Photos of last days in France

We have unpacked and settled in to our flat in Ely, and I was at last able to upload these photos of our last days in France (which is all a polite way of saying I found my camera). After weeks of gray and grim weather, we were given gorgeous blue skies for our send-off.

On the left is a picture of "our France home." Sure, it's actually the home of Laura and Franck and their kids, but from quite early on it felt like our home, too. They are excited to head back there this summer after spending the last year in Canada -- and I will keep reading Laura's blog for news, updates, and maybe even a bit of village gossip from this wonderful community in the heart of Burgundy.

Below, you will see a few photos of the sorting and packing. One of many things I learned during all of our travels with kids is the value of packing light. We're getting better about that on each trip... but our piles of luggage to return home still drag us down a bit. Next time -- we'll pack even less.

And here are the photos of our outing with Camille, her mom Marie, and her cousin on Saturday afternoon. Camille is a classmate of Jack's and her mom and her aunt run the Naudin-Ferrand domaine in the next village. We loved the children's festival they took us to -- the kids especially loved the magic show under the big tent, and getting a chance to try out some circus tricks to see what they liked best before running off to join it one day.

Our drive home took us through rows and rows and rows of vineyards -- as most of our drives the last 4.5 months did. We will miss these views. And we will miss these friends.