Family Days

In the last month Dad has started to work a bit later, which has proved to be hard on all of us.  He works so hard for us, and truly hates to be away from us as much as he has to be.  It is harder on him than on me, and yet I am often unkind to him when he walks in the door after 7.  He comes in tired, sad, and full of kisses for all three of us, although you hate when we kiss, hug, or hold hands and always yell, "away!"  He wishes more than anything that he could have more time with you in the day, and takes full advantage of our bedtime routine with you reading you countless books and your beloved Jesus Storybook Bible.  With our family time being minimal during the weeks we have decided to try to make the most of our weekends together.  We have decided to do one special outing on the weekends, and once a month try to do an extra special day trip to get to know the beautiful country we live in. 

One of those peaks is Mont Blanc, where we plan to go soon!

We live in the mountains, and with mountains come some beautiful spots to explore and see.  It is easy to be among such beauty and neglect to take advantage of it, but I refuse to let that happen because our time here is limited (sadly!).  Life with you and your brother is so very sweet, and we love our time together as a family of four and pray that we can create memories for you to remember always (for now through pictures obviously!). 

A couple weeks ago, we went up to the ski village across the valley the Sept Laux.  The same spot we nearly got trampled by the cows this past fall.  It is so fun to see it so alive with people from all over coming to ski, snowboard, and sled up in the mountains.  You love the snow and were so excited to be there watching all the people coming down the hills.  It was pretty last minute, and after naps which didn't give us much time in the snow and we forgot a sled, so it will be a trip that will have to be repeated :)  We got lots of looks as we didn't have a hat on you or a scarf around your neck.  It is not just a cliche that the French all wear scarves.  In fact, I have learned that it is next to unacceptable to NOT have one on your babies.  The kids here are always bundled up to the extremes, and we just don't find that necessary with the temps in the high forties and even fifties some days!  I guess that is the Chicago in us.  Regardless of the short time had up there with no sled in hand, we had a great time and loved watching you shriek and squeal with excitement to be in the snow. 

The view of "our mountain" from across the valley.

Last weekend we went in to the city and took the bubbles up to the Bastille.  In all my time here so far and past visits, I still had never been up to the Bastille so I was excited to see it up close and personal.  You LOVED the bubbles and wanted to go back again and again, but we enjoyed the warmth of the day (in the low 60's...in FEBRUARY!) and walked down instead.  It was so fun being up there walking through the mountain, looking over the city, and watching you run free picking up all the rocks you could find.  Like always, your brother slept the whole time (three plus hours!) tucked close to me in the carrier.  He is such an easy going baby, and we all can't get enough of him!  It was a good walk down and fun to go through the parts of the mountain with stairs and windows looking over the city.  You loved people watching as there were a LOT of people going down and coming up the mountain.  It was a beautiful day. 

Me and Marcel with the CHU Hospital where he was born down below!

You ALWAYS seem to find a place to sit.  It is the cutest thing :)

I can't wait to see all we get to explore, and I am so thankful we all get to do it together!