French Immersion- thanks to Norfolk, Virginia.

Who knew spending time with friends we know from Norfolk would give us so much practice speaking our French?

Monday we met long time friend Nicolas in Cannes to return his son Remy from what we all agreed was the coolest sleepover ever. We upped the cool factor by hosting him on another continent. Of course the things they wanted to do most were build Legos and play video games. 

Boys will be boys, even with all that Antibes has to offer, they wanted to hang out and play video games.
Not to worry, I eventually got them outside!

Bennett and Remy have been friends since they were two and we always knew they would eventually share some worldly adventures together. Nicolas is French Canadian and has an apartment in Cannes. Remy speaks to his father in French here and there but I can never get him and Bennett to speak French, even in France. 

Nicolas was a great host and showed us around Cannes with his sister and niece who speak mostly French. The result was an amazing mixture of French and English all day and into the evening. My boys used more French than ever so far on this trip. We had to drag Samuel out of the museum (as usual) and up the steps to the top of the castle overlooking Cannes and its harbor. 

We shared a traditional French dinner with numerous courses and because it was owned by gypsies, tableside entertainment before dessert. It seemed like such a family affair with kids at one end of the table and adults at the other. My boys taught Jasmine and Remy how to balance spoons on their noses, for which I think the French gypsies shall be forever thankful. (How did they get through those long dinners without that trick? They must have some of their own). 

Of course Whenever you do something with families there's a lot of waiting around. This was the case when we met our friends in Toulon the next day. Marie was thrilled that we came to see her at her mother's house where they are staying in advance of her husband's transfer to Paris. 

Larchmont Elementary has had several French families since we've been there thanks to NATO. We became so close with them that their son Donovan served as French tutor and sometimes babysitter. 

This was great for us because I don't know all of the cuss words and slang that my kids want to learn, so having a surly teenage French boy around boy was just the thing. 

Actually it was very touching to watch Donovan and Elya grow up over the past three years. Donovan experienced the arc of starting out French, becoming American and then returning to his French style at the end. Elya was a little American girl from the beginning but spoke no English at all when she arrived. I was heartbroken to see her leave our neighborhood and her first school. 

After a brief tour of Toulon and lunch, Marie's friend drove us up the tiny mountain roads high above Toulon to his basement studio apartment. A gracious host, Ludovick arranged for an extra rollaway bed and we crammed into the tiny space with no AC. That lasted about 5 minutes and we were all outside to enjoy the view. 

Piling into the car with Marie and her friend to head high above Toulon 

We opted for another family dinner; this time it was a picnic at a grey sand beach in Seyne sur Mer. Not before a couple of hours of packing the picnic (I almost got arrested for going the wrong way out of the produce section-- another story, really-- how was I supposed to know I needed to weigh my watermelon?), wrangling children and waiting out Navy base traffic. Yes, that's a thing in Toulon and - yes-- it's Norfolk's sister city! Apparently that's one of the questions on the Sister City application for Norfolk. 

And so, finally to the beach. The kids were turned off by the leaves at the bottom of the water, but were soon enticed to swim when Cooper discovered something to jump off of-- this is a common theme. "We've got jumpers!"

Picnic dinner and it was time to pack up- again! Ah-- these family affairs are difficult to coordinate! Sadly, our goodbyes for the evening were also our goodbyes for Marie and her family. We had rushed through our "see ya laters" in Norfolk because I knew I would we had plans see them again in Toulon. This was for real and I found myself with tears and we left the beach and our friends. 

Sleeping without AC was a challenge after Cooper saw a mosquito and we were all convinced we would get attacked like the time we were in Florence (That shit is for real!) and I closed all of the windows. We survived and once again I was impressed that my kids put up with all of the wacky adventures I keep throwing at them. Honest to God-- they are incredible at rolling with it. 

Garage apartment was really one big room- we made the most of it with a rollaway bed and fans.

Of course all if this uncertainty and chaos may have something to do with my son's anxiety disorder, but I'm just gonna say for the record I'm having nothing to do with that. And if somebody gets diagnosed with a paranoid disorder, I'm blaming the mosquitos. 

Such a great time with our friends, and so thankful that my village now includes France!

Elya and Cooper enjoy a swim and jumping off a pier together.