Abigail goes rock climbing!

There are so many wonderful things about living here in France, too many to fully express with words. One of the things I love so is that Abigail has gotten the chance to do so many neat things here that she never would of had the chance to do in the States.

She has gone sea kayaking, mountain biking and now with the same sports group she is rock climbing! This time Mom tagged along with the group to take pictures. It was SO beautiful there and I got many pretty pictures but unfortunately my battery was running low so I only was able to take a little over 100 pictures...not many for me.

Here Abigail is being double and triple checked by Frank their trusted leader. He is a very kind and gentle man who loves the kids....he is also around 6'4" so Abigail laughs that my head must be totally cocked upwards to speak to him...just like a kid. So here she is also getting last minute tips as she heads up the rock.

Up she goes! This is the short climb, basically for them to gain confindence in themselves, Frank and the equipment...kind of a warm up. However, it was nonetheless challenging.

The last thing that she had to do before hopping on the bigger rock was to show "confidence" that the equipment would hold her by releasing the rope, leaning all the way back in a laying down position with her arms out to her side. It was a case of trust...otherwise she'd always wonder if she'd be safe and in the end hurt herself.


Well...we can say that my baby girl has the same trust issues that her Mommy has....oh well. She did great!

She finally made it on the "big rock" and had so much fun, and I can't tell you guys how proud of her I am. She conquered her fear! That 'a Girl!

You rock!

A new Roman site found in Frejus

Abigail and I spent our "Pâques" (Easter) very atypical for us. There was no large meal awaiting us, no room full of family..it was just us two. We had a great day doing a partial "pajama day" till we decided to go to the grocery store for some much needed food. We knew that everything would be closed on Sunday and Monday as it was Easter and then "Easter Monday". Well we got to Geant Casino along with the rest of France and an hour an a half later we left...exhausted! Bad decision but it was over...we came home and had a good, long bible study.

Sunday we got us as usual and went to church...it was our week to do the "Accueil" or welcome, something Abigail really enjoys and would like to do every weekend...but for me it's too early in the morning. This Sunday I met a new lady, Svetlana. A lady from the Ukraine, who speaks Russian! Of all things! We share our numbers and had a wonderful time chatting. I think she will be a wonderful asset for Nicholas in continuing his Russian. She can teach him Russian and he can teach her English! She has a little boy who is 8 named Maxime and he and Abigail had a blast playing together before church. Then we came home and just picked up lunch and did more bible study.

Monday we decided to go for a walk...and that we did...3 hours long! It was wonderful, boy did we need it. I brought my camera and took 103 pictures, par for the course for me here. On the way we stopped at the new dig I'd seen before when I walked to arts class. This time with camera in hand I began snapping away. Here when you want to build something you need to make sure that you aren't building on a Roman ruin as it is an ancient Roman city and in this they struck gold..so to speak!

While I was busy taking as many pictures as I could between the little holes in the fence, the guy in the back hoe noticed me and asked me if we'd like to come into the site! Delighted I said yes, his one condition...not to fall into a hole...fine by me!

I peppered him with as many questions as I could....what was this find...I had heard it was the old port of Frejus, only to find no it was a reserve of some sort where they kept fish...kind of bizarre when you look at the structure...but who knows.

I asked if the building would continue as planned and he assured me that the site would not be lost. The builder will preserve it and make a way for the public to go down and tour the site.

Lisa had told me that when she first saw the site there were pots and jars of all kinds that they had just unearthed. So I asked of their location. He told me that they were at the Department of Archeology being cleaned and categorized and will later be brought back on site to be displayed.

You can see in this picture the channal grooved into the rock for a gate or something and then those holes....so cool. I only wish that Nicholas could have been there with me....it's more his area of expertise than mine...though I can here him saying now...I'm not a Roman expert! Oh well baby, you're my expert!

I love the roman arches! Seems like a waste for fish but it's still amazing and it's always the KEYSTONE that keeps everything held together!!

Then after our amazing walk we came home and did arts and crafts...what a great weekend.

And in case anyone is counting with me ... it's 2 wks and 1 day till Nicholas arrives!!

Fete des Plantes

Last Saturday was a gorgeous day in the south of France! Nathalie and Laurent invited us to join them at the Fete des Plantes at the Villa Aurielliene. Originally I had thought this would just be an expo of plants to purchase and that there was. However there were some very beautiful arrangements, paintings, dancers and 'interesting' art on top of an already gorgeous day.

Some of the bouquets were a bit too 'artsy' for my taste but it couldn't take away from the beauty of the flowers themselves. Plus the villa was decked out in flowers top to bottom, roses, tulips, orchids...you name it.

The flowers were stunning, the sold it all...flowers, tools, grass and even as you see 10 year old wine vines...would have loved to have one but who knows how much they were and I know after two weeks in my hands it would be dead...so I took a picture instead...no watering necessary.

They even had this cute little car all covered in grass...yes, real grass....how do you mow a car, I wonder? Thoughts?