Philip and Jaime Connor

While we stayed at the Chateau de Brou we had the chance to eat a very fancy four course meal. We all dressed in our fancy clothes and wore our fancy shoes and ate in the very fancy dining room. Here is a picture of the dining area, we were in our own alcove off the main room. The room where you wait for your table to be ready. Dining Room The fireplace. Note the M on the top. We are sure it stands for Metcalfe. This was our table in the room just off the main dining area. They probably put us there because they wanted to separate the rambunctious Americans from the rest of the diners, but we were happy and it was great. Here are some pictures of our delicious dinner. Not only was the dinner well prepared, but it was also well presented. I missed getting a picture of the little (and I mean tiny) bowl of delightful cold tomato soup they served us to whet our appetites, but here are the rest. I had to get out my thesaurus to find different synonyms for delicious or you would be hea...

My little Chase is nine months and then some. I have been slow getting this post out and soon with have to post a new one with a 10 instead of a 9. He is the sweetest little guy! So pleasant and sweet and just a love. I am honored to be his mother and he has taught me so much. I'm am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for sending him to my family!

My little baby girl turns six today! I can't believe so much time has passed. It seems like she should still be as little as Chase, and yet, here she is six years old and such a big girl. SIGH! Joslyn, there are so many things I wish for you on this day. I wish for your continued health and happiness. I wish for you to always know that your family loves you, not just your family here on earth, but your heavenly family as well. I wish for you to always have a love of learning and to keep being as creative as you are now. So many other good things I wish for you and I hope that you will always stay close to our Heavenly Father and His son Jesus Christ. Happy Birthday Joslyn! We love you!

It was about 5:00 when we arrived at the Chateau. The car stopped and we all jumped out exclaiming excitedly to each other and telling our parents that they rocked big time. We went into the Chateau and Dad checked us in and got our keys. We followed him from room to room, marveling at the beautiful rooms and the fantastic bathrooms. The tubs were so deep and we couldn't wait for a chance to take a soak. We all chose our rooms and then settled down for awhile before dinner. More on that later . . . A closer view of the front of the Chateau The entry The stairs to our rooms. Aunt Laraine's room Heather and Sandra's room Dad and Mom's room Jo, Chase and my room (we were in the Joan of Arc room) This was Chase's side of the room. My awesome deep tub. I have got to get me one of these!

On Wednesday, we left Angouleme for good. We had been going back to there every night after our sight seeing and staying at the house where Mom and Dad had been living. It was really great because it saved us tons of money on hotel bills. We already had a house that we had rented for our days in Paris, but when I asked Dad where we were staying on Wednesday night while we were in route to Paris, he was very vague saying only "we've got it worked out." Very mysterious. Anyway, our plan for the day was to see some Chateaus on the way to Oradour Sur Glane. I covered that in the last post so now on to the Chateaus! The first place we stopped was Chateau de la Rochefoucauld and it was beautiful. We could not go inside, but we walked around the grounds and took pictures. Here are a few of the best ones. Me and Chase and the back view of the Chateau Here is a view of the front of the Chateau Here we are in front of the doors, ready to move in. According to legend, the c...

I need to take a quick break from my France posts to mark a momentous occasion. Well, two actually. Chase got one of his two front teeth while we were in France. Then the tooth next to it came in, I mean the one on the side, not the other front one. He has been lopsided ever since and the other front one just wouldn't come up although it was right beneath the surface. Joslyn, on the other hand, lost her front tooth and then the one one the side, so she had a gap, a tooth, and then another gap. She looked like a red neck. Anyway, yesterday Joslyn finally lost her other front tooth, and Chase finally gained his. All is right with the world. Chase's new teeth Joslyn's big gap

I was going to make this post include other activities that we did on Wednesday, but as I was writing I really felt that Oradour sur Glane should stand alone and have its own post, so here goes. We left Angouleme and headed for Paris. One of our stops was the town of Oradour Sur Glane. Here is a little history lesson to explain the importance of this place. On the 10th of June 1944, a group of soldiers from the Der Führer regiment of the 2nd SS-Panzer Division Das Reich entered and then surrounded the small town of Oradour-sur-Glane, near to the city of Limoges. At first, they told the Mayor, Jean Desourteaux, that there was to be an identity check and that everyone must go to the Champ de Foire (fairground) while this took place. After rounding up all the inhabitants that they could find, the SS then changed their story from that of an identity check, to one of searching for hidden arms and explosives. The soldiers then said that while they searched for the arms, the women and c...

November 3rd On Tuesday we got up early and went out into the French countryside. Our ultimate destination was Rocamadour, which is a Chateau and a church built on top of and into a cliff. On our way, we had a few stops at different Chateaus. The first one was not actually a planned stop. Dad had planned to drive past and point it out to us, but Chase had other plans. He got hungry so we pulled over so I could feed him. It ended up being such a cool place so it was great that we were able to have a chance to see it. It was one of the Chateaus that was sacked during the French Revolution, so it is still in ruins right now, although it is being rebuilt by a French couple. The chateau was actually closed that day, but when they heard that we were visiting from the States, they let us in and showed us two rooms that were still intact. One room was the chapel. It was a room where Charlemagne and Louis III (I think) had attended services. The other room was a dining hall. The sto...