Every once in while you run across  someone with such a gift that you leave the person so inspired. I had that moment, that meeting and that privledge when I met Annette (pictured with the boys above and I did ask her if I could put her here) :)  from www.woolcreations.coms locally in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  I have always described myself as someone who can imagine art, creations etc... but I have never been one to pull any of it off with my own bare hands, I can dream it I just can't create it.  I ache over dreaming things up and not having the ability to pull them off.  So when I met Annette I finally felt like I had found someone who could not only take my grand visions and execute but actually execute beyond any dream I had.  My boys are real into Knights, battles and history in general but when I saw Annette's gallery of handmade wool items and some hobby horses that she had made I knew instantly I wanted to get some custom tournament hobby horses made for my two youngest sons. They had birthdays coming up and I thought special tournament horses to fit their "green knight" and "blue knight" alter egos were in need.  I sent Annette an email and heard back instantly...she was up for the challenge!!!!

What I got days later exceeded any expectation I could have ever imagined.  The pictures she sent me of the two horses not only took my breath away but put tears in my eyes.   It was so hard to keep the secret from Karsh and Tristan...how lucky we were to get to visit Annette's "studio in the woods" to pick up our creations and to drool over everything she created.  Magic comes from those hands... As we walked to the little cottage door that is her studio I swear you had to watch your step that you didn't disrupt some gnome gathering fire wood running thru the garden...it was just magical!!!!

Annette's magic worked wonders again when I needed help planning a birthday.   My youngest son for months has told us he wanted a "Beethoven" birthday theme...how does one plan a "Beethoven Birthday"?  With everything in place (so we thought) he came to me with a new idea of what he wanted...a piano cake with "rats playing the piano". We have yet to totally figure out where this idea came from...but Tristan like his mama dreams big, his description so detailed I knew we couldn't produce. He is my child who will start telling you his dream and 50 minutes later is still telling it to you in much detail.  Searches on the internet left me with a few choices of rats...and then he told me he wanted a Beethoven rat, a "girl rat" (conducting) and another rat playing the violin. Three rats specifically...I assume he wanted the girl after going to the symphony with my Charlotte Mason homeschool group where the conductor was a pretty female but his images were so real and so vivid and I didn't know how we would produce what he was dreaming up.  Then I thought of Annette...no sooner had I mentioned Tristan's dreams and desires then she sent me a picture of a rat in an orchestra that she had created after reading my email.  These precious wool rats were much to beautiful  to dare sit on icing of a cake...but with my minimal baking skills we did create a piano cake with the rats at the corner doing their work, and used a loved beenie baby rodent at the bench...We dressed talking tree up to resemble Beethoven and when it was done got to take a break from creativity for a few moments.

A huge thanks to Annette for creating horses that my son's go few places without...rats worthy of sitting at Beethoven's piano and a lily pad fit for the Frog Prince of two princesses. More pictures to follow when I catch up on life some...

Annette's website is  www.woolcreations.com  She dreams big right along with her clients...We honestly feel like the luckiest folks alive to have found her!!!  Check out her gallery!!!!

I thought this morning that I should update friends and family with the news that Steve's mom passed away March 24th.  We got a call early in the morning on Easter  that Steve's mom was given CPR at her home during the night and was in the local ICU in Charleston South Carolina.

Friends from Virginia who read in our wedding had just arrived to visit us for the weekend and they stayed with me while Steve went on ahead to his mom. Steve is the youngest of five siblings and they were all there when she died peacefully on Monday after being removed from lifesupport. 

surprised

it

We spent Halloween at one of my bestfriends house in Northern Virginia...her two boys are the most precious children and took Reichen out trick or treating...his first "outing" without mom.  Angie, her hubby and I took the other kids out...her hubby pulled Bronwyn dressed as Nefertetti in the wagon...Angie in true Angie style made the wagon up a throne and blanket!!!! I couldn't find my white toga for Bronwyn so we had to use a pink play silk but she still looked adorable. 

Steve joined us a few days later for his birthday that we spent in Olde Towne Alexandria at one of our favorite restaurants...children and all... I can't get an internet connection at my parents house so have several emails etc... to get to and am just now catching up...

Her Artist Pack gave me the idea of my doing my wall with the artist and art...it motivated me to seize the opportunity. By using our timeline the children have learned not to mix up the time frames of the Renaissance with the Impressionist...or even the more recent Picasso...by using the timeline they know that Picasso actually died in my lifetime http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/AP/Artists.htm

I don't have a great picture of our timeline but if you look behind my kiddos doing art in the laundry baskets (yes this is common here at our house)...the timeline is in the background and has since been added to a lot, I will try to get a better picture up.  I wanted to add I did the background with package paper and used gold paint as my line (I wanted it to blend with my decor and not be on white paper) also I put the differnt figures on differnt colored paper based on the continent that the image placed in. Sure some have more than one continent associated with them and in that case we did a star, or moon or something to be added to the cardstock. Since I feared that I would never beable to match a specific orange in the years to come I immediatly used different colored oranges to represent Asia and therefore it wouldn't look bad as the years go by. Blue is Europe, Black is Africa, Orange is Asia...Gray is North America (with little presence as we are studying Ancients first)...Green will be South America.

So I needed one more picture for the collage...and I LOVE the picture of the kids at the airport looking out at the planes in their Superman PJs, people were loading and I didn't want to stand in line and we just waited there as they all loaded knowing we had assigned seats and there was no reason not to.

I just got a minute to upload these... and wanted to share.

Before we left we decorated two french doors...one with card size pictures from different artist (you can see it in the background of the puppy picture)...this took awhile and I tried to pick pictures that we would see on our trip or the masterpieces that certain artist were known for.

I have to find where I got the picture of God creating Adam (on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel) it was the perfect size and image to use. I taped them to their playhouse where they got to paint like Michelangelo did...standing with neck back.  This small exercise really sunk in with even Bronwyn (age 2 1/2)...in Italy you see images of this painting EVERYWHERE  and everytime she saw it she would yell, "Michelangelo"!!!!  Brownyn didn't stick to the painting long...but she did paint Adams "privates" pink before she abandoned her mission and I found that funny:)

Picasso was a fun artist for the kids to capture...we had watched a movie (forgot the name but hope to come back and update), but it was Picasso (no Actor...the actual Picasso) painting on glass and then changing it by adding more and more layers to it. The kids actually watched this video as background entertainment for days they enjoyed it so. It is not the kind of video that you really sit in a chair to watch, it was perfect just to have playing as we did other things.  We went overboard emphasising to Bronwyn, "Funny Picasso!!!! Look there is only one eye... etc... etc...". I just really wanted her to grasp something from the study and she did when we overemphasized the funny placed lips, eyes, even boobies...she'd laugh.  As the kids painted I had them write the name of who they were,  and then we taped them to their back. As they painted I described the artist (things we had read and studied and knew)...things so simple as, "you lived a long life, you liked women, you died with  money...etc.. etc...". These lessons really were absorbed by the children.

 This is a tiny fraction of things we did this summer to prepare the children for our trip...I have no doubt they helped so much in them understanding...Surrendering the french doors (or any wall space) to different artist was also a good idea in that they were there infront of the kids often. Bronwyn would point to them and say, "funny Picasso"...

 An entry for those planning on hitting Rouen with children (nothing of interest if not)...

The children had seen two or three of these cathedral paintings here in Raleigh and a good six or so in Paris...but this video showed them change on the screen before us much like the light show on the cathedral and it was a good way of seeing the true impression that was taken in by Monet.

Need to come back and polish off this entry some...but busy day so this will have to do for now.

Next Geneva, Chamonix and on to Italy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

This comes to you from the kitchen table with all of my maps and literature out before me. I thought I could finish this entry yesterday (that was my goal) but much of the information I have to share here is on maps and in brochures and just the thought of tackling them was enough to keep me from posting a thing.

I am on my lap top which really is too small for my chubby fingers and I find that I move at a snail’s pace on it so as usual bare with/

Speaking of chubby…no asking me where the pictures of me are…let’s just say that I have noticed the folks who ask me , “where are the pictures of you?” are usually the ones who don’t share pictures of themselves (for the same reasons)…so there said it…but it’s true!!!! Anyway when I can figure out a way to lose the pounds, wrinkles and more importantly the number of chins I have I will share some pictures of me J In the meantime adorable kiddos will have to do…

This computer also seems to think it is fixing my spelling and in many cases fixes what is not broken…I don’t know how to turn off that feature…but that in itself is making this almost impossible to complete.

So I have finally divided all of my brochures and scrapbook stuff (I’ve never scrapbooked so it is humerous I have tons of  envelopes of such stuff that I call “scrapbook stuff”)…anywho much to share if you hit this part of France.

Our iternerary had us staying in Puy Du Fou for the night but as we loaded into the car and knew we had a few hours of driving to get to our next destination we decided to proceed and drive during the night. The kiddos played among the big campers as we cleaned out the vehichle and got ready to head to our Prehistoric part of our trip and hit Dordogne France, one of  my favorite areas!!!!

I forgot the exact amount of time spent in the car for this drive but I think it was 2-3 hours…not a biggie, very doable.  The kids were exhausted and once fed drifted off to sleep and Steve and I proceeded with me nagging that I really did want us to move to Europe for five years…and then a one year trip around the world. Steve’s just nodded his head, “keep dreaming honey”, but I know deep down he thinks I am going to take the kids around the world and leave him to earn the money at home J

The Lascaux caves, and the surroundings were next on our trip!!!!

We all remember pictures of these famous caves in our History books growing up, but there is so much about them that I did not know.  I barely remember going to them as a child…I did go…but it is a fuzzy memory.  It was not until I was planning our trip that I came to realize that the Lascaux caves you visit today are not the real Lascaux caves painted by prehistoric ancestors.   Anyway the cave has been remade into Lascaux II…seems that all of the visitors to the real site were doing a lot of damage just by breathing in Lascaux I and it is now closed to visitors. Number II had images of the destruction and I must admit it was a lot of destruction in a very small amount of time, very interesting to see. I  thought I would be disappointed in going to a reproduction and I am happy to say that it was a thrill and until now as I type I actually had forgotten that it was not the “real deal”. They have remade every curve of the caves to resemble the real cave…it was wonderful. I found our tour guide to be pretty cheesy, you can’t go thru without one and we ended up in an all American tour…no children (school had started in the States) so just your “typical” tourist , I feel safe to say all American tourist who laughed at every dumb joke the guy cracked, almost nervous laughs, but it was pitiful to watch…I would have preferred a more educational viewing, but it was fabulous when he chose to stop the stupid jokes..

So I had not remembered that the cave was remade…but I also had not remembered that the cave only had one very faint picture of a man…all other figures were animals. I also had not really ever realized that it was not full of hunting scenes. Maybe it’s just me but I think of the Lascaux caves and for some reason I thought hunting images were on the caves and they are not. Was this a shrine to animals??? Possibly.

Lascaux was a perfect example of the speech I gave to the children everywhere we went…as we stood in the Roman Forum, as we stood before some of the most famous painting in the world in Paris and Italy, as we stood in front of some of the most famous sculptures in the world…as we stood before grand masterpieces I kept telling the kids, “you will probably come back one day…but you might not ever see it the way you see it now”. In the Roman Forum the boys picked up rocks…jumped on rocks, jumped on huge columns, could touch where Cesear had stood.   The day will come and soon where  a brightly colored orange rope will separate us from the stones. The day will come, and soon, where all of Michelangelos sculptures will be like his beautiful Pieta and behind glass, the day will come where it is not our ability to follow rules that will keep us from being able to touch Monet’s paintings…

The Lascaux caves really were the perfect example for me to tell the children to enjoy what is here and enjoy it NOW.

WOW how would I have ever known that two huge lessons would be served up to me on  a silver platter to drive my point home. I think it was within 60 hours that a Monet painting that we had just seen in Paris was destroyed by vandals who entered the museum…just in the past week someone put red paint into the Trevi fountain in Rome, where we stood!!! I made certain the children saw these articles and that we discussed them, I hope we can take them back, I hope more than anything that they can afford to go back one day…but even if they can they will view these masterpieces from different angles I have no doubt.  I stood on Stonehenge as a child…I’ve kissed The Little Mermaid….two things I could not do today.

Anyway within two weeks of time my lesson was really driven home…

The Lascaux cave has been desrcribed as “The Sistine Chapel of Prehistoric Times” and I think that is a wonderful description.

This is important to note if you ever go…the tickets are not sold at the cave (replica) they are sold in a town near there called Montignac…at this location you will find a lot of information about other tourist attrations in the area…enjoy many do what you can the children will love it!!!!  Also since you can not go thru the caves without a tour guide you kind of need to know when the English guide will be, they will of course tell you, this was wonderful in that it made us take in sites we might not have done if we were able to just drive up to the cave and go in. This was our busiest part of our trip in that we hopped from place to place…and the prehistoric era had our full attention in everything we did.  This was a wonderful time and we took in so much…

Lascaux caves   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lascaux

Official site of the Lascaux caves   http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

This area is called Dordogne in France, it is just a perfect spot on Earth. I love the homes made of stone, the rivers and folks canoeing on them, the picnics to be had on the side of the road…it really is a beautiful area.  We pulled up at one small Inn starving for food and were saddened that they did not start serving dinner until 7PM (this happens a lot)…we usually eat late but this was a cozy little Inn and I would have done anything to have had a meal there, I was starving and the road trip was waiting…I even offered to pay them more to create us a meal, but it appears the chef goes home (or somewhere) and was nowhere to be found.

I said it every day and still do…each and every day spent could have been a vacation in itself…I could spend years in this area.

In Montignac get maps and any literature you’ll need…it is a wonderful place to stock up on brochures and to ask the gals behind the counter as to what you should see.   A trip to a good Tourist office is worth its weight in gold.  I said earlier that the drive from Puy Du Fou to this area was about 2-3 hours and I might be slightly underestimating that…now as I type I remember at night driving thru Montignac looking for a place to stay that would put us right near the place to get tickets in the morning, there was no lack of camping spots but being early in the morning hours we always had to weigh if it was better to put up the tent and disturb sleeping kiddos to then turn around and take it down hours later or just find a nice place to park and sleep (which was never in our plans pre trip). We ended up beside a river with a nice parking spot and since the kids were asleep just pulled over and fell asleep there.  In the morning Reichen and I then walked back to the town of Montignac and returned with tickets and picnic goodies…there is a picture of the children eating beside a river  that was taken that morning.  This was the spot where we watched people canoe down the river and picnic on the side of the road.

My map of this area is heavily marked with hours of operations and tidbits of information…there is a huge disadvantage to going in the summer for obvious reasons, most of all the crowds…but once September hits the hours of operation change at these locations…so I have all of our sites marked and then the hours that they are open. It is not unusual for places to close for two hours during the lunch time hours.  This is the only disadvantage and you need to give yourself some time to map out such information.

I never visited this site till now but it would be a good place to look at ahead of time and to even request brochures ahead of time.  http://www.dordogne-perigord-tourisme.fr/Web_GB/sommaire/jeu_sommaire_GB.htm

So tickets were bought in Montignac for the Lascaux caves and Le Thot.

I am happy they talked up Le Thot and the other sites to see for they were all a treat and a wonderful day of entertainment.

In this area of France they offer tourist packages from Prehistoric studies, Medieval studies and Renaissance studies…we stuck with Prehistoric since we had the other bases covered in other stops on our trip…but boy what I would do to have been able to take in all of the sites.

We entertained ourselves at Le Thot prior to going to Lascaux, it is a museum about Homo Sapiens and how they lived and how they worked and the animals that shared their world.  We also purchased rocks with images from Lascaux’s caves here for much cheaper than we would have purchased them any place else. I am guessing about $4-$5 each…but they were really enjoyed by the kids and included the minimal paints needed to color them.  Here is a site I just found that best describes le Thot http://www.best-of-perigord.tm.fr/sites/semitour/anglais/thot_uk.html.

From Lascaux we made the small drive (all fo these are near eachother) to Tursac and to the Prehistoric Parc…this was wonderful and I almost passed it up thinking it might be a little park in the backyard of someones home. The children really enjoyed this little park. It was a lovely walk thru the landscape with little stops that hade an example of a prehistoric hut, fire, hunting, even a mammoth and an outdoor exhibit of how they were hunted.  What really caught everyones attention was these fat orange slugs…there was a total fascination with these orange slugs…I have a picture from the area that shows them…they were bright orange.

From the Park we rushed to an amazing under ground cave that had an amazing story to it…seems they thought it to be where the devil lived years and years before ever venturing into it. The story is that even a sheriff of the town wanted it filled in due to all of the stories without knowing what gems were beneath.

Here is the best site I found to this cave… http://www.perigord.com/proumeyssac/ it was fabulous, I was very surprised at the access to it, they didn’t mind if people touched the stalactites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalactitesand stalagmites http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalagmite    (think the "tights" need to hang on from the ceiling)  which bothered me so…I don’t know I have been caves with very few of them and strict rules not to touch them so surprised me how liberal they were with the tourist in the cave.  There was a small playground where the children played till the sun went down and it was a fun and educational day…what better way to absorb the prehistoric era.

The night ended up being one of our most challenging decisions…we really wanted to go to Carcassone…our prhistric activities were way more than we ever dreamed they would be and our day was gone before we knew it. We had to be in Geneva the next night to meet friends for dinner…we had to say bye bye to Carcassone…which was fine. The thought of the wall city really excited Reichen the most, but this was one of those times where again we had to remind ourselves “there will be a next time”…

We were on the road awhile when I suggested we get a hotel for the night. This would be our only night in a hotel…and it came at the perfect time…Because of the size of the family we needed to get two rooms, they connected and you never would have known they were not one room except for we had two baths. AHHHHHH and we had ICE…we spent about $150 for that roon that night and the ice itself was worth every penny of it. It as the perfect time to stop and take baths. The children took out their knights and gladiators and pirates and while missing our travels on the road it was a nice refreshing evening to be had.

The hotel chain was called Hotel Campanile…I really appreciated this staff who even made calls to other hotels near by trying to see if they could and would fit our family into one room…we were told it was against the law due to how many of us there were.

The town we stayed in was called Cahors…

The hotel was not lavish but it certainly was clean and all we needed http://www.campanile.com/en/default.aspx.

In the morning we drove for a good hour on our way to Geneva when we decided we were going the wrong way…as we truned around to the minute we passed the hotel were had stayed at the night before….this was one of those moments I really would have liked a GPS system!!!!!!!!

I just found the receipt and the night for both rooms was 138 Euros…so a good $150…but again it was worth it!!!

This is only the first few days of our trip…it ends with our arrival at Puy Du Fou one of the most breathtaking spots on Earth for what they have pulled off there. It is a good spot to stop and add to in the next few days for I just the thought of capturing Puy Du Fou in the way it deserves exhaust me. It is a special place… I will share a fantastic YouTube video and their website and will come back and start the rest of travels with our day there…Watch the video closely especially if you have children into Vikings it will show a ship coming out of the water with vikings on board...just stunning. It should show five shows...Knights, Vikings, Musketeers, a Falconry show that had me in tears and Gladiators and a medival feast in a castle.

As you read this please remember I have five children needing me as I type an almost seven month old baby who is becoming very active and a two year old bossing me at all angles and at the same time home schooling…if I am not clear on something please understand the effort it takes to even pull this off…I hope it makes sense I hope to  share links of everything for others and would be more than happy to answer any questions that I can. Just know I type quickly because I have to.

 It started occurring to me that I wanted to go to Europe for a month in late summer early Fall about 9 months ago right before little Aynsleigh arrived.  I love traveling, and Europe was strongly calling my name. As mentioned it is not a good time to go due to the exchange rate but my calling was strong and I thought we could take many steps to help us pull it off. We are a family of 7 so our steps had to include keeping everyone happy and safe. I spent a great amount of time preparing the children for the trip…had I not there was no way it would have been as successful as it was and much of the money spent would have been wasted if I dare allowed the children to just flush each lesson I worked hard and still do to keep the stories, the artist the history alive and in our conversations and readings. I really cannot put a time frame on the amount of work and effort that went into preparing for our trip but it was not done alone and the children were champs embracing our studies and sharing in my excitement…our strong school curriculum gets a lot of the credit but we find as we study something we are always led on what a home school mom described best, “rabbit trails”.

I booked our tickets thru my trusted travel agent just after Aynsleigh was born, got our passport pics taken at Costco (inexpensive) and started getting our passports ordered.  We home school and are using a very strong history program that sparked the boys fascination with Rome and on his own Reichen started embracing Medieval studies  and legends and the house caught on fire with energy and excitement waiting for our trip.

This blog will have many layers to it, diverse readers …most of it is written  for our sake and a way to track what we did, where we stayed, about how much we spent and links of places we studied ahead of time and many  links to places that we hope to study now.  There are many people who have approached us telling us that they  want to do such a trip and some  who have shown an interest in traveling with their family to Europe and wondering where to start and financially how they can pull it off.  I suspect I will ramble on things we could have done better…ways to save money…special detail to areas we stayed and that will be for the purpose of those seeking such a trip.  I can say that each and every day surpassed any and all of our expectations…we have been asked a million times what was our favorite thing we did and none of us can answer…I could not dare organize the trip in my mind that way…it was all simply perfect.  I hated to delete things from our itenary but had many special things that we added.  I had to remind myself that there will be more trips if I didn’t I fear I would have cried over sites unseen.  I can honestly say that not once did anyone say they wanted to go home…and only one day was there a complaint about the time on the road, it was the stretch from Geneva to Florence and Tristan whined that we had been in the car “all day”, and he was right with stops to Chamonix. Turin, Pisa, and the Italian coast he was correct. Only three spans (Normandy to Puy Du Fou, Geneva to Florence, Rome to Venice) of our trip had us in the car for about 5-6 hours …for two of those trips the children slept thru them for they were at night after enjoying late nights at a location and the other was Geneva to Florence however that day was filled with some wonderful side trips

Financially we started planning right when the trip entered my mind…We all caught ourselves every step of the way when I was craving a restaurant  and it would have been so easy to go  and I thought, “hmmm would I rather spend that money here use it to get us all a sandwich under a Campari umbrella in Europe  ( I call those moments “chasing my Campari umbrella moments”).  I don’t know how much I saved this way but those thoughts were in my head for months with just about every financial decision I could make.

I booked our tickets thru Tram who has always done my tickets…if others use her know she works during the day at a job but is always available in the evening hours and has always found me wonderful deals. I have used her for a decade now, she has advice to share, almost motherly at times…but she has always been pretty spot on in what she says.

I booked our vehicle thru www.autoEurope.com they are here in Maine and their employees are VERY knowledgeable and professional. They are not just customer service folks in a que each and every one convinced me highly they were very professional and full of advice.  NOTE if you go this route check their website for deals, we had an excellent deal on our 9 passenger Euro Van that they could not give me on their own but if I mentioned the website they could honor/match it. ALSO if you do this check with your Visa or MasterCard if you use a platinum card it was brought to our attention by my father that there is an insurance that they offer as a benefit, you have to pay for the car with that card to get it, in any case would rather you hear that from the card company vs. me but it is a HUGE benefit. We actually just days before our trip called them back and changed our payment to such a card so we were insured and did not have to pay insurance we were surprised our insurance carrier who use to insure such trips recently had changed their stand on it. Also make sure when booking that the countries you want to go to are allowed in what you rent. Eastern Europe and some others are not allowed in some cars…so make sure, shockingly Italy was not available at some of the rates- check and don’t read it in the fine print when it is too late.

Updated for I just found my reciept we spent just under $2,000 on this 9 passenger van though we only have 7 passengers we needed room for tent etc...This was $700 off the original price, this was evidently a good price for September and the length of time we had it. We paid no insurance since covered via our platinum card...we put some 6,000 miles plus on it and will update the cost of gas so folks are aware it is more there. ALSO we used a Diesel car!!!!! Gas is cheaper if you use Diesel...there was an odd sound to the car from the outside but that was recommended by our agent and glad of course that we did that.. The car was manual with air condition and had a CD player. One of my biggest regrets was not getting the GPS. GPS was offered to us for $12 a day, that didn't peak my interest at all...UNTIL we got lost a few times and I really think it would have been worth it. Highway signs are different there in that they don't really say "Washington DC 22 miles away" they have exits that will say "Washington DC" (for example) and the direction...well within that direction lies all of the other cities not getting a mention on the sign up on your map. ALSO the round about is a huge thing...you get in the circle and find your direction. On our honeymoon I don't remeber the trouble we had this trip with direction...anyway I would get the GPS!!!!

I packed way more clothes than I needed…I always do…packing the kids clothes was important to me but for myself I really wish (and so does Steve) that we packed little for us.  We did bring bags of raisins, a few containers of peanut butter, some tuna fish cans (we never used), some plates, utensils, cups and mayonnaise in packets a picnic blanket (a must).  If I could do anything again I would have stuck with my intent to make more peanut butter baguettes (French bread) sandwiches. Going to markets in Europe is fun, cheaper…filled with fresh items and just the thing to do. Ice and coolers if there are items that I never saw and could not find…if I did it again I might actually have taken a cooler from here packed but then I still don’t know how I would have handled the ice part of it.  Food at restaurants is expensive…everyone told me but I really think I thought I was above it all with a plan that I did not keep to well. I don’t know why I didn’t keep my plan as much as I would have liked, we all love French Bread, a bag of chips and a piece and an apple…things that could be found all over the markets and could be enjoyed on the side of the road. Don’t get me wrong we picnicked…but we should have done it more…we should have done it every single day and not just every three.  Driving thru Dordogne you would see cars on the side of the road colorful blankets brought out and a couple dining on the side of the road. In France everyone sports his or her baguette as if a status symbol. In Dordogne while we ate on the side of the river we watched a young man walk by us…a few minutes later he walked by us in the opposite direction with his bread and a bottle of wine…a few minutes later he rowed by us with a lady on the river both eating their baguette and drinking their wine. So simple and so beautiful…it all appeared almost effortless.

Just an idea on Markets/Grocery Stores

A baguette (French bread) cost less than one Euro

A good Cheese for the family cost about $3

A salami meat that they call sausison (sp???) can serve us all for about $3…mustards are cheap and good…jelly is cheap and good.

Bottled water…get it here at the market…make sure you like the brand before committing to a big number of bottles, I found one that I did not care for…pick one you like stock up on them.

We flew KLM…I love KLM!!!!!!!!!!!  They are Dutch and laid back as far as airline employees go, they were always  smiling and truly either seem to really love life or convince you well that they are there to help you. Anyway flying over the Atlantic with a nice crew and children all around you helps jump-start you off in a good way.

We boarded our plane in DC, from Dulles on September 11^th…there was an interesting calm to the airport, I am convinced different than anything I have ever witnessed in airports before.  I prepared the children and ourselves and it must be noted if you have never flied abroad that the time change can do major damage on you if you don’t take your mind there and embrace the time you get on and realizing that you will land on a new day…the beginning of daylight in a new area and if you have not slept you are starting a trip tired…without sleep etc… 

I preached to the kids that they would board in their PJs and that I would get them comfortable but they were to go to sleep knowing that in 6 some hours we would be going from 6PM to literally a brand new day of about 7AM.  I prepped them better than I did myself… I forewarned them that movies were not going to be had in this direction of the trip for they cut into your sleep and you could easily never go to sleep.  We ate and then I tucked them in. I got extra blankets and made them a fort in their seats…I bet a good 20 people remarked them, one grandma actually was journaling for her daughter (how special) and sharing how our children were in Superman outfits and how they were set in a fort to sleep. I took the blankets and canopied the kids into a cocoon together by tucking it behind their headrest and behind the headrest of the seat in front of them (ours). I used a blanket to make a wall and it really helped to get them off to sleep.

Due to a flight change we had to hit Amsterdam before catching a short flight to Brussels…I really would advice folks to do direct flights even it involves driving four hours to a major airport to do it…legs take wind from your wings. Since our trip was almost a month we could afford to have a little wind taken…but if your trip were much less I really would not want to lose time and most of all energy on a leg like that. 

We arrived in Brussels and instantly drove to Waterloo …note they had a children’s “treasure hunt” guide and the children get a present if they answer the questions, I got the guide (free) but with so many children it was just best for us to go our pace but if you go keep that in mind that this is offered.  At Waterloo there were two short videos they show you one tugged my heart strings it started with young children playing on the grounds and there was the “leader” evaluating his “troops” they were all dressed in their handmade warrior clothes, each different and each taking their rolls so seriously…they resembled my children,  on any day I see my oldest Reichen evaluating the troops in our backyard…in the eyes of these young kids I saw my children at play just the same…it was sweet to see.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo

http://www.waterloo1815.be/en/waterloo/

 the site of Napoleon’s last Battle…the children knew of Napoleon and could pick him out of a line up in appearance but we have not studied him with the exception of his relationship to Ancient Egypt and his efforts to secure it’s artifacts and his men’s finding of the Rosetta Stone. They enjoyed the time there and it was a great way to stretch the legs after a long flight. My intent was to go to Dinant also before settling into our camping site in lovely Brugge…time had gotten away from us in additional leg and the length of time to get our car and we sadly did not do it.  The Napoleon wax museum and their circular area to view the war was well worth it’s purchase as well we also took a wagon ride around the battlefield, I forgot if the ticket was inclusive or not but do recommend the whole kitten caboodle if not.    For anyone really into Napoleon I found this site while on some other hunt and it looked promising for those wanting to capture more Napoleon in their vacation  http://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/itineraries/index.asp

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 As I researched our trip out I found that Wikipedia actually was a good source of information for within Wikipedia are tons of links that open more information…as I blog instead of describing the area Joan of Arc was burned at I am going to give links since those links can share way more than I can and I will also share books etc… if time permits that I used for the kids to understand the many things we did. I can not stress enough that taking the long almost obsessive amount of time to educate them on where we were going made the trip worth it in that if I missed the 2^nd floor of the Musee d’Orsay it was noticed by Reichen…there were many times (more than I want to admit) where my 8 year old was reminding me of things we had learned…not things I taught as much as things we learned together.

So our trip has begun…fresh from Waterloo and the relaxed it provided at this time of year we headed to Brugge I am going to guess about an hours drive away. Steve and I had stayed there on our honeymoon exactly 8 years before. The guidebooks mentioned a campsite within walking distance of the Old Towne that had our name written all over it. We drove on the street and were convinced we were in the area…back and forth we drove. I have never seen a campsite just go out of business in Europe before, I am sure it happens but I have never witnessed it…most seem to have been there from the beginning of time and it never occurred to me that times might have changed.  We pulled over at a gas station where we were told the campsite is no longer. She informed us there were no other campsites in Bruges. It was getting late at this point and we were eager to have our castle set up…we proceeded to the next town where we saw no mention of a campsite. We then headed to the coast…the Atlantic coast only about 40 minutes.  Where we ended up in Ostend.  We did not stick around Ostend however I have no doubt it could be a vacation in itself and if we go back I plan to spend a few days there relaxing…there was a museum there that looked like it catered to children it was not what we were searching for this trip but if you were there a few days it might be something to look into.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostend,_Belgium

see below where I clarify that we ended up in  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bredene.

During the non summer times campsite staff is not there as late as the summertime and we feared we might have to enter a site and pay in the morning which was fine…but in doing so it usually meant the road access to drive your vehicle thru was not there and that we literally would have to carry all items over a gate of sorts…with five children that task is not as easy as it was when Steve and I did this on our honeymoon.  So this story will provide some humor as we go thru our travels…not finding an open campsite and being very tired I pulled over and asked a police officer where we would camp with our tent (looking for a campsite with water, green grass etc…) he said to follow him and he took us to this safe little parking space with about 10 campers in it. None were just big vehicles like ours they were true campers. At the time I poo poo’d that idea greatly, I had never stayed at such a place plus had the safety of my children to think about…it ends up I think every little town in Europe has such a place for “free camping” and while I questioned its safety that night I look back on it and folks were beside their campers socializing and eating and in hindsight it was probably as safe as anywhere. I have only camped in wonderful sites before…running water…hot baths…playgrounds etc… and knowing that we were all maybe able to skip the showers (and boy did we) we were not really able to skip the other bodily functions that we had little control of. So we drove on within the town…filled with campsites that seemed to house “summer homes of nice campers” and knowing that just a month ago this was a true “beach town” filled with activity, swimsuits etc… we were driving a long what a month ago would have clearly been a boardwalk but to us right then we just wanted a place to sleep. All of the camp grounds were “locked” for safety and no one was manning the offices…five of them or so connected to each other and one in particular had a parking lot back outside of the office that appeared kind of safe…we felt we had no choice but to sleep in our van that night in their parking lot and check in in the morning. As we were scouting out what seemed like such a life changing decision a car pulled up that ended up being the family who ran the campground…they were I think just returning from dinner, they were very pleasant and opened the gate and allowed us in with instruction to just stop by in the morning and pay.  Ahhhh showers, bathrooms…campers outside socializing…we were the only tent and pretty humorous to see late at night with all of the bright and shiny campers that resembled summer mansions on the coast in the camping industry.   On our honeymoon we seemed to find campsites with big bushes that separated the sites on this vacation not as much, though we were fine with that.  This site had an open patch of grass for their tents, and sure in the middle of September we were the only tent however I feel safe to say had we been there one month earlier there would not have been room for us. This would be our only really nervous night until we were let into the campground as to “where do we stay…can we walk over the fence”…we were tired and not as bold and confident that night I suspect in the future and in the past things like this didn’t stress us out as much as it did that first night.  The cost for all of us camping totaled 22 Euros each night…one token worth a Euro was needed for hot showers. A clean, very nicely equipped site with a wonderful playground that would have been enjoyed so much more if our time was spent around the tent and not out and about.

My days delay in posting this entry was actually to find the information about this site and here it is www.campingduinzicht.be. I did not get the impression that this family spoke much English but they certainly did what they could to help us, there is a big chance during the summer months they have help that can speak English. I only share that incase someone tries to make reservations over the phone.  I am also noticing that I have ID’d this town as Ostende previously their brochure calls it Bredene!!!!! Ostende though I do know was just a second or two down the road.

Here is info on Bredene  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bredene

While we did not scratch the surface of this town I know a month earlier it would have been hoping with beach seeking families and could have been a vacation in itself…we used it as a place to sleep and I am certain it could have been a vacation for some on its own.

We awoke to seeing the beach community around us that we had only imagined was there…as we drove out and turned left to go back to enjoy Brugge for the day and night we saw the huge sand dunes on our right with paths and people with beach umbrellas and baskets making their way to the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. There was tremendous comfort in that…we have a home just a few miles from the Atlantic Ocean on this side of the pond…so it was neat to imagine that we could enjoy this same Ocean as they did.

Brugge  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brugge …wonderful Brugge…everyone should check it out. I find Brugge to be pretty inexpensive and a storybook of a place. If you mention it most everyone will says, “Ahhhh Brugge is beautiful, I love Brugge”.  Steve and I stayed in a little B&B when we came for our honeymoon…we just found it and lucked out at the time, I think I could find it if set lose for the day…but we were camping with children and times sure had changed in 8 years.  We lucked out to find a parking lot that charged 6 Euros for a day to park…it was safe, unmanned but locked. A local guy told me it was a ‘secret for the locals” and seemed surprised that I stumbled upon it…a few wrong turns and our trip moto “let’s get lost in _________ (pick a city)” found us this.

If anyone wonders why I long abandoned taking pictures of a church etc… without someone I know in the picture the above Brugge link should shed some light on it. I realized I could find the perfect picture of a famous landmark on the internet to grab so why use my mediocre skills to try to capture its picture. So all of my famous landmark pictures have the children in them. Sadly when I share them via a collage I have to cut out a lot of stuff and more sad is that I have not really found a way to capture landmark and children together in a great way. I have a nice camera and this upset me.

We had a lovely day!!!!  Just like you shouldn’t go in a grocery store hungry it might have been a mistake to enter Brugge hungry. I will in a heartbeat spend money on a meal that is good and that is had in a scenic place but I do think I made a mistake in judgment when in hunger desperation I sat us down in the famous City Square to eat. The memories of the Clock in the Square and people watching and all will probably be worth it, but I fear I will always remember the most simplest meal to be had that we paid 125 Euros for and thus a good $150.   I had smoked salmon served with toast and the children fries and a soup and Steve maybe a more hearty meal but nothing real memorable. You must remember that all water in Europe is bottled…you will be asked if you want “bubbles” or “no bubbles” so be prepared or you will probably be served the carbonated water…but the price of the water all around for all of us adds to the bill a lot which is again why I stress have your grocery store/market stops in your time schedule and do them.  There was a little boat that departed back near where we parked that took people on a tour thru Brugge…I think it cost us about 30 Euros or so and I am really glad that we took it.  We were the last group on it for the evening, I think it was about 6:30PM and after that we went back to the Town Center and after an evening of Brugge headed back to our campsite almost an hour away (but an easy drive) to wake in the morning and head to France. Just to note we ate here on our honeymoon and loved it it is in our notes from our honeymoon and I remember Derek the inn owner telling us about it   We were to hungry to search it out this trip but I really wish we had.  Wanted to mention on a side street the kiddos saw a lady dressed in old traditional garb making lace and that was a real treat to them.

I would highly recommend the little boat cruise to anyone.

The weather was without a doubt picture perfect our first few weeks or so…not a drop of rain …We took the highway to Rouen France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rouen_Cathedral

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_I_of_England#Later_years_and_death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_clock

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc

www.fayencerie-augy.com  updated where kids saw the artist doing faience

www.rouentourisme.com  updated from brochure of light show (maybe they do every summer)

…not far from Paris and still in the Northern area of France in fact near the Normandy Beaches, Paris, Claude Monet’s home etc… this area itself justifies several more days than we were able to give it.  Rouen was a lovely stop…we found a parking garage underground and a wonderful Information office (clearly marked “I”) on all maps and filled with people who for the most part want to help you. We were lead to believe it would be hard to park our van in cities…that Europeans have small cars etc… I will not argue that they do indeed have small cards, but there are also a lot and I do mean a lot of campers and vans similar to ours in the areas we were at. Sure it is more problem then having a small car…but without any huge exception we did always seem to find a spot for us. In this garage we really lucked out there was a place parallel to the wall that was meant for us and we pulled right along it and went out to enjoy Rouen. I have been guilty of blogging more about food than other things in the past…but when you have children and you want the best of experiences I have to say food in my life is a big issue.  I wanted the I named a good 15 years ago while in Greece “the