Fall at the Farm - Part 3

The fire pit and the pheasants were the other big attention getters during our trip.  Greg and Cherlyn raised the pheasants from chicks so they could release them into the wild in the fall, and they saved the release for our trip.  Things were pretty exciting while we were there.  One pheasant escaped (1 other already had) and one night a raccoon snuck into the enclosure and another pheasant went missing, but since we didn't find any blood or anything we believe the pheasant escaped.  This left us with only 3 for "release" day, but it was fun nonetheless and getting pictures of these fast moving animals was definitely a difficult task.  After the release the kids enjoyed running around in the enclosure collecting feathers for their nature collections.  And then it was straight back to the fire pit and the pumpkin patch.  We had a lovely time enjoying the outdoors and family during our trip and, as always, look forward to our next trip to Michigan.

Fall at the Farm - Part 2

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Spending time tromping through the woods and fields is always one of the highlights of our time at the farm, and this trip was no exception.  The kids were very excited to learn that new paths had been made through Aunt Ann's Woods so the golf cart (aka Mr. Green Jeans) and the Gator spent a lot of time driving the trails.

Gabriel asked me to take a video of him dancing through the field like Bert in Mary Poppins...so here ya go!

Uploaded by Amanda Lipscomb on 2015-10-22.

First Days of School

Last week Gabriel had his first day of Ms. Fuller's Kindergarten class, and I must say he's been looking forward to it for most of the summer.  It was not an easy decision for us to make to have him do one more year of Kindergarten, but at drop off any lingering worries melted away when we saw how confident he looked.  He loved his first week, and is just hoping he'll get to know his new classmates better in the coming days.

Lorelai on the other hand has been struggling a bit with idea of going back to school  She had such an amazing year with Mrs. Troxel in 2014-2015 that I think the idea of having someone else greet her at her classroom door seems just wrong somehow in her mind.  I can't say I blame her, Mrs. Troxel was quite a blessing as her first school experience.  But, I have no doubt that with time she will come to feel right at home in Mrs. Cambrice's class.  Lorelai will be attending a full school day for the full week in preparation of Kindergarten next year, so these are some BIG changes to overcome.  But, she's totally got this, despite the worried face and eyes holding back tears that she had today on her first day.

Versailles - 2015

My absolute favorite place in France (so far at least...there's still so much to see) is Versailles.  The history is fascinating and the scenery is gorgeous inside and out.  I was fairly disappointed with our visit last time...it was brief, rainy, and cold...oh, and we were on bikes.  :/

This time we planned our entire last day in France to be in Versailles and we planned it on a day when all of the buildings were open and the fountains would be on.  YESSSS!!!!  We spent the beginning of our day in the Palace Gardens.










 And then we watched the fountains.  They play Baroque music and the fountains begin turning on up by the palace.  I didn't know that, but am glad I had a good spot for the Fountain of Apollo.


We'll talk more about that ugly thing on the right in a moment.







Ever wonder how they create the amazing topiaries?  Well, a topiary template of course.  And they use a giant arm of lawn mower blades to cut all of the giant tree hedges to shape.








Now lets discuss art installations.  Do you see that giant rusted funnel looking thing in the middle of the picture?  Surrounded by gray rocks, dirt, and some giant red cement rocks?  That's called "Dirty Corner".  Just one of the current "modern art" installations at Versailles.  And it is an abomination.  That should seriously not be allowed there.  It's tacky, and disrupts the gorgeous view...and it's not art.  It's junk!  Rusty ugly junk.  And you know what they were having to do to it while we were there...power wash it because someone had spray painted all over it...I'm guessing to make a point about how ugly it is and that it doesn't belong there.  I'm not even sure why they were scrubbing it off...the graffiti wasn't making it any worse than it already is.  This should just not be allowed anywhere other than a landfill let alone in a historic location.  

This "art" was just one of several throughout.  A couple of which were giant mirrored objects disrupting your view of the palace itself.  Tacky.  That's all it is.

 Anyway...on this trip we were able to walk over to the Grand Canal (we considered boating, but we were already a bit tired from so much walking that we passed).   We continued on to the Grand Trianon which was built as a retreat for Louis the XIV, because apparently moving out of Paris wasn't a retreat enough.  Eventually Napoleon used the Grand Trianon and furnished it in the Empire style which is mostly what you see there today.
A little needlework in this room for a wife of Napoleon...
 Maybe a little artwork...
 Some cards perhaps?
 Or maybe a game of billiards is more your thing?

 If you're Napoleon you're hanging out in your "office" of course...


We then wallked to the Petit Trianon, which was built by Louis XV for his long-term mistress.  However, she died several years prior to it's completion.  So, the replacement mistress took up residence there.  Eventually when Louis XVI becomes king he gives the Petit Trianon to Marie Antoinette as a gift.  She uses it as a retreat from the pressures of Palace living.

 This carriage is WAAAAY better than any stroller isn't it?



 Eventually Marie Antoinette wanted to feel as though she led a provincial life.  So she had the Hamlet (a working farm) built which was for herself and her inner circle to relax and get away from it all.  Each building has a garden or an orchard, and the entire "farm" was also created to make the Petit Trianon feel more like a country get away.

 Sadly the Queen's house appears to be suffering the most from time and the elements.  A staircase (far left in the picture above) looks to have been burned and is collapsing and much of the area surrounding it is under construction.  Perhaps restoration work?  One can hope.  While you cannot go in these buildings...it is perhaps the most beautiful area in all of the palace grounds.







 This is the elusive bunny I loved with crazy English Sheepdog like hair hanging in front of it's eyes.


 A wishing well perhaps?
 All of those pigeons!!!
 Can you spot the bunny?
 Seriously...look at this guy's hair (fur)!


  After walking around the grounds we finally made our way back tot he palace where we caught the tail end of the second fountain display, and then toured the palace.  The palace was much more crowded this time around so I'm glad it was our second time seeing it as we were able to move much more leisurely through the last time we were here.


 How would you like to have to head up the long courtyard entry to this gate?!  Talk about intimidating.

 They didn't call Louis XIV the Sun King for nothin'.


 A bed fit for a Queen...

 I spy with my little eye... President George Washington!!!  (Well, General at the time.)

 And just like that the sun set on our time in France.  If you want to see Versailles I actually recommend two days if you can swing it. Spend one day there with the fountains on...it's crowded but the gardens don't feel overly so, and you can see the Trianon's and the Hamlet.  Then visit the Palace itself on a  day when the fountains aren't going to be on...it's a lot less crowded and you'll enjoy that portion more...and then you can boat around the Grand Canal and see more of the gardens.  :)

I really hope to get back to France.  There's still so much there I'd like to see and despite seeing Paris twice it's still a place I could visit over and over again.

Paris - 2015

Paris...oh how I love thee.  We took a tip from my parents this time around and traded the commercial area of Champs-Elysees for the quaint and very French area of Ile St. Louis.  We walked past Notre Dame Cathedral every day.  Every. Single. Day.  How amazing is that?!  Not to mention the amazing restaurants in our area and the evening entertainment sitting on the Pont Saint-Louis.

The view from our hotel room.


We passed some love locks...which I have to say, despite making for a cool picture just looks really junky in person and I wish people would stop doing this.
We spent some time in the Jardin du Luxembourg...
I am not a modern art person by any means, but I think this is just calling out to be made into a quilt.




 We visited a mineral museum.  I know it doesn't sound terribly exciting, but it was a neat little find and we saw some beautiful stones, rocks, minerals, and textures.  It was only after I snapped a few pictures that I noticed the "No photograph" sign, so I stopped, but I couldn't bring myself to delete these couple of beauties.


 We also visited the Archealogical dig underneath the square in front of Notre Dame.  I sort of wish we had invested in the Audio Tour of this as just what we saw and read was fascinating.  This is what France looked like in Ancient Roman times.  There were amazing interactive computer screens that took you through various building processes, including the construction of Notre Dame itself.

Even the street lamps are beautiful in Paris.

 Since this was our second trip we skipped most of the typical first time touristy things.  We just walked passed the Eiffel Tower on our way to dinner one night.




 We did a little shopping in the Marais district, and wandered into BHV so I could hit up the Frou-Frou fabric department.  :)  But, in our adventures to find the fabric department we discovered a hardware store in the basement...which Brian said carried more things than Lowes!  Impressive!  And we discovered the crafting and office supply departments...oh my...walls and walls of paints, stationary, cards, binders...it was so fun.
 Of course the most fun was to be had in the fabric department where I picked up some lovelies.
 On this trip we were able to take an English tour of Notre Dame given by a parishioner.  The tour is free, but they ask for donations...so if you ever go...please give a nice donation.  :)  The tour was REALLY fantastic and I'd say on par with the Verger tour at Westminster Abbey.  We even got to go up on the alter and if you're Catholic you know what a big deal that is.






 These pictures are all from inside the bars blocking the crowd.  Yep...you get to be up close and personal.





 Before we head inside...let me take this moment to get on my soap box a bit.  When in Paris, I like to attend church on Sunday at Notre Dame.  Sure it's a tourist spot, but there's something about it that feels truly and deeply spiritual.  More so than my contemporary church.  During the mass they allow crowds to still tour the place...okay...whatever.  The first time I mostly found this irritating during the Liturgy of the Eucharist...people were snapping pictures of this most holy part of the mass and it just upset me.  But, I figure...if they're letting people in they're asking for that to happen, and maybe witnessing that will give you the urge to go back to church or even to become Catholic.

But, this time tourists snuck into the service area itself.  Were standing up during mass snapping photographs.  DURING MASS...IN THE CONGREGATION!!!  That is 100% unacceptable.  And then after they got their pictures they would get up and leave...say while the priest was reading the Gospel.  Seriously.  So, when you are a guest in the house of God...please be courteous to those who are worshiping.  Stop talking...you're disrupting prayer...even if mass isn't going on.  And don't insert yourself into a worship service to snap a few choice shots.  It's incredibly disrespectful.  And we won't even get into the woman who slapped my arm because she wanted the mass guide that belonged to the man in front of me.  :/

We also paid to see the Treasury of Notre Dame.  There were some gorgeous monstrances, chalices, and other "Catholic-y" things there.  I just wish some of the descriptions had been in English.




 Because Paris is largely a Catholic Community...there isn't always a lot open on a Sunday which can be difficult for tourists.  This time we happened to be there during the annual Fete de la Musique so it seemed more was open than usual.  But, we had planned to spend the day in the Marais which is largely a Jewish community...and is also a big hit with the Gay community as well.  It's quite a trendy area.

This is the location of the Bastille.  If you're up on your French Revolution history then you know why this site is significant.  Apparently you can go in a Metro stop here and see a small Bastille display or museum of some sort.  But, I try to avoid spending extra time in Metros when possible.  (Although the Metro is absolutely the best way to get around in Paris.)

We saw the  museum that WOULD NOT end...Musee de Carnavalet, and then we walked through the Picasso Museum which surprisingly does not contain merely works by Picasso.





 Flower markets are a favorite of mine.  Although I forgot to hit up the bird market on Sunday.  Just another reason to go back.   We had blue hydrangeas at our wedding so I'm always on the lookout for them...






 We took the hike up to Sacre Coeur since we didn't get to see inside of it last time.  I often hear that the inside isn't worth seeing, but I would strongly disagree with that.  It was a beautiful church with a very different style of architecture from Notre Dame.







Mont Saint-Michel


 Our hotel ran a shuttle to and from Mont Saint-Michel which was very convenient.  This was very beautiful to walk up to (if you can ignore the construction going on as they attempt to remove silt build up), and I wish I could have seen the tide "rushing" in in person.  The change in tide here is huge at about 50 feet!  This has been both a monastery, a fortification, as well as a prison.  Quite the varied history, non?
 The stained glass here is at many times simple, and in it's simplicity it is beautiful.  Currently they are undergoing a large restoration project on the stained glass as it is warping and allowing the elements to come inside.  Not something you want in any structure.








 During the time it was a prison they used the prisoners to move a giant wheel which hauled materials up the side of the mount.

See the hole in the wall left of the middle with the wooden ramp coming out of it...this is where the wheel/prisoners hauled things up.



 I really wish we had had a tour of Mont St. Michel.  I feel like I would have a better understanding of it's history.
 Below the monastery was a small village which today houses a bunch of junky souvenir shops.  While some say it gives you the feel of people hocking goods in the marketplace, I say it just feels tacky.  There are some fancy restaurants here and four hotels though, so if you're looking for a unique place to stay for one night to see the change in tide...it could be fun.

Normandy

We scheduled a tour for ourselves to see the American landing sights on the Normandy beaches as well as the German and American Cemeteries.  Our tour picked up basically right outside of our hotel, and was a small group of eight including ourselves.  Our tour guide was wonderful, and despite the emotionally difficult subject matter, I'm so glad we took time to see these.

Our first stop was one of the German Cemeteries.  America was the only country who asked families if they wanted loved ones to be brought back home. The other countries involved have traditions of burying their soldiers where they died.  I found the German Cemetery to be surprisingly moving.  So many of those who fought on the German side were made to do so by force...be they Germans or those who lived in the countries Germany occupied.  So many just fought to survive.  The mound you see pictured above contains the bodies of some 300 unnamed soldiers, and atop the mound there is a statue of a grieving mother and father.  



 From there we travelled to Sainte-Mere-Eglise to sight of one of the major paratrooper landings.  This is where John Steele and Ken Russell landed on the church roof. There is also a wonderful D-Day Landing museum here that is a must see if you're in the area.

A thank you stained glass window to the town from the living paratroopers.

Stained glass dedicated to John Steele, Ken Russell, and the other paratroopers who landed in Normandy.

 We continued on to Utah beach...the most successful landing of the American troops on D-Day.
 It's so strange to see such beautiful scenery full of barbed wire.  We also visited Omaha Beach, which was a devastating landing...although still more successful than was predicted it would be.  It's really hard to stand on such beautiful beaches and to imagine the horror that happened there.  And again...so inspiring and saddening wrapped into one little package.
 After a lovely lunch at the beach we continued on to Pointe du Hoc.  The site of the Rudder's Rangers landing.  This was especially fascinating as Col. Rudder was an Aggie.  It's quite an impressive "story" and not one I can do justice here on the blog.

Gig 'em Rudder's Rangers.
 After Omaha Beach our final stop was the American Cemetery.  Words can't express the feeling(s) this creates in you.  Every grave is in perfect light.  Every. Single. One.  And they way the light glows  off of them is almost as if they were being kissed by God.




Bayeux, France

Brian and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on June 18th of this year.  To celebrate we decided to take a trip back to France.  We loved our time in Paris before and knew we wanted to go back there, and since we were sort of at odds on where else we'd like to visit we decided to just go back to the place we love.  This time we added on the Normandy coast to our visit, and used a lot of great information from my parents in planning our trip.
Bayeux was a beautiful town, very walkable, with a rich history all it's own.  Bayeux was briefly the capital of France during WWII was it was the only liberated city at first and it didn't suffer any damage during the war which allowed for the old buildings to survive.

 Apparently the majority of Cathedrals in France are named Notre Dame.  Who knew?!  This Notre Dame was our view from our hotel room at the Churchill Hotel.  Gorgeous, right?
 We had the good fortune of being around on a market day, and was able to watch a man sell "Magic Wallets" and Orange Sippers to kids while enjoying breakfast.  This man knew his target audience for sure and was reeling them in left and right.

Another picture of the view from our hotel room.





Interestingly a lot of the stained glass in churches in the Normandy region celebrates those who landed on the Normandy beaches during WWII.



We visited the WWII museum in Bayeux and the British Cemetery.  The museum was well done and had a great little movie.  The cemetery was of course very moving.

We also ate at the cutest restaurant in all of France.  Seriously.  Crewel work and Newspapers on the walls...
 And the greatest chandeliers ever...




Oh, and the food was amazing as well.  Who doesn't like BIG Tartines?!

Outdoor Fun - Summer 2015

I love how these pea plants look like they're holding hands.
This we were decided to plant a garden...the original idea was to actually build a square foot garden in the yard, but Gilbert derailed those plans when we learned he likes to eat the newly growing pea plants.  Ugh.  We caught him twice.  After a second scolding he has left them alone, but we were wary so we figured containers on the porch were better so we could keep a closer eye on our mischevious pup.

Gabriel's are finally beginning to take off a bit...only two of his survived the Great Gilbert Massacre of 2015, and they took a little bit of a beating while we were on vacation despite regular watering.  Lorelai's Mammoth Sunflower plants are growing like gangbusters!  The bugs love the leaves, but we have flowers blooming and one of the plants has 10, yes TEN, buds on it!  I really need to snap some pictures of her lovely blooms.

The kids enjoyed the nice weather in early June playing in the hot tub and the squiggly sprinklers that Grandma Cherlyn sent.  Gilbert really enjoys them too.  Paisley prefers to avoid all water activities.  Gilbert actually really loves playing with the water hose as well, attempting to herd the stream of water.  It's highly entertaining and sometimes he does crazy flips like watching a dog frisbee contest.  It's quite impressive.




May 2015

Oh my am I behind on this blog.  I get so wrapped up in keeping The Cozy Pumpkin up to date that I just plain lose track of how much time it's been since I've blogged in this space.  So, I'm going to be uploading a bunch of posts playing catch up.

We had a busy May.  We wrapped up Science Club at school...heck...we wrapped up school which was a new one for us.  It was much busier as a parent than I would have guessed, but full of fun.
 Brian set up the tent for the kids so the three of them could have a campout.  Gabriel's allergies (and nerves) got the best him and he headed inside to be with me.  Lorelai and Brian toughed it out though and made it through the night.

 Gabriel had a zoo field trip.  It was a bit up in the air until the last minute because of all of our rain and bad weather.  It's been a VERY rainy spring and summer here.  But, luckily the rain held off and we were able to enjoy a nice cloudy day at the zoo.  Gabriel spent the entire time running around with his best friend, Logan.

 And I attempted to keep the beginning of summer fun by doing some little activities at the house.  I really need to get back into that now that we're back from our summer trip.