Mont St Michel, Normandy beaches,

Lacey, thanks for giving me a little push.  I should post once a week, though I know I won't.  I love your guts...even more than Normandy, France...and more than Mont SM...and more than those yummy deserts at the end of the post. 

 Once upon a time, my theater teacher, Mr. Green, who was also the French teacher, took a group of my fellow students to France where they visited Mont St Michel.  After hearing about their adventures, I promised myself I would go there someday.  "Someday" happened when Isaac's scout group planned to visit the beaches of Normandy.

Mont St Michel is a little less than a km from land.  The little island is a series of old stairways, alleyways, courtyards and paths made of old cobblestone.  It is a tourist trap...yet I love it.  My imagination went wild.  

During the 100 years war, England conquered all of Normandy except this little fortified island...or maybe it's not an island...but I'm not sure. 

 This small arch was down in the town.  There were a million more in the abbey. 

 Having his hat on makes him look like a little village commoner...

or sea dog...

whichever your pleasure. 

 I found all sorts of little nooks that caught my eye, 

so I tried to pretend I was a national geographic photographer.

 Stairs, stairs, and more stairs.  My most memorable stairs happened while we were paying to get into the abbey.  More correctly, Eric was paying for us to get in when B declared he needed the restroom. When we asked the lady sorta pointed us up some stairs.  That was actually the entrance.  We didn't have our tickets put Eric hollered he was coming and the lady could see we were in duress.  I grabbed Benj and I climbed a thousand steps...it might have been only about 896, or something like that.  ;P  I thought I would pass out.  Seth followed us as he had to go also.  One of them was crying.  We ran past a monk in a blue robe.  Surely a man of the cloth would point me in the right direction, but alas he was talking to someone and I didn't want to slow down to much for fear of...well, wet steps, if you catch my drift. Finally, I saw the lovely bathroom figures that are not language specific.  Whew.  

 Na-rrow, eh!?

 The abbey would be a good place for hide-n-go-seek, but for college age peeps.  The place was huge. Here our little gents are in one of the knight halls. 

 We conquered MSM

 Next we met up with the scouts.  We have been to Normandy a couple times before but this was the first time we went to the USA cemetery.  It was impeccably clean.  Also, we so the nice director driving his golf cart.  And while he was waiting to speak to a group we watched him try to revive a bird who flew into one of the visitor center windows. Doh. 

 E, pointing our to our little troops, what happened on dray, 70 years prior. 

 Many a fine soldier lie in this cemetery...they were truly the "greatest generation."

 Glad to have a man to show these little men how to show proper respect. 

 One of the ways the Western Allied forces were able to defeat Germany was with trickery.  They set up a bunch "balloon tanks" in an area to make the German attacker believe they were starting from somewhere else.  They also flew over an area and dropped a bunch of these pseudo paratroopers. 

 Isaac and 4 of his 6 scout buddies. 

 Seth and Benj mounted up...sorta. 

 Pointe du Hoc is still filled with big craters. 

 Benj and his friend, sometime fiancé, sometimes not fiancé, Sophia. 

 Seth always has a little surprise for me. 

The rest of the pics are in Bayeux.  We went to see the Bayeux Tapestry.  Holy canoli, was it impressive, though it is not a tapestry at all, rather a looooooong (70 meters) embroidery piece about William the conquerer.

8ight is GREAT!

 I like things that run deep...like Isaac's dimples and his faith in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

A couple days ago I was driving the little gents to school.  When we leave the property, we have to open the back gate with a fob.  My fob batteries have been running low and therefore I can not always get the gate to open.  We were running a little late this particular morning, and I kept pressing the button in hopes that some residual energy might kick in.  I pushed that button several times and then, low and behold, the gate opened up.  Whew.  I was so relieved.  It entered my mind to ask if anyone had prayed, and Isaac said "Yeah.  I did."  The little guy just knows who to turn to.  He is often times my teacher and an example to me, his mom.

He invited several friends to his baptism.  Including our friends from the ward we had about 60 people at his baptism.  Some members of our church, several non-members.  The Elders interpreted English into French for some investigators...it added a lot more time.   I guess that doesn't matter as much as the fact the spirit was certainly present.  I am so pleased to be his mommy.

Isaac and Grandpa

We made little donut bags that looked like the #8 and delivered them to Isaac's class the day before his actual birthday. 

Isaac has come a loooong way in 8 short years.  He is a good boy. A really good boy.  He is nice to little people.  He can keep a secret.  His eyes twinkle when he plays a practical joke on someone.  He laughs easily.  He loves trees...and swings that are connected to them.  He loves baseball, friends, and being outside.  He loves Wednesdays because he doesn't have any homework. He will eat, or at least try, anything, and when he doesn't like it he says, "I'm not really a fan." He can be reasoned with.  His imagination is freakin' awesome.  He likes to draw army tanks and missiles.  He loves to play mine craft.  He is honest.  He likes to snuggle with me at night, it's when we have our best chats.  He is one of the greatest blessings in my life.  My love for him runs deep.

Grandma Honey Heart gave all the fellas beautiful ties.  Eric loaned his dad a yellow tie so Ken could be "matchy matchy."  Eric loves matching...a lot. :)

It was special to have Isaac choose to be baptized on his birthday.  

He received the most important gift of his life time on this special day.
Note to Isaac:  I hope and pray that you will always remember that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the most important thing to keep with you.  You KNOW how the influence of the Holy Ghost feels. Follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost and you will certainly return with honor to our Heavenly Father. That is the whole purpose of your life and also of Jesus'.

Some of the people who stood in his confirmation circle were: his dad, grandpa, Bastian Volz, Matt Curtis, Francesco De Lillo, President Orsini, and a couple of our young single adults. 

Isaac has been carrying his papa's scriptures to church for several months.  Grandpa and Grandma Hatch gave him a beautiful set of scriptures.  He loves them.  He worked at reading the whole Book of Mormon before he was baptized.  He did not finish but he has read diligently. We will keep at it. 

Lunch date

Seth has the week off for Carnival/Lent, err something.   Yesterday he said to me, "Hey mom when you are done with your shower do you want to have a picnic with me and Benj?" (I want to write Benj and I, but that's not how he said it.  And I am slightly embarrassed that my shower was so close to lunch.)

"You bet!"  I always say yes when a cute boys invites me on a picnic. (Eric won my heart when he took me on a picnic with Tacobell.) "Do you want me to make sandwiches?"

"No.  That's okay."  He had already taken everything out to the picnic spot.

We had chips, granola bars, fruit snacks, and gold fish.  You read it right, not a fruit or vegtable in the vacinity.  And did I correct them or encourage them to choose at least one produce item?  

I surely did not.

If you were lucky enough to have your best friend born into your family, 

you were mighty lucky, indeed.  

 Not a good picture, I know, but you can hear his laughing squeal in this one, cant you. 

What a face!  And I think he is even cuter on the inside. 

His ninja moves are freakin' awesome. 

It's trying to be spring. 

 I heartily approve.

Know what I like better than spring?  

Two cute boys, who also cleaned up after our picnic was through. 

Second star to the right

Benjamin is pretty infatuated with Peter Pan and all things related.

"Isaac's a lost boy.  (after thought) And a blockhead." 
When Peter comes back to find that the lost boys have attacked Wendy he says, (click on the play button.)

"My Tink likes you but you're a big ugly girl."

Me: Benjamin, put your coat on.  We need to go.
Benjamin: I'm not Benjamin.  I'm Peter.

Me: Hey Benj, do you need to go potty?
Benjamin:  My name's not Benj.  It's Peter.  Yeah, I gotta go potty.

Benjamin:  Hey Wendy, is this a ham samwhich?
Me:  Yep.  And if you eat it all up, Benjamin, you can have a cookie.
Benjamin:  My name is Peter.

He didn't call me mom (or mother which is his usual), for two months. Just Wendy.  Poor fellow sorta looks like he needs a mother.  Bust his let him dress himself, and he feels big and independent because of it.

Birthday in Disney Paris

We had planned on taking the little gentlemen to Disney for Benjamin's birthday.  Eric had something at work and he couldn't take off.  What to do?  What to do?  I decided it would be better to go on my own rather than not go and be bitter about it.  So we went.  

We found a good grocery in the train station right outside of Disney, yummy baguettes for breakfast kept three little dudes happy and full.  They were really good.  I think this will be our new norm before we head into the park.

 Disney Paris is awesome.  I LOVE this magic bean stalk.  Another thing I love is the dragon lair beneath the castle.  There is a huge animatronic dragon that is a little unnerving when it lifts it's head up and snorts. Unnerving, but super cool.  And the pirate caves to explore are super cool too.

We were there during the transition time.  We saw three different parades as they were shifting to the Christmas themed parade.  We were also there for the last night of the firework animation show.  We missed the Frozen show. Drats.

I learned that the hotel lobby has a character meet at 4 pm everyday.   You dont have to be staying at the hotel so we tried it out.  AWESOME!!  We got to see lots of characters and interact with them not just pose for a picture and get an autograph.  Goofy was a hoot.  And Mickey would dance with the children, or tussle their hair.  Later we went to City Hall and Mickey gave Benjamin a birthday phone call.  The cute lady gave Benj and his two brothers a coupon to get a free gift in the shop.  Very cool!

So the photo below is blurry but I am adding it anyway as it was my favorite photo bomb ever.  We were visiting with Chip and ready for a picture when Dale jumped in front of the camera.  It made me laugh out loud.  Dale then pointed to Isaac's holey (not holy) mouth and then pointed back and forth from his holey mouth to Isaac's.  He then gave Isaac high five.  Evidently they are part of an elite group of cool holey mouth dudes.  I loved him because he happily made Isaac feel special. 

Happy Birthday Benjamin!!!

Just a reminder that Benjamin threw up at the hotel our last night.  He slept well, and the next day he seemed fine.  Ha.  Too bad Eric wasn't there....for lots of reasons...one of which, he would have kindly cleaned up the throw up mess. :)

Paris with the Mère