Beginning of summer activities

 July 2016

Our neighbors organized a camping birthday party for their 10 year old son in the forrest around Freydiere. We went up to spend the evening with them and to take their younger son (Josh’s age) home with us for sleeping because they thought they wouldn’t have enough room for him in the tents (it turned out not all the kids stayed for the night so we didn’t end up taking him home with us). It was a super fun evening.

I wish I was adventurous enough to do this for my kids but as much as I love the idea, I can’t picture myself sleeping in the wild with half a dozen kids.

When it got dark we went home and slept comfortably in our beds, that’s how I like camping.

William got a little sick at the end of the school year. Here he is, resting in Grand-papa and Grand-maman’s garden, eating freshly picked raspberries.

William again, fully recovered, playing in the pool.

There was an outdoor movie night just outside our door, it reminded us of our time in family housing. The movie wasn’t particularly entertaining but the activity was fun in itself.

William received a sun-powered watermill kit for his birthday. We had fun building it and watching it operate.

It worked really well:

I bought a small electric lawnmower that is light enough and safe enough for the boys to use (it’s a string trimmer, it doesn’t have a blade). Now I shamefully take advantage of my boys to do the lawnmowing (I pay them a little to help maintain their motivation).

Summer is in the air

June 2016

June is always a busy and exciting month. The end of the school year approaches and you can smell summer in the air. It’s also the month when schools organize the best field trips and activities.

On June 22nd our school had its annual courseton. It was the second year Josh participated. This time he had to run for 12 min non-stop. I volunteered to help again and I had a front row seat to the race.

Josh and his friend Mathys before the race

Running strong

After the race

Boys full of adrenaline

Josh ran 2200 meters in 12 minutes which qualified him for the fastest runner category (Cheetah). He was 3rd in his class.

A few days later, William’s class went on a field trip to an adventure park near Saint Michel les Portes in the Trieves. It’s a gigantic forrest with dozens of rope courses, a huge labyrinth and a series of tree houses connected together with trampolines and rope bridges. You can bet I volunteered to accompany his class again.

The adventure park is located about 850 meters from the closest road and parking lot, so we had to hike for about 20-35 min with this group of 4-5 year-olds before we reached the site.

The kids had so much fun, they were in heaven. We had a picnic and we stayed there until it was time to head back. It’s only about an hour from Revel so it was a perfect day trip.

The boys are growing up fast and now that Josh has homework to do, it was time to buy a desk. Their room is tiny so I had to be creative to find something that fit and that was still long enough for both of them to sit side by side. I ended up buying a closet door from ikea because it was the only thing with the dimensions I wanted and I screwed 4 legs onto it. They love it.

I picked up William from school one day and found him dressed in this fun attire. He had zipped his fleece jacket to his rain coat and was very proud of his clever invention.

School photographs.

And a brothers sleepover.

Grand-papa and Grand-maman came over to eat with us on Father’s day. Grand-papa received a pair of prescription goggles from his daughters. We’re proud to have such a healthy and athletic dad and the boys are blessed to have such an amazing Grandpa as an example.

Family hikes

May 2016

One of our favorite activities when we’re together as a family is going on hikes around our area. We were very excited to try a new hike when Rachel and Emmanuelle came for a visit. It was early in May and the weather was beautiful so we drove across the valley to the mountain chain facing ours : Chartreuse. We were planning on hiking a trail called "Charmant Som".

 Our little gang

We walked for less than 10 minutes on the trail and then we hit snow and we couldn’t go further. It was a fun outing nonetheless. And we learned the lesson.

 A few weeks later when Christophe and Isabelle visited from the US, we picked a hike that was closer to home:

And we went to the museum of archeology in Grenoble and on the river banks.

Visit with Dad in Lyon

This year, Rex came to visit the boys in May and decided to stay with them in Lyon. Judging by the pictures he sent and the boys comments they had tons of fun.

Happy reunion outside the airport

Fourvière

Roman vestige

Musée des Confluences

Musée Cinéma et Miniatures

? and Aquarium

Subway

Sporting their new haircuts

laser tag

Bouchon lyonnais

Anxiously waiting for a temple in France

Beginning of May 2016

Since I was a child, I remember praying and hoping for the day there would be a temple in France. Since my Dad worked as a facilities manager for the church for years I knew there had been several failed attempts at securing a location over the last two or three decades. That’s why I was so happy when president Monson announced the purchase of a property for the construction of a temple near Paris.

Until then we had been going to the swiss temple in Bern. It is a special place for me: my parents were sealed together there (in 1969), it is the first temple I entered (during the open house when it was rededicated in 1992 - I was 8 - and later when I was twelve), and it is where I received my endowments. 

One beautiful Sunday afternoon in May, Josh and I made a lego replica of this temple.

 

 

A few weeks later, I went to the church’s offices in Torcy for a translation seminar (the boys were in Lyon with their Dad during that time) and I was lucky to get a sneak peek of the beautiful stained glass hand-made for the Paris temple. It had just been shipped from Utah and a team of designers was working on the pieces to assemble them and make some size adjustments. It made me even more excited for the coming temple. 

A few weeks later we found out my parents were called to serve as first president and matron of the temple. Now the Paris temple is going to have a special place in my heart too.