A visit to Pays-Bas (Holland)

We enjoyed a great visit to Holland, to see some of our relatives (Todd has aunts, uncles, and cousins living there).  The boys were very excited to see where Opa grew up, and meet new cousins.  The weather was good, and we did not get rained on while we were out!

 Lunch in a pub, that also had loads of board games for the boys to play--a winning situation for everyone!

 Playing games at the cousins house!

 Happy birthday Auntie Trees!

 I do believe Todd and his sisters had their picture taken in front of this tree, as it was in front of the home where their grandma, Oma, lived.....

 Feeding fish!  We took Jacob here 7 1/2 years ago, and Todd used to go there too as a young boy!  It is just outside Wijhe, where Todd's dad grew up.  There were so many fish that we went through 3 loaves  of bread, and many of the fish were pushed above the water as they tried to get the bread before another fish.....

 Dad and his boys at Oma and Opa's grave.  The boys collected lots of precious rocks and dandelions to place on the grave--seriously, Noah had coat pockets full of treasured rocks that he had been gathering, and he shared most of them with Oma and Opa.

 We walked over to the school that the boys' Opa went to, and school had just let out for lunch.  These two boys heard us speaking English, and wanted to practice.  They asked the boys' their names, where they lived, and they even counted to 10 in French together.....they had pretty good english for 12 year olds!

 This is the farm where Opa was raised.  We didn't get to go in, but the boys got to see it from the outside!

 Walking on stilts with Uncle Gerard!

 Chocolate bread for breakfast--the kids were in heaven.....

 At Floriade, a flower festival in Holland every 10 years.  Yes, we took our kids to a flower festival...can you believe we had to drag them out after 5 hours......

Visiting with cousins on the farm....The boys were all so close in age, and they played so well together all day!  Thanks for a great visit!

4 boys in a wooden shoe....

Visiting with Todd's aunt and uncle.

Jacob Votes--Election Francaise

Today was the day that the president of France will be decided.  Jacob, for "devoir", had/has to draw what an bureau de vote looks like, who works at a bureau de vote and what their role is.

Since we know nothing about the procedure here, Todd and Jacob decided a "sortie" was in order--and off they went to the closest bureau de vote!!!

This voting station is next door to Jacob, Joshua, Nathan and Noah's school!

Step 1: Take each of the candidate's cards

 Step 2: Take a blue envelope

 Step 3: choose a voting booth, put your decided candidate's card into the blue envelope, eat or destroy in some other manner the other candidate's card.....

Step 3: Go see the President of the Bureau de Vote

 He confirms your identity.

Step 4: Drop your vote into your the locked box.

Step 5: Your name will be checked off on the voters list.

Here, the secretary of the Bureau de Vote, shows Jacob how they will count the votes at the end of the night.  Each box gets crossed out for every 5 votes.

And this is the official form that will be submitted at the end of the evening.....

They were very welcoming when Jacob explained that this was part of his homework, that he was from Canada and didn't know exactly how things worked!  Overall, a really great homework experience for Jacob (and us!).

4 Countries, 4 Meals--1 Day.....

Something to eat in each country....

Netherlands for breakfast!  The boys favourite:  Bread with chocolate sprinkles!

Köln (Cologne) Germany for lunch:

Liege, Belgium for afternoon coffee.....

Back to Holland to catch a flight....

And finally, Porto, Portugal for a midnight snack!

Carnaval--the kid friendly version!

Carnaval came to town today, and we headed down to the Cours Mirabeau, not knowing what to expect!  This was the description on the tourism website!  We knew a parade came through at 3 pm, and that was it!!  


Le thème retenu pour l’édition 2012 du carnaval d’Aix sera celui de la Nuit, de la nuit vécue, les sorties, le cabaret, la fête psychédélique à la nuit inconsciente, le rêve, le cauchemar, ses anges et ses démons.


The theme for the 2012 edition of carnival of Aix is one of the Night, the night life, cabaret, psychedelic party the night unconscious, dreams,nightmares, his angels and his demons.


We had a great time!!!  We were joined by friends from Canada, and the kids loved it!!

The kids loved the confetti!  The parade participants were tossing out bagfuls of the confetti at the kids! The kids quickly got into the theme by scooping it up off the ground and throwing it back!!

Not only was the street full of confetti, so was my purse!!!  

1 minute de bruit pour se faire entendre!!!

What's a Tuesday night without a small protest????  School cuts happen in France too!  At Jacob and Joshua's school, the parents have been told one class is being cut.  They do not have funding for the 5th teacher.  So, this means larger classes, mostly likely combined grade levels, and some kids having to go to a different school.  Obviously, none of this sounds good to parents!  We have shown our support int he actions of the parent council, first with a "noise" session outside of the school a couple weeks ago, and just last night, a session outside the town hall!

This was the video from our session last night.  We made noise for about 25 minutes.  We were right outside the doors of the town hall to start, so that any councillors had to walk through the group to get inside.  The president of the parent council was talking to each member as they enter into town hall, explaining what we were doing, how it was impacting our school.  As the meeting started, the group moved into the town hall courtyard.  This is where the video is taken.

Todd, a local celebrity now!!  This was the first session outside the school!  The article ran in our local paper, as well as the Marseille paper!  

And this is the email we received about participating in the event!  

MARDI 10 AVRIL à 18h devant l'Hôtel de Ville, 1 minute de bruit pour se faire entendre !!!

Dans la continuité de nos actions contre les fermetures de classes, nous vous incitons à participer à un rassemblement lors du prochain conseil municipal de la 

mairie d'Aix.

Il faut être nombreux pour se faire entendre de nos élus.  

Stuck on you....

Just wanted to say a big "THANKS" to Aunt Shirley for wonderful Easter Cards (and a small Cadbury Creme Egg each!  These are the latest ones, but the boys also received similar "mixed media" cards for Halloween, Christmas, and birthdays!  The boys fight over who gets to check "la poste" every day, in hopes that there might be mail from Aunt Shirley!!

The boys loved the little picture of me in the corner, holding a real bunny rabbit one Easter!! 

Noah loved his card, and promptly pulled all the little bits off!!  He wore this around for a while, and plays with the little lady bugs and butterflies daily!  

Poisson d'Avril

I know I have raved about our upstairs neighbour (voisin) several times, but I will do it again!!! This past Sunday was April Fools Day, or in France, Poisson d'Avril.  M Dougnac was kind enough to give Todd and I a write up about Easter, April Fools Day, and Palm Sunday!  He didn't want the kids to miss out on the tradition of what happens.

Traditionally, on poisson d'avril, children will cut out paper fish, and try to stick them onto the backs of their friends, without them knowing.  The boys were sent home with paper fish on Friday from school!!  This is the trick of the day!!
 As well, parent will hide chocolate fish out in the garden!  And here is where the neighbour ROCKS!  We woke up on Sunday morning to a yard full of paper fish, hung from trees, the clothing lines, etc, and lots of aluminum fish with a treat inside each one!  The kids were over the moon!!

After we returned home from church (Palm Sunday/Les Rameaux), there was a game set up for the boys. They had to see how many boats they could get out of the water using chopsticks in 1 minute!  They had a great time!