Our first visitors!
Trip Start
Sep 15, 2011
1
22
23
Trip End
Dec 24, 2011
Antibes, Provence, France
Monday, November 21, 2011
Thankfully, we had some sunny weather for the visit, although the air is getting cold and the wind can be quite brisk. We took the whole family for a wander through the old town, through the port and over to the beaches at Juan les Pins. We took them out to Cafe Clemenceau for crepes and croissants in the old town. The cafe has its tables set out in a little square with a small fountain in the middle. It's one of the few places where one can get breakfast which explains why we went there three days in a row!
I took Tanya to quickly check out the Marche Provencal and to stock up on olives and tapenades. We didn't linger too long as we wanted to catch up to the boys who had taken a walk over to the port. We all gawked at the ridiculously huge yachts moored on what is known as "millionaies quay", although I think you need to be more of a billionaire to even think about owning any of them.
On the spur of the moment, we even took a quick jaunt over to Villefranche sur Mer. Kai asked for a castle and Cody asked for a mountain and we thought: "we know just the place!" We just love that little town and it did not disappoint. The train over there was packed full of people who had run the Nice-Cannes marathon that morning. There were a lot of limping French people... Thankfully, the train ride back home was more peaceful and we all had a little rest.
The kids were all remarkably well behaved and accommodating of our wanderings. Cody would jump and flail around for Nicolas, who found it all endlessly amusing. Kai was determined that Nicolas and Kaycee be boyfriend and girlfriend; not that Nicolas needed much convincing to cozy up to that cutie. Kaycee is a the sweetest little strawberry blonde princess. She slept through the whole trip to Villefranche. At home, the boys were busy making paper airplanes and watching videos. Once we were out and about, we took them to the playgrounds in old town and to the carousel. Kris quickly figured out that he could get the boys to behave in any situation in exchange for 'carousel points'. They were great fun to have around. I fear that Nicolas is bored stiff with just mom and dad these days.
I think both Kai and Nicolas both have developed some pretty serious baguette addictions. Kai can eat his own weight in baguette as long as the bread is hot and fresh from the oven. On the last day of their visit, we ate five baguettes! A new record! We waited in the bakery for the last three to come out of the oven. They were too hot to hold at first but within a minute or two we were all in fresh bread heaven.
