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Published: January 11th 2010
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We want to wish you all the best for 2010! We were very happy to hear from many of you and to receive your good wishes and each time it warmed our hearts! Although we were very happy to be in France for the holidays for the first time in 11 years, we were missing our friends and family that we often see. You were all in our thoughts and we hope that you had time to relax and spend time with family and friends.
Since I last wrote, Tatiana celebrated her 10th birthday! Since the space at home is limited, we searched for options to accommodate 8 girls and came up with Aquaboulevard which is a gigantic indoor water park. A life size whale hangs from the ceiling as waves move the swimmers around and endless tubes spit out screaming children, loads of fun for all of the girls!
The last weeks of school were intense as they always are before the holiday but the visit from Gina, Brody and Francesca helped us make it through! The day school let out, Gina arrived with two of her children and we celebrated Francesca's 7th birthday. We had an action packed weekend
Christmas trees for sale
Not quite like hiking out to the forest to cut down a tree! where we took full advantage of the beautiful lights of Paris. We now fully understand why Paris is often referred to as "The city of Lights'! The photos should sum that up well! I don't think I've ever seen such elaborate decorations! From the shop windows to the Champs Elysee, holiday cheer was in the air! We also had the delight of experiencing hot chocolate and a Mont Blanc at Angelina's. If you don't know about these sinful little treats, they must be experienced the next time you are in Paris! Hot Chocolate so rich that you had to eat it with a spoon! I think it's the first time I actually got a buzz from a non alcoholic drink... For those who don't know what a Mont Blanc is, imagine meringue covered in gently whipped cream and topped off with a creamy chestnut paste. An experience not to be quickly forgotten!
For the holidays we headed south to Toulon where we spent Christmas with Emmanuel's family. I was glad that the kids got to see what it's like to celebrate in another country. I think they doubted it would be as fun but were pleasantly surprised to see that
many of the same traditions are carried out in France. They even made it through the endless eating and tried many new dishes.
After Toulon we made our way to the Alps where we spent the week at Montgenevre, a ski resort in the Southern Alps with over 400 KM of trails spread out across the French and Italian Alps. The days were filled with skiing from early morning to at least 5pm. The kids and Emmanuel were wiped out but full of fresh mountain air and satisfied with their time. What we used to do in 6 weeks, we did in 6 days! Intense! While they were out cutting up the slopes, I stayed more grounded and did snow shoeing and long walks, sometimes across the border to Italy where I discovered that hot chocolate in Italy is similar to Angelina's. Had one before heading back to Montgenevre and actually felt dizzy afterwards! Interesting to see all the French going to Italy to stock up on Pasta and biscotti and all the Italians going to France for wine, cheese and sausage. Everyone's always looking for something different!
Needless to say, the return to everyday life was somewhat hard and
we were all craving a week of absolutely nothing to do but alas, we made it through our first week of school and work! Temps are freezing and we have even had dustings of snow. Everyone tells us this isn't typical, I guess it's just for us! Now we are headed into the legendary French sales known as Les Soldes. I've had a peek but have been a little overwhelmed and therefore discouraged. They last a whole month so maybe I'll give it a try in a week or two when there's nothing left anyway!
Thinking of you all and hoping to hear from those we haven't heard from yet!
Hi Everyone!
I had a great christmas break! The only bad thing was that to take the train to go to Toulon we had 2 hours and a half delay, it was pain. However when we got to Toulon it was great we saw cousins and celebrated christmas with my grandparents. We had a great meal! We stayed in Toulon for 5 days and then we took the bus to the alps. We had a great time skiing and it was great there! It was huge there were over
400 km of skiing and there were great runs. The place that we stayed wasn't great but it did not ruin the fun. Last week-end I had an indoor soccer tournament. It was really fun even if we finished 11th out of 16 teams.
talk to you soon,
Yohan
Happy Hollydays everyone!!!!!
Well on my side I had a wonderful vacation with my family!!!!
We first went to Toulon in the South of France to visit my grandparents and like Yohan explained we had a very big delay for the train ride there but then we stayed there till christmas day and then we left!!
What we did in Toulon:Well we went to in a car to see our cousins that also live in Toulon!!!
For christmas eve we went to the masse also with our grandparents!!!!It was 2 hours long!!!After that we had a feast also with our grandparents!!!We had small birds that were very good!!!On christmas day we woke up at 9 am exactly and started hooting all over the house!!!then we went to open our presents which were very fantastic!!!!!!!So back to the point that after we left to the mountains in the
Alps in Montgenevre in a hotel called the VtF Le grand Hotel on the 26th . The Alps where magnificent and the snow too!!!
I mean even if some days where very cloudy and rainy there where some mountains still out of the clouds!!!
Our hotel was a little shaggy and our rooms where tiny!!Our food was bitter but of coarse our parents would say that we where exaggerating!!!!On new Years Eve we had a huge party for the kids downstairs and for the adults up tairs!!!We maybe did not have a blaste but a good time!!! We left on the 2nd of January 2010 and we where sad to leave but happy to be home!!!
Love
Tatiana de Ricard!!
PS Lots of photos so don't forget to go to the next pages, I think there are 3!
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John or James
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Thanks
GROS BISOUS A TOUS, John :-))