Our Day Started at Giverny

We started our long weekend adventure with a stop in Giverny, the place where Claude Monet lived and worked.  It is just under an hour's drive from our house.  On the way there I used the time to read the kids a book.  It is called Linnea in Monet's Garden.  This book tells the story of a little girl taking a trip to Paris and spending a day visiting Monet's house and gardens in Giverny.  It was the perfect book to read to the kids on the way there, they were so excited to see the pink house and the green bridge.  I really think this book helped everyone get excited for our stop.

The gift shop and cafe were our first stop, they had coffee to go, bathrooms and a sweet little shop.  The shop had some beautiful things, but they were all quite expensive.  If you are going to do any souvenir shopping I would suggest the museum gift shop.  You don't have to go into the Impressionist Museum to shop in their store.  Their prices and selection were excellent.

As we headed to the entrance a small shop had a bubble machine, our kids' favorite thing.  

They were having so much fun strangers decided to take a few pictures of them.

We had bought our tickets ahead of time, which I highly recommend, and we were able to get right in.  The gardens were a little crowded already, but still beautiful.

This was my favorite grouping of bushes.

This was my favorite row.

These tulip beds were right in front of the house, and they were just stunning.

My mom was there with us and she was also taking pictures.  It is funny to see pictures of myself in action.

And then it was under the road to the ponds with the bridge and water lilies.  This area was so beautiful.  

And just like that we were through all of the ground and headed back to the car.

It was a lot of walking for little legs.

Getting some wiggles out before we get back in the car to drive.

For a visit to Giverny I recommend getting their as early as possible.   When we got there we had plenty of parking options.  There are bathrooms at the Cafe and in the Impressionist Museum that are free and clean.  We packed a picnic lunch to eat, we ended up just standing outside our car eating it.  

And most importantly, enjoy!

When We Get Where We're Going

From Giverny we got in the car and drove the rest of the way to our destination, near Mont Saint Michel.

Addie and Ben were all the way in the back and Garrett had fun sitting next to Nannie.

And then he had fun with the iPad.

I found our rental house on Airbnb again.  The person we were renting from spoke English and was great about communicating, but the caretakers of the house, his parents/grand parents, did not speak any English.  We got to the village and thankfully made our way to the house.  

This gorgeous daisy bush greeted us in the driveway.

I didn't used to notice flowers, but here they are hard to miss.

The yard of the house was not that big, but it had a lot going on.

There were so many sweet little places to sit and enjoy.

Of course the pool was a huge draw for the kids.  The pool did have a locked gate, but that didn't slow down our kiddos.  Thankfully there was also a surface alarm, and the weather wasn't that great so no one was too eager to jump in.

The whole world is a stage for my sweet girl.

I wish we had better weather so we could have used this table outside.

And more pictures of Garrett exploring the rental house.  We believe the house was originally a barn, but it had been converted and was great for our needs.  There was an English speaking neighbor who came over and drew us a little map of the area.  He also brought a small box of groceries since we drove in on a holiday and none of the stores were open.  He told us the house was standing during  WW II when the American troops came into the village and liberated the people.  There is still one man who lives in the village that was a boy during the time of liberation.   

This great picture window was in the dining room, we all enjoyed this space.

For our larger family having a good base of operations for a vacation is essential and this house was perfect for us.  I would consider going back to this house again and would highly recommend it to visit this area.

Frozen Party in France

Throwing a birthday party in another country has its challenges.  Things that you are used to running to the store to pick up are now an ocean away.  Addison wanted a Frozen themed party, no surprise there, and I wanted to come through for her.  In order to pull this off I had to get a little creative.   Nannie did bring quite a few things over from the USA and I did some shopping in Barcelona while we were there over spring break.  

Here is Addie's cake.  It is made of donuts, chocolate covered Oreos, meringue, marshmallows, and chocolate covered pretzels.  I really liked how it turned out and it was a big hit with the party goers.

Sven and his carrots, I had to fight my kids away from those carrots the day before the party.

Marshmallows and pretzels.

Can you see Olaf?  He was hanging out with the oranges and strawberries.

We had the food prepped and ready to go.

When everyone arrived we had a craft station set up.  

Addie loved the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post.

"Do you Want to Build a Snowman?"  We had a round paper cutter, to build snowman and this Olaf coloring page I found on Pinterest.

Most of the girls went to the craft table and most of the boys headed outside.

Mrs. Amanda runs the children's program at our church and she is amazing and has an amazing family. We were so happy to have them all at our house to celebrate with us.

This picture makes me laugh for so many reasons.  Garrett was obsessed with collecting these balloons.  Nannie thought she could stop Garrett by cutting the strings shorter, but it did not slow this clever little boy down at all.  He spent the rest of the party climbing up on things to finish collecting the balloons.

We had a pretty good crowd at the party and I was so proud of them when it came time to open presents.  They all sat relatively quietly while Addie opened up her presents.  We are so thankful for all of our friends that came to celebrate today, Addie is one blessed little girl.

One of Addie's presents was this box of chocolates that spelled out her name.  Nannie and I had to make sure that everything was okay so we tasted a piece or two.

Addie getting ready to open her last present, it was a special one from GeeGee, Nannie and Aunt Laura.

Addie was so excited to unwrap Anna and Elsa, what can I say, it was a Frozen party.

This little guy was such a good sport through the whole party, he made lots of friends and spent plenty of time with Nannie.

Addie was ready to blow out all 7 candles.

I made blue jello to look like ice, this was a HUGE hit with the kids.  

My sweet boy finally fell asleep in Nannie's arms.  

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this such a special birthday for Addison.  

Happy Birthday Addie!

This week we celebrated Addie's 7th birthday!  Time really does fly when you are having fun.  We are lucky enough to have Nannie, my mom, here for a visit.  She brought the makings for a delicious cake that she whipped up for Addie.  It is a pineapple upside down cake.  YUM!  

Here is Ben holding up 7 fingers in honor of his sister.

Our Happy Birthday banner.  I bought this for Addison's first birthday.

She is very intent.

Love these kiddos.

I love the look on Addie's face here.

This was what that look was for, a horse for her dollhouse.

The big gift of the night, an iPod shuffle.  She has really been getting into music over the last couple of months.  She LOVES to put on headphones and walk around the house singing.  

Grandma and Poppa sent her a special card and an iTunes gift card, Perfect!

Grandma and Poppa didn't forget the boys, they each got a dollar.

I love Garrett's expressions.

This picture of Malachi just makes me laugh.

Did I mention the delicious cake?  This is a picture of Jon going weak in the knees after his first bite.  

We had fun celebrating Addie as a family and we spent the evening gearing up for her big Frozen themed birthday party the next day, a post to come on that soon!