February 2011 in Review

So early in Feb I had to make a day trip to Lyon to get some papers signed at the consulate there. My friend Ellen was kind enough to tag along and we made a day of it, including a great lunch in the culinary capital of France (really, it's Lyon and not Paris!) and even stopped to see some of the Roman ruins.

Ellen standing in the ampitheatre.


We also did a hike in Febuary with our friends Justin and Megan and their 2 kids. We just did a path in the Chartreuse mountains behind our house, but it was a lovely February day, we even had to take off our light jackets it was so warm!

View of Crolles below and the Belledonne mountains across the valley.

Piper and his friend...

The whole gang (minus me).

The Chartreuse mountains rising up right behind the trail we were on.

Checking out the sheep along the way.

More scenic shots..

and a final crossing where we took the kids across one at a time!

We also had the Holsenbacks arrive at the end of February, our friends from the US. They are medical missionaries that have come to France for language training so they can serve in Mali in Western Africa. So we spent some time hosting them and helping to get them set up in their apartment (hours of cleaning to get it into move-in condition)... but for some reason didn't take any pictures (other than a few to document how dirty their apartment was!). So that was our February. It was mild and sunny and not exactly the usual Feb ski season around here. But it was nice to be able to get out and hike so early and there was still snow over near the Italian border, so we did have a great winter ski day in March, which I will post after the weekend in Venice pictures coming up next!