Helicopter in our Neighborhood

A couple of weeks ago, we heard a helicopter that sounded like it was in our backyard. We looked out our window, and the helicopter was flying in front of the house behind ours. It landed on this small residential street where you can see that it just barely fit between the lamp post and tree.

The Little Pool

Monet's Garden - Giverny, France

We loved Monet's Garden. It was lush and wild and beautiful. It was also really fun to see the famous scenes that he painted.

A giant bee on a flower

At least they are all happy and 2 out of the 3 have their eyes open.

We were amazed at how tall the sunflowers were - 10 feet maybe.

Pont du Hoc and the American Cemetery

Pont de Hoc was quite impressive. It's a preserved ruin from WWII. Above, Kayla and Brayden are in the middle of some sort of gun emplacement. There were 225 rangers that were supposed to scale the cliffs and take out the heavy guns to help the guys landing at Utah beach and Omaha beach. Only 90 made it, but there are huge craters that weren't filled in and small post or barrack ruins. The kids enjoyed running in an out of the craters and exploring the ruins. It was really interesting to see.

Brayden at the bottom of a crater


Allen

The coast is really beautiful from Pont de Hoc. We drove by Omaha beach which had the worst fatality rate of all of the D Day beaches. It is now a recreational beach which just seems so eerie.

American military cemetary where 9,000+ American soldiers are buried.

Le Mont Saint Michel and Bayeux

Le Mont St. Michel is an island abbey linked to the mainland by a causeway.

It was incredibly crowded on the path to the Abbey. This is actually one of the wider areas. I tried crepes with the local "Normandy Toffee."

The British tried to take over the abbey several times but weren't able to due to the brawn of Kayla and Brayden.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Bayeux

In Bayeux we saw the 70 meter long tapestry that depicts the story of William the conqueror's invasion of England in 1066. We listened to the story with head phones as we walked along and looked at the tapestry. It was pretty impressive.

Paris - en route to Normandy

Arc de Triumph

I took this picture as we drove into the city. Later, we heard that if you get into an accident in the round about around the arc, your insurance won't cover it. It's also rumored that it's impossible to drive around the arc for 15 minutes without getting into an accident. Luckily there wasn't much traffic that day due the the August European holidays.

Kayla insisted that she push the stroller. I told her I would help her get the stroller up the curb, but she didn't want my help. I had to laugh and take this picture when she totally crashed into the curb.

We parked right next to the Eiffel Tower and stopped to take some pictures.

Family Picture

Allen and Me!

Vianden

We went to Vianden Castle (the castle dates back to the 9th century, but it has been rebuilt). There was a medieval festival the day that we went. There were trumpets and bands and dancers and people dressed up in period clothes. It was really fun.

Kayla and Brayden in a niche in the castle

Brayden and Allen above the gate

This a such a pretty view of the river and our cute kids. Spencer has awesome hair from his nap in his car seat.

We had to walk up the hill to the castle since there were so many people there for the festival. It seemed to take a really long time to get to the castle, but we were surprised how short the walk was coming down.