Ann Arbor, Michigan

Olivia loves wearing hats, including the hat in the picture above which belongs to Sarah and the hat in the picture below which might have fit her 1 year ago.

This is in front of our apartment.

After getting settled we made the four hour trip west and explored Chicago. It was a lot of fun. Here we are in Grant Park.

Chapel Hill

Our first stop back in the US after nearly 3 months in France was Chapel Hill, NC where we stayed with my (Dave's) dad. Olivia loved being with her papy, including swimming in his pool. Just like in Nice, she did all should could to try and figure out how to get convince us to go swimming, including constantly wearing her swimming gear even if we weren't going.

Nice

Our last few days in France were spent in Nice, aka, Paradise. We went to the beach at least once a day, sometimes more. You can see in one of these pictures that Olivia found her swimming diaper and is trying to put it on herself. She also enjoyed trying on the hats and bags that belonged to Sarah's Grandmother, and insisted that Papy Jacques try the hat on as well.

Back in Toulouse

After leaving Brittany and before heading back to the US we spent a week and a half in the south, including many days at Sarah's parents in the Toulouse area. As you can see, Olivia had a blast!

Some Paris Photos

Le Mont St. Michel

My mom and step-dad were able to visit us in France for a week, and we had a great time exploring the area. One of the places we went to was Mont St. Michel, this beautiful tourist-trap of a city that is situated in a unique spot in which the height of the water around it fluctuates by more than 40 feet with the tide. On the day we went the tide was completely out. Here are some pics of our trip:

Here's a picture of the "island" completely surrounded by water. Notice that our parking place doesn't exist.

Beaches of Normandy

One week after the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the visit of President Obama and President Sarkozy, we were able to visit the beaches of Normandy. It was a beautiful and humbling experience. On d-day itself I ran more than 10 miles through Rennes, on streets named after Winston Churchill and General Patton, among others. I learned that Rennes was liberated by General Patton in August of 1944, a couple months after D-Day. It's interesting to consider how all these events have affected my life. Would Sarah's dad have ended up in France and doing graduate work in Canada where he met Sarah's mom? Would there have been a Sarah to come to Montreal where we met?

Funny videos

Rennes!

Olivia and I in front of our summer home/my office. We live at the French school of public health where I am doing research on pedestrian/bicycle safety issues in Rennes. We're having a ton of fun and feel so lucky to be here. Everyone at the school has been so great to us. Here's a picture of our living room/our bedroom. There is another bedroom with a double bed, but it's not the most comfortable, so we actually sleep on the trundle beds in the living room and put Olivia's pack 'n play in the "master bedroom."


The comforts of home...baby signing time. Anyone that's visited us knows what an important part of her daily routine this is. I wish we could capture on video all the signs she currently knows and uses, she's incredible.

When we first got here we really didn't know how to best feed Olivia. She's a very big girl, but not quite old enough to sit in a chair on her own yet. Fortunately the school had a high chair they lent us (like I said, everyone has been so nice to us here). As you can see though, sitting her in a high chair doesn't mean she stays clean.

Rennes is a beautiful city with many buildings and facades preserved from as far back as the 1600s. We have just barely scratched the surface of all the parks and beautiful areas in Rennes and Bretagne. It's hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks until we have to leave.