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

The first crazy camper is me, the mom. Who in their right mind would take a 7 year old and a 22 month old camping without their spouse? Through one of my homeschool groups they set up a camping trip and Kalani LOVES to go camping with friends. I took the kids last year with Mason as an 11 month old and figured that this year would be a little easier since he was older.

The other crazy campers enjoying nature

The weather didn’t cooperate completely since it was wet most of our second day there and then was really cold trying to pack up on the third day. Nature is also a little loud at times. Like at 3 am when a coyote and cubs decide to make their presence known near our camp site. Or the owl that was above our tent. And then there are the man-made noises like trains that want to blow their horn in the middle of the night.

Most of the group going on a "hike"

But, I know that “I Can Do Hard Things” (sister’s favorite saying). Like going on a hike…we only walked a mile and then turned around, but I walked that mile holding Mason at 30 pounds for the majority of the hike. On the way back we decided to take the road since we wouldn’t have to worry about rocks and going up and down hills. A friend brought her wagon since she has 3 small children and Mason got to ride in the wagon while I pulled it. Mason started taking off his hat, then shoes and socks and throwing them out the wagon. I guess he was done riding in the wagon and stood up while I was pulling. I looked back just in time to see him stand and then fall backwards and hit his head on the asphalt! Blood appeared, water was poured, pressured applied and baby was crying. I wasn’t completely sure what I should do since it looked like he needed stitches, but I also needed to take care of Kalani and I didn’t know where the hospital was since we were over 2 hours away from home.

2 cuts

Luckily I have great friends who took care of Kalani for me, a dad ran back to camp to get his car so I could get Mason to the hospital quicker and then all the kids were looking for my keys that I couldn’t find (they were under my pillow). I asked the park ranger where the nearest hospital was and it was only 2 miles away. I was doing a great job of staying in control and not freaking out.

I got into the ER quickly and Mason was acting like himself, playing in the water at the sink, giving the nurse high 5’s, saying hi to people, etc. There was a lot of waiting around…2 hours later Mason leaves the hospital asleep (it was his nap time) with 2 staples in his head.

2 staples

I asked to cover the staples since there was still blood and I knew we were going back to camp where Mason would be playing in the dirt. I really didn’t want to deal with an infection on top of everything else…AND with Matt in California and not being able to talk to him because of poor reception, I felt totally on my own.

100% boy

The staples aren’t keeping Mason down. He only knows they are there when I change his diaper since he doesn’t lay down very often. But in 10-14 days he gets them removed. I feel like a real mom now after going to the ER with one of my children. I think that Mason is going to change me and how I parent! And I am crazy enough to take our kids camping again, even by myself if Matt can’t be with us.

They may have gotten rid of my calling at church as the activities leader, but I still have an outlet for my creativity!  This month I took over hosting Kalani’s homeschool book club at our home.  We have 2 weeks to read a book and then the family that chose the book moderates the meeting.  We chose Lewis Carroll’s book, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Disney did a pretty good job with their movie, “Alice in Wonderland,” but of course they left some things out and added others.  As a homeschool group of friends, we had a good time discussing the book and playing games.

I found some great decoration ideas at one pretty thing.  And since we got a couple of packages from amazon I had cardboard and brown paper on hand.  So, this door decoration was created.

Doorway into Wonderland

I made some big playing cards out of cardboard and taped questions to the back for the kids to answer.  For games, the kids made up some silly nonsense advice and then their own version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  One of Kalani’s nonsense advice, “If you are a  leopard, don’t eat a leprechaun.” And someone’s Twinkle Twinkle poem:  “Twinkle Twinkle little squirrel, Wear a tutu and you twirl.  Up abouve the tree so high, like a chipmunk in the sky.  Twinkle Twinkle little squirrel, wear a tutu and you twirl.”

I had the kids color roses that were printed on white paper red.  And then a mom stood up and acted like the Queen saying, “who’s been painting my roses red…OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!”  Our last two games were trying to hit a tennis ball with an umbrella through a homemade croquet hole.  And then all the kids stood in a circle and I sprayed them with a water bottle and they had to run around until they were dry.  When asked who won…they all won, so they got to get a water bottle that said “DRINK ME” and a cookie that said “EAT ME.”  I may have had more fun planning book club than the kids!