Adalee's Haircut

On Friday before our trip, we headed to the beauty shop to get Adalee's hair cut. We had it cut a little this summer in Pennsylvania, but decided it was finally time to cut those curls off. We talked about it for a couple of weeks before we actually did it. I asked her if she wanted to give her hair to other children who needed it and she agreed. We talked about children that get very sick and need special medicine to make them all better. We talked about them losing all of their hair and getting some special hair to wear while theirs grows back in. She was really excited to "share" her hair. We took off just about 9 inches to donate to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths campaign. Then the lady cut about another inch to inch and a half to even it all out. So Adalee lost at least 10 inches of hair. It was sad to see it go, but I love her new grown up look!

Taking the bow and ponytail holder out

The big cut!

Almost 9 inches of hair

Getting her hair washed

Heading back to get it cut

Getting her hair cut

Blow drying her new "do"

Grammy and Adalee showing off her new look

The back

After getting her hair done, every little girl needs her nails done too!

Our Getaway to Rheims and Epernay, France

Since Abrahm's parents were coming for a visit right after Abrahm returned from Afghanistan, we figured we would try to sneak in a little getaway. So Abrahm and I headed to Rheims and Epernay, France (otherwise known as the Champagne region). We were there for 2 days exploring the area. We headed to two Champagne houses, 2 cathedrals, 3 museums and lots of other little interesting sights. We had a great time. Thank you Grammy Gay and PopPop for watching the little kiddos while we escaped. It was a little piece of heaven!

The first place in Rheims we headed was the Tattinger Champagne House. It was really interesting. They let us tour their caves and explained the champagne making process. It is pretty amazing. I now know why it is so expensive. Tattinger's caves are made from limestone. They were really cool (no pun intended!). After our tour we had the opportunity to taste it. Yummy!

The Tattinger Champagne House

More of the original steps inside the cave

There are over 90,000 bottles in this alcove. Notice in the center toward the bottom. You can see a hole in the middle of all the bottles. This is one that has exploded.

After anywhere from 4 to 10 years being stored on their side (like in the previous picture), they are transferred to these racks and turned 1/4 of a turn every day for 1 1/2 months to get the sediment to fall down to the cap.

All the different size bottles they make

Some of their stands they put the champagne in to turn it

One of the old stairways

Champagne aging! Look at that dust.

There are over 70,000 bottles stored in this little alcove.

After the Tattinger Champagne House we headed to Rheims Cathedral. In 80 days it will be 800 years old! It was pretty amazing. After the Cathedral we headed to the Palais du Tau to see some of the artifacts from the Cathedral. The most interesting part of the museum was the statues that they had on display. They were taken from the Cathedral itself and put on display. I couldn't get over the size of them. They are so huge. You think they must be pretty big when you look at them high atop the Cathedral, but when you actually get up close to one, you realize how big it is. One of the ones we saw was almost 3 times the height of Abrahm!

At the top of the Cathedral

More details of the Cathedral

Some of the statues

800 years old in 80 days!

A close up of the Apex of the entrance

The entrance to Rheims Cathedral

A little closer up

Inside the front door

More stained glass

One of the alters in the cathedral

Our second day we drove out of Rheims about 30 minutes to a small town called Epernay. We went to the Moet and Chandon Champagne House and wandered around the town for a little bit. It was a really cute little town. The champagne house was pretty amazing. This tour was very similar to our tour at Tattinger, except that they gave more specifics about their brand. It was very interesting because their process is quite secret, so many of the questions we asked we got the answer, "That's secret".

The flower arrangement in the front waiting area of Moet and Chandon

The family tree at Moet and Chandon

A close up of the glass chandelier. They are the very first champagne glasses used. They are textured because when champagne was first created, they didn't have a way to clear it, so it was very cloudy. They used these glasses to hide the cloudiness of it.

The champagne glass chandelier

Abrahm with his two tasting glasses of Moet and Chandon champagne. The Rose was our favorite!

Dom Perignon was the monk that is credited for first creating champagne.

The private gardens and Orangerie at Moet and Chandon

A close up of the private reflecting pool at Moet and Chandon

Moet and Chandon Champagne House

Some of the vines on the way to Epernay

A close up of the grape vines in Epernay

After Epernay, we headed over to St Remy's Basilica. It is a lesser known church, but very beautiful in its own right. It was started in 1005 and was added to over the years. It suffered heavy damage during WW1. St Remy is buried here. He was a bishop of Rheims that baptized Clovis.

A side view of St. Remy's Basilica

The front of St Remy's Basilica

A close up of the top of the Basilica

Stained Glass windows at the entrance

More stained glass windows

One of the Stained Glass Windows

The sanctuary of the Basilica

More stained glass windows

The garden at the Cloister of St. Remy's.

Museum of the Surrender

This is where the Germans signed the document of surrender of all German forces on May 7, 1945.