Our little French Girl

For the kids in Ava's class, there are 2 major milestones that they look forward to. The first is turning 5 and the other is learning to ride a two wheeler. Ava can list the kids that are 5 and the ones that can and can't ride a two wheeler.  So much of the culture and our daily life centers around riding bikes that kids here learn to ride a two wheeler earlier than back at home. The plus side for me is that if she rides a bike, I can take off the heavy trailer. Pulling around at least 70 lbs of kids is heavy! 

So, today she rode her bike to school for the first time. I couldn't be more happy to get rid of the trailer and she couldn't be more proud!

More visitors!!

A couple of weeks ago, my Mom and Ron came to visit us in France. I don't know who was more excited, Ava, Grandma or me. We had such a great week together! Since we have lived here for a year and a half now, I have talked to my Mom at least once a week about what is going on in our lives, places we go, friends we have met. It was so much fun to actually show them the things that we have talked about.

We do a kid swap with 2 other families here. On Saturday was a "Parents day out" for us, so we got to take Mom and Ron wine tasting. A day on the wine road is always a good day!

On Sunday, we went downtown Strasbourg and took the boat tour around the city like true tourists!

At our favorite dinner spot in Strasbourg!

On Monday, we decided to make the trip to the Alps in Switzerland for the day. My Mom has always talked about seeing the Alps, so we decided to make the trip. It was only a 3 hour ride each way (well, it was supposed to be until someone had issues with the Garmin - not mentioning any names!). It was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful.

Beckett loved having a snowball fight with Ron.

We almost lost Ron on the last hike up the mountain, but he made it!

Beckett enjoyed all of the attention while his sister was at school all day.

Back at the bottom where we started.

On Wednesday, we all took the train to Paris for 4 days. Ava had been dreaming of going to the Eiffel Tower with Grandma for months! There would be no way Ken and I could manage Paris with the 2 kids, so we were very happy to have 2 Grandparents to help out!

First lunch in Paris!

On the locks bridge.

We can find a place for timeouts anywhere! This one was across from Notre Dame.

Ron and Ava at Place St. Michel

Relaxing in the apartment.

Finally made it to the Eiffel Tower!

I love our little family!

I love this picture! They were both so excited!

At Arc de Triomphe.

Ken and I climbed the 284 stairs to get to the top. The view was amazing!

Pretty spectacular at night.

A great restaurant!

Ava loved her fancy lunch!

Grandma loved her chocolate soufflé and wine!

Beckett loved the chocolate soufflé too!

At the Luxembourg Gardens.

Daddy rented them boats!

Beckett was a bit dangerous running around with a wooden pole for 30 minutes!

 

On the last day, we bribed Ava with a fancy dessert so we could sit at a cafe instead of walking to the park. She was pretty happy with the deal she made.

Sharing just a little bit!

It was very sad to see them leave, but we only have a couple of more months before we fly home for the summer. We are so happy that Grandma and Ron came to visit us - we are hoping to even talk them into coming back next year!