The Loire Valley

We had an early morning and flew from Manchester to Paris. We landed and realized we had a three plus hour long drive to Amboise, where we were staying in the Loire Valley. Spirits were low and that hit the group hard. Stories Podcast ended up saving the day and we listened to story after story on our drive. Not pictured--we figured we'd just stop in a grocery store to grab sandwiches for lunch and we had such a hard time finding a good place to stop and ended up stopping in some weird industrial area. 

We finally got to Amboise, and headed towards the airbnb. I think this is right around the time someone spit on our car because they were so upset with Cameron's driving, haha.

Our airbnb was very unique and quaint! It grossed me out a bit, but it was also very cool. This is Andy's and Max's cave bathroom. 

The family room in the airbnb. Violet: "Look at this cute, miniature TV!" Max (very irritated): "This is like a two inch TV." 

We headed to the Chateau d'Amboise before it closed. Cute view of downtown Amboise from the castle. 

Cute shot. Not pictured: all the kids arguing over who got the ipad next.

Andy loved looking at all the cool houses and buildings down below. He loves architecture and always talks about how he wants a really big, pretty house. :)

It was a bit rainy but it was so beautiful in the gardens.

This pic Violet took on their ipad cracks us up.

Cameron took the lead on finding us dinner that night and it was an epic disaster haha. We ended up on a long walk through the rain, through the only ugly streets of Amboise (lots of construction) to a pizza place that had no seating and wasn't really going to work.

We ended up getting takeout pizza for the kids and they ate as we walked back. And then Cameron and I went out for dinner, just us. It ended up just fine, but I really liked to tease Cameron about it.

The walk through Amboise to our airbnb was so cute.

From our dinner date in Amboise when we decided French food was just expensive and weird. (We later changed our opinion when we ate incredibly in Paris night after night.)

Andy and Max had a cave bedroom in our airbnb. It was literally carved out of the side of the mountain in the backyard. In theory it was really cool and we thought the boys would be excited about it. They were NOT excited haha. Max said, "This place sucks." To be fair, everything in there was pretty damp and we saw spiders. And Andy's stuff got this weird chalky residue on it. I'm sure they'll complain about their nights in this cave for the rest of their lives.

We woke up the next morning and headed to Chateau du Clos Luce (which was literally a one minute walk from our airbnb), where Leonardo Da Vinci lived at the end of his life. We toured the castle and it was really cool. The gardens were full of life-size versions of his various inventions. This bridge was one.

another invention

Family selfie! Not pictured--this is when we started using an app that identified bird songs and told you which bird you were hearing. Davis really loved it. This also turned into something for the kids to argue about (who got to do it next).

Cute shot of downtown Amboise. We picked up chocolate croissants each morning at the patisserie on the right. I think they were our favorite in all of France.

Next we visited Chateau de Chenonceaux. I think it was my favorite. It looked like a storybook and I loved the interior.

I think this is probably one of the hundreds of times Davis asked Cameron, "Dad, can we talk about Zelda?" He is absolutely obsessed right now. He always wanted to sit by Cameron everywhere so they could talk more about it.

Andy took this for us!

Violet was just about the only one willing to take pics happily by this point of the trip so she is many of them. She is the cutest traveler. Always positive and finding joy in exploring so many things. She finds beauty everywhere.

We spontaneously decided to rent bikes and ride around the village and the castle. It was so fun.

I was in back behind Davis. He barely got confident riding this summer, so this was a big jump for him. He rode five miles or so and did great! He definitely scared me to death a few times when we were riding close to cars, and I decided we would walk bikes when we were next to cars from then on. 

Love my "special boy". (I call him that a lot.) He makes life so exciting and fun.

First crepes of the trip! We had savory crepes for dinner and had dessert crepes too.

Cute shot of Max, who loved jumping over these things.

We really loved the walk through Amboise to our airbnb. Cutest, small street.

Our airbnb

Another weapon purchase for Davis: a cross bow. I think this is the night a french lady yelled out the window for him to be quiet as he was practicing using it, haha.

View from my bedroom window in the airbnb.

We checked out of our airbnb and headed to Chateau de Chambord on our way to Paris.

They lady I asked to take our picture was very irritated about it. It felt like a very French experience. :)

Chateau de Chambord had this kiosk they changed our pictures into various French historical pictures. We had so much fun at this and spent so much time at it. It often mixed up gender and really cracked us up. I think this is Davis and Violet.

Me and Davis

It decided Violet was Indian in this one. And Davis aged twenty years.

We loved exploring the castle. It was huge! It was mostly used as a hunting lodge for the royals.

We promised the kids we'd come back to the kiosk after we explored and we stayed there another thirty minutes or so haha. Cameron wasn't into it but the rest of us had the time of our lives. This is a great one of Max.

Davis

Violet and Max

Another one of Violet and Max

Violet and Davis

Davis

Davis and Violet...and a random person that walked by when they took the picture haha.

Davis

Violet and Max

Me, Violet, Max, and Davis

A great one of all four kids

I only paid the 5 euros for two of the pictures to be printed and sent to me digitally so that's why this one is more official. Christmas card picture?! 

Another one I paid for: a great royal pic of me and Cameron. I also took his phone and sent this to quite a few of his contacts with no explanation.