Leaf it to us; we know how to have a good time...

I don't even know where to begin. The seasons have officially changed, school has started back, and we have failed to update our blog. Our summer seemed like a blur. Once we returned from...where did we go on vacation this year? Oh yeah, that's right,-FRANCE. That seems like forever ago. The rest of the summer was filled with a work shop here, a 2 week summer bridge commitment there, here a trip, there a something, with a spotty chance of resting.

Here are some of the high lights from summer:
I flew out to Idaho to visit my brother, Mark, for his birthday. We went to Arches National Park and Canyonlands in Moab, UT. While we spent a few days keeping the roads hot (it is an 8 hour drive from Idaho Falls to Moab, but that is not far out there), we also spent a few days kickin' it around town and had some good quality time. Below are Messa Arch and Delicate Arch. It was super hot.

Sam and I visited Graveyard Falls and then went down to Skinny Dip Falls for a little respite from the heat. The water was very refreshing(a.k.a. freeeeeeeeeezing)




We ate a watermelon FROM THE GARDEN!

We also made it to an Asheville Tourist game, and we ate a lot of ice cream, but unfortunately we had to eat that too fast to get a picture.

Then, it seems like it was time for school to start back. We have both been very busy at school with new initiatives, and I have taken on a few added responsibilities and projects. But, that is enough about work. We have been doing plenty of fun stuff, too. I have been taking an Indian cooking class which has been really fun. I have enjoyed learning about the spices specific to Indian cooking and broadening my repertoire of cuisines in general. We also went to a wine pairing at Creperie Bouchon that was super tasty.

For the first time, we traveled to Hot Springs to take in some fall color. We stayed in a cabin next to the river there and had a scheduled hot tub visit which was pretty nifty. We also went on two hikes: Max Patch and Lover's Loop. Both Sam and I agree that the wind on Max Patch was probably the strongest we had ever felt...hurricane strength even! Our cabin was just perfect; complete with indoor plumbing! We also had a fire pit in which we got to roast some marshmellows and make s'mores! Yum! It was a pretty neat trip. Because there really is not much to see in the town on Hot Springs itself, it really forced us to slow down... the hot tub visit helped with that too, of course!





Now for a brief interruption in the regularly scheduled programming from the man of the house:
So the wife said that she was having trouble with coming up with what to write about. Apparently, everything she could think about to write about was about herself and she couldn't really think of anything I'd been doing lately. Boy, was she....probably right. Ok, well here's a little advice. When your car starts to smell funny, kinda like spoiled cheese, and you can't find any cheese anywhere, it's probably that jug of round up weed spray that, unbeknownst to you, was slowly leaking out and actually starting to mold to carpet of the floorboard. Yes. It actually ate the paint off of an old license plate I had in the backseat.

Halloween happened. I was a man with a mustache. Sam, a cat. Delilah, a pumpkin. Weezy, a chicken. To see how they felt about it: 'Nough said. The picture speaks much louder than words:



Thanksgiving happened. It was splendid. Turkey, the works. What else is there to say? Oh yeah, family. My two brothers little and oldest (with his crew) came into town. It was really great to see everybody and get to spend some time with them. My oldest niece is now definitely taller than me now. No denying it!

Earlier in the month, we made a jaunt up to Pennsylvania on a four day weekend to seem my middle-ish brother, nieces, and sister-in-law. My little brother, who recently accepted a year long job in Arlington, V.A., also made it up. We are really excited to get to see him more frequently. Even though it is still 8 hours away, it is still DAYS closer than Idaho. Anyways, we went up there and spent some good time with everybody. Funny story. Well back story first: My brother, Tim, is one of those who hike=ascent up Mount Rainier. So, he said we were going to go on a bike ride in the park. Ok, leisurely enough, we thought. Turns out we take a 6 mile bike ride through three parks. Sam and Mark both had kids attached to the back of their bikes. When you are not used to riding bikes, a few extra pounds is a big deal, not to mention 40. They persevered, however, and I tell Sam that he is stronger for it. The girls are growing so fast and are such beautiful, pleasant young ladies.


We also took a side trip to the Brandywine Battlefield for Sam. I have allotted him so many war site lifetime visitation vouchers. He only used up a half of one there because they had some cool big trees. He still insists that the two place I have to go with him are The Alamo and Gettysburg which leads me to a story for next blog. Again, all apologies for the late life updates. It has just been crazy for us around here. My goal was to get this blog posted before the seasons actually changed again! I can't really give an adequate synopsis of the past 5 months or however long it has been, but we are continuously keeping ourselves busy to stay out of trouble and as always, having a good time doing so! But, next blog brings tidings of holiday season happenings which is all just around the corner. We wish the best to you and your families!

Here's a holiday teaser:
JOY TO THE WORLD!

You, Me, and Rick Steves Makes Three

Our Tour De France

We really couldn't have traveled France through the backdoor without Rick Steves. He was really our go-to-guy. If anyone is planning a trip anywhere consult one of his books because they are so well researched, thorough, and Rick just knows what is up. WWRD. So we traveled to France and back. It was France-tastic. There were many foci of this travel event. This trip could be dubbed Tour du France, as we traveled a lot of the route (by car mind you); Tour du Pastry (as Sam got grumpy every few hours without a pastry, particularly a strawberry tart; Tour du Chat (cat in Frenchie speak) as I think we didn't visit a town without taking a picture of a cat. Regardless to say we went, we saw, we made it back, and we undeniably enjoyed our jaunt.

Stop # 1: Paris

We arrived after a very long overnight flight bright and early Tuesday morning. We managed to get a sufficient amount of sleep. We had a little trouble figuring out transportation to our hotel at first, but once we got our land legs, we were good to go. We took a 40 minute bus ride, a metro ride, and a short walk, and we were at our hotel Hotel Du Champs Mars which was situated on a pedestrian street called Rue Cler which was within walking distance to the Eiffel Tower. Upon arrival at our hotel, we immediately set out to go see the Eiffel Tower. We got there and dragged our selves up 669 stairs to the second tier of the tower (not even the top). The view was spectacular, and we managed not to be manipulated by the gypsy people. Since we had skipped lunch, being knocked off-kilter by the time change, when we walked back down, we decided it was time for an early dinner/lunch. We went to a cafe (any one of the million) and had a delicious Omelette Madame and a glass of wine. Lacking sufficient sleep we went back to the hotel for a nap, then came back out for a delicious crepe stuffed with strawberries, Nutella, and whipped cream. We made our way back over to the Eiffel Tower because we thought it would be really neat to see it at night. Many people were picnicking, and then it began to rain. We found shelter in the gift shop, and the rain stopped just in time for us to catch the light show. B-E-A-U-Tiful. Then-goodnight- day one fin.

On day two, we were greeted with a lovely breakfast at our hotel (fresh squeezed OJ, croissants, baguette, jams, fruit, yogurt, cheese, and coffee). We then set out to go to the Musee D'Orsay. I thoroughly enjoyed this and analyzed EVERY(Sam likes to emphasize the EVERY part) piece of art work. We then went to the courtyard of the Louvre, and then over to Notre Dame. Before touring Notre Dame, we went and ate at a cafe called Quasimodo(how fitting), and we had the most delicious french onion soup of our journey! We then toured the church basking in the beautiful stained glass, and Sam watched a pickpocket pace back and forth in the crowd (that is his speculation anyways). Tired, but not ready to resign, we tried to find a metro to take to Champs Elsyees to see the Arc du Triomphe, but instead stumbled upon an underground mall that was like a maze! There must have been a huge sale because the stores were shoulder to shoulder-unable to shop in these crowded chaotic conditions, we came out empty-handed one hour later. Finding a metro, we finally reached Champs Elysees where we saw the Arc, Louis Vuitton, and a restaurant where all the celebrities eat, and they have an $8 cup of expresso. Then, back to our home base where we had a pastry, AND THEN DINNER, and called it a night.

Stop #2 Dordogne

The next day we went to the airport to get our car, which took longer than expected, and headed south to Dordogne. Side note on the car: Sam has never taken the car route in Europe and refused to drive around Paris, so I had to do it! It really wasn’t that bad, just traffic-y, slow moving, and WATCH OUT FOR MOTORCYCLES! Anyway, on our way to La Roque Gazeac, we stopped in a Medieval town called Sarlat for dinner. This being a four course dinner, but very delicious, set us back a little bit. Thus we arrived at our hotel to check in a little on the late side. And by late side I mean they were closed. We had to drive the car up and shine the lights on the building until this man came out in his boxers. He didn't speak English. There were moments where we seriously had to entertain the idea of sleeping in our car. Eventually his daughter, who spoke more English, came out of another cottage and checked us in. WHEW. Our hotel was so secluded that they didn't even have a public phone! We had to drive to a nearby town to call home!

These boats are modeled after the boats in the movie Chocolat!

In the Dordogne, we saw prehistoric caves that were inhabited by cro-magnon men up until right before the Renaissance. Sam particularly like this, his favorite being St. Christophe which was a five level village built into the side of a cliff. We also saw prehistoric cave drawings of the woolly mammoth, horses, rhinos, and the like. A train took us a mile back into a cave that apparently prehistoric man use to crawl back into and paint on their backs....with what lighting? Can you imagine rhinos in France? We also visited Castlenaud, a castle built on a cliff to watch over another castle, Beynac. The view was spectacular. On day 2 we went on a 3.5 hour canoe ride down the Dordogne River. Every time I looked back Sam was "taking a break." We almost missed the bus that was going to pick us up, so the last minute we had to keep our heads down and "put our backs in to it." We made it, but only barely! That night we moseyed back over to Sarlat and went to a neat little street fair and had some pizza!

Stop # 3: Amboise

The next day we headed up north to Amboise in the Loire Valley. We made sure to get to our check-in early just in case they followed the same front desk schedule. Our hotel, Hotel Le Blason, was on a busy street within walking distance to the center of town. Amboise was a good place to be after being in extreme city (Paris), and extreme country (La Roque). Amboise had a good scene and a pedestrian street with lots of cafes and patisseries, in fact, a very famouse patisserie called Bigots. This is where we ate the bulk of our pastries, my favorite being the rochers (call to mind Ferrero Rocher...but then times it by 10). Sam of course sampled the tarts, but did branch out to the macaroons which were equally yummy!



The biggest attraction around Amboise were the chateaus and the vineyards. We visited three chateaus: Chambord, Chenouceau, and Cheverny. All three had very unique qualities. Chenouceau was built across a river and was use during WWII to smuggle people to safety. The Germans were on one side of the river and US on the other side. Chambord was a huge hunting lodge with 440 rooms! It was sparsely decorated, but of course it was mainly inhabited by men. It did have a really neat staircase in it that was designed by Leonardo Da Vinci. Side note: Leo decided to settle in Amboise and had a house there. The last chateau we visited was our favorite, Cheverny. Cheverny was ornately decorated and the rooms were furnished. It had the "I could live here look." It also had an orangerie where Mona Lisa was stored during WWII, so that it wouldn't be destroyed. However, the neatest thing about this chateau was the hunting dogs! They kept 70 precisely trained hunting dogs in a kennel on the premises. The dogs were only fed once a day, and boy was it a show. The keeper/trainer made them go up on top of the kennel so he could clean and lay out their food. The dogs barked in anticipation when the trainer came back in, but he silenced them. They had to wait 15 minutes with the raw meat leftovers covered in dogfood spread out in front of them. The dogs exhibited complete composure. When the trainer opened the gate, they rushed down the ramp and formed a line about 10 feet away from the food. The trainers then led them very slowly towards the meat, and then motioned for them to go! They tore into the meat and slung it everywhere! I now know what it means to eat like a tied dog!

Cheverny

Chambord

Chenounceau

We also visited a wine cave. The cave was mined during the 5th century for limestone to build castles. There are 6 miles of caves that remain a constant temperature year round and store 4 million bottles of wine! We learned about the Vouvray grape, toured the caves, tasted wine, and saw the vineyards which were as far as the eye could see! It was a very neat experience.

Leo's House

On our way to Paris, we stopped in Versailles. It was ENORMOUS! It was neat to see the flamboyantly decorated baroque rooms in very radical colors. Everything was embellished with marble and gold plating! I am kind of a Marie Antoinette nut, so this was a big deal for me. They must have drained France dry building that thing! Let them eat cake, indeed! We also got to see Marie’s Hamlet where she spent a lot of her time. She had fields where she tended and get this PERFUMED her sheep, and very elaborate gardens…and a theatre! At the very least, I can say that this palace was breathtaking! After that we drove back to the airport, took a shuttle to our hotel which was very close to the airport, and tucked ourselves away for the evening!

The trip was really the perfect mix of sightseeing with ample time built in for café people watching. I felt like the French spirit was finally inhabiting me when I outstayed a French family at breakfast! Time to get my scrapbook on.

Oh,Paris (Par-ee) how I miss thee!

Crepe

Chat

Coche

Super Soaker Summer of the Summers 2011

That's right everybody:S-U-P-E-R S-O-A-K-E-R-S! Since we are on lowly teacher salaries, we unfortunately cannot afford a swimming pool. Our solution to beat the pre-summer roasting summer temps? We bought two Super Soaker water guns. Granted they aren't the ginormous ones; they are the old-fashioned pumping kind which gives them mega cool points. We have yet to try them out. They were actually on the agenda for today, the first official day of summer vacay; however, the temperature is on 79 degrees, and we are a little exhausted as life has been happening.

This is more our speed:


That's right L-I-F-E. An unexpected twist of events has occurred in the Summers' five year plan (it really exists by the way). We have decided to sale our house, and I have decided to go back to school. Selling a house is exhausting work. Who would've thought you can't just call somebody up, wave a wand, and POOF! The little nagging things that we live with on a daily basis, like the not-so-good looking outside windows and clutter collecting spots, have to vanish-immediately! While we are ok with these flaws, potential buyers are not. Therefore, we spent a good 15-20 hours refurbishing around the outside windows. Would anyone guess there are 17 of those suckers?



With the help of Sam's parents and my dad, we managed to scrape, wood putty, prime, and paint around all 17 windows as well as our front porch. We then started posting furniture on Craig's List because we had one room with all of our college furniture combined that needed clearing out, and there is no reason to move that stuff twice. On Craig's List we sold a bed, a futon, an entertainment center, coffee table and end tables, and our kitchen table all within a week. Our Moms cleaned our windows, and we organized and cleaned the house from top-to-bottom. We also packed away a lot of our belongings and filled up my parents' garage. We have WAY too much stuff! When I unpack it all, I am going to be very selective about what I REALLY want to put out around the house. On Saturday we are having a yard sale, so come buy your memorabilia. Needless to say, we are exhausted from all of this movin' and shakin'. If the house doesn't sell, at least it is the most organized and clean it has ever been. The photographer came today to take pictures of the house, and it should be on the market by the end of the week.

Where might we move you ask? My parents own my great grandmother's farm house. It is a cute three bedroom house not very far out in Leicester. We will rent the place from them. It is right next to our garden, which I know will make Sam happy. (Above picture from Carl Sandburg garden,)

While I think I have missed the boat on admission for the fall into the Speech Pathology program, we will live there until and while I am in school to save a little money.

Other news: We recently visited the Carl Sandburg house.
This was a spontaneous excursion, as much of our life has been lately. We just got up one morning and were drinking coffee on the porch and decided to take off. We stopped at Chic-Fil-A for a tasty egg and chicken bagel and arrived out there before even the early birds. We took a short hike, explored the premises, and petted some baby goats! Adorable.



We also have had a couple of animal sighting around our house here lately. One day, upon arriving home, we saw a bear running in front of our house! Apparently there have been a lot of bear sightings in Asheville recently. My immediate reaction is that it is cool to see a bear, but then, if you think about it, it is very unnerving to think about how wildlife is being forced out of their habitats.

Funny story: One day, when my mom was over here helping me clean, we spotted a snake across the driveway. My mom threw rocks at it, and I took a picture of it being careful not to get very close. We concluded that it was in fact dead, but we were a little curious as to its cause of death seeing how it had its head up off the ground. When my dad and Sam returned from delivering the kitchen table, they went in for a closer look discovering that it was a rubber snake. Boy did they laugh at us! How silly we are! Doesn't this look real?


The Summers have also decided to join the techy era. We bought a GPS. It is pretty dandy, and Sam is pretty excited about it. The day we got it, he ran down the driveway to see if it correctly calculated his speed. Her name: Gweneth Garmin, G-lo for short. We broke down and bought it for our upcoming trip to France which is in less than two weeks! We are going to drive as our major mode of transportation. Sam is a little nervous about this, but I just keep assuring him that everything is going to be fine. I just hope that the automatic I reserved comes through when we get there as neither of us knows how to drive a manuel. Yeah, I guess that is the next big thing next to moving. We are traveling over to France and have a lot of fun things planned. We are going to Paris for a few days to do the usual Paris-y things, then we are headed south to La Roque Gageac in Dordgone where we will see some prehistoric caves and canoe, then back up to the Loire Valley where we will partake is some wine action and bicycle to see chateaus!

Summer holds other things in store for us as well. We will be celebrating our two year anniversary this week. I am also going to visit my brother, Mark, in Idaho at the end of the summer which I am pretty stoked about. Other than that we are just cattin' it up, chillaxin' it up, and trying to see friends and family.
If you get hot this summer and want the Summers' soak down experience, or want to buy a house, or pet a cat, head on over to see us!
Au revoir