Rachel's Birthday

No, not mine. To totally confuse everyone at Trinity International Church, our best friends are named Rachel and Tim. Not only that, but I work with Tim on Catalyst (the 20-something age group at our church), so I constantly have to distinguish myself as "not Tim's Rachel" or "Texas Rachel." So... to celebrate the birthday of "Tim's Rachel" or "Ohio Rachel," we rented a little cottage in the countryside of the Loire Valley. The weekend was heavenly!

We couldn't believe the gorgeosity (to use a Mia Michael's word) of this little place. The flowers were spectacular:

And the huge porch gave the little ones (Oliver and Jude) plenty of space to play and explore. Oliver was particularly in heaven; he entertained himself for hours just feeling the new textures, putting rocks in his buckets, and watching the butterflies:

There was a huge yard (for Blaine to run in) and even sheep who would come right up to the porch!

We arrived late on Friday night and simply enjoyed the fresh air on the porch after we put the boys to sleep (by the way, having an outdoor space where you can sit after your kids are asleep is a Godsend!). Then Saturday morning we had a lazy morning on the porch again and let the boys play and then nap. It was remarkably easy to get the boys to work with each other schedules - such a blessing! That afternoon we visited Chateau de Chenonceau, which we visited with my parents a few months ago. But what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets:

No really, we were happy to go back. How can you not enjoy a beautiful castle on a day this gorgeous?

We had a blast going through the labyrinth (Blaine, especially, since he couldn't cheat by seeing over the top):

And in the center of it, under the arbor, we caught this adorable little family (minus Jude, who was in the stroller) on camera. Sorry for the weird shadows, but how cute are they?

Blaine really was a good sport; he even seemed to appreciate the castle. Here he is in the ballroom which stretches out over the water:

And I really enjoyed seeing the changes in the gardens in a mere two months. The roses were blooming in Catherine de Medici's garden:

And Diane de Poitier's garden had an entirely different color scheme than it had in April:

We even managed to wear Blaine out a bit by daring him to run circles around the fountain. In fact, we did that a lot this trip: "Blaine, run back and forth between those trees three times. On your mark, get set, go!"

That evening, we enjoyed the porch again and tried to take pictures of these really cool butterflies that looked like hummingbirds. Not super successful, but a cool picture anyway:

In the morning, the kids were too cute playing under the dining room table:

And we snuck in a family picture just before Oli's nap:

Then while the boys slept, we wandered over to the gardens by the main house (the owner of the cottage lived on the same land, and the major gardens sat on the other side of his house). They were spectacular:

Apparently, this guy was a boulanger (baker) by trade and as he got older (about 10 years ago), he started gardening seriously. And I mean seriously:

We couldn't have picked a better place to stay! As we left that afternoon, we visited Chateau de Chaumont sur Loire (which happens to be the chateau that Diane de Poitier was given as a replacement for Chenonceau when Catherine de Medici kicked her out of Chenonceau). Though we had some difficulties as Oliver threw up in the car just as we arrived and then we discovered we were parked a long way from the enterance and once we entered we found we had to walk up this:

We still had a fabulous time. The chateau looks much more medieval than Chenonceau:

And the views from the other side of the castle, out over the River Loire, were gorgeous:

Oliver (now dressed in his pjs because his clothes were definitely out of commission) even managed to smile as we carried him through the tour:

After the chateau, we visited the 19th century stables, complete with the horses' names (Chambord, Aggamemnon, Chenonceau...) still above their stalls:

And in the giant grounds of the chateau, they have an "International Garden Festival" each summer, where hundreds of little gardens are designed and planted to wander and enjoy. I thought this plant was especially crazy:

And we caught one last romantic photo together as the boys are began to melt down in the heat.

Oh well, they were troopers. And the weekend was wonderful. We are SO thankful for our friends and the fun we've had with them! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RACHEL!!

Loire Valley: Day 2

After a remarkably easy night at our B&B (Oliver was too tired to wake up even once despite the fact that he was in a strange place and sharing a room with us - yay!), we had a lovely breakfast. We were blessed during our trip with gorgeous weather during the day, but it was unfortunately cloudy and/or rainy in the mornings and evenings, which kept us from taking full advantage of the B&B's gorgeous view. This was the only shot I managed - the view from the breakfast-room balcony (which was the same view from our room which was directly below):

Breathtaking, non? The proprietor, a very nice man, told my parents (in his broken English) as they surveyed the view, "This is because we are here." We got the point...

Anyway, after our lovely breakfast, we drove 5 minutes into the heart of Blois to visit the chateau. This chateau was unique because it was a royal residence for several hundred years, and various kings added one side each of the buildings surrounding a central courtyard, making it a showcase of the architecture and style progression over the centuries. The oldest part was a medieval tower dating from the 13th century. The first major wing still standing was built by Louis XII who moved to Blois when he became king in the 15th century:

His symbol was the porcupine - how cool is that?!?!

This part of the chateau contained a meeting hall, used over the centuries for courts, banquets, etc. Blois chateau's claim to fame is its polychrome restoration, dating from the 19th century. Polychrome is basically just a technique for painting the walls, woodwork, and even stonework inside with extremely bright colors. Supposedly, this is similar to the original look of chateaux like this one. The meeting hall was particularly impressive:

Due to this special polychrome technique, however, the Blois chateau is paranoid about scratching the walls, so they would not allow strollers... And, of course, this was the only one we visited where I was relying on Oliver's being able to nap during the visit (his other naps were while we were driving). And, to make matters worse, this brilliant mother forgot the ergo. So, poor little Oliver completely missed his morning nap (after a shorter-than-usual night sleep) while we dragged him around the chateau. This kid wins all the awards - he was so sweet. In fact, I'm kind of glad he couldn't sleep because we got some fabulous pictures of him and me - something we are greatly lacking since I'm usually the one behind the camera!

The second major wing was the Francois I wing. Franky Uno was the great French Renaissance king, ruling the 16th century. The external spiral staircase was my favorite part:

And his symbol was the salamander, as seen here:

One of the rooms, also brightly painted in polychrome:

Housed one of his beds, which Chris decided Oliver would like to fly towards:

Truly, my tired baby deserves the grand prize:

The third wing was built in the classical style in the 17th century for Louis XIII's brother. It's facade was much more stark than the fanciful renaissance facades:

The final side of the courtyard contained a chapel and the medieval tower, as well as a spectacular view of a nearby church, Blois, and the surrounding countryside:

After lunch from a boulangerie (which, since it was Easter and most were closed, was very hard to find... we accosted some poor, unassuming Frenchman who happened to be carrying a baguette and asked him where he had found an open bakery... sweet man gave me very specific but complicated instructions about how to find it, and 10 minutes later, we were not disappointed!), we traveled on to Chateau de Chambord. This is the "granddaddy" of all Loire Valley chateaux (according to Rick Steves, who did accompany us on this journey, as well). I think in France that it's second in size only to Versailles... It was huge. Around 400 rooms with more than 300 fireplaces, this monster was built as a winter hunting lodge:

It apparently includes a huge protected game park (surrounded by a 20-mile-long wall!), but we stayed on the lawn, where Oliver got to do his favorite thing - eat:

This chateau was built (or at least started) by Franky Uno as well, along with the supposed help and design of Leonardo Da Vinci. The plan inside was spectacularly symmetrical and brilliant: a central double helix staircase, with a Greek cross coming out of it (meaning each arm is the same length), which is set inside a square with spiral staircases at each corner. As even and simple as it was, it was amazing how easy it was to get lost!! From this view, you can see the rounded portions that were the spiral staircases open inward:

And from the inside, you can see the spiral staircases, so similar to the one at Blois:

Frank put his symbol all over this place, too:

And there was evidence throughout of the palace's history as a hunting lodge:

Not many rooms were actually finished out, but this one was fit for a king. Unfortunately, some strangers stepped into the picture of my dad posing "regally"... Bummer:

One of the most spectacular things was the carriage house which boasted a few of these:

Chris actually found Chambord the most interesting and impressive of all we visited. Its grandeur, manliness, and cool design were hard to beat. The roofline was particularly unique:

And Oliver seemed to enjoy it too... Probably the least flattering picture ever, but the best example of his hilarious scrunch face:

Anyway, our last stop was Chateau de Cheverny. This chateau is unique in two ways: 1) It is still owned, used, and even lived in by a noble family. 2) Said noble family still enjoys hunting and keeps about 100 crazy huge foxhound-type dogs, which you can visit at their kennel and see them being fed. Quite a show. The classic facade was quite a bit newer than the renaissance chateaux we visited earlier that day:

But the interior was painted and decorated, much like Blois though not quite as bright:

The grounds were gorgeous. Like an immaculate golf course:

The English-style gardens were much more to my taste than the geometrical French ones at Chenonceau:

Finally, the dogs were hilarious. Lying all over each other:

And gearing up before the feeding:

After a day like that, we were wiped out. But so blessed to enjoy beauty, history, architecture, gardens, and family. My only regret is that we didn't get to attend church that day, but we praised God together for His Son and the life we have through Him... Such a wonderful trip!