La France que j'aime

It is official-- J'aime la France! The past few days have been, if not absolutely wonderful, pretty damn good.
It all started Saturday morning: Max barged in my room the second I finished getting dressed and wanted to play Roller Coaster Tycoon again. We had already beaten Forest Frontiers and Dynamite Dunes, so we finally got to play Leafy Lake, the one he had been dying to play so we could build the boat tour (we used all of our initial loan to build that thing!). We won shortly after we built the train. So then Max got out all his legos and cars and trains and we built a volcano out of boxes and yoga mats. While we were searching for things to add to the mountain we found a frisbee. Right then and there we dropped everything and went outside to play. After about an hour, a lost puppy wandered into our yard. The boys tried and tried to shoo her away but she seemed to take a liking to me. She was wearing a collar with her phone number written on it, so while I held her and scratched her ear, Alex called the owner. It was time for lunch but Alex and I decided to postpone to take the puppy home. That was probably the first bonding experience I've had with Alex. Both the boys love to play outside but Max will get tired, bored, or cold quickly. Alex and I could kick a soccer ball around, play frisbee, or walk the hills returning a lost dog all day. When we got back, Jacques had put our fish back in the oven so it was still warm. After a nice siesta, we all went out to Le Motte for Max's soccer game(s). Soccer is a little different here than in the US. For little kids (Max's age), instead of playing one game that lasts 45 minutes (including breaks), they play 3 games, each lasting 10 minutes. For goal kicks, one field player stays back and has to kick it to the goalie before the goalie can touch the ball. Also, there are no girls' teams and it is very rare for a girl to play soccer at all. Overall, the kids seemed much more team oriented but also shared a good amount of camaraderie with the other team. After scoring a goal, the whole team runs back to the goalie to exchange hugs and high-fives. After the game, without lining up or anything, all the kids just group together and shake hands. We got home, the kids showered and then Jacques' daughter, Aureline, her husband, and their baby girl joined us for Jacques award winning pizza.
Sunday, after sleeping in until 8:30am, I woke up a little nostalgic thinking that the day before had been a one-time fantastic day. I stayed in bed until 10:30 talking to Ricky, answering emails, hearing Max throw 2 tantrums and just not wanting to get up. Finally, I forced myself out of bed to take a shower. I went out front to find Max still adding things to his mountain and Jacques already preparing lunch. Delicious as always. After I'd finished cleaning up the kitchen, Jacques approached me and asked me if I wanted to take the kids to the beach. Of course I said yes. An hour later after convincing me to wear my Uggs instead of flip-flops to the beach and searching for a two misplaced boxes of boots for the boys, we were in the car on the way to Frejus. The second I got out of the car I wished I'd worn my flip-flops. Bright and sunny, it was easily as warm as a nice day in San Francisco. After the streak of under 40 degree temperatures we've been having in Trans, it almost felt like summer. We played around for about an hour and a half before heading back to the house. Soup for dinner and then time for bed.
This morning, Jacques finally left for work. He left the car behind for me to use, but he still doesn't want me to take the kids to school. So I got up, made hot chocolate for the boys, parfaitement, got them ready for school, walked them to les voisins, came back home, skyped Ricky for a bit, and then got to work. I started a load of laundry (one load takes 3 hours in the machine alone). I vacuumed again. About half way through, the vacuum really did lose suction. I took the entire thing apart and fount a pen stuck in the hose. It had caused a enough of a back-up of dust and hair that it clogged the vacuum. After I cleaned everything out, the vacuum started picking up everything and anything within a five-inch radius. The suction was so strong that the vacuum would stick to the floor and not want to move. I have to admit though, it felt pretty good to have figured that out all by myself and to finally have a dust-free floor! I cleaned up the kids rooms and changed all the sheets. Alex now has Olympique Marseille bedding ("Toute la France est pour Marseille" according to Jacques) and Maxime has spiderman. After that, I decided that I was finally going to map out a trail to run. I checked out a few different hiking websites, but ended settling for Google Maps. I had planned to just run down our street, up and around another street that would eventually connect back to Chemin des Suous. Somehow, whether it was because of my poor sense of direction, innate curiosity, preference for trails over roads, or the fact that I just wasn't thinking, I ended up turning too soon and took a horse trail all the way up over the hill, and then back down through several olive orchards and vineyards, a makeshift soccer field, past le Sacre Montmartre and into downtown Trans. I ended up finding another trail that took me back up the hill to des Suous so I didn't have to worry about the traffic on la Route des Arcs. Once I got back to the house, I threw a frozen baquette in the oven, stretched out, and fixed myself a salad. But the workday wasn't done. Dishes, more laundry and ironing and then the kids came home and the real work began. Crepes, homework, showers, and dinner before I could sit down and kick off my bumblebee slippers. After nearly 14 hours, I was exhausted. I let the kids finish their episode of les Simpsons and then got them ready for bed. Alex, always so cooperative, was in bed within 5 minutes. Max, on the other hand, comme d'habitude, wanted to say goodnight to papa. He had already called him twice that evening but got no answer and no call back. I let him try one last time before ushering him off to bed. Ten minutes later I could hear him sobbing and went in to try and comfort him. I figured out before Jacques came home that if I let Max sleep with the phone in his room, he'll usually go to sleep. Once again it worked like a charm and I kissed him on the forehead bon nuit pour la premiere fois!
So now here I am, contemplating my adventures from the past few days and all the adventures I plan to have while I'm here. I entered the Purefans contest for the Taylor Swift concert in Paris in March and I'm pretty sure I want to win more than anyone in the entire world. But even if I don't win, which, unless I come across some of that luck that scored me the Mickey Mouse t-shirt from the Disney Channel contest when I was six (luck is also known as my parents), I probably wont, I know I can make even better adventures out of some of the places I discovered today. I'll be sure to bring my camera next time.
*La France que j'aime is a book by Pierre Bonte that was featured in Le Grand Cabaret Saturday night and "is a stroll through the quaint and sentimental France."