only scratched the surface of our desire to see the world...

The kids enjoyed big bowls of ice cream, complete with whip cream, gummy bears, and a sparkler, for under $2 CDN.  

Todd enjoyed copious amounts of beer, most of them for around $1.50 CDN for a pint.  I think this is why he pushed so hard for Prague....

We even enjoyed a nice boat ride down the river.

And here the boys are on the crowded Charles Bridge.  I am not sure how we managed to get a photo with no one else in it, as it was almost shoulder to shoulder all the way across!

We took a nice steep walk up to Prague Castle.  It was quite the view from the top!

Saint Vitus Cathedral.  

The tower holds the largest bell in the Czech Republic.  It was 287 stairs up to the top.

And here is the big shocker of the trip--I drank a whole glass of rose wine!!  I couldn't walk down the hill afterwards, but I thought I would class it up as we sat overlooking a vineyard near Prague Castle.

And here, Joshua attempts to lift Todd's 1 litre of beer!!  

The astronomical clock in the Old Towne Square.  On the hour, the clock rings, and a guy comes out on the roof and plays the trumpet.

The streets of Prague....

The ZooPraha was amazing....It was huge, and some of the enclosures were gigantic!  We spent a good part of the day exploring this wonderful spot.

And, we rode up this little chair lift!  Can you say scary??? The two little boys sat one with each of Todd and I, and Jacob and Joshua had to go solo!  It moved along a fairly fast speed, and went straight up.

And, remember the part where I mentioned that Prague was quite kid friendly??  Well, here the boys are, at the airport, playing on the XBOX 360 while waiting for our flight to board.

Paris

Paris is truly a beautiful city, and even if you went a 100 times, I think there would always be new things to see.  Or for me, I never seem to tire of seeing some of the beautiful landmarks again and again!

 The whole reason for our 2nd trip to Paris this year was to go to Euro Disney!  It was fun, but the line ups were long, and it was very crowded.  It made us all long for Disney World!!  I seem to have forgotten to take pictures in our 6 hour whirlwind tour of Disneyland Paris....desole!

Joshua and Nathan sitting outside the Musee d'Orsay.  We spent a few hours in here one morning.  Our favourite game--ie: distract the kids so we can look at art--to play is pick your favourite painting in the room and tell me why!  You'd be surprised what gets picked, and how insightful they can be.  After our year in France, I think I can say that our kids can pick out a Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, or our local hometown "Peinture", Cezanne!

 And what boys can say "no" to cannons!  This was at the "Place d'Invalides", where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried.   We were travelling with my Aunt and Uncle, and the boys got a very interesting story of Napoleon while overlooking the tomb.  The stood spellbound for over 20 minutes, barely blinking.....

 And, after a quick 3 full day journey to Paris, we had some very tired boys on the TGV ride home.  Luckily, it was very quiet, and everyone could have their own sleeping space.