House Swapping in Provence, France!

A trip to the South of France for the scenery, food and wine has been high on our "dream vacation" list. A few months before our move abroad was finalized, I heard from my high school friend Ryan that his sister was moving to Provence for a year with her family. Jackie and I kept in touch throughout the months to share advice on making the move with kiddos (she and husband Ben have a 3 1/2 year old son and 16 month old daughter). We each wanted to see where the other was living so I proposed a house swap with an overlap to visit with one another. Flights were booked and Opa and Oma made the trip over to join us. 

Jackie and Ben choose the small Provencal town of Saint-Cannat based on where they were able to find a one year rental (more difficult than they imagined they said). This small town has everything you need in a French village- boulangeries, hill top church, charming homes, weekly market and fountains. And it is totally undiscovered (until now??). Jackie and her family are known as "the Americans" around town. Rick Steves, eat your heart out! 

The home is a beautifully shuttered, big villa on the edge of town (so 2 blocks from the center given the size of Saint-Cannat). Out the front door is an old fountain, field, Roman baths and best of all, sunsets! Note to self- must one day live somewhere where I can watch the sunset every night! What a magnificent way to end each day. 

This is not the Durneys first house swap. Back when we were living in Brooklyn, wanting to make another dream trip to Spain possible, I looked into house swapping on Craigslist of all places and found a family of 4 from Barcelona that wanted to come to NYC. We chatted over skype, booked flights and stayed in each other's homes for a week without ever meeting. The experience was so positive that I had always wanted to do it again. And after this trip, I want to do it again (and again..). So if you ever fancied visiting Amsterdam and have a place for the Durneys to stay that might be desirable, please message me! As of now our place will be open the last week of June, first three weeks of July, end of July into early August and the last week of October. Let's work something out! 

Before Jackie and her family headed off to Amsterdam for the week, we had an afternoon for the kiddos to play together and a night out to dinner thanks to Opa and Oma babysitting! Swapping with friends with kids was huge as it made our packing simple- no need to bring all that stuff babies require (stroller, crib, high chair, toys, books, toiletries, feeding items), we just swapped!

You can see their blue-shuttered home at the bottom of town

Gorgeous!

Fountain in front of the house

Field in front of house looking out to Roman baths on the right

Remains of an old church in Saint-Cannat

Town square fountain 

Sunset from their roof terrace

Another nightly sunset 

Jude and Josie tinkling the ivories

Jude's First Birthday Celebrations!

Our little man turned one this week! Our travel back to the states helped keep my mind off this momentous event and keep my emotions about it in check! We had a small party with my family in Florida. The best parts for Jude were the hats and the cupcake (sugar, sugar, sugar!). 

Facetiming in dad so he wouldn't miss Jude's first sugar high

On Jude's actual birthday he woke up at noon and went to bed at 1am (oh the joys of time change and a baby!). The upsides were that Pete got to spend most of the day with us after work and that we got to all go out to dinner together for pizza at 8pm. 

Present time!

"You guys, I'm too old and cool for Mr. Bear!" Can't believe we've completed an entire year of these month photos!

Back home for a low sugar carrot cake cupcake with cream cheese frosting. Not a hit like the buttercream cupcake he had in Florida. After a few bites, he tossed it on the ground...

At baby Montessori this week we brought in some banana bread and sang Happy Birthday to Jude. I still need to learn the Dutch version of the song. Hopefully I'll know it for year 2!

Jude started taking some tentatives steps in Florida and some more at home this week. At baby class while I was preparing the bread for the kiddos, I looked over and saw Jude walk straight across the classroom! He moved so fast! We have a walker on our hands! Let the fun begin :)

Meeting Sweet Peyton

The best part of my trip home was saved for last, finally meeting me new niece, Peyton. We drove North to Winter Park to spend a few days with my sister's family before heading back to Amsterdam. All of the stories and photos posted of my niece portrayed her as the perfect baby- beautiful, sweet, easy-going and an easy sleeper. She lived up to the hype! With a "mommy-phase" baby of my own in tow, it was hard to get as much alone time with Peyton as I would have liked (plus Nanny and Pops wanted their turns to hold her, too!). But I stole a few moments to look into her baby blues and tell her how much her auntie loves her, will love her and how much I hope to teach her as she grows up.

Their "big" baby felt light as a feather compared to Jude! 

Says my mom, "You girls can go now, we'll raise there two!"

"I have a flower for you Peyton"

For Jude's first birthday, my parents gifted us professional photos (Jude's fist!). The family (sadly minus Pete) convened at the beautiful Casa Feliz in Winter Park for the shoot. Here are some behind the scenes shots. We are still waiting for the prints and I can't wait! We used the photographer who shot Peyton's newborn photos, which were all amazing (though a sweet, sleeping baby is arguably easier to photograph than an active burgeoning toddler!). 

Checking out the props

Pops was trying hard to capture the moment and sweet Peyton was defenseless against the snuggle attack!

Playtime with Pops

With a little coaxing, Jude rocked his cousin. Darling!

We celebrated the birthday of our amazing Mama/Nana!

On our last day together, we headed to the park, where Jude chased after the older kids and joined these boys in their club house. The boys were so sweet, sharing leaves with Jude and chatting him up. He was in Heaven!

"This way, Pops!"

"Now, this way!"