Collioure

The next day we went to Collioure, a beach village on the French side of the border.  We parked out far and got to take a shuttle bus which Jonas was really excited about.

Pizza au feu de bois which Dad got for us.  I can never get enough of these Southern France pizzas.  Thanks Dad!

Jaxon and I swam out far to a floating dock thing which we could jump off. 

The little orange floaties are Jaxon.  The really white guy is me.

A look back at the village from the pier.

I love the seaside churches.  I guess that's one way of upping church attendance.

Jonas modeling his Lightning McQueen speedo and cool floaties.

We watched the sun go down and enjoyed the cool evening.

Cadaques

We were staying not too far from the Spanish border, so we decided to go south for the day and hang out in a beautiful beachside village, Cadaques.  This is the Catalan region where Paella is the regional specialty.   Janet and my mom scouted out the town and found a wonderful restaurant with great Paella.  We had a hard time finishing this meal and were not hungry for dinner.

We went on a walk up the coastline and Jaxon and Jonas found a little dock which they danced on for a while.  Nobody fell in the water.

The trail was wonderful as we reached the end of the village we enjoyed wonderful views of the rocky shore line in the late afternoon.

We found out at the end that we had taken a forbidden path which was marked only at the end... oh well. 

A beautiful 8 month belly shot

A true beach bum at heart.  Jonas warmed up on the hot rocks after a dip.

The boys enjoyed the beach for hours and Jonas enjoyed kicking each wave as it crashed on the shore.

A look back at the village

Jaxon and Jonas admiring the boats in the bay.

Carcasonne

Carcassonne is one of my favorite places in France.  Both Allan and I served there on our missions and I have been back with Janet and the boys a couple years ago.  I was so excited to share this wonderful place with my parents and have the boys play on this 1,000 year old playground again.

We managed to get a picture with all of us from the old bridge that leads to the castle and city walls. 

We bought Jonas a sword so he could kill any dragons that may attack us.  Since there were no dragons he decided I was the next best thing... Lucky for me the blade was not too sharp.

Jaxon found a new friend..

Jonas in front of the main gate.

We went to a knight show.  Jonas waited in anticipation with sword in one hand and the program in the other.  He was not disappointed.

Jaxon selected a bow and arrow as his weapon of choice.

The knight show was excellent.  The costumes were great and the story included daring horseback riding, jousting, hand to hand combat with a variety of weapons and even a bit of romance for the girls...

...and a girl on a cow of course...

Jaxon was brave enough to get a picture with the hero who showed up at the end to save the girl on the cow.   Jonas hid behind my leg after seeing what these guys were capable of.  He also hid his sword when the the most scary of the knights challenged anyone in the crowd to a dual.

Inspired by the show, Jonas and another boy fought in the street's of the walled city.

A look back up to the walls.  Anyone want to storm that???

We enjoyed cooling off in the river near the castle. 

Carcassonne was just as magical as I remember and I was so happy to explore it again with my parents, Janet and the boys.

Grandma and Grandpa Hausen 2012

At the end of July, my parents came out for a visit to Switzerland for a couple weeks.  We were so excited to have them come Jaxon could not resist putting socks on his ears.  Grandma and Grandpa took the boys down to the creek near our apartment and played in the water and even caught frogs

The sunflowers were in bloom in the field.  We all love sunflowers.

Janet took my parents and the kids across the lake on a boat to Yvoire, a medieval village on the French side.  I like this picture because my dad and Janet are exactly same - hands in pocket, smiles on face, stepping in unison and even the fanny pack and purse carrying the day's essentials.

All the windows were decorated with beautiful flowers.  

Dad always love boat rides and Jaxon was happy to actually get one of the really huge lolly pops.

Jonas never figured out how to lick a lolly pop and preferred to bite and chew the whole thing. 

After a few days in Switzerland, I finished my quarter and work and we left on a week long vacation to Southern France where we rented a little mobile home on the beach.  The water was cold, so it was purely for the boys enjoyment that I acted as a the target for their new squirt guns.

I tried my best to run away but they were too fast and sharp shooters...

We ate a ton of fresh fruit from the farmer stands that are around every corner. 

The boys loved the sand and were successful in their transformation to sand boys.