Give Me Five, Reese!

While we've been been vacationing in France, Reese celebrated his fifth birthday, which he's been waiting for forever.   We started the festivities with a small celebration chez nous.  Reese received a soccer goal post set, and it was non-stop football from that moment.  Many thanks to all our friends and family who reached out over a great distance to wish him a very happy birthday.  Reese was thrilled.

Here's his header:

And here's what he calls his "butter:"

Big sister, Abigail, got in on the action:

And then big sis got one over on the birthday boy:

On his actual birthday (last Sunday, the 10th) we left Provence and set off on route to our next destination on the Cote d'Azur where Reese, Abigail, and I will be attending a two-week French immersion camp.  One day he'll look back in awe at the chic way he spent his fifth birthday, but for Reese, at this moment in time, it was all about bread and the sea.

First on the birthday checklist:  a giant croissant in Aix-en-Provence!

We arrived in Saint Raphael in time for dinner, and for the first time, Reese touched the Mediterranean Sea:

We all shared one of Reese's favorites for his birthday dinner . . . mussels and fries.  It was a grand day, one that we'll remember . . . forever.

Baby Alps

We've settled into a natural rhythm of alternating one day of sightseeing with a day of lazing by the pool at our house in the tiny village of Mausanne-Les-Alpilles.  The village is nestled in a valley below the mountain range of "Les Alpilles,"  which means little Alps or petite Alps.  Diego and I, for lack of a more sophisticated expression, thought this was kinda neat.  To be so close to the Alps, but not.

This region is the most important in all of France for olive and almond production, which grow on the lower slopes of the Alpilles.  Much of the region has been devoted to national park, agriculture, or historic preservation.

Van Gogh lived in this valley, where he was inspired to paint most of his major works, including "Starry Night."  For a time he lived for a time with Cezanne in Arles, and then in Saint Remy, where he hospitalized himself after severing part of his ear.  Both towns are 15 minutes from our sweet village of Maussane.  

The village has a post office, a small grocer, a poissonnerie, and handful of restaurants.  That's all.  Oh, and of course a disproportionate number of boulangeries for its size.  Our two families had fun testing all of them (a must), based on the quality of their croissants and pain au chocolat.  The final vote:   the middle one, right Bonta Family?

The house, itself, is a renovated 17th-century farmhouse located right on the edge of the village. It's amazing and perfect.

I love the Dr. Seuss trees in the backyard. And the pj's and cowboy boots!

Water balloons!

Soccer in town square with local kids.

Cultural Exchange

The great cultural shoe exchange. 

Thank you Angie, Diego, Tristan, and Adrian! 

Abby and Reese LOVE their cowboy boots.  They wear them EVERYWHERE!

Cowboy boots from the Old West; wooden clogs from the Netherlands.

Hark!

Abigail's latest.  So cool.

Auto Bingo

Road tripping in the south of France with the car bingo cards from my childhood. Reminds me of fun times with my brother, Chris. 

Les Baux is Beau

Wow.  Les Baux-de-Provence is magnificent--a 12th-century castle, alongside a 17th-century village, perched on a hill in Les Apilles overlooking the "Valley of Death." 

The Baux family was a major force during the Middle Ages, controlling enormous amounts of land in Provence before the region was annexed by the King in the late 15th century.  If a bit touristy, the fortress and village of Les Baux is still a grand example of feudal Europe.

Our little chevaliers (knights) had a great time letting their imaginations go . . .

A "dovecoat" used to house pigeons, which were a delicacy and used as carriers.

Romanesque arches.

Sur le Pont D'Avignon

Yesterday, for the first time in twenty-three years, I returned to Avignon, France where I was a student in college. 

The city seemed bigger than I remember, and my French a little rustier, but it was an absolute delight to stand on top of the city's famous bridge and sing the beloved children's song with my children, who have sang it a million times at French school and with me.