http://www.flickr.com/photos/charliedees/ / CC BY-SA 2.0
Whoop-de-doo! The Cannes film festival starts today!
Did you know? (Do you care? :) )
I ate my morning oatmeal with Matt Lauer, and as we chatted with Cate Blanchett and Russel Crowe about the Cannes experience, I watched the breezes from the Mediterranean flutter their hair but I hardly heard anything they said. My thoughts were traveling back in time, back to the Cote d'Azur, back to these guys...
Aren't we the stylish family? Pink leggings on my son and a $5 Old Navy tee on my hubby, complete with American flags, just in case anyone was fooled by our incredible accents. Ha ha. I can't really explain the tee shirt (he really wasn't the obnoxious American tourist, I promise) but perhaps I should try to explain the pink leggings or else Sammy will be so humiliated when he sees this post that he will make me email the whole world that we made him do it and it wasn't his fault. Which is true, not that he cared at the time.
So here goes.
French school gives the kids had a long April vacation, so two other families and ours decided to make good use of the time and take a trip to Cannes. Together. Six adults and eight children.
We were clearly out of our minds.
On that particular day we spent the afternoon letting the kids wade in the Med, and of course Sam completely soaked himself during the first five seconds of play. We immediately stripped him down to his underwear, but the touring afterward required a little more clothing. The only clothes available were his buddy Anna's leggings, and he couldn't care less. He was three. (Is that clear enough, Sam?)
So we spent our vacation trying to remember we had children and to keep an eye on them, while our eyes kept wandering back to this.
They were preparing for the film festival just as we arrived.
We looked for stars like Nicole...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockwilder/ / CC BY 2.0
But she didn't show.
Instead we saw these superstars.
But she didn't show.
Instead we saw these superstars.
Hey, there's Ben, Jonathan, the Clemson student, and Mitchell, who's now driving! (Watch out, Simpsonville!)
And see that lovely aluminum siding behind them? It's one of our spacious motel rooms!
Yes, with all the fancy- shmancy four star hotels available in Cannes and Saint Tropez, we chose to spend our nights in a mobile home camping park, which was PERFECT! (If you've ever taken a vacation to a fancy place with eight kids who love each other and get terribly excited whenever they're together, you'll understand.)
It really was ideal. We could spend our days sightseeing and behaving ourselves, and then go back to the campsite and let the kids run wild, play ball, and squeal as much as they wanted. We ate out for lunch, and each family took a night to cook, followed by a raucous, 14 player game of Pit!
Ah Cannes! The palm trees, the sparkling sands, and the pull- out bunk beds! Quelle joie!
Have you ever taken a multi-family vacation? Good memories? I still remember all those beach trips with the Huggins family. Anybody want to go crabbing?
Have a great Wednesday, y'all!
Love, Becky
13 comments:
You had me totally fooled from the get-go. After all why not breakfast with Matt in Cannes.
You are a published author of some reknown. And a very brave one to travel with EIGHT kidlets to Cannes!!!
Shooting inside of a couture house would be easier IMO.
BRAVO!
PS
Have you seen the Fault of Fidel by Julie Gavras? Wonderful and free on Netflix if you have it...
I had to comment on our multi-family vacation. We had a wonderful time! "Ramsey Style" is the only way to go. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Love you!
Ah, Becky, I love your travel stories! Just knowing (I can say that, right?) someone who's been to Cannes and dipped their toes in the Med (or let their son get soaked in it) is so delightful to me. WHEN will there be another Rebecca Ramsey book in the world? I want!
Oooo. So pretty.
We've never been on a multi-family vacation, but I know it is something we talk about when the kids are all a smidge older. :)
PB, you're funny. I'm going to have to check out The Fault of Fidel. Thanks for the recommendation!
Linda, all the Cannes hooha has me daydreaming about the fun we had. I'll never forget it. I love you too!
Serenity, I'm sending you a great big hug! Of course I count us as friends, and you're funny to say that...wading in the Med sounds so heavenly, but you should have seen the splashing and stripping. Kids will be kids, no matter where they are! I hope I can tell you soon that yes, another book is coming. Fingers crossed!
Kat, it's a great thing to do, even when the kids are itty bitty. I've never had four, but I've experienced my share of insanity! Might as well enjoy the madness somewhere new as well as in your own house!
PS. One more benefit to a multi-family vacation: the kids entertain each other! And when one child has had enough of a certain brother, trade kids! Mix and match makes everything more fun!
Hi Becky, I just found your blog and subscribed a couple days ago. I am a cousin of Todd's from Ohio, and I just had to tell you that I have been crabbing with Todd and Stuart, oh, thirty years ago or so when the Ramseys were vacationing on Emerald Isle, and Stuart kept sneaking up on me in the muck and pinching my toes! Good memories! By the way, loved your book!
Hi Denise! It's great to hear from you! Yeah, you've got to watch out for Stu. The first time I ever took a shower at the Ramseys, Stu sneaked in the bathroom and poured a bucket of ice cold water over the shower curtain. Those Ramseys are terrible with the teasing and practical jokes.
Glad you enjoyed the book! :)
Some of my happiest memories were multi-family vacations to the state park. The whole week probably cost my family $100 and we loved every moment of it.
Oh, Cannes.
What a lucky kind of trip!
Love the American flag on the shirt--the best touch.
I am catching up reading posts and read all those I missed. On babies: we did not see this as we were flying back to Atlanta on Sunday but I wished I had, it must have been very cute. On house mess: I do understand as we have two daughters who left us all their stuff – we still don’t know what to do with most of it. On the fair in Greenville: I did not know about it but I wished I could have gone there as it looks super, maybe next year. I’ve been to Greenville several times, for work, when I was taking trainees there, but lately I have been looking at it because of one of my sports hero: George Hincapie (although he also lives in Spain) isn’t his wife French? I never plan anything the first 3 weeks of July as I get up early and am glued to TV to watch Le Tour live (the rest of the year I hardly watch TV.) If you are interested I wrote a post on Le Tour last year, here is the link: http://avagabonde.blogspot.com/search/label/Cycling.
About Cannes: it is beautiful – last time I was in Antibes I took a train there for the day and it was sunny, out of season with less people. We did go there during the festival but that was decades ago. Our week in Baltimore with the 2 kiddies went well – we toured all over Baltimore with the 2 toddlers in their stroller – got quite a workout. Thanks for visiting my blog.
I saw that Today Show interview and just kept thinking, "I'd like to be there!!" What a fun post ... LOVED the explanation of the pink leggings!
In the words of Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there." Would prefer doing it without kids... you should plan an escape to Cannes with Todd and leave that boy in the pink leggings with us!
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