Some things we miss cuz we are in France

Beaches like this

Terry, Glenny and the new baby, Nick  

My nephew Brendon's high school football

Alge's bright ideas at Rotary meetings

The 'boys' next door

Can't beat a good tree house

Hanging in the maison d'arbre

The girls - and their parents - are lucky that our house was previously occupied by a handy fellow by the name of Eugene, who among other things (such as a duck shack that looks like a dog house, but Chico wants no part of it), left us with a very cool tree house. It's become a popular hang out for Savannah and Lindsey and today they had their first official guest (other than Chico). Savannah's new friend Katie came over after school and they hung out in their lofty crib. It's finely appointed with spare pool furniture and we've added a pair of walkie talkies to the amenities, reducing the communication time to order up cookies and milk from the Big House.

The tree house is about halfway between the school and our house so I am sure it will gain popularity as the school year progresses. We are finding that the location of our house is a great advantage in general since the kids can walk to school and we don't have to deal with the chaotic parking situation there. Lindsey's friend Marin and her Mom even park on our driveway to avoid the long walk up the school driveway.

Maybe I will pick up a few Euro's on the side and start charging all the other parents for parking

Don't even ask

Is this dog in every picture?

A Garden o' Plenty at La Bergerie

We are reaping the rewards of Eugene's victory garden

Nadine doesn't seem to understand that there are several steps required before the grapes become wine

Savannah plays piano with a French guy

Cool, the keys are the same in French! Thanks Uncle Fester!

First day of school!

Savannah meets her new classmates

Through the woods to school

Chico makes making friends easy

They actually look like they like each other

Lindsey makes her exit after her first day at CIPEC

A birthday fete at a winery

The girls help new friend Marin celebrate her 6th b'day

MEYROGUES, France - The girls got invited to a birthday party for one of their new classmates, Marin (celebrating her 6th), who lives on a winery not far from Aix. Her parents are American (the Mom. Audrey, is from Philly), and mother and daughter speak fluent French. The dad (Dave) works at the helicopter plant in Marseille and they have been here for almost a year. So it was good pick their brains, and also meet some of the other kids who will be in Lindsey's class.

Their home is actually the renovated servant's quarters on the winery, which still produce award winning Rose's. It has a big garden area, where the party was held, and Audrey and Dave were the perfect hosts, offering cold Kronenbourg's to go along with a nice spread of food. Nadine, our landlord, had made the connection for us to Audrey, who has a mutual friend with Nadine from Club Med days. We chatted with some of the other moms to get a better sense of the girls' school and the general routine, all of which was quit helpful and set our minds at ease a bit. Plus, knowing that we'd see at least a few familiar faces one the first day of school made us feel better, too. Hearing some fo the kids move easily between French and English impressed our girls and I think made them think this bi-lingual thing might be doable after all.

Afterward we wall went to a very nice recreation area not far from their house where there was a fairly large man made lake in a quarry and lot of shady grassy area to relax and have cold rose.

Every once in a while you need to go 5 Star

Lindsey relaxes on the balcony of Columbus Hotel in MC

MONTE CARLO, Monaco - After more than two weeks on the road, most of it living out of suitcases and squatting in spare bedrooms, the girls were ready for a "5 Star" experience. The 5 Star experience is a term we made up with our traveling friends Jacquie and Sherri during our vacations together when we absolutely just need to indulge ourselves in luxury for 24 hours. So we find a nice hotel and throw the budget out the window. What better place than the most over priced city in the world - Monte Carlo!

Monte Carlo is halfway between Carla's house in Lake Como and Aix so we decided to look for a hotel deal and spend the night there on our way home. The deal was OK - a "deluxe' room at the Columbus Hotel - which is actually quite nice, albeit a bit 'chic' - kind of a higher end version of the Gansevoort -  for 200 Euros. The people were real nice (except for one waiter who scoffed at Chico, who immediately responded with his patented wolf-like attack on the guy's ankles) and the room was fine - even offering a nice view of the Med and the rose garden next door, which naturally Chico christened.

Savannah walks Chico thru the Rose Garden

Monte Carlo in general is a weird place with a strange vibe and odd mix of characters. Obviously, being mega rich helps in this town and Savannah had fun counting the Ferrari's that create a constant din in the city (that, plus the ever present whirling of helicopters and an endless skyline of cranes working on construction projects). She decided she liked the yellow ones the best, but would prefer a red one when she buys her own. We also learned that there is no seat belt law in Monte Carlo because wearing one would ruin the effect of driving around in a convertible Ferrari or Lamborghini.

The girls swam in the beachfront pool (enjoying the fluffy towels), we wandered around town, and I made use of the 24-euro per-day internet connection (not even wireless) in the room to do some calls. We had fully expected a five star dining experience to go along with our high end accommodations, but when we came across an American style sports bar called Stars & Bars that featured bacon cheeseburgers and chicken wings, the girls decided they needed a break from all the great French and Italian food we had been having and get a dose of Americana. So we ate by the marina, overlooking multi-million dollar yachts, while listening to classic American rock and chowing down cheeseburgers and ice cream sodas.

I'm not ready for a daughter in a bikini..in Monte Carlo

We headed out of Monte Carlo the next morning, glad we had stopped for a 5 star visit but in no particular hurry to return.