Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Dordogne!

Taking a hot air balloon ride had been a dream of mine since before I can remember, probably inspired by one of my favorite childhood books, The Fantastic Flying Journey. Pete and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary during Fall break and in my research of "Romantic things to do in the Dordogne," I learned that there are hot air ballon rides in the region. I was hesitant to book one for us because of the high cost, but when I revisited the website, there was a link to be put on a waitlist for last-minute discount rides (basically filling empty spots in balloons already scheduled to go up). I wasn't even sure that the webform was working, so I was quite surprised when I got a call while in St. Emilion, inviting us to go up that very first night of our trip. The only catch was that it was nearly 2pm and the balloon was going up at 4:30pm and we were 2 hours away. We conferred with Nana and Pops and decided that we should go for it! It meant high tailing it to our rental house and dropping the kids off in a rush while my parents checked us in. Once that stressful part was behind us, it was time to spend the rest of the day basking in the awesome experience.

When I see couples go up on the Bachelor (my reference point for all things romantic, obviously), the balloons are just there waiting for them so the whole set up process was a fun surprise. First, a helium balloon was sent up from our first launching site. It was not a windy day, but after waiting some time, it was noted that the balloon was floating in a direction that would not allow us to pass by a castle, so it was decided that we would drive to a second launching site. I was pleased by this because I knew a later departure would give us the best chance of seeing the sunset from the air and also because the new launch site was at the foot of a beautiful chateaux (privately owned by Texans), so the views were really nice while we waited for the balloons to inflate.

The set up process was very hands on for Pete and the other men in the group.  The basket was hauled off of the trailer, turned on its side, and large fans were set up to start inflating the giant balloon. It wasn't until the balloon was nearly full that any hot air was added. Once a bit of warm air was added, the basket was turned upright and we climbed our way in. The ballooner had his own little compartment in the basket and then the rest of the space was divided in two- 3 people in each section. All of the others in our balloon were French so there was a lot of conversation that we missed out on. Our company sent up two balloons simultaneously and 2 others were already afloat from another company. The other balloon had an older American couple aboard, who we later found out were from a town very close to where I grew up.

Then it was up, up and away! I expected to go up and stay up, but the ballooner had us constantly ascending and descending over the course of the hour+ long tour. We barely skimmed the surface of the Dordogne river, the Marqueyssac Gardens, and the top of another private chateaux. Later in the week, we would see balloons go right past our rental house in La Roque-Gageac. It was a shame ours didn't as the kids were apparently outside with Nana and Pops looking for us. The rest of the week, Maeve would see if ballons and point and say "Mommy!  Daddy!" I hope she didn't think we were just going to float away from her forever!

Balloon selfie with Beynac Castle in the background. 

Our town is down on the left in this photo, built into the ochre yellow cliffs.

With the sun low on the horizon, we began making our descent. The other balloon found a sensible field, while we kept cruising onward. We ended up with a gentle landing into the bowl-like field shown below. Lovely setting while we put the balloon away (all hands on deck), but then the van with the weight of the trailer couldn't get out of the bowl! So we waited 15 minutes or so as the van driver and balloon attempted to get out! Finally, success, just as we started to wonder if they were going to have to call in for back up. A drive back to the cars and a toast of sparkling wine. So happy to have gotten a chance to experience this in such a beautiful place on an equally beautiful evening.

Heave, ho! 

Fall Break 2018: Revisiting St. Émilion, France

We are back from a wonderful Fall break trip with Nana and Pops to the Dordogne region of France. Our second year living in Europe, Pete bought me a Lonely Planet Guide called France's Best Road Trips. Boy did that book make me drool! So many beautiful places to see. I was drawn to the Dordogne region by the descriptions of the food and scenery. Then an expat friend posted photos from her family's trip there (they've been a number of times) and I was sold! Just a matter of fitting it in with all of the other trips we wanted to take. Fall break seemed a good time, out of the crowded tourist season.

Cheap flights were in and out of Bordeaux, 2.5 hours west of where we stayed in the Dordogne. To break up our trip on the first day, we spent the morning in St. Émilion, a picturesque town that we had visited two years prior on our trip to Bordeaux/San Sebastian with Auntie Rach. It was as pretty as we'd remembered it and not feeling the pressure to see the town, we lingered over lunch in a pretty square while the kids ran around burning off travel energy.

Lunch spot down below. 

I didn't forget how steep the town was! Glad to have two walker on our hands now. 

My New Normal

While the kids have been settling into their new school year, I have been settling into my new normal. My previous job, counseling for Recombine turned CooperGenomics, had been slowly phasing out in the spring and ended completely this summer when the company stopped offering their carrier screen panel. In January, my sister contacted me about a possible consulting position with her company for an Alzheimer's clinical drug trial. I started in March so the timing was perfect with my other job ending. The only catch is that I need to work East Coast hours. So I make myself available two afternoons and four evenings a week, after the kids are asleep until around 10:30pm. The spring months were tiring, working evenings and then still staying home full time with Maeve 3 days a week. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel though, and now it is here!

It has been an adjustment working in the evenings, giving up the time I would spend with Pete or friends or just decompressing on the sofa after the evening bedtime routine. But the tradeoffs now are so great. With many of my friends home full- or part-time, I am able to do my socializing by day. Lunches, a spa day, matinee movies, shopping, daytime pilates classes, chaperoning school trips, kayaking in the bos, vegging on the sofa by day instead of by night. Interspersed with running our home, taking over all of the grocery shopping and meal prep duties, travel planning and blogging. The days go by in a flash! I've given myself the first half of the school year to reap the benefits of this situation and then I will tackle some of the more pressing things on my to-do list: catch up on continuing education credits to maintain my certification, begin learning Dutch, look for some additional daytime work.

Knowing that I would have more free time on my hands this year, when a mom at ISA asked me to be a representative for the USA community at ISA, I decided to give it a go. I am one of the group's least involved members due to my work schedule, but the activities have still been keeping me busy. The year starts with a bang with the USA welcome coffee morning, the international coffee morning, USA Parent's Night Out, and the big event- Trunk or Treat, which happened on Friday night. I wanted to be more involved at the school and to give back to the events that I have enjoyed the past four years. I also thought that with the US looking like an a$$clown to the rest of the world these days,  I could help be the face of America and show that deep down, we are still good people. The ladies on the committee are awesome so it has been a lot of fun.

At the USA Welcome Coffee at Lauren's beautiful home. 

At the International Coffee Morning at school, representing the US of A. We were stationed between The British Isles and Germany, which was a dangerous place to be with all of their delicious treats! 

Trunk or Treat Night (Post to follow)

October Beach Evening

Saturday we had a beach evening! We were not going to let a 79 degree day in October go to waste. The plan was to go and have dinner at one of the beach cafes in Katwijk and watch the sunset. This was everyone's plan it seemed and we couldn't get a table! Luckily, there was a kibbeling (fried fish) stand at the beach entrance so we turned it into a beach picnic instead. That sand gives the food a much needed crunch 😉 Dark winter will be setting in soon and I was so grateful to have this day! And watching the sun setting over the ocean is the perfect way to end any day.