Nice, France

I am back with day two of my travels to the south of France.  Our first and last day was spent in Cannes and today I am going to show you Nice.  Probably my favorite city in the south that we saw, it was incredible.  It has the beauty and splendor of a city on the sea and yet is still rich in history like most European cities.  We were able to visit some Roman ruins too, I'll show that a bit later so that we aren't on complete picture overload!

The most fun was skipping rocks on the Mediterranean Sea.  The beaches were rocks and the were the best skipping rocks out there!  As you can imagine, the boys loved it. 

My parents, me and Tae at the top of a castle we climbed the million stairs to.  Lots of stairs, but beautiful city view!  To the right is the Simmons family in the city center.  As you can see, Eli had a hard time taking his eyes off the gelato ice cream for the picture.  Can we blame him?  I think not.  I enjoyed mine as well...

We were able to find the Marche aux Puces, which means - you guessed it - flea market!  It was fabulous.  So many treasures.  Unfortunately, the Nice flea market is considered more up scale and up scale treasures weren't really on my shopping list.  My mom got some beautiful old tea spoons.  It was incredible all the items they had!

These are my favorite pictures.  My and the hubs on the Mediterranean.  Love it.  We have been some pretty cool places together, I would love to make a photo book of pics like this.  Beautiful background and one pretty handsome man!  I think I am blessed!

This is Nice from the castle we climbed.  Can you see what I mean?  Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.  I could have stayed there forever.  This has to be top of my list, best vacation ever.

What is your dream vacation?  If time, work, money, family wasn't an issue, where would you go and what would you do?

South of France ~ Cannes

As you might know, our family got to take a little vacation down to the south of France.  If you are new here {or haven't been paying attention... haha} you might not know that we actually live in city just outside of Lyon, France.  So it was just a four hour drive for us.  

Now I am from southern California and the hubs is from the Bahamas so I have seen my fair share of palm trees and beaches.  The French Riviera, however, is entirely different.  I was amazed at its beauty.  The beautiful sky, crystal blue waters (definitely not like L.A. beaches), the mountains just on the other side.  The old buildings mixed in with beautiful new casinos.  So since I was so impressed with the area, I thought I would take you on a tour with me!  

We stayed in a city called Mougins which was a little inland but closest to the city Cannes.  We saw where the Cannes Film Festival is held each year and got to experience a little French carnival!

 It seems like the sun is always over the beach, just in the perfect location.

Eli and Tae enjoyed a little playground at the hotel.[

 At the French fair, Tae got to have a go at being Bubble Boy!  I think he enjoyed falling more than trying to run around.  For me?  I would have just laid there and tried to take a nap...

 Flying a helicopter is very serious business.  Poor Tae is so big, his head is up against the windshield!

 French Christmas Market.

Cannes was beautiful.  Such an experience.  I only wish I could afford to shop in some of the stores.  But then of course, that goes for most of the little cities on the French Riviera...

And just because I wanted to brighten your day I will leave you with this...

Have a great day!

** Photo contest finalists are being chosen tomorrow!  Send over your peeps to vote for yours!**

What I wore, Vegas Edition

As you might know, my husband and I got to take a little trip to Vegas. Our anniversary {which he rocked} and my birthday are only a week and half or so apart.  We also own a timeshare in Vegas, so we took our week, split it with our parents and we took the first part of the week and they took the second.  It was nice, we needed a little vacation before heading back to France with no vacations {just us} at all.  Thanks mom! :)

Shirt - Express; Shorts - H&M; Sandals - Target; Sunglasses: Target

The drive up there wasn't so bad.  We chatted, blasted music we usually don't play with the kids in the car, and enjoyed each other's company.  The 5 hours flew by.

Dress: Don't remember, Sorry!

Lavar had some friends out in Vegas so we hung with them a little bit.  This is my first night's outfit.  I have had this dress for a while, I actually don't remember where I got it.  The hair was really cool, looked better in person though, I am seeing as I am looking at these now... oh well.  It was something different, which I am always looking for.

One of my favorite parts of Vegas is laying by the pool in the scorching heat.  I know this might not make sense to some of you, but you can lay, dip in the water, lay some more, take a swim, flip sides.  You know the drill.  With no kids, it was great. 

Cover and suit - Target

Lavar's suit is the colors of the Bahamian flag. Coincidence? He says so, but I'm not too sure...

Shirt & Skirt - Charlotte Russe; Shoes: Payless

You guys have seen this outfit before.  Boo, I wasn't very creative.  I actually was going to wear a different, very cute dress that I have only worn once, the next night, but then I got a call from my mom about my cousin and we high-tailed it home.  So this is all I got for ya.

Gotta love Vegas with it's excuses to dress up cute!  I wore clothes I would never wear in 'real life'.  They just aren't mom-appropriate.

Have a great day!

Summer Lovin' Photo Contest

Finally I have put together some pictures of Yosemite.  I had so much fun.  I have been going up to Yosemite since before I was born (my poor mother slept in a tent at 8 months pregnant!) and have rarely missed a trip.  This year was truly one of the best times ever.  My boys are at their happiest when outside, and camping=outside all.the.time.  So perfect.

Here is Eli going for a run. So funny, trying to copy Tae.

The river was so full this year.  The rapids were great but it was freezing!!  It felt like the snow had just melted 10 minutes up river.   And in the spirit of relaxing, we decided to jump in and freeze our bootie patooties off. I think the award goes to husband when he was one of the first to jump in all his Bahamian-ness.

Tae's got a little karate chop going on in the first pic

I was shocked at my little man who threw on a life vest and went down by himself!!  He is so brave (sometimes), I love it!  Despite it being freezing, it was still refreshing and we had a wonderful day there.

We actually got to go to Yosemite Valley this trip.  I have been before, but I don't remember when was the last time.  So this was really neat to show Lavar and the kids such a beautiful place.  Even Lavar was impressed, and that takes quite a bit!

Just incredible! You can truly see God's majesty here!

This picture cracks me up.  Eli took some hot chocolate (No, I don't give my kids coffee. You crazy?! They don't need any more energy!) and was walking around the campsite with it.  I, of course, followed him around with a camera and got this shot.

Handsome camper-boy.

We have pictures of me using the same bath when I was a kid.  To say that my dad likes tradition is an understatement.  We also have pictures of Tae in the same bath at that age. 

Tae Yosemite 2008

Eli Yosemite 2011

This next picture makes my heart melt.  And laugh, a little, as Tae is putting his arm around Eli and Eli is pushing Tae.  Oh my boys.  What a beautiful picture though, right?  I mean the trees and river behind them, beautiful sunny day.  This is summer to me. 

And I started thinking, what does summer look like to you?  I would love to know, because every person and family are so different and unique in their own ways, of course summer would look different to different people.  And I don't know about you guys, but I am always looking for new things to do!

So then came my idea!  (with the help of my dad, actually!)  I am going to host a photo contest!  This Friday I am going to host a linky.  I want you all to make sure you come back and link up a post with your favorite summer photo.  What embodies summer for you?  Then I am going to take the top three summer photos and have everyone vote for their favorite!!   The winner will get to host this lovely button on their blog and a month of free advertising from me!  I will also be promoting this on my Facebook and Twitter accounts, so this would mean exposure!

So I hope that you all come back Friday to link up your summer photos.  Just write a post with one picture in the post and tell his what summer means to you.  If you already have a post, you can link that one up too.  Easy peesy!  Feel free to grab the button if you want to participate!

<a href=”http://manouvellemode.blogspot.com” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c142/nlynn6/summer-lovin-photo.gif”></a>

Have a great day! 

Home Sweet Home...

Aaaaaannnnnnddddd relaxxxx....

We just got home from Yosemite last night and I am glad to be home.  But what a week.  I don't have pictures just yet, but I cannot wait to show you.  We got some good ones.

Some highlights...

We swam in the ice cold water and loved it.  We sat by the fire and ate s'mores.  We got up late and didn't rush. Anywhere.  My son learned to ride his bike!  Then pulled a muscle from falling.  We got dirty and didn't shower.  I know, jealous.  I didn't blog or tweet or facebook all week. 

You will be happy to know that I have showered since being home.  Kids are sleeping and I am catching up on some blogging! 

So guess what!!  This last week I was contacted by House Hunters International to be on their show!!!  Can you believe it?  I was so excited.  It still isn't 100% confirmed, we have to make sure it fits our crazy lifestyle, but I am excited about the prospect.  I LOVE HGTV and it would be so cool to be on a show.  So stay tuned, you might see me on TV! 

In other news, I have some fun stuff coming this week.  Some hair tutorials, my niece's cute party, outfit posts {I hope...}.  So I hope that you stay tuned!!

I hope everyone is having a great Monday!!

Is your life moving too fast?

I don't know about all of you, but sometimes life just moves too fast.  We take vacations but busy ourselves with so many things we need to see and do on vacation that we need to rest when we come back!  America, specially California, specifically Los Angeles, moves at a fast pace.  Everyone always has somewhere to be in a hurry.  And honestly, I need a break.

So every year, once a year, my family heads up to Yosemite National Park.  And guess what we do.  Nothing.  We sit around and drink our coffee in the mornings.  We mosey down to the water for a little dip.  We might take a hike in the afternoon.  We BBQ some dinner and then sit by the fire for some s'mores. 

Doesn't that sound divine?  This is what I am going to be doing the next few days.  And I can't wait.  And although we stay in the campsites, like 'roughing it' kinda camping, I still love it. 

No computers, no cell phones, no traffic, no smog.  Just this beautiful scenery. 

My dad has been doing this camping trip since he was a baby.  That is how much of a family tradition this is.  It is ingrained in who we are as 'Dursos' {my maiden name}.  My husband, not so much.  But he toughs it out for the family.  Thanks, babe!

But our son loves it. He is a camping boy. This kid thrives in the outdoors.  He has gone since he was 3 months old and loves every second of it.

And what I love is that the boys can get as messy as they want, they only wear clothes that can get ruined or already are ruined, and at the end of the day I can just throw them in the river, give a little rinse and scrub, and we are good to go!

Do you have a vacation you do every year that is just a part of who you are?  Tell me about it!  I love to hear other peoples traditions!  And if you have never been to Yosemite National Park and have the opportunity, GO!  You won't regret it!

Have a great week!