October 15, 2015

Our final vacations living overseas

It is almost a distance memory but this past summer was our last summer/vacation time while we were living overseas. Although we never take the entire summer off we usually take a few little vacations and one big one. This year was no different except for the fact that after our summer vacation we were heading home back to the states. Soooo we wanted to make this summer unforgettable. I have to tell you we definitely succeeded.

Prior to our vacations we had our last visitors, my best friend Kara and her family. They chose a hot week to come but what a great time. They had the chance to get in all of the sites and then they headed over the Germany. I can't believe they were our last guests...wow!

Back to vacations....we thought hard of where we wanted our last trips to be, what new adventure should we choose. Well our smaller weekend vacation we chose a place I really wanted to get to and there was only a particular time of year we could go....Provence it was. This is a where the lavender grows the later part of June into July. Also a place where you can see sunflowers to the horizon. What a magically and beautiful place. We stayed at a cute little winery just outside of Gordes. Besides the fact that it was 100 degrees out and there was no air conditioner, it was a really cute place. We were only there for 4.5 days so we made the most of it by visiting all the different little villages. We had one detour one morning when we woke up to a flat tire. (one flat tire out of the 2.5 years of renting cars is pretty good) Out of all the villages, I am not sure which one was my favorite…maybe Rousillon. I finally got the chance to see the lavender that is in all the pictures, it was just beautiful. The Abbay Notre-Dame de Senanque was more beautiful that I imagined. I think I took 100 pictures of the Abby with the lavendar, every view was stunning!! The first day or two we couldn’t find any sunflowers but voila, we finally found them and once we did, they were everywhere. Besides the lavender and the sunflowers the villages were so rustic and beautiful. We also took this awesome canoe ride down the river. It was so much fun, the kids never wanted it to end.

Love this...Abbay Notre- Dame de Senanque

Our last big vacation we decided to go somewhere that we just couldn’t get enough of....Greece. Last year was such a wonderful vacation that we wanted to go back. We didn’t just want to go to Crete again so we decided to stay in Santorini for 5 days. Of course prior to our awesome vacation we were busy packing up our Paris apartment. We thought that packing up our apartment prior to vacation it would give our furniture some extra time to get across the ocean. We also figured we would be so stressed out from packing that we would need a long get away. It was a great choice on our part. After packing Keith and I were ready to just get out.

Santorini was a great stress relief. I just fell in love with this island. Everything was so white and beautiful. We stayed in old Firastefani and I would recommend everyone to stay there. What an amazing view at night, best view of the sunset. At night we would walk into Fira, which was such a great town. So many restaurants and really cute shops. We swam, explored and even took a ride on a catamaran. I can’t recommend this place enough. Oh yeah, everyone is just soo nice there...good break coming from Paris. Funny, how leading up to this trip we were thinking of canceling with the economic crisis Greece was in but we are so glad we didn't. On the islands it was like nothing was happening.

Next was Crete. This was our favorite vacation in the past and it continues to be. This year we rented bigger villa and it was just amazing. Our bestest friends the Davis’ met us in Crete and hopefully they loved it as much as we did. The house was just amazing. Besides the house, the atmosphere, the food, the drinks and the company was amazing. I never wanted to leave. Although there are other houses around, the property was so private with amazing views. The kids had a blast in the pool and we loved it because it was the first time that we didn’t have to go in the pool at the same time with the kids, since they now swim on their own. Wow, they are growing up so fast. The boys also discovered some cool caves on the side of the cliffs, which were just right under neath our house. Needless to say the boys were down there everyday. I am not a big cave person but it was pretty cool.

I am not sure how our future vacation will ever compare to Greece and I made Keith promise that we could go back there in 5 years, when the kids will be up to hiking the Gorge. It was one of the best memories!! Keith and I are so happy with the choice we made to go back to Greece. I was actually trying to talk him into getting a second home there...lol!

Enjoy the photos!

Thanks for Reading! Only one more blog left.

(as always some extra photos on the bottom to enjoy)

XOXOXOX

Life is good in Paris

Alicia

Our 3rd and last Bastille day!  Fireworks were amazing! — Our 3rd and last Bastille day! Fireworks were amazing!

Hanging with great friends for Bastille night!

Tour de France...great view at the Eiffel Tower.

These kiddos have been watching this tour together for the last three years.

We all just love it here....especially watching the boats!

Besties!!!  Wow, do I love these girls! — Besties!!! Wow, do I love these girls!

What a view!!!  The Iron Lady!! — What a view!!! The Iron Lady!!

July 19, 2015

My "Guest " Blog (co-written by my husband, Keith)

by Alicia Demmerle

A blog to our guests…

While living in Paris for 2 ½ years, we have had the privilege of hosting a total of 47 overnight guests:

By design we set up what would have been the apartment’s master bedroom as our guest room. And I must say we truly enjoyed having everyone come. We had other Paris friends of ours intentionally set up their apartments to avoid having guests by telling them they did have the space. We did the opposite by welcoming everyone and making space even when it was extra tight. We had so many people stay with us it almost came routine. We expected extra people to be around and our kids assumed the same.

Everyone was gracious. Everyone. We tried to make people feel welcome to make our Paris apartment their home away from home as well. I hope we accomplished that. That is not always an easy task when all of our visitors were on vacation and we were living our ‘regular’ lives in Paris. But we tried to do a little ‘vacationing’ with each of them as well. Regardless everyone seemed to be happy to take a key and a map and enjoy Paris whether we were able to tour with them or not. We were always thrilled when people arrived and sad when they left.

Paris has been such a unique life experience for us that we wanted to be able to share it with friends and family that mean so much to us. When we finally return to the US, and get back together with all those who came to visit, it becomes a story we get to share together vs. our own story about a life we had so far away. It is a special thing to be able to relate to such a life event with close friends and family.

If you we were privileged to have you stay with us, thank you for using your precious vacation time to enjoy this amazing city with us. If you weren’t able to make it we are sorry to have missed you. Regardless, a lessoned learned for the Demmerle family is to always keep our door open, and no matter where we are living we hope to see you soon.

Thanks for all the unforgettable memories!

Life is good in Paris!

Enjoy some pictures of our guests. Unfortunately we don't have pictures of everyone...sorry about that.

xoxoxo

Our very first guest...Nate.  We named the guest room after him...the Nate Suite! — Our very first guest...Nate. We named the guest room after him...the Nate Suite!

Caroline and Jeff....doing Thanksgiving dishes!!

The McLaughlin kids and the Demmerle kids!

Kristen and Mom enjoying my favorite Crepe place!

Kids enjoying the bubble man with Olivia

Beers & Walsh together again at the Paris markets!

Au Revoir to our last guests while living in Paris!

July 6, 2015

A Fantastic Group!

by Alicia Demmerle

I started off thinking I was going to write an updated blog about our amazing time at Diner en Blanc a few weeks ago but I think I am more inclined to write about the group that got us to Diner en Blanc, the Expatries of Paris, The International Triathlon Club, Keith and I belong to.

As most of you know, and if you don’t you will now, Keith and I are pretty athletic. I have always been a runner but Keith really got me into triathlons in the US before we came to Paris. Unfortunately Paris is not the easiest place to train but we discovered the Expatries club and life changed. Although we haven’t done nearly the amount of tri’s that we do back home, this club schedules an event nearly every day, and sometimes several a day, to help you get your workouts in. Almost everyday there is someone to meet to swim with (I should have no excuses), ride a bike with and/or some running workout. I have been terrible and have really just focused on running here, but Keith really enjoys his Thursday night swims with the group and anytime he can get on his bike and join them. The leader of the group Nick, is just an amazing leader. He brings such energy to the group that it just makes you want to do well and go out there and get a PR! We always talk about that if we didn’t have two kids at home, we would be at the workouts everyday with them, instead of just trying to get a free moment to go workout.

It is also great to just be around people that also have the same athletic competitiveness in them. People often think I am crazy for how much I run, or how early I get up to get my workouts in but these people on this team get it…because they are doing it too.

Fortunately we have also been able to meet up with the group a few times for some social hours and just recently Paris’ Diner en Blanc, http://paris.dinerenblanc.info/ . What a wonderful night it was and the people we were with made it even more fantastic. It was our second year going to it with the group and it doesn’t disappoint. There is something about all of us carrying our stuff around the city, banging people on the metro with our white tables. Then waiting and waiting and waiting to find out where we are going. The anticipation arises when you start walking. This year it was the Palais Royal. Everything is white..just so beautiful. But what made it even more fantastic was the people. The Tri group made it memorable and just so much fun. Everyone sharing food and sharing drinks. Remember we are a competitive group so there is always the question of who brought the best entrée or dessert.

Keith and I agreed that by far our favorite nights in Paris are at Diner en Blanc and agree the best thing we did was join the Expatries of Paris. What a great group and we are sure going to miss them all!!

(see pictures below)

Thanks for Reading

Life is Good in Paris

Xoxoxo

Katherine, Louise and I hanging out waiting for the next steps

walking to the secret site - we think we know where it is.

We made it...now set up!  Boys on one side, girls on the other! — We made it...now set up! Boys on one side, girls on the other!

Throw back to last year's Diner en Blanc with the Tri group!!  Note the swimming goggles! — Throw back to last year's Diner en Blanc with the Tri group!! Note the swimming goggles!

Some of the group after the Versailles tri last year!