Saturday Exploring ....

Heck, there is always tomorrow to do something productive. (And let's not forget, we did cut the grass and pull some weeds.)

We found this charming river on the other side of a dam 5 kilm/ from our house. (This dam wasn't interesting enough to take any photos, just your typical run of the mill dam.) Despite the signs warning of danger from a release of water at any time resulting in instant death or being crushed against granite boulders, we ventured on. Those late weekend breakfasts (I stress the word late) sure boost your confidence.

I hope to get back here to trap some crayfish. That is after I do some research to see if this would be a suitable place to catch some. It sure seems like it to me. (After all that experience from when I was 6 or so at Christie's cottage.) We followed the river for nearly 3 hours, I am sure there must be some hiding under some of those rocks.

Somewhere between exploring....

Sebastian turned into a fan of "the Matrix" and has started to do free publicity for Coca-Cola....

Sebastian has become pained by his mother's incessant picture taking. (No that's not plastic surgery gone wrong, Sebastian can really make this face all on his own.) The friend is our neighbor's grandson who was nice enough to come over for a few hours and play.

I grew a tail and a penis. No one else seemed to notice or was to embarrassed to tell me. A great weekend of wild discoveries.

Exploring...

So Sunday instead of doing something productive on the house we went exploring. So much more fun! We stumbled upon a defunct abandoned dam/power plant. Feeling super strong from our large, late morning breakfast (can you say two cups of coffee! yes two! living large) we treked through the woods and along the river.

Shot of the vacant power plant complete with overturned rowboat floating in the water. We had visions of rehabing this place into artist colonies, workshops, and all the rest and then remembered we were pretty much in the middle of nowhere and who were we really kidding. Talk about some good coffee.

This is a shot across the road from the power plant obviously on the other side of the dam. (And no we were not actually stupid enough to walk out on the concrete dam ledge.)

Handsome, handsome fellows....

This sign was found on top of this cool old brick railroad bridge. A bit anti-climactic...all the old rails had been removed and was just a lenght of chain link fence. Oh well, I wanted to see the top. That will teach me....

A set of cool oil stained wooden doors on a garage.

The little shack we were parked next to.

Happy Birthday Nana!

A belated birthday dinner complete with cake cutting tutorial at no extra charge. What a great Grandma! All of our best birthday wishes.....

Vacation!!!!

Sebastian in front of the Loire River. It reminded me (at least from this vantage point) of the Mississippi.

The town of Chateauneuf-s-Loire in the back of the corn fields. Our first break from the car.
Picnic lunch day #1.....pizza, quiche, fruit.

Picnic lunch day #2...pizza, quiche, fruit and hard salami! Geez what a change. We were happy there was no picnic lunch day #3.

The nuclear plant and car shot are compliments of Sebastian. The little guy was amazing on the four day car ride.

Chateau Rocher

An amazing sight from the road. Zig zagging, climbing with our car, we made it as close as we could. This ruin was worth the whole trip.

Sancerre

Sebastian's "little nest" of a bed our first night away from home. He loved it.

Our first night on the road was spent in Sancerre. My favorite wine, dear to my heart, and as I discovered a charming town as well.

We toured this vinyard and went home with a few cases and smiley faces.

Writing my postcards.....

I think I found someone who likes ice cream as much as my brother Jeff! (Yes, his tongue is actually touching it...if it doesn't kill you, it just makes you stronger..our new family motto.)

I can't wait for the walnuts to be ready.....

All this sightseeing....

makes for lots of lying around, passing out in our car seats and all around happy people.

That smile says it all...nothing like watching "Alice in Wonderland" to calm down a rowdy child.

Busted!