Club Med Part 5 and ...

Life is getting in the way of my blogging about life...hahaha!

Okay, I need to finish vacation memories!!!  Sunday at Club Med was our last day.  They do not host Mini Club on Sundays so we had a family day of tennis, swimming, archery, more tennis, some blackjack card playing, and thankfully, a bit more sun than Saturday!

We had a great day and after dinner, took in the evening show.  This night, it was dances from around the world, so there was an Irish jig, something with an India flare, a Russian-inspired dance, and more!  That night, we had to pack up for our flight out on Monday morning.  The kids were sad to leave - even had a few tears!

Blackjack by the pool was a highlight!

Kyla liked to join the dancing and on this night, Brendan took a quick snooze.  This is his 'just woke up and I am confused' look.  Pretty cute, huh?










As for the last week or two...this past weekend we took another fun excursion to an area about 30 minutes from here.  It is home to a lighthouse that was a working lighthouse from 1828-1984.  It is beautiful there and the weather was fantastic, though a bit windy.  We enjoyed a dessert in the little cafe that is open on Sunday afternoons and wandered around the area.

In almost every area we visit, we find the remnants and traces of what used to be bunkers, lookouts, and other cemented buildings that were once used during WWII.  We have heard of more that can be found on the trip over to Egersund, so we hope to check those out as well!







We continue to have very busy days and weeks as the end of the school year draws closer.  The Beard Social Calendar isn't lacking for activities - grilling with friends, entertaining new arrivals for dinner, coffees and luncheons for Shauna, along with the usual tennis lessons, after school activities, playdates, etc.  This past week, I also continued learning about the book order process I will be taking over for the school along with a lady named Laura and Wendy and I shopped and made 10 welcome baskets that will hopefully be given to new COP arrivals in the coming months. I even managed to catch up with my girlfriend in Chester, UK for a lively phone conversation!

The other interesting place I visited this past week was with the PWC for their spring luncheon.  We had a guided tour of Utstein Kloster which has a history as a king's home, a monastery, and later, part of large farm. It is one of only a couple that has been maintained over the years with much of its original buildings.  It continues to serve as a community church, farmhouse museum, and a place where events can be held. It is quite beautiful and I enjoyed the tour with friends followed by a lovely lunch at the nearby hotel.

Kyla and Spencer had the final Girl Scout event of the year this afternoon - the long-awaited Father/Daughter Dance.  They had a good time!  Brendan and I made it a Mother/Son afternoon and went over to the mall to do a little shopping and enjoy dinner at Cafe Express.

We had hoped to get out for another fun family outing this weekend, but today (Saturday) has been a very rainy and chilly one, so I am not sure what tomorrow has in store.

And, last but not least, I wanted to wish my grandparents a very happy 60th wedding anniversary!  Sadly, we will be missing their big celebration party with family and friends, but we will be there in spirit!  


The countdown to our trip to Texas has begun and we are looking forward to being with family and friends for a little bit of our summer!

Club Med Part 4

Sorry, everyone - very busy week with lots of distractions!  But, alas, I am back to finish what I started!

So, Saturday of our vacation...

Saturday was a very wet day, unfortunately. It was the only 'bad weather' day we had, but a little rain wouldn't stop us! We had plans for a full-day guided tour to see the surrounding cities and villages.  We hired a driver (who happened to be the same one that picked us up from the airport and then took us back at the end of our trip) and he zipped us around showing us this and that and pointing out interesting and beautiful sights.  The day flew by and our driver had told us many times that it would a fast look and he didn't lie!  When I say whirlwind...I think the longest we stopped anywhere was maybe an hour and that included lunch!  Our guide was nice and friendly if not the most informative, but we didn't mind.  We first drove through Nice and down the...well, I would call it the seawall.  People were out biking, running, walking pets...shops and restaurants, hotels lined the street on one side with a view of the Mediterranean Sea on the other.  Talk about rough waters!!!  Huge waves and we were told it is often like that, windy, rainy or otherwise!  We stopped at a couple really lovely photo op locations too :)

This one was obviously taken as we drove...

From Nice, we drove on to the medieval fortification of Eze.  There, we took a brief walk up into the fortification where we saw inside the chapel, the stone sculpture garden, and beautiful views looking down into and across to other villages and cities.

After our short stop, we headed over to Monaco to see the palace with plans to see the changing of the guard.  We discovered once we arrived that due to the holiday weekend there would not be the usual ceremony, but we took pictures and checked out the area around the palace a bit.  On our way there, we drove around the streets that become the Formula 1 race track later in May, saw the famous Monte Carlo casino and hotel, and heard a little bit about the Principality of Monaco.  On our stop, we also went inside the church where Princess Grace, Prince Rainier and the entire royal family are interred.  This is also the church where the marriage of Prince Albert will soon take place.

Yes, that is a big drop of water on my camera lens...was raining pretty hard while we were here!

After our stop in Monaco, we headed over to St. Paul de Vence where we made a quick stop for lunch at a popular little restaurant right outside the walls of the fortification - delicious! From there, we had about 30 minutes to walk up into St. Paul de Vence where a narrow cobblestone path leads to tons of little shops and galleries that have been built into the the stone walls and in every nook and cranny.  We were getting a bit soaked and starting to look like drowned rats, but on we went!  This was actually one of my favorite stops - would have enjoyed more time to wander into all the little galleries!  When you get to the top, you can look down into a carefully manicured cemetery and have lovely views!

We hopped back in the van and then headed off to catch a quick glimpse of Antibes and Cannes.  We saw beautiful harbors full of huge yachts, interesting buildings, the famous red carpet the Hollywood stars walk during the film festival...

Sadly, I have no good pictures (not even remotely decent) since we were in the car, moving, and there was rain on the windshield...not a good combo!  But, so it is.

By this time, we were all pretty tired and the kids were ready to get back to the resort.  We started our trek back through curvy roads...kids were starting to get a bit car sick, but thankfully we arrived back before anything unfortunate happened - lol!

That night we caught part of the show and got the kids off to bed.  Spencer and I were hoping to catch the guy singing at the piano bar again, but as memory serves me...we missed him, but had a "nightcap" instead.  All in all, it was a nice day, despite the rain!

Sun was in the forecast for Sunday, so we had one more chance to soak it up before we returned home.

Club Med Part 3

So a quick update on the current stuff - things are cruising along here and very busy as the school year's end is in sight.  I have committed to two things for next year - the Welcome Committee for COP Spouse's group and the Scholastic Book Orders for ISS.  Spencer is the lead music person at church and the kids are keeping busy with activities.  My days have been filled with meetings for this and that and trying to watch and learn about what I need to do for my new volunteer activities.

The weather here (up until today) has been gorgeous!  Lots of sun and warmer temperatures.  Today turned out okay with just a brief shower.  We went on a little family outing on Sunday to Trollskogen (basically a wooded area with trails) on Hundvag island and had a great time - packed lunches, a little exercise, some family time, and a great sun-shiny day! Brownie Bear (the Girl Scout's mascot) also accompanied us on our adventure! We plan to also check out the Natur Skolen soon too!

Back to vacation highlights though...

So Thursday and Friday the kids attended Mini Club and Spencer and I went on the organized morning walks, made our first attempts at archery, lounged by the pool, and enjoyed our "kid-free" time.  Thursday's walk was to a nearby olive oil factory - the Mill of Brague.  It included a tour of the factory and ended with the opportunity to taste test several olive oils.

Friday's walk was to the the Market of Valbonne.  It was a lovely village with a lively open-air market full of all kinds of wares from meats to flowers to clothes to olives and oils to souvenirs!  We also found the most gorgeous display of fresh fruits and vegetables.  It was so fun to wander around and check it all out!  Before we headed back to the resort, Club Med had set up a table near the fountain and offered wine, beverages, and snacks.

Just as a side note - our walking leader, Mathieu awarded us medals at an evening ceremony for attending 3 of the week's walks...lol!



We continued to enjoy the food, shows, and activities the resort offered.  The next couple shows of the evenings included an Andy Warhol show with colors being the theme and a show based on the movie, The Matrix.  They were mostly dancing and costumes.  Following one of the shows the kids were invited up to continue dancing and ours were happy to join in.  I, unfortunately did not have my camera, but they went all out as you can imagine.  Brendan had us in tears showing off his dance moves to the Mini Club leaders!  It was hysterical!

In our free time, Spencer taught the kids the finer points of Blackjack...they now have a new favorite card game :)

Spencer and I also discovered the piano bar where a gentleman was singing in the evenings accompanied by a piano player...they were awesome!  We ended up getting the kids to bed on a couple evenings and heading back out to enjoy the entertainment and adult beverages!

More to come - Saturday's whirlwind tour is next!