Chicago is my kind of town!!

We had a WONDERFUL time visiting CHICAGO!!

the Lions ROARED...

we all walked & walked... and got spoiled by G'ma & G'pa with french sweets...

saw all our favorite animals....

even a few smiley ones...

I think these came after our next stop to AG* was announced!

stopped for some coffee & Chicago Cheesecake...

toured the city lights...

and had a quiet ride home!

(*AG= American Girl Store)

Zoo de la Palmyre

So while Tsiry is with you all getting a little taste of American life, his family has been back here helping us to get to know more about France.

It's taken us a while to get the pictures onto the computer and then finally to post them here, but we did want to share with you what a wonderful time we had last Saturday with the Razafindrabe family at Le Zoo Palmyre. Lala and Ando had told us a few weeks ago that they were planning a "surprise" outing for us, and then scheduled with us the week before to leave on this big mystery trip for a special day together with one another. They took us up the coast to Royan, France, a popular vacation spot which is also home to France's largest zoo.

This Polar bear was something else. We stood by the glass watching him jump up and down in the water for a solid 10 minutes, during which time he barely took any break from his exercise!

Notice above and then below the camera case in Tim's hands. That little monkey was doing his best to find out if there was anything in it!

We enjoyed touring the zoo as well as attending two "spectacles": a parrot show and a sea lion show. (See a few shots from those in the collage above.) We had a wonderful day!!!

Passage a Minnesota chez Brenda! :-)

The Mall of America

The Zoo

The Music Store

The Hamburger Chef!

Passage a Minnesota chez Daniel

On en a profite pour voir un match de baseball.
Voici les images…

The Fiesta!!

Tonight we had some "before" dinner entertainment by Patience and Isabelle and then we had a special "south of the border" meal prepared by Jennie. Two very sweet little girls worked most of the afternoon on the decorations. It was a fun evening.

Miss the rest of you !!

Here is the link to see some more pics!

Tracking Your Progress

Just thought that Tsiry might be interested to know that we are all tracking his progress over here, too. ;-) Bon voyage!

The Weekend at Brian and Jo's

We really enjoyed being with Chris and Lydia and Cute Cooper as well as with our little girl and her family :-) It was a great beginning of our stay!

First day and On the road...

I made this collage up several days ago, but we haven't had internet. This is Greenville and Virgina (ok, I know you know but Tsiry's parents don't :-)) We enjoyed seeing Granny and Bert again at the Custers. He is two years older than we are.

Le défilé militaire du 14 juillet 2009 à Bordeaux

Here are a few more pictures from our outing into Bordeaux. Though it included a lot of waiting, we got to watch the military parade that included all the branches of the military, the national police, the firefighters, etc. It was preceded by a flyover of four jets, who returned for a second flyover later on. The parade was supposed to have ended with the descent of parachuters into the square, but due to inclement weather, they were unable to take off from their base.

You have to be creative, especially when you're small, if you want a good view.

As enjoyable as anything else that day, was the tram ride (first for the children) into town and back. The middle picture is not my own, but shows the train crossing over the Pont de Pierre.

Place de la Bourse

To celebrate la fête nationale française, we took the tram into town. The children thoroughly enjoyed the mirror fountain at the Place to la Bourse, though they finished a bit more wet than intended.

Not our picture, but to show you what it looks like at night:

My Song is Love Unknown

Here we come....

Yesterday we spent the day getting ready for our "little" trip around the states to see you kids! Dad took Tsiry with him every where he went (including several trip to the DMV!) The car now has plates, Dad has a up to date SC license and I have a new "do"-- so if we get this house clean, our bags re-packed, we are off for the Custers this afternoon and then to visit DC tomorrow. Then Brockton ! :-)

We have really been able to see lots of fam already. Uncle Paul and Aunt Theresa met us at the airport. We got to Donna's pretty late and we were so glad to see her! Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna and Grandma came over to see us. I spent the whole day with Aunt Donna-- she was gracious and ran me around. Then we went to Community Baptist last night to hear the Farmers. So, besides Bonnie Ruth and all, we saw Aunt Ruth, Vanessa, Uncle John and Aunt Lois.

They're headed your way!

Mom & Dad left for the airport this morning around 4:30. They are scheduled to arrive in Charlotte around 5 p.m. EST. The kids miss them already. We are beginning to get settled into the upstairs. Happy fete nationale du 14 juillet, everybody! Vive la France!

Papi's New Trick ;-)

Micaiah's New Trick

The Ascher family left for their month-long vacation last Friday, and generously offered our children the use of their kids' bikes during the month. The only catch was that they had a bike with training wheels for Miriam, but no bike with training wheels for Micaiah. He had already been getting excited about trying to learn to ride his own bike without training wheels when his bike arrives in the container at the end of the month, and so Micaiah was quite pumped about getting a head start now. Papi worked with him a little early Friday afternoon, and then Tim later that afternoon, and we were all amazed at how quickly he discovered his newfound talent, and wanted to share it with you. Below is a video of him riding around the parking lot across the street.

The Birthday Party!

We had fun surprising "Daddy" with a party on his birthday! Wish you all could have been here!

We'll get this French "très vite"

Isn't this just too cute? They look like they are really concentrating!

Happy 31st Birthday, Tim!

I have no doubt that you will get spoiled today!
Enjoy!

The Furlough Car!

I don't think there is much more nerve wracking than being a girl
(who only really cares that the air, automatic locks and windows, and CD player work)
buying a car for her very picky father! ;-)
I hope you like it! I do! Big, spacious, smooth.
(And lest you think that white spot on the side is a scratch, it isn't. Reflexion of some sort.
I'll take a picture of the damaged section for you tomorrow.)
Sorry these aren't the greatest. It was dark when I got home tonight.

Voila!!

A Wonderful Surprise!!

The church surprised us during the Sunday School hour with a special service for our 40th wedding anniversary. There were special numbers by all the age groups/families and testimonies about our ministry here at the church. They then gave us a gift for a get-a-way to Charleston sometime during our furlough. It was very sweet and touching. We will certainly miss everyone here even as we are getting excited about going to see all of you!

Happy 4th!

40 years-- and counting!

Tim and Ruth and the M and M's went all out to make our anniversary special. It will definitely go down as one we will never forget! We had a delicious meal of steak (grilled by Tim) and other yummy things (created by Ruth) and served with flair (by Micaiah and Miriam). Plus a beautiful bouquet of flowers to create the mood.

Dordogne with Tim and Fam!

We had a wonderful mini-vacation together at the Coste's place in St. Alvere. The weather was great and we had a great time. For more pictures, see Ruth's fb :-)