Soooo...what did you do this summer???

remember that question from when you were a kid? Fall would always bring on school, new shoes, frosty mornings...and most of all the question I always hated most. Somehow I just thought it was a boring question to ask. Now granted when you were a kid, you could draw out your answer with a lovely picture of the beach and a happy face sunshine. But as a teenager, it was a tougher question. Lemme see at sixteen what did I do that summer....right, slept in everyday, worked at my kushy city job,partied, partied, the beach, hung out with boys.... do I have to write an essay about that crap? Now come Mr( insert english teachers name here) do you really wanna know this info? I swear it was a way for the school to see if students did any illegal activities over the summer...or just to weed out the hosers. So....what does one do in this dilemma...well I would lie. Maybe not lie all out lie...but really stretch the truth a wee bit...just a wee bit. Now come on, don't look at me that way, 1000 word essay!!!!????? Don't tell me you didn't lie either. Especially when we all know 16 year olds need about 18 hours of sleep per day, what else is there to talk about when school rolls around.


So as I age....aka getting older. :::gasp:::: I find that summers are shorter and shorter...and the small time where the air is warm enough to wear shorts and tanks until 12 midnight, where the sun cracks at 4:30 am and doesn't set until 10 pm, where you can sit and listen to crickets at night, BBQ, BBQ, BBQ, beautiful beaches and hours of surfing. Alas summer is way to short, for this summertime addict. And for me, there is always a pang of sadness when the colors change on the trees, and the air gets nippy at night. I always yearn for those summer nights.
 

so what did I do???? well I'm currently living in Germany...I travelled of course! First up was having my girls of Ginger Blue join me in Europe. They stayed with me for a couple of days...did some crazy hiking up in the Alps...then headed over to Nimes, France to dance at Tribal Umrah. This is a young festival hosted by the lovely Djyenne of France. I have had the opportunity to meet Djyenne at Tribal Fest 2 years running. So it really was wonderful to see her on home turf, with all the incredible talented ladies of france dancing to what we all love best, Tribal Fusion. Its a great idea, Tribal Umrah is a tribal fusion only festival, so the whole basis for this festival is to feature and promote the tribal fusion culture. And what a festival! Good job Djyenne!! I look forward to Barcelona, next year! Always the greatest thing about festivals is meeting new people, making friends and taking some really great workshops!




Next up.....my parents came to see me in Germany!! that was really great to see them and really nice for my kids to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa. With my folks here we planned to get in some sights with them. First stop...Venice, Italy. Now at this point, the weather was crazy crazy warm. So all I gotta say..thank goodness we had air conditioning in the car. Or things would be a little crazy. Venice is about 6 hours from my house...and having a full load of poeple plus 2 kids is always an entertaining road trip! But we made it. Venice was beautiful as always, but crowded!! crazy crowded with people. I knew it would be crowded but it didn't really prepare me for the people! But we found some nice cafe's to hang out in and every shaded place in Venice did not go unexplored. Shopping with my mom was fun...but drove the hubby crazy::::rolls eyes::: The only mishap was the entire trip was I fell in the canal. Yes you heard right...the canal. Yeeeesssss...thhhhheeeee canal. Umm yeah. my $2 Old navy flip flops failed me, and I slipped right in. you can stop laughing now. yep anytime. So yeahhhhhh, had to buy a new dress, and yes I still have my flip flops, I dove back in to get them, dammit. stop laughing anytime now. Maybe I should contact Old navy for this brilliant advertising idea....mmmmmmm.

All water under the bridge har har. Next stop was Vienna, Austria. Again, many blessings to the air conditioner gods, and another 6 hour drive to Vienna. Everything always seems so close, until you gotta do it with other folks in a vehicle together and a glitchy navi. Well obviously we all survived. We had a great weekend in Vienna. Its really a beautiful city, with such beautiful architecture ,and history. Apparently its rated the best city in the world to live in....bumping Vancouver outta its first place spot. Having visited..I can see why. Really its hard to describe so here are some pics...

Really there are loads more....I'll show ya the next time I see ya:) So sadly it was time to say goodbye to my folks, as they headed to Paris and Amsterdam to continue their trip. But our family vacation was just about to begin!! So again, more packing...more driving...more air conditioning...and yeah!!!! The west coast of France! Now, if you havn't been here, and your into surfing you gotta check this area out. Its kinda like the sand dune parts of the Oregan coast.




Really wild and beautiful and miles upon miles of white sand beaches. My kinda place:) Except here's the glitch. My husband booked us into a Naturist Campsite for a whole month. What does that mean well naturist is european talk for Nudist. yep a nudist campground...for 1 month.a whole month. So needless to say, one must get over any body issues they currently have. and suck it up. because going naked are the rules. Ohhh husband. So fyi. If you suffer from any body issues or lack of self confidance...one realizes very quickly that really you gotta get over things in a naturist campground. Everyone is naked all the time and everywhere you look. The bathrooms are cooed..the showers are cooed...the pool is cooed...naked restaurants...naked bars....naked beaches...naked naked naked. Really I had to leave my sunglasses on my face 100% of the time for the first 2 weeks. really. Anything that you have fabricated in your brain about your body, you need to know it does not exist. And quite frankly seeing a campground with over 5000 people in it full of naked people in every size and shape, you come to realize, heyyyyyy...things are not sooooo bad about your body. Now, please can someone tell me how to ride my bike without burning my ass off. That was not in the info brochure. And no, I don't have any pictures of the campground. Don't ask. But I did get some cool shots at the beach. At sunset...sooooo no naked pics...sorry.
A month of sunning and surfing. gives one a very good tan. My vitamin d quotas are very high. But now time  to head home, ( But first  a small  trip over to the Bordeaux region for some wine tasting!) Yeah we were close(just North west of this area) and had been drinking the fabulous Bordeaux wines all month...now to actually check out were they are!. Really truly every thing you ever thought of Bordeaux in your brain is true. Really truly just beautiful...and hopefully I get a chance to go back!!




Well there you have it.....summer vacation. Fairly epic, really.Toren lost his first tooth, my folks visited Europe for the first time, Good friends, broken car drama, Italy, France, Austria, camping, surfing wine more wine...whew!! I believe I have even surpased my 1000 word essay limit. My grade 11 english teacher would be proud. I think me and Tones worked it out that we have driven over 10 000 km this summer. Thats alot of driving...but we had a fun! I would feel sorry for the dog if I were you. she was the one trapped beside 2 kids for most of the summer....poor Kaia.