Tour de France

Okay so it only took me 2 months to post this. But everyone has been asking to see pics.

here you go, starting downstairs:

jiovan and Corbin's room. Those doors open and it goes out to a deck/balcony)

another view of J&C's room

Downstairs bathroom

Our bedroom (doors also open going to balcony shared w/ j&c)

another view of our room

our bathroom

balcony shared w/ jiovan and corbin

view from our room out the doors

laundry room (go through and there is a door to the babies' room)

babies room (that door goes outside to where we hang clothes)

another view of babies room (that door on the left is a storage closet)

another angle of babies room

area where we hang clothes

outside shower for after we go to the sandy beach

(this only has cold water and they babies HATE it)

this is right next to where we hang clothes and it goes up to the front of the house

this goes down to the back

two outside storage rooms. (dirt floors.)

front of the house

looking at the front door

(the wood doors to the right open to the living room. Open to glass doors)

kitchen

again, the kitchen

going out of the kitchen

view from kitchen window

just out of the kitchen . door to left is the front door. the door straight ahead is the 1/2 bath and the suitcase is our "baby gate" to the stairs. We have tried a couple different baby gates but they aren't big enough. this suitcase works perfect for now.

living area

living area going out to the upstairs balcony

balcony

and another view of the balcony.

*** not pictured : 1/2 bath upstairs. I will post later there is just a toilet and a TINY sink.

Here's to a new Country.

So we made it to France with the 4 boys. Traveling with four wasn't too bad other than in Paris we had to pick up our luggage and recheck it with a new airline at the same time checking in our double strollers as well. so now we had loose 4/5 year old kids and each of us carrying a twin, backpack, and a duffle bag. amazingly it wasn't as bad as you would think. all the boys slept most of the first 10 hr plane ride and was entertained by the dvd player the rest of it the other two plane rides were not too long. and we got here about midnight (france time. which is 8 hrs ahead of home). We had to take a couple cars one for bags and a couple for the family. but we got here.

(the view from the balcony)

This time we have a house...well i guess more like a condo. but its a lot bigger than i was expecting. It is two levels, on the first floor is the living area, ½ bath, kitchen and an AMAZING balcony. On the balcony theres some lounge chairs, bbq and table. you look out to lush green trees of many kinds with a row of rooftops poking through just before the ocean. Part of the ocean goes to the horizon the other part you can see the another part of the island. At night it is also gorgeous looking at the night lights over there. Downstairs there is three bedrooms, Jiovan and corbin sleep in one, it has two beds and french doors that go to the downstairs balcony that is shared with the Master bedroom. The master has its own bathroom with a pretty good sized tub. Then the babies sleep in the other room. It has two beds with a matress under each of them. The babies sleep on the matress on the floor since they should still be in cribs. In that room there is a door to go outside to a little patio where you hang the laundry to dry. Next to the patio is a little outdoor shower. As you go into the babies room is a small room that holds the washer. It is a very small washer and the wierdest one I’ve seen to date. After you open the lid at the top you have to also open the drum of the washer. Then you pour the soap/bleach/softener into the lid. It seems to work well And I actually like hanging the clothes out on the line to dry. Possibly better than having a dryer. Next to the laundry room is another bathroom that has a toilet and shower. All the doors are heavy dark wood doors. Its all furnished and the people who own it left most of there stuff here which i wasn't used to and it was hard to feel at home at first but now it's starting to feel normal.

we live right next to the ocean but right in front of us is too rocky but the sandy beach is to the right about 1/2 mile and there is a beach that had really fine rocks to the left about 1/4 mile. We've been to both and LOVE the rock one because it doesn't hurt your feet and the clean up is SO EASY you can just brush the rocks off. The boys love going to the beach and are always asking when we can go next. I'd be going quite often if it wasn't for the babies.

We're still waiting for them to get us the car that will fit all of us. (It's a little more difficult in Europe to do this since the average size car is the size of a mini cooper) so I haven't been to the grocery store yet or anything so I haven't had to talk/try to talk to anyone yet. We'll be starting french lessons as soon as we get a regular schedule down. Jiovan and Corbin started school today and will be there from 8-4. It is so hard to have them go knowing that none of the other kids will be speaking English. Jiovan says he's just not going to talk to anyone. I know it'll be good for them and they will learn quickly, but it's still REALLY weird to be here with just the babies.

Vic left on an away trip on Saturday and everything went well until my dear little corbin decided he should stick the little had to the lego guy in his ear. I was in the shower when Jiovan came running in to tell me Corbin stuck the lego hand in his ear and then pushed it in with his finger. So I told corbin to come in my room and put his ear on the bed and NOT put his finger in his ear until I got out. So I hurried to finish showering all the while thinking what the heck am I going to do if I can NOT get it out?! I have the number of a english speaking guy "in case of an emergancy". but really, call him over a lego hand in a child's ear?! Luckly the I could see the very end of it and was able to reach it with tweezers.

The babies have learned to crawl onto the couch now which wouldn't be a big deal if they a) knew how to get down feet first instead of head first and b) the floor wasn't all tile. I swear they are going to knock a few screws loose if they don't figure it out quickly.

I have been really "states sick". It's hard to leave the comforts of the states. The 24 hour stores, the dr's, the teachers, my family. people who speak english. Just the regular ol stuff that I grew up with knowing... but it seems like it wont be too hard to enjoy here.