Goodbye France, Hello U.S.A.

On Saturday we left our lovely house in Beynac and drove to Bordeaux.  We had wanted to visit the new wine museum, Cite de Vin, but it just wasn't feasible in terms of time and audience, so instead, we went to a vineyard a bit north of the city to eat some food and drink some wine.

There was a lovely castle, and the weather was perfect for sitting outside and enjoying a meal.

It was the type of restaurant that had a chef's choice menu, so we went for that, and added the surprise of "blind tasting" different wines with our different courses.  It was a lot of fun, and the grounds were large and grassy, so the girls could go and explore when they got tired of sitting around with us.

Lunch took over two hours, which was a perfect way to say good bye to the leisurely French dining we'd gotten used to.  Then we drove to the Bordeaux airport to drop off our rental cars and fly back to Paris.  Even though we didn't make it to the Cite de Vin, it had brought up the idea of flying from Bordeaux to Paris, rather than driving, which worked out brilliantly.  The Bordeaux airport is small and seems to run very efficiently, so it was a much easier place to deal with a rental car drop off than evil CDG.

We stayed in the Novotel again, but at least this time we knew what we were getting into, so it was pretty easy to manage.  The girls were getting to the end of their ability to be civilized, so we just ordered room service for the Goerss contingent, while the Andersons went down to the restaurant.

The girls were happy to play in the little play area the next morning.

Elena had recognized the play area when we checked in the previous night, and exclaimed, "Oh! We home!"  The poor kid has been a really good sport about being dragged from place to place, and I could tell it was a bit of a relief to see something familiar.

We said good bye to Jeff, which was hard to do, and then he headed off to catch his flights back to Bangkok.  Our flight to D.C. left a bit later, and we took a taxi to the terminal.  Even though Jeff was sad to travel without us, he got upgraded to business on both legs of his trip, which wouldn't have happened if we were with him.  There are silver linings to traveling without children, much as you may miss them.  

Said children were very well behaved for the flight back to D.C., even though it ended up being MUCH longer than originally planned.  A passenger on board had a medical emergency which required us to turn back while we were over the Atlantic ocean.  The nearest airport was in Ireland, so we landed there.  He was taken off the plane, and then we had to wait for all the paperwork hoops.  Altogether it added about four hours to our travel time, but the pilot said the passenger seemed to be doing alright, so I guess it was worth it.  

We ended up getting home late Sunday night, rather than Sunday afternoon.  Vivian was signed up to start summer camp first thing Monday morning, so I tried to get the girls settled and in bed as quickly as possible.  Luckily, they were both sleepy, so it went smoothly.  Unluckily, they were not sleepy at 4:00am, so we had an early start to our Monday.  The extra time came in handy though, since I needed to sort out all of Vivian's camp stuff and figure out how to get there.  

It was a bit hectic, but it all payed off when she was reunited with her friend Kaitlyn amid hugging and squealing.  The main reason for coming to the U.S. this summer was for Vivian to have summer activities and see her friend, so even though I was sleep deprived, I felt like it was worth it.  

We've quickly settled into a routine of camp and hanging out with our friends.  Elena and Kaitlyn's little brother Mark also play together really well.  Vivian is loving camp.  She's becoming a bit of a teenager though.  In case you can't tell from her expression, I got a "Mom, this is so embarrassing," comment about taking her picture.

It's an acting camp, and she has a musical theater elective, so it plays right into her dramatic side.

My mom did her hair in two ponytails, a look which Elena admired and tried to emulate.

It didn't last long.

While Vivian's at camp, Elena has been enjoying herself at my parents' house playing with toys.

She also loves that the playground is nearby.  

I wanted to make sure Vivian spent some time reading this summer, so I took her book shopping at Barnes and Noble.  She picked out the new graphic novel versions of the Babysitter Club books, and proceeded to tear through about one a day.

As a result, she has become a big Raina Telgemeier fan and has also read Smile and Drama.  Another favorite activity for both girls is playing the piano in my parents' living room.  Vivian, in excellent big sister mode, has taught Elena how to play scales instead of just banging on the piano.

We are all thankful for this.  Both girls seem to be thoroughly enjoying this part of their summer.