Welcome to Monsters University

Bonjour Every Guys. 

It has been a fun few days since we last posted. After our big tour through the other countries, we came home and had a few days of R&R before heading to the South of France! First we stopped in Never to see the body of St. Bernadette.

Then we continued on and spent the night in an old mansion in a volcanic park in the mountainous region of Cantal. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Of course, the owners had a son so Connor got to play more soccer! :)

We then went to Aumes, our first little village. We were so lucky to be able to stay with our dear friends, the Cliffs, in their gorgeous home! Connor was thrilled to get to see all of his little buddies and play some soccer!!  We had a fantastic time!

This is the view from Louise's kitchen. 

Charlie's cousin's birthday party. 

The Valouette boys!

On Monday we made the six and a half hour drive back to our house in only 10 hours! That's a record I'm sure. The next couple of days we just relaxed and got the house organized. We had Claire, Robbie, and the twins over for supper again!

We also went and fed kangaroos... I know right?! I had the same expression on my face that you do right now. Apparently there is a kangaroo park near our village where hundreds of them run around wild on 8 acres of fenced in land. I've been there and I still don't believe it. Never a dull moment :)

On Friday we went and picked Jacquie up from the train station in Angers! Saturday we went into Saumur and looked around the cute little shops and the market. 

BUT SUNDAY we went to the Grand Prix Retro (after Church) and spent the day watching the races and looking at the cars. It was so freaking cool oh my gosh... :) Connor opted out of the races to play 7 hours of soccer with his chums.

Monday we went to Chateau Villandry and Azay Le Rideau which are only about an hour away from or house!
They were gorgeous! Mom fell in love with Azay Le Rideau (the one in the pics).

Tuesday we drove into Angers so Jacquie could catch her afternoon train to Paris! After saying our goodbyes, we parted ways and went into Saumur and got groceries.... Exciting stuff.

Wednesday Connor went off gallivanting around the other villages with Robbie and the twins. Mom and I had a wonderfully peaceful day to ourselves. Mom tried to teach me how to drive the 6 speed car, but I guess you can't be good at EVERYTHING, right?

Thursday we had the pleasure of having our neighbours Jean- Marie and Monique come for lunch! Connor took off after we ate to go swimming and mom and I got to chat with them all afternoon!

Thursday evening we went to Despicable Me 2 which was so incredibly good oh my gosh.
Friday (yesterday) we had the twins over to play at our house for the afternoon and then headed over to their house for a nice bbq dinner! It's been a nice relaxing week.
Daddy comes tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! And then it's complete chaos...
Will try to get one more post on this blog!! We head home in 10 days! :O

So yup. That's about it. Later Gators!

That's the top of our house!

Five countries. Five days.

Well we're back in our little village after a crazy few days gallivanting all over Europe!

July 9th we headed to Paris and stayed the night at a Novotel close to the airport. We ordered a pizza to our hotel room and watched Puss n' Boots! 
Mom took Dad to the airport early the next morning and then came back to the hotel to get me and Connor. We ate breakfast and then headed to Trier, Germany! It was only a three and a half hour drive. 
We got there just after Rasmus' (our friend who lives in Germany) train had arrived. We stayed in a fantastic little Bed and Breakfast for two nights and toured around Trier for a couple of days, we even tried Schnitzel! It is the oldest city in Germany and used to be a Roman city. Truly an incredible place! 

This is Rasmus with Dirk - the owner or ouf B&B who took us on a little tour of his town. He was soo good to us!

After we said goodbye to Rasmus, we headed to Luxembourg - via the Autobahn! 

Connor used these road-trips to teach himself how to type!

We then drove to Maastricht, Netherlands! We stayed at Chateau Bethlehem which is a training hotel for students who are in the midst of obtaining their degree in Hotel Management. We were lucky enough to get to stay in one of the themed suites. The theme was "The Body". Our room was designed to focus on the well-being of the body and soul so there was exercise equipment everywhere and a steam shower! Connor was in heaven. 

After our lovely stay in the Netherlands, we headed off to Belgium where we stayed in a Euro Space Museum... Mom's idea. It was super cool! Until we were eaten alive by bed bugs and mutant mice. Okay it wasn't THAT bad. It was actually really neat! We got there around one in the afternoon and were able to tour the Museum and do a zero-gravity walk. We even tried eating a freeze dried ice cream sandwich like the astronauts eat in space. It was surprisingly delicious. We then found our room and dropped off the bags before heading out for supper. Our goal was to find a cute little restaurant, but we ended up finding a cute little grocery store and having a picnic near a lake instead! It's moments like those where you just can't help but think "Why is there no Boston Pizza here?!" ;) We actually ended up having a really great time and Belgium was a blast! 

Connor had this all to himself (well, with Mom!) for endless hours. 

The next day we piled into the car and started our 6 hour drive back to our village. We took a little detour to Paris because who doesn't love Paris? We were a little confused when we had to pull over to let a big parade of military vehicles pass, but we then realized it was Bastille day (France's big national holiday). Needless to say, it took a LOT longer to get out of Paris than we thought, but it was worth it. 

We've been back here since Sunday and just hanging around. It has been ridiculously hot here so we spend most of our time trying to cool down! Last night we had Claire, Robbie and their  four year old twin boys over for dinner. It was a blast! So much cuteness. Four year old twins with English accents? Oh my goooosh. 

Connor making a robot.

Tonight we are going to see Monsters University!! In french haha. Tomorrow we head off to the South of France to visit friends from our first little village. Connor is beside himself with excitement! We come back here Monday!
I will be sure to post once we are home :) Well, I will try to remember.
Au revoir! xoxo