Whirlwind kind of Summer

A week after we returned from vacation, Brady had his 6th birthday...

 

And then 8 days after that, Juliette had her 3rd birthday...

 

And then we boarded a plane headed for the good old USA!  We landed in North Carolina, Greg's sister, Juju, picked us up at our hotel, and then we drove to meet my dad who took us home.  I certainly was glad to be in one spot, for at least a few days.  The kids entertained themselves by peeling paint, enjoying my parents, and hanging out at the park...

 

We then ventured to Greg's brother, Chris and his wife Michele's house where we practically lived in the pool.  Greg was probably the biggest attraction...

 

 Brady, Mary, Morgan, Jay, and Juliette

Heading back down towards my parent's house, we needed to make a side trip to Virginia Beach because Juliette had a doctor's appointment at Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters.  We are fortunate enough to have friends living close to the hospital and enjoyed spending time with them and eating at Doumar's... a total necessity when in the area!

 

Ok, so then it was back to my parent's for another couple of days and then we were Louisiana bound.  Are you keeping up so far?

We stopped off in Tennessee.  We went on a bit of a goose chase, but found a replica of Davy Crockett's childhood home, spent the night at the Chattanooga Choo-Choo (the hotel lobby is the old train station.  Very cool!), and then took a drive up Lookout Mountain to visit Ruby Falls...

 

We finally made our way into Louisiana and the first stop was a Safari park where we took a tour through the park feeding the animals...

 

Making our way to Greg's parent's house, and we were so happy to see the rest of the family!  We enjoyed a night in the pool and a nice meal together.  The very next day, Monica, Greg's mom was admitted to the hospital and was there for the duration of our visit.  The highlight for the kids was of course the pool and also a pinata...

 This is the only one I have of Laurel and Fen.  Shameful, I know!

 

Our sweet Caroline!

That's Juju in the background.  We really should have been better about getting pictures of each other!  So when the big stick didn't break the pinata, the kids tried a couple different stick options, but in the end it was necessary to call in the cavalry...

 Greg and his war cry and me and my 3 month pregnant belly

Moving on to our next location, we went to Natchitoches (I love that the spell-check word for Natchitoches is Scratchiness!), Louisiana.  We met up with Greg's friend, Brian and his daughter, Harper.  The guys went to college together here and it was great fun walking the campus, eating meat pies, and walking downtown.  There was also great fun to be had at the Alligator Park!

 

Who knew an ATM was so entertaining!

 

Brian and Harper

Brady's favorite part was getting the goats to eat his shirt!

Ok, so finally we drive back up to my parent's house for my sister's wedding.  A couple days after the wedding, we get back on a plane, land in Naples, Italy, rent a car, then drive to Calabria to catch a ferry, ride the ferry to Messina, drive to base to pick up our car, then rush to the airport, navigate the craziness that is the Catania airport, return the rental car, and FINALLY make it HOME!  

What a wild and wonderful summer we had!  So many places, so many memories we made, and even more importantly was so much time together as a family!  And we still love each other! 

 

Oradour sur Glane, A Massacre in a small French town

June 10, 1944.  It was a day marked with tragedy and horror for the people of Oradour sur Glane.  It was a time of war, and yet, for the people of this village the day began as normal as any other day.  Early afternoon arrived and lives were changed forever.

We have all heard of the horrors committed by those under Hitler’s regime against so many innocent people, primarily through concentration camps.  The atrocity of this is seen through any visit to a concentration camp or Holocaust museum.  The story that unfolds in the village of Oradour sur Glane is another example of senseless crimes carried out by the S.S. 

What does a normal day for you look like?  I imagine for the most part, it’s not much different from the days of the people who lived in the small French town.  Children were at school, a few had gathered at the local café for lunch, perhaps mothers were mending torn and tattered clothing, fathers taking cars to the mechanic, or maybe the day was filled with doctor appointments.  In the distance was the rumble of a convoy filled with approximately 200 soldiers from a large S.S. detachment.  Upon arrival, there was an order for all inhabitants- women, children, and men, to gather in the town square with papers for an identity check.  After everyone had been gathered, the women and children were taken to the church and the men were distributed among seven different barns.  The people were told that there were accounts of “secret arms and munitions deposits here made by terrorists.  We shall make searches.  During this time, to facilitate our operations we shall put you in the barns.”  

The men were locked in the barns and after a few moments, the soldiers opened fire and shot through the barn doors and walls.  Afterwards they walked among the men and shot at point blank range anyone who was only injured or still moving and finally found anything that would burn, piled it on top of the men, and set the barns on fire.  There are eye witness accounts from 5 men who managed to escape.  

The women and children were taken to the church where the soldiers placed an explosive box and set it on fire.  After the explosion, rounds of gunfire were shot into the church, followed by fire set to the building.  There was one survivor who in that single day lost her husband, son, two daughters, and her grandson.  I can’t even imagine it.

The sick and elderly were killed in their homes and then the town was pillaged and eventually set on fire.  

Today, the entire village of Oradour sur Glane is preserved just as it had been left by the Germans. 

Visiting the places where such violence and loss of innocent life is never easy.  This isn't Disneyland Paris or the breathtaking coast of Italy, this is a place of tragedy and a place that reminds us what evil can be capable of.  It is necessary to face the history of times like this so we can do better and teach our children to do better.  

 

I learned a vast amount of information regarding this massacre in the book Oradour sur Glane, A Vision of Horror, written by Guy Pauchou and Pierre Masfrand.  It is a detailed account of the events by testimonies collected in the days following the tragedy.  In a short blog post, I am unable to properly shed light on all of the atrocities committed in this small town and I encourage you to research it on your own.

Day 2 in Normandy

After determining that Juliette was feeling better we continued our driving tour.  We arrived at Pointe du Hoc, a prominent cliff overlooking the English Channel.  During World War II, it was the highest point between Utah Beach and Omaha Beach and the Germans had fortified the area.  On D-Day, American Army Rangers scaled the cliffs and assaulted the area.

Large pits covered the ground from bombs that were dropped in April 1944

 

 We had a small picnic lunch then set off for Omaha Beach.  What do you eat for a picnic lunch?  A variety of cheeses, bread, and fruit... yummy!

 

 It was striking how wide the space was from the water to the cliffs.  I wonder what kind of thoughts ran through the soldier's minds when they saw how far they would have to go.  Such bravery was shown and as Greg put it "A lot of American treasure was lost here that day."

 

Appropriately, the final stop on our tour was the cemetery.  It was an honor to visit the final resting place for many of the soldiers.  Brady was asking if the families of these men came to visit.  At moments like that it becomes very real how blessed we are to visit these places that many dream of visiting.  We do our best to explain the importance of what we were seeing and although our children are young, I pray that experiences like this will remain in their minds.

 Greg explaining what Brady was looking at

They aren't just crosses... 

Our final adventure for the day was to visit Mont Saint Michel.  You can read the history here.  This was one of the times I was very sad my good camera was broken because taking a picture from a distance was very poor quality.

 

This one is a little better!

 

We wandered up the main street and on recommendation from a shop owner, found a restaurant for dinner.  As we were waiting for them to open, another American family showed up!  They were on vacation and were stationed in Germany.  They had a daughter Brady's age and it was fun watching them play!  The restaurant opened and we were surprised to find that the "bar" area wasn't the restaurant.  Instead, it was a white table clothed fancy kind of place in the upstairs area.  We generally try to avoid these fancy kind of places because we do our best to not ruin quiet dinner's.  However, this time we decided to stay and the solution was Greg took the kids for a walk while we waited for our meal to arrive.  Towards the end of dinner, Juliette began to not feel good again, so we headed back to the cabin in an attempt to re-coup before we started the trek home.