Adventure to the Northern French Coast

We went on a little family day trip almost directly north to a quaint little town called Le Treport.

Perfect as it's only 2.5 hours from our house... and with enough to do to entertain us for several hours and enjoy time as as the French 5! 

Playing on a large ship anchor!

We learned as we were scoping out cities to go that most every northern city in France has a carousel with bright immaculate colors and designs. I think most are situated right near the coast line... Here is

the one in Le Treport.

We walked out on the rocky beach and waited for the cold water to hit our toes!!! 

It was sooo fun!

Fun family pics... with amazing backgrounds!

The cliffs of Normandy...

Here is the large church that sits high above the town... 

Le Treport has a funicular that (is free!!!) and takes you to the top of the cliffs!

A view from the top... it's amazing!

Thankful for our fun day together and for the adventures we're able to experience here in France!

My Own Little "Madeline"... in Paris!

Remember her? The cute little girl named Madeline in all the books...

 at the Louvre Museum?!? 

And how she went with her class on a "Sortie" aka, in English "Field Trip"...

Well, I have my own little one... she's cute... and she's...

making her own little drawings at the big museum. 

With her class learning... 

(far back of pic beside lady in red shirt)

This is the lady explaining different paintings. 

And here they are walking around and seeing different masterpieces! 

She even got to see the Mona Lisa!

This is Little Miss "I won't smile for your picture"...  

out in front of the glass pyramid, the entrance! 

And here she is with her buddy Khawla, on a picnic on the grounds!!! 

What a fun little life she is having! 

Fun adventures around every corner! 

Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days)

This past weekend here in France was Patrimonie Day, Heritage day... day where we celebrate, uhhhh.... Our French Heritage (?)... I guess. Well, Elijah can fully celebrate being a little "frenchy" at least!
It's a special weekend when things not normally open to the public Palais de l'Elysèe (my apostrophe is wrong on that, but I don't know how to make it go the other way!), which is the equivalent to the White House. Other things like museums are also open... but when you have a 5 year old, 2 year old, and a 4 month old... you go to... NESTLE Factory!!!! I know my 3 little ones would not wait in a 3+ hour line to get to see the Presidental Palace. Maybe when they are older...? And, from what I gather, this weekend is the ONLY days of the year the factory is open! So... we went to enjoy and see behind closed doors...
I'll be honest, I was expecting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I was disappointed that it was NOT that. I mean, who wouldn't be, right?!? Basically it's an OLD factory, no longer in use, but they have LOTS of free-be's inside. Ice cream, coffees, chocolate, and their other products as well. Who knew Nestle made other things besides chocolates! Here's some of the fun...

This is us walking up... notice the line down the left side of the pic! 

(Thankfully, it went fast!)

 Clever idea to have Nestle products being distributed outside while we waited. 

Coffee or hot chocolate, in a book bag!!! Amazing!

  Little Missy with her hot coco! 

Noah with his... cheers! He LOVES chocolate!

Cool old building that the dam runs under...

"I scream, you scream, we all scream..." (Really loudly) when it's 

FREE ICE CREAM!!!!

Ok, so Noah loves ice cream too! 

We also love our Knacki Hot dogs

(France's "Ball Park" hot dog!)

Part of the old chocolate factory!

And at the end, we all left with a goodie bag of chocolates... 

1,2,3... "Chocolate!" (Again, Noah= SUPER excited!)

Fun day, thankful to celebrate France! 

Super Fun Family Outing...

In Boone, we use to (honestly before I was big enough to remember) have an ice skating rink called "Polar Palace"... and in France, this is our version of that! On Christmas Eve, the four of us ventured out and had a super fun time watching Sadie ice skate on something... that was NOT ice.

It seemed like some kind of plexiglas or something that worked for ice skates and made little shavings like ice skating would. 

It was nice because Stephen could just wear normal shoes and help her... she LOVED it! Noah also got to ride a couple of times and he was a fan! 

As night fell, they even had crazy fun lights!

This melts my heart to see them together... so sweet. 

The Eid with friends...

After living in North Africa for a few years, you fall in love with the people, their food, culture, and some of their customs. I was told the Eid for Muslims is like Christmas for the Christian. It is a time for family, giving, sharing, and being together. We celebrated the Eid in both Egypt and Sudan and so it's fun to now have the experience with some North African friends here in France. For the Eid, Muslims celebrate when Abraham went to sacrifice his son and God provided the ram in place of his son. 

So, we had a few invitations from friends and neighbors who we have met here and were able to join in the celebration. We, as Christians celebrate God's provision of a sacrifice too, but believe this sacrifice was in Jesus. Here are some of the pics of the fun we shared with our friends...

This is  Sadie and her friend from school...

Kids... they ALL love cartoons!

While my friend and I prepared the food, the kids were very entertained.

Here is one of the meals we enjoyed. Our Algerian friends served us Cous Cous, lamb, vegetables, fruit, and amazing desserts! 

At our Moroccan's friends house... this was hanging up right by the door. (Sadie was a little scared of it, and I completely understand!... very different for a 4 year old!) This is the lamb they had sacrificed the day before the Eid. 

The kids had a great time playing together. Sadie likes being the only girl because she always gets to be the princess! 

This is my precious friend and her 3 month old daughter. 

This is her husband, a friend of Stephen's. We felt so special that they invited us to share this special time with their family. 

One of the best things about living overseas is learning all the different cultures and customs from around the world! What a precious gift we are getting to live out!

Pumpkin Patchin' it... French Style!

So... when you live in the middle of a concrete jungle, a little fresh air and wide open spaces is a BEAUTIFUL THING!!! Some friends of our told us about a farm just outside of town and not too far from our house! So, being mid-October... we headed out on a great pumpkin patch quest! We were welcomed by beautiful flowers and a beautiful blue background of sky!

Cute little baskets of gords, tiny pumpkins, squash, cucumbers were all set in a row. 

Heading out in search of the perfect pumpkin!

And oh the beautiful rows of sunflowers!!!! I'm a very happy girl at this point!

Who cares... it's wide open spaces so, lets run!!!! We went with some other friends too and we're glad they came along for the adventure!

So, the next few pictures are sequential:

Noah running shouting, "Dada... Dada!!"

(I'm sure he's thinking... wait for me guys, he just can't say that!)

 Dada finally hears and turns around and preps for his boy...

 Melt.My.Heart

Noah shouting, "CHEESE!"

Rows and rows of orange pumpkins... YIPPIE!! 

 Picking the perfect one!

 After we got our prize, we headed over the strawberry patch... and the Great Strawberry!

 Heading back and of course... some more running!!!!

 The farm even had chickens and other animals!

 Fun day with fun memories. :-)