tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84064158140317129912024-03-05T10:50:47.540+01:00La Vie ÉchangéeWe left our life in the US with our four kids - 9, 7, 5 and 2 - to exchange houses, cars, schools, friends, and languages with a French family in the Cote d'Azur. Who knows what will happen in this life?La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.comBlogger362125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-87664470806178788312008-10-07T18:45:00.002+02:002008-10-07T18:48:42.278+02:00Some would say I'm a "procrastinator". I call it taking my own sweet time. After all, la vie est belle, why hurry through it?Come visit at www.davidandstasha.blogspot.comLa Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-74873525351552179742008-07-25T10:36:00.003+02:002008-07-25T10:42:29.948+02:00Dear Family, Friends, Stranger-Friends and Passer-by's:Writing my/our experiences in this blog has been really rewarding over the past year. When we left France I tried to post a few things, but it just didn't feel right. "La Vie Echangee" felt complete. Our family will definitely be starting up some new adventures, but I've decided not to chronicle them on this blog. I will most likely be La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-86823068878290261012008-06-28T03:39:00.003+02:002008-07-14T14:45:05.002+02:00i love france, 28 june 2008Today I leave France with Abby and Carter to return to Arizona. Dave has been there for a day already. Our home exchange is over. Like almost all good things in life, it passed by too quickly. We have all been transformed by this experience.As I was getting ready to go this morning, I ran across this email that Dave wrote to me in March, about the time we started to realize that a year in MouginsLa Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-67414226833374401842008-06-26T18:15:00.006+02:002008-06-26T18:41:56.328+02:00airplanes and drawingsI guess I'm the guest writer for today because Stasha is on an airplane with Abby and Carter, and with Jeremy, the son of our good friends the Hussons (a tiny bit about them here, with pics of Sophie and Mailys, who were inseparable in Mougins). She arrives tonight and I can't wait to walk around our house together.Sophie spent the night at her friend Piper's house so I haven't seen her since La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-47090033398326085562008-06-26T11:54:00.000+02:002008-06-26T12:00:01.241+02:00phoenixA few "Dave thoughts" based on 24 hours back in Arizona:Gas is $10 a gallon in Mougins, but it hurt much more to pay $4.12 per gallon here. How can gas cost $4.12 a gallon?There seem to be more "for sale" signs up than ever before. I haven't seen any buyers.The roads here are really wide. I love them.I saw three Hummers today. I hate you, Hummers.The land on the Northeast corner of 67th Avenue La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-66529729381234448632008-06-26T02:12:00.007+02:002008-07-01T07:43:08.617+02:00a giftOn Monday afternoon Sophie and Sam said goodbye to their teachers, Brigitte and Sylvian, whom we have each grown to love with all our hearts. They took Sophie and Sam when they spoke no French and treated them like everyone else - with love and patience - while they learned. Now, 10 months later, they speak in French always: to each other, to Dave and I, even in their sleep. They have been La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-12351886079773725472008-06-26T00:25:00.007+02:002008-06-26T18:07:04.622+02:00the phone was busyThis is Dave and I'm back in Phoenix. Stop by the house if you want to say hi. I expect no one will but it's too hot to open the door anyway. Phoenix is like a furnace.When I walked in the house last night we had 34 messages on our answering machine, so I got out a piece of paper to write down them all, just so I could return the calls of all those trying so hard to reach us. Here's the list (RM La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-54839951300844555842008-06-25T22:29:00.003+02:002008-06-26T18:31:04.422+02:0025 juin 200810.30 p.m. The bags are packed, the clothes are laid out, and the kids are (kind of) asleep. EasyJet flight to Paris leaves at 6:15 tomorrow morning. 110 degree weather in my near future.La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-65555737654879387022008-06-23T21:17:00.005+02:002008-06-26T18:11:02.373+02:0023 juin 2008I just took Dave to the airport in Nice. He took three huge suitcases, one computer bag*, one tub of Pet Shops, one Thomas the Train suitcase, one Bratz suitcase and two of the cutest, saddest little francophones in the world. more later . . .*please note he has once again forgotten the cord to his laptop.La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-18602939919627756602008-06-21T22:12:00.003+02:002008-06-21T22:20:51.506+02:00Well, summer has officially arrived on the Cote d'Azur . . . and it's really hot! Everyone kept telling me that it would happen "d'un coup" (suddenly), and they were right! Wednesday was the first nice day we've seen in a long time, and we celebrated by going to the beach (Plage du Midi).But since then, I've had tons of work to do, so now while everyone is at the beach or in the pool, I am busyLa Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-26038927829145412552008-06-19T17:12:00.002+02:002008-06-19T17:20:06.308+02:00The other day I wrote my first French cheque. Seems a little silly to be excited about something so normal, but checks are a little different in every country, so it's funny to be an adult asking for help to fill out a check because you don't know what to do. I remember this same experience in England, asking the gardener how to fill out the check, and she laughed at me. I also found this La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-72470925714023537542008-06-19T15:22:00.003+02:002008-06-19T18:23:45.797+02:00ready to goAfter spending so much money on airline tickets, we decided we could save a little money by having Carter fly cargo. As you can see, he is all ready to go.*no Carters were harmed for this photo.La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-13061601045924190352008-06-17T19:50:00.002+02:002008-06-17T20:02:14.764+02:00Contre IKEA à MouginsThere are many things we love about France, as those who read have come to know. But there are some things about the US that we will probably always prefer. One of those things is shopping. There is no Target or Anthropologie here and the most interesting store in France might be Ikea. The closest one to us is in Toulon, about an hour away by car. But it didn't have to be that way.Late last year La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-75961554683085148922008-06-17T19:36:00.004+02:002008-06-17T19:50:08.871+02:00notre petit americainsMadame Brigitte with her class at the library, Oct 2007. Sophie is smiling, bottom row far right.We were finally able to get our plane reservations sorted out. It cost almost $3000 to use our "free" tickets to get to and from Europe, and we have to spend a night in Amsterdam, but we now have seats to go back to Arizona. Oof! as they say here.This morning Dave spoke to Sophie and Sam's teachers atLa Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-72414319220864558702008-06-17T19:21:00.004+02:002008-06-17T19:35:57.244+02:00it's a big nightMost of France is at a standstill starting in about an hour. Not because of the strike by the bus drivers in this area (the second one in about a month) but because France plays Italy in the Euro 2008 tournament. The winner of the match moves on to the quarterfinals; the loser is finished.France and Italy border each other (the border with Italy is about 45 minutes from Mougins) and are generallyLa Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-5350712730556485522008-06-16T18:15:00.007+02:002008-06-16T19:16:47.635+02:00a challenge. with love, united airlinesCan you make this work?Your outbound flight was in July 2007 from Phoenix to Paris via Washington Dulles, on United Airlines. You booked seats using "mileage plus miles" (i.e. "free" tickets). Even though the tickets were free you had to pay $700 in "taxes" to book your seats. When you booked United said to book a return in October 2007 (even though you weren't coming back until at least late La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-30045848223756115232008-06-16T18:01:00.003+02:002008-06-16T18:15:29.568+02:00filmsDave and I both enjoy movies but never seem to find the time to watch them. I'm sure you know what I mean. By the time the kids are in bed we're often not far behind. In France we haven't seen very many, and never rented a single dvd (which you get from a machine, by the way. There is no such thing as Blockbuster).When we're back in the US this summer, Dave is determined to catch up on the long La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-63645562140747455872008-06-14T10:12:00.003+02:002008-06-14T13:09:33.345+02:00ohdeedohA couple of weeks ago my new friend Carrie, an editor at a great family website, emailed and asked if she could do a feature on our year in France, which you may or may not know is ending in less than two weeks. I was happy to talk with her.This morning she posted the feature and we think she did a great job! Probably about the same time she posted, she went into labor to have her new baby. If La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-20493044310683695812008-06-14T00:50:00.004+02:002008-06-14T13:21:31.853+02:00mystery solved?Remember my ICE problem? Today I got this e-mail:"D'après le "Daily Express" : " Bien qu'on n'en reconnaisse pas les raisons exactes, on dit que le fait de croquer des glaçons peut être le signe d'anémie par carence en fer"* une prise de sang?"Mystery solved?*According to the Daily Express: "Although we do not recognize the exact reasons, we say that crunching ice may be a sign of anemia La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-77763583248423773282008-06-12T23:46:00.004+02:002008-06-12T23:57:47.139+02:00busy, busyTo prepare for our trip back to the U.S. in a couple of weeks, I decided to embark on a new project: Stripping the wallpaper from three bedrooms in my friend's house.I'm happy to do this for a few reasons, the first being that I loooove re-decorating. #2 is that when I'm working on the project, my friend feeds my kids dinner, which I also looooove. #3 would be that it keeps my mind off gettingLa Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-86365865100764108912008-06-11T19:23:00.001+02:002008-06-11T19:27:10.422+02:00no fear.La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-41241915651148890632008-06-08T00:24:00.003+02:002008-06-08T00:47:52.651+02:00NeflesThe other night we invited the neighbor, Roger, and his wife over for dinner. Dave loves talking to Roger, because he has amazing stories about WWII, and is just overall a great guy.This time we got to hear about Roger, a ski instructor and woodworker, growing up in the French Pyrenees without electricity or indoor plumbing.Along with his stories, he also brought a bag of Nefles from his garden La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-9180800555780535252008-06-08T00:13:00.007+02:002008-06-08T00:24:22.803+02:00Tonight we had dinner with two French couples. Lots of political talk went on about who might be the next President of the United States. The general consensus was that Obama would be the right choice (except one dissenter--you know who you are!), but that he couldn't win.So, who will be Sarkozy's new buddy?La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-34007365186835936572008-06-08T00:09:00.003+02:002008-06-08T00:13:01.862+02:00dream barsMy sister posted this recipe on our family website the other day. I would love to make them, and eat them. But I can't find brown sugar in France. If YOU have brown sugar, you should make them and eat them in our honor. Thanks.Title: Dream BarsDescription:A childhood favorite.Ingredients:1 cup flour1/2 cup brown sugar1/2 cup butter or margarine softened (not melted)2 eggs1 cup brown sugar1 La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8406415814031712991.post-44228361848540242322008-06-06T16:52:00.002+02:002008-06-06T16:59:02.330+02:00Friday, June 6, 2008Dear Mother Nature,Are you angry that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt moved to the south of France? If not, can you please explain to me why you are in such a bad mood? I know it's only June 6th, but I would like to go to the beach at least once this month. That's kind of hard to do when it's rainy, cloudy, and like 60 degrees.By the way, I know you can do better with Spring.La Vie est Bellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09566541153500203793noreply@blogger.com1