More Paris Photos

Hope you all are having a great day.

Photo 1) Some misc. street in Paris. They all pretty much look like this.

Photo 2) There's Alex at the end of our journey. She's laying on the four seats in our berth on the train. Poor thing!

Photo 3) This is the Gare de Lyon in Paris in the middle of a typcial Wednesday afternoon. Look at all those people.

Photo 4) There's Gracey goofing off in the tunnel / access way underneath the Arc de Triomphe. (It's the only way to access the Arc since it sits in the middle of a huge roundabout with about 10 legs.

Photo 5) Picture of the Eiffel Tower taken from across the Seine River as Gracey and I approached it from the east.

A Couple More Paris Videos

This first video was taken while Gracey and I were riding the Metro underneath Paris. This thing is very efficient, cheap to ride, and continually crammed. You'll notice in the background (if you look carefully) that as the "train" snakes around turns that the people disappear. Kinda cool. These things are long. I bet 15 cars or more.

This next video was taken while we were at the Arc de Triomphe. Very nice.

Paris Photos I

Hi all,


Here are a few photos from our trip to Paris. I went there this past Monday with Alex and again on Wednesday with Gracey (to pick up my Visa). I wouldn't recommend going to Paris from hundreds of miles away like that but our trips were productive and interesting.


We went there to apply for my Visa for my Chad trip in June. Both days we left at 6:30 AM and returned home at 10:00 PM. Train rides were 4.5 hours each way. Long and tiring.


Enjoy.

Photo 1) Eiffel Tower on the approach from the bridge over the River Seine. Very nice.


Photo 2) Taken from the courtyard adjacent to the big museum just west of the Eiffel Tower. We were about 1/2 mile away and I zoomed in on the building peaking out from the background underneath and behind the tower.


Photo 3) There are litterally thousands of motorcycles and mopeds parked along the sidewalks of Paris. This little gem was spotted by Gracey and she just had to take a picture. I think it was manufactured by BMW. Don't see something like that in the States.


Photo 4) I just couldn't pass up this photo op. Payton loves Mini Coopers. Now, must of us North Americans think Minis are small but not so fast..... The 2 cars flanking the Mine are called Smart Cars. They are true 2 seaters and are they ever small! Alex took a picture of me standing next to one. I am at least 2 feet taller than the dumb thing.

Photo 5) There's Alex standing in front of the Arc de Triumph. She loved Paris. I think she'd still be at the Louvre if I had let her go.

Paris Photos II

Here are some random photos. Enjoy...

Photo 1) I don't think I have ever seen armed military personnel at a train station or airport in the US yet here they are at the Gare de Lyon in Paris.

Gracey was quite impressed that these dudes were walking around. Everybody pretty much ignored them although I did see 1 person asking one soldier a question.


Photo 2) That's Gracey touching the base of the Arc de Triomphe.

Photo 3) Gracey in front of the Tower. Actually, we were about 1/2 mile away at that point.

Photo 4) That's 585 Euros (about $800) for each of these 2 different pairs of shoes. We also saw some wallets "on sale" for 250 Euros (about $375). Incredible!!!

Photo 5) I took this one for Janice. Don't know what these vegetarians were trying to prove but Gracey and I thought it was funny. I don't think our resident vegetarian thought it was, though.

Paris Video I

Here are a few videos. Pictures to follow.

The first video was taken by Alex and I on the 19th of May. We are adjacent to the Arc de Triumph. The thing is huge. We eventually made our way over to it. I learned that there are steps leading to the top. Napolean must've had one enormous ego to build such a thing. Pretty cool, though.

The second videos is of the Seinne and the Eiffel Tower. You can get a pretty good feel from the video just how incredibly big the tower is. It makes the space needle (in my opinion) look kinda small. (I just looked up the heights: Eiffel Tower is 1063 feet. Space Needle is 605 feet. Not even a close call.)

Paris Video II

Hey there. Hope all is well.

Here is another video I took of the area just east of the Eiffel Tower adjacent to a large museum. Very cool.

Enjoy.

sf

A birthday party

These pictures are taking at a local park. The party was for Aiden a friend of our and he was turning 2 of course you see by the #2 candle...Gracey is catching a water balloon. You can tell by her face she didn't want to get wet!!! And the last picture is of Alex in her head scarf that our friends the Davises bought for us. She is also getting ready to catch a balloon.

love liddy..
;)
;) :) :'})


i love you guys & i miss you guys......... :) .....

hello hello to all the world!

Hello,
well yesterday we went on a HUGE hike!!!!! up a mountain here in albertville,
we climbed to the top till we couldn't climb no more.
There were TONS of red ants! The reason that i was falling in that video was because i got bit by a red ants on my ankle and it hurts so bad!
After i was done falling my pants were full of snow and I had a frozen "bootay". It was soo cool and we had such a fun time...well, Emma had a fun time most of the time except for the "fall"!! :)

love to all,
Gracey

Rock Rouge II

Here are a couple of videos. Enjoy. sf

Rock Rouge

Hi there.



Yesterday, Payton, Emma, Keturah, Gracey and I went with a bunch of other people for an early morning hike up one of the mountains here to a place called Rock Rouge. The hike itself took us about 4 hours and while it wasn't particularly technical in its requirements (we walk on a nice path most of the way) it was VERY physically demanding. The vertical grade varied from just a couple of percent to upwards of 15 percent or more. It was, without a doubt, the most physically demanding hike any of us Fludes have ever completed.



I've included a few pictures for your enjoyment.



sf

"Why do I keep getting hurt?" Part 2

Hi, This is Emma Ray, (NOTE OF CAUTION: NOT READING MATERIAL FOR AUNTIE LISA!)

Today some of us and our friends went hiking up a mountain...a very steep mountain. It took us 2 hours and 40 minutes to go up and only 1 hour to go down. The reason it only took 1 hour is because going down was sooo steep that most of us either fell or slid.

Are you guessing now who was the one who fell??? Speaking of falling...I was hopping down the mountain and my legs just started running and my arms are out at my sides wiping around and I started flying and then did a sumersault. Falling, then slipping. My right leg has a large egg like bump that is black and blue and under my left knee is a bump and bruse. I have lots of places on both legs that are missing skin. My head hurt and my friend Colson said he thought I hit my head but we are not sure. I am ok now, but that was the scariest thing I have ever done.

I think I cracked my cast at the elbow area...but it's not broken open or anything.

well, i hope you all have a great non slipping down mountains day,
love,
emma ray

Notre Matin A L'Hopital

Our morning at the hospital was fairly uneventful save for one very funny moment. We went there (me, Janice, Emma, and Keturah) for Emma's first exam following her broken wrist incident of last week.

As things go in France, our visit was dragging on - we were there for over 2 hours just to get an x-ray and have the doctor look at Emma's wrist, etc. - when we found ourselves in the lobby of the hospital's main entrance. I was waiting to see a receptionist (for the 3rd time) when Janice decided she needed to "faire de pipi" (yes, that's French for "go to the bathroom" and "pipi"is pronounced "peepee".... I wonder why the kids like saying "I need to Faire de pipi!"???).

So, she gets up, walks over to the door, opens the door, walks in, and after about 3 seconds walks back out and says, "There's a sign in there that says the bathroom is closed". After a few minutes she asked Keturah to go back into the bathroom and read the sign herself. So, Keturah goes in and soon re-appears just laughing like crazy.

Turns out that what Janice thought said "The Bathroom is Closed" actually said "No Smoking". Now you might be thinking "How in the world could Janice confuse "The Bathroom is Closed"with "No Smoking"? The answer is simple but hillarious....

In French, the word for "No Smoking" is "Ne pas Fumer", and the word for "The Bathroom is Closed" would be something like the word "Fermer" inside a circle with a diagonal slash through it. Turns out that the words "Fumer"and "Fermer" look just enough alike to confuse those of us learning French. (It's a good thing Janice doesn't smoke otherwise she may have relived some of her highschool days and lit up in the bathroom - just kidding honey!)

All's well that ends well I guess. We got the bathroom situation figured out and Emma's arm is healing normally.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I know we will since we our have no class until Tuesday of next week.

See you.

sf

Lots of pic's..

Ummm.......Esther, I do not know what to say....

Sooo cuite!!!

FFFFooooooddddddd!!Good food.(not really good)

Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gg,sooo cool....

bye bye-Lid...

Quote of the Day

The other day Janice and I were in the kitchen with Ethan and Esther. Esther, who is unlike any of our other children (by that I mean we have had a very difficult time with her behavior and with training her... she's just plain strong-willed), was not acting properly. After watching Janice and I correct and discpline her a few times Ethan says, "She's a baby who has been trained to talk but she's not a baby who has been trained to obey".

He said it so sweetly and innocently that it brought a smile to both of our faces. Ah, kids!

Have a great day.

sf

Another Video

Below are 2 more videos of Payton's and my trip.

One shows us at the point in one of the hikes where the terrain was so steep a series of ladders and stairs was installed for the hikers. Note how many people there are. This wasn't only a one-way deal either. Many people came up from below. It was quite interesting. At one point, past the people in the foreground, the ladder was all but hanging over the ravine below. Quite beautiful.

Enjoy.


sf

This is for Rebekah Ekelund. /:)

Hello,
Though I just talked to you on the phone I had too say this..(Because I left this out)
I will draw some pictures for you and I will take pictures of those pictures and put it on another blog soo that you can see how I draw now, Ok?

If you were woundering, I haven't ben drawing as much because it has ben nice out... So that makes me want to play out side more. :)

I know you will think that this blog is cute BUT THATS ACTUALLY OK!!!!
Wow,
LOVE YOU ALL.
Keturah

The Grand Canyon of Europe

This past weekend there was no school from Thursday through Sunday. So, a few of us dads took our sons (the "older" ones anyway) to Les Gorges du Verdon (aka - The Grand Canyon of Europe).

It was about a 4 hour drive to this wonderful place in France.We had a great time. Took 3 long hikes down into the canyon. One of the hikes was well over 7 miles in length. We were gone most of the day.

I will include several blog entries below this one with photos, some video, and explanations.

Have a great day.

sf

Video No. 2

This video gives a little flavor of the trail. It was quite steep in places.

First Video

This video was taken from the car and just give a little flavor for the roadway.

Misc. Photos

On the way home we actually found a KFC in Grenoble. It was funny to see how excited we all were to eat some 'real' American food.

Right away we noticed that they didn't serve any of the staples: mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, cole slaw, beans, etc. They served sandwiches, chicken wraps, and fries. They did offer free refills on soda which is very rare in France.

Here's one of the tunnels we walked through.


Notice the sign. Every one included an English section. How nice!

Payton and the other boys found this tree house not too far from our campsite. They spent a fair amount of time in the tree.

Our Campsite

We learned a little something about how the French camp. Instead of campgrounds - like what we have in the States - the French seem to prefer to use farmers' fields. That's where we stayed.

As these photos show, the farmer even provided a wash area (complete with a really interesting paint job. The wash area included a very hot shower, several bathrooms, and an area to wash dishes. Very nice.

The interesting thing about the campsite was there were not campfires. We had to ask the farmer if he'd let us have one. He said sure but we had to use the barbeque. It worked.


The last photo shows some of us playing "star wars". Payton loves the game and plays it as often as he can.

You can also see in the other photo above that we didn't starve. In fact, we packed a bunch of food home with us.

More Photos of Gorges Du Verdon

Some people brought their dogs along even though signs at the beginning of each trail said dogs were not allowed.

As you can see, the trail was being highly utilized by many people. We ran into folks from France, Italy, Russia, Great Brittain, and others whose languages we could not pinpoint.

There were several places where the route was so rough that stairs were installed to help hikers. As you can see, there were a few places where we needed to go through a tunnel. It was very dark in those tunnels!

And, here's Payton and his ever present Pirate hat!

Some Photos of Gorges Du Verdon

The photo of the lake is located up stream from the gorge. There is a dam there which regulates the flow through the canyon.

These other photos are were taken from the base of the canyon save for the last one which was taken from one of the many trail sites where the canyon was directly below us.

Sooo cool soooo cool....

Tawnee is soooo cool like that!!O ya thats how you do it tawnee!!!!I like my statue jk it is not mine... For my Dad..soo not cool but esther is.....He look like rile rile freaky just to look at hem like that it give me the creaps!!But esther dus not....


Esther, yipeeeeee!!!

Hi guys.G2gbye.Have a good day...Liddy..