The summer that was

Mum with daughters on a family summer holiday: The summer that was by www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

Soaking up chilled time with our girls on our summer holiday to Avignon

The school summer holidays passed by in,ย what feels like, the blink of an eye. I switched off from the online world completely for the two weeks of our family holiday to France, and after my digital detox I only dipped in and out of the internet for the rest of the summer holidays. Now with L back at school (Year 3 *sobs*) I thought I’d share the exciting offline things we got up to over the last 6 weeks. Warning – this blog post is photo and video heavy!

We started the holidays by heading to my mother-in-law’s in the Avignon area of France. She has a lovely house with an even lovelier pool, cue LAZY daysย en famille chilling by the pool, playing with L and C, and reading. Heaven ๐Ÿ™‚

I wasn’t the only one who chilled out though as Hubs really enjoyed the downtime too.

Daddy with kids on holiday: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

Hubs pouring our 11th wedding anniversary champagne, chilling out in the reading club with C and teaching L to dive.

We stayed in Avignon for 2 weeks, and the middle week saw my mother-in-law and her partner taking L and her partner’s 8 year old grandson on a Greek/Turkish cruise for a week. Which meant we had a very quiet week, just Hubs, 20 month old C and me. In fact when C was sleeping it felt like Hubs and I were all alone with the cicadas:

Whilst the other grown-ups and big sis were away Hubs had great fun swimming with C. She’s been going to swimming lessons since she was 4 months old and has now moved on to Water Nippers, where they teach them how to actually swim, but the progress she made on holiday with Hubs was astounding, as you can see in this video:

Hubs grew up in the Avignon area, and I have been going there with him for over 12 years now, which meant we didn’t feel the need to do the tourist thing. It also meant we had various friends we were able to catch up with, old school and university friends of Hubs’s (not featured in the photos below), family friends and newer online friends. In the photo below you can see C with a family friend of ours, me with Ameena from Mummy in Provence who I met online a couple of years ago, and L with one of her French friends that she’s known from birth (and the only child she ever bit as a toddler!).

Catching up with friends, big and small, on our French holiday: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

Catching up with friends, big and small

We had lots of loooooonnnnnnggg lazy meals, eating and drinking the glorious food and drink that France and Provence has to offer, but there’ll be more on that side of things on our Franglaise Cooking food blog. Meal-times were often times for chatting and silliness with C, as you can see here:

Whilst we were chilling in Avignon L was on her first cruise, having an absolute ball. She was so lucky that her Mamie (French word for Grandma) and her partner took her on this amazing adventure, here are some photos of what they got up to on their week away:

Family on a cruise ship: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

On the cruise ship: dressed up all glam for dinner, L having a ball, wrestling with MiL’s partner’s grandson on the bed.

Girl on Greek island holiday: The summer that was by www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

All about the sea!

Visiting Greek islands with grandparents: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

More Greek island adventures

We had a great week too while L was away but it was lovely to all be back together again afterwards:

Young family together on holiday: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

L teaching C to twirl and a rare photo of all 4 of us

Our final day of the holiday saw us heading south, towards Marseille, to catch up with Hubs’s aunt, uncle, cousins and cousins’ children. It was a wonderful day with 7 children (aged 14 to 20 months), L hadn’t seen most of them for over 2 years but they all got on brilliantly and that day, along with the rest of the holiday, helped L realise the importance of practising her second language – French.

Catching up with family on holiday in France: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

Crazy trampolining fun, a glorious long outdoor lunch en famille, more fun in the pool.

And so the holiday had to come to an end, and so Franglaise Family left France and headed back home to London……and on to some UK fun!

Family day out at Regent's Park: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

C mastered the scooter and we went to Regent’s Park where L finally got to go on a pedalo

It wasn’t all about the kids though – there was some grown-up time and some nights out too ๐Ÿ™‚

Nights out with friends: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

At the local pub with my cousin (post hairdresser visit!) and with 5 of my 7 NCT friends

Mum and daughter photos in London: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

Out and about with L: at Big Ben, in Camden Market and a most unflattering selfie at the cinema

Girls at soft play and blackberry picking: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

The girls enjoying soft play and blackberrry-picking (Hubs made jam and an apple & blackberry crumble)

Family summer days out: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

Picnic and games at the local park, Hubs playing in the playground with C, L in the gardens of the Horniman and L (in red shorts) climbing her favourite tree at our local park

And finally summer was nearly at an end, so my sister and I took my nephew, L and C on a treasure trail around East London, going from the O2 to the Excel Centre on the new Emirates cable car:

Emirates cable car & London underground: The summer that was from www.FranglaiseMummy.com (French & English Parenting and Lifestyle Ramblings)

L with her cousin (he’s only 4 years older than her!), my sister with my nephew and L, the 3 Franglaise girls.

And that was the summer that was. It was wonderful, incredible, lots of fun and more. Now back to school, back to work and onwards and upwards ๐Ÿ™‚

Share

13 Responses

  1. Grenglish says:

    What a lovely holiday round-up! I love the video of C laughing – too too cute. Sounds like a fab family holiday and great you were able to stay offline the whole time too.
    Look forward to hearing all about in person soon
    xx
    Grenglish recently posted…The Reality of Working from Home during the Summer HolidaysMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      Thanks lovely, it was so much fun ๐Ÿ™‚ Can’t wait to catch up with you very soon in person and share all our latest…. xx

  2. Brilliant holiday post! Looks you all had an absolute ball! You’ve also just reminded me how much I love holidays and why they are SO important.

    Lovely pics of you and your beautiful family xxx

  3. Love your 360 deg video of the garden with the cicadas. It’s funny how when you live with them you don’t think to record them like that (I bet you didn’t when you lived here) but I really should, it’s lovely and so summery. I think it’s too late in the season now to do it, they’ve almost stopped chirping, but I’ll give it a go. Thanks for the inspiration
    Phoebe @ Lou Messugo recently posted…Rafting – an extreme family sportMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      I did it for my mum – we used to holiday in the south of France every summer from when I was 8 until I was 16 and my mum used to LOVE hearing the cicadas as it reminded her of Provence and summer there. You’re right, I’ve never thought to record them before and I’m so glad I did ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. It looks like an amazing summer of fun, just how it should be and yoru toddler is doing so well with her seimming. Mich x
    Michelle Twin Mum recently posted…September – a month of new starts and good intentionsMy Profile

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      Thanks, it was incredible! Just the perfect holiday and so what we all needed ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Honest mum says:

    Gorgeous post of a perfect holiday. Love all the videos too xxx
    Honest mum recently posted…My Hero Hair ProductsMy Profile

  6. What an amazing summer you had! I’m so gutted that we didn’t manaage to get together – one of these weekends I hope. Fabulous photos of you all – love the one of Ben with the bottle of bubbly and the video of your littlest laughing gets me every time! Fabulous post x

    • Franglaise Mummy says:

      It was just fab ๐Ÿ™‚ Glad you like the pics and videos! Looking forward to meeting up in October, even though I’m gutted the British weather put paid to our summer meet-up ๐Ÿ™ xx

  1. 08/09/2014

    […] Read the rest of the post at its original source by clicking here. […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge