Fromagerie

We took a trip into the mountains today to seek out a fromagerie. We got our raw milk, yogurt and racelette plus a fabulous bonus. We got to watch them start the preparation of gruyere cheese. We only saw the beginning of the four month process. See the pictures of the ladies mixing the cheese and squishing it into the molds below. They told us it takes 100 liters to make 6 kilos of cheese.

I didn't get pictures of the cheese going into the presses. The wheels sit in the press for over 12 hours before they are scrubbed down with bacteria. They are continuously wiped down over the 4 months and sit a temperature controlled room before they are ready to be eaten.

Pezenas

After spending time in the mountain village of Uriage we headed south to Pezenas. While there we visited salt flats, a couple of French markets, a cave, a castle, an abbey, some vineyards and the beach (several times).

The kids were kept busy during the days and the parents had lots of fun during the evenings. My brother-in-law's aunt and uncle were both great landlords and great babysitters.

Here are some pictures. Will post more later.

Plane trip and the first day in France

We left Edmonton airport at 11:30 on the 11th of July for a month in France. We spent An exhausting yet sleepless 14 hours in the air. The girls watched lots of shows on the tiny plane tvs. Madeline quietly drew pictures with her new kit Heather had lovingly made for them.


The turbulence was so bad leaving Montreal that we weren't served supper until 9:00 Edmonton time. The girls were very well behaved despite the lack of naps and food. We did find out that Lydia HATES wearing a seatbelt for extended periods of time.


We arrived in Geneva airport had our private driver pick us up and whisk us away to Grenoble.


We have beaten the jet lag and settled in with the Watts family.

Silver clouds

Lovely day at the AGA.

Arm farts

Madeline discovers arm farts.

There is a lovely park close to our house. We call it the train park. We try to visit it as often as possible so we can get or daily dose of sand and sun.

Yucky

This is Lydia's trick about her trick. She usually tricks us by saying everything is yucky but when I turned on the video camera she tricked me.