Olive Picking Party

On November 8, we attended Nathalie and Jerome Dupuy's annual Olive Picking Party. It was a glorious Fall day and over 100 friends joined in the work and fun. We hand-picked over 1.5 tons of olives which will be pressed into olive oil with each "worker" receiving a bottle or two as payment!!

Julie and Nathalie

The Dupuy's gorgeous olive grove Even the teens and tweens got into it!
Julie and Susie Shane had a ball, but probably ran around and played on the trampoline more than he picked. Here he is in a rare "working" photo.
Mallory in her "director" mode with several girlfriends
Jerome Dupuy and his olive trees!

Alys and Teun hauling their olives to the truck
A truck-load of olives with the lovely vineyard beyond

Gotta love the mud on boots shot....such a memorable day!

OBAMA Victory Party!!!!

After pulling an all-nighter to experience the historic election in America, Julie invited several friends over for an OBAMA Victory Party! Our new president is putting the O back in HOPE!!Julie and Samantha toast with champagne while Sydia mock-mourns the fact that McCain-Palin lost

Shane leads the kids chanting, "OBAMA!" We served hot dogs, rotel dip, onion dip and chocolate chip cookies...a very AMERICAN celebration! Pictured are: (back row) Sarah and Mallory, (front row) Shane, Charlie, Maximillian, Alys, Max, Sam and Alex

Even Riley joined the celebration...in his All-American beret!

We love Paris

We spent a week in Paris during Mallory and Shane's Fall break. Despite the constant rain, we really loved Paris :-)

We used the Metro to get around
First stop - the annual Salon du Chocolat...a truly delectable chocolate exhibition
Even the clothing was made out of chocolate!
Shane and Mallory were mesmerized...or over-sugared with all of the freebies

Eiffel Towers made of chocolate were very tempting

Second stop...the Musee du Louvre Shane was thrilled to see the Mona Lisa

Mallory particularly liked Winged Victory

But I think the mummies ruled the day!

Since were were there on Halloween Day, it made perfect sense to spend most of our time in the mummy section!

Mallory enjoyed the Parisian fashions...here she is modeling a new jacket

We spent one rainy day walking around Saint-Germain-des-Pres, Notre Dame and the Marais district

Shane and Julie in a rare, dry moment, in front of Notre Dame

Shane fell in love with the pigeons, who obviously liked his hand-outs After all that walking, we relaxed like true Parisians, with "deux cafes, deux chocolats chauds et quatre pain du chocolat!"

We did have ONE dry day during our visit so we took a bateau ride

And we loved the Luxembourg Garden where we watched a marionette show and Mallory and Shane burned off some energy

It was a wet, but wonderful, week!