Wishing Mrs M...

a very Happy Birthday chickie...

Hope your day has been... or is that still is? a grand one for you and that hubby of yours spoilt you rotten today and took you out for a yummy lunch somewhere...

See you again soon... with a belated birthday treat... mwhah...

So just because you can... does it mean you should?

Well I guess that would depend a whole lot on what the just because you can is... and whether you enjoy doing that sort of thing...

and with that opening I am sure there are plenty of... huh? what is she on? kinda looks going on...

Well when you happen to find yourself in France and only a couple of hundred kilometres from the Italian border and you would get to drive through none other than the Mont Blanc Tunnel... well how could you NOT go!!!!

I mean seriously who would turn down the chance of going through the Mont Blanc Tunnel just because you can? NOT us is the answer to that one... Euro 43.70 return along with at least a dozen other Auto route tolls to pay along the way... gotta get real here... the distance isn't far but seriously avoiding toll roads would be super insane!

Wow some really seriously amazing photo ops... that only had a chance to be captured while doing 130 clicks down the Auto route... but still seriously worth it... and the fun to be had during the 11.6 km stretch of the Tunnel...

And then there was the missed off ramp to Courmayer which meant we took a 50km (return) detour to Aosta... where we tracked down some gelati... oooh Limone Gelati... be still my heart... as good as I remembered it...

Long drive back partly in the dark... meant for a late night for the girls and a sleep in for everyone this am... Photos have just finished downloading will be back later with some edited shots!

@ the Chateau...

As I said we are staying at a gorgeous Chateau at the moment... we found it through Gites France which is basically a holiday home website for places to stay in France... how when you have two little girls can you NOT stay in a Castle at some stage for them...

The original tower was built in the 1300s with the wall coming next... the house... more fortress towers... then the buildings for the animals etc... we get to stay in one part of the Chateau... four floors... four bedrooms... 52 stairs from bottom to top... will have super strong legs after this leg of our stay...

the view from the gate...


up closer...
the first square tower you see (between the old round tower first built and the other square tower clearly seen) is where we are staying... we also have the space behind the two windows showing next to the tower...

our hire car in front of the original tower... had booked a Citroen C5 instead we get a Volvo V50... the lack of suspension has kinda put me off Volvo vehicles for a long while!!!!


the kitchen

the lounge


Dannielle's bedroom

Anya's bedroom

Our bedroom...

The stadium in Arles

Some photos of our time in Arles starting with the Amphitheatre which was built in the first century



and a family photo using one of the bollards that permits residents through but not tourists in cars! came in very handy thank you...



and surrounding areas...

At Haribo... the lolly factory...


More photos from this part of our trip later... but I really really want to show you some photos of the chateau we are staying in at the moment... so look out for those really soon...

Snails... TGV... Arles

Snails... those things that the very young eat willingly... but hit 7 or 9 and there is the oooooohhhh yuk factor... then apparently the eating of snails is not the done thing... well not willingly that is...

I was however very proud of both my girls for actually trying a snail each... not that you can taste much of the snail over the herbs and garlic... but it is another thing ticked off the list... Frogs legs are still on it right along with Creme Brulee...

The TGV was an experience right from the start... thankfully we had decided to go and print out our etickets the day before we were due to leave... thankfully because we had a hiccup... rather a large one at that... the reference number we had been given should have actually been a 6 letter reference rather than the strict numerical one we had... after a short wait we were helped by a supremely helpful lady... who while admitting to only speaking a little English... helped us by not only finding our "lost" booking but by giving us a whole lot of very helpful advice... it meant that we didn't walk in the following day to a "huh what do we do now" thing...

301 kms an hour is the fastest we saw appear on our GPS screen during the 3 hour trip from Paris to Avignon... seriously weird in itself... considering we travelled the equivalent of Picton to Dunedin in that time... now we all know that the Picton -Dunedin trip is quite frankly not possible in twice that time!!!!!

There was a surprise awaiting us in Avignon though... sadly even though we had booked and requested a Citroen C5 to drive while we were here in France... alas and alack there was NOT a C5 to be had for love nor money... instead we got given a... WAIT for it... a Swedish car instead... a Volvo V50 1.6 diesel... the ride is shall we say... HARD in comparison to what it would be in a Citroen... and yes this comes from prior experience... surely someone else other than me remembers the delightful Eloise? Built for style and comfort... Chris has come to grips with the fact now that we will NOT be driving a French car in France but is happy to know that we are at the very least protected by more airbags in one single car than we have in all our cars put together back home!

Arles ... or more importantly the ancient part of the city has become our home for the last few days... full of two lane roads and the have to be seen to be believed one way system... where traffic slows for pedestrians on the roads to slowly amble there way to some sort of safety which is often only an illusion most times... we are staying in a gorgeous old home that has been converted to a hotel... it even has a swimming pool that we have all enjoyed at least once when the temps got so high here that even the shockingly cold entrance to the pool didn't put you off...

Our first day here we visited the Roman Amphitheatre... or the lion stadium as the girls refer to it... It is quite simply massive!!! It was built in the First Century AD and considering it has stood for pretty much 2000 years its in pretty good nick... it has been used for many different things during the millennia it has been standing apart from its original purpose... it apparently housed 200 dwellings and 2 churches at some stage since this is the numbers mentioned during a "clearing out" of the amphitheatre... I have to say I was totally impressed with the amount of "refurbishment" of the whole structure... and the fact that they are using and have available the very same ancient materials that the original builders use...

Now I have to apologise for the lack of photos with this post... I do promise that we have taken more than a few photos... its finding any kind of time to edit some down to a size that blogger and or facebook won't throw a complete hissy fit at... hopefully in the next few days this can and will happen...

in the mean time stand by for not only photos but more on an old bridge that we couldn't get to the top of! Fish... big and small and not a one to be seen on a dinner plate... Haribo... dinosaurs, evolution... and much much more...

Paris...

Okay so obviously I am running a day late and a euro or two short...

Paris was wonderful...everything expected and some... just being there I think was the best part about it... its not an everyday thing when you live downunder... there is none of this "oh lets just go to Paris" for the weekend... or any other European city for that matter... no its more like a grand event... so I for one was determined to enjoy every minute of it...

Now like most I have seen photos of all these amazing places and thought 20mmm wouldn't mind seeing that sometime before I pop my clogs... Paris was one of these cities on my "before popping my clogs list"... did it live up to the expectations... I would have to say yes... though I did get more than I bargained for... no where do you see photos of the stairs in the Metro stations... no mention at all of the fact that Paris has a gazillion stairs... I do feel like we found every single one of them and walked up and down them at least once if not twice or more!

Did we walk up the 1600 odd stairs of the Eiffel Tower? I think NOT with two children in mid 20's temps the day after arriving in Europe after a 30 something hour flight!!!! Nope we booked tickets to take a lift at 1.30 Saturday afternoon... little realising that was still going to mean a huge line of people all waiting to do that exact same thing!!!! but you should have seen the seriously long queue waiting to actuallly climb it!!!! seriously by the time you got to the first step you would be totally buggered from all the standing around just trying to get to that first step...

do you think the tired looking people in this photo would have made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower if they had of had to climb it???

Now the other thing no one ever tells you about is the queues... it seems queues for this and that are perfectly normal here... which I guess with the much larger population base is kinda to be expected... but one thing we found was that sometimes queues can be avoided... NOT jumped mind just avoided all together!!!!

And with no hurt feelings for anyone else... just takes 5 minutes of reading a guide book to find out that there is in fact more than one entrance to the Louvre... one that doesn't take you under the amazing Pyramide to start with but does mean that you aren't standing in the sun for hours on end... and its only a few minutes walk around the corner... pay at a machine or in person (we did the former no worries whatsoever) grab a map and start wandering...

It does also mean that later when you exit the museum from under the Pyramide you can take the obigatory shot... got to make sure it doesn't go anywhere after all!

Next up... snails, travelling on the metro... travelling on the TGV... visiting a Roman amphitheatre... staying in the oldest part of a VERY old town... and driving extremely narrow streets that often end up being two way!!!! in a VOLVO!!!!!!!!!!!

Paris...

Okay so obviously I am running a day late and a euro or two short...

Paris was wonderful...everything expected and some... just being there I think was the best part about it... its not an everyday thing when you live downunder... there is none of this "oh lets just go to Paris" for the weekend... or any other European city for that matter... no its more like a grand event... so I for one was determined to enjoy every minute of it...

Now like most I have seen photos of all these amazing places and thought 20mmm wouldn't mind seeing that sometime before I pop my clogs... Paris was one of these cities on my "before popping my clogs list"... did it live up to the expectations... I would have to say yes... though I did get more than I bargained for... no where do you see photos of the stairs in the Metro stations... no mention at all of the fact that Paris has a gazillion stairs... I do feel like we found every single one of them and walked up and down them at least once if not twice or more!

Did we walk up the 1600 odd stairs of the Eiffel Tower? I think NOT with two children in mid 20's temps the day after arriving in Europe after a 30 something hour flight!!!! Nope we booked tickets to take a lift at 1.30 Saturday afternoon... little realising that was still going to mean a huge line of people all waiting to do that exact same thing!!!! but you should have seen the seriously long queue waiting to actuallly climb it!!!! seriously by the time you got to the first step you would be totally buggered from all the standing around just trying to get to that first step...

do you think the tired looking people in this photo would have made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower if they had of had to climb it???

Now the other thing no one ever tells you about is the queues... it seems queues for this and that are perfectly normal here... which I guess with the much larger population base is kinda to be expected... but one thing we found was that sometimes queues can be avoided... NOT jumped mind just avoided all together!!!!

And with no hurt feelings for anyone else... just takes 5 minutes of reading a guide book to find out that there is in fact more than one entrance to the Louvre... one that doesn't take you under the amazing Pyramide to start with but does mean that you aren't standing in the sun for hours on end... and its only a few minutes walk around the corner... pay at a machine or in person (we did the former no worries whatsoever) grab a map and start wandering...

It does also mean that later when you exit the museum from under the Pyramide you can take the obigatory shot... got to make sure it doesn't go anywhere after all!

Next up... snails, travelling on the metro... travelling on the TGV... visiting a Roman amphitheatre... staying in the oldest part of a VERY old town... and driving extremely narrow streets that often end up being two way!!!! in a VOLVO!!!!!!!!!!!

It's all on...

thats right the bags are all packed... the house sitters are here... and we are about to head out the door...

France here we come...

And we have a winner...

I'm sorry I am running a bit behind... crazy busy here at the moment... enough of that I am sure you are all waiting patiently to see who has won a copy of Darling Daughters...

I run my list of names through Mr Random this morning... and he picked ...

List Randomizer

There were 9 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. Alyna
2. teresaj
3. justclick
4. justclick
5. latoquee
6. Mumure
7. LRaeWoo
8. teresaj
9. may

Congratulations Alyna... flick me an email (check under my profile details on the sidebar) and I will get your prize to you asap...

If you weren't the lucky winner this time... don't forget that you can still pick Darling Daughters up at 25% off for a little while longer...

New Release - collab kit with Siamese Studios

I loved working with the gorgeous and wonderfully talented May from Siamese Studios... and now I get to share it in all it gorgeousness with you...

Celebrating and rejoicing in our precious Darling Daughters...
with them in mind we created a gorgeous...
full to the brim with sweet little girlie elements and papers...
a colour combo designed to fit most little girls...
and their Mamas too...

Darling Daughters
image is linked to the kit at TwoLittlePixels
but is also available for purchase in May's store at Funky Playground Designs

and as usual is 25% off for the next 24 hours...

Sneak peek and a chance to win...

I've got a new collaboration coming out this Friday and I'm really excited because the designer whom I collab with is a favourite of mine.No guessing games though... you can see who I did the collab with on the sneak peek just below...




Darling Daughters Giveaway Enter for a chance to win this kit for free by simply leave a comment by Friday, September 10th at 8.00 pm (GMT).

Increase your chances of winning by posting about this giveaway via twitter or your blog. Don't forget to come back here and post a link in the comments section (please post as a new comment each time).

The winner will be announced here on Saturday, September 11th. There's another giveaway on May's blog, so don't forget to head there for another chance to win the kit.

Happy Scrapping!

It's been a very long weekend...

Natural disaster time...

Earthquake measuring 7.1 at 4.35am Saturday 4th September... followed by masses of aftershocks some into the 5.0 on the Richter Scale and coming at least hourly till last night...
Power out for nearly all of Sat... but we were lucky to get our power on by then... some were without power yesterday... seriously thankful for the very brave linesmen who left their families to make things better for everyone... and thanks have to go to the families of the linesmen as well... watching your husband/father/partner leave home to head to work after the earthquake you have just experienced would NOT be an easy thing to do...

and then just to add insult to injury ... topped off with gale force winds during the night (Sunday 5th Sept) when everyone is just a little on the jumpy side anyway... like why on earth couldn't the winds hit during the day when at least you can see what the heck is going on! Power out again last night... though once again the linesmen came through restoring power quickly...

now if the weather forecasters are right (and I hope and pray that they aren't this time!) we are in for another crappy night filled with heavy rain this time!

ENOUGH already!

and we are blessedly lucky to have a home that hasn't sustained damage... I don't envy those who are struggling through with no home to return to... homes severely damaged during the quake... affected by the broken sewer pipes... those with no running water due to water mains pipes bursting...

And now the schools are closed ... till at least Wednesday to ensure that all schools can be checked for damage... an unexpected couple of days off for the kids...