I had such a horrible night sleep. The first time I woke up was at 11:50 and I thought it was the middle of the night, then again at 1:30, and then again at 3. When I woke up at three I never really fell back asleep. Around 4:30 Laura went to the bathroom and when she came back we started to talk and talked until we got up at 6. Have I mentioned that I like my sleep and I don’t do well when I don’t get enough sleep? I was tired all day and slept when I could in the car. When we sat down for breakfast I got really sick and was sure I was going to throw up. I couldn’t eat my breakfast and had to have a barf bucket as my friend in the car all day.
We headed of to the bay city of Arcachon. We spent the morning waking along the boardwalk. The water was so calm with no waves and I imagine it would be perfect for small children. We enjoyed looking at the old houses and people watching. While we walked this big group of school kids came by on a run with their teacher. I was impressed with how fast they were running. With each little group came a shout of Bon jour. And through them I learned how to say it correctly. One little girl was in the back puffing and didn’t even smile as she said bon jour out of obligation. I found a ship in a bottle to bring back home to Jared while we walked through some of the shops. While we were walking and shopping I realized I was starving.
As we waited for the restaurants to open, my dad rested his feet while we people watched. This one young kid kept roller blading by and one time my sister joked that she was going to take his picture so he kept coming back and back and back. Ever time he would look at her and smile. Is that young kid flirting with my sister? So she finally took his picture and he went away. I guess he just wanted to go home and tell his friends that some American lady was so intrigued with him she took his picture. What he didn’t realize is that we thought he looked hilarious because he was so tall and awkward on the skates. The children were adorable I enjoyed watching the different personalities. Some would stare at us with no smile but they couldn’t seem to look away. Others were very shy and would look at us and quickly look away and glance back every now and again just to see if we were still watching. Then there were cute little ones who would smile and smile. I miss my kids and hope they are doing well.
We found a restaurant and settled in. I obviously could read nothing and had to rely on my parents for ordering advice. Everything was so expensive. I would look for the cheapest thing and ask, “What’s that?” It is hard to know what had dairy and meat and what didn’t. I settled on a seafood soup and I was nervous about what Kind of things would be crawling out to meet me. My sister knows some French from high school and ordered her own food. My dad made us aware to stay away from anything that said tartar. That meant raw. They eat their fish raw. Not my cup of tea. It was hilarious when our food came. Oh the presentation was elaborate and beautiful but when I looked closely at Laura’s food I had to laugh. What she ended up getting was thinly sliced Octopus with caviar and cream. She ate it all to. We were really hungry. My soup was pureed so that was nice for me. It tasted really good. I also ate some of my mom’s white fish and enjoyed it very much. The big winner was my dad’s dish. It was sea bass stuffed with mushrooms. YUMMMMMMMY. I think that was my favorite food item thus far. Our whole meal was 81 Euros €. That translates to $120. I am not sure if it was so expensive because we were along the beach or because it was a tourist spot. My mom did say that it is much more expensive to eat out here. They have McDonald’s here which seems funny. The food is not really the same and they serve 8 types of coffee. They drink coffee in little cups. They do have a big and tasty so you McDonald lovers rest assured. The only fast food is American style food but I have no desire to taste it to find out if it is similar.
After this we rested our bones while we drove through the city admiring the buildings. They were a different style here and it was neat to see. We stopped at another church and then drove on to the Dunes de Playa. We walked together to the foot of the dunes and I was the only one up for the trek to the top. It was a long walk and I realized I am very out of shape and have again decided to get back in shape when I get home. But once I got up to the top I was in awe at the grandeur of Gods creations. There was a very dense forest on one side of the Dunes and on the other side was the ocean. I took a ton of pictures but I am afraid they just cannot capture the awe inspiring wide expanse that I saw and a picture cannot capture what I felt. This was another favorite of mine.
I took so long that by the time I was almost down my sister came looking for me. As we walked down together we look over and this kid is doing front flips down the dunes. I tried to get out my camera to get pictures of him but I was too late. When he landed he looked over and saw me trying to take his picture and I showed him the camera to show him I wanted him to do it again. By the time we got to the bottom he was hiking back up so we waited to take his picture. Again I wondered if they just really like getting their pictures taken here.
When we got home the missionaries here met us at my parent’s house to feed us a traditional French dinner made with a raclette machine. While the potatoes were cooking my sweet heart called. My heart was happy. It was so good to hear his voice. I was very homesick today. He told me that Joseph told him, “Ok dad, lets pretend that Joshua and I are orphans and we will go to Reeghan’s house.” I guess he is doing ok and enjoying playing at other people’s houses. Ryan did tell me that he has double swimmers ear. Pour kid. I wish I could have been with him through this. He was so excited when Ryan cleaned out his ear last night and it didn’t hurt. Yeah for ear drops!! That makes me feel better.
Raclette is meat and cheese served over potatoes. The raclette machine sets on the table where you eat. You dish up a big plate of potatoes then cook your meat on the top of the machine and your cheese is cooked underneath. I used Dijon with my thin sliced salmon and shrimp in place of the cheese and it was good. For some reason it reminded me of a fondue machine. It was more for the experience then anything else. All through dinner I just kept thinking, “Is it bedtime yet?” When I finally did lay down it felt so very, very, very nice!
We headed of to the bay city of Arcachon. We spent the morning waking along the boardwalk. The water was so calm with no waves and I imagine it would be perfect for small children. We enjoyed looking at the old houses and people watching. While we walked this big group of school kids came by on a run with their teacher. I was impressed with how fast they were running. With each little group came a shout of Bon jour. And through them I learned how to say it correctly. One little girl was in the back puffing and didn’t even smile as she said bon jour out of obligation. I found a ship in a bottle to bring back home to Jared while we walked through some of the shops. While we were walking and shopping I realized I was starving.
As we waited for the restaurants to open, my dad rested his feet while we people watched. This one young kid kept roller blading by and one time my sister joked that she was going to take his picture so he kept coming back and back and back. Ever time he would look at her and smile. Is that young kid flirting with my sister? So she finally took his picture and he went away. I guess he just wanted to go home and tell his friends that some American lady was so intrigued with him she took his picture. What he didn’t realize is that we thought he looked hilarious because he was so tall and awkward on the skates. The children were adorable I enjoyed watching the different personalities. Some would stare at us with no smile but they couldn’t seem to look away. Others were very shy and would look at us and quickly look away and glance back every now and again just to see if we were still watching. Then there were cute little ones who would smile and smile. I miss my kids and hope they are doing well.
We found a restaurant and settled in. I obviously could read nothing and had to rely on my parents for ordering advice. Everything was so expensive. I would look for the cheapest thing and ask, “What’s that?” It is hard to know what had dairy and meat and what didn’t. I settled on a seafood soup and I was nervous about what Kind of things would be crawling out to meet me. My sister knows some French from high school and ordered her own food. My dad made us aware to stay away from anything that said tartar. That meant raw. They eat their fish raw. Not my cup of tea. It was hilarious when our food came. Oh the presentation was elaborate and beautiful but when I looked closely at Laura’s food I had to laugh. What she ended up getting was thinly sliced Octopus with caviar and cream. She ate it all to. We were really hungry. My soup was pureed so that was nice for me. It tasted really good. I also ate some of my mom’s white fish and enjoyed it very much. The big winner was my dad’s dish. It was sea bass stuffed with mushrooms. YUMMMMMMMY. I think that was my favorite food item thus far. Our whole meal was 81 Euros €. That translates to $120. I am not sure if it was so expensive because we were along the beach or because it was a tourist spot. My mom did say that it is much more expensive to eat out here. They have McDonald’s here which seems funny. The food is not really the same and they serve 8 types of coffee. They drink coffee in little cups. They do have a big and tasty so you McDonald lovers rest assured. The only fast food is American style food but I have no desire to taste it to find out if it is similar.
After this we rested our bones while we drove through the city admiring the buildings. They were a different style here and it was neat to see. We stopped at another church and then drove on to the Dunes de Playa. We walked together to the foot of the dunes and I was the only one up for the trek to the top. It was a long walk and I realized I am very out of shape and have again decided to get back in shape when I get home. But once I got up to the top I was in awe at the grandeur of Gods creations. There was a very dense forest on one side of the Dunes and on the other side was the ocean. I took a ton of pictures but I am afraid they just cannot capture the awe inspiring wide expanse that I saw and a picture cannot capture what I felt. This was another favorite of mine.
I took so long that by the time I was almost down my sister came looking for me. As we walked down together we look over and this kid is doing front flips down the dunes. I tried to get out my camera to get pictures of him but I was too late. When he landed he looked over and saw me trying to take his picture and I showed him the camera to show him I wanted him to do it again. By the time we got to the bottom he was hiking back up so we waited to take his picture. Again I wondered if they just really like getting their pictures taken here.
When we got home the missionaries here met us at my parent’s house to feed us a traditional French dinner made with a raclette machine. While the potatoes were cooking my sweet heart called. My heart was happy. It was so good to hear his voice. I was very homesick today. He told me that Joseph told him, “Ok dad, lets pretend that Joshua and I are orphans and we will go to Reeghan’s house.” I guess he is doing ok and enjoying playing at other people’s houses. Ryan did tell me that he has double swimmers ear. Pour kid. I wish I could have been with him through this. He was so excited when Ryan cleaned out his ear last night and it didn’t hurt. Yeah for ear drops!! That makes me feel better.
Raclette is meat and cheese served over potatoes. The raclette machine sets on the table where you eat. You dish up a big plate of potatoes then cook your meat on the top of the machine and your cheese is cooked underneath. I used Dijon with my thin sliced salmon and shrimp in place of the cheese and it was good. For some reason it reminded me of a fondue machine. It was more for the experience then anything else. All through dinner I just kept thinking, “Is it bedtime yet?” When I finally did lay down it felt so very, very, very nice!
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