After a good nights sleep, we were ready to explore Toulouse. Our first tourist spot was the Church of Les Jacobins. It was just at the end of the street that our hotel was located, so it was a short walk.

The Church of Jacobins is the burial grounds for Saint Thomas Aquinas

Cool mirror around a pillar in the Church of Jacobins

Beautiful stain glass windows all around the church

Our next stop was the Saint-Sernin basilica (the largest romanesque church in Europe). The floor plan is in the shape of a cross and it had parts that dated back to the 4th century. But most were from the 11th & 12th century.

This Romanesque building is considered to be the biggest in the western world

Toulouse has the 3rd largest university in all of France. So we saw many college students walking and riding their bikes or scooters. We let the kids run around in front of the Capitole de Toulouse a bit after they had to be quiet inside the churches and before we drove an hour to Carcassonne. Our first place to visit in Carcassonne was the castle.

Farleys in the front with our castle in the back

This castle was not like any other castle that I had visited. There was an outer defense wall with a mote around it and then a whole town inside. There were lodges and stores all along the street until you got to the actual castle. There was also a cathedral within the walls of this fortress where some priests were singing and they sounded amazing.

Map of the Carcassonne castle

After walking to and from the castle, we were all ready to have some lunch. We found the plaza and devoured our sandwiches and then let the kids run around and enjoy their time in Carcassonne.

This is how Mason enjoyed spending his time

We all loaded up in our car again and headed for our next location (3 hours away), Grignan, France

See more photos of Toulouse and Carcassonne

Last summer we watched a movie where someone from the UK swaps homes with someone from the states. So, Matt looked at different sites on the internet where people swap homes for a vacation. He found that people who have amazing homes in Europe want to swap with people in the states. Well, that started him thinking that we need to go to Europe before Mason turns 2 so we don’t have to pay airfare for him…or at lease not a full fare. And thus began our 2 week vacation/road trip in Europe. We didn’t actually swap homes with people, but chose to stay at hotels, Bed & Breakfast and a friend’s apartment.

Matt took care of all the planning and booking and just EVERYTHING which was so nice. We also had my single brother and Matt’s single sister join us. 4 adults and 2 kids together for 2 weeks…good thing we love each other!

Our schedule for Europe

These cities are in Spain, France, Switzerland & Italy. Roughly about 2,000 miles of driving that Matt had to do since none of us wanted to drive a manual car in Europe where the roads are more narrow and there are roundabouts that are tricky to get the hang of.

Our driving route for 2 weeks

My job was to pack our suitcase. The cars in Europe are smaller and they don’t really understand trunk space. So, we knew that we had to fit everything for 4 people in 1 suitcase. I faced the challenge and passed with flying colors!

Everything for 4 people for 2 weeks

There was lots of driving and lots of walking. We didn’t bring a stroller because we knew there would be space issues in the car. Plus we had 4 adults to carry the not quite 2 year old Mason. I think that I could beat most people in an arm wrestling contest after holding that 30 pound boy most of the trip. By the end of the trip Mason was asking to ride on our “head” and of course Kalani wanted a ride too.

How we walked around the cities

It was a fun vacation and I saw things that I never dreamed that I would be able to see. Now to blog about all the cities/countries that we visited!

The 6 Super Cool Party People

Last port-of-call….COZUMEL, Mexico.  Larsens and Hansens rented a jeep and drove around the island and Matt and I did our own excursions this day.  I told Matt the only thing I wanted to do was swim with dolphins since he did that the year before without me.  The weather was nothing like the day before… It was very windy and we were not able to go parasailing as we planned.  However we were able to swim with the dolphins since they were in their own cove.  It was so exciting and I truly enjoyed it.  There were about a dozen people in our group and we had the main trainer with us, so more information was shared.  We were able to give a dolphin a handshake, hug, kiss, and belly ride.  After our dolphin experience we had lunch and did our last shopping at the port since we had some free time.

Dolphinaris Cozumel

Making friends in Cozumel

I love going on cruises and spending time with my family.  We are already thinking about our next cruise…maybe we will take the kids.

More photos of Cozumel here.  And video and photos of our whole cruise here.

Our second port-of-call was in Grand Cayman.  Matt found this guy, John, (via the Internet) who has his own boat and could take the 6 of us out for the day.  IT WAS FABULOUS!  Captain John took great care of us and helped us make Grand Cayman memorable.  He picked us up near the port and then drove us to his boat.  It was great to see part of the island and have our own private tour guide.

The ocean was so calm, it was as though we were cruising on glass.  SO BEAUTIFUL!.  Our first stop:  Stingray City

Stingray City

Stingrays swimming around our feet

Captain John brought squid for the stingrays and anchored us on a sandbar.  People who booked through the cruise line were jammed packed together, but we had plenty of room (away from those people) to enjoy the stingrays.  Once the stingrays got the scent of the squid, they came a looking.  And it was a little scary…after all one of these animals did kill Steve Irwin.

Just a little scared!

But, they really are just like puppy dogs.  They are so soft and gentle and are just looking for food.  Once the food was gone, so were the stingrays.

Getting some "love" from the stingrays

Second stop: snorkeling in a coral reef.  Our uncle had a great underwater digital camera and video camera

Underwater Beauty

Lunch on the beach at Rum Point

After lunch we walked down the beach to meet up with Captain John.  We saw the changes that an island has after a hurricane.  The sandy beach is doubled in size and turtle grass is now covered with sand for a good 30 yards in the sea.  John also had some surprises for us.  GIANT Starfish.

Beautiful BIG Starfish

Underside of one of the starfish

Tubing in a beautiful place

Then we finished the day by tubing off the back of the boat.  It was so much fun to see all of us acting like teenagers again!  Thank you Captain John for a wonderful day.  It was probably the best excursion ever!

6 of us enjoying Grand Cayman

More of our Grand Cayman photos here.  Or watch our 2010 Caribbean Cruise video for video footage and photos

After 2 days at sea we were ready for our first port-of-call….JAMAICA.  The Larsens joined us on our excursion and we all had a great time on our Tranopy Adventure.  I highly recommend the Tranopy Adventure…Canopy Chair lift, Jamaican bobsled, and ziplines…SO MUCH FUN!  Plus, dancing with the locals.  The excursion started off with a 90 minute ride and our own “tour guide.”  She pointed out the various spots of interest…like were Usain Bolt went to school.   This was the first time that my sister ever experienced association with people from an underdeveloped country.  She tried to bargain shop but left with just some maracas and a bad taste in her mouth about shopping in Jamaica!

Chair Lift on our Tranopy Adventure

Larsens on the Jamaican Bob Sled

Farleys and some Crazy Jamaica Tree

See video footage and more photos in our 2010 Caribbean Cruise