June 11, 2025
Another travel day is upon us! Kayleen went for a morning walk through the town before we left. Again from her photos you would think she was out at 5 or 6AM but it was just after 8AM! The late nights and late morning are still new to us but we are slowly getting there.
We packed up our bags for another car ride and with guidance from Kayleen got our car out of the tiny garage without any bumps. The car was packed with a very solid barrier/pillow wall between the boys in the back and we were off.
We stopped for a quick lunch in a town called Nantes and sat outside. The edge of the table was in the sun and felt like it was 500 degrees. Somehow I kept forgetting and resting my arm on it. The boys did a mediocre job eating their pizza and frequently brought up that there were probably some interesting Pokemon in the area. We finished and loaded back in the car to finish our drive. We have been making solid progress on Harry Potter 4 with all our driving. Lenny complains now and again but I think it is just to troll Ollie and he really likes it, at least a little.
We stopped at a large Carrefour grocery store just before arriving at our next Airbnb in Dol-de-Bretagne. The boys were terrible after being in the car all day. They fought and chased each other around the store as we tried to shop. We got all we needed for a pasta and meatball dinner with garlic bread as well as some breakfast items and were off.
We arrived at the Airbnb where we found the secret parking lot behind the building. The front of the building faces a main street type road with shops and restaurants. The owners, and residents, of the apartment were waiting to meet us. They were an adorable couple in their 60s/70s who spoke mostly french, but we managed to understand the jist of what they told us about the apartment. They had some games and toys in the apartment and it was obvious they had grandchildren they were quite fond of as they kept smiling at our boys. It was nice to stay in someones home, like Cape Town, where it’s not just a blank slate with nothing but the basics.
The car was parked about 40 yards from the back door to the building, across a gravel lot. Wheelie suitcases were no help. Then the apartment was up two storeys, big storeys, of winding old wooden steps. I lugged all the stuff up slowly and each kid helped on one trip. I strapped Kayleen’s big backpack to Ollie and was surprised he made it all the way up with no complaints or mishaps. When I told him to go down for another trip he unhappily came but disappeared back upstairs when I turned my head in the parking lot. I was not happy with him for that since all he needed to carry this time was a hat and a water bottle.
We headed out to let the kids burn some energy before dinner and bed. They had not earned it at all with their behavior but we got gelato right across the street at a cute little stand. Then we briefly explored the main street before heading to the park that was only a 10 minute walk away.
The park was nice and pretty large. It had two separate fenced in parks, one for younger kids and one for a bit older. The older kid section had a nice grassy area with some big trees for shade. The boys briefly played on the playground equipment and then asked to throw the rugby ball. There were quite a few kids there as school was out but mostly Lenny’s age. The ball attracted one, roughly 4 year old boy, who spoke only French and a boy under 2 years old for a short time.
The younger boy was happy to catch a short toss and then run with the ball before throwing it with all his might back to me or one of the other boys. The older three boys, even Lenny, were very gentle with him.
Our two boys and the French boy, we’ll call him “French Lenny” because of their similar sense of humor, lined up and played catch taking a step back after each catch. Lenny and French Lenny would act silly after each catch and wobble around, fall down, or throw the ball over there head. Both would start laughing each time. Ollie hated this as he wanted the catches to go faster so he could get as far back as possible to set a new personal record. He got so worked up at one point he had to go play a game with Kayleen.
We ended the rugby game after it turned too rough. Lenny knew it as tackle but French Lenny had no idea and almost got run over by our Lenny. We then turned to hide and seek with the help of Google Translate to explain to French Lenny what we were playing. He caught on quickly and I would yell “cacher” at him when he didn’t understand that I was counting in English. No French parents seemed to alarmed by me yelling “hide, hide, hide!” at him. Ollie joined for the last few rounds before we had to head home for dinner which was prompted by Lenny falling and scrapping his hand. As we left French Lenny was yelling “au revoir” to his new friend.
The house had two sets of different matching games the boys got into when we returned. They both like them but Lenny more so. Ollie eventually did something that I viewed as too bossy or rude to Lenny and he was banished to his room while I played the matching game with Lenny and Kayleen made dinner. After a round or two Ollie was released and reentered the game. It was fun and we were all fairly matched, maybe it was the two glasses of wine I had that evened the playing field.
We all enjoyed our dinner and it was off to bed. Our only full day in this area is tomorrow so it should be a busy one.
