enough about WordPress features… here are some pictures from our recent travels around France and England.

the other week we went to the Zoo de Champrepus, a zoo near our house here in La Manche (Basse-Normandie).  For a small zoo it was actually quite good; there was hardly anybody there, so we had a nice private tour of the grounds and managed to get up close and personal with some of the residents.

The arch at the Zoo de Champrepus

the highlight of the trip to the zoo was a visit into the lemur grounds within the Madagascar exhibit. You could walk right up to the lemurs and hang out with them, and they wouldn’t run away or otherwise react to your presence. The lemurs were funny; they would wander around the grounds when it was cloudy, but as soon as the sun would come up they’d prop themselves up to bask their bellies in it.

A sunbathing lemur at the Zoo de Champrepus

meanwhile, here is a fellow making fresh crèpes for us at a weekend carnival that took place in the town of Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët near where we live. The most interesting thing about the carnival (to me at least) was how carnies from all over France came to set up their booths, rides and attractions inside the town. The side streets of Saint-Hilaire were overflowing with trailers and camper vans full of the workers running the festivities and their families. I know that my stalwart crew tends to move around quite a bit, but in comparison to these people we’re downright sedentary.

Making crèpes at the carnival in Saint-Hilaire-du-Harcouët

a few weeks ago we took a trip to England to stay with some friends of ours (the family of a high school friend from Toronto) who are living in the town of Reading. While we were there the families toured London and went to LEGOLAND in Windsor. It was a great trip; I’m sure it was refreshing for the kids to get to hear people other than their parents speaking in English to them!

one fun aspect of the trip was taking our car on the ferry from the port at Ouistreham (near the city of Caen) to Portsmouth in England. Even more fun was the trip back, where we got a cabin for our family of four on the ferry. The kids loved it… plus I got to take a nap.

Leaving the port of Ouistreham

while in England we traveled to the city of Bath to see the ancient Roman baths. It was fascinating to me to see structures so ancient, and to imagine what life must have been like back in the old (like, REALLY old) days. Callum, for one, really digs that sort of stuff.

The Roman bath in Bath, England

on our way back from Reading to Portsmouth to catch the ferry back to France we paid a visit to Stonehenge (yes, I did just link to that). After visiting the Roman baths (old) it was interesting to visit Stonehenge (even older). Architecture has really come a long way in the past few thousand years.

while visiting the ‘henge I conveniently forgot my phone in my car and was unable to take a picture of it. So when we got back to the car I snagged my phone, ran back through the tunnel under the road that leads to the site, and snapped a quick photo of the path leading up to it. It’s not much, but hey, it’s better than nothing. Maybe.

The path leading to Stonehenge

and as a parting shot here’s a picture of the best pub in Paris, where my friend and co-worker Ian and I visited during a business trip to Paris… the Great Canadian Pub!

The Great Canadian Pub in Paris

the property on which our house stands contains a river that serves as the border of the French regions of Normandy and Brittany, in the northwestern part of France. Our kids are enrolled in a Catholic private school in the nearby town, and so far they seem to be doing quite well there – their French has definitely improved since we arrived in Europe in January. It’s been great to have experienced Paris, with its trains and crowds and bustling lifestyle, and then to make the switch to this area, which is one of the most peaceful I’ve encountered. We really like it here so far.

last weekend we went to Le Mont Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of Normandy that features a walled town and an ancient abbey. We had a great visit there – it was certainly one of the most interesting places I’ve ever visited! Afterward we went to a nearby beach, where the kids played and collected shells. Here are some pictures of the place (click for larger):

our other big news is that we now have a Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie) puppy named Lilou, who we bought from a reputable “éleveur” in the Franche-Comté region in the east of France. She is still quite young (now only three months) and full of energy, but already we’ve been teaching her tricks (sit, down, stay, and come) and she’s been catching on quickly. Shelties come in three colors: sable, blue merle, and tri-color; Lilou is of the tri-color variety. The kids have learned a lot from being “puppy owners” – they take her for walks, teach her tricks, and basically carry her around the house wherever they go. Here is a picture of her at eight weeks of age:

finally, this afternoon I took the kids to the nearby metropolis (relative to where we live, at least) of Avranches to buy some running shoes and fall jackets at the Décathlon. While we were there we visited a jardinerie (garden center) and found out that they stocked something the kids have been obsessing over lately through books and websites – carnivorous plants! We bought two different types of pitcher plant (Nepenthes) and a Venus Flytrap (Dionaea Muscipula). When they caught sight of the display in the store their faces lit up like light bulbs. Here are the kids in the back of the car with their new plants:

I’ll admit that the pictures I’ve posted here on my blog I’ve stolen directly from my Twitpic page, which I’ve been sharing pictures through via my Twitter page. If you’re a Twitter user, follow me if you care to – I’ll be adding more pictures from France as soon as I take them!

one particularly dismal street in the winter turned out to have tall, flowering cherry trees planted every several feet along the sidewalks on the way from our neighborhood to the local grocery store. As of late these trees have been showering the ground with petals of pink; traveling along it is a bit like walking on a mottled pink carpet, while pink confetti floats to the ground all around you. Meanwhile, off to the sides, trees and shrubs in our neighbors’ yards have started to bloom. It takes a long time to walk anywhere with Amelia (who is 5) as she continually wants to stop and admire or smell all the different flowers. Of course I let her take as much time as she likes.

on the way to the market today Yvonne took the following picture, which I’m thinking is of a Magnolia tree, though I could of course be wrong. Note that this wasn’t taken in a plantation or in a public garden; it’s someone’s tree sitting outside their house. I liked the picture so much that I am posting it here, and if you click on it you’ll get a BIG version of it that you can use as wallpaper, if you choose.

happy spring!

we spent our first two weeks in a two-bedroom apartment in Versailles, home (of course) of the Palace of Versailles, a pretty fascinating place full of interesting history. While we were in Versailles we searched for a full-time place; we ended up finding a four-bedroom house (somewhat of a rarity in Paris and its suburbs) in one of Paris’ eastern neighborhoods. We’ve furnished it, albeit somewhat sparsely, mostly with furniture from IKEA. What can I say – that place is crazy and very crowded (even on a Sunday evening) but if you’re looking for decent build-it-yourself furniture with names you can’t pronounce, IKEA is your go-to destination.

so that’s it for the update (I did promise it would be brief). Up next, a few pictures from our adventures.

here are some Eiffel Tower pictures (clicking on them makes them bigger of course)… a picture of the tower from below (as taken by Yvonne) and pictures of Callum and Amelia, on the tower, with their mini Eiffel Tower figurines.

a picture of the Disneyland Paris castle – it is pink!

the dragon lurking beneath the Disneyland Paris castle (don’t be scared – it’s not real).

here’s a picture of Callum and Mia and the unhappiest card guy in Alice in Wonderland. I’ll let you figure out why. Mind you, he certainly looks happy…

the gang (minus me) on the teacups. Yvonne made that face for the camera’s benefit – they really weren’t spinning that quickly!

finally, here’s a picture of Callum with his LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 robot and some other stuff he created with his kit. He’s really taken to building and programming robots – Santa really hit the mark last year with this gift.

that’s it for now (though that’s quite a bit, by my standards anyway). We’re currently at home watching Looney Tunes on our new TV – if ever there was a show that was tailor-made for Callum, this would be it. He can’t stop giggling!

I’m going to be working for Varicent, a software company based in my native Canada, but I’ll be working from France and managing projects in Europe as well as in the Asia/Pacific region. My last day as a program manager at Blackbaud is this Friday – it is certainly a bittersweet moment to leave the company, as I have had a great time working there, and have made many amazing friends at the company and here in Charleston.

the reasons for our moving back to France are probably self-explanatory for any who know us – we loved living in France the last time we were there; several years ago I completed a Masters of Science at Groupe ESC Clermont in Clermont-Ferrand, Auvergne. And it wasn’t just for the cheese (though I do so love the cheese) – as a Canadian, not to mention a Canadian born in Quebec, the French language is very important to me, and one of the alpha reasons for our wanting to move abroad is to get the kids – now 7, 5 and 3 – into a French school where they can undergo complete immersion and become fluent in the language. Some friends of ours decided to do a similar thing a few years ago, and their kids are now completely fluent in the language and loving attending a local school in Provence. Yvonne also plans to perfect her French, and my own could certainly use some improvement.

the when and the where of the relocation are a bit up in the air at this point – we’re currently thinking Paris, Lyon or Lille by the end of the month, but a lot depends on the logistics of my new job, for which I will be undertaking new employee orientation in Toronto starting next Monday. Whatever the case, it’s very exciting and a bit scary, but we’re really looking forward to the challenge of it all!

the snow is starting to fall, and Lachlan is thinking, “the sky is falling!”

me being excellent, as always.

a snow-covered street, and a snow-covered family truckster.

Mia making snow angels. You can tell by her expression that she is really enjoying it.

it’s been great so far, visiting with Yvonne’s family, and Robert (who is a meteorologist for a local TV station here in Johnson City) predicts snow for Christmas day, which will be nice. The family gets very excited about snow! I’m happy with snow, though considering growing up in Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa I spent about half my life with snow on the ground, I’m not quite as excited as the Texas natives.

this evening we opened our “family and friends” presents, while tomorrow, if we’ve been nice, Santa Claus will be dropping by. I heard a rumor that Santa is going to be delivering Callum a present that will blow his little mind. His dad might also get to play with it.

so Merry Christmas to all, and Happy New Year as well! And I’ll leave you with a photo of the present Amelia made me for Christmas – a way far out coloring of James, from Thomas the Tank Engine!

one of the highlights of our trip was visiting my sister Linda and her family in Tampa; we went trick-or-treating with my sister, her husband and their kids in their suburban neighborhood. My parents also came by for the occasion, visiting from Ellenton, somewhat south of Tampa and just north of Bradenton, where they spend their winters. It was very fun! Callum went as Luke Skywalker (Yvonne sewed his outfit for him), while Mia dressed as, yes, Darth Vader. Lachlan, who is 2, had a tiger costume he refused to wear, but fortunately he was sporting some surfer clothes underneath, so when he scampered up to the doors of my sister’s neighbors they thought he was dressed as a little surfer boy and as such got candy from the good candy bowl and avoided getting candy from the “bad candy for lamers without costumes” bowl.

here are a few pictures from the trip:

Callum in the line for the Test Track ride at Epcot, being a dummy. And by dummy I mean crash test dummy.

Amelia and Lachlan in the stick-your-head-in-the-totem-wall thingy at the Canada pavilion in the World Showcase at Epcot. Not sure how to better describe that.

four of us on the Expedition Everest roller coaster at the Animal Kingdom. If you look closely you can see me in the dark red shirt raising the roof near the middle of the coaster with Callum to my right, and Yvonne and Mia behind us.

Mia, who is 5, had a love-hate relationship with Expedition Everest. She rode on it, cried throughout the whole second half of the ride… then wanted to go on it again. Again she cried and said she didn’t like it, but afterward wanted to go on it a third time. After the third time she was done! Callum on the other hand couldn’t get enough of the roller coasters – he loved Space Mountain as well! Next time we go (though who knows when that will be) we’ll have to get him on the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at the Hollywood (formerly Disney MGM) Studios. Though I don’t know if we’ll be able to get Mia to go on that one, and she certainly won’t be riding “that scary elevator ride”.

to get an idea of what she looked like, here’s a picture… yes, Mia is in fact painting her younger brother’s nails purple!

anyway, yesterday we took Mia (who turned five a few days ago, by the way… happy birthday to Mia!) to get her hair cut, and I got the hairdresser to cut her hair so that it was all the length of her newly-grown out bangs. As a result she had five or six inches cut off the back. It was a bit of a risk, but I must admit… she looks great! Here’s a picture of her new haircut; meanwhile she is wearing a dress that Yvonne made for her:

note that you can see her missing tooth in this picture… as I mentioned in this post we had to have one of her front teeth removed, and as she’s only just turned five she’ll be missing a tooth for the next two or three years! Albeit it certainly does add to her “character”. Here’s another picture of her haircut.

meanwhile, Callum has a Portal (the video game) addiction… while he’s unable to play certain levels (he’s only just turned seven), he’s played the ones he can play over and over… and frequently says things like “hey, remember that part of Test Chamber 17 where you have to do this?” Anyway it’s a friend’s birthday tonight, and we’re going over to their house for a party, so I asked the kids to decorate a paper bag, one side each, with “whatever you like”… and this was what Callum drew:

so… there’s that.

finally, the other week I got a new computer – a 17″ i7 MacBook Pro! I’m extremely pleased with it, so much so that here’s a picture of me loading software on it! The kids are in the background laughing at – yes – a YouTube video of some guy mucking around with Portal turrets.

and here’s a photo of Mia and Lachlan doing some reading, the way humans were meant to – upside-down on the couch. Mia is a pretty voracious reader. I think Lachlan was just looking at the pictures – but hey, he’s only 2.