We're baaaaack

Alrighty .... a quick note .... after 25 hours of travel
(drives, flights and layovers) we're finally home.

We're tired, but safe and sound and ready to go to bed.

On the road again ...

One last sunrise to send us off ... this one is over Arles, on our way to Marseille airport.

Send off part 2

at the beach

after the beach we all hung out at the house till very late, have leftovers and chatting the night away (.... until I had to pack that is ... but it's ok :) it's all part of the joys of travel).

Hehe ... couldn't help it

I don't know who took this picture with my camera ...
but it's just too cute not to post :)

The proper sendoff ... BBQ & friends :D

Getting together ... and yes, obviously, there was food.
Here we (Jean-Luc, Noémie, Guillaume, Annick, Chantal, Michel, Grandma, Mike, Emilie, Sylvain, Killian, Sandrine, Marjorie, Matt and I) are about to chow down.

We were later joined by Jeanne, Hélène, Denis, Laura, Fernando and Martina :)

Creating a birthday picture for Dany

Well, there's not much I can say about these pictures ... just that we were all hanging out at the house on Friday night watching Nooma videos, and realized that we should send a picture birthday e-mail to our friend Dany. Joyeux anniversaire Dany !!!

Soirée Roumaine

I've been told that we tend to take too many pictures of the food that we eat ... so I just decided to take some pictures of the evening's events ..... ok, and the dessert ;)

Here's the night's web album.

Some French countryside on a Friday morning

On our way to do some grocery shopping, I took a couple of snapshots from the car window. You really can't beat the landscapes around here.

For lunch we ate at Matt's grandma's. She fixed up an amazing salad while André took care of the grilling of the sardines ... yum ! Again, sorry about not taking a picture .... but if you really want to see what sardines look like, just click here to see a past posting of some sardines we grilled this past summer.

Kebab anyone ?

What is a trip to France without taking time
with friends over a good kebab ?

Here we are after eating the good kebabs (too good to wait and take a picture, sorry, maybe next time) with our friend Selma.

Denis, super photographer

A great candid shot taken by Denis during our
"Birthday Photo Shoot" for Jeanne.

Part 2 of the super photo shoot

It's been almost a year :)

Baby's first birthday, celebrated with a fitting photo shoot to commemorate the event :) The entire afternoon was filled with flashes and clicks of the camera, inside the apartment and outside in the little park. To check out some more of her pictures,
have a look at her web gallery.

Food, friends and shopping :)

The afternoon and evening were packed full with shopping, a foot doctor's appointment (which went well, thank you), and hanging out with Annick (at Carrefour and at her new apartment).

A southern French dinner

Hélène prepared a super special (totally, incredibly good) meal for us tonight

Yummy :)

.... just delicious !


Looks like something right out of a magazine, doesn't it ?!

The Little Miss with her presents

Tonight we were able to spend time with Jeanne, Hélène and Denis.
J is for Jeanne :D

Not your average weed ...

For most people, seeing a bunch of red poppies would lead one to admire a lovely garden ...

But surprisingly enough, though, this isn't a garden. In the south of France, red poppies are what dandelions are to pretty much anywhere else.

Chillin' at the beach

What to do on a Monday night when in southern France ? Have a meal at the beach with friends, of course :)


Matt, Noémie, Guillaume and Etienne smile as I take their picture :)

Voting Day

Today was the first round in voting for France's next president. We were happy to know that Matt could complete his civic duty :)

Tequilla !!

Well, no ... more like just fajitas & horchata :) Mmmmmmmm :)

Enjoying the sunny weather

After a special morning, and a delicious lunch, everyone heads out to the beach to enjoy the sun.


And look who we happened to bump into !! Yves !! :D

Mmm mmm potluck !

Hehe ... ok, obviously not a picture of the great food ;) but I was so busy eating and catching up with friends, I didn't get much of a chance to take pictures while I still had food on my plate. Here's a quick little shot of Jeanne though, after the majority of us had finished eating :)

Friends, Family and Celebration

Today was a happy day for everyone. Friends and family from all over came to celebrate Arnaud's baptism.

We made it

Loooooooong trip .... tired .... exhausted. But after everything, we decided that staying up as late as possible would be the best route.

Arriving at the house around 3pm we started handing out some of the presents that we'd brought over. We even got a chance to hand out with the Guenin's :) Other things on the agenda were getting things ready for the big potluck tomorrow and preparing the flower arrangements :) Yay for sleep-deprived flower arranging !!! :D:D:D

Getting into my groove :)

Last night/this morning I finished up the last of the presentation posters for Matt's announcement at church this morning. I probably should have started on things the second that we arrived home from vespers & Chipotle, but of course I had to check email, etc, so I didn't start until muuuuuch too late.

The announcement is for a photo contest.

Here are a couple of shots of some of the panels we used:

Counting down and getting ready ...

Well, my voice is back and I've started working as a tutor. Not a lot of hours yet, but that's working out fine with our travel plans.




Well, .... that time + 10 hours or so (our flight doesn't leave LAX until 10am PST but we have to leave the house around 5-ish to beat traffic, and have a chance to check in for decent seats :P

But, Yay ! We're really excited about our trip and planning to see sooooooo many people ! I'm also honored to see so many people that moved their own schedules around so that we could spend some time together during our visit.

My life has pretty much been a series of projects. My current project now ?
Organize the house & pack for our trip next Thursday !
Ok, ok, so it's not the 'biggest' or 'most complicated' project of my life ... but it's still nothing to sneeze at. And this time I vow not to forget anything in the packing .... at least to go to France ....... well ... at least I'll try ! :P

Lost my voice

I woke up this morning with no voice.

Not fun.

I'm reduced to signing the few words I remember from high school and typing on the computer or writing down whatever else I need to say.

I'm guessing that today's not going to be a super active day, at least not linguistically, but hopefully I'll be feeling better soon.

Egg hunting a little early !

Check out the Easter Weekend Webalbum for more pictures of our fun day.

After church today we were invited to Heidi & Jason's house for lunch and some early Easter activities. After a good haystack (and seconds), Paco (Heidi's dad) arrived and the festivities commenced. An Easter egg hunt ensued, followed by dessert :) There was ice cream, crêpes, and even a birthday pie ! Mmmm :)

Happy Birthday Paco :)

Good Friday

There was a special event between the Escondido Adventist Church and the Escondido 1st United Methodist Church at noon today. It was a touching moment of music, skits, video clips and scripture reading shared by about 100 people in downtown Escondido.
Special music that touched hearts.
I like the United Methodist logo :) ... I can't stop my graphic design tendencies even when I'm sitting in church ;)