European Dreaming: August 2012

Life is throwing some of it's curve balls and has me reminiscing. Thought that I'd share some of my childhood photos from when we were in France. Our family photo album had an unfortunate mishap with some water so some are damaged....but it adds to the vintage feel.

The Nuptials

My father proposed to my mom here in the states then he got stationed in Fontainebleau, France.

Mom came over a few months after he did and they got married in France.

When I ask my mom about her memories of France the one that she says stick out the most was on the day of her arrival in Paris. As a young girl out of the state of Michigan for the first time she was quit shocked to see people peeing along the side of the road and when they honked at them they just waved. What an experiance for an innocent young girl.

Here are some pic's of their wedding reception in the cabin they rented while there.

I just love that huge brass chimney.

Here are some pic's of a very young mom shortly after arriving unpacking a trunk her mother sent from the states. I don't think my dad ever let my mom have the camera since there are very few pictures of him.

This picture reminds me of the story my mom tells of the first time I got drunk. She had a few friends over one afternoon and the ladies were drinking rum and coke. Mom had set her drink down and went to the bathroom which you had to walk outside to get to. Of course lil ole me loved coke so I climbed up on a chair and got the drink off the table and proceeded to drink the whole thing down. She was quit surprised when she came back in the room. I guess dad wasn't happy when he came home and saw me walking into walls. Me ehh what can I say I started tipping them back at an early age.

The Trips

This war memorial was right down the street from where we lived in Fontainebleau. If anybody knows the name of this memorial and where I can find it for our upcoming visit please let me know.

The following pictures were taken on a trip they took with friends to Belgium, Holland, Germany and Barcelona, Spain.

Mom has a few great stories about this trip.

They free camped or camped wild w/o a tent in the mountains. As they were sleeping it started raining in the middle of the night and they had to scurry around to get all their stuff out of the pouring rain. Glad we'll have an RV.

Dad pretended to fall off the mountain they were on and scared mom to death.

The funniest one is the day dad and Frank were carrying a cooler to the beach and dads pants fell down and the construction workers started whistling at him. I still chuckle when she tells that story.

She also remembers that in Spain they were offering to give my dad a shoe shine.......only thing is he had on tennis shoes. Anything to get your money she says.

Spain