Happy Birthday, Zac!

We wish a happy and healthy birthday to cousin and nephew Zac, who is spending this summer in boot camp in Missouri! Bravo! We are super proud of you, Zac, and wish you a bright and shiny future, filled with success, love, health, and happiness! All our love from France, Aunt Michele, Uncle Charly, Savana and Gigi!

A Sunday in Paradise!

You'd think we were in Ibiza or some island in the Caribbean! Nope, we spent lovebird Sunday after our 9th anniversary sortie Saturday night (thanks to Nathou and Jeff who kept the girls all weekend!) at Francois and Valerie's paradise! This is their new addition poolside the Zen Tiki bar!

Val's Bar with Charly, Francois and Tom

My new sunglasses...like Bono's non?

Still my sweetie after 10 years! Wow.

La Soirée Blanche!

In honor of Christophe's 40th birthday, we all showed up at CloClo and Mariethé's aux "Terres Blanches" for a huge weekend and La Soirée Blanche! Charly was put in charge of electricity and of course installing the disco ball, so we were the earlybirds and showed up Saturday at noon to start the festivities and help with preparations! The girls helped their beloved Corto make appetizers which was really just a good excuse to play with dough and have flour fights, but they turned out to be tasty nonetheless! Despite the threat of a thunderstorm, the evening started off perfectly with sunkissed guests arriving donned in white and ready for the another one of Christophe and Delphine's fabulous parties! Christo served up moules au muscat (mussels) and pit-fired baby lamb (a tradition!). The rosé poured along with the gin Kas, the guys played some petanque in the newly inaugurated terrain, and the dance floor spun with white everywhere! (Style Hint: big white sunglasses are back!) The kids had a blast and crashed upstairs, and Christo, Charly, Delph and Michele debriefed the evening around 5am poolside! But that wasn't the end of things! Sunday was another day, and by noontime we had another 40 guests or so for an afternoon "after party!" Absolutely a divine weekend! Grace à Christophe et famille! Check out my blog for Christo's soirée at http://christoforever.blogspot.com/

An Afternoon Escape to St.Chinian

view from the botannical garden in Roquebrun

hidden pathway!

maybe when I turn 40...

With the new Mini Cooper she earned for her 40th birthday, great girlfriend Laurence treated Michele to an afternoon out on the open road! We played race rally speedsters on an incredibly scenic mountain highway to the St. Chinian wine region just an hour or so from home, did a little wine tasting at Cazal Viel, checked out the panoramic views, and headed into the village of Roquebrun! Michele fell in love with the charming village perched on a hillside overlooking the river where kayakers and sunbathers soaked in the July sunshine! We took every hidden pathway to climb to the top of the village and we toured the botannical garden and the ancient fortress ruins before settling in for a beer watching the ducks on the riverbank! Elle est pas belle la vie in the south of France! Girlfriends like Laurence are priceless! Can't wait til the next afternoon escape!

Gigi is engaged too, Aunt Aislynn!

This 5 year old cutie is still the one for our little Gigi! They met as babies, have been skiing and sledding together for years now, and summer love is in the air!
Gigi spent a fabulous afternoon yesterday with Corto, her "fiancé," whom she plans to marry, as long as he is willing to wait until she turns 29 as that is the minimum mommy-approved marrying age!

We've almost arranged everything with the future in-laws, great friends Christophe & Delphine, who are throwing a huge "Soirée Blanche" for Christo's 40th which we are looking forward to next weekend! Of course, the lovebirds think we're all showing up in white for a big party in their honor! Charly has his hands full with this one! See the not-first kiss on video below!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARK!

On this 7/7/07, we wish Mark, Uncle Mark, and Lit'l Brudder a huge and happy 36th birthday! May this year bring you much love, more peace, lots of prosperity, and plenty of joy and laughter! Start planning that road trip out west on a motorcycle...the day is approaching! Can't wait to see you August 16th! We love you! Big hugs and kisses! Charly, Savana & Gigi, and Tister

4th of July in FRANCE!

Thanks to Rebecca & Christophe, we celebrated the 4th here in France with friends Linda, JC, Alison, Ken, and new friends Fabien and Vanina and all the kids for a hamburger/hot dog cookout, potato salad, and all the trimmings (Rebecca even provided Little Debbies she brought back from the States last week!

We added a little Pastis and lots of red wine to the mix to chase the homesick blues out of our red, white and blue evening! Hung out til after midnight hoping the French might throw some fireworks our way, but to no avail...the conversation was petillant nonetheless and we enjoyed ourselves immensely!

Happy Independence to all of us! Freedom...to be anywhere in the world and still be very proud to be an American! May God bless America and send his angels to each and every one of you with love from France.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

Savana and Gigi finished up the school year today with bittersweet impressions; happy to be on vacation, but sad to say goodbye to their teachers. Savana heads to third grade with straight A's (wow!)and personal congratulations on her report card from her teacher Madame Issartiel! Bravo Savvy!

Gigi graduated from Kindergarten with lots of success in pre-reading and especially in math! She leaves L'école Maternelle and her cherished teacher Carmen to join Savana in the big Elementary School next year! Our baby is a big girl now! Bravo Gigi! Let the good times begin...It's summer!