Mother's Day

I had a good Mother's Day. Little stressful at first as it was our first week at our new church. I always get nervous whenever I go anywhere or do something new. The kids weren't thrilled about going somewhere new and don't understand why the sudden change so I was nervous for them too. But........it was great! Kids adjusted extremely well.

I did wake up to breakfast, flowers, a card from Derek and he even printed out pictures for the kids to color!

 

The pictures on the right are ones the girls did at school. Avery was VERY excited to give hers to me. When I opened it she asked me if I was going to hang it in my room. She said I need to hang it up so I can "memorize" her! :)

 

This gave me a good laugh.....from Avery

 

 

I also got an email from Avery's teacher with a list of all the students and why they love their Mom. "Avery loves her Mom because she helps her with her homework."

 

Allie's teacher sent out this video.

 

 

Teacher Appreciation Week

I went a little bit simpler with gifts this year and I think they turned out great! The girls enjoyed helping with the design and colors for each of their teachers. Threw in a couple gift cards and.....done!

Easter, Broken Bones & Castle Acre Priory

We didn't have a very exciting Easter. I still wasn't feeling well. I felt bad that we didn't have anything for the kids so last minute Saturday night Allie and I went to the store and got some candy to put in the eggs, picked out 2 small things for each of the kids and got some eggs to color. I guess they now know that there is no Easter bunny. Funny that there weren't any questions asked though.

After church we did an indoor egg hunt since it was raining outside. I didn't take any pictures because our house was a mess (remember I had been sick for 2 weeks at this point!) It's a miracle they found all the eggs! Then we colored eggs (and took the picture a whole week later!)

 

To help make up for the pretty uneventful Easter I took the girls to a free craft event on base the next weekend. (Derek and Blake spent some quality time together grocery shopping)

 

 

The week after vacation Derek finished the playhouse! I think it looks great especially since it only cost us the hardware for the door, the house #, and the clearance paint.

 

 

It's hard to get a good pic of the inside.

 

 

Last week Derek broke his hand playing football. It happened as he was catching the ball, then he fell and his finger just snapped all the way back. He didn't drop it though.......and he kept playing and went on to catch 2 more touchdown passes. He had to get 3 screws put in.

 

 

 

This afternoon was such a beautiful day we wanted to get out and enjoy it. There is an old castle and priory not too far from our house that we hadn't been to yet so we decided to go enjoy the day walking around the grounds.

 

Castle Acre Castle & Priory

 

Spring Break ~ France {Part 6}

These spring break posts are never-ending! :) Disneyland is over and  now we were off to the Normandy sites. I had wanted to stop at the charming port town of Honfluer on our way to the D-day sites but we were so exhausted from our Disney adventures that I decided it would be okay to skip it. That way we wouldn't be as rushed and could take our time. I think it was a good choice. Derek and I had been to these sites before but we wanted to get the kids over to see it while we're this close. This June marks the 70th anniversary of the D-day landings.

First stop the American Cemetery and Memorial
I can't help but get teary eyed when I come here. Thinking of the sacrifices of these men, boys and their loved ones back home.

 

 

Next D-day site, Pointe du Hoc.

 

 

all of the craters are where bombs hit

 

Is it obvious that they were happy to be able to run about?! After a long car ride and then going to a cemetery where we made them be reverent they were ready to let loose!!

 

 

 

too bright.....

 

 Next stop, Omaha Beach

 

Then we were off to Bayeux where we stayed for the night. This hotel was another interesting one but couldn't beat the price. So this hotel had certain hours that you could check in and then from a certain hour on the only way to access the hotel was with your room key. Derek went and checked in and took a few things to the room but then we went and explored the city of Bayeux. We were pleasantly surprised with it!!

 

It had a beautiful cathedral

 

 

 

 

 Blake staking his claim

There was a creperie on every corner. We figured it was finally time to have our kids try a crepe. So we found the cheapest place and we all had our own!

 

Then we went back to our hotel. Of course Derek went in with the girls and then I waited 5 minutes or so and went in with Blake. I had him walk behind me as the reception desk was really high and the lady wasn't paying any attention to us. We got past the desk and then Blake said, "We find Dad, Mom!!" I don't know if the lady heard or cared but I thought it was pretty funny. I wish I would have got a picture of our room. It was a double bed with a single bunk over the top and then another single bed by itself. The girls both squished together in the bunk and Blake had the other single bed. It really worked out fine for the size of our kids. The bathroom reminded us of a bathroom in a plane or cruise. It was so tiny!

 

Our last day of the trip was spent at Mont Saint Michel. It's such a stunning place. It was low tide when we went. Most pictures you see of it are at high tide.......here are a couple stock pics I found at high tide.

 

 

 

 

Beautiful, huh!?! It was still amazing when we were there. I don't think my pictures do it justice though.

 

 

 

 

 

The tide was so low we saw people walking out to the island in the background!

 

 He's watched his sisters pose a few too many times!!

 

The village itself was pretty neat. The paths were narrow and steep. Hard to tell in the pic.

 

And since Derek vows to never go back to France for sightseeing again (which I'm a little sad about because I would still love to see Southern France) then we had to get some gelato. This guy was in heaven!

 

We also had lunch while we were there.....paninis. We had to leave after that and start the long drive back to the port to catch the ferry. I had wanted to stop by Etreat for a quick look on the way but there was no way we had time, especially since we got a little lost getting to the port. Good thing it was delayed.

 

France really is a beautiful country though. I prefer the countryside over the cities, for sure!

 

The ferry ride back was interesting. Luckily it wasn't very crowded so we found a nice spot for Derek to lay down. Allie and I both started feeling sick on the ride back....I figured it was just us being seasick. I had to lay back in my chair. Allie laid down next to Derek and Avery entertained herself with a pen and notebook. Blake was so good! He just walked back and forth between Derek and I whispering, "I love you, Mom" and "I love you, Dad". He is such a good kid! All of our kids are pretty awesome! :)

 

Turns out that Allie and I weren't sea sick.......we had food poisoning. Allie only made it to school 2 days the next week and I wasn't able to do much of anything for a good 10 days. Yesterday was the first day I felt somewhat normal again. We did end up going to the doctor and he wasn't really sure what it was. He was guessing bacterial food poisoning so we got some antibiotics. Although now I am wondering if it was food poisoning and not just some nasty bug because Avery has diarrhea now and a low grade fever. It's never ending.

 

A few more pics taken from my phone

1st night in the Disney apartment. Blake asked Allie to sleep with him. I'm sure he was scared being in a new place......and he wasn't feeling the greatest.

Allie took this of Blake at breakfast one morning. They loved the Disney pictures and the Minnie Mouse chairs

 

As we were driving along we spotted Herbie!! They thought it was pretty cool that I took a pic of them.

A view of the scenery along our drive