To Saint-Émilion we went

So I have been struggling with the tantrums and screaming from a certain Ethiopian kid in my family. I don't want to name names, so she shall remain anonymous.I reached my breaking point. Did the frazzled Skype to the hubby. Why did I drag us here? Should I have done this? How do I make it 6+weeks without throwing her in the Garonne river?

Mark was able to talk me through it. He reminded me that the best thing to do with said Ethiopian is to isolate her in a time out. Remove her from the scene. I implemented this tactic and...voila! Well, not quite voila, but it is working. The sweet kid that boarded the airplane is slowly returning. And this means I have more confidence to go out and explore,

So, Charlene and I were feeling optimistic, so we decided to venture out and check out the town (village? city?) of Saint-Émilion. It had come recommended to us from several separate sources. Lots of chateaus and wine, wine and more wine. Which is so great with 4 kids in tow. Hmmm, not so much. So we set off in the morning (this morning) and drove the 45 minutes to the city center. We felt like the kids could possibly stay occupied for that long. Thanks to Casey and her amazing toy handling and kid whispering.

It makes me laugh to simply say that we set off in the morning. That's just too easy. The reality is that we set up the night before. Laid the kids' clothes out, put breakfast and all related items on the table, and gathered an s load of snacks, all the night before. Then we were STILL rallying in the morning. Whew. It's still enough work to put you down for a nap before you even leave the house.

Anyhoo, we made it to Saint-Émilion and parked. Now if that doesn't sound thrilling to you, then you have never driven in a foreign country. Just simply driving away from your digs, using your GPS and correctly finding your destination is grand. And then finding a place to put your car, now that's just awesome.

So we did that and then got out and explored for a bit. What a beautiful area. Wow. Pictures don't do it justice. But here are a few...


View from the top

The girls taking in a treat of macarons. We sampled rasberry, strawberry, nutella and salted caramel, to name a few


The square down below


Beautiful girls, beautiful architecture


The author, recovering from 2 yr olditis


Very old streets


At "home" making music



The Parc Bordelais piggies


Charlene sipping France's other amazing export...juice boxes



Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!


Gordon and Casey as shmiblings (siblings from our Shmamily=family)