I cant't believe I have only 2 more entries after this one left! This year has gone by so quickly.  I have to catch us on the past few weeks!  Emilia and Luciana celebrated their last day of school with a musical presentation on the environment.  Luciana had the part of a butterfly and sang 2 songs- one in english, the other in french.  Emilia had the part as a dwarf and had 2 speaking lines in french and a song with a bit of  a solo.  It was sad when they said goodbye to their new friends!

Luciana as the butterfly

Emilia- the dwarf

Emilia and her teacher- Madame Carol

Emilia and her friends

Luciana and her friend Allison

Emilia and her sleepover buddy

Olivia  celebrated her final day of gymnastics with a "gym spectacular".  She dressed as a cowgirl and performed a cute routine with her teammates.  Saying goodbye to her teammates was another sad moment!

Chris's cousin Jerome invited us to his home the Sunday before we left Paris.  To our surprise and the kids delight, the table was filled with at least 25 different candies and cookies.  Luciana stood in awe as she could not stop stuffing marshmallows into her mouth.  Her cheeks were full of bon bons the entire night.

The Spread!

Our last day was on Monday the 30th and we spent the day donating all of our remaining belongings...beds, comforters, pillows, even the kitchen table!!  It was a bit stressful the last couple weeks trying to sell everything.  We came to Paris with 12 suitcases and we weren't going to come back with more.   Here are some photos of our last days in Paris and with friends.....

Always rooting for Brasil in the World Cup

Emilia's last day of horse lessons with her two friends

Emilia and her friend Evie from Australia having a sleepover

Olivia and her friend Sarah sleepover

Kids sliding down the stairs with the mattresses

They made it all the way down!

Goodbye Saint Cloud!  We will miss you!

We spent one night in Paris so we could be close to train station for our voyage to Cannes.  Kids had fun in Bercy park. The next morning we headed to the train station and as we were waiting....25 minutes before departure time....we realized we had left a suitcase at the hotel.  Chris literally ran back to the hotel and came back with 5 minutes to spare!  Thank goodness he has been running everyday the past two months!

Climbing in Bercy Park

We arrived in Cannes on the first of July.  We have rented a beautiful home on the mountain.  A few minutes from the beach with our own pool.  Kids were in heaven as they jumped into the pool within 10 minutes of our arrival.  We also rented a car- they didn't have our request- so we got a convertible.  Not bad, however getting 4 kids in the backseat (that is really designed for 2) without fighting was impossible.  So what could have been a fun ride turns out to be not so fun. We also decided that we were going to have fish everyday. Not so easy- especially Alex.  However, we are managing.....

the pool

the car

Alex eating a piece of lobster

We spent the first few days getting acquainted with Cannes and the beach.  Looking for groceries always proves to be the best way to find your way around a new city.  Cannes is beautiful.  Its no wonder the celebrities flock here.  The food has been nothing but fantastic and the people are very friendly.  We spent the days at the beach and the evenings walking around town.

Alex spends most of his time digging holes and building mazes in sand piles

Chris and I had a date night.  We asked our cleaning lady to watch the kids for a few hours while we had dinner at restaurant called Le Moulin de Mouglin.  It was very nice- fancy place where the food was delicious.  The next day we took a boat to Ilse de Lerin- Saint Marguerite-.  It is about a 15 minute ferry ride from Cannes.  It is a forest area with just a few sand beaches and rocks along the perimeters. It is also the home of the Fort Royal- which was the prison where the man in the iron mask was held captive.  There are a couple restaurants and the rest of the time we spent exploring the area.

Picnic on the island

Man in the Iron Mask cell

The following week the 3 older kids attended Action Kids Camp.  It is a 3 hour English or French course in the morning with afternoon activities.  Kids are here for 2 weeks.  Week one ended with a presentation and a play by all the groups.

Olivia doing a jump in her Kids got Talents competition.

In the middle of our first week my parents arrived.  It was only planned a couple weeks prior.  They decided at the last minute they wanted to celebrate their anniversary here.  We picked them up from the Nice Airport and had to get another car as well- there was no way we would make it in the VW. We spent the day in Nice at the antique market and then headed back to get the kids from camp.

Lunch in Nice

Antique market

Looking good Lennies!

We headed out to Monaco.  We have always wanted to see this area and explore Monte Carlo as well. I was actually surprised on how small it is.  We managed to walk around the entire area within afew hours...and thats with parents who walk slower than snails.

Monte Carlo casino

We were too early to gamble but fun to see the tables and slots

Chris and Luciana at the 1000 euro table

The lady of luck

Chris and dad in front of the casino

Monaco

We also took at trip to Biot.  It is a small medieval town 30 minutes from Cannes.  It was a picturesque site.  The town is know for glass blowing and we had the chance to see the blowers at work.  We had lunch at the oldest restaurant in town- La Arcade.  There was no room in the restaurant so they put a table for us in the middle of the street.  The whole setting was what I envisioned Provence to be.  The food was fantastic and the scenery perfect!

Our table

watching the glass blowers

We celebrated my parents 41st wedding anniversary.  We had purchased a 1.5l bottle of wine at a wine chateau in Bordeaux and this was the perfect reason to uncork it. It tasted fabulous and the food was great as well.

We ended the week at the beach.  We rented a paddle board and Chris, Olivia, Emilia and I all gave it a shot.  Olivia managed to stand up!  All that core strength!  We also went body surfing. The waves were huge and I got pummeled one time.  Unfortunately Chris had to go back to the US for a busy week.  Its me and the parents for a couple days then they are off and Chris and Olivia's friend Tori are coming back for our last two weeks in France.  I will really miss this!!!