Happy Birthday Ellie!

Ellie, we sure love you and hope that you have a great first birthday!

Love, Uncle Justin, Aunt Jamie, Gracie & Anna

Oh Anna . . .

We love the sunshine!

The sun was out on Saturday, so we took a little family outing on the bus to a park that we really like. We all loved time outside in the sunshine!

Yes, we live in France and can see castles all the time! Pretty cool :). 

She wants to walk so badly, but first she needs to learn to pull herself up! 

 SO messy, but SO fun!

Playing in the forest (as Gracie called it). 

Spring

Spring is here and we are loving it!

She looks like she is up to something! 

 Justin & the girls found some horses on a walk last week.

Play Hard . . . Sleep Hard

Anna is a busy girl these days! She plays hard and sleeps hard . . . most of the time. No walking yet for Anna, but she can sure get around quickly!

Anna LOVES to be read to. And she is a pro at transporting books around the apartment. 

 Gracie LOVES to read . . . they can read together for about . . . 30 seconds! Hoping that gets better :).



Sweet sweet girl. 

Oh yeah, Anna wants to eat anything and everything we've got!

I've got a cookie sheet!

My mom is the greatest! She found a cookie sheet that fits in our cute little oven (Justin affectionately refers to it as a camping oven). It is for an American toaster oven, but is the perfect size for what we have here in France!

Fun with Mimi

Soaking up every minute with Mimi!

Lyon Zoo

We took a trip to the Lyon Zoo on Saturday (about an hour train ride from our house). It was a fun day. The girls loved the animals!



Psalm 1

Welcome Home

Both girls were happy to see us when we walked in the door, but Anna especally was excited. This clip shows a little of her excitement.

Paris Day 3

This Starbucks became one of our favorite places. It was fun to sip coffee (in large American style cups) and watch the street traffic.

This Starbucks was next door to a GAP

A different Starbucks across the street from the Louvre. Even the McDonald's in Paris were fancy with many of them having upstairs eating areas too.

The Gare de Lyon - the high speed TGV goes from southern France to this train station. And it's only one of several large stations in Paris.

This is only a small portion of the train station. I think there were at least 30 train platforms, and was quite the happening place.

Paris Day 2

Breakfast was Starbucks and some pastries from a nearby bakery

A tight fit on the narrow lanes of Paris

I had to get a picture of a sign with my name on it!

The Louvre

The Louvre again

The most touristy part of Paris. It was a large crowd of visitors, homeless, beggars, and peddlers selling their trinkets. It was humerous to watch the peddlers scramble and flee when two policemen came riding through on their bikes.

The elevator ride up reminded me of flying - I loved it!

We started wondering how often they inspect the tower, especially since it is well over 100 years old!

The Statue of Liberty in the middle of the river that faces New York

Sacre-Coeur - no pictures were allowed inside, but it was another odd mix of tourists and worshippers.

The church had a beautiful view of Paris. The crowd was a mix of tourists, homeless, peddlers, and locals (with a few young teenage soldiers with machine guns providing security)