Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Fast Forward.

So the verdict is in, I'm a terrible blogger. I blame my four children and the fact that my almost 8 month old will not sleep. A lot has happened since the last post. We welcomed Christian Blake Williams to our family on March 29, 2014. We've been on lots of adventures close to home and far away. Had several visitors and started a new school year.

Here we are almost on our 2 year anniversary and time will not slow down. In ways I feel like we've never lived anywhere else, that we will go on living here forever. Then in the same moment I feel like we just got here yesterday and I'm trying to hit the pause button.

So to catch up...

May 2014

In May (with a 2 month old) we went to San Sebstatian, Spain. It was a great trip! We were able to go on a beautiful hike with some expat friends (who were also in Spain), go to the beach and tour the city. We love Spain!!!



















We stopped in Lourdes on our way back from Spain. What an amazing place!


June/July 2014

School doesn't end here until July 4th so June and July were full of school, sports and hikes and exploring on the weekends. In June we took a trip to the French Alps! We saw the glacier on Mt Blanc, Lake Annecy, Lake Geneva and a few villages in that beautiful region of France. Nothing says the end of the school year quite like Kermese. It is a end of the year carnival in France and the kids LOVE it.  Charlie's class did a Russian dance and Ruthie's class did a Native American dance. It is always so fun to watch the kids and their classmates. After their shows there are games to play and prizes to win. Later there is a dinner with sausages, salads and desserts. Charlie spent the evening running around with his friends having squirt gun wars. Ruthie found some of the friends from her class and had a fun some running around with them.





















Christmas Eve and Christmas Day


We spent the Christmas holiday at home this year. Clermont and France in general are amazing at Christmas time. We also went and explored a near by village that had a huge nativity display! They had nativities from all over the world (over 100 I think).

No snow this year, hopefully next!










Monday, March 31, 2014

Strasbourg, France

No Christmas season in Europe would be complete without a trip to Strasbourg (Rick may beg to differ). The Christmas markets, food, smells (the city smells like mulled wine), everything about the town says Christmas. We picked a super busy and super rainy (read freezing cold/miserable) weekend to go but made the best of it.


 View from our apartment in Petite France.

 Truth!

 The Cathedral. More Christmas lights and another market. 

 Checking out the canals in Petite France.




 Petite France Christmas market.

 Roasted chestnuts.

 Yummy bakery. 

 Gingerbread!


 These were delicious just in case you were wondering...

 Somehow I never seem to make the picture. 

Strasbourg is in the Alsace region of France. The food was AMAZING.