Nomandy Visit to Le Mont St. Michele

After the D-Day visit, we went a little further west to visit Le Mont St. Michele. It is breathtakingly beautiful! Set right off the coast on a mount-island, is an abbey and a town. At high tide, it is completely surrounded by water. The abbey has over a hundred stairs to the top (well done Aiden!) and was first started in 115 AD. It was finished in 1800. The streets of the town are tiny, just like you'd imagine they'd be in Europe. After our hike to the top, Jeb and I took some time to have an expresso and pastry, while people watching. The boys and Tom went out around the beach and collected more shells and climbed the rocks. This was the relaxing day that we needed after yesterday!

Because it's a world heritage site, their were many tour buses. The Japenese tourists loved our boys. Especially Aiden and those big blue eyes and blonde hair. A Japenese couple was so happy to have their picture taken with him. :)

Trip to Normandy D-Day Visit

We took a short break this past weekend to Normandy France. The visit was amazing! We spent one full day exploring all the D-Day sites - 6 stops in total. Not all that easy with 3 small children! Tom and I were exhausted, but the kids continued with their endless energy. The only casualty was a toy cell phone, which got rung one to many times and ended up out the window (by Daddy). :) Here is a short overview:

Stop #1: Mulberry Harbor. A harbor set up by the Navy after D-day. It took them only 9 days to complete and there are still concrete peices in the water that serve as a reminder.

Stop #2: Big Guns Point (okay, it sounds better in French, but I can't spell it). 4 huge bunkers with massive guns pointed at England. The German lookout point is pure concrete - you can see where bombs had hit and made no impact.

Stop #3:Omaha Beach and American War Cemetary. Words can't explain how moving this was. 9000 crosses in perfect rows. Names being read in a white hallway leading to beautiful gardens. All looking over a cliff above Omaha beach. To see the faces of these very young men is extremely sad.

Stop #4: Point du Hoc. This point was critical to the success of D-Day. US Rangers scaled the cliffs while being fired upon to take over this point. 225 men started the day, only 90 made it through. The point was heavily bombed and there are huge craters left behind. It really puts it all in perspective.

Stop #5: Utah Beach. A very peaceful beach with not much to show except German blockades and a US Navy boat that they invaded in.

Stop #6: St. Marie-du-Mont. One of the two landing points of the landing troopers. The church in the middle of town has a manequin paratrooper hanging from his chute off the steeple. This really happened to a guy who hung for 8 hours, playing dead. He made it out alive. Today he is a considered a hero in that town.

Lots of stuff to see. The towns remain the same. No big souvenier shops, just tiny towns sprinkled among fields and woods. It was a great day.

Romeo, Romeo...

We decided to take a day trip yesterday to Stratford Upon Avon. Best known for the birthplace of William Shakespeare and John Harvard (founder of Harvard University). We also wanted to visit Warwick castle. After the 1 1/2 hour drive, we parked and started walking into town. It was then that Tom said he didn't have his wallet. Joy didn't have her purse. We were on E for fuel. Hmmm. This could be interesting. So, we did a little sight seeing in town, skipped the castle and got in the van. We had 2 pounds and 67 pence in the change drawer. We got some gas and made it home with 10 miles to spare. Talk about nerve wracking! We immediately hid a twenty pound bill in the van just in case there is a next time.

Romeo, Romeo. Where are't thou wallet Romeo?

Be My Valentine!

Although Valentines Day isn't as much of a big deal as it is in the states, we still celebrated. Jeb and I made some cookie dough (from scatch, thank you very much!) in the afternoon. After picking Jacob up from school we rolled it out and made heart shaped sugar cookies. A little pink frosting (also from scratch) and some pink sprinkles and we were good to go. Lucky me, four men after my own heart this V-Day!

Visit to White Cliffs of Dover

This past weekend we drove 2 hours to Dover, just on the coast of the English Channel. It was a nice sunny, 45 degree day, so touring was a must.

First stop was Dover Castle; built 1190. It's most famous resident was Henry VIII. It was pretty amazing to stand on the top and in this midevil castle and imagine the kings and queens who had dined (and died) here before.

Next stop was down the hill from the castle...the secret wartime tunnels. They were started during Napoleon's reign, but were significantly increased during WWII and were used as a hospital and post for planning out attacks against the Germans across the Channel in France. These tunnels are so extensive that they can house 13,000 people!

At the end of our day, we went to see the famed white cliffs of Dover. Beautiful, but cliffs without any fences makes for a very nervous mum!

Pancake Day

Last night while putting Jacob to bed, he announced that Tuesday is Pancake Day and he would like pancakes for breakfast. Well, I'm no June Cleaver, so the thought of making pancakes on a school morning was not appealing to me. But, since Jacob asked, I made them the last night and we heated them up this morning.

It turns out that Pancakes Day is a national thing around here. It was started to make sure that people got their flour, sugar and eggs out of the house before Lent began. So, it's similar to our Fat Tuesday.

How do they celebrate? Pancake races! Jacob competed against the others in his class by racing with a frying pan that contains a pancake. He said that he won! He skipped the flipping part, but said he had fun. After he ate the pancake, complete with jam and maple syrup on top.