A very packed last 2.5 weeks in Cannes!! Sorry- a long blog! My parents, Luciana and I headed to Antibes and the Cap d'Antibes.  It is a beach town which houses multimillion dollar homes. We took the Petite Train to get a tour of the area.  We will be back in this town with the other kids as their are many children friendly activities there.

I love that you can find a carousel in any town and always puts a smile on her face

Antibe

I dropped off parents at a hotel in Nice because their flight was departing very early.  We had lunch and fell upon a water park.   It was a large platform- about 50 ft with sprinklers that would randomly shoot up. Luciana was hesitant as she was afraid of the water and she did not have her swim suit.  Finally, she saw two french girls with nothing but their undies on. She looked at me with a huge grin as she went down to her skivvies.  The three girls held hands and had a wonderful time jumping in and around the water.  We said goodbye to my parents- but it is a short one as we will be home in less than 3 weeks.

I like the reflection in the water

Luciana in the middle

Luciana and I spent a few days on our own.  It was nice.  We would drop off the kids at camp, work out, take a swim in the pool, lunch, go to the marche to get fresh food for dinner, pick up the kids, eat dinner,  jump back in the pool and end our day playing cards.  It was nice to have 3 days of no running around and just enjoying each others company.  Although she has started to have this alter- ego.  Her nickname is Goopy.  Well now, she only refers to herself as Luciana- that is until she does something naughty.  She then blames it on Goopy.  "I did not hit Emilia, Goopy did it"  "She is really mean mom"  I have been playing along with this game but I think it may backfire on me!

My play date with Luciana

Dinner and they are getting along!

A parade in the middle of the food marche

The 3 older kids continued their final week of Action Camp.  They had some great performances.  I especially enjoyed Olivia's modern version of Cinderella where Olivia had the part of Prince Charming.  She actually met a prince charming of her own.  Her first crush... a 12 year old Italian boy who asked her for her phone number.  It was very cute. Chris and Olivia's friend Tori arrived on Saturday.  We are happy that Tori could join us for our last two weeks.  We kept it low key for a couple days as to let her adjust to timezone.

Alex- the pirate

Friends!

Shelling Shrimp

The kids( minus Luciana) are all enrolled in water actvities for a week from 9:30-12:30.  Olivia and Tori are learning to sail a catamaran, windsurf and other sailing activites while Alex and Emilia are getting intro lessons on watersports.  They have sailed a dingy boat,wind surfed, paddle boarded and sailed the sea. Chris and I took the advantage of the mornings.  We took long walks, went wind surfing, ran on the beach and even got haircuts.  Kids had a great week and learned a lot about the water.  I am especially proud of Alex- who had a lot of fear about water and was hesitant to go in the sea.  By the end of the week, he was out there rowing through the waves with a smile.

Cannes from the top of the hill

Olivia and Tori at Catamaran lesson

Alex in the dingy

Emilia in her dingy

After a run on the beach

Olivia and Tori paddle boarding

After lessons were over, our afternoons were filled with the beach, shopping and the pool.  We spent one afternoon in Nice where they played in the fountains and went to a very cool playground with oversized wooden sea animals to climb.  The kids also met up with some french girls who were practicing gymnastics in the fields.  They performed their tricks for over an hour with lots of spectators in awe of the young girls.  We also went shopping and keep encouraging the kids to eat new foods.  The other day they all had mussels just so they could get an extra scoop of ice cream.

waiting for the fountains

Her old gymnastics buddy

Fearless Emilia

Whale - part of playground

macarons!

On the red carpet.

Olivia ordered mussels and fries

Emilia trying a mussel and proving she swallowed it

Alex's turn

We spent one afternoon in Saint Nezaire and Grasses.  In Saint Nezaire their is a grotto and caves.  We went 40meters down and explored the caves.  We then headed to Grasses which is the perfume capital of the world.  A "nose" is a perfume expert-someone who can decipher 200 different essential oils and create new scents. There are only 200 "noses" in the world, 50 of them live in France and 49 of them live in Grasses- hence the term "perfume capital of the world". We went to the Perfumerie Galimard.  We learned how perfume and soaps are made.  We also were privy to the new fashion scents for next year.  Apparently next summers trend for women will be a mixture of blackberry, cherry, mango and passion fruit. For men- it is mint, coconut and sandalwood.  We shall see if we are ahead of the times!  Chris and I had our final french date night.  We went to La Palme d'Or.  It is a 2 star Michelin restaurant located in the Hotel Martinez.   The menu was quite amusing- it took a paragraph to describe one dish.  The food may have been the best meal I have ever had however it came with a price- holy moly! The most money we have ever spent on a meal!

The grotto

The room where the "nose" works

Girls trying escargot

Giant Selfie in Cannes

Alex and a friend 

Olivia, Emilia and Tori on the boat

Chris windsurfing

My dessert at La Palme D'Or

Last date night in France- perfect dinner!

We also went to Aquasplash.  It is a water slide park in Antibes. Lots of activities for the different ages so everyone had fun.  We went back to the island of St. Marguerite.  This time prepared with fishing nets and water shoes.  Kids enjoyed looking for fish and crabs.  We took a 1hr boat ride to Saint Tropez.  I have often read about this city so was looking forward to seeing the beaches. It is indeed beautiful.  Very quiet beaches with lots of sand.  There are many different beaches along the shore so we took a walk to see everything. It is then that we all got to experience our first nude beach.  It was just nestled in between 2 public beaches- no privacy or warning!  Olivia walked away saying she was traumatized and that life will never be the same.  Quite frankly- I don't get it either!
We explored the ritzy shops and headed back for our last couple nights in Cannes.  Every Tuesday there are fireworks so we finished our adventure here with fireworks on the beach!  Off to Paris tomorrow!

Alex heading down

Emilia

On the boat to Saint Tropez

St. Tropez

Girls admiring the celebrities

Always posing Emilia

Cannes Fireworks