Pays Basque

This was probably my favorite spot because of the beauty and what little history I know of the Basque Country. The Basque region covers a small area of Northeastern Spain and a small area in the Northwestern part of France. The native language spoken here is Basque which is an isolated language nothing like anything around them. From what I learned there is no other language like it. The words are comprised of a lot of consonants and very few vowels...so crazy! Of course these people speak their country's language as well; French and Spanish.
Here in this region we visited two Basque towns; San Sabastian, Spain and Biarritz, France. Due to limited time we spent most of our energies in San Sabastian. I loved this town! It was the perfect size for me and the culture was screaming FUN! I loved it! After checking into our hotel we were guided to the old part of town to find a bunch of Tapas bars open. The tradition here is to grab a tapa and a soothing beverage and then head to another tapas bar and do the same thing...The food was amazing and the atmosphere was very uplifting. The people here were very happy! I seriously could live here and maybe I would even consider pushing Seneca's bedtime back a few hours since dinner here in Spain starts at 8:30pm. :)

There were two Gothic churches in this old part of town. Here is the inside of one. 

and the other...

The best outside our hotel! I loved this! Totally reminded me of the beaches in Southern California. sniff...sniff

Another shot of the Ocean. Out hotel is on the far left.

A bay on the other side of the town. 

Same shot as above without the boardwalk.

After our brief stay here we drove up the coast of Spain towards Biarritz, France. Next time we'd love to stay in both of these two places longer!

Toulouse, France

After visiting the Basque country we decided to head home towards Toulouse. On our way, Seneca and I took a nap and Matt noticed this at a rest stop:

Picture of the Pyrenees in the background

 After this rest stop we continued on toward Toulouse. Initially we were going to stay overnight here but decided to just have lunch and continue on. Here are some pictures we hope caught the feel of the city.

Here in Toulouse we ate at a great "hole in the wall". It was a Greek/Turk restaurant...LOVED IT!

After this, we made our final stretch home safe! Yhew! We made it home after a week of traveling.

I know there are many more beautiful places around the world; however, I feel so grateful right now to have this opportunity to see what is around us. 

Bonne année!  

gros bisous

Homemade Raviolis

Every Christmas it is a tradition, in my family, to have yummy homemade raviolis. Ever since I can remember, all of us grandchildren would head over to grandma's and grandpa's house to assemble the ravs! I was very close with my grandparents and loved them so much! So, not only is it our family's Italian tradition, it also reminds me of them and how we celebrated Christmas.

This year Seneca and I brought in the spirit of Christmas with homemade spinach and cheese raviolois.As you can see...she was very helpful! :)

This year I purchased a pasta roller. She was totally into this!

Love this! Never to early to teach your kids how to clean!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

Seneca totally getting into Christmas this year! So fun to watch her!

She is so excited!

It was difficult for her to hang the ornaments on the tree so she placed them all here on a branch.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving and other fun stuff...

A few weeks ago we had the chance to go back to Nice. We decided this time to stay over night in Frejus; which was about half way and then drive the coast the rest of the way the next morning. It was a beautiful drive!

This was just absolutely beautiful because you have the red rock in the background against the blue Mediterranean sea.

Walking the streets of Nice (Old Town)

Random statue

This past week we headed to Germany to spend Thanksgiving with my sister's family. We joined my dad and grandparents. It was a lot of fun!

While we were there we went to Eppstein, Germany. Matt lived here for one year while he was in high school.

This is where his family lived.

Town of Eppstein

On Thursday we enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. My grandparents made an amazing dinner!

 The following day we briefly visited the Christmas Market...but it was soooo cold we decided to grab some dinner inside.

The following day Matt and I were grateful to be able to head to the Temple in Frankfurt.

Random shots from the week.

Seni with Papie Gilbert

Seni with mamie and papie

Seneca put this towel on her head and said, "mommy I get married". So cute!

That is it! It was a wonderful time to spend with some of our family in Germany. We sure did miss the rest of our families in the states!