In a nutshell...

The holidays have come and gone and no blog updates have been posted. Ops! Life has been a bit on the busy side. December kicked off with a 2 week trip to Garmish, a small town in the German Alps. Shane had training here for 2 weeks, so I tagged along to eat the food and climb the mountains. We were able to take day trips to Munich and Innsbruck, Austria and conquered 6 different Christmas markets along the way.

For Christmas, we headed to the States for a month. Shane and I were able to get away for a night and headed to NYC to enjoy the magic of Christmas in the city. Christmas Eve was spent with my family and then rest of the break up in the mountains of NY. We were even able to squeeze in a trip for New Years Eve to old friends in Watertown, NY.

Shane had to head back to France for work, so I took off by myself to California for a fantastic mini girls reunion/ birthday celebration. It was incredible traveling without a baby!!

It is good to be back in France together as a family and I think we have all recovered from the busyness of the holiday season.

Here are pix from the last few months to tell our story!

Number one Chargers fan... even if they choked in the playoffs
Girls weekend minus Ber

So fun meeting up with Cath and Tam

Who said tubing in 0 degree weather was a bad idea? All you need is an orange suit

Kayden's adventures on the sled

Kayden and cousin Alex

3 generations of ladies

Kayden DID NOT like Santa

3 Men and a Little Lady

Opening gifts Christmas Eve

Rockafellar Christmas Tree

Kayden's first haircut

Stuttgart, Germany Christmas Market

Innsbruck, Austria

Munich, Germany

Germany

View from my hike

View from our balcony of the German and Austrian Alpes

Normandy

Shane's parents came to visit and we were able to spend a long weekend in Normandy. We stayed at an amazing house tucked away next to a river and mill, reached only by a dirt road. The best part was that each night we were able to make a roaring fire. So cozy!

Our first day was spent visiting Mont Saint Michel, an old abbey over 1000 years old. It is on an island with only one road that twists and turns through the few store fronts. We were excited to try one of its famous fire roasted omelettes, until we saw that they were almost $50. CRAZY!!!

We all fell in love with the town Dinan, just over the border into Brittany. Perched high on a hill with cobble stone streets and half timbered house leading down to a river, we felt like we had walked into a fairy tale land.

The D Day beaches were a humbling experience. I kept gazing out over the sea, trying to invision the thousands of men riding in on the waves to fight for our freedom. Hard to imagine what our history would be like without the sacrifice.

Our pasties one morning from the local bakery


Omaha beach, American invasion point on D Day

American Cemetary at Omaha beach

Our cozy house

Slacking...

The last month and a half has been very busy and I have been a major slacker in updating this blog! So, in a nutshell, here is our life in pictures!!

Stonehenge- we spent a week in England while my parents watched Kayden. A whole week to ourselves! Marvelous!

Bath

Our Amazing Bed and Breakfast. The food was wonderful, proving that all British food is not inedible.

Oxford, such a beautiful city. We ate at the Eagle and Child where C.S. Lewis and Tolken would gather and discuss their thoughts.

London Tower Bridge

London outside of the government building. A whole week in Southern England and not a drop of rain. SO lucky!

Tampa Bay vs New England game at Wembley Stadium in London. 6 of us from Lille went to the game, including my dad. Everyone wore whatever team jersey they had, so each team was represented in the 84000 plus crowd.

Giving hugs to her bear with bed head. Can she get any cuter?? Oh she can!!

Signing "more" and loving her books.

Cuddley bunny for Halloween. We went to a Halloween party for a little and she was asleep before the trick or treaters arrived.

Helping "unpack" while in Germany for Shane's hernia surgery. He is doing great!

Kayden and her best friend Emilie playing. Kayden first started walking while trying to chase after her buddy.

Decorations at Kayden's party

My beautiful one year old! Where did this last year go?? She brings so much joy to each and every day. God has blessed us incredibly with such a wonderful little Peanut. She had a "Pretty in Pink" party. Everyone wore pink and we had pink food. Fun!

Day trip to Ghent in Belgium

2 Years

Last week Shane and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. The last 2 years have definately been action packed- 3 moves, 3 jobs, living in France, a baby. In the midst of the craziness, I have fallen more in love with Shane and know that there are a lifetime of anniversaries to celebrate in our futute. Shane, thanks for being my best friend, the person who I want to hold hands with the rest of my life.

Shane made our anniversary wonderfully special. He arranged for our neighbors to watch Kayden over night (we owe them big time!). Since he was away on training, I took a train down to Paris to meet him. The town Shane was staying in was called Chantilly. It was tucked away in the forest surrounded by many walking trails and a castle. He took me to eat in a castle that was hidden down a long winding road, nestled among the trees. So romantic! The food was incredible, the atmosphere romantic and the company superb.

Path into town

Royalty?


Horce race track in the back ground

The little things in life... make me smile

The other day Kayden dug a little too deep into her toy box. Of course before rescuing her, I had to record it!

For her next trick, Kayden will be saying "hi" and waving.

Portugal

To celebrate the end of summer, we spent a week in Southern Portugal. We rented a house with our neighbors that had a wonderful pool and central location, close to beaches and fantastic little towns. The week was spent exploring different beaches, golfing, heading to the spa for beauty treatments, relaxing with wine poolside and just enjoying the last few days of summer.

The beaches were beautiful. To our surprise, Kayden was incredibly scared by the first beach we went to. I think the crashing of the waves threw her off guard. She became more relaxed with each beach we visited and loved eating sand. Yum?

We were lucky enough to trade off babysitting nights with our friends and were able to go on a few romantic date nights by ourselves. What a treat! There is nothing better than watching the sun set over the ocean while eating amazing fish with the love or your life.

A highlight was going to the "End of the World". We visited the most south western tip of Europe, which at one time was thought to be where the world ended. It was crazy to look out at the vast expanse of ocean and think that hundreds of years ago, people had no idea other continents existed.

The house we stayed in was an adventure in itself. Our friends beat us home one day and found the old housekeeper cleaning the patio in her bra. Yipes. Geckos would come into the kitchen at night. No toilet paper was supplied. We ran out of water for a few hours after the pool guy refilled the water in the pool.

Our last day we ventured into Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The city had little cable cars all over, conquering the steep, San Fransico like streets. Many of the buildings were completely covered in small colorful tiles, making for incredibly exteriors. We went to the fortress that overlooks the city. The view was amazing and the history of the place dated back hundreds of years. Such a neat place!

Despite some issues with the house, the trip was perfect and relaxing. We would highly recommend Southern Portugal to anyone who wants to just soak up the sun in hidden beach coves and escape from modern day life into the twisting petite streets of old Portuguese villages.

Shhhh!

Tonight as I was singing Kayden to sleep, she pulled out her binkie and tried to put it in my mouth. Twice!! I can take a hint. I know I am off key, but isnt she too young to tell :) The whole time she did this, she had the biggest smile on her face, pretty proud of herself for "inventing" such a fantastic game. Actually, she was probably just happy to be prolonging bedtime. What a silly peanut!