Back to Paris again!

We weren't home long before we were hitting the train tracks again! First, it was to Lille to see Matt Freeman, from Austin Ridge. He was stopping off there on another trip and arranged to see us. It was so good to see him and to visit Lille, a cute town in northern France.

I am addicted to Grand Places :) They are one of the best things about Europe, in my opinion.


After Lille, it was on to visit some friends who live just south of Paris. We stayed with their family a few days and got some shots for a video project. The best part was playing with their sweet kids. Their daughter is the most well-balanced little girl I have ever seen. She's a fairy princess through and through, but she also has beloved snail pets that crawl all over her :) She is amazing.


We had a lot of fun traipsing around.


How would you like to be a little kid whose park playground backs up to a beautiful old convent? The history here still blows me away. It just blends in so well with modernity that it is shocking sometimes.


Clay doing his thing.


Ok, so we had dinner with some friends of our friends (confusing, I know) and they, like so many lucky people here this time of year, have ripe cherries on their trees!! This is another thing that blows me away.


For dinner, everyone just got to work, peeling and cutting potatoes for frits, chopping veggies for salads, pitching in from beginning to end. It was a beautiful thing. So "French," you know? I really liked it. Whenever we talk about "community," this is the picture I will always have in my mind.


So, goodbye to France for a little while, yes? We are back in Huy to begin our summer. It is starting to get a little warm here- we keep putting off buying a fan for our bedroom, but it just may happen tomorrow. Texans, you are shaking your heads, I know. Since when does one whine about 70 degree evenings? When you don't have air conditioning, I guess ;) It's not too bad, I confess.

Happy Monday!