Kyle and Jemma's blog
Monday, September 13, 2004
Last day in Caen, home through Paris
A good last meal in Caen, and then back to Waterloo via Paris. Jill's parents stayed in Paris for 4 days, we'll see how it was when they get back.
Kyle was considerate enough to sleep through the first 2/3 of our meal... what a treat! But then, he was ready to party!
Kyle has a continuous cycle of clean/dirty going on... when will that stop? q:]
Sunday, September 12, 2004
Mont St. Michel, France
One of the cooler places in Europe that we've come across, Mont St. Michel is an enclosed island just off the coast of France. At low tide, you can walk to it, at high-tide it's completely separated from land (minus a modern road). It was AMAZING to see...
It was a VERY steep climb up to the top, but the view was amazing. You could see this place from MILES away, and see forever from the Abbey at the top.
And the funniest thing: if you leave your car in the front parking lots too long, it will not be there when you return. This sign literally reads "Today the tide will not cover this parking lot until 5:45pm".
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Juno Beach
We also saw Juno beach, and the Canadian museum there. This was the Canadian landing area on D-Day. They had an open German bunker which was pretty interesting to see.
Lunch was another matter... copius quantities of seafood for all!
Our hotel in Caen overlooked the Hippodrome (horse track... we think). Not a bad hotel, but nothing special.
Omaha Beach, Normandy
Next was Omaha Beach - famous site of the American landing on D-Day (WW II for those of you a little out of touch...). It's a beautiful beach that just doesn't fit with the images I know from that day.
Strangely enough, we were there on Sept. 11... weird.
Friday, September 10, 2004
Vimy Ridge
Jill's parents are in town, and we set out on a 4-day weekend through the Normandy region of France. Our first stop was Vimy Ridge on the way to Caen. Vimy was the site of a huge Canadian victory in WW I, where we took a key German defense line that both the British and Americans failed to take earlier. It was a turning point in the war, but cost a lot of lives on both sides.
Interestingly enough, they have a bunch of areas fenced off due to "undetonated explosives", but allow sheep to roam free in the same areas... I guess the idea is to keep the grass cut, and only barbequeue a few sheep instead of groundskeepers.
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Party Time!
Kyle had all his little (and big) friends over for his first birthday party... and he certainly knows the words to "it's my party, and I'll cry if I want to..."
But he had lots of fun anyways...
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Happy 1st Birthday Kyle!
Where has the time gone? A lot changes in a year though:
Then:
Now...:
We did a small celebration today, Kyle got a candle in his breakfast (ooohhhh... fire.... let's grab.....), then he got two presents from Grandma and Grandpa Cazabon (including a teddy bear). He's having a party this Sunday with all his little friends, so there will be more then.
He loves his new bear... he picked it out himself at the store (without asking us first) and we just couldn't separate the two of them. This is about as close to 1 year old as we could get before he went to bed... about 1.5 hours short of 1 year old (including time change). :)
