On Friday night… we had hayrides and campfires. It’s a reservation event that we go to every year. In essence, they have a singer, a big campfire, marshmallows, hot chocolate and a hay rides pulled by a tractor throughout the dark and spooky reservation. I love the event because it has everything you’d want: sweets, burning wood smell, dank leaves smell, dark woods, moon, and live music.

Saturday I had yoga in the morning, while the kids had gymnastics. After a snack, we walked to our library with a stop at a playground. I got a new book, T got a new book.

L had her piano lesson in the afternoon. Then a Halloween movie at the house. Our Saturdays are becoming very predictable which I don’t necessarily dislike. In between the lessons and the movie, I also sorted laundry (I don’t fold anymore) and made popovers!

T is from Maine which means popovers and I love them, too. We had a mix from the Box of Maine from February of last year that I kept wanting to use up. And finally- finally- I got the energy, and the eggs to use it up. Phenomenal pop-overs. With jam and butter. Heavenly. I only wish I’d do this more often.

If you haven’t deduced it already, we kind of LIVE at the reservation. Last week I was there three times: once alone on Thursday, and twice with the kids (on Friday and Sunday). And really, why not? Sunday it was such a glorious, crisp day so we packed a lunch box with whatever we had at the house and headed over to the reservation again. The kids played by the brook and ate every 10 minutes, while I sat on a fallen tree and planned out this week. My butt was a bit soar at the end but at least we got two hours of play in a gorgeous setting.

My golden girl from Sunday at the reservation:

Other glimmers from the weekend.. R’s little hands putting together a puzzle…

A together shot at the reservation:

Travel plans for summer of 2025.

I have some GRAND plans for us for this coming summer. I want to live in France for a month. I already started very slowly learn about France’s regions and departments.

A very loose plan: fly into Paris, just the kids and I. Immediately take a train south to Provence. Overall, the regions we want to spend time in: Provence, Dordogne, Burgundy, Alsace, Loire Valley. I may need to cut that since it’s quite ambitious. Meet T in Paris at the end of the month and celebrate our 13th year anniversary there. Leave for the US together.

Initially, my idea was to start with a week in Paris then T goes home after one week (similar to what we did in Italy) but according to the TripAdvisor forums, it is better to have a week in Provence in June then do Paris at the end of July when many Parisians leave the city for the summer. Apparently, it will be hot but less crowded which we will take. We were in Seville in July- talking about HOT. We survived, and kind of had a good time.

Some immediate thoughts that I am already set on:

1. I will have to rent a car in Avignon (Provence) and give it back in Blois (Loire Valley). The reason being that a car is still faster than a high speed train when you include al the wait times/changes/etc. Example: from Avignon to a town in Dordogne is 10 (!) hours train journey. By car is six. From Beaune in Burgundy to Colmar in Alsace it’s 5 hours train journey. By car= 3.5. It’s more nerve-wracking with a rental car but I will mainly be driving on country roads/highways and I’ll be sure to get the smallest hybrid they have (learned my lesson in Spain with having a big car in old towns).

2. I want to find lodging in gîtes. What is a gîte? It’s a single family house/farm house that has been restored and is rented through a program supported/backed by French government. Kind of like French government Airbnb. Many gîtes are in the country side because they are houses, many have pools, patios, washing machines, full kitchens. I am especially excited for the pools at the end of day for the kids. Here is one in Alsace region for about $750 per week.

I have many, many more thoughts about this trip and will probably change the itinerary a bunch of times. Will need to crunch some numbers and make a plan. So putting it out there to the Universe!

Pic: a pine needle covered side yard