The last memories of France..

Jan took us to visit a local castle one day. Here are the boys playing near the filled in well. 

It is a wonderful example of a local castle. The guide who owns it, took us round, was very tolerant of the boys and gave us lengthy explanations about the history which Jan translated for me. 

Trying on the very heavy helmets... 

This was a lovely example of a babys crib. It was so interesting to see the woven ribbon to keep the baby in. 

Tapestry next to the window but really it was the view outside that was completely spectacular. 

Then Jan and I took the boys into the woods and we played hide and seek, chased each other and climbed trees. It was another fun day! The weather was really good too! 

Trebuchet! 

This was when I got them buns from the patisserie... we miss you France... 

Paris

Paris was ummm interesting... 

There are a lot of photos that I would like to post up of a trip we made up the Eiffel Tower but sadly they are on another phone and I doubt I will get access to them. 

We stayed at an Air B&B. The boys were excited to feed the fish! The place we stayed in had a kids bedroom and toys too, it was central and completely ideal! We had a long, long journey there... it took nearly half a day! 

There were some lovely things to see, there was a group of musicians on the metro platform. The men had beautiful voices and we gave them a couple of Euros, Miles did it! He was really proud to put the coins in. 

We visited the main Notre Dame Cathedral. It is very impressive. Paris was very busy, even in the rain in Winter. I definitely wouldn't go in the Summer. 

Selfie!!! 

The highlight of this trip was chasing the pigeons and splashing through puddles (to the horror of the Chinese tourists there! Funny!) 

We had a good giggle on the metro too when Miles shouted, 'Mum, we live in a smelly house, don't we!' The amused looks around us were very funny to see! 

Apart from this fun, it was a difficult trip. It was the end of my relationship with Ian and a good decision for us all but still, it was difficult. I drove back that night for six hours through France and was SO glad to get back to the peace and quiet of the farm again. As we drove down the motorway, the sky cleared and the stars came out again... When the boys woke up, they barely noticed that we weren't in Paris any more. 

Fun with Marc and Miles in France.....

I have got really behind on my blogging. Here are some of the things Marc and Miles got up to together a few weeks ago. Caden too :)

First there was Play Doooooooohhhhhhh!

Making Play Doh noses, we made moustaches, eyebrows and were very silly with it! 

Marc got the measles.... 

We made animal stick puppets another day

Dinner time at the farm was often brilliant fun. Jan, the farmer there has a sense of fun like me and we enjoyed the kids a lot. I have lots of very happy memories of the fun times there!  Here are the kids making their friend's straight face crack.

Marc, playing in our room with the boys before bed. 

 Caden and the cows.

Playing with George the dog that loves fetching sticks.... 

Miles fits in the wheel and everything!

Caden and I played on this post with a concrete end, we did a science experiment on it, learning about levers. He tested whether his weight would push the end of the post to the ground when I was stood on the concreted end (taking photos) when he was near me and far away from me and we talked about how he seemed to weigh more the further down the lever he went. 

Farmer Jan let us go for a ride in his tractor. And he let me drive it... madness! 

Miles was beyond excited when he first got up into the cab. 

Another day we went to the local play area at the lake and they climbed trees. 

More playing with two socks. All three boys love this dog.

Miles and Marc threw sticks into the lake and laughed hysterically at the dog going into the water to retrieve the sticks. It was such good fun!

Marc and Caden decided to investigate what was under a paving slab and found some pipework... Caden carefully put the slab back down. 

One night we went out to look for the international space station although it was cloudy, another night we did spot it! 

I made them some little hand swings out of sticks and rope... 

A special rock...!

We had a lovely time jumping about on the hay bales.

We found a very juicy earthworm. 

This was one of my favourite days, playing on the hay bales, it was wonderful to play like a kid with the boys, climbing and sliding back down, dangling them off the edges and charging about with sticks! 

A very happy Marc.

One day I did a 'make your own bouncy ball' kit with Marc and Miles. 

First we got the water ready, then we put the crystals into the moulds, then dropped the moulds into the water. The boys found it hard to wait the two minutes necessary. 

and Voila!!

Then we had to go outside with the bouncing balls. They ended up rolling them on the back of a flatbed trailer.