Congratulations London!

London had his testing for his Black Belt in Taekwondo on December
19th. He had to do two forms, weapons, sparring and two board breaks.
He did a back elbow strike and a running jump side kick. It was
exciting and he did a great job and is now a 1st degree black belt!

Busy Day!

On saturday December 15th we had a busy day. The kids were in a
Taekwondo tournament. Raven placed 3rd in sparring, Nathan placed 2nd
in sparring and London placed 3rd in weapons, 2nd in forms and 1st in
sparring. The final sparring match was Nathan and London and they
came down to a one point match.

That afternoon Raven had her Christmas dance show. She had two
performances. This picture is of her after her shows. She did a great
job!

We went straight from there to our Christmas party with our book
group, which was lots of fun!

Fisherman's Wharf

Today is Saturday, so David was able to join us today, at least in
body. We rode the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf for the day. We
had lunch at Boudin's and then walked around the wharf. Raven helped
out a juggler doing a show on Pier 39. She arm wrestled the same
scary machine that Julie Andrews did in "The Princess Diaries". We
saw the sea lions and rode the street cars back. We walked through a
really nice arts & crafts fair and managed to get out without buying
anything. I think Raven had enjoyed being an only child this week,
but she has been thinking of her brothers and has used her own money
to buy them gifts.
We met friends for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. We had a great
time. We have a long drive tomorrow.

Exploratorium

Raven and I spent most of the day at the Exploratorium today. It is a
big hands on science museum in the Presidio. There were some people
in there filming something, a documentary I think, and Raven got to be
in it. She was in a background shot playing in the black sand exhibit,
which is still our favorite exhibit.
This picture is of Raven by the Palace of Fine Arts which is right
next to the exploratorium.
We had a relaxing evening of room service and movies!

Lake Tahoe

We spent two more days in the Reno area. Wednesday we drove up to
Lake Tahoe. It was gorgeous and sunny. There was no snow yet. It
was very cloudy and gloomy in Reno. We played at a playground right
by the lake. Raven made at least 3 friends while we were there. This
picture was taken near the lake. We had lunch at Rosie's Cafe and
then drove around the lake. We met up with Jon and David for dinner
after we got back and then spent some time playing games and watching
the shows at Circus Circus. Raven won lots of games and came home
with several stuffed animals.
Friday was pretty boring. After we checked out of our hotel we went to
a laundromat to do laundry. We had lunch at Mimi's Cafe and then it
was time to drop Erin and Izzy off with Jon so they could head home.
David got done about an hour and a half later and then we started
driving. Even as we were heading to I-80 we weren't sure if we were
heading east or west, but at the last minute we decided to head west,
so that David could be to a meeting in San Franciso tomorrow.

Reno, Nevada

David had a conference this week in Reno. Raven and I decided to go
with him while the boys stayed with my mom. Jon Flynn works for
Fusion IO now, so Jon, Erin and Isolde are here as well.
We had a fun day in Reno. We had lunch at Applebee's and then went
shopping and had pedicures. I was able to go in to the show to see
their booth. The stunt bikes had drawn a large crowd.

We went to Ichiban's Japanese Restaurant with several of the Fusion
employees. Unfortunately David couldn't come because he had a
separate business dinner. This was Raven's first time at a restaurant
like this and she really enjoyed it.
This picture is of Erin and Raven in downtown Reno on a walk we went on.
Izzy is in the stroller.

Happy Birthday London

We celebrated London's 10th birthday today with a party at Dimple Dell
Recreation Center. We went swimming, had pizza and cake and went
rockclimbing. This is a picture of Raven and London near the top of a
35' wall. It was a really fun party with lots of excercise!

Day 26-Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I know that this is the day that everybody is going to wish they got
to do with us. It is currently 4am Utah time and we have been up for 6
1/2 hours already. We left our apartment at 5:30 am in London. We
walked to Victoria station, caught a bus to Paddington Station, took a
train to Heathrow airport where the lady checking us in told me that
there was a problem with 3 of us and then walked off with our
passports for a 1/2 hour.
She did finally come back with our passports and all of our boarding
passes, so I guess she solved the problem. Next we went through
security, and I must say they are much more secure than in Salt Lake.
Then we got to wait for 1 1/2 hours for a plane to Paris.
We were on the ground during this flight longer than we were in the
air. Once at Charles DeGaulle, we got to take a shuttle bus to our
next terminal where we got to go through security again. This time I
was even treated to a pat down!
We had a 2 hour wait for our 9 hour flight to Atlanta.
Our flight went without complications. In Atlanta we had to go through
Customs and security again, but at least we had 4 hours to do it in.
We finally arrived into Salt Lake at 11:30 pm, or 6:30am London time!

Day 25- Last day in the UK!

Today we went to the British Museum. We spent most of our time in the
Egyptian, Greek and Roman areas. They had a large section of Egyptian
Mummies. It was interesting to most of us, but disturbing to Raven.
We also enjoyed the exhibit on money and one on clocks. We spent a few
hours there and only saw a fraction of the museum.
We also did some last minute shopping today that involved retracing
our steps to things we have seen this past week. We are packed now and
have to get up early tomorrow.
The picture for today is the kids showing off the toys they got at
Legoland yesterday. Raven got a Belville Princess set. London got a
tic-tac-toe game and Nathan got Star Wars Figures. It was really
important to them that we record this.
This has been a great trip. If only David were here I think I could
live this way. As it is, we are anxious to get home to him! Only 1
more day!

Day 24 - Legoland Windsor

As you can see, the surprise was Legoland! The kids were very excited.
We said we were going to Windsor and that there is a castle there. You
should have seen them when they found out we were going to Legoland.
Legoland Windsor is very similar to the one in California as far as
the number and types of rides. We saw two shows, one live and one 3D
movie. The favorite part by far was the miniland. We especially liked
the mini London. The gift shops were another favorite.
Unfortunately we had our worst weather of the whole trip today. We
really haven't had much rain, and we have managed to avoid 90% of
that, by today we had a steady drizzle all day. It was a fun day
anyway. We only have one day left! I can't believe how fast this trip
has gone by!

Day 23 - Rooftops of London

We had another busy day in London! We got up early and went to St. Paul's Cathedral in rush hour traffic. We've had some trouble on the underground this trip. Today there was a strike of the drivers on 3 of the lines. Another time they closed our line, and another there were severe delays because of a person on the track.
We managed to make it to St. Paul's quite early. We toured the cathedral, saw the tombs in the crypt, and climbed the 438 stairs to the top of the done. That is where this picture was taken from. We could see a lot of rooftops from here.
Next, we went to Kensington Palace. We saw a royal helicopter land on the lawn. The police guarding said they were picking up someone, but he didn't know who. We waited for a while to see who would come, but we eventually gave up and went inside. Kensington Palace was Princess Diana's home, and they are having a special exhibit since it is the 10th anniversary of her death. There were videos and slides of her, as well as several of her dresses. I didn't realize how old this palace was. This was the home of William & Mary. It was where Queen Victoria was born and grew up. It is still a current residence for the royal family. We had lunch at the Orangery.

 After lunch we went to the Handel House Museum. This is the home where George Fredrick Handel lived for the last 37 years of his life. This was where he wrote "Messiah" and where he died. The kids did another search activity, so we got to know this museum really well.
Our next stop was the London Aquarium. It wasn't my favourite aquarium, but it did have some fish and types of jellyfish I've never seen before. 

We went to Namco Station next door and the kids rode the bumper cars. They were the fastest, most violent, bumper cars I have ever seen. I was glad I didn't go on them. The boys had headaches when they got off.

Our last stop of the day was back to the 'rooftops of London' at the theatre to see "Mary Poppins". The cast, sets, music and everything was fantastic!

Our journey back to the flat was great tonight. We found the right bus by the theatre that took us right to our front door. We had front row seats on the top of the double decker bus for the ride as it went past Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliment.  

I have a surprise planned for the kids for tomorrow. It's sort of a reward for their being so great through all the museums, palaces, nature walks and everything we've done for the past month. They think we are going to Windsor Castle, but I think even I am getting bored with audio tours of old buildings, paintings and ghost stories.

I hope they enjoy the surprise!

Day 22 - Hampton Court Palace

We got off to a late start today. Our last couple of days we've been
out from 9am until 11 pm.
We went to Hampton Court Palace today. This was a palace of Henry
VIII. We went on a tour of his state rooms and the kitchens. The
kitchens were facinating. There was a whole wing of the house
dedicated to food preparations. Several kitchens, butchery, roasting
rooms, baking rooms, cold storage rooms and wine cellar. They would
cook for 600 people a day. The king and his court would have to move
to different palaces throughout the year because they would deplete
the local area of their resources.
The kids did an activity where they would go to different locations in
the palace where there have been ghost sightings and read about those
stories. They each got a pack of colored pencils for completing it.
The picture today is of us in the palace hedge maze. I ruined the fun
for Nathan because I happened to be reading in a novel a couple of
days ago where the character mentioned the Hampton Court Maze and the
secret for navigating it. I wanted to see if it was true, and it
turned out that it was, so we were never lost like Raven is trying to
make us out to be. We were able to help a lot of other lost people in
the maze get out.
We got back by 7pm tonight, which is quite early for us, but we need
the night to recoup because we have more busy days planned!

Day 21 - Tower Hill

We had a long and gruesome day today. By gruesome I mean our history
and literature field trips we had today. We spent several hours
exploring the Tower of London. We heard lots of gory stories of its
history. We saw the crown jewels and the ravens. Then we toured the
Tower Bridge. We got to walk across the top and go up and down the
pillars and into the engine room. We were able to see it open for a
boat to pass through as well.
We crossed the river and spent the next couple of hours exploring the
HMS Belfast, a light cruiser from WWII. That was really interesting.
We got to go all over the ship, which involved climbing lots of ladder
like staircases. They had a good audio guide and the different rooms
had manaquin displays depicting what they did in each part of the ship.
We finished out the day by going to see Macbeth, starring Patrick
Stewart in the title role. I read the play aloud to the kids on this
trip and talked about it a lot, so they were able to follow along
really well. Plus they knew when to expect bloody apparitions and
severed heads. This version kept to the script, but they set it in
WWII time for the set and costumes. It was easy to get the kids to
want to see Macbeth when it means getting to see Jean-Luc Picard.
We had quite the trek getting back across town. Everyone in the
theatre district wants on the underground at the same time, then our
connecting line was closed and we had to find a bus and then walk the
rest of the way. Needless to say I am tired and am going to crash now.

Day 20-Pussy cat, pussy cat

Where have you been? I've been to London to visit the Queen!
Our day started out with pouring rain, but it stopped before we went
out and we had blue skies all day. Our first stop was Buckingham
Palace, where we were able to go inside and tour the state rooms. It
is the 60th anniversary of the queen and Prince Phillips wedding, so
they have a special exhibit of their wedding clothes, gifts, and
jewelry. We were also able to see another painting by Vermeer, who the
kids and I have been studying. This photo of us was taken in the
Queen's garden of the back side of the palace. Raven was excited to
see the garden, but she thought it would be smaller and prettier.
We walked to Hyde Park and took the tube to Leicester Square for
lunch. After lunch we decided to go to Harrod's. I have never been
there with kids before and we spent most of our time in the Toy
Kingdom. We also saw cute puppies in the pet shop and a pair of shoes
that cost 64,000 pounds! We had to buy Turkish Delight from the food
stalls.
We finished the day by going to the theatre to see "Wicked"! It is
still fabulous! We were able to get 1/2 price, same day tickets. The
kids are becoming quite the theatre critics.

Day 19 - London Tour

We left our boat this morning and took a train to London. We found our
flat. It was advertised as being very small, but it seems spacious
after the narrowboat. We can see Big Ben and the London Eye from our
balcony, though not quite as well as you can in this picture. I've
really enjoyed the apartments we have rented on this trip. It helps me
feel less like a tourist when we are living amongst the locals. It is
definately much better than hotels.
This is the only day Arven has in London, so we did the overview tour.
We took a tour on "The Big Bus" around the city, a cruise down the
Thames, and a loop around the London Eye. We had pub grub for dinner
at The King's Arms. We had fun browsing through a gift shop. London is
especially enjoying it. He usually can't find his name on anything.
It's on everything here!
Arven flies home tomorrow morning. It was good having him here, I
think he really enjoyed himself.

Day 18 - Visit with Sarah & Martin

We cruised back into Union Wharf at Market Harborough this morning
without incident. We were even able to back this boat into our berth.
Of course now that we have the hang of it, it's time to leave. We
spent the afternoon with my aunt Sarah and her husband Martin. Sarah
is my Dad's sister. They came and met us at the boat and we walked
into town. We had lunch at an Italian restaurant and then walked
around town. It was really nice to visit with them and hear about my
cousins, Victoria and Katie.
We spent a quiet evening in the wharf. I did a watercolor of our boat.
Aslan's Glory was definately the best name of all the boats we saw on
this trip. She has been a good boat. We are leaving early in the
morning for the last leg of our adventure.

Day 17 - Man Overboard!

We started our day off with a splash!
We had barely started down the canal for the day and Nathan and I were walking along the gunwhale (that means the tiny rim around the boat) to go sit on the front when I heard a splash behind me. Nathan slipped off the side and fell into the canal! He was wearing a life vest and we were able to pull him in quickly. A little too quickly, because I wasn't able to get a picture. 

Of course I didn't think about it at the time. I'm afraid we may have had an iPod casualty.

 We docked at the same place last night that we did the first night and our baby ducks came back. 

Our travels took us back down the Foxton Locks and through the swing bridge. This picture is from the top of the locks as we were waiting to go down. Raven is petting the dog that came barging into our boat last night. We docked on the far side of the swing bridge and went for a walk through Foxton and back to the locks. Foxton is a tiny village with pretty cottages that all have names. We picked more blackberries on the way back, so we get more with custard tonight! 

When we got back to our boat we found a new boat parked next to us that was empty and not tied down. It kept drifting around the canal until it got close enough to us and then Arven climbed on and got their ropes and he and my mom tied them down in the pouring rain. It was an eventful day! 

London's Watercolor

We woke up to a cloudy day that quickly turned rainy. We weren't in a
hurry to get under way so we spent a relaxing morning painting and
playing games. I did a couple of paintings of ducks and the swan we
met on the trip. I brought an extra watercolor pad in case I was able
to inspire the kids to want to paint. Well, today they did. London
painted this picture of our boat of when we stopped to pick
blackberries. You can see the blackberry bush in the background. Raven
painted a close up of part of the boat and a picture of a pig. Nathan
was inspired to use the paints on his Star Trek Entreprise ship he
brought. We decided to venture out into the weather to go to the shop
and the rain decided to let up just then and we have had a beautiful
sunny day since.
We went back through the tunnel again. I was able to find out exactly
how long it is. I was very far off on my first guesstimate. The tunnel
is 1170 yards long. We only had to pass 1 boat in it today, and we had
3 following us.
We just had an exciting experience. My Mom was sitting with Raven by
the door and she thought she heard something outside the door and
asked Raven to go check. Raven opened the door and a big black dog
came bounding in and scared them. I was in the back and heard them
scream and then start to laugh. The dog was from another narrow boat
that is parked next to us. We got to meet the embarrassed owner, who
was very nice. We have seen a lot of dogs on the canal boats. There
was an exceptionally cute pair of West Highland Terriers wearing life
jackets walking back and forth on the top of their boat. I better quit
as I am needed to play "Bang!"

Day 15 - Welford

We cruised down the Grand Union Canal to Welford today. The highlight
of the journey was the Husband's Bosworth Tunnel. It was at least 200
yards long. This picture is of us about to enter the tunnel and you
can see a boat just coming out. We passed two other narrow boats while
we were in the tunnel. It was a very tight scrape. We had to stop and
fill up with water. It took about a 1/2 hour to fill our tank. There
was a very friendly swan there who was trying to get on our boat.
We went through one more lock to get into Welford. We went on a walk
around the village and to two reservoirs. We are going to have dinner
at the village pub, which has been recommended to us on two separate
occasions as having really good food. We are going to stay here for
the night.

Day 14 - Foxton Locks

Today was definately an adventure. We had rain last night but woke to
beautiful clear skies this morning. We had our boat orientation and
then headed out on our own. We had a few learning curve problems to
begin with. I think it was our first bridge that we went under that we
came out at an angle so far that we had to duck under some bushes and
they scraped our life preserver off the boat and into the canal.
Turning the boat was confusing because you have to turn the rudder in
the opposite direction that you want to go and sometime it gets turned
the wrong way and then over corrected the other way, sometimes
involving running the passengers on the front our boat into blackberry
bushes. Speaking of which, we stopped for lunch and picked
blackberries growing along the canal. We have seen many different
kinds of birds along the canal including herrons. We have also seen
rabbits and squirrels.
We went under lots of bridges today. There was one bridge that was
a swing bridge because it was too low to go under. We had to pull over
and then someone gets out to unlock the bridge, put up the road
barriers and then swing the bridge around so the boat can pass through
and then reverse what you just did. Soon after that we came to Foxton
Locks. There was a lot of traffic there. Both of boats waiting to go
through the locks and people that just came to watch. We had a nice
audience to see us maneuver into the locks. The picture is of our boat
going through the locks. My job was to crank open the water flow
gates, and then when the water was level, I swung open the lock gates
for the boat to pass through. Then I would crank the water flow gates
closed and swing the lock gates shut and then run up to the next lock
to do it again. There were 10 locks to get to the top. We were the
last boat to go to the top before they started to let the queue at top
come down.
The canal at the top of the locks was wider, straighter, and less
crowded than we came through at the bottom, so it was a relaxing
change. We have found a lovely place to park for the night. Our view
is of rolling hills with sheep nearby. We can see a village and a
church spire in the distace. We have a little family of a mother and
two baby ducks hanging around our boat that we have been feeding.

Day 13 - Aslan's Glory

We spent over 6 hours on trains today coming down from Scotland to
Market Harborough to find our canal boat. My uncle Arven came to join
us for the next leg of our adventure. The last thing we did in
Scotland last night was watch "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"
so we thought it was a good sign when we found out the name of our
boat is "Aslan's Glory". We stayed in the marina for the night and we
will head out into the canals in the morning!

Day 12 - Olivia and Simon Ellar

This is our last day in Scotland. It has been a wonderful week and has
gone by too quickly. It is a rainy Sunday today. We are spending a
quiet day indoors. There isn't a church close enough to get to, so we
had our own at home. We had a fabulous English dinner with roast beef
and Yorkshire pudding that Simon and Oly made for us. Olivia is the
friend that I've known longer than any of my friends. That's pretty
amazing considering I've always lived in Utah and she's always lived
in the UK. We have pictures of us playing in a cardboard box at 18
months. We've kept in touch over the years through mail and visits. We
were bridesmaids in each others weddings. Email helps now days, but
it's not the same as getting a letter in the mail. They have recently
moved to the tip of Scotland where they have sheep and a horse. They
have 3 kids who my kids have had a great time playing with this week.
They are very much into the outdoors and started their own magazine
dedicated to wilderness survival and all things nature. It is an
excellent magazine. You can check out their website at www.bushcraftmagazine.com
I have had a good time catching up and watching our children play
together. I hope to see them again soon in Utah for a family survival
camp experience.

Day 11 - Birnam Wood

We went for a long walk through Birnam woods today. Birman woods are
the woods MacBeth is warned about. The real people that MacBeth is
based on lived in this area in 1047. We had a great walk to this
waterfall and to a cave. I learned that Birn means stream in Scottish.
We have also learned to identify plants. We know what stinging nettle
looks like, but we also can identify Dock leaves that take the sting
out of stinging nettle. The thistle is the symbol of Scotland. I found
a tree ornament of one for my collection.
I think Charlotte Mason would be very pleased with how we've spent our
time in Scotland. We've been out in nature everyday and we've had some
science and history and literature each day.

Day 10 - Dunkeld

We had a fairly quiet day exploring the village of Dunkeld today.
They have quite a few cute little shops for such a small town. There
is a darling little bookshop just across the road from our front door
called "Sweetwords". I found out the name of the book that my
neighborhood book group is doing next, so I asked them if they had it
and they ordered it in for me and it arrived today. That's quicker
than Barnes & Noble! We got our bacon for breakfast from the butcher's
shop, and lunch from the bakery. They have a dress shop, a florist, a
'druggist', an antique shop, Scottish wool shop. The shop below our
apartment sells Indonesian furniture. Dunkeld even has a shop where
you can paint your own pottery called "Going Pottie". We did receive
the promised rain today, but it didn't last long. I think we wore the
kids out on our walks because everyone was tired today.
I worked on my watercolors some more today. I finished the one of the
Dunkeld Cathedral as well as one of the Loch of the Lowes and this one
of Beatrix Potters' Benjamin Bunny.
Linda had to go home today, but Olivia's husband Simon was able to
join us today for the weekend so there are still 10 in our party.

Day 9 - Beatrix Potter Garden

We walked to the Beatrix Potter Garden and museum in Birnam today.
The Potters spent their summers here for over 10 years and Beatrix
wrote some of her books here. The garden had several small animal
sculpture characters from her books. We had our picnic lunch here. We
also stopped Sri a playground where the kids had a blast playing in
the sand and on the teeter-totter. The weather is still pleasant but
getting a little cloudier and cooler. We are expecting rain tomorrow.

Day 8 - Loch of the Lowes

Today we decided to walk to Loch of the Lowes. Our map and directions weren't very good so we took a wrong turn and ended up walking a quite a ways farther than necessary. It was a gorgeous walk through the forest with spectacular views though, so it was very nice. We did eventually make it to the loch. Lowe is a family name, so we wanted to find out how the loch got it's name, but nobody there knew and I haven't been able to find out online either. The loch is a nature preserve. A pair of Osprey's make their nest there and they have some hides for bird watching. We didn't see the Osprey, but we saw a lot of waterfowl, some jays, pheasants and red squirrel.  I think we stressed the lady working there out. I don't think we were  quiet enough for bird watching. The picture today is our 3 generation friend picture in front of a bird watching window.  My mom Virginia and her friend Linda, me and my friend Olivia, and our daughters, Raven and Lara. We all have our hair in 'plaits' thanks to my mom.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 7 - Dunkeld Scotland

We had a gorgeous relaxing day in Dunkeld today. We are in a
beautiful 3 story / 5 bedroom apartment. This is a view of the kids
down the spiral staircase. From top down it is Raven, Lara, Seth,
Nathan, London and Jake. The kids have hit it right off. You'd think
they've been friends forever. I guess in a way they have. This is a
3rd generation friendship.
The village of Dunkeld is beautiful. The cathedral here dates back to
1318. It is the subject of my next watercolor attempt. We had fish
and chips and went on a lovely walk along the River Tay. The
countryside is very green and forested. It is very peaceful here and
it was wonderful to have a relaxing day with no agenda to just enjoy
nature and catch up with old friends!

Lille Picture

For some reason the picture for day 5 didn't come through, so here it
is.

I Love to Travel!

Today is all about trains. We got up early this morning to take the
Chunnel train to London. We changed to Kings Cross Station to catch
the train to Scotland. As you can see, the kids got the luggage
trolley half way through to Platform 9 3/4 before it got stuck.
Nathan is mad because we missed the Hogwarts Express. We are 10 days
late. This would have been his first year at Hogwart's, as he turned
11 this summer. But I am afraid that not getting through the barrier
confirms that he is a Muggle after all. We are now on a non-express
train and have ridden all the way through England from south to north.
We have just passed through New Castle, which all Jane Austen fans
know as where Wickham got transferred to after he married Lydia.
I love to travel! I love everything about it. I love the planning and
anticipation. I love flying. I love the fact that I can get on a
plane and a couple of movies, dinner, and a nap later and...voila! I'm
in another country! I love meeting new people, trying new foods,
exploring new places and revisiting old favorites. I love it for the
things I have learned and experienced...the way it makes everything
more real. Mostly I think I love it for who it helps me to become. It
helps me to be my best self. Priorities become clearer, life gets
simpler. I focus on what is truly important. I become inspired. I
think this is true for the rest of my family as well. They are amazing
to travel with. Everyone seems a little kinder, a little more
patient, more flexible and adaptable. Maybe they aren't different,
maybe it's just me, but I enjoy it either way. We are approaching
Edinburgh. Only 2 more trains today and we will be with our friends! I
love this!

Day 5 - Lille

Today is our last day in France.  We went to our first Catholic Mass today.  The church was beautiful and I really enjoyed the music.  After lunch we went and walked around Lille.  It is a really pretty city with beautiful buildings.  Besides this Blog I am attempting to record this trip by watercolor.  This is a picture of the LaPointe's house that I did today.  We have had a wonderful time here.  We have felt very comfortable.  The food has been wonderful.  Nathan has enjoyed the food as much as anyone and definately more than he usually does. Raven is not very happy right now because she just found out that we have to leave tomorrow.  I am trying to reassure her that we will see Victor and his sisters again.  I admit that I am sad to see this part of our trip  end as well.  David leaves us tomorrow to fly home. We will miss him.  I think he has mixed feelings.  I am sure he will miss us, but he has probably missed work even more!  One consolation I  have is that we are going to meet more friends in Scotland tomorrow.  Until then, au revoir!

Day 4 - LaPointe Family

We left Paris by train this morning and went to Lille to meet our new
friends, the LaPointe family. They have a beautiful home which is
everything you think of in a French Chateau. We had a nice French
lunch on their patio and then drove to Calais. It was a bit too hazy
to see the cliffs of Dover today. We also went to a museum nearby.
It was an old Batterie built by the Germans during WWII. They built
several along here because they believed that this was where the
allied attack would come from. It was full of interesting artifacts
from the war. We spent a lovely evening at their home after our day
out. The LaPointe's have been very generous hosts. It has been great
to see Victor and Agathe again and to get to know the rest of the
family.

Day 3 - The Louvre

We spent several hours at the Louvre Museum today. We got to see the
Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, and lots of other paintings and
sculptures. This picture is of the kids in front of the Venus de
Milo. I'm not sure what the guy in the background is doing. We found
a sculpture of Voltaire that looks just like Grandpa Flynn! Nathan's
favorite part of the museum was checking out the views of Paris from
the windows.

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Day 2 - Eiffel Tower and Pastries

We went to bed early last night, so we were all awake at 5:30 am.
Since we were awake we decided to go watch the sunrise at the Eiffel
Tower. Then we had breakfast at a cafe. We had pastries, crepes, and
hot chocolate so thick it was like melted candy bars. We came back
to wait for my Mom to arrive, and everyone slept so long I'm afraid
we'll be awake all night. When my mom arrived, we went back to the
Eiffel Tower and went to the top. We had good views even though it
was a bit cloudy. Next we went to the Arc de Triomphe and finished
the day with more pastries at a patisserie on the
Champes Elysees! Cest la vie!
Sent from my iPhone

Viva la France!

We made it to Paris! We got up at 3:30 am on Tuesday to start our
journey. It is now 5:30 pm Wednesday Sept 5 in Paris and we have not
slept much since then. The kids were awesome on the flights. We had
personal entertainment units on the plane but the sound wouldn't work
on Raven's, so she and London cooperated the whole flight by plugging
both headsets into London's and then agreeing to watch the same movies
and then timing the start of both screens so the sound would be
right. The gentleman sitting behind them complimented me on having
well behaved children at the end of the flight.
After we found our apartment and communicated with our landlord who
speaks as much English as we do French, we headed out to explore
Paris. Our first stop was Notre Dame. You can see it in the
background of this picture of David and the kids. Next we discovered
a great little bookshop called "Shakespeare and company". Then we
went out to Versaille. We did the palace tour and saw the famous Hall
of Mirrors and walked all over the extensive grounds. By this time
jet lag is starting to catch up with us and we are ready to head back
to our apartment. Now that we are here, everyone seems to have
gotten a second wind and we are all Writing in our journals. We are
off to an excellent start on our adventure!

Backpacks! Backpacks!

This is all the luggage we are taking for 4 people for a month. I am
testing to see if I can really post to my blog from my phone.

July Exchange Student Adventure

In July we hosted our first exchange student for a month. His name is Victor and he is from France. Victor fit right in with our family and we really loved having him with us! While he was here we did lots of local field trips including Temple Square, Kennecott, Timpanogos Cave, This is the Place Park, Lagoon, Rodeo, Baseball game etc... We were also able to go to Yellowstone. We were lucky to be able to bring Victor's sister Agathe with us on this field trip as well and loved her also! We are excited that we get to see Victor and Agathe and the rest of their family on our next big field trip when we visit them in France!

Welcome to Flynn's Afield!

Hello! We are the Flynn family! We are starting on our fifth year of homeschooling and have finally decided that we should record our family adventures. We love to take field trips as part of our education, so this blog will mostly be dedicated to sharing our field trip adventures. As I write this we are getting ready to head to Europe next week for the month of September! This is definately our biggest field trip yet. I'm sure it will be very educational for us all!

Look for some exciting new posts starting next week!