December 2010 in Review

Well, here we go, I'm going to try and catch up to the present on my blog! These first two pictures are actually from Nov, the 26th, it was the first snow fall of the 2010-2011 winter! It was just a couple of inches that melted the next day, but it was beautiful around our house.

Here is next door in the forest..

and the view from our back yard.

Then, on December 1st, we had our big and only real snow fall of the season! Thankfully for the boys and I it was a Wednesday, so we were able to stay home all day and play and enjoy the snow.

Over 30cm! Or over a foot for those not up on the metric system :)

This was my workout that day!

Views of our yard...

and the neighbor's house.

This picture isn't the best, but that's E's snow angel.

And making another...

Three very happy boys!

Piper and me (E took this, impressive, yes?!)

This is what the Belledonnes looked like the next day at sunset as I picked the boys up from school. It's so beautiful here, and we try not to forget to appreciate it every day.

Another December activity, making Christmas cookies. We made them for the neighbors, teachers and friends this year. It's a fun gift since they don't really make cookies here.

Then in the middle of December, Brenda and Rebekah visited us! They are from our small town in IL, so it was so fun to have company from 'home', especially so close to the holidays. Rebekah was finishing up a term at Oxford, so Brenda was there to visit and take her home. They decided to take a trip to France to see Paris and also included visiting us in the alps. The weather was cold and snowy, but it was fun to share the beauty of the season with them as well. We went to the Christmas markets in town and sledged through the snow and slush to get some fun gifts and souvenirs from France.

We drove into the mountains to enjoy the view.

The Chartreuse mountains were amazing with an unbelievably blue winter sky.

We also took a trip to visit my favorite potter, Yves (sorry, John, I'm sure you didn't expect that expense!), and stopped along the way to visit the castle in Virieu. According to this sign, the castle was constructed in the 11th to 18th centuries, so medeival time frame.

It's nestled in the hills and in a beautiful location.

Rebekah and Brenda in front of the Château de Virieu.

Inside the courtyard.

Although there was less snow here, it was still really cold. The castle wasn't open to tour, so we just walked through the grounds and viewed it from the outside.

Final view of the Château de Virieu.

And I couldn't leave out this sweet picture of Piper. He spent the day with us in Geneva where I took Rebekah and Brenda to catch their flight back to England. This was while we were touring the cathedral in Geneva, which is about all we had time to do since they ended up having to go to the airport early to wait in line and figure out another flight because all of London was shut down for a terrible snow storm.

Fortunately, they were able to get to London, but unfortunately they were unable to get out and return to IL for Christmas! I guess there are worse places to be stuck! Thanks, Rebekah and Brenda for taking the time to come and visit us in Grenoble! We loved having you and hope that you enjoyed the time here even though it was cold and snowy!