The Last Time

We have been doing a lot of things for the last time in our family. Although we are very excited to return home and Bret is super excited that he is no longer a student, we are still sad to leave France. Max had his last time going swimming with his class on Tuesday. This has been his favorite part of school so we sent the camera with his teacher to get some pictures of him.

Max on the bus with his friend AnneRose.

Max getting ready to jump into the pool.

Max with some of his school friends afterward.

He is really going to miss school and all the friends he has made here.

A Visit to Santa's Village

Last Saturday we took the kids to the Santa village in Metz.


Max was much more interested in the train then the long line to sit on Santa's lap. Max, Maddie and Bret rode the train around the village while I took the pictures. The kids had a lot of fun. Here is the train engine.

Dad and Maddie going through the tunnel. (Max is sitting in front of them)

After visiting Santa's village we went to some more of the Christmas markets here in Metz. There food and holiday treats are were so good. Although we did skip the hot wine and the escargots! Yuck! Maddie was really worn out by the end of the day, she fell asleep before we even got back to the car.

Christmas Market

It is tradition in France for cities to have Christmas markets . We went to the some in Metz this weekend. They are in 5 different locations around town. At the train station they have a Christmas train made out of an old steam engine. The booths are made out of old train cars.


There was also a children's train ride. Max rode in the fire engine and had a blast pushing the siren and ringing the bells.


After the train station there were several other markets that we went to in the old part of Metz. We bought some tartiflette from one of the booths. It is a dish with potatoes, onions and ham with melted cheese on top. I still can't decide if I like it or not. It taste good when you first take a bit but the cheese that they put on it is pretty strong so it leaves a not so pleasant aftertaste. At one of the markets there was a HUGE Christmas tree ride. I have never seen anything like it.


Maddie was feeling left out watching Max go on all the rides so Bret took her on the merry-go-round. She rode on a pig . Bret said she kept looking down at the pig and petting it on the head. When the ride was over she did not want to get off.

Crazy Sunday Night!

Sometimes it can get pretty hectic around here at bed time. Cleaning up dinner, getting the kids bathed and ready for bed. Both of our kids are usually full of energy even at the end of the day. A Sunday night 2 weeks ago things got particularly crazy when we ended up giving Maddie three baths. She had her first bath and I got her out, put her diaper on, while I was in the bathroom washing up Max she got into our recycle garbage can and pulled out an empty (well almost empty) sour cream container.


She not only ate some she rubbed in in her hair and all over her body . So she went back into the bath. I got her out and put her pajamas on. She went into the bathroom to visit Max who was still in the bath and came out looking like this.



Max said he was giving her spiky hair. She was soaked. So she went back into the tub and into a new pair of pajamas! We did get some cute pictures out of it though.

Pont du Gard

The Pont du Gard is part of a Roman Aqueduct built over 2000 years ago, in 19 BC. It is was so awesome to see, it is over 170 ft tall. The Romans built it across the river to carry water 31 miles from a spring into the city of Nimes. From the spring to the town the aqueduct descends only 55 feet over its 31 miles. This bridge was built to cross the river. It is really amazing the engineering that went into building the aqueducts so many years ago.


To see more pictures of Pont du Gard click here.

Grenoble

Grenoble is the biggest city in the French Alps. We rode the tram to up to up the mountain to the citadel. The tram is 4 large bubbles that are clear so you can see out all around you. It was a very beautiful ride. There is a panoramic view of the alps from the top of the mountain.....but there was an inversion the day we went and so we couldn't see the mountains very well. But it was a fun ride.


This is a picture of the kids at a grocery store in Grenoble. It is a little train ride we put the kids on, it was Maddie's first ride and she loved it! We thought it might scare her because it went pretty fast but she wasn't scared. In fact, when it stopped she wanted to back on an ride again.