Father and son fishing

John and Preston have been long overdue for some father and son time, so Preston took him fishing last weekend. They went to a local lake that also has a stocked pond with trout. This was John's 1st time fishing, so it was a real treat. They left early in the morning and were back by mid afternoon with 8 large trout! I was impressed that they were so big! Icouldn't wait to taste the catch. Preston and John cleaned the fish and fried it for us for lunch the next day. The pictures say it all, It was great!

Le Puy en Velay

Le Puy en Velay is known for its lentils, lace and green liqueur, Vervaine, as well as for having a medieval renaissance festival once a year. The festival is called Le Roi de L'oiseau or the Bird King festival. Each year the locals as well as visitors dress in medieval costume and the entire town is transformed to medieval times. There were peasants and street musicians as well as people in velvet gowns attending parties and dancing. Lauren had a costume from last school year and John had a sword, so they were ready to participate. Preston tried to rent costumes for the rest of us, but thankgoodness they were all rented out! I was perfectly content to walk around and observe.



In the past, the festival centered around the Bird King contest. The person that shoots the most birds with a bow and arrow would be crowned Bird King and would not have to pay taxes for the year. Although the contest is still held as part of the festival, they shoot targets instead of birds and the prize is no longer free taxes. Believe me, Preston asked.


It was great to walk around the cobblestones and see the women washing in the fountain or hand making lace. We watched several exhibitions at the base of the cathedral and sampled the local food. We ate fruit pies, crepes and drank hypocrat, a spiced wine. Of course we had lentils and a verveine flavored dessert for dinner at a quaint little restaurant. It was a fun day for all of us, especially John and Lauren. They had a great time pretending to be a lady and a knight. John didn't have a complete costume, so we bought him a few pieces before the night was over.

We had such a great time this year that I hope that we can go back to the festival again. I might even go all out and rent costumes for the whole family!

Just Don't Quit!!!

I bet you think we have lost our minds, climbing in the trees like that! I can hear my mom saying now, "Just because some French people climb trees, does that mean that you have to too. So if they start jumping off bridges...." We actually had a really great family day. It was John's birthday and we wanted to do something, well, different.

We went to Parc Ecureuil or Park Squirrel, just outside of Clermont. Now I have NEVER been on a ropes course in my life, but I was willing to give it a try. After a brief explanation, in french, and a short walk through of how to connect our harness to the ropes, we were off, ON OUR OWN, to climb. There were patrols stationed throughout the park, but basically you were on your own. The first course we did was a green level course that all of us were old enough and tall enough to handle. It was about 3 to 6 feet off of the ground and not too challenging once we got the hang of it. The first time we went through it took us about 30 minutes to complete it. You begin each section of the course by connecting yourself with two hooks to the upper rope. Each time you move from one section to another, you must unhook your harness, one hook at a time, and reconnect to another rope. The entire time you are connected to a rope and standing on either another rope or a platform or something. Believe me, you are secure! Once we convinced ourselves of that, the second time we completed the same course in about 10 minutes! There is nothing like knowing what to expect next. Even the zip-line at the end was not as bad the second time around.

After lunch, we allowed Lauren and John to climb the orange, childrens' course twice. It was a nice break for us big people and enough of a challenge of them. Lauren had a tough time swinging into a rope configuration that looked like a spiderweb. She was really scared, but we told her, "Just don't quit", and she did it! John's problem was not being scared enough. He would not slow down. He actually slipped and scratched his leg on one of the parts because he was trying to run! But like I said, it was very secure and he was connected to the upper rope the entire time. He thought he was spiderman and really enjoyed the ropes course.

Well, Daniele, Maya, Preston and I decided that we would do the Blue course. This was the course after the "easy" green and we knew that we didn't want to do the red or the black courses. Surely we could handle the green since it is rated for 11 year olds! First of all we started 10 to 15 feet off of the ground and I am sure we went as high as 20 feet! That is high when all you have is a couple of hooks connecting you to a rope! Although you know that you can't fall, it sure looks and feels like you can! That little tarzan swing that Lauren had was nothing compared to the one we had. You could not just lean over and grab the next, you had to swing. Let me tell you, there was a lot of jungle calling and screams that day. To make it worst, there was a group of young kids impatiently waiting on us at every station. There really is no way to pass one another, so they had to wait. We were not going to get through this course in 10 minutes! Each part got progressively challenging and we seemed to get higher in the trees! At one point, Maya would not move. She wanted to get down, but there was no way to get down. She had to finish the course. So we all had to encourage her and talk her through each stage. We just kept saying to her, "Just don't quit!" She took her time and although she was scared, she did it. By the time we got to the last station, the zip-line, we were so happy to see the end, we jumped on it with no hesitation. Needless to say, we didn't do THAT course again!

At the end of the day, I was very proud of everyone in the family. Not only did we have fun, but we tried something very different and challenging and we met our challenge! I reminded the children that sometimes life is like that ropes course. It can be scary and challenging, but God is our harness and no matter how difficult things get, we can't fall. We will finish what we have started if we Just Dont Quit!