First day of school

We dashed home after everyone left the lake house yesterday to make it back in time for all the open houses.  Then today is the start of a new school year.  Charlotta, 1st grade. Add two grades per child:)

 

 

 I hope they don't fall asleep on the first day!

A week of fun and sun!

Well, this is the last hurrah of summer.  One week with the Benbow family at Lake Shetek.  We played a lot, cuddled some, and even celebrated a birthday! The paddle board was the hot commodity this summer:)

 

 

 We added a bunch of new sand to the beach, which made for a lot more fun digging and eating sand!

 Wave runner is always a favorite!

 Snuggle time!

 Brennen turns 8!

 

Auntie Liz decorated the cake-it's just a skill I do not possess!

 

Can't have a party without a pinata!

 

 The annual dock photo!

 More snuggles with such a cutie pie!

 And even fishing success!

Home for 1 day!

We got home from our wonderful trip and had one day to celebrate James' birthday as a family before we headed up to the lake for a week with my family.

Eat our way through France-Part 2

Once the cooking school was over, we headed over to Beaune-the heart of Burgundy wines,  This was where I got extra sneaky!  JT's brothers and spouses were going to meet us there (surprise!!) to join us for the rest of the trip.  As soon as they all arrived, we were off to a class, learning all about Burgundy wine labels and how to drink wine in Burgundy.   It was a very useful class!!

  

 Back at home, ready to dig into some wine:) Our rental home was a beautifully restored home that dated back to the 900s.  It was so awesome!!

 That night, it was off to our first of many delicious restaurants.

 The next day, we did the grand tour of Burgundy and put our new found knowledge to the test (it was actually very helpful!).  Of course, delicious French things for breakfast!

 First stop, the best wine hill in the area and learning about the wine maps.

 

 Our first winery (and the best) for our first wine tasting.

 

 The next winery.

Stop for lunch (our tour guide did not know we were chicken farmers!).

 Then out for some more wineries and wine tastings!

 That night, it was off to the first star on our Michelin starred list of places.  Somehow, only the cheese cart got recorded.  Well, it was impressive...

 The next day we traveled up to Paris.  We dashed off for a little sightseeing (St. Chapelle - beautiful stain glass) before heading off for one of our best meals at 3 starred, L'Arpege.  Delicious farm to table!!

 

  

 

 

 We had our own cave to dine in.  We could be as loud (or drunk) as we wanted!

The next day, we had a food tour scheduled in the Montmarte District.  We started at the best (literally, he won the award)chocolatier in the world.

  

All of these sculptures are made out of 100% chocolate!

  

Next was the best macaroon place, crazy flavors here!

 

  

Soooooooo hard to pick just two!

 

Then we went to the butcher, cheesemaker, and breadshop...

 

  

 

  for, you guessed it, lunch at a classic French cafe.

We finished with a little Crepes for dessert and sightseeing to work off the calories.

 

We dashed back to our side of town for a small museum, Le'Orangie - Beautiful Monet's. Then we were off for cocktails and a Burlesque show (no pictures allowed:()

 

The next day was full of museums, D'Orsay and Louvre. We went to 2 starred Joel Rubicon for dinner.

  

For our last day, we went to Versailles for the day and 3 starred Epicure for dinner (soooo good!).

JT still liked my here.  About 10 minutes later, he claims I took him on the Garden March of Death.  I wanted to see all the gardens and so I did!

Sad to eat our last delicious dinner!

A good time, and an extra 10 pounds, was had by all!  Happy Birthday, JT! I don't know if I'll ever be able to out do this:(