cookies.

we finally figured out who had been taking them!

 

the dungeon

Dad said if we behave properly and learn to speak French, he'll let us play in the dungeon!

from up above

this church is right up the road from our flat.  to the left is the Citadel.  spreading out to the right is Centreville, or the town center.

new hometown

Besançon has an ancient Roman fortress overlooking the city, called The Citadel.  Here we are about to go visit way up there.  About a thousand steps up.  Or at least it felt like it.  And far below, to our right in the photo, is, according to our dad, an ancient Roman recycling bin with ancient Latin grafiti on it...

 

thankfully, the beetles did not cut their way through the steel handrails until Grace had the chance to bolt a good 23 meters away... (you should see the mosquitoes here!)

forest

after we fought much traffic to get out of Besançon, the French forest was growing dark, and seemed slightly forboding.  Until we looked up and saw what looked almost like a heart-felt welcome from the trees themselves!

my little party

with my little pony...

drought in Texas

 

Eight feet lower than usual just means-- more beach at the lake!

can you see it?

 

we wrote a secret message in SPARKLER!!!

hearing loss

We discovered that the predilection for auditory confection doesn't only apply to chocolate bunnies...

 

we tried

 

this is actually the best you can do with playmobil's advent calendar. There was no baby Jesus. So we had to make do. And yes, Joseph looks a little older than normal. But you would too, if you saw an angel face to face!

grandma got revenge

 

remember the ol' goofy song, "Grandma got run over by a reindeer"? Well, we just learned... that incident will NOT repeat itself!

orbit

 

they said we could swing her!

more tradition

 

we thought he was just hanging lights... but, little did we realize...

Christmas tradition

 

and you're probably wondering if I ate the WHOLE thing... ;)

4 mph

 

Daddy, can we please put a mowing deck on this puppy? Pure bliss!

warrior badge

 

okay we're not in scouting, but my good friend, Ben, and I, deserve some kind of badge for making this cool stuff that really works... tears paper targets in HALF! (someone even called the police on us!)

park it

 

remember when you were a kid? seems like it was only yesterday...

feeling crabby

 

this guy didn't stand a ghost of a chance against 2 boys with a stick.