Mont St. Michel and St. Malo

Mont St. Michel was the destination in mind when we planned this trip. And it did not disappoint.

 

This was our first view of the abbey from the parking lot.

From Wikipedia, "According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared in 708 to St. Aubert, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger." 

 

Then Aubert got to work.  The abbey originally housed Benedictine monks with the town growing up below.  It all sits on a rock in the the English channel.  At high tide it almost becomes an island and at low tide pilgrims (and now tourists) like to atempt the muddy walk from the mainland.  (You have to go with a guide as the tides can come in quickly and be very dangerous and there is apparently quicksand in places as well.)  We stuck to the shuttle and bridge route.  Amelie is more interested in the doggies.

 

It really is awesome looking though.  I took a lot of pictures.

 

Charlotte and Toby wanted to take a picture that looked like they were holding up the abbey.

 

Then we began the walk up to the abbey.... through the gamut of tourist shops.  Only 50 people currently live in Mont St, Michel.

 

The fitbit said we climbed 34 flights of stairs.

 

Rob carried Ami in the backpack the whole way up!

(I carried her on the way down.)

 

Morning sun over the abbey with St. Michael atop the tower, sword in hand, ready to vanquish Satan.

 

Inside the chapel.

 

This little garden is a nice spot of nature in all that stone work.

 

Originally this giant hamster wheel was used by the monks to pull supplies up through a window.  During the French Revolution, the monks were evicted and the Abbey used as a prison.  Prisoners then had the privilege of powering the human hamster wheel.  In the 1860s the prison was finally closed and the site became more of a tourist destination.  (Though the Benedictine monks did return and still reside in the Abbey.)

 

We loved Mont St. Michel... but it is so very covered in tourist shops.  Afterwards we drove over to St. Malo and enjoyed an ice cream cone and a visit to the playground.  St. Malo is a walled island city that was notorious in the middle ages for piracy.  St. Malo was almost completely destroyed in World War II but has been rebuilt.

 

It took us 30 minutes to find a parking spot outside the walls and the restaurants were packed with tourists.  But we enjoyed the park and some conversation with the locals. 

 

Au revoir St. Malo!

Fougeres and Combourg

Our first stop was the town of Fougeres.(I will be skipping Frenchy accent marks in my typing of these blog posts.)

 

This bell tower dates from 1397.  It is one of only three in Brittany and is significant because the town's merchants pooled their money to build it.  This gave the lower classes access to keeping time.  Before that, only the church and upper classes kept track of the time.

 

The church and its grounds were lovely on this Easter morning.

 

 

This is the view from behind the church, across the valley to the Chateau de Fougeres.

 

Mandatory playground break.

 

Coming up to the castle entrance.

This castle was a fortress built for defensive purposes. The boys loved talking about the archers who would have been posted behind those slits preparing to shoot any approaching attackers.  The first (wooden) structure built on this site was built in the eleventh century.  This stone fortress is built on top of a granite outcropping and has a partial moat around it and was used until the late 1400s when the French took it back from English control.

 

People must have been littler back then.

 

This is the view from inside the fortress, across the valley.  The church we waled from is in the upper right corner of this photo.  Charlotte, Toby, and Jake really proved they can walk the walk on this trip.

 

After a break for baguettes, pains au chocolate, and oranges, we headed over to Combourg.

The Chateau de Combourg was built beginning around 1025. It is still privately owned, but we took a tour with a guide inside this childhood home of Chateaubriand.  I didn't take pictures inside, but I would describe it as kinda dark and shabby.  Maybe even creepy.  Apparently, when Chateaubriand was a boy he complained to his parents of the creepiness and noises and they essentially told him to stay in his room and get used to it. He had nightmares about it into adulthood. They even had on display a mummified cat's remains that were found walled up in the wall.  (My kids' favorite part of the tour.)

 

The grounds were lovely though and had this awesome climbing tree.

I almost got all of the kids looking at the camera.

Easter 2015

Easter was a wee bit different this year. We went to the Primary Easter egg hunt and picnic at our church the weekend before Easter.  Jakey and I filled 500 plastic eggs for this shindig!  We set up a few other games (beanbag toss, petanque, etc) and the kiddos all had a really good time.

 

It was fun to have a laid back event to visit with people.

 

And, of course, eat candy. 

 

Then, just before Easter, we packed up ye olde minivan and headed for northern France.  This was just on the corner of where we stayed.  That milk cow in the background was enormous!  I wish I could've gotten a closer picture of her.

 

We stayed in a cute little gite.  This is like an old stone farm outbuilding that has been fixed up inside to serve as a guesthouse.  The kitchen was way cute.

 

 And the shower was awesome.  Seriously, the nicest shower of anywhere we have stayed in the past 10 years.

 

Some of the furniture was pretty basic, but it was comfortable and homey.

 

And the Easter Bunny does apparently come to France. (I may have suggested to the kiddos that he might not.)

 

Plenty of candy, Play-doh, and some new activity books to enjoy.

 

Oh, the joy of Mad Libs!

 

After a little time spent enjoying a chocolatey breakfast, we decided to begin exploring Bretagne and Normandie. 

18 thoughts about Amelie at 18 months

Amelie turned 18 months old a few weeks ago!  So here are some things that you may, or may not, know about our littlest little one.

1. Amelie has a lot of nicknames: Ami, Ameloo, Amma Pajama, Squishy... but by far the most used right now is just plain old Lou. Sometimes Lulu. I find it terribly amusing that my beautiful, sweet, darling girls answer to Bubba and Lou.  I like it.

2. Lou understands everything we say to her but doesn't say much... especially in public.  People notice this regularly and comment on it.  The other day at a friend's house I noticed she only had one shoe, so I asked her, "where's your shoe?"  She responded with upturned hands and a shrug and ran off.  A minute later she returned with the missing shoe.  Likewise, when she needs a diaper change she either points to her bum or just brings me a diaper and wipes.

3. We are going to start potty training very soon.

4. Although she is a girl of few words, she does use the words she has to great effect.  Calling Rob Dee-dah instead of Daddy is adorable and gets her picked up by him every time.  She also says Mommy, Dahdit, Tee-Toh, and Jaytey. So she can get anyone in the family's attention easily.  No and Yes have been around for a while, but just this week she added Mayme. She uses ME to refer to herself (short for Amelie,) and can request her favorite foods: Cheesy and Treat. For example, if I open the fridge I will likely hear, "Me! Cheesy!  Me!"

5. You must never, ever eat chocolate in front of her without sharing. It's a bit like feeding a gremlin after midnight. 

6. At her 18 month check-up she weighed 11 kg and was 84 cm tall.  In American, that's 24 lbs. and 33 inches, or 50th% for weight and 85th% for length. Guess she needs some more cheese and treats.

7. Amelie loves stuffed animals.  Her 2 favorites are Lambie and her music playing Seahorse.  She sleeps with these every night and likes to bring them to breakfast as well.  She will cuddle with all of her stuffed animals though and likes to hold her dollies and rock them in her rocking chair singing, "Laa, laa, rock, rock."  It is freaking adorable.

8. She may be tone deaf, but this just adds to how much we love to hear her sing.

9. She loves her Daddy.  When she sees his truck pull in the driveway she begins to dance and pound on the glass patio door.  As soon as he is in the house she reaches up, calls "Dee-Dah, Dah!" and complains until he drops everything else and picks her up and walks around the house with her.

10. She loves to give slobbery kisses and big hugs but she is surprisingly uninterested in cuddling.  She gives and receives some quick affection and then she is off and running again.

11. She loves videos of cats and dogs but real live animals make her nervous.

12. She loves to help around the house. As soon as I open the dishwasher she comes running to put away the silverware (she drops them in the drawer, and then I put them in the right spots,) put away the kid dishes (they go in a low cupboard so kids can help themselves,) or put the dishwasher soap in to run it.  She loves working in the garden.  She also likes to take folded laundry to people's rooms... it just usually isn't folded anymore by the time it gets there.

13. She loves to pick out her own outfits and is very partial to dresses and a pair of pink crocs that used to be Charlotte's.

14. She thinks she can jump, even though her feet never leave the ground.  She grins and giggles and bounces up and down and loves it.

15. She also thinks she can play video games.  The big kids give her a Wii-mote that is out of batteries and she happily plays video games with them.  Pretty much anything the other kids are doing, she wants to do too.

16. She loves bath time. Especially with bubbles.   

17. Her hair has grown into this funky Mrs. Brady-style mullet that I don't really know what to do with and her eyes have turned from gray to hazel.  She is our only non-brown eyed baby.

18. She has really made our family feel complete.  We all love our baby girl and her smiles and hugs and kisses.  Can't imagine our family without her. 

ABCD- Auerbach, Birthday, Children, Date night

This post is loosely in chronological order and covers the past month or so...

 

One day in February Jake went to the store with Dad and came home with a new paint set.  He has been busily creating artwork to decorate his room ever since.

 

Rob and I actually got a babysitter and went out on a date for Valentine's Day this year.  Charlotte tried to take a picture of us before we left the house and this was the best one of the bunch... complete with Ami grabbing my necklace and Jake trying to climb over Rob to sit on the top of the couch. We had a lovely, quiet, romantic dinner at Lahore Palace and I didn't have to cut anyone's food, or wash any dishes afterwards.

 

Amelie is sporting a very adorable mullet these days.  I put it into pigtails three times before church one Sunday and she still managed to take them out before we got int the door of the building.  Ah well, they were cute for half a second.

 

On President's Day we took the kiddos to our favorite indoor pool - Miramar- and then to visit Auerbach castle.  We went here a few times last time we lived in Germany, and I am sure we will be back again before too long.  

 

I love the views from the top of this tower and how quiet it was here on a Monday in February.

 

I also love this tree growing out of the top of the castle.

 

The kids enjoyed it a lot, and were pretty well behaved, but this one ended up in time out anyway.

 

And this one.

 

And a special time out for this one.

 

No time out for this one though.  She's the baby.

 

For my birthday this year, Rob told me he was going to wash the dishes for an entire week!  I loved it.  I am pretty much the only person who does dishes around here.  Charlotte and Toby just started this year having one night a week to do them after dinner, and that is a great start, but they still require a bit of supervision with the whole process.  It was a very thoughtful gift and much appreciated... even if he did get a little help the evening we fed the missionaries.

 

Amelie is almost 18 months old!  She is beginning to have strong opinions about her outfits each day. (She already has strong opinions about nearly everything else.)  She is our least cuddly baby and is in a terrible hurry to keep up with her big brothers and act like her big sister.

 

And finally, my birthday cake.  I made a giant chocolate chip cookie this year, and it was great.  I have to keep checking with Rob though to see how old I am (which reminds me of my mom who once thought she was a year older than she was for an entire year.)  I can't believe I am already 37, but I couldn't be happier with my life, my family, and where I am at right now.  I am so thankful for the blessings of family and friends and new adventures.  Life is beautiful, even when it is hard...  thank you for being a part of mine!

Can you hear me now?

This girl.  We love her so much, but sometimes it is very hard to get her attention, especially if she is reading.  "Charlotte, CHARLOTTE, Earth to Charlotte!!" This has frustrated Rob and I for years now. And has been pointed out by her school teachers as well.  So much so, that at every annual check-up I tell the doctor, "we don't think she can hear us very well."  She has often had ear infections without other symptoms and we worried that this has permanently damaged her hearing. They have always reassured me that her hearing was fine... until her last check-up. 

I reiterated our concern to our new pediatrician and he said her hearing test was "not perfect" and recommended a more detailed hearing test.  At Charlotte's second hearing test, she showed significant hearing loss in her right ear (up to 60 db at some frequencies,) and a little bit in her left ear as well (up to 30 db at some frequencies.)  At this point the pediatrician referred us to a pediatric hearing specialist.  This was actually a relief to us because it was like, "finally, someone has listened to our concerns and validated them!"

On Tuesday I took Charlotte to this appointment where her hearing was tested for more than two hours. It was exceedingly long and boring, and we saw an audiologist, speech therapist, and finally the doctor.  (It should be noted that this was at the end of Fasching- the German version of Mardi Gras- and the doctor was wearing a giant yellow bow in her hair to be festive.) Her FINAL diagnosis was that Charlotte suffers from frequent ear infections- fluid behind her eardrums.  When she has them, her hearing is impacted, but when her ears are clear, her hearing is actually fine. So, in short, sometimes she can't hear us very well, but sometimes she can hear us fine.

The doctor's recommended course of action was in two parts.  First, she will grow out of it- probably sooner than later.  And secondly, nose balloons.  Charlotte and I looked at each other when she said this, like, "did she just say what I think she said?!?"  Yup, she wrote us a prescription for nose balloons.  Charlotte is supposed to blow up a balloon with her nose, twice a day, for 5-7 days when we think she is having an ear infection.  We are not to give her any antibiotics!  (In our experience German doctors are much less likely to prescribe antibiotics in the first place, but this was a new one for me.)  This, from the lady with the giant bow on her head, after weeks of hearing tests, was just too bizarre and comical. 

 So anyway, Charlotte can't always hear us- this is true, and we feel reassured that she is not just ignoring us.  And she will grow out of it.  And does not need tubes in her ears, or a hearing aid, or anything else.  (Just nose balloons.) Pretty much the best possible outcome we could have hoped for from this situation.