Scottish Burns Supper

Graeme and Jill Eadie hosted a FABULOUS Burns Supper complete with Haggis and Scottish Reels.

Haggis is the national dish of Scotland, immortalized by the poet Robert Burns in his poem "Address to a Haggis," and eaten in his honor on Burn Night, every January 25th. Haggis is made of sheep’s offal (lungs, hearts, liver - YIKES) mixed with suet, oatmeal, seasoning and encased in the sheep’s stomach. Once stitched up, the stuffed stomach is boiled for up to three hours. Yes, we actually ate this!

Graeme reciting Burn's famous, "Address to a Haggis!"

We drank a lot of champagne (French addition to the celebration), poured whiskey (lots of it) on the Haggis with Tatties (mashed potatoes) and Neeps (turnips), listened to our host recite countless wonderful Robert Burns poems and then learned a dozen Scottish Reels (a bit like our square dances).

Nick Bates and Sarah Besso adding Scottish whiskey to the haggis feast.

The speeches were all in old Scottish or French, so I am glad I had lots of champagne to start. It was WILD and terribly FUN! I now want to search out our Scottish ancestors so I can wear a family tartan to the party next year :-)

Syd gave a lively toast to the lassies!!

Syd and Sarah

Jane and Susie

Jill and Sarah

Nick and Julie building up courage to eat the Haggis!

Mallory, Syd and Sarah prepare for the Reels

Kirsten and Loren Eadie demonstrating a Reel

Jill and Graeme showing the novices how it is done

Mallory, Graeme and Kirsten demonstrate half of a six-person Reel

A Scottish "line dance"

The 4eme pals and Loren had a fabulous time!

Paris and Les Orres in one weekend!

Mallory had to take a high school entrance exam at the American School of Paris, so we played hooky on Friday and enjoyed half the weekend in Paris.

Here is Mal at one of our favorite bistros in the 6th, Christine, with a painting of our hero, OBAMA!!

One of the fabulous side alleys in St. Germaine...with a Starbucks Frappuchino in hand :-)
Mal lovin' her itunes on the train ride home.



After returning to Aix at 10pm on Saturday, we packed up for a 7am departure for the ski slopes the next morning. We had a wonderful day of skiing in Les Orres, a resort about two hours from Aix.
Shane, our hot-shot. He is all confidence with a "rising "skill level...so far the confidence is much better than his skill!Like I said, his skill level is rising, but boy, can he zoom down the mountain!

Mal had a great time and really progressed with a morning private lesson. The trip was an important refresher before her week-long ski trip with IBS.

Pal Deree and Julie before our first morning run.

Snacks on the ski lifts are half the fun when you are 7!Farewell snow angels before the ride home.

Syd still had a smile on his face shortly before our return to Aix. We hadn't quite counted on a 4 1/2 hour "bouchon" on the way home. Next time, I think we will spend the night!

Let it Snow!

Just two days after the children returned to school after the two-week holiday vacation, Aix-en-Provence was blessed with a fabulous snow storm. The children missed three days of school as this southern France village is not equipt to deal with the occasional snowstorms. The last storm which produced this much snow was in 1989 so there was much to celebrate!The early morning hours brought aboaut 3 cm of snow....and it continued to snow for two days!

Riley was the biggest fan of the snow...he had a ball jumping around the white stuff.
What is a snowstorm without a snowman? Shane made the head...
Julie made the middle

Riley and Mal made the bottom layer (Riley was a big help!)
And Syd brought him to life, adorning him with baby bell cheese eyes, carrot nose, tootsie roll buttons and a cashmere scarf from Syd's wonderful sister, Blanche. He was QUITE the dapper snowman!

it snowed, and snowed, and snowed....and we had a ball!

Susie Bates took this lovely photo of the Hotel de Ville in Aix-en-Provence...we just love our village!

Bonne Annee 2009!

An annual tradition in Provence is to dip your toes in the Mediterranean Sea on New Year's Day, so the Butlers headed down to Cassis on a fabulous, sunny, 48F day!Riley loved the outing!
Shane and Syd dipping their toes in the sea!
Shane, Mallory, Julie and Riley

Hugs for Riley!

Lovely fishing village, Cassis

London with Sue, Danielle and Nicola

From December 26-30, we spent four lovely days with our dear friends, Sue, Danielle and Nicola Meredith at Sue's parents' home outside London. Danielle and Mallory have been best friends since kindergarden and they spent the first night breaking all known giggle records.

On the 27th, we went for a VERY chilly hike at Ivinghoe Beachon in the Chiltern Hills.

If you look closely, you can see the girls descending this steep hill (it was much steeper than it looks, actually!)

Nicola, Sue and Danielle
After the cold hike, we enjoyed a terrific meal at a traditional British Pub... The Green Man pubSue's parents, Liz and Ron Fennell
The girls enjoyed some well-deserved hot cocoa (while Sue I enjoyed a few glasses of warm mulled wine)

I loved a warm plate of "Bangers and Mash," an old English favorite (sausages and mashed potatoes...tasted MUCH better than it looks!)

We spent a wonderful day in London

The giggle girls in front of Westminster Abbey

Big Ben with the London Eye in the background
Just love that BIG BEN!

We appreciated the street directions to look right toward incoming traffic since the drivers were on the opposite side of the road!
We had a ball on the London Eye. The day was bitterly cold, but quite clear, so the views of London were incredible.

Julie and Sue, at the very top of the 45 minute ride

Best friends

Danielle, Mallory, Sue and Nicola
Another nice view of Big Ben
After the London Eye ride, we walked along a promenade with dozens of street performers. Here, the girls enjoy posing with Zorro!

Danielle got a BIG HUG

Even a statue of Elvis came alive for us :-)

We spent a late afternoon at Hyde Park enjoying the annual Christmas Fair. I founds it a bit humorous that we are Americans, living in France, vacationing in London, enjoying a German Christmas Fair!
On our last day, the girls enjoyed the morning at Northala Fields, a recreation park which includes four huge hills created from the rubble from the original Wembley stadium. After a cold morning of running/hiking around the hills, we had another warm pub lunch in Denham, a charming village outside London.

Julie decided she would like to live in this cottage, thank you.

Denham's castle-like church

On our final evening, the girls turned the Fennell's home into a restaurant. They prepared a lovely meal they called "Mount St. Dalola" and presented it as if they were waitresses/cooks. Lots of giggles added to the merriment!

Danielle serving fine wine to sweet Auntie Rosemary

Big thanks to Sue, Liz and Ron for hosting us and for sharing such special memories!!