This year, we decided to return to the United States for winterbreak. It happened to fall two weeks before my sister's wedding, so Maya, Lauren, John and I spent almost a month in the US. Now as restful as that initially sounded, in reality it was a 5 state, 7 city tour chitlin' circuit tour. We visited family and friends in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Since Preston had to work and Daniele was in school, I was the only driver to each destination. I had to build in stops along the way and chain-eat Twizzlers to stay alert. But it was all worth it. Seeing the children with their friends was a joy. And the weather was fantastic! I think I may prefer visiting in March to coming in August because the weather was so mild, a wonderful break from the winter weather back in France.
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| John and Dad at banquet |
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| Mom and me |
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| shopping with friends |
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| Milkshakes! |
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| French-American connections everywhere! |
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| Girl's Just want to have fun! |
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| There is nothing like an American breakfast! |
The highlight of our travels was spending a week with Daniele during her springbreak and visiting her dorm room and campus. And of course eating good ol' American food like hamburgers, steak and breakfast! I didn't know how much I missed IHOP.
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| USC campus |
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| Giant Margarita! |
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| weekend in GA with Preston's family |
I would say that the only downside to visiting this time of year was that we were the only ones on break. Our friends had school and work during the week, so we did other things like dentist appointments and shopping until the evenings and weekends when our friends were available. We did visit the old elementary school and saw many teachers, but now that the girls are in middle school, they didn't get to see any of their friends at the school. It is always bittersweet to visit because things are never exactly how you left them.
