Friday, November 20, 2009

November

Will life ever slow down?
I got a case of the blues but it's no excuse for staying away, so here are some pictures...
First the nature around us, I just don't get tired of it!















the bike and our cars...mine is the red one

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

October

Ok! So I'm caught up!! Here are October pictures and news.

Daniel: growing like a weed, eating great and stays pretty healthy. He is getting good grades at school and works really hard at home! The middle school schedule seems to agree with him. Socially however he isn't doing all that great. Though he seems to be making friends in his classroom, he has been getting picked on pretty bad by the 9th graders. One of them even got suspended a whole day for hurting him. Yesterday Daniel came home with a bruise and swollen eyelid. Got a rock thrown at him. The biggest issue really is that even if Daniel doesn't hit (because I told him not to...and I think I regret that) he uses his words to fight with. He can be pretty hurtful!! Since I had always taught him not to hit anyone, he learned to defend himself verbally, and so now it's instinctive and it's getting him in trouble with the older kids. He does still have a long ways to go, and has to learn how to talk so not to hurt people. It's hard having a kid who's "different". We know him, love him and understand him. But I know he isn't like the other kids, and trying to raise him to conform to society is no easy task. Part of me feels that he shouldn't have to change, he should be allowed to be who he is...on the other hand, not teaching him to "blend in" will make him a social outcast and hurt him. I got to tell you, he is a challenge, makes me work hard at being a parent, but he is SO interesting!!! His differences make him stand out from other kids and I love that. Teaching him to stand out all the while blendig in is no easy task!!!!!!!!

Chris: Doing great at work. He enjoys his job and the people he works with. I think he is learning a lot too. The French is coming along slowly but surely. We got him an ugly little throw away car to get to and from work. Ugly, old, but reliable. The most exciting thing is that we bought a motorcycle, a Harley of course! Now don't ask me what is is...all I know is that I like it, it's pretty! (Chris says it's a 2006, 1200 sportser) It's red! Not fire engine red, like a deep darker red. We went and bought helmets yesterday and I got riding gloves.

Me: still crazy busy trying to get everything settled...home, school for D, paperwork for C, etc... I just can't wait until things settle down a bit!! We got me a cute little family car, newer and low mileage. I've been shooting a few pictures but not as much as I'd like. It seems that I'll be earning a little money working for the owner of our building; showing apartments, cleaning up the hallway etc... It'll be nice since it'll keep me available for everyone, give me time to take pictures and stay on top of running our home. Speaking of which...we're freezing right now! They haven't turned on our heat yet. It's been pretty windy and foggy and Chris is not liking it as much as he did this summer. I still love it up here, I love being away from the city, I love how beautiful it is, I love how Daniel can be out all day and I don't have to worry, etc... They took our cows away and replaced them with the ones that were on top of the mountain pass. We can see every one around us being busy to get ready for winter.

well I think that covers it. Here are some pictures of the cows being taken away and of an awesome sunrise right outside our window.

The cows and the bull looking at the truck thinking "Oh I think not!!"




farmer: "yay! they're going in! we'll get the stubborn one in there too!"

"Ummm...psyche!!! NOT going in!!!!!"


The herd from the top of the pass... It was SO loud with all the bells around their necks!


Stopped shooting after the farmer's dirty look...

Sunrise on Sunday morning....(Magalie: c'est pour ça qu'on était en retard)









Monday, October 12, 2009

Bastille

Chris had never taken the gondola to get up to the bastille, so on a sunny Sunday we went and did just that. It's a pretty touristy thing to do, but I love it up there.

The tree lined avenue is where I used to live when I was Daniel's age. It's also the road Chris takes to get to work.

Love the zoom on my camera! This is the préfecture, where all of Chris' paperwork is done. It looks good from the outside. Inside though...it's kinda like the waiting room in the Beetlejuice movie.

We walked down from the Bastille...there are HUNDREDS of stairs, and tunnels dug right in the rock...

More ruins

goofball!

I loved this tree we saw on our walk down...but some guy walked right into my shot!! So I erased him! Can you tell? (obviously I'm not asking all those of you who are better than me at this :p)

Oldies

On our way home (sept 24th) we saw all the old Citroëns parked in front of the hotel down the road from us. By the time I ran home to get my camera, the light wasn't so good and half of them were already gone. It was cool anyways!!!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Annecy

Annecy is in Haute Savoie, it's another town with a big lake. We never made it to the lake, or to the castle...we just walked around old town. It's beautiful there...  The weather was weird, so was the lighting...so the pictures leave a little to be desired...we'll just have to go back on a sunny day!

Chris and Daniel being goofballs

There are hundreds of shops, and the best ice cream I've had since Ben&Jerry's. This item, in a store window, caught my eye...

You'll notice that the whole thing is just ONE plant...look at the stem. Well it's more like a tree trunk!
I loved the ceiling at the entry way of the cathedral

It might have been September, and it was cool...but there were flowers EVERWHERE still

It amazed us how clean and clear the water is there

We stumbled upon a big outdoor bird house

Aren't those the most amazing pigeons you've ever seen??? Looks like royalty

Anamaniac's good feather's (remember that cartoon?)

funky feet

Nope, I hadn't had several drinks...the door and window were totally crooked!

The sunset on our way home

1st day of school

The 1st day of school was September 2nd. I tried to get Daniel to stay still long enough for a picture. Obviously I failed! I guess when you're in 6th grade you're over the whole 1st day of school picture thing...and you sure wish your mom was too!!!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Speed Of Light


This picture pretty much sums up how I feel. Every day goes by so quickly, I barely have time to sit at the computer and check emails, or sit on my balcony to enjoy the view...let alone blog!!! We might finally become a 2 car family on Monday, which will mean that my life is going to slow down soon...can't wait!! So cross your fingers so that the car is a good one and that we can drive away with it.
ttfn

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Aix Les Bains part deux

As I've said before, we really like Aix so here are pictures from another day trip there. We saw tons of cool things: boats, a floating car, old bikes, tall people, etc...

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Trespassing

One of our little day trips took us to an abandonned factory about 20 minutes away from our place.  So being the great parents we are, we took supplies, armed our kid with a baseball bat and off we went to break and enter. It was awesome! We had a great time digging through stuff...getting creeped out...finding treasures...
We left with nothing more than pictures in my camera...though...there is an old drawer that would make an awesome spice rack...might have to go back to get it.
AND I found a cool cat.
There was one witness...but I'm not worried...
 (you'll see all of this in the pics)
You'll notice that we weren't the first ones to hang out there.
Afterwards, we went for a walk along the river.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Aix les Bains

Slowly but surely getting caught up with happenings from August and September...hope I can be done before October!!!

When you get tired of putting stuff away, emptying boxes, putting up shelves...

...there's nothing like a day trip to take your mind away from moving woes.
We went to Aix les Bains...about an hour away from our home, we saw some nice gardens, beautiful buildings, and some really neat stuff

Daniel in all his pre-teen crappy attitude...can't wait for what's to come!

Aix Les Bains has a really nice lake, so we drove around it. It was nice that the rain waited until we were in the car.

When the weather cleared up we went for a walk along the lake side

Daniel ended up with his butt in the water just seconds after I took this

The water is so amazingly clear

Chris loves it there, you'll see more pictures...

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

PFFFFFFFFF

I am back! We were without internet for a long time, but I guess most of you know that...duh! Ok, so here is a quickie post to bring you up to date:
*Chris: frustrated, bored, homesick, doing his best...might finally-actually-probably-as-sure-as-the-best-maybe-we've-had-hopefully will have his first day at work today...tune in for more info.
*Daniel: started middle school! Holy crap!! where did the time go???? Doing well, loves our new place and his new friend. Spent most of August outside coming in only to eat and sleep. He's grown SOOOO much!!!
*Moi: trying to keep everybody fed, clothed, happy and busy. Love our new surroundings, just can't get enough! I am ALWAYS thrilled to come home to our peaceful side of the mountain. I'll be welcoming a little peace and quiet when Daniel is in school and Chris is at work. I'll take the time to ressource myself, do finishing touches to our home, process all the pictures I've taken over the last month, take pictures of our place and blog about it all.
Cats: fat!
TTFN

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Buying time

Ok, it's been for ever since I've blogged, but here are some pictures to keep you waiting patiently. I know I'm just buying time, but I promise to get caught up soon!

A little bit of "wildlife"...
A little bit of plant life...
Walks in the woods...
sunsets...
Our view from the balcony
Fog rolling in...
You see the trees...
Now you don't...
Morning after the fog
Our place!
Minette feels at home already...

Thursday, July 30, 2009

stuff we did, stuff I saw, stuff I liked


Daniel got a mommy-scaring-machine aka: a pocket bike!
We visited the church in a town called Crémieu
Took a walk in the old part of Crémieu
hung out in the old monastary garden of the church
For Chris' birthday we had a picnic in Grenoble...Daniel fed the wildlife
cool trees
rhubarb

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

moving

I have not been really good at posting news lately. So here is a quick run down of what's going on. I'll try to post some pictures before Friday.
Obviously most of you know by now that Chris is here. He got here on the 18th, just in time for my bday! On the 19th we went to my sister's who organized a surprise party for me...I guess you all knew that since I posted the link for the pictures. Since then we have packed a little, hung out a lot and gone out to do some touristy type activities. My cousin gave Daniel a pocket bike, and so there has been many male bonding moments of messing with it, teaching Daniel how to ride it and scaring mom half to death.
We also got all of Daniel's back to school supplies...geez...being a 6th grader sure means having to buy a whole lot of stuff. We still have to order a few books, other than that, he's got all he needs! I was so excited to have it all done this early without the stores being totally over crowded with stressed out parents, cranky kids and their tired, hungry, whiny younger sibblings. Seriously, the back to school shopping is a kill or be killed adventure if you wait to do it in August!
Yesterday was Chris' birthday, we spent the day in Grenoble where we met with the Harley shop's accountant. He also got his "uniforms", Harley pants, a Harley jacket, and off the tourist trap shelf  tshirts, 4 or 5 of them. all of them averaging 45€ each! What an awesome bday present huh?? After that we went and looked at motorcycles and then went to a really nice botanic garden for a picnic. We layed in cool grass under the shade of a huge tree, watched the clouds go by, fed birds and turtles, and walked through the gardens. It was great!! Later we went to the realtor's so Chris could sign the lease papers. We stopped at a mall to cool off with the AC, and on the way home stopped by a really big antique store/yard that had awesome stuff. It smelled a little weird inside and I suspect the owner to be older than most of what he has in there, but it was fun. To finish the day we had really good pizza for dinner. So all in all it was a pretty good day.
We will be without a phone or internet for a while, so don't worry if you don't hear from us. We will try to get to a computer so we can send news and check emails.
Today is the day we're going to finish most of the packing, yuck-o-rama! I hate moving, I hate packing, I hate the mess it makes and I hate living like that! There, it all came out and I feel better.
Ok, off I go to get started, as I said I'll try posting some pictures soon.

Monday, July 20, 2009

my 40th!!!

40 ans Jessie

Thursday, July 16, 2009

no screen

Well, I am having problems with my screen and it went off to screen repair land. Who knows how long it'll last... So don't worry if you get no news from me, all's well. Chris gets here tomorrow, we are very excited!!! We will be moving on August 1st, but we won't live up there until the 4th. I am not sure i'll be back online before then. Though I am sure i'll be coming here to my aunt and uncle's to get a quick fix and deal with pressing business.
love to all!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

July 14th fireworks

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Kristen

Someone who shall remain naimless has "complained" that I hadn't posted pictures in a while! So here is what was in my camera.
Daniel and his cat Columbine
Daniel and my sister's cat Ginette
Daniel and his cousins Charlotte and Juliette

Friday, July 3, 2009

5th grade 17 mile bike ride


The 5th graders went for a 17 mile bike ride, I followed them in the car for safety, as well as food, water, games, and first aid kits. All of us adults were quite impressed with how well they did. They rode in the country side, it was a warm and sunny day. Really everything went great!!
D had trouble figuring out which hole was for the arms and which was for the head...dopey kid!
28 kids and a handful of adults
we even had a cheering section
We stopped several times along the way so everybody could drink and catch their breath
We found some really cute goats...
...and sparrows nesting
Stopped on a bridge to watch jet skiers have fun on the Rhone river
Stopped at a park for rest, lunch, and playtime
saw a swan family...
and a cricket invited himself for lunch
then it was time to go again
really it was a great day for kids and adults alike!!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Stuff I saw and liked

Columbine
Minette

beautiful sunset sky viewed from Daniel's room
a bit of Irish luck
my confused christmas cactus
Another sunset

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

copy cat

My cousin Stani is moving and on his blog he showed us a Google Earth picture of where he'll be living...why didn't I think of that?? So I am shamelessly being a copy cat...
The picture below is our new home, the building we'll be living in is the one with the largest roof, right in the center of the picture.
As you can see....no pesky neighbors...we will have a National Forest for a back yard and the bottom of a ski slope for a front yard...no mowing needed.
We will be about 17km out of Grenoble. you can google map it with this:
Col de Porte, 38700 Sarcenas, Isère, Rhône-Alpes
This is the building... it used to be a hotel. Hope Chris doesn't go all Jack Nickolson on us this winter (please don't get him a typewriter for his bday)!!!!
Our apartment is the first one with the balcony (from the ground up). 1st set of French doors from the left is our bedroom, the 2nd one is Daniel's bedroom and the 3rd one is the living room. The balcony wraps around the corner a little bit.
The set of windows below is the restaurant. On the left of the building, where there is the yellow sign, is the ski rental place.
The floor plan of our place is the dark purple one on the lower right handside corner. It's small (580sq ft), but really, it's got all we need...2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen/living room and a 118 sq ft of balcony.
Can't wait!!!!!!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Header

The blog's new picture header will be our view in our new apartment! Nice huh?

News update

So here's the latest! Chris is packing, he just bought his one way ticket. I found an AWESOME deal; $497 (351€). Couldn't believe it!! Everything else I had looked at was over $1000. Needless to say I had Chris get it before his morning coffee...and we all know how disfunctional he can be before the 1st cup of coffee!!! He's also been shopping around for prices to ship his stuff here. But the biggest thing is that he finally got in writing, from the Harley dealer, a promise of employment! He as to have an 85% average in school, which is no problem since he's in the 90s. So he'll start September 1st! YAY

+。☆*゜+。.。:.*.゚ ゚¨゚゚・*:..。o○☆゚+。+。☆*゜+。.。:.*.゚ ゚¨゚゚・*:..。o○☆゚+。
As for me, I've been busy too! I found us an apartment in the mountains. The building is an old small ski resort hotel that has been changed into apartments. The setting is just beautiful! Chris and I talked about the pros and the cons of living in the mountains, with no shops around, the closest village of 160 souls is 3.5km away, no schools, etc... The apartment is also quite smaller than the one I have now. The alternatives were staying here and Chris would do the commute, or living in the city (Grenoble). Staying here wasn't a bad option, but we both agree that to start our lives together again, we need a place for "us", moving in to my apartment would be harder. I would most likely feel invaded and he would not really feel like it's his home. Living in the city did not appeal to us all that much. Rents are way high, apartments just as small as what I found in the mountains, the pollution in Grenoble is the worst in France, city noise, city winter sluch and city summer heat. No thanks! We don't mind having to drive out of the city to go home, even if it's a really curvy road (worst than the canyon when going to Estes Park). Waking up in the morning to no city noise, fresh air, mountains and birds singing...well...that just sounded SOOOO much better! Daniel would be free to go out on his bike, or even skiing (we could watch him from the living room) by himself, there are other kids living in the building too and he even started talking with one of them when we were visiting (seems he also has a nintendo ds which automatically makes them compatible). So all in all the advantages outweighed the inconveniences. So it seems we'll be moving August 1st! I haven't signed the papers yet, so it's not official, but the agency is keeping it for us, so it's a first step. Besides I have already gotten some boxes to pack, so everything HAS to work out. I've also called the middle school to sign Daniel up, the paperwork should come in the mail this week!
So I think that covers it all...school, job, move...
I'll of course keep you all updated.
♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸❤¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸❤¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪

Saturday, May 30, 2009

this could be our new place

ok, so my sister Magalie and I went to look at a place. It's about 20 minutes outside of Grenoble, in the mountains. Actually the building is an old hotel that was converted. We looked at 2 apartments, they are 90% the same. The 1st one was empty, the 2nd one almost empty. So I put the best pictures from the 2 apartments.
The building is at the bottom of a ski lift and has only 2 other structures within eyesight. The ground floor has a restaurant, lift ticket booth and ski rental store. The school bus stop is at the front door, and since the school bus comes, so does the snow plow!! Really it's just beautiful out there. NO car noise, mountains, forests, hiking trails, etc... The downside is having to drive 20 minutes to go to the city. The upside is the city is only 20 minutes away.

kitchen
the apartment I'm hoping to get (if Chris is ok with it all of course) has a kitchen that is a bit different, a bit odd actually, but my appliances would fit better.

living room
Bedroom #1
Bathroom #1
bedroom #2

bathroom #2 yes it's also tiny...but it's got a stand up shower, so who cares!
the view...a picture is worth a thousand words
We have to move!! Someone is waiting to move in...squatting my plant until my place is empty

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Daniel's gift to Locks Of Love...before and after pictures







Thursday, May 21, 2009

Daniel and Columbine

Columbine has gotten in the habit of watching tv...weird
Daniel with his lego helicopter. after a bad fall it needed repair...and while he was at it, he "improved" it




Sporting his dad's bandana...rock on dude!!!


Sunday, May 10, 2009

Daffodils







Happy Mother's Day

Monday, May 4, 2009

Wedding


here is a link to the pictures I took at my sister's wedding:

here is a link to the pictures Daniel took at the wedding:

Monday, April 27, 2009

Easter

Ok, I know, I'm running behind. The last few weeks have been busy and hectic. Actually things aren't really slowing down! So this morning, I sat down at my computer and promised myself to get caught up. Easter was fun, we went to Magalie's on Sunday, and to my mom's on Monday. Yup, Easter Monday is an observed holiday here! The weather threatened us all week end but in the end, the sun came out and we really enjoyed it.
My cousin Lisa, her boyfriend Clément and their cute cute son Quentin came to see us at Magalie's on Sunday. I got to give my smallest cousin his bottle. I got my baby fix! I loved it!!! I know most of you probably aren't surprised since you know how much I love babies. I miss working with babies all around me... Monday morning we drove to go down to my mom's. We chatted about the last wedding plans with my sister Marine and her fiancé François. We were all pretty excited.
We had a good time on this Easter week end, so here are the pictures.
looking for eggs in front of Magalie and Yves' house
The egg harvest was an abundant one.
Lisa, Clément and Quentin
At my mom's
Cheers!
Daniel getting a quick lesson on how to best cut chorizo sausage
Juliette getting the BBQ going with my stepdad
Tending to the BBQ is thirsty work...
mamie and her grandchildren
Daniel, Charlotte and Juliette
my brother in law Yves making Jean Paul and Georgette laugh...loved it!!
Daniel