Bastille Day/Apartment lease signing party

I guess we really haven't addressed this on our blog, yet, but a couple of months ago Daniel accepted a job transfer to Geneva, Switzerland. I had mixed feelings about the move, it seems like it will be a better work environment for Daniel but I hated to leave Marseille, however, my biggest reservations stemmed from the difficulty of finding an apartment in the area. There is a severe housing shortage and we had only heard horror stories of people having to live in temporary housing for months while visiting and applying for every apartment posted, and finally taking whatever they were accepted for. We made a trip out there the middle of June and managed to set up 7 visits (it is required that you visit the apartment before submitting an application). Our fears were not assuaged when talking to the current tenets of the apartments and finding out that there were between 15 and 50 applicants for each apartment we were looking at. The regie, some middle man organisation which we still don't fully understand, makes the final decision very subjectively. It is a difficult process to describe because it is so foreign from an American persective, but to say the least, it was very discouraging. However, we prayed really hard and fasted and the day after we submitted our applications we were accepted not only for an apartment, but for our favorite apartment! we consider it a huge blessing. We had to pick up the keys the middle of July, so we built that trip into the 14 Juillet holiday.

We broke the trip up a little bit and tried out the 4 star camping experience that we usually make fun of, thinking it would be ideal for the kids. I found one with some waterslides and was convinced. We spent the Saturday before at a waterslide park and the kids loved it so much I wanted them to have some slides, even if they were miniture. We actually really enjoyed ourselves. We spent a lot of time in the pool.

The kids also enjoyed jumping around.

Chilling out in the hammocks

I'm not sure who enjoyed chiling out the most, but probably Daniel

Enjoying some pizza from the restaurant

Trying to catch frogs; unfortunately they proved to be a little to quick for us. Apparently they are faster than the frogs we were used to in Texas

Jonas always wants to do everything himself now, freaking his mother out. We even lucked out because they had their 14 Juillet celebration that evening on the 13th with a concert and fireworks. Four-star camping treated us well.

The next day we heading up to Annecy to celebrate the real 14 Juillet. It was a very fun experience participating in all the festivities.

Dipping our feet into the surprisingly warm alpine Lake Annecy. We enjoyed some concerts and a great fireworks display and got back to our new campsite maybe a little too late considering the early hour we had to be at our new apartment to sign the lease and get the keys. It was worth it, though. They kids had a blast. The most exciting part for me and Daniel was definitely the apartment business. Now I can say I really am excited to move to Switzerland!

Jaxon's school year in review

Jaxon had his last day of school on July 2 and they send him home with a CD full of pictures of the year. I just wanted to post a few of them. I have absolutely loved Jaxon's school and am going to miss it so much. They do so many fun things and the teachers are just great. Here are some of the things that they did, in no particular order:

Here they had a spectacle with a marionette show. They love marionettes show here. It just seems so French to me.

After an Easter egg hunt.

Making a "Galette des Rois." I loved having Jaxon experience the French traditions at school.

The brave teachers took all the kids to the circus. It just so happenned that Daniel got free tickets to the circus from work a couple of weeks later, so Jaxon got to go twice. I asked Jaxon whether he liked going with his friends or us better and without hesitation he said his friends. Oh great, it is already starting. He already likes his friends more than us. I am kidding. We have a great time as a family, but I am glad that he has been able to make so many friends and do so well socially.

They made regular trips to the library that is located right across the street from us (I LOVE our library) which Jaxon loved. They asked for volunteer parents to accompany the class, and though I couldn't go because of Jonas, it did work out for Daniel to go one day, which was really fun for Jaxon. And Daniel. I think...

We have gotten to know the librarians really well so Jaxon always got "bisous" from them when he went with his class to the library.

One day they had the farm come to them. They were able to be up close and personal with cows, goats, geese, ducks, chickens, bunnies, pigs...

and everyone got a pony ride, to boot!

Jaxon was Robin des Bois for canival, thans to the costume that my friend Aurélie gave him as a gift. He is so handsome.

Jaxon celebrating his birthday at school.

He really had a great school year. On his report card his teacher said that he had made huge progress in French this year (good thing) and that he is very well behaved. I would never have thought that he would turn out to be the well-behaved kid when he was two, but I am happy about it!

Happy Birthday Jonas!

So, it is time for me to catch up. We've had a lot going on and I've been lazy about blogging about it, so here we go.

We celebrated Jonas' birthday a month ago. My baby is 2 now! We started out with a quick birthday breakfast, which required a candle before heading out to enjoy one of Jonas' favorite places--the beach!

The kids enjoyed filling their buckets full of sea creatures, including this star fish that Daniel found when he was out snorkelling.

The highlight of Jaxon's day was catching his very first lizard. He actually caught two of them, one was hanging off the tail of the other (Daniel and I suspect they might have been distracted by other activites making them susceptible to being caught). It was a joyfilled moment in Jaxon life and we were hoping to keep it as a pet for a couple of days; however, a little later a traumatic moment occured when he dropped the bucket and the lizard escaped. Probably good for the lizard, though.

Jonas blowing out the candles of his birthday cake. He actually was able to blow them out all by himself. I was impressed. When Jaxon was turning two I had him practice beforehand and he never did get the trick by his birthday. Jonas never tried before, I guess he has a natural talent.

And of course opening presents was a highlight.

Anyway, it was a pretty low-key celebration, but he enjoyed it. We are so happy Jonas is in our family. He is so much fun!

During my parents trip to France in June, I was able to get the time off so we spent a week traveling our Provence. We had a blast and enjoyed the time together.Near the pope's palace in Avignon.

We hiked in to one of our favorite coves and enjoyed some snorkeling and relaxing.

The wild flowers were all in bloom which made for some beautiful views.

Dad being a good sport for a picture at the castle of Les Baux de Provence.

Jaxon loving the fountain in a garden in Nimes.

At the beach we enjoy catching crabs. They are quick but sure a lot of fun once they are in Jaxon's hands.

Mom and dad on top of the Route des Cretes, a huge cliff which made mom a little nervous.

Dad captured this shot looking back towards Marseille from the top of the cliffs in the late afternoon.

Jaxon enjoying the view on top of Notre Dame de La Garde, Marseille's famous cathedral on top of the hill. Notice Jaxon's snail friend. He always finds snails anywhere we go and carries them all day.

Mom and dad in Nimes in front of the ancient Roman arena.

Jaxon really wanted to take his grandma and grandpa to the Pont du Gard, and ancient Roman aquaduct. Here he said, 'I am the Eiffel Tower of the Pont du Gard'

Jonas and grandma and grandpa on top a Provencal hill on a windy day. Jaxon was in school, and Jonas really liked all of the attention all day.

Grandma and Jaxon near the Bridge of Avignon.

One of our favorite Provencal towns is the nearby Cassis. We take every person who visits us to this lovely town and everyone loves it. The Vieux Port of Marseille was very busy on this nice afternoon. Dad spent a while admiring boats.

Taking a seat in the Roman arena. Today there were no gladiator fights.

Notice there are no gaurd rails on those upper level arches. We had to keep a close eye and hand on Jonas who seemed interested in getting a close up view.

I have found that kids love old ruins that they can climb on. Jonas enjoyed this old Roman library.

We had an outstanding time with my parents will always remember the high pace and eventful trip. The kids loved conecting with their grandparents after a couple years.