Paris to Mont Saint Michel

Our flight to Paris arrived a bit early this morning.  We picked up our car rental right away and then took the long road or rather the slow road to Mont Saint Michel.  We enjoyed beautiful countryside, very fat and lazy cows, adorable stone villages, and too many incredible chateaus to count!  We are spending tonight at a bed and breakfast within sight of Mont Saint Michel.  Construction of the abbey started on the island of Mont Saint Michel in 966, on the same site as an older chapel built in 708.  It is amazing as the island was accessible only at low tide.  We walked around this evening.  Mont Saint Michel is beautiful and an impressive site!

Day of Travel

Our flight from TUS to ORD departs at 12:30 p.m.  A taxi will pick us up by 10 a.m., so we will have plenty of time to check in at the airport.  We are estimated to arrive at ORD at 5:35 p.m. and our flight to Paris is estimated to depart at 6:10 p.m.!  We expect to have 35 minutes or less to get on the flight to Paris!  Fingers crossed that all goes as planned by the airlines and we make it.  The flight from ORD to Paris De Gaulle is 8 hours, so we will have time to rest and practice our French.  Voila!  Bon voyage!

Life

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take 

but by the moments that take our breath away."  

Cleaning and Packing

I have spent several days cleaning the house, washing windows, mopping, dusting...  as I don't like to come home to a dirty house!  We are leaving on Friday on a five week trip to France and Jordan.  I've made lots of reservations and left strategic "holes" in our schedule to leave plenty of time for spending time in places we particularly like.  We will be spending three and a half weeks in the southwest of France.  There's much to explore!

We are also looking forward to spending a week with Claire, David, and Emerson in Amman.  While in Jordan, we hope to visit Petra and Jerash, as well as some of the Crusader castles and Roman ruins. No doubt, the highlight of our time in Amman will be playing with Emerson!

Royal Jordanian Airlines flies nonstop from Amman to Chicago, so we will spend a couple of days with Audrey and Dan when we return to the US.    Their baby is due in mid December, so we want to be helpful with any last minute details.  We will come home to Arizona on Thanksgiving Day.

With such varied destinations and locations, packing has been a challenge!  The weather in France will be cool and will get colder while we're there.  Amman's desert climate is cool in the evenings, and nice during the day.  Chicago in late November can be frigid! 

Emerson as Cowgirl

On Monday, Claire and Emerson went to the Jordanian Olympic Training Centre with the US Embassy Mom's Club, to spend some time with their ponies.  Emerson loved it!  She didn't mind wearing the helmet and she had fun riding.  We're hoping she will be a good cowgirl when she comes to the ranch!   Mama (Claire) may not be so keen on putting her on a ranch horse until she's at least 2!

Heifer Roundup

 

Papa helped Colter round up the heifers in our Buck Knob pasture this morning.  Papa rode Pablo to meet Colter by 7.  Colter's granddad, his helper Tanner, and Colter Lee came too.  They had a successful morning, branding four calves and then moving 26 cows to another pasture.  One calf struggled when roped and pulled his hip out of joint.  Poor little calf limped away with it's mother, so they will stay in the pasture nearest our house, to be close to water for a few days.  Colter Lee, at 3, did a great job of helping move cattle. 

Accomodation Confirmation

Papa and I are leaving on Friday of this week, to fly to Paris.  We will rent a car and go first to Mont St Michel.  Then we will travel south through a bit of the Loire Valley and on to the Dordogne region, Langueduc, over to Avignon, and finally back to Paris 23 days later.  I have waited to make accommodation reservations as the euro has dropped over the past few weeks and I wanted to be sure that all systems were "GO" before committing to a schedule.  I spent time yesterday making reservation inquiries for the first week of our trip.  I got back the first email confirmation for Les Basses Fontaines, a bed and breakfast inn in Doue' La Fontaine, a short drive from the city of Saumur on the Loire River.  http://www.loire-fontaines.com/   I am excited about this trip! 

Granny

When our girls were little they had a hard time saying "Grandaddy" and it came out "Granny."  My Dad is 6'5", a big guy, but he has been "Granny" to us since 1982.  Over the years, I haven't gotten back to my hometown very often, Central City, KY, but I try to see each of my parents every year.  A few weeks ago, we saw Granny for a few days in North Carolina, over the weekend of Aunt Rhea's 90th birthday party.  Papa and I rented a house with two bedrooms, so we would have plenty of time just with Granny. 

Rocking Horse

Yesterday, I was looking back at photos from Christmas 2010 and came across this photo of Toby riding our rocking horse.  Papa's Dad, known also as Papa to our girls, made the rocking horse for Audrey's first Christmas.  He signed it on the bottom and dedicated it to Audrey.  It's such fun for us to watch our grandchildren enjoy those toys we've cherished through the years. 

Full Moon

When I got up at 5:30 this morning, the moon was full and high.