First Few Weeks of School

Cameron has now completed his first couple weeks of school! He seems to absolutely love going to school, and I love hearing all his stories about activities he's participated in, looking at his pictures and crafts, and hearing all about his new friends. These last few weeks have been full of excitement and adjustments! Even though I like order and a plan, I have never been that good at having structure during the day with the boys. Other than meal times and nap times (meaning, I know those things will happen at some point), our days were always different and we just did whatever we felt like. Needless to say, I was a little bit of a mess the first week of school. After dropping Cameron off at school in the morning, I came home every day and went to get groceries for dinner that night. Why I couldn't get it together enough to get a weeks worth of meals (or even a few days) is completely beyond me! Poor Harrison...on top of losing his buddy and playmate in the morning, he also had to endure going to the grocery store every single day! 

After looking back over the past few weeks, here are some thoughts I have about our new journey with Cameron.

*Cameron LOVES school! He is excited to go every day and loves seeing his friends when he gets there. When I pick him up, he's excited to tell me all about his day and what he was responsible for during class that day. He is the only child who goes to school for half a day. Even though there are other three year olds in his class, they all stay for the whole day. It's becoming much more clear to me that this is a cultural thing and that most of three year olds spend the whole day at school here. When I ask Cameron if he would rather stay for the whole day, he always says "no," so for the time being, we will continue with half days.

"Cameron's Family" class project...love our hair!

*Cameron is making lots of little friends. One difficult thing for me, and Cameron for that matter, has been watching him try to make friends with kids at the playground, but struggling because of the language barrier. If you know Cameron, you know that he is very social and loves playing with others, but that he can also come on pretty strong. Add that with the fact that the kids have no idea what he's saying and you have a recipe for disappointment. It's hard to watch your child be rejected and hurt, so seeing him make friends has been awesome! Cameron comes home every day and tells me about playing with so and so. Also, when I go pick him up at the end of the morning session, he is usually giving one of his friends a hug before he leaves. I love that he is making friends and look forward to exploring these relationships further!

Cameron and his buddy Ansh

*Cameron has had the opportunity to be a part of many fun and new activities since being in school. Two of those activities are swimming lessons every Wednesday morning, and after school yoga on Tuesday afternoons.  

So far, he LOVES swimming! 

Working with his teacher!

Cameron is second from the right

Cameron is second from the right

He's only had one yoga lesson so far. After the class, he told me that he liked it, but that he didn't want to go back...so we'll see!

 *I need a better plan for the day. I have gotten better at planning for shopping, cleaning, laundry etc, but I still feel like a crazy person running around all day...and I only have one child going to school...for half a day!! I have no idea how my parents, who had five children, managed to do it all.  Likewise, many of my friends and family have multiple children in school and activities and also work, but still seem to have it all together. I know I'll figure it out too, but right now, I am in awe of all those super moms (and dads) out there, including my own, that I look up to!

*I have to get up early, be ready for the day, and have a plan before I take Cameron to school in the morning. It's not like I really got to sleep in much before school started, but now I HAVE to get up. And taking Cameron to school in my jammies is not an option! I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it was not uncommon for us to be in our pajamas for a good chunk of the morning, but that is no longer my reality! That's probably a good thing! :)

*I have decided that I am going to try to bike to school as much as I can. It's only a five to seven minute bike ride to the school from our loft, but it's not an easy ride. There is a crazy (at least to me) hill right at the beginning of the ride that is very difficult for my untrained legs to handle...especially with 70 extra pounds in the back of the bike! However, it's easier than driving in the crazy traffic and I am determined to try to take advantage of the fact that I can safely bike there and do it as often as I can. We'll see how I feel once winter rolls around?!

Harrison loves to wear Cameron's backpack!

*I have enjoyed the opportunity to spend a few hours alone with Harrison each day. As you may know, Cameron has a rather large personality, so Harrison's personality is sometimes squashed a bit when Cameron is around. It's been nice to have some quality one on one time with him like I did with Cameron when he was that age. I feel like I am learning new things about Harrison and his specific likes and dislikes. I have also enjoyed our quiet cuddles, story time, and playtime! I hope to start planning some fun adventures (like not to the grocery store) for the two us soon! I think Harrison enjoys this time too. However, I know he misses his buddy during the day. He is always so excited when I tell him it's time to go get Cameron. He gets a big smile on his face and runs to the door every day! 

*I have never appreciated the weekend as much as I do now! Of course the weekends have always been nice because Cole is home with us, but I love them even more now! Even after just a few weeks of school, it's nice to have a break from the running around and routine we now have during the week. 

Despite all the adjustments, school has been a really positive positive experience for us so far. Cameron has a great teacher and the staff at the school is wonderful! I'm also starting to get involved and even joined the PTA! I hope to meet more parents this way and I'm excited to be part of the activities at the school!

Trip to France (Valence, Grenoble, and St. Julien)

This past weekend, we decided to take a trip a little further south into France to spend a few days. We have been to Paris several times, but there is obviously much more to see and do in France. Cole had to head down that way for work this week, so we decided to tag alone for the weekend and explore. This trip was nice in that we didn't really have an agenda other than wanting to relax and take in what the French countryside and Alps have to offer. However, it doesn't seem like we can travel without having some crazy...and this trip was no exception!

Friday, we picked Cameron up from school, ate lunch, then hopped in the car to head to the train station in Lille, France. I am not exaggerating when I say that we could not have been one millisecond later without having missed our train! We ran into some traffic that caused us to arrive a little later than we anticipated and the door to the train literally shut right behind me as I jumped in. My heart was racing while I made sure everyone was on the train. Thankfully, we all made it on and got settled in for the four hour train ride to Valence.

The boys played together

They snacked

We even had our own French version of Penn Jillette for a train conductor. He did tricks for the boys and even made them balloon animals!

Also, the view from the train of the French countryside was beautiful!

Once we arrived, we took a taxi from the train station to our hotel. As a side note, I think it's been about seven years since I last took a taxi, but they are expensive!! Either I don't remember how much my last taxi ride was, or the prices have gone up. For a ten mile ride, it was about $75.00!! Anyway, after settling into our room, we went to the hotel restaurant to have dinner. We were having a pretty nice dinner until Harrison started to get fussy. We thought he was just tired and ready for bed since he had missed his nap. However, after picking him up and holding him, he threw up all over me! You might remember from this post, the last time we went to France, Cameron also threw up all over the place! Harrison seemed fine after throwing up, but we decided to call it a night pretty quickly after that! I had woken up with a sore throat Friday morning and Cameron was fighting a cold, so an early bedtime seemed like a good idea anyways. Unfortunately, Harrison woke up every half hour or so for the whole night, so none of us got a very good nights sleep. Needless to say, after the throwing up, sore throat, and lack of sleep, we were all wondering if we should just head home and try this trip another time. With Cameron, Harrison and I having pretty bad colds, I thought it would be a mess trying travel anymore. Thankfully, Cole convinced me that we could still have fun and we continued on our journey. 

After breakfast at the hotel Saturday morning, the boys and I waited in the room while Cole went to get the rental car. What should have been a half hour wait turned into a two hour wait because there was a long line to get the rental car, and then Cole accidentally got on a toll road and had to drive 30 minutes in the wrong direction before he could turn around and come back to the hotel...and we still had an hour drive from Valence to Grenoble!

Can you tell how tiny this car is? Cole's knees were on the dash board!

View from our drive into Grenoble

The first thing we decided to do was take a cable car up to La Bastille, a military fortress built in 1823. From the fortress, you can see the flattest town in France and the beautiful surrounding mountains. It was a gorgeous day and the views were amazing!  

The fortress is on the top of this mountain

Heading up!

Heading back down

After the cable cars, we stopped at a park to let the boys play for a while, walked around a bit, then got some lunch at an outdoor cafe.

The last thing we did in Grenoble was take a little train tour through the city. The boys, of course, loved this!

head gear to hear the commentary

Some views from the train tour

After the train tour, we headed back to Valence, stopped at a grocery store to get some food for dinner, then headed to bed early again. 

Sunday, we ate breakfast at the hotel, then took a drive through the mountains to St. Julien. We did not have any agenda, but instead, just stopped whenever we found a place that looked interesting. The first place we found was a nature park. We stopped to play, walk, and throw rocks in the river.  

Harrison looks so mischevious! 

Always climbing on things!

Check out that form!

Learning to throw a frisbee

After the park, we drove through the mountains and countryside from St. Julien to Privas.

Along the way, we ran into some kind of firetruck exhibit. Of course we had to stop...Cameron was in firetruck heaven!

Running/flying back to the car

After driving through Privas, we decided to head back to Valence to explore some more. The last stop we made was at the Le Rhone River. It was an absolutely beautiful view!

Once we were back in Valence, we decided to drive through town a little bit. We had to be at the train station at 3:00, so we didn't have a lot of time. It was beautiful, just like everything else we saw!

After a quick lunch, we packed up and headed to the train station. I was a little nervous about this trip because I was going to have the boys by myself for the four hour train ride. I was even more nervous when I discovered that the train was completely full and I would have to hold both boys in one tiny seat!! Normally, we just buy tickets for Cole and me and then spread out unless the train is full. Thankfully, after the first stop, lots of people got off the train and we could spread out a bit. The boys watched movies and even napped a bit.

 

Unfortunately, shortly after the boys fell asleep, the train filled back up and we had to move back to our seat. The boys were not happy to be awakened so abruptly and they let me (and everyone else on the train) know it! Thankfully we only had an hour until our stop at that point. Despite being exhausted, they did pretty well and we made it home last night around 9:30. 

Even though there were some bumps in the road, it was so nice to have a weekend with the family! It's not always easy to travel with little ones, especially when most of us are sick, but it was great to explore and create these memories with the four of us! It was also nice to go off the beaten path and just experience life in France. I'm looking forward to our next adventure!