Anther view of the church

The opera house (on the right) and another building at the "Grand Place"

Adalee and Alden by the fountain at "Grand Place" today

An exhausted Adalee once again

Apple Trees

On our way to dinner Sunday night we passed by an apple orchard. It was the most unusual apple orchard I have ever seen. The apples were all growing on trellises. There were several rows of them with lots of fruit! I thought it was a pretty interesting way to grow apples.


Apple Trees

A close up of the apples

Rows and Rows of apple trees growing on trellises.

A close up of one of the new apple trees

First Trip to the Market

On Sunday we walked down to the market. It was HUGE!! We didn't even see half of it. They sold everything from food to clothes to antiques, to fabrics, to toys, to household goods. You name it, they had it! We just skimmed it with Madame Ben Haim, the boys' French teacher, for a couple of hours. We bought great fruits and vegetables that were cheap and fresh! I think we'll be making many trips back there.


Abrahm and Alden at the market after making their first purchase. They bought some yummy nectarines! We also had the most delicious fresh apricots. They were so ripe and sweet the juice ran down your chin.

Adalee waiting no so patiently in her stroller at the market

A picture of the market we went to on Sunday

Another picture of the market

The First Couple of Days

The past couple of days have been spen t walking, walking and more walking. We pretty much walk everywhere. It's a good thing we are walking so much since we had our first experience with "pain au chocolat" (bread with chocolate) today. Let's just say it is heaven in a croissant. We spent the day running errands. We went to the school where the boys will be going. Everyone was very nice. We had a special meeting with the headmaster. He seemed very accomodating. At least I think he was. He only spoke French so it is hard to tell. We did learn that they just hired a new position at his school. It is basically French as a Second Language Class. It is the same as our ESL classes in the states. They have hired someone that speaks English to help the kids learn French. She will also be doing some English lessons so that the kids dont' forget their English skills.

After the school we headed to the "Grand Place". It is basically the center of the city. The architecture there is unbelievable. It dates back to the 1700s. There is a beautiful fountain in the middle. There is lots of shopping and restaurants there. They even had a McDonalds. We decided to go there so the kids could have a little treat. Based on the cost we probably won't be eating there very often. So far we have seen a few "American" restaurants here. I think we've seen Dominoes, Pizza Hut, McDonalds, and Subway.

After lunch we headed to look at an apartment. It is in a very good location and has a beautiful view. The only down side is that you have to climb about 3 flights of stairs. However the bedrooms are huge and it looks fairly clean and refinished. It also has lots and lots of storage which is unusual for here.

After that we headed to the bank to finish opening up our bank account. We now officially have an overseas bank. Kind of wierd, but we have to have one so we can get an apartment, phones, etc.

We are heading to another one of the American's houses for dinner tonight. He is being nice enough to let me do some laundry. The kids are doing pretty well. The only one with a little jet lag seems to be Adalee. She has been waking once a night and having a hard time going back to sleep. She wakes for about an hour or so. Hopefully tonight she'll sleep all night! Well that is about all from here. Until tomorrow, "Au Revoir"!

Our first picture as a family in France

Another view of "Grand Place"

One of the views at "Grand Place" which is the center of Lille. There are lots of beautiful buildings with restaurants, shopping, and business admin offices. The opera is right behind here.

Adam at "Grand Place"

Adalee chasing the birds at "Grand Place"

Alden drinking his apple juice from McDonalds

Abrahm and Alden at "Grand Place" today after lunch.

The kids across the street from one of the apartments we are looking at.

Adam and Alden on the train at the playground yesterday.

Adalee on the slide

Adam with his new taste treat. It's called Pom Potes. It is basically portable applesauce that you can suck instead of using a spoon. The kids love them! I love them because they are a quick and easy snack.

Alden with his applesauce

An exhausted Adalee on Wednesday afternoon

Bonjour!

Well we have finally arrived in France! After a long delay and longer flight, we made it here about 10:30 our time yesterday. Things have been crazy, but good. All of the Americans over here have been so helpful. They picked us up from the airport in Belgium and brought us back over here to Lille.

The kids have handled all of this surprisingly well. The boys are doing great! Other than a few tears by Alden and some small jetlag, they haven't had any issues. Adalee is doing fairly well also. She did have some issues last night, but I think it was just due to exhaustion. We had not really slept much in well over 24 hours. Abrahm has just left for work and the kids are still sleeping, so I am trying to catch up with the blog.

I will be posting at the PCS to France blog today to try and catch up on all the pictures we took while on vacation. We had a great time at Grammy and PopPops.

We will be quite busy over the next few days looking for places to live, getting cell phones, and finding our way around. So far it seems beautiful and the architecture is amazing. I will hopefully get some pictures over the next few days.

Please say a prayer for us today. We are heading to France in about an hour. We are all through security and waiting to board. Will update as soon as I can.

Update: Finally....

I updated our France PCS Blog. You can get to it by clicking here. I will be much better about updating more frequently. We just haven't had the best internet connections.

Adalee at Vanderbilt

Adalee finally woke up and is sitting beside me eating some ice cream. All is well. Thanks so much for the prayers and emails today.