Caves, teepees & the bride-to-be

July 1, 2008

We left Jean-Paul and Martine’s house this morning, and we drove up to a cave called the Grottes de Choranches. I had been there many years ago as missionary, and I remember being very impressed. So we took the kids there, and it really was awesome. I think the kids just liked the idea of being inside of a huge cave, but some of the formations were amazing.

From there we drove the rest of the way down to the southern France. The wedding that we came for actually is taking place in a town called Vitrolles which is a right next to Marseille on the Mediterranean Sea. We checked into our hotel (another sardine can, but we do have a tiny bathroom (kind of, the toilet and shower are actually separate) in the room itself.

We met up with Franco and Memo, et al, and we went over to the bride’s parents’ villa-style Mediterranean house for a pre-wedding dinner / party. It is a very nice home with a swimming pool so, of course, the kids had a great time playing and swimming with Franco and Emily’s kids. Memo even got Katie to start kicking in the water; she’ll be swimming soon. The bride’s step-dad is really into American Indians so he has a full teepee with sleeping mats, etc. set up behind his house. We had a pretty good discussion because my grandmother was half Indian, and I told him that I’ll take him around when he comes to the US sometime because he really wants to see some of the Native American sites.

We met Fabio’s fiancé, Elodie, for the first time tonight, and she is very sweet. She was a missionary in Great Britain so Becky and the kids were able to talk with her in English. I think she and Fabio are a great match (like that need my approval or something).