1000 cousins in Auzillac, France

After the tragic departure of my third farm, I made it back to Pete and Sue's for the biggest 60th birthday party I've ever seen!

Everyone writes in this book before they leave the farm. I added this ;)

Pete opening presents before a ton of people arrived. There were 8 of us and over a few days it grew to 100! This picture is the calm before the storm.

Brendan, Greg, and James barbecuing for 60.

Marsha: treasurer, food auctioneer, and dish finisher. Amazing all around!

Most interesting couple? My cousin, James, and his girlfriend, Becky. Thanks for the fun times! Becky says the American accent sounds like everything is our best friend ;)

Personal pizzas in the bread oven for 60? Worked perfectly! Delicious! 

Nick didn't like tuna. We made him try it. There was about an hour of yelling in between, though. A very animated and entertaining discussion ;)

We went through a lot of bread. A. Lot.

We played magic games and lifted Tom.

Everyone stepped up and helped prepare, cook, serve, and clean up. Nice team work!

There was a plethora of pool time. It was fun seeing what interesting shades of red the English turn ;) James said every day, "I don't burn." Or Greg said, "it'll turn tan tomorrow, 24-48 hours, 72 hours for sure, 96 hours!"

The main party!

James, Jonny, and Jess gave an amazing toast speech for Pete's (their dad) birthday. It was very touching and funny. There were tears.

This is what happens if Journey starts playing.

We piled up as many chicken bones onto Becky's plate while she wasn't looking. She loved it.

The MASSIVE cake.

Jess's barn where 11 of us slept. We made it work!

The morning after ;) We had a great crew of early risers tackle this.

Brendan and Marsha took tons of photos throughout the weekend. I can't wait to see those! This was the lunch before most of the folks left.

Then we pulled out the slack line. It is NOT as easy as it looks, but we all had a great time!

Wall climbing before dinner

Fires and stories after dinner

A couple photos that Claire posted to Facebook. I didn't have space to pack a dress for 6 months of farmwork, so I'm in jeans... But everyone in this photo rocks!

James let me borrow this hat so I looked even more American than before, thanks James!

Today the last group of us went to a waterfall with a rock to jump off of and a natural waterfall slide. We had a picnic there and enjoyed the sun. A nice last day :)

I had an absolute blast the entire time. I met so many fily members that I never knew before. It seems crazy now, because after only a day, I felt like I knew everyone for ages. Thanks for the memories, and I'll be back for sure!

Returning to the first farm tomorrow morning. Barbara didn't tell the girls and I do love surprises!

Geneva, Switzerland

Well I dragged my feet on posting because I've been having so much fun here! I'm very sad to be leaving in a few days, even though I'm looking forward to my next visits too! Let's catch you up, shall we?

Last week Étienne's sister and brother in law visited on a rainy day and we played cards and games all day. I played skip-Bo with my grandparents a lot when I was younger so I loved playing it again! (And winning ;)

Then the kids had some bonding time...

Including this game where you try not to laugh first. They laughed quickly!

Later in the week we went shopping and ran a few errands. This was the makeshift wheelchair for Audrey before they hit that water filled crack you see and she went sprawling!

Sunday, Étienne and I worked a market near the mountain where we hiked two weeks ago. It was a tad gloomy so there weren't a ton of people but we did okay! Of course, it poured when we were loading the van...

Everyone laughed when I bought comic books in French to practice the language...but it looks like Étienne came around to my side!

July 14th was the holiday that remembers the French Revolution. Basically the French 4th of July. Guy lab was part of this marching band/parade that went through the town. If Audrey's foot wasn't broken, she'd go to. It was amazing, there were the veterans and firefighters in the parade and a ton of civilians who followed behind. I loved it. It was hot though and at one of the stops by a memorial, a drummer passed out. Two seconds later, two if the firefighters scooped him up and out of sight and the band played their song. It was so fast a quiet and no one freaked out! I feel like if that happened in the states there's be more of a hullabaloo. 

After the parade we went to a friends house where they were having a lunch party. We didn't leave until 7pm haha! We had an awesome time playing in the pool. I started a game of Marco Polo that went on for quite a while.

Étienne, Audrey, and Nico had a breath holding competition.

The blackberries are in season!

Yesterday, I visited Geneva, Switzerland. I loved it! It's gorgeous, the people are friendly, the streets are clean, and there are free toilets everywhere. What's not to love? Just kidding, it's super expensive.

But their money is super cute!

I skated at this park for close to 4 hours. I missed skating!

Then I skated around the city and looked for a place to swim in lake Geneva, because I was hot! The Jet D'eau is a super famous tourist attraction on the lake. I don't know if you can see how big it is, but it's HUGE.

And I found one. Crystal clear, cold water. Perfect on a hot day after skating. I swam for a while and payed out to dry before beginning a hunt for food.

I got some icecream while I skated along the waters edge. Mmmmmmm

All in all, I really liked Switzerland! What a great day trip!

I'm sad to leave montmelian, but excited to meet all my English cousins in a few days :) And then back to Barbara, Jerome, Celestine, and Ema!

Hiking in the Alps, Caves, and Concerts!

As per usual, I've waited until I went on a grand adventure before updating my blog. So here are photos of the past few days, including a exciting new food additions in the house, a concert, and lots of hiking. Plus, a ton of France being gorgeous, of course.

This is what it looks like when I return to the house every morning after my run and workout with the nike training app :) it makes the constant uphill run enjoyable (less awful).

Berry hands. 

Nicholas eats chocolate wrapped in bread for breakfast every morning. That's it.

I played fetch with this dog on a farm we visited. He would never bring the stick all the way back...

I'm still diligently working on my foot tan.

New food news! This just in! Avocados in the house! So excited to eat these. It's the little things ;)

Yesterday I went with Guylaine and Audrey to a concert. Guylaine sang in the choir. It was awesome! One song was funny because I didn't realize they were singing in English because their accents were so strong! We laughed about it together :)

Right after Guylaine and Audrey played in this cool orchestra. It's so awesome to listen to orchestras live, and they were really good! They played Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and it was amazing. 

After, everyone from the chorus brought food and had a big dinner. I talked with so many people and everyone was so friendly! It was great practice for my French :) and I helped teach the kids some English. They kept having me say French names with an American accent. I had a really fun time.

Today we went for a hike! For a very long time. It. Was. Amazing.

We first had a picnic by the river.

That's not a dead body there, just Étienne during nap time.

Stashed our stuff in the car and got started!

Imagine doing lunges for 4 hours. That's what the terrain was haha, good thing I was doing lunges every morning last week! 

The view kept getting more breath taking as time went on!

Nico got up close with the first waterfall

The path had these convenient handholds for the super dangerous areas. 

Étienne took 35 photos to get this one (iPhones are confusing to people who don't have them, haha!) but thanks for the photo!

This is how we cooled off. Dunk your face in the melted ice water of the alps. If you can still feel your face, it's not hot anymore ;) After a bread water fight, we continued on. (Having long hair is a definite advantage for water fights)

Then we went into this big cave with our flashlights and explored for a bit. I love caves!

Nico loves them I'd guess from this photo! 

I couldn't get good photos from in the cave because it was only lit by our flashlights and not a great photo environment. But it was so cool! And we all turned off our lights for a bit. Now that is dark.

The view a bit higher

We joined another family after I offered to take their picture and we were going in the same direction. We had them come with us to the cave since they didn't have flashlights.

Their son was very well behaved and kept up with the fast pace without ever complaining. I was impressed!

The hills are alive with the sound of music! It took Nico a billion times to figure out the panorama. But he got it! It felt like the top of the world up there with the wind gusting around. So great.

Stopped for a drink on the way down. We were all thirsty because we RAN down most of the mountain while hooting and hollering. It's a bit easier on the legs to run down a slope than to walk, so we ran! So fun, but I almost lost my phone while running. (didn't)

Almost at the bottom, Étienne and Nico 

made their way across the river the hard way, while I watched from the convenient bridge... ;) The awesome waterfall looked great in the background.

Not a fun part of the day

We stopped to try to help this guy who crashed off the road on the way home. His thigh bone was sticking out above his knee and there was blood everywhere. It was intense because we couldn't get any of the doors open and then the car started smoking. It's a terrible feeling, not being able to do anything to help besides hoping the can didn't explode. Once the ambulance arrived, we continued on our way. I got the blood off my hands from his bloody car keys and didn't freak out! But I just wish I knew that he was okay and that the van didn't explode and that his family is okay because I saw that he was wearing a wedding ring.

But the night was still amazing because everyone is so great here. We each handmade our own personal pizzas. With our blobs of dough, we manhandled it into the crust and put what we wanted on it! It was a great ambiance full of mistakes, laughter, food, and competition. Mine was the prettiest ;) I put onion, garlic, mushrooms, olives, and ham on mine. So. Good.

All in all, a very fun and exhausting day! 

Goodnight!

Ps, this took a couple of days to post due to internet issues...