I am behind on blogging.  I still have pictures from the aquarium and from other adventures.  I should be blogging one of those but I had so much fun today that I just have to blog about today.  We went to see Castle Beynac.  It is just down the road from us.  All of these castles that we've visited are all in about 5-20 minute drives from our house.  It's been great!  If you like medieval stuff then this is your place!  The kids had been to Beynac with Steven and his Mom one day when I stayed home to get some work done.  They were all nice enough to go a second time for me.  I loved it.  It was one of my favorite castles thus far.  You could really imagine what life was like then and the castle was so well preserved.  Here are some images from the day...

At the base of the castle there is an amazing look out point with this sweeping view of the Dordogne Valley.

Almost all of the castles or chateau that we have visited have their own small church and some even have their own graveyards. This is the Beynac church. We heard that they still have services here on sundays.  You guys should all be proud of Susan (Steven's Mom) because she is scared of heights.  Just look at her though!

And just so you know it isn't all perfect...3 year olds can throw tantrums at medieval castles too.  This one went something like this "But my legs are tired!!!!"

Here are some pictures from the inside. What I liked so much about this particular place was that they kept it simple. They used oil lights and kept the display to a minimum, which gave me a real sense of the true place.  This is Steven peeking out of the castle window at the river below.

Another glimpse at the amazing view!

The boys had fun playing knights as you might expect. Here they found a look out window way up high and had fun pretending to watch out for the enemy!

I love this one of little Finnian peeking out of the window.

 
Sayer asks amazing questions.  The big questions often come at bedtime when it's quiet and he's trying to fall asleep.  You can tell he is just sorting through the day's events and his thoughts on it all.  He'll get real quiet and say  either "Mommy, do you know what?..." or simply "Mommy...".  It has a specific inquisitive tone to the word Mommy.  You know it's coming.  Before we left for France, I was putting him to bed and he said, "Mommy...who was the first person ever born?"  Yes, this is the kind of question that I'm talking about.  One night he asked why do people hurt each other sometimes?  And another, "What does it mean to be married?" and "Why do Mommies have breasts?".  Recently on an outing to the Lascaux Caves here in France, he asked the guide "Why did they [meaning the cave dwellers] want to make art on the wall?"  The guide just stopped quiet for a second and said "Uh, well, we really don't know".

Sometimes it may just be a how-does-the-world-work kind of question but often there are bigger questions in there too.  Like tonight...

Background- we watched Shrek today.

Do all dragons have wings?
Do all dragons breathe fire?
Why were the knights in the castle with Fiona all skeletons?
Did the dragon like donkey?
How did donkey know that dragon was a girl? to which he answered himself "she had eyelashes and big lips"
then all of a sudden we move from Shrek to...

How come in the picture of you from when you married Daddy you can't see your face? (background: I am looking out a window in my bridal portrait)

Why were you wearing a nighgown? (testament to the fact that I never wear dresses and he can't make sense of what I'm wearing)

another big switch to...

"Mommy where were you born?"

from there we moved on to one of his favorite stories, which is the story about how Mommy and Daddy met and fell in love and he was born.  From there, he fell asleep. 

Right now he is asleep beside me all cuddled up and illuminated by the light of the laptop screen.  Maybe all little kids are like this but he just seems to so aware, so deep, so curious and so interested.  I hope he stays this way.  I just can't wait to see him grow up.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want it to happen too fast.  I love this place where he's at.  It's scary because I can see the baby all but faded away and the toddler is on its way out too.  The little boy is arriving complete with all of these big questions.  Danny jokes with me sometimes about how hard it will be for me when some girl just breaks that sweet little heart of his [by the way, she better watch out].  I quickly respond with jokes about his daughter starting to date boys [those poor boys].  It's there for all of us...the fear about growing up.  Sayer will quickly tell you that when he gets big he is going to buy the house right next door to me and live there.  A few days ago, he told my friend Wendy that he was going to live upstairs at my house forever even when he was married.  Right now, I like that thought too.

How will we ever readjust to a busy life?  We've settled in so nicely here.  I must have brought 4 or 5 pairs of shoes and have worn nothing but flip flops for weeks.  Life is simple here- much, much simpler than at home.  All of the shops close between 12 and 2:30.  Everyone takes a long lunch or heads home for lunch and a nap.  You have to ask for the bill at a restaurant.  The roads wind and so we drive slower.  Steven has to wake us all up (kids too) around 9 am.  We stay up late because it doesn't get dark until around 10:30 pm.  Our stay is coming to a close though and I am trying to adjust to the idea.  So you can enjoy it with us, here's a little of what we do from day to day...

Lots and lots of amazing baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat.

bug hunting in the lavender 

after an afternoon rain... 

lots of wine with dinner, some wine at lunch...pretty soon we'll be drinking wine with breakfast.

afternoon naps with Finnian, our bedroom window.

the smell of lavender 

and the huge bumblebees in the flowers. 

Tensing (my friend Wendy's dog)

clothes on the line 

This time we had meat that cooked on a big lava rock right in front of us.  It was incredible.  Lots of amazing wine, lamb, duck and beef.  A fabulous salad with goat cheese and one with mussels.  Mmmmmm...... 

A beautiful moon. 

Sayer grabbing on to my legs- super excited about the street performers.

I would like to introduce you to these cute little owls that I found in the backyard.  I think they are brothers.