South Of France {Part 1 Provence Region}

Back in April, we got in the car and drove down to Southern France for a vacation with our friends the Petersons. We have been dying to make this trip ever since we moved here. Since Abe speaks French, I feel like we have been to France time and time again, but it never disappoints! It was about a 9.5-10 hour drive down to the Provence region of France and the kids did great in the car. With all the traveling we have done, they have gotten fairly used to it. We stayed at a little hotel called Hotel l'hermitage in a small town called Pernes Les Fontaines. It was so cute and charming, although it was a pain that my entire family shared one little room. We spent most of the nights leaving Adeline and Norah in the room until they would fall asleep. Meanwhile, we would sit with Meika in the lobby (which was right outside our door) and then stick her in the room once they were fast asleep. If not, they would all be playing and Meika would keep climbing out of her crib. Meika was running on serious lack of sleep for a lot of our trip because of this and practically no naps!



Our first little day trip was to Le Baux. Le Baux is a little village that sits on top of a small rocky mountain and has cute little shops, restaurants and old castle remains. I loved this little village. Every cobblestone path that we turned on was so picturesque and charming.













We ate at this cute little Pizzeria for Lunch







Views looking down from the top of the village













Watching a reenactment



More views from the top of the Castle remains







Watching a fighting reenactment. The girls were really scared that it was the real deal!





After spending most of the day in Le Baux, we stopped in St. Remy to explore and find something to eat.













We did find a little Creperie to eat at and it was pretty miserable with my kids. I'm pretty sure all three of them were whining and complaining the entire time we tried to eat. Good thing we were able to head back to the hotel immediately after and put my tired kids to bed!

The next day we headed off to the big city of Nimes. The main attraction here for us was to see the Colosseum, but it was fun walking around and exploring as well.

















Views from atop the Colosseum







Most days on this trip, we would hit up a little grocery store in the morning and grab a baguette, deli meat and cheese, yogurts and some fruit and find a random place to have a picnic.



This place was perfect because the kids could be crazy and run around chasing the birds after they were done eating.





After exploring Nimes, we headed off to Pont Du Gard, which is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge.





This kid LOVES water and is pretty fearless. It was freezing cold (the temperature outside and the water) and of course she had to fall in the water and get sopping wet!







Views from atop the bridge



After our fun at the aqueduct, we headed to a very small town Uzes to try and find something to eat.







We decided to eat at this phenomenal burger joint that was located in a little square with a fountain. It was so nice sitting outside in the square and enjoying our dinner while the kids were able to run around!



How cute is this village??





The next day we headed up the curvy roads to the Senanque Abbey. Although we weren't able to go in, it was really fun to see it from the outside. I just wish it had been July timeframe and the fields in front of it would have been covered with radiant purple lavender fields!





After seeing the Abbey, we headed a short distance up the hill to the village of Gordes.







How amazing is this town that is built into the side of the mountain? Amazing and beautiful!





After Gordes, we headed to yet another small village called Roussillon.





From the little cobblestone street we walked up from the parking lot, we had to cut through this little pathway to make it up to the main part of the village.



Here is poor little Meika so tired from all our running around and lack of sleep!

Mondo Verde

Adeline and Norah had two weeks of Spring break in April. We had a couple of days before we left on our big trip to Southern France, so we decided to make a day of it and hit up Mondo Verde. It is a a little bit of everything; zoo, small rides, parks, pretty trails, etc. Since it wasn't too warm and during the week, we practically had the park to ourselves. It was fun hanging out for the day and exploring somewhere we hadn't been before!

They have these cool climbing structures at a lot of kid play areas in Europe (well at least in the Netherlands and Germany). You have to run up them as fast as you can and try to make it to the top. Of course Norah is a sticky little Gecko and had no problems making it to the top by herself every single time!

Easter

Easter was pretty low key. We attended a Easter Egg hunt that was run by the Brunssum NATO base and the kids were really looking forward to that. They have different areas to search for Easter eggs depending on what age your kids are.

All the kids stood patiently for quite awhile waiting for the littlest kids to start.



Meika was totally confused and overwhelmed about the entire thing since it is so crazy. Once they gave the little kids the go ahead to start searching, she started crying as we were encouraging her to hunt for eggs. Once we finally showed her that there was candy inside, she became a little more interested. I think she probably collected a total of four eggs?

This random little girl kept trying to take away Meika's basket and kept taking her eggs out.

I didn't get a picture of the older kids searching for eggs. It was really crazy and so many kids, that it was hard to even see where they were at! All in all, the kids had fun and enjoyed going on some rides that they had set up as well.


We ended up celebrating Easter one week early because the holiday landed in the middle of our Spring Break and we were going to be on vacation. The girls were excited to get their baskets in the morning and there were also eggs hidden around the house for them to go on a little hunt.

Hansel and Gretel Play

Back in April, Adeline had a little Hansel and Gretel play and the parents were able to come watch it. Weeks before, Adeline would come home with her script and practice her parts. She was pretty excited because her and one other girl were able to be Gretel. She was so cute. She knew every single part of the play and would mouth it when it wasn't her turn and then of course would speak out her part when it was her turn. Love this girl!