My siblings and I grew up reading the Asterix and Obelix books. Recently, my sister (Sara) found the entire series available on Amazon. So, we bought it. Douglas wasn't sure at first about the comic strip-style reading, but now all three of the children are hooked. They love the characters and the stories.
On our recent trip to France, Sam found these three Pez dispensers at a local market.
As part of their homeschooling, one day Sam taught the kids about plate tectonics and they tested their marshmallow structures on a jello earthquake. Myles, our neighbor, joined in the fun.
Here's a video of Douglas testing his marshmallow building on the jello:
The jello showing the different layers of the earth.
Only Miles and Sam liked eating the jello. So, the kids destroyed the layers instead of eating them.
Joseph, my brother, had two different surgeries in the past few months. I received this photo one day and we joked that the two cripples (my mother and brother) were out for a walk.
Random photo of me visiting friends in Washington, D.C. I'm not a fan of animals in the house. Their big dog was being friendly with me, so I told him to smile for a picture.
We bought some yard care equipment recently. I think this is the first time I've used a lawn mower in my adult life. With Douglas getting older there's no need to pay a neighbor to take care of our lawn anymore.
I love watching Douglas's face while he plays. He's a true pianist!
All of the participants in the April piano recital.
Douglas and a few other students received awards for their piano accomplishments.
Penny and Diana walking to church on a recent Sunday.
Penny, Diana, and Douglas at church.
We attended the Saratoga Springs Temple open house earlier this month with Sara and her children, Eric (Sara's boyfriend), and my Dad.
Gideon, Maxwell, Douglas, Denali, Penny, Diana
"Yeah, I'm nine!" We celebrated Douglas's 9th birthday on May 11th.
Savanah (a neighbor friend), Penny, Diana, Douglas
Douglas requested a lemon cake for his birthday.
Douglas painting a pot he made at a local art studio for kids.
Douglas has been suffering from mouth sores for the past few days, and my father-in-law (Grandpa Coombs) has been suffering from severe back pain. Here is Diana's recent heartfelt prayer for them:
Sam helped the girls purchase flowers for their fairy gardens and yesterday they created their gardens.
Penny and Diana made clay fairy houses at the same art studio mentioned above.
Douglas started tennis lessons again. The piano shirt he's wearing was a birthday present from his Granny. She accidentally ordered an adult medium shirt instead of a youth medium, but Douglas loves his baggy shirt. Penny loves big, baggy shirts as well.
Douglas gave this card to me last month.
Over the past month or so the kids have been watching the process of caterpillars turning into butterflies. Yesterday we released the butterflies.
Last night we took the kids to Cherry Hill to play miniature golf. When we arrived at this particular hole, Douglas made the comment that you have to hit the ball under the "title" of liberty, which is a reference to Captain Moroni's standard raised to rally the Nephites to defend their liberties. Read the Book of Mormon for more information. 😁
On Sunday afternoon we took a stroll through a public garden area of Rouen.
We sent these two videos back to Grandma, for the kids.
We also went back to the historic center of Rouen to walk around a bit more. It was totally different from the previous day, because most of the shops and restaurants were closed. Not many people around.
We enjoyed another yummy French food experience.
This (the bottom item with the whipped cream next to it) is my favorite dessert so far. "Brioche perdu" is French toast using brioche bread.
On Monday morning we drove one hour to Giverny to visit the home and garden of Claude Monet. I can't get enough of these yellow fields!
Walking down Claude Monet Street.
In front of Claude Monet's house.
Inside Monet's yellow kitchen.
Here we are on the Japanese bridge Monet used in one of his most famous paintings.
So many beautiful flowers in Monet's garden.
The little Forget-Me-Not flower - one of my favorite flowers.
Beautiful Lady!
Penny loves pandas. So, when we came across some bamboo in Monet's garden, we had to make a video for Penny.
Approximately 400,000 people visit Monet's garden each year. There are only about 500 people living in Giverny. Our scheduled time to enter the garden was 2:00pm, but when we saw the clouds break as we arrived in Giverny, we decided to get inside while the sun was out. We went in at 10:30am instead. It rained quite a bit during our time in France, but we were blessed with lovely weather when we needed it most.
We took a break to get lunch.
There were some funny-looking chickens wandering around getting food from the visitors.
I make crepes now and then at home, but I can't do it like this.
After lunch, I wandered around enjoying some of the scenery while Sam visited the Museum of Impressionism.
Later in the afternoon we checked into this delightful Airbnb a short walk from Monet's garden. The Airbnb is run by a wonderful little French lady named Diana.
Monday evening we went to a nice French restaurant next to Monet's garden. Sam convinced me to do something neither of us had done before. We chose the four-course meal, which meant that each of us would receive one appetizer, two main courses, and one dessert. I was reluctant at first. I joked with Sam that we would end up eating escargot (snails) and frog legs for dinner. I was partially correct. Despite my reluctance we went ahead with the meal and had a fun experience. The photo above shows the small pre-appetizer we received to get us started. The green stuff is a soup with a piece of potato in it. The white creamy stuff in the spoon is an asparagus liquid with some kind of seed in it. Or maybe the green stuff is the asparagus soup. I can't remember. Both were very good.
Our appetizer was escargot (snail) fried in some kind of coconut crust, with a white mushroom underneath it. Sam hates mushrooms, but she went ahead and ate it anyway. The flavor of the escargot ball was good, but I couldn't help thinking about snails while I chewed the rubbery bits inside the ball.
Our first main dish was fish with a fish sauce (the black and orange stuff), and turnips on the side. It was very good.
Our second main dish consisted of two small chunks of veal with asparagus, a split-pea puree, and a large piece of shiitake mushroom. Once again, Sam ate the whole piece of mushroom despite her dislike of the rubbery little things. I was impressed. She wanted this experience and she was determined to eat all of the surprises.
When the dessert came out, I was relieved to see that it was NOT cheese. Cheeses are included in the dessert section of every French menu and I didn't want another savory item. Our dessert was "charlotte aux fraises" - strawberry shortcake. It was the perfect ending to our fine-dining experience.
Walking back to the Airbnb after dinner. The quaint, narrow streets of Giverny are empty after 5:00pm, when all of the touristy things in the village close.
Our Tuesday-morning breakfast at the Airbnb, which we shared with a couple from Ottawa, Canada who are doing a motorcycle tour of France, Portugal, and Italy for the next two months. I sliced up the baguette and tried some of Diana's yummy apricot, plum, and kiwi-orange jams, organic French honey and butter, and the delicious raspberry yoghurt made from local dairy. The fresh-squeezed orange juice and the cup of sliced fruits were also excellent. And of course we love the croissants as well. Needless to say, breakfast was very fruity and bready.
The rain came down steadily for most of the day Tuesday. So, we relaxed in our room until mid-afternoon when the rain stopped, and then we drove to the nearby town of Vernon to get some crepes at Crêperie Fleur de Seine, which is located on the Seine River.
We began our feast with two different galettes (savory crepes, but made out of buckwheat).
And we ended our feast with two dessert crepes.
On our way back to Giverny we stopped at a pâtisserie (pastry shop) to pick up a few treats for later and/or the next day. Bottom left: la tarte aux pommes (apple pie). Middle top: la tarte aux fruits (fruit tart). Bottom right: la frambroisé (raspberry tart).
This morning we enjoyed our second and last breakfast in Giverny.
There is our wonderful host, Diana.
After breakfast, we drove one hour east to finish our heavenly French vacation at a very heavenly place - the Paris Temple.
Despite the beautiful, sunny pictures you see throughout these blog posts, the weather during our week in France consisted mostly of clouds and rain. We were blessed with sunshine at all the right moments. Last night I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to give us a few minutes of sunshine at some point during the day today in order to get some good pictures. We took a break in between our sealing session and endowment session to buy sandwiches at a nearby bakery. It was totally cloudy during our walk to the bakery. When we finished eating, the sun came out and we had 20 minutes of sunshine before our next session. I looked up and said, "Thank you," and then I walked around happily taking pictures.
The reason it says "Daniel Ogden and spouse" is because I scheduled the appointments through my online account. If Sam had scheduled the appointment, it would have said "Samantha Ogden and spouse."
Tonight we are at a hotel at the Charles de Gaulle airport. Tomorrow morning we fly home.
À toute à l'heure, France! [See you later, France!] We loved our time here and we look forward to coming back.
