Catching up!

Yes, I have completely neglected this blog! Since most of us are on Facebook, it seems I've been doing all my updates there. I have been asked, however, to resurrect the blog!

In December, most cities and towns set up their Christmas markets. We had lots of fun at the Marseille market...writing letters to Pere Noel, drinking warm wine and hot chocolate, and shopping for Provencial gifts. The best part of the holidays was Mom and Dad's visit! We rented a car and visited Avignon, Pont du Gard, St. Remy and Les Baux. Despite the severe Mistral wind (famous in the region, blowing up to 60 mph), we had lots of fun. The girls were excited to finally dance on the bridge of Avignon (Le pont d'Avignon), one of their favorite songs, but the winds nearly blew us all off! Back in Marseille, we took Mom and Dad to our favorite sites, and we experienced Christmas Eve mass, complete with a live manger scene, at St. Victor's abbey - the oldest church in Marseille.

In January, we were witness to one of the most "exceptionelle," according to our friends, events in Marseille's history....snow!! The last time it snowed here was 1987. I'm not talking flurries here, we had nearly a foot of snow! The girls made a Provencial snowman, using olives for the eyes, herbes de provence for some hair, and a baguette. The city shut down for days, and nearly a month later there are still downed trees that have yet to be picked up.

The girls are both doing great in school. Alana's french is amazing - everyone says she has no accent! I was training for the Nice Half Marathon in April, but since suffering a back injury a few weeks ago I have been unable to run. It's been a bit frustrating, to say the least! Paul just left today for a 3 week trip back to the States - his longest trip yet. It will be tough, but fortunately we have a week with Mom in Paris to break it up! We'll leave for Paris on Thursday!

We just booked our plane tickets to go home in June. We'll leave Marseille on June 20th, flying thru Dublin. We are going to spend a full day in Dublin to explore, so we'll fly into JFK on the 22nd. I have a feeling these last 4 months are going to fly by!

Finally, since I have taken so many photos on this trip and have been doing a great job of sharing them, I just created a website to post our photo albums. I've just added photos from Paris in November, Christmas, and some recent beach photos. There are some old albums on there too!

Here's the link:
http://martinfamilylifeinphotos.shutterfly.com/

Skiing in downtown Marseille

This past Saturday the girls and I went downtown to do some shopping. Imagine our surprise when we saw a "skiing for kids" expo in the middle of one of the main squares! The "snow" was a floor made of plastic. Of course they both wanted to ski, so I signed them up! Alexa was a bit nervous and never let go of her instructors hand, but Alana was ready to go and now wants to ski the Alps! That is what the expo was actually about - all the ski centers in the southern Alps promoting their winter deals.

We spent the rest of the day checking out new Christmas decorations, window shopping, and having drinks "flavored syrup with water" at a cafe on the Vieux Port. It was sunny and 55 degrees - not bad for November!

A new era...

Waking up on November 5th, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. With the time difference we could not know the outcome of the election on the 4th, so I woke up at 6 am and ran to the tv to put on CNN World News, and..aahhh! What a great morning!

About an hour later, CNN replayed Obama's acceptance speech. It's a moment I will never forget. All four of us sat on the floor, Alexa on my lap, as we watched the speech together as a family. My favorite quote: "Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."

The French love Obama. Walking around Marseille this morning, something felt different. The French were just giddy. Alana made an Obama signs, and the girls carried them around downtown, and got lots of attention! A cafe on the Vieux Port had a huge Obama sign hanging from the awning, with red, white, and blue balloons. Really, you would have thought this was their election! It was a great day to be an American in France.

The world loves Obama. This election is a transformative event that could repair the battered reputation of the United States, lift the aspirations of minorities everywhere and renew the chances for diplomacy rather than war.

Halloween

I was told that the French, at least here in Marseille, don't really celebrate Halloween. If you live in a neighborhood, sometimes there is trick-or-treating. Otherwise it's something more for young adults dressing up and going to bars...

The girls of course were sad not to trick-or-treat, so I promised them a little Halloween party (just the 4 of us!) We made Halloween cupcakes, decorated the walls with pictures of pumpkins and witches, and danced to the Monster Mash. So, imagine our surprise when around 6:00 our doorbell rings - and it's a group of 5 kids trick-or-treating! It was one of Alana's friends from school who lives in our complex, and it turns out they came to our apt since they knew Alana lived there. So of course the girls looked at me pleading...can WE go trick-or-treating, too?! Sure, why not! We had no costumes, so we quickly improvised with their ballet leotards and some jewelry. We're on the 8th floor, so I said we could go to a few floors in our building, then one other building....

BUT - apparently trick-or-treating does not usually happen here, those kids were the exception! Keep in mind most of the residents of our complex are older, retired folks. They were not exactly prepared for strange kids knocking at their doors! But it was a blast! We had a few older people who had no candy, but gave my kids BOXES of cookies! Another lady tried giving them 10 Euros, but I wouldn't let them take it. Another gave some coins. They came home with quite an odd collection! We really only knocked on a few doors, but it was a great way to meet our neighbors, and they just loved the girls! Oh, and of course did not have pumpkins for trick-or-treating, so we improvised with bread baskets. Yes, my kids went trick-or-treating with bread baskets...see Alexa's in the picture!

A few more pics...

For some reason I could not upload the all the photos I wanted..so here are a few more. These are from our B&B, Vaison-la-Romain, where we explored Roman ruins, and our new favorite wine.

Our trip to the Cotes du Rhone

So keeping this blog updated is not going so well - sorry!

Two weekends ago we rented a car and headed out of Marseille for 3 days. We went up to the Cotes du Rhone valley, for a weekend of wine tasting and exploring medieval towns. Of course the kids are not used to being in a car anymore, so after only 30 minutes we were getting the "Are we there yet" and "I have to potty" complaints! So what should have been an hour and a half drive took over two with some stops along the way...

Driving into the country we were happy to see some fall colors and leaves on the ground, something we don't have in Marseille. We stopped at the first vineyard that caught our eye...the kids were happy to get out and run around. We were allowed to walk thru the vines and eat some of the grapes, since they were done harvesting for the year. While we visiting many wineries over the weekend, this was our favorite. Why? They had a box of toys in the tasting room! We could actually relax and enjoy our tasting while the kids played. The owner then proceeded to tell us they are selling the winery and moving to California (her husband is American). Bummer - the wine was wonderful! We bought a few bottles and moved on.

We stayed in a great little B&B in the middle of nowhere - just down the hill from a medieval town. We were the only guests, and had fantastic breakfasts of croissants with homemade jams. The girls had a great time exploring all the nooks and crannies of the old town up the hill, climbing 600 year old stairs. Both nights we ate four course meals, and bribed the girls with ice cream to keep them happy during the 3 hour feasts! They'll do anything for ice cream....

We drove to the top of Mt. Ventoux, which is the tallest mountain in Provence at over 6,000 ft. It was a clear day and we could see Mont Blanc in the Alps!

We returned home with a trunk full of wine, happy kids, and memories of a great weekend!

A day out with the girls

Since there is no school here on Wednesday's, the girls and I like to take the day to explore. Yesterday, we went to a great market, ate at a nice little cafe, rode the Metro and the carousel, and ended with a chocolate eclair! I love wondering around the city with the girls - they are so willing to go anywhere and try anything.

Last Saturday the girls and I, along with another family, took a boat to the Chateau d'If. It's the famous prison from The Count of Monte Cristo, and today is basically France's Alcatraz. It's a fortress that was built in the 1500's, but was used as a prison. Today it's run by the French tourist office, and we had a lot of fun climbing in and out of the prison cells. Afterwards, we took the boat to the Frioul Islands, about 5 minutes from Chateau d'If. Here we hiked, found a private area to swim and climb rocks, and enjoyed some ice cream!

Paul has been back in the US for almost 2 weeks, he'll return to France this Sunday. It's been a long 2 weeks for all of us, but you can see the girls and I have been trying to stay busy.

Alexa is doing much better at school now - mornings only seem to have helped a lot. Her French is finally starting to come out. She sometimes says a French word in place of an English word. For example, the other day she was telling me about her imaginary friend (an idea from her sister!) - she said "my imaginary friend is un chat (a cat)!" Yesterday I asked her something in English, and she responded "Je ne comprends pas" - "I don't understand."

Alana still loves school, and is always telling me about a new friend. She is taking Tae Kwon Do on Wednesday nights. For her it's a double lesson - martial arts and French!