French countryside

We left Collioure yesterday and headed for a small French town called Montpezat, population 90. I "won" this house rental when trying to bid up an auction item, so we had very little information. Although there are many "Montpezat"s in France, this one didn't even show up on my GPS. Thomas put in the lat/long and we found it, arriving past dinner time to an empty house and eight hungry people. No restaurant in town. I stayed back for a work conference call with promises of a doggie bag from the restaurant in a neighboring village. Problem was the chef was a bit too snooty to allow his food to be bagged. Oh France. So, this part of the adventure had a bit of a rocky start....but then we started exploring the house, which used to be a blacksmith's, built in the 1600s, and the kids began to overcome their fear of the strange one-eyed clown doll.

We woke up and headed out to a neighboring town called Villeneuve Sur Lot, at least 1000 years old, with all its historic towers, buildings, and Roman aqueduct, turned bridge. We rented a couple of small electric boats and floated on the River Lot. We ate crepes, coffee in the town center, shopped, mostly while Cindy took a million pictures. A fun day of unplanned and unexpected adventures. I sit here waiting for another work call while the rest of the crew headed on a walk to the "scary windmill" on the hill, loading the kids up for this evening's night terrors. I may go prop up the one-eyed clown doll to greet them.

This medieval castle was on our way to Montpezat

View from our house

Mom is sporting a new way to wear her purse

Warning: new driver

Collioure, France

We love it here! Rick and Thomas visited this place years ago and brought us here for a couple of nights. Kenzie thinks she has found the best place on Earth.

Train

Pisa

We had a crazy storm in Pisa today. All flights were delayed. The airport was a mess. We thought our car was going to drown as we crossed the street that doubled as a river. And I about punch a guy in line who lit a cigarette in my face. But we made it to our train with about 45 minutes to spare, so all was good!

Bebido

In order to get a drink Kenzie had to order in Spanish - it worked! :)

Siena

Mason loves his Grammy...and his new watch, which he was careful to make sure showed up well in the photo.

We made a day-trip to Siena yesterday, which is only about 18 miles from where we are staying but over the windy mountainous roads took about 45 minutes. It's fun traveling with a group of 12 as we try to self-herd and organize on the fly. We never lost anyone permanently, although at least half of us took a turn being off the radar at least once.

Over time we are getting better at our group pictures, I think...except for Mason who almost didn't make it in the shot in time.

Jumpers

Ermi the Swimmer

Two days ago Ermi decided to learn how to swim! He had been very afraid of the water, but with some coaching and peer pressure, he decided he could do it! It was amazing to watch in one day - he learned how to swim!

Kiddos

Wine tasting

Ulli and Grammy let the kids play in the pool while the rest of us went wine tasting. 

Selfie stick

Cindy got a selfie stick before we left. On the first day here Mason broke it. When in Rome Mason and I bought her a new one from a street vendor. That one is now also broken. 

The first selfie stick that the street  vendor gave me didn't quite work. Here is the picture that it took as I was telling him that it doesn't take pictures.