Today I got up at 7:14 when Julia's voice dragged me out of sleep. I got to Julia's room, opened the door, then Sara flew into the room and leapt on the bed. Sara likes starting the day with us -- she can hear Julia is up and she wants to be up too! So as soon as Julia was dressed, those two wandered down the hall, with Sara saying, "we're going to start breakfast now Mom."
We had eggs. We had cereal. And bananas. Just like normal.
Dan got up a while later. Soon we were out the door. Sara was on her own two feet; Julia was in the Kelty.
Our goal? Climb to the castle. No problem right? It was early, we were energized by breakfast. We were all happy. About 10 minutes into our adventure Sara said, "I can't walk any more, can you carry me?" I did. I carried our big girl for a while. Soon I said, "I have to put you down soon." She agreed. After that, she walked on her own the whole way to the castle - even running at times! I guess she just needed that little boost in the beginning. I'm her Mom. That's what Moms do - we give boosts.
The walk to the castle took us to the end of town, across into the "old town" and up, up, up, around, up, up, around, up. It was pretty. All stones. Views for miles. With just a simple sweep of our eyes we could see town, the river, vineyards, cypress trees, and mountains in the distance. Sara scampered up the stones with grace. We are all getting pretty good at walking on cobblestones. We've walked on un-even ground for weeks now. Plodding up stone walkways has become normal. The castle is called "chateau" so we just walked 'till we saw it.
When we were almost there Sara said, "I can walk for 2 miles. This is 2 miles. I'm going to sit and rest at the top." The way she said it was funny. We all know that 4 year olds do not sit and rest. They run around and dance.
We got to the top. I was with Sara leading Dan and Julia. Sara was out in front. She was walking with a good stride when someone said, "watch her, there is a cliff there." So from then on I held on to Sara. There was a cliff. It was a long drop down.
Several moments later a helicopter appeared. It was loud. It made forceful wind. The helicopter was delivering loads of rocks to the castle, which was funny, since the castle is so old that they had to get the rocks up there somehow - and now we use helicopters. We watched it for a while. It was a bit surreal. Being on the top of a mountain - at a castle - with a helicopter over head. Very close! If it crashed or dropped its load we would have been severely hurt. When we went to go Dan started to fall and held on to me - at the time he had Julia on his back in the Kelty and Sara in his arms. I suppose that meant I kept all three of them from falling. Glad to do my part for safety!
Sara lead the way back down from the castle. She skipped the whole way. She had orange tights, a white print corduroy skirt, and a teal blue shirt on that said, "bonjour." It may not sound coordinated, but it was - she was a happy sweet kid all day.
We came back to the apartment for lunch (grilled cheese sandwiches) and I got to take an hour nap. It helps take the edge off those early mornings and gives Dan time to play with Sara (Julia sleeps too). After that we went to lunch. Decided to go to "Quick Burger" in the main square (Monfort). I expected it to be like a fast food place, but it had a menu, and table service. They were very humored by us. We ate outside on the square at a cafe table - I guess the French idea of "Quick Burger" is a cafe that happens to have burgers. It was a nice taste of home. And, we were all happy -- it was probably our most jovial meal yet. They gave Sara something to color and crayons! And Julia enjoyed playing with a table stand nearby - or sitting in her booster seat that they provided. It was marvelous really.
After that we walked back here. Dan telecommuted and I took the girls for a cool walk. It was in the total opposite direction of the castle. Up the other side of the valley. It was a pedestrian route suggested by the tourist information map. It was cool! Within a few minutes I could see the whole town below us, and up to the castle on the other side! I loved the different prospective! The walk lead to "Chapelle St. Quenin" - and just like the walk to the castle, it was up, up, up, since it was on the other side of the valley. I asked Sara to get out of the Bob-stroller to walk so I could more easily shove the stroller up those rock stairs. Talk about a work out. It was great. My pedometers says I went up 22 flights of stairs today. All that up hill was either climbing up to the castle or climbing up tot he Chapelle St. Quenin.
From there we went to the Cave La Romaine, to check it out and buy some wine. The local winerys all have their wine at these cooperatives, so you can taste wine from many winerys in one stop. I didn't taste any, but bought a rose from this area that Dan and I could have with dinner. We kept walking after that. Got some icecream. Getting ice cream is easy since Sara just says, "Mom, there! Icecream!" I got Julia a 'baby' cone and Sara her usual. There was also and "american" cone that was 8 Euro. That must have been huge!
They ate their icecream while I walked back here. I wanted Dan to get a little ice cream so the only way to accomplish that was walk right back - or it would be gone! When we got here both girls got out of the stroller, walked over to him, and extended their cones to him so he could try some. It was a sweet moment and made Dan smile. Both girls retained hold of their cones, but they did share!
We had lasagne for dinner. Then I put Julia to bed. Sara and I played in the back yard (digging with stones) and then we put our swim suits on to play in the pool. It was a chilly 65 degrees!
Sara wanted to hear Sara Stories again so I opened a file from right after she turned 2. She gets a kick out of hearing them! When I say "awwwww" she says, "read Mom read!" --- I don't get any time to react to seeing her in those old pictures! She just wants me to read with out mushy Mom reactions! And if I don't read fast enough, she just starts reading. She knows a lot of words.
It was a good day. Over 17,000 steps on my pedometer. Many laughs with Dan and happy kids. I can't ask for more.
Quote of the day:
Sara: "Can I have yogurt?"
Me: "Sure. Here."
Sara: "What is this?"
Me: "Ooops. This is fromage blanc. That means 'white cheese.'"
Sara: "Let's go tell Dad!"
Sara: "Look Dad, we got white cheese, not yogurt."
Dan: "That's funny."
Sara: "We should have bought yogurt."
Dan: "You put that in the shopping cart sweetie."
Sara: "I do not want to eat it. Let's give it to Julia!"
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