This Moment. Ice cream for breakfast

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Joining in with Amanda and friends at SouleMama


Why not?

This Moment. Escape

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Joining in with Amanda and friends at SouleMama


We're heading off into the sunshine today.
See you back here in two weeks.

Mini France

More Eiffel Tower pictures for you today. With a twist. No we haven't turned into a family of giants. This is the Eiffel Tower at France Miniature a sweet little park about half an hour west of Paris and just a short drive from our house.


The main feature is, like the title says, Mini France. A 3D map of France filled with models of all the top sights in France from the Eiffel Tower to the boats in St. Tropez harbour. This is Versailles. Still not that mini - can you see the girls peeking over the west wing?

A pretty village in the South West that I thought we could visit on our way down to Spain next week. Forgot to note which village though. Anyone recognize it?!


That's Mont St Michel over there on the right. I could go on, but the models are not the only thing to see at France Miniature. The main reason to go as far as India, Georgia and Savannah are concerned are Les Attractions. Fairground rides conveniently located just off the coast of 'Brittany' which give you great views over all of 'France' and more importantly are fun and included in the (quite high) entrance price.

We were there on an overcast Monday and although the park was pleasantly busy it wasn't at all crowded and the girls got to play on as many rides as they liked for as long as they wanted. Florence even took a long nap in the stroller, Keith dialled in to work for a meeting he couldn't get out of on his day off and I finished off my photography homework. A typical family day out!

Dubbed the washing machine by the girls this ride spun you round and round and they went on it about ten times.

The prize after a difficult climb up this bouncy climbing wall...


...was to slide down the tallest and steepest slide I have ever seen. Georgia did get a bit stuck and had to rescued by a kindly French teenager thankfully saving me from the humiliation of having to try and get up there myself!

A surprising detail that the girls had remembered from their visit last year is this poubelle that talks to you every time you drop a piece of rubbish in it!


Perhaps the best part, or most alarming depending on your point of view, is that you get to operate the rides yourself. I can't imagine that ever happening in the USA but the system worked, everyone stayed safe and it developed a nice camaraderie between visitors as kids waiting for the ride would help out complete strangers to keep the line moving.




The girls first visited 'Mini France' as they like to call it with my Mum when we were house hunting last year and they fell in love with the place. The atmosphere there takes me back to my childhood holidays in France when parks like this seemed to offer so much more excitement than tiny Jersey. It might not be as thrilling as Disneyland on the other side of Paris but in it's own way it's just as magical. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. Even the café serves decent food. Well it is France after all!

In other news, I am thrilled to have been invited to be a guest blogger at Farm Fresh to You's blog. Hop on over there to see my review of the Capay Tomato Festival and lots of other gorgeous farm stories.

Paris in August

How's your week going?


We've been struggling with jet lag ever since we got back from the US. Staying up until 2am to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony on Friday didn't help.

We are loving these London Games. Most definitely a home games for me, but which team to support has been the subject of hot debate in our household of British and USA passport holders. India is staying loyal to her one and only British nationality, Georgia roots for both countries and Savannah maintains she is 1000% American! If anyone bothered to ask her, Florence would probably say she wants to see a French winner. I've mentioned before about how being an ex-pat makes you ponder your national identity but there's nothing like watching an Olympic final, in any sport, to make it clear how you feel. Safe to say the stressful occupation that is being a British sports supporter remains mine, but there were two gold medals for Team GB today. Most impressively for Bradley Wiggins in the cycling Time Trial just two weeks after he became the first ever British man to win the Tour de France. Amazing! Inspiring? I should really get off the sofa and find where I left my bike!

We haven't spent the whole week glued to the TV. On Sunday we met up with American Mom in Bordeaux and her three girls and husband. It was lovely to meet another blog friend for real and our middle girls, in particular, got on like a house on fire. Can you guess where we met?

Here's a clue.
Les Jardins du Trocadero.
This is one of the most famous views of Paris. Hardly undiscovered, but the gardens either side of the famous view and fountains contain some hidden charms which we had never explored before.

Keith's Mum is visiting this week so we have been out an about checking more and more off our bucket list. Will share more of that soon. Just as soon as I've seen what happens in the Graeco Roman Wrestling!