Provence,France----Fall break with the Woolleys:)

Pictures from the family resort we were staying at in Provence October 21,2011-evening.

Yesterday (Friday, October 22d,2011) we left Nyon at about 10 am and headed on our road trip toward Provence (France) it is a really lovely drive past little towns and valleys in their last stages of green before blue gray winter takes over. It actually looked pretty similar to our drive through this same region last February on our way to Spain. On our dive up I was sitting in the back seat next to Anna and Mariah. I read them a few books to pass the time, but that only lasted about 40 min.  When that was done the kids started their movie pleading. The parents have laptops and an iPad so those were passed around and the kids were set for the rest of the drive. Now I’m usually of the opinion that being attached to a movie means that you miss out on all the amazing scenery around you but I guess when you’re a kid you don’t care and when you’re an adult its really nice to have the kids not yelling in the back. I tried my best to take in the scenery and make the most of this opportunity riding through France but then Anna next to me put on “Avatar: The Last Air Bender” and that was the end of that.;) That show is AWESOME! (holla out to Sarah, Josh, and the Campbell’s-we still got to watch fire season when I get home!) We got through like 3 episodes before Anna got sick and threw up all the rolls shed eaten next to me. That was disgusting. I felt sick till lunch and went back to looking at France, and sleeping. For lunch we stopped at a rest stop and I bought some hot soup from this “Back to the Future”-esk soup machine. It was sooo cool. I put in 1.50 Euros and pressed the vegetable soup button. Then from inside the machine I heard the knobs whirring and twirling and the next thing I knew this small door opened and a metal claw was holding my steaming cup of soup….WoOoOahOoOoOaoaooOoA. Welcome to the 21^st century folks. Road trips where you don’t look outside and soup that makes itself.

We got to our destination about two hours later. It’s really cold here and fall is in full swing. I appreciate southern California weather more and more.  We are staying at a little resort village made to blend in with the architecture of the rest of the valley and I really like it. It’s a mini apartment with 3 bed rooms, 2 bath, and a kitchen and living room area. I’m sharing a small dorm-like room with Anna. She’s really excited about that. For dinner we went to this restaurant that was AMAZING!  It came with a meal plan and turned out to be a 3 course deal. It was awesome for the adults but not so good for the kids, as the finished their dinner before our main course came. I don’t want to make everyone start salivating or anything but first they brought this beautiful Cesar salad covered in crotons, chicken and a light spread of Cesar and balsamic dressing with tomatoes and a weirdly cooked egg on top. It was DE-licious. Sarah would have died.  Then came a fish fillet and bowl of risotto with a cream base and cheese on top.  Also amazing.  For dessert I had 3 scoops of ice-cream in a vase-vanilla, pistachio, and almond, with whip cream and fudge on top. The French really do know how to make a beautiful meal. The kids had french-fries and a hamburger patty which they seemed content with. The good news is we have a till Tuesday here so hopefully all the meals there will be just as delicious! Also what I m really excited about is that there is another family in our congregation at church(the Stewarts) whom the Woolley’s are pretty close with and they  are coming up here for the weekend as well. My new friend Elisabeth who is an au-pair living near them is also coming up with them, which is a HUGE blessing because I will have someone to hang out with! I was pretty lonely last vacation when we went to the Alps for a week. It’s just sad doing things by yourself, (i.e. taking hikes, going to movies, swimming...) and honestly its weird doing everything with the family because you need to give them just family time. So I’m so GRATEFUL Elisabeth is also coming!