Kenny turned 5!

Kenny had lots of love for his 5th birthday.  Great Grandma Clara gave him a robot card and money....

 We had pizza and "licorice" cake at Great Gma & Gpa Erb's house.....

 Great Gma & Gpa Erb gave Kenny a card and money too:-)

We got back to Colorado and went to sushi & self-serve ice cream (Kenny picked both), and gave Kenny his final gift.  A electronic snap circuit set.  It's really cool, but will take lots of help from Mom & Dad!

We love our clever little 5-yr-old whose favorite saying right now is "Mom, I just joked!" 

France Recovery/Iowa Fun

We are so blessed to have so many Great Grandparents to love and spoil us! 

 John and Great Grandma Clara enjoyed some book time (followed by John rubbing Grandma's back:-).

 Uncle Andrew is always good for some fun, but after his morning final, he was more into cuddling.

Great Grandpa Don was full of stories from his time in World War 2, sailing in and out of French ports. 

Toulouse: Sarah's unplanned Day 4

Due to some confusion about flight times, Sarah missed her flight by 2 hours!  This served as the adventure for Day 4 and led to an unexpected Day 5!  We had a lovely evening in Toulouse, exploring the city center a bit.  Toulouse is the second largest city in France, so had lots of great plazas to explore. 

We had a great time, especially now that we're home and reminiscing about the adventures rather than living them--HA!

Nice: Day 3

Nice was a gorgeous city!  We decided to rent bikes (couldn't let a day pass without an adventure:-), and ride along the beach front. 

 We ascended Castle Hill and walked around the historic ruins.  It was amazing to learn that a celtic group first built on this site in BC!

 The next time we come to Nice we're hoping it's by yacht!?;-)

We spent our last couple of hours laying on lounge chairs and sipping one last glass of rose. 

Mediterranean Coast: Evening of Day 2

Our hotel for night 2 was in Nice (a 3-hr drive from Marseille).  We decided to take the scenic route and drive up the coast.  By the time we reached Sainte-Maxime, we were ready for a break!  This area of the coast is filled with little villages of vacation cottages and restaurants on the beach.

 We got our feet wet and then sipped a glass of rose while listening to the surf.  It was amazing and made me wished we had spent our entire trip here!!

Marseille: Afternoon Day 2

We are nothing if not gluttons for punishment.....so doing a hike in Calanques National Park seemed like a great idea!  We had no map, sketchy directions provided by some locals, but the bag filled with cheese and a fresh baguette made us feel like we could conquer anything. 

 The hike didn't go as planned (leading us to a beach), but we still enjoyed eating our delicious food from atop the mountain. 

Marseille: Morning of Day 2

Darin was asked to present at a Space Systems Conference in Toulouse, France.  We decided to make an adventure of it and go early for a few days of site-seeing.  We flew into Touluse, rented a car (Opel manual transmission:-) and drove 5 hours (the first hour in the wrong direction) to Marseille, which is on the Mediterranean.  We had the best meal of the trip at a little 5-table restaurant filled with locals.  The next morning, we navigated the San Francisco-like streets to the Notre Dame cathedral. 

 The cathedral is the highest point in the city, so it offered beautiful vistas of the bay and city.  Too bad there were hurricane force winds that day!

 We strolled through the gardens....

The small island just to the right of Darin's head is the location of the book "The Count of Monte Cristo".