Le château de Bénouville

We saw it from the bike bath (bottom right of frame) and decided to visit.

We'd never been here and it's only 10 min from our house.

It was built in 1785 and remained in the family until 1927. It then became the property of the general council of Calvados which turned it into a maternity hospital. In 1980, it was rehabilitated and restored, opening its doors to the public in 1990.

Above a pic of one of the two delivery rooms on site 

and below a woman delivery on June 6 1944.

Inside the chateau there was an expo on gardening in France. 

(specifically chateau gardens) 

                                 

 

OMG, so shockingly educational!

Screwing our heads back on….

After a few days of getting back into the swing of things, 

Seb and I headed off on our anual summer bike ride.

Known for the British glider landings (you can see them in the background) 

on D Day,  it made for a nice late morning trek. 

20 km round trip on a nicely paved bike path.

Since we worked up a bit of a sweat, Seb thought he'd wash his t-shirt

 in a "lavoir" that we passed along the way. 

(a lavoir is where they used to do their laundry back in the day)

What's new ???

 Sebastian's quilt is PERFECT. 

THANK YOU MOM!

Stephane's labor of love, 

bookshelf /guardrail is up and running.

Our find from last summer, 

the farmer man has found the perfect spot.

And we were pleasantly surprised to come back from vacation

 to find three out of the four windows in place. 

More work to do, but super excited!

The man and the muscles.

Captain Lilly I presume….

 Aiden lost his legs

Almost as much drinking was going on at Lake Arrowhead 

as on the fishing trips with Mark and his brothers!

 What is it about the great outdoors ?

Blurry but worth it. 

Shriner clown? Oh, no just Jeff on our evening walk.

A bit of french horn anyone?

A good time was had by all. 

No Stacker Sandwich incidents, only good clean fun.

(PS…In case you missed it. Check out the drawing of the crying indian baby on the WI postcard above. Really? Whose idea was that.)