The City of Nîmes

Having visited France so many times I have to admit that I have spent the majority of my time in Paris. I have traveled through the country by train seeing many other cities- but have only had overnight stays in three other towns – one of which is Nîmes. This town is located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Southern France.

My first trip here was not planned to say the least. At the time I was visiting Paris for the first time alone and ended up taking a side trip here with a friend who was visiting family for the weekend. It was a very sporadic decision to hop on a train to a town that I knew nothing about. To be truthful I had no clue of the geography of France at the time and went on a complete whim not knowing exactly where I was going. I only knew that I had to be back in Paris in two days to meet up with another friend who was visiting me from Germany.

It was a bit of a surprise to see how far Nîmes was from Paris as I glanced at a map on the train (I was on one of those slow regional trains) – but I must tell you I loved this town from my first moments there. My friend showed me around his hometown, and by chance there was a big fête (festival) going on that weekend. People were everywhere, there were floats all around, and it was a very festive atmosphere. Although I would have loved to stay longer I had to return to Paris and left a day later. That train ride back to Paris was the one where I overslept, missed my transfer, and ended up at the border of Germany before I realized exactly where I was. Don’t worry– I made it back to Paris in time to shower and meet my friend at the train station.

Having had a taste of Nîmes I was excited to return a few years later with another friend. Highlights of that trip included visiting the famous Roman amphitheater that is still nearly perfectly intact, relaxing in cafes and restaurants eating excellent French cuisine, and meeting new friends. It would be great to return here again – I can’t say that it will happen – but it would be nice to see this wonderful city again.

The great fête of Nimes!

The Roman amphitheater

(day 356)

A Few Photos of Paris

I have been to Paris quite a few times – long trips, weekend trips, with my parents, with my husband and kids, and I can never forget that first trip with my tour group which introduced me to this beautiful city. I can’t actually recall how many times I have been here, but I fell in love with Paris that first trip and have enjoyed returning here for 20 years now- oh my I am slowly aging– but having been able to visit here in my younger years I have only learned to appreciate Paris even more as I become older.

I have always enjoyed visiting Paris with others too – showing them around my favorite spots and always finding new places along the way. It has been particularly fun visiting Paris with Max as we both visited here separately in our 20’s and have fun showing each other some of our favorite spots around town. But when we visit here now it is all about the kids so we spend more time in parks than anywhere else. The kids know I love Paris and they too are fans of the city.. I could so see Malina living here one day when she is older. As my blogging year slowly comes to a close I had to go back in my archives one last time to revisit my favorite city.

(day 355)

Thanksgiving at Knott’s Berry Farm

We had planned on spending Thanksgiving at Knott’s Berry Farm a few weeks ago… and then rain came into the forecast. A few days prior to the holiday the rain prediction disappeared. We do not have much family in the Los Angeles area and usually head down to San Diego to be with friends.

This year we decided to stay at home and spend the day doing something local that the kids would enjoy. It was a great day. My feet were a little sore from the walk in flip flops the day prior, but I survived. We headed home after a successful day at Knott’s Berry Farm – and even better I purchased season passes so we can visit whenever we want in 2014! Yeah!!

The kids went on many rides and when we first arrived we did not have to wait long to ride anything. It was great. I even went on a somewhat “super spinny” ride which I usually avoid – since those rides can make me sick! I had to do it or the kids would not be able to go on the ride. I survived.. as did the kids. Always something fun to ride at Knott’s Berry Farm.

Now this is a Thanksgiving lunch!

Wandering around the park

(day 354)

The long walk

It was an afternoon off to spend with the kids. It was a super sunny and warm day for it being the end of November. I drove past the ocean on my way home from work and I knew that I wanted to go back.. and we had the time. After eating lunch with Max we headed to the beach. The goal was to walk from the Manhattan Beach Pier to the Hermosa Beach Pier (3.4 miles) – something I used to do on a regular basis when I was in my early 20’s. It was a somewhat ambitious walk to do with the kids, but we do some serious hiking and this was a relaxing walk. They both had tennis shoes on and I wore flip flops- I am not sure why I did not have tennis shoes on… note to self – next time wear tennis shoes for support.

It was a gorgeous day. There were people everywhere as we slowly made our way to the Hermosa Beach Pier. At the base of the pier was a decorated Christmas tree. We also saw our favorite surfer statue and the kids spent a good 5 minutes climbing on him.

At some point I looked over towards the ocean and saw that kids were sliding down a man-made hill of sand on saucers and other items (sledding without snow). I asked two little girls if Malina and Matteo could borrow their saucers to go down the hill. They loved it!

It was a big walk back to the Manhattan Beach Pier and because it was late afternoon we were able to see the sun set. We also saw some Christmas lights out. What we did not see were the trees on the Manhattan Beach Pier that were there only 5 days ago. Thank goodness I took the photos I did over the weekend.

Eventually we made our way home with a few stops along the way. My feet were super sore and the kids fell asleep within minutes of putting their heads to the pillow.

(day 353)

Wordless Wednesday- Cotton Candy Time!

(day 352)

Thanksgiving week

It is time for another holiday already. Wasn’t it Halloween just last week? We had plans of going to the amusement park on Thursday, but it is supposed to rain. Who knows, we might melt. But seriously Matteo and I have been fighting a bad cough so we will not brave the rain. What will we end up doing? That is still to be determined, but I am sure whatever we end up doing will be enjoyable.

For now we still have school and work – and homework. Homework is so hard. I never knew 2nd grade could be so challenging. Studying for tests is hard too; I can’t imagine how we will figure this out for the next 11 years with Malina. I take it back, I know the answer – we will hire a tutor at some point. A friend was telling me about a task that she has to do help her daughter complete. It is a rather complicated family tree project that must be done in Spanish. I was thinking immediately that I am glad that I will not have to tackle that project! Then I came home from work and saw that Malina has a project for the holidays as well – still not as hard as the family tree, so I will not complain!

Parent teacher conferences are coming up next week- already. I continue to be challenged with Malina’s school and it looks like we’ll be here for a while longer since there are no openings at the other school we like. So the Thanksgiving break is coming right on time. Today is a half day for her and she has the rest of the week off. I treasure these family moments because I know one day the kids will be much older and out of the house. How did my parents manage it all?

I found this old photo searching through my archives last night. Both of the kids can’t sit in this small laundry basket anymore – but they do still fit in separate baskets. I enjoy the holidays… it is a time to make memories with my family and I look forward to making those memories this week. Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate this holiday.

(day 351)

Christmas Trees on the Pier (Manhattan Beach)

It was a typical weekend at the beach – spending time with my favorite “little man” while his big sister played volleyball. Looking towards the pier I saw that there were Christmas trees up; we had to check them out a little closer.

It was a beautiful morning and I don’t know why I did not wear shorts because it was that warm outside! Anyways we made our way closer. The Manhattan Beach Pier is decorated so simple yet elegant with trees up and down the pier and lights on the aquarium at the end of the pier. I enjoyed spending some time with Matteo exploring the pier – looking at the trees, the surfers and the fishermen. I hope to check it all out at night with everything lit up at some point this week.

(day 350)

Going under the Big Top with “Cirque Du Soleil’s TOTEM”

I was recently contacted by a friend telling me that his show with Cirque Du Soleil would be in town. At that moment I thought it would be great to see “Totem” with Max and the kids at some point during the 6 month period that it would be in Southern California. Fast forward a few months and he notified me that he would be leaving the show at the end of the year to pursue other career opportunities. With that being said we would need to go see the show in Irvine if we wanted to see him perform. I am one of those people who just gets up and does things – so less than a week later we went to the show before all the craziness of the holidays settles in.

Once again the show is called “Totem” and it is nothing less than AMAZING. It was my first Cirque Du Soleil show, but I had spent a season ushering for the “Cavalia” horse show back in 2005 so I could view the show for free. That show was created by another gentleman from Montreal who was one of the co-founders of Cirque Du Soleil.

There was so much going on here- great artists (music, acrobatics, comedians), a great set, great atmosphere.. I could go on and on and on. Backing up a bit on this story I brought the kids and my girlfriend to the show for an early Christmas present. The kids did not know where we were going… it was another one of those surprises that I sprung on them. They had never been to the circus before – so I will say that they started out big going to the French circus. Eventually we will make it to a traditional circus too.

After the show we went backstage! My friend met us behind the scenes when the show was over. That was so much fun and very informative. It was soo nice to see him as it had been a good 12 years since we had last seen each other. He was the same and funny like always. He was great with the kids and showed us how daily life is for the performers. I took some photos and soaked up all the information that he told us. It was really fun see “Totem” and to go behind the scenes after the show. I highly recommend going to check out “Totem” if it makes it to your part of the world.

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Backstage photos

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One last shot before we left..

(day 349)

Blueberry and Daily Life

It has been awhile since I have written a post in the morning. My routine is to write at night and post in the morning after editing. I was so exhausted after Thursday’s Girl Night Out that yesterday I fell asleep at 7:00pm (and the kids stayed up until 9:30pm). Six hours of sleep and a full day of work and life just does not do it for me. Now I am back to normal and ready for the weekend.

The other day when I went to pick Matteo up from school he had a friend with him named Blueberry. Blueberry is a stuffed penguin. The children in his class take turns bringing him home, write a story about their experience, and add photos if they desire. The timing of Matteo bringing him home could have been better, but I made it work. We had just 45 minutes to do his homework before the babysitter came and I had friends over, but he created quite a nice story in that short period of time. Of course I did not make a copy of his story, but if I can get a copy from his teachers I will share it with you. His sister Malina fell in love with Blueberry too and the two kids did a little bit of fighting over who could hold him or play with him- very typical! The photos they took were fun- dressing him up, playing with him – all I saw was lots of love for Blueberry.

I have been rather lazy lately. Laundry is building up and I must finally tackle it this weekend. The idea is to do it twice a week, but sometimes it all happens on the weekend. It started raining here this week. I have a very nice umbrella somewhere, but I can’t locate it right now. I just thought of a solution- I’ll borrow one of the kid’s cute Paul Frank umbrellas from Max’s car until I locate mine. I also really need to figure out where all the coats are now- it is getting cold here in Los Angeles. Since the move in the summer I have not thought about winter clothes and do not know where I boxed and placed our winter jackets. It looks like my “to do list” is growing!

It will definitely be a mellow weekend for once, but there is one exciting event going on. Late afternoon today the kids and I are going to see the Cirque de Soleil show “Totem” down in Irvine. I have not told them that we are going there, but I have told them that they are receiving an early Christmas gift today. This will be their first Cirque show (my second). It will be extra fun since an old friend is in this show! I cannot wait to post tomorrow about the outing!

One last thing about posting- is there anything that you would like for me to write about? I have only 16 days left to post until my blogging year is over and then I will take a much needed break for the holidays. I am actually going to New Orleans to see family which is great since I have not seen my parents and brothers since last year.

On a side note I had some issues with WordPress the other day. It kept crashing on me and I was unable to post on the computer. I ended up posting via my cell phone and of course it posted to the wrong day. If you do not receive a daily post from me via email you can look at that post clicking on the arrow to view my previous posts. To fix the problem I wrote to the WordPress forum and was helped out! Yeah! I just had to switch my internet browser from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome. I tell you- there is always something challenging me not to post daily- but somehow I succeed.

Okay, I better wrap this up – it has been nice posting in this manner today as usually I tell stories more than write about my daily life. I hope everyone is well and has a nice weekend.

(day 348)

Girl’s Night Out

It has been in the works for a few weeks…. a night out with the girls. Max and I had our date night recently – yeah! But after a great dinner and conversation we passed on going to the bar for a few beers and ping-pong because he was not feeling to well. Around the same time a friend asked me about going out for “beer flights”.

The next week we took a look at the calendar and planned a “girl’s night out”. There is something special about going out with the girls, enjoying each other’s company and drinking. I am such a beer lover and need that break from the kids sometimes. At the restaurant we tried a number of beer flights (Belgian, Local and Hoppy) accompanied with food before continuing on to another bar for more drinks and more food. The second place had live music. It was a great evening with my girlfriends and I look forward to the “2nd Annual Girl’s Night” as well.

(day 347)