Our Week at the Chateau

Our trip to the chateau did not start off well. It normally takes 3 hours to get to the chateau from Paris by car but the someone decided it was a brilliant idea to completely close down a highway on the weekend (?!) so it took us 8 hours.  We were stuck in traffic that wasn't moving, the kind of traffic when people start getting out of their cars and walking around, for quite awhile and then we pulled off and Eric came up with a different way to get there while eating McDonald's.  Jos actually handled the drive better than me and slept most of the way with only one minor meltdown. I on the other hand was itching to get out of that car and get there already!  As soon as we pulled off, the long drive was worth it because this place was completely spectacular, no words to describe it! I kept thinking to myself, "This is not my life. I don't stay at chateaus on vacation?!".  It was surreal.  Yes, we were in this amazing place, with a chef cooking most of our meals (best food I've ever had!) and women serving us course after course but really in the end I can sum up our trip in one word...family.  We all live in different parts of the country so it's hard for us all to get together, in the same place at the same time. It was wonderful for Jos to have that much time with her grandparents so they could get to know the little girl she is becoming, to watch her interact with her uncles, aunt and cousin and just have that time together as a family.  It was the best part about the entire trip.  

Here are some of the other highlights of our week there:

• THE FOOD! Every morning there were delicious pastries, coffee and fruit waiting for us in the breakfast room.  Chef Ives prepared lunch and dinner for us for part of the week and every course and dessert got better and better! We all went through our favorite courses and the winner was the orange sorbet, the best sorbet I've ever had and was presented beautifully! He constantly surprised us.  He had a soft spot for Jos because she clapped for him after a particularly spectacular meal. It was also completely adorable to see all these gourmet dishes, which Jos couldn't get enough of, served on her plastic Elmo plate :)  Her favorites were the bread and the cheese platter course, weirdly enough she loved the blue cheese the best.  My daughter is a foodie :)
• Jos was obsessed with these red fire bugs that were crawling all over the place. She wanted us to put them on her hand because she thought they looked like lady bugs.  
• John and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary in this incredible place!
• I have never taken so many naps in my life!  The good thing about Jos being in our room is that I was forced to lay down with her for naps since she wanted to sleep in our bed.  I also got the chance to read a lot, something I love to do but rarely do at home since I've had Jos.  
• Jos's favorite things about the chateau were the stairs, the umbrella stand near the entry way, opening and closing the doors and the two stuffed geese guarding the back door. She would give the geese hugs, pet them and say "nice".  
• We had dinner out in the pool house one night and Chef Ives "grilled" (I use that term loosely because it was unlike any BBQ I've ever had!).  We were giving my mother-in-law a hard time because she kept telling us to keep our windows closed because of bats. She "knew someone" that had to get a rabies shot after a bat bite.  And wouldn't you know it, we had a special dinner guest that night, Mr. Bat.  Of course we had to freak her out and kept saying it was swooping down on her, ha!
• We took day trips to Le Mans (to go to Le Musee des 24 Heures) and to Tours.  Jos had a meltdown while we were having lunch in Tours so that trip didn't go as planned.  We saw the cathedral, went to lunch (I spent most of it outside with Jos trying to get her to calm down.), did some quick shopping and Jos had enough.  After a week of traveling and time changes, she was over it and was letting us know.  

Jos, Fiora and I passed out in the car on the drive to the chateau.  

Jos got to take baths in this gorgeous bath tub. I want one!

She miraculously didn't break anything at the chateau. My biggest fear was her damaging something!

One of our amazing desserts, cream puffs!

The stairs made us nervous because they were solid stone but of course they were her favorite thing about the place.

At the museum in Le Mans.

One morning, we took a bike ride through the countryside.   

We went from farmlands with cows....

To a forest of trees. It was beautiful!

Our amazing room, Chambre des Papillons (room of butterflies).

We went to a flea market in the small town outside the gates of the chateau.  Every time we left the chateau, people would look at us as if they were thinking, "who are they?" and I kept wanting to say, "we're nobodies!", ha!

  
We had cocktail hour every night in the main living room.

Fiora is a great babysitter!

Most of our lunches and dinners were in a grand dining room.

Playing with Uncle P and Uncle E.

We walked around the gardens a lot.  There was so much to see. John's favorite thing to do while we were there is explore the grounds and all the rooms. He even got locked in a room while Jos and I were in Tours.  Someone eventually took pity on him and got him out ;) He picked up a sketch book in Paris and sketched a lot while we were there.

I think this may be on our Christmas card :)

Grandpa, Fiora and Gaga

Love this picture!

There was even a church on the grounds.  

Paul and I had this idea to take pictures of Jos with an umbrella. One night we had dinner in the pool house and it was sprinkling a little so I handed Jos the brightest umbrella and grabbed my camera.

My favorite!

Dinner in the pool house.

The amazing Chef Yves!

4 course dinner that lasts over 2 hours? No problem, we have the iPhone!

She loved this little bench in the breakfast room.

Checking out the view from our room.

Playing dominoes with daddy.

She loved to do this with Uncle P.

with Auntie Lisa and Uncle E

There wasn't much to see in the little town so we went inside to check out the church.  

Finally got some blue skies to take a good picture of our home for the week!

Chef Yves left us so we were on our own to cook one night. I contributed an Italian dish based on what we had in the pantry and fridge, fettucine alla carbonara!

We ate outside under the trees.

Jos loved the bugs flying around!

It was overcast and gray in the beginning of the week and then it warmed up enough to spend some time by the pool.  John taught Jos how to use a squirt gun.

There were grapes hanging from the ceiling of the green house.

A rare picture of just me and John!

On our last day, we went to Tours.

We found a kids' store in Tours and Jos drew while I bought her a dress.

Jos found the little closet in our room and thought it was the perfect hiding place.

I wanted to take some pictures of her in her birthday dress but she wanted to play with her ball instead.

"Grandpa, my hands are dirty!"

We were without a chef again the last night (tough life, I know!) so Eric made us a pasta dinner.

Jos found another stuffed friend.

LOVE this picture of her!

The next morning we had one last croissant and said our goodbyes to the beautiful chateau!  Instead of dealing with all the traffic to get back to the city, we dropped off the rental cars in Le Mans and grabbed the train to the airport. Jos LOVED it!

I will spare you all the horrid details about how much Air France and Charles de Gaulle airport suck but besides the fact that they have the smallest and most uncomfortable planes ever and they lost Jos's bag on the way to Boston (they found it a couple days later), we had a pretty painless flight back to the U.S.