Our First Visitors...Family Reunited!! And Yet Another Road Trip

We were so excited to have our first visitors come in the last week of April!!

Mom, Beth and Connor had a blast with Auntie Cora and Tess (in the rain). We won't mention how Mom got confused on their arrival date...ahk!

                                     

Bezier

Our favourite (and only!) sushi place in Pezenas. 

Tessie patiently letting Connor teach her the calligraphy he has been learning at home.

Waterall in Montreuil Bellay. 

Silly, generous Auntie Cora buying Tess and Con giant stuffed animals - just to make air travel a little more interesting!

Shortly after Tess and Auntie Cora left, we are happy to say that our family was REUNITED!!!! And it feels so good. We are also thrilled to have Becca (niece/ cousin) with for the next month!! 

We've been having a great time with all of us here!! It's now Amanda writing the blogs :)

The last few days have been filled with nothing but tons of fun!! 

We all arrived Sunday afternoon and were greeted by gorgeous faces and signs!!

Then Monday Connor went off to school as usual, and the rest of us went for a workout and then for a wine tasting and lunch at a beautiful Vineyard!!

Our instructor - every day. She was sooo hilarious and great!

Tuesday; Connor had school again, poor thing (his last day though! Woohoo!!) and the girls went shopping in Bezier (a town about half an hour from our house). 

Wednesday we all went to the beach!! We were so blessed to have perfect weather; it was 30 degrees!

Mom, Beth, and Becca all got sun burnt, but we still had a great time!

The beach we spent the day at was in Meze and we were able to take a boat tour of the little enclosed bay!

 Thursday we left for a short road trip!! We drove to Cannes and saw them setting up for the film festival next week while we walked along the beach and ate a very nice lunch at a beach-front restaurant. We then drove over to Nice and did some shopping!! We also drove along the Promenade des Anglais.

We drove all the way to Sanremo, Italy (about a 4 hour drive without stopping from our house in Aumes).
We ate dinner at a nice Italian restaurant and we had pizzas and calzones that were bigger than our heads!!
We also had an awesome waiter who was super understanding when Connor hulk-kicked the bathroom door down... Long-story ;) We stayed at the Hotel Paradiso which was great! The girls were in their own room and Mom, dad, and Connor were in the room right below us!

Beth and Con taking another chilly dip (with Mom!) in an Italian unheated pool.

After spending the night in Italy, we drove over to Monte- Carlo (in the principality of Monaco). Connor has now decided that he is going to move there and buy a yacht and an orange Ferrari. We walked around Monte-Carlo for a couple of hours, admiring the casino, Hotel de Paris, and the many extravagant yachts and sports cars. We also stopped for some cold drinks down at the port.

 After we drove around desperately searching for a beach, we finally found a quiet little one covered in rocks with a tiny strip of sand, but the crystal blue water made it all worth while.

Monday we are off to Avignon! Miss you all!! xoxo

On the Train to Lyon!

Last week we took a (Last minute of course!) trip to the spectacular City of Lyon. Beth and Connor absolutely loved the train. (The TGV, which travels at 300km per hour.)

We took the Funicular up to the Notre Dame Basilica. Absolutely the most breathtakingly beautiful Church I have ever seen. Entirely dedicated to Our Lady.

View of Lyon from the Basilica.

Wandering across Bonaparte bridge. You can do a self-guided tour from this spot just by turning around in a circle.

This is what Connor does while Beth pops into the shops.

The kids take their first ever ride on a subway.

This is us renting bikes. The best way to get around Lyon. Until you can't find a spot to return them...

At the world-famous Lyon zoo park. We rode our bikes right in!

If you look closely, that's Beth and Connor on their bikes. Terribly photo as I was taking it whilst riding - then crashed into that big tree right after!

On the train back to Montpellier.