Does this beat watching TV?

April was a really busy month. I had a couple of really big translating assignments due and the boys were on school break, so it was tough getting it done and the boys spent more time than I’d like watching TV. To top it off, I was called as an early morning seminary teacher! You read that right. I have a list of most dreaded possible callings, but I can’t say how this one ranks: it’s not even on the list... It never occured to me it was even a possibility. Maybe that’s why I agreed to do it...

Anyway back to the point... the month was busy and I thought I wouldn’t have a minute extra, but another obligation came up and I ended up having to take a day off to take Josh to the embassy in Marseille to renew his US passport. And what could have been another all-work, no-fun day in this busy month, turned into a fabulous pre-summer vacation day at the beach.

I didn’t know Marseille at all. It suffers from a pretty bad reputation (gangs, thugs, drugs) so my original idea was to go to the embassy early and drive out of town to another nicer city like Aix or Cassis, but I didn’t want to loose too much time in traffic jams or finding a parking spot so I asked a friend from the boys’ school for advice. She recommended the Prado in Marseille and said it was easy to find and park. It turned out to be only 20min from the embassy and a great spot.

Charming faces...

After our passport appointment we had a picnic on the beach.

Ever so charming...

First time at the beach after winter is always the best. The water was cold but it didn’t stop them.

I think this picture will be my desktop wallpaper for a long time.

After the beach we walked to the park Borély nearby (the park Marcel Pagnol writes so dearly about in his books). It was the cherry on the cake. The boys loved the park even more than the beach (I didn’t take many pictures of it but it’s beautiful).

William refused to do the karts but Josh was glad to take his spot. I convinced him to try the kart later on but it didn’t go so well... :S

The boys loved to observe this cute "ragondin" (some sort of small beaver)

They also saw a turtle, and played for hours in the trees and on the play structure. I had a great day. Then I asked the boys if they’d had a good day. I was a little ticked off when I heard William complain he hadn’t had a chance to watch TV. What????!!!!