We are trying to squeeze in as many little trips as we can while living here. So, when we had an opportunity for a quick trip to Carcassonne with friends, you know we couldn't say no. It was a very fun, relaxing and cultural two days! 

Our view ahead as we start our mini vacation. 

Our breakfast the next morning. Ahhh-mazing! 

After the delicious breakfast we went to city center to visit a famous Farmer's Market. We walked around, did some shopping and people watching. 

Next stop was the Historic Fortified City of Carcassonne which is a Unesco Heritage Site and just across the river. 

The Airbnb we stayed at was heaven for kids and adults alike. Outdoor kitchen, swings, a white horse and lots of space! The only negative thing about the whole trip was that it was too short! 

I'm trying to get some sort of theme going on this blog... and I realize that I am so inconsistent! But Mondays are good for some reflection, and for looking at the week ahead. It is also a great time to count your blessings and be grateful for everything you've got! This is what I am thankful for on this sunny Monday afternoon... (Somebody, please remind me to write a post next Monday. Thank you. )

Healthy kids. We have all been sick a lot here in France (new germs, new viruses, weakened immune systems... blah blah blah), so I am, especially, grateful everyday that we are healthy. It sounds almost cliché, but life is so much easier  and happier when no one in the household is sick!

The sun and warmer weather. Finally! This promised sunny-warm-south-of-france weather is here! Ahhhh... I feel like I can breathe deeper. I am in fact a spoiled California girl, who needs the sun 360 days a year (with five rainy days or so to keep things in perspective). 

This weekend. Due to the much improved weather we went on a hike, had a bbq at a friends' house, spent half of the day at the beach AND washed our car. That is one fantastic weekend in my book. Don't be jealous those living cold and rainy places. Come visit us. 

Flea markets. They are amazing here. It is pretty much one of the favorite French pastimes. Obviously, it has become one of our favorite things to do as well. So every weekend (usually on Sundays, but sometimes Saturday AND Sunday) we pile the kids into the car, promise them that they can buy whatever they want for 2 euros (!!!) and off we go to find the next treasure. We don't go purely for materialistic reasons....It is also a great geography lesson, because we always end up in a different little town. There are no signs where the market will be... just somewhere in the center of town. So you drive around looking for a lot of cars parked in some plaza somewhere in the middle of a town until you find it. Exciting stuff, I know. Oh yeah.. and it's also a French lesson for me. Or at least we pretend it is. 

Audio books My new obsession! I always complain how I never have enough time to read books, but no more excuses. I listen to them on my phone through the audible.com app. It's so easy, I am a little embarrassed I haven't done this earlier. I could have "read" through so many books when my kids where babies! I might be a bit late to the game, but I am on a roll. So far I have "read"  'Talking as Fast as I Can' by Lauren Graham which is hilarious. She is a wise woman with my sense of humor. I am half way done with Amy Schumer's book "The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo" - super rated R, so I can't listen to it around the kids, but very entertaining. "The Magnolia Story" by Chip and Joanna Gaines was a great and inspiring one. And the latest endeavor is "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz. It is highly recommended by many (successful) people, and even though  a bit dated, so far so good. Watch out world! With all these tips on how to dream big, I will be the next president. Maybe even the president of a parent teacher association and not just the Backstreet Boys fan club. 

With love and adventure,
​Indraja

We love Sundays... and we, especially, love Sundays at the beach.... and we love them even more if we are there with friends! All of that happened today! So, here are some pictures to make sure we remember the beautiful Carnon Plage, the sun, the boats and the crabs.

Last weekend our friends took us to a goat farm. The kids loved meeting the baby goats and seeing how cheese is made the old fashioned way, by hand. It was a cold day and we even saw glimpses of snow.
Except...
Poor Liepa saw nothing, because she was taking a nap in the car. And as soon as I stepped into the barn, the intense smell of hay hit my nose and I couldn't breathe. Tears started flowing down my cheeks and I started coughing. What the heck!? Am I allergic to hay all of a sudden?! Have I become a real city girl?! I had to run out of there and spent the rest of the time in the car with Liepa. 
At least Dominykas had an eventful day. He even met a talking parrot. 
Sometimes things don't go according to plan, but I am really learning how to be in the moment and love every moment. Staying in the warm car wasn't such a bad plan B. 

*** Since I couldn't stay in the barn and take pictures of the lovely baby goats, half of the pictures are stolen from my friend. So thank you to her! 

It's almost too late to write this post, because we've been in France for about five months (or is it six already?). That's (almost) half a year! Aaaaahhh! It's kind of hard to believe because it feels like we just got here. But I've been taking notes! I wanted to document my first impressions, especially because they are changing the longer we are here. Here it goes:

1. The smoking. I am really trying not to be judgmental about most things (especially in a new country), but I will totally judge this. EVERYBODY SMOKES. Women pushing strollers, moms at a park, PREGNANT women, your grocery store clerk, the 14 year old at the tram stop, the 80 year old walking down the street, the sellers at the Farmer's market. I think I have witnessed every single type of person smoking. Even my son would point out every person smoking and yell "Mom! That guy is smoking in the car! YUCK!" I appreciate and love California for being the opposite so much! 
*** Update: I don't notice all the smoking so much. I guess I am used to it now.
​
2. The food. Where is this healthy, organic and delicious food?
The grocery stores are full of products filled with preservatives. Most popular stores are huge and it can take easily a couple hours to buy even a few things (especially when you don't know where anything is). So maybe the healthy products are hiding somewhere? We still need to find where to shop and learn how to shop. It definitely feels overwhelming in the beginning. Oh, Trader Joe's, how I miss you!
Restaurants are expensive, take a long time to get your food and don't like kids... so it will be awhile until we get to know that side of France. Although I have been hearing about these "really good and affordable" places, that "don't mind children" but haven't found them yet.
Farmer's markets are awesome and beautiful, and full of amazing produce. We go every Saturday to a market near our house and we buy all our vegetables, eggs, olives and cheese there. 
****Update: I finally have a small list of places I like to shop at and I know where to find most things that we eat/ want. Things we buy at the Farmers' Market have been reduced drastically. It took me awhile to catch on how expensive it actually is! Let's just say that Lidl is my new best friend (a discount grocery store), and fresh, organic food is a luxury just like in the USA. 

3.The wine. Lots and lot of good and affordable wine. This makes us very happy people.

3. The bureaucracy. Everything takes SO long. Any simple task requires a ton of paperwork, time and energy. People still prefer phone or real life conversation to take care of all business. It might sound very nice, but when you have to go to the bank for a every single question and provide a thousand and one document before they even talk to you, it gets old pretty fast. Also, there are usually various processes for things. Every time you talk to someone, it's different documents you need and a different timeline. People here seem to be ok with it... they say "you get used to it" and "call again if you don't like the answer". Things just seem very complicated. And here, I thought DMV is a mess.... 

4. Post office. It is quite expensive (compared to postage in United States). You also pay taxes for packages received that are worth more than 45euros. So, please, don't send us expensive gifts. 😉

5. Language. Not a lot of english is heard around here (South of France specifically). Many French understand and could speak, but they chose not to. Whatever the reasons might be. It's a bit annoying especially when you clearly need help (like at a register at a grocery store, and you're holding up the line because you don't understand what they want from you.). However, the French attitude is that it is my problem that I don't speak French. And I guess they are right. I better learn quick! 

6. Architecture. Vineyards, beautiful towns, cobble stone streets, tiny windows with colorful shutters. It really does look like all the best pictures I've seen of South of France. 
​

It's been a month since our visit to Barcelona. Here are a few of the favorites from our weekend getaway to meet up with some of our dearest friends from Los Angeles. 

• ​Spending two days with awesome people that fill our hearts with joy and love. We stayed right in the heart of the city (Gothic Quarter), which made it easy to fill ourselves with great wine and good food. We always seem to eat really well when we get together. 
• Seeing the famous Sagrada Familia. Sadly, I don't have any of my pictures that I took. I lost my phone later that day. 
• Visiting Park Guell. We didn't have time for the whole thing, but the free access part of the park was plenty. There was a playground for the kids, some live music for the adults, and plenty of benches to sit down, which made our tired feet very happy. 
• Visiting the Gaudi Museum, which was very conveniently located at Park Guell. I wasn't too impressed, but I am glad we stopped by and took advantage of the air conditioning to cool down a bit. It was a hot weekend. 
• Tasting amazing churros from a little bakery around the corner from Sagrada (http://www.xurreriasagradafamilia.es/) They were so BIG and filled with CHOCOLATE or CARAMEL or BOTH.  I highly suggest ordering one and sharing it with at least four people. Unless you want the biggest sugar rush of your life, don't have it all by yourself. But WE all got one each of course. Don't judge. 
• Fantastic lunch at a cafe near Park Guell, where we had the biggest size beers and delicious spanish tapas while chatting about nothing and everything. 
• A treat for the kids and adults alike was the Aquarium. It is in a beautiful location, right on the water with views of the boats in the harbor. It wasn't too big, and just perfect enough to enjoy one of the best glass tunnels we've seen with sharks (and other fish)  above your head. Feeding the gold fish was a highlight for the kids. 
• Being there on the weekend of Catalonian Independence protests was a surprise, but it made it even more of an adventure. There were masses of people and dancing giant dolls in the streets, helicopters buzzing and loads of police. A positive side is that we got educated on what the protests are all about, and that Barcelona is actually in Catalonia, not Spain (in historical terms).
• A quick stop over at the Ciutadella Park and our short trip was complete. Only two days, but so much was experienced! Thank you Eliza, Sam and Kimie for all the memories. 

​Beyond thankful for this girl. She is so funny and animated, so caring and sensitive. She doesn't usually like kisses, but loves her brother more than anything in the world. She feels the safest and happiest when all of us are together, in one place and preferably within sight. She is our troublemaker. 

And for this amazing boy who is so emotionally mature and smart. Who is so active that we can barely keep up with him. Who is also creative and kind. He is my trainer and motivator. He is daddy's right hand man in everything that they do. His teacher recently mentioned that he talks a lot about his sister at school, and that he sounds like he is a very protective brother. She is right. He is one awesome brother. However, they still fight, and don't always want to share toys, and chase each other around until someone cries (or mama gets mad). And that is all how it should be. Perfect chaos. 

I am oh so thankful for my husband who puts up with my craziness, my short temper, my wild ideas and the never ending planning of our next trip/adventure. He is so patient and kind, and he (usually) goes along with it all. He also says that he still loves me. 

Thankful for all our friends (old and new) and family (close by and far away) For all the visits. For all the impromptu dinners. For Facetime sessions. And Skype calls. For surprise packages and cards. We are so lucky to have amazing people in our lives that inspire us, and love us so much. 

We visited the zoo for the first time today (Montpellier Parc Zoologique zoo.montpellier.fr/) It's a ten minute drive from our house, which is awesome, because we all know, how much I love driving. It is such a big and beautiful space! The kids and I loved it so much, that we made a plan to come back every Wednesday for a morning walk.

Another {minor} detail is that the zoo is free! Yay France! There is an Amazon Greenhouse exhibit that is paid (6.50EUR for adults and 3EUR for kids (free under 6yrs old)), but we haven't visited it yet, and it looks pretty small compared to the whole zoo.  It's on the list for next time for sure. We only explored one third of the (free) grounds and saw zebras and rhinoceros, parrots, flamingos, and many other animals. There's so much more to discover! 

Oh and there was this beautiful white moon in the middle of the day! Dominykas noticed it and said that Kotryna was with us. And she was. She was with us on the moon, and with the butterfly that followed us for a good ten minutes. I am so thankful that Dominykas still remembers her and tells the butterfly (or the moon) that we miss her very much. Even Liepa has learned that her sister is "on the moon" or "sent a butterfly". She most likely doesn't understand one bit of what that means, but she goes along with it anyway. 

​After so much walking we had coffee and ice cream. Then played on the playground within the zoo. I was very impressed. There are also many picnic tables around the zoo where you can sit down and eat. I am realizing how much the French really love their picnics. They REALLY love them. Everything is centered around lunch and the convenience of having a high quality lunch at that. Granted I don't know a lot, and we've only been here for barely two months. All of the opinions are pretty much first impressions. 

*** All photos were taken with my iPhone, so don't mind the quality. And I didn’t retouch them, filter them or make them better in any way, because… well, I’m lazy.  And I am trying to get into a habit of posting regularly. I have to keep my perfectionist  expectations to a minimum, and just start doing stuff. So far I am not very successfu, but at least I'm trying... right? RIGHT??!!!!