(A little note here before we ‘start’ – I just finished the blog and realized that it is really long. It is a blog covering 5 days and we did lots! Plus there were tons of photographs that we’d taken… some really good one. So! Enjoy the long blog.) Well, we're finally back from our trip down South to Bordeaux and Agen, visiting relatives and having a great ole time. We left on Thursday, with Mamita and Grumps first to visit Uncle Sam and 
Tante Isabelle at their farm near Tours. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive and we left mid afternoon so Bibou will have her nap. She did really well, and slept nearly through the drive, but unfortunately, she woke up just as we were approaching the farm and were on the windy country roads. Poor girly, she had car sickness and I didn't stop the car in time, and she threw up all over herself. Thank goodness we were almost there - so 5 minutes later, we were all safe at La Boisgardière and we got Bibou all cleaned up. She was IMMEDIATELY in love with the place - lots of 
places to run and a drive way full of...pebbles. She loves pebbles, picking them up, and giving them away as gifts. There were lots of space to run around, but she 'attacked' the pebbles first. We visited with Samabelle and 2 other cousins, Jamie and Alexandre, 2 17 year olds who were visiting
also. The boys were great as they kept Bibou occupied, playing ball with her and general running around in the garden and all. We had a little scare though when she'd run off chasing the cat and then found herself lost in the middle of a crop field. Fortunately, I'd gone outside to see how she was, and heard her screaming and crying her eyes out for me. I think I was more upset than she was, trying to run as fast as possible towards her cries to try and find her. I thought she'd fallen and hurt herself too. Whew! After a really scrumpious meal (starting with Daddy's famous foie gras which he'd made and brought over), we finally went to a near by gite 
(bed and breakfast) place to rest for a few hours (really!). We had a charming little room - Bibou was so excited about sleeping in the same room with us that she didn't get to sleep for a while. She was in a little crib that she actually didn't mind, and really enjoyed being in! Hmmmm.
The next morning, we started off on our journey at around 6.30 am... putting the two kids in their car seat in their pjs. We'd wanted to leave earlier, but couldn't get up in time I guess. We were quite tired. The drive down to Bordeaux took less than 5 hours...we stopped at a Supermarket to get some food. Then we drove down to the Abby where an
annual 'family reunion' takes place. We were a little late for the mass (though, to be honest, we weren’t too upset about missing it! Especially with a hyperactive almost 3 year old!!), so we hung around until everyone came out of Mass and then Daddy had a good time meeting up with all his cousi
ns, Aunts / Uncles etc. We also met up with Tante Chantal, who is a Mother Superior at the Abby. She’s probably over 90 years old but has a great mind, her memory is incredible and is witty and chatty. Everyone was taking turns to visit with her and she was really pleased to see Bibou and S
eraphine.
After visiting for a while, we drove down another 100 odd km past Agen to ‘Picotin’ (which actually means a kind of Donkey), the name of the
farm of Tante Vianneyte and Uncle Michel. One of their daughters-in-law had purchased and manages the prune 
plum orchard next to the farm. They have about 2,000 trees and it was full blown harvesting time! They were harvesting the prune plums all the time we were there… it was a bumper crop year and were working hard to harve
st them. It was just soooooooo good to be out in the country side… and when we stepped out of the car, the air just smelt so good. The air was crisp, and sweet smelling, with a wonderfully delicious smell of prune plums. Ahhhh the country side. We spent the rest of the first day catching up with Tante Vianneyte and Oncle Michel. We also went out to have a look at how they harvest the prune plums. It was quite fascinating. On a kind of tractor, a kind of ‘umbrella thingy’ spreads 
around near the base of each tree, and then it gives the tree a gentle shake. Loose plums drops into the pouch and they collect the plums! A video of that operation is below.
We woke up the next day to a gorgeous day indeed! The sun was shining and it was warm. We were all really excited and before long, the farm was filled with lots of kids (10 kids in all). 3 of Daddy’s cousins have arrived with their children (ranging from 4 years to early teens!). Bibou had an excellent time playing with them.
She is the youngest (though she was the same build, and maybe even slightly bigger than her 4 and 5 year old cousins!!), but held her end. She had no problems getting to know everyone and playing with everyone…especially in the outdoors, everyone was running around. 
Us adults had a nice meal out on the terrace, catching up and enjoying the good food. The view is just breathtaking, rolling hills, green, green ,green everywhere.
After all that running in the hot sun, the kids were ready to cool down. So we all decided to head on down to Ampelle that belongs to Tante Chantal (another Chantal! – a sister of Tante Vianneyte). She and her husband own Ampelle, which is an old fortress that they’d spent the last 10 over years renovating. It even has a moat surrounding the fortress (which is filled with carps, though the water is so murky that you can’t s
ee them). Unfortunately, Bibou was s
o tired out from all that running that she fell asleep in the car on the short way over to Ampelle. So we left her in her car seat while we visited, and the other kids swam in the pool. Oh I LOVE their kitchen, with copper pots and pans hanging on the wall. They’ve done a great job with the ren
ovation. It’s a great pl
ace to be, however, they only stay there during the summer, spending the rest of the year in their Parisian residence, as it probably is too expensive to heat the whole place. When we got back home, it was time for dinner and the cousins fired up the BBQ and we had a delightful dinner of bbqed meat!
Over the next few days, we had lots of other fantastic time visiting, eating, drinking. Oh, brilliant eating! Lots of fresh fruits (
prune plums of course), but one dish in particular stood out for me…. On my first day at Picotin, I was washing my hands in the kitchen sink when I noticed a covered kind of Tupperware, but with lots of holes and looked into it as it contained something that looked like it was moving. Well, blow me down, it were some snails. Garden snails! And they were eating some pasta. Now I knew (and have eaten them before!) that the French eat snails, b
ut I’d always thought that they were some ‘special’ bred snails or something. Nope, garden snails. And one lunch, Tante Vianneyte made a big batch of snails
(that were already in the freezer – those on the kitchen sink were being ‘cleaned out’ – you need to feed the snails bread / pasta etc for at least 3 days to get rid of their mucus and probably all the other stuff inside them). Daddy also managed to go do some wine tasting and brought back a few cases of wine (white, red, rose, floc and Amarngac). Daddy and Bibou went walking o
ne morning, and came across 5 wild peacocks! Amazing. Every night, Bibou slept very very well, due to the combination of great air but most of all, all that exercise in the open air. She was running, jumping, laughing with her cousins. In fact, they were running races each evening. And was it hilarious! Bibou would come in dead last each time, but she’d be happily giggling with laughter as she runs, just glad to be crossing the finish line. We were pleased to have captured that on video.
On the final day,
before leaving for home, we went out to gather some prune plums to take home. As I’d mentioned, it was a bumper year, and so they didn’t bother picking up the fruits that had fallen on the ground (too much work = too expensive). So we grab a basket and off we went. There were tons on the ground
, and they looked like Easter Eggs on the ground. As I was picking them up, I kept thinking that Kongkong would be just so happy here, pic
king the prune plums. By the time we’d finished picking a basket full, Daddy thinks that we’d probably picked up about 10 kgs! And they were just delicious! We’ve made a fruit tart with it, and Daddy made lots of jam with the fruits that were too ripe already.
Yes we had a lovely time, and hope we’ll be able to return soon. The return trip wasn’t all that nice as it was pissing down like cats and dogs, but the girls were great in the car. We took someone’s advise and m
oved Bibou’s car seat to the middle position so she wouldn’t get sick. But both of them slept through most of the way. We’d left Picotin at around 5.30 pm, (got stuck in Bordeaux rush hour traffic for an hour) had a 2 hour dinner break, and finally arriving home at around 3.00 am.
Tante Isabelle at their farm near Tours. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive and we left mid afternoon so Bibou will have her nap. She did really well, and slept nearly through the drive, but unfortunately, she woke up just as we were approaching the farm and were on the windy country roads. Poor girly, she had car sickness and I didn't stop the car in time, and she threw up all over herself. Thank goodness we were almost there - so 5 minutes later, we were all safe at La Boisgardière and we got Bibou all cleaned up. She was IMMEDIATELY in love with the place - lots of 
places to run and a drive way full of...pebbles. She loves pebbles, picking them up, and giving them away as gifts. There were lots of space to run around, but she 'attacked' the pebbles first. We visited with Samabelle and 2 other cousins, Jamie and Alexandre, 2 17 year olds who were visiting
also. The boys were great as they kept Bibou occupied, playing ball with her and general running around in the garden and all. We had a little scare though when she'd run off chasing the cat and then found herself lost in the middle of a crop field. Fortunately, I'd gone outside to see how she was, and heard her screaming and crying her eyes out for me. I think I was more upset than she was, trying to run as fast as possible towards her cries to try and find her. I thought she'd fallen and hurt herself too. Whew! After a really scrumpious meal (starting with Daddy's famous foie gras which he'd made and brought over), we finally went to a near by gite 
(bed and breakfast) place to rest for a few hours (really!). We had a charming little room - Bibou was so excited about sleeping in the same room with us that she didn't get to sleep for a while. She was in a little crib that she actually didn't mind, and really enjoyed being in! Hmmmm.
The next morning, we started off on our journey at around 6.30 am... putting the two kids in their car seat in their pjs. We'd wanted to leave earlier, but couldn't get up in time I guess. We were quite tired. The drive down to Bordeaux took less than 5 hours...we stopped at a Supermarket to get some food. Then we drove down to the Abby where an
annual 'family reunion' takes place. We were a little late for the mass (though, to be honest, we weren’t too upset about missing it! Especially with a hyperactive almost 3 year old!!), so we hung around until everyone came out of Mass and then Daddy had a good time meeting up with all his cousi
ns, Aunts / Uncles etc. We also met up with Tante Chantal, who is a Mother Superior at the Abby. She’s probably over 90 years old but has a great mind, her memory is incredible and is witty and chatty. Everyone was taking turns to visit with her and she was really pleased to see Bibou and S
eraphine.After visiting for a while, we drove down another 100 odd km past Agen to ‘Picotin’ (which actually means a kind of Donkey), the name of the
farm of Tante Vianneyte and Uncle Michel. One of their daughters-in-law had purchased and manages the prune 
plum orchard next to the farm. They have about 2,000 trees and it was full blown harvesting time! They were harvesting the prune plums all the time we were there… it was a bumper crop year and were working hard to harve
st them. It was just soooooooo good to be out in the country side… and when we stepped out of the car, the air just smelt so good. The air was crisp, and sweet smelling, with a wonderfully delicious smell of prune plums. Ahhhh the country side. We spent the rest of the first day catching up with Tante Vianneyte and Oncle Michel. We also went out to have a look at how they harvest the prune plums. It was quite fascinating. On a kind of tractor, a kind of ‘umbrella thingy’ spreads 
around near the base of each tree, and then it gives the tree a gentle shake. Loose plums drops into the pouch and they collect the plums! A video of that operation is below.
We woke up the next day to a gorgeous day indeed! The sun was shining and it was warm. We were all really excited and before long, the farm was filled with lots of kids (10 kids in all). 3 of Daddy’s cousins have arrived with their children (ranging from 4 years to early teens!). Bibou had an excellent time playing with them.
She is the youngest (though she was the same build, and maybe even slightly bigger than her 4 and 5 year old cousins!!), but held her end. She had no problems getting to know everyone and playing with everyone…especially in the outdoors, everyone was running around. 
Us adults had a nice meal out on the terrace, catching up and enjoying the good food. The view is just breathtaking, rolling hills, green, green ,green everywhere.After all that running in the hot sun, the kids were ready to cool down. So we all decided to head on down to Ampelle that belongs to Tante Chantal (another Chantal! – a sister of Tante Vianneyte). She and her husband own Ampelle, which is an old fortress that they’d spent the last 10 over years renovating. It even has a moat surrounding the fortress (which is filled with carps, though the water is so murky that you can’t s
ee them). Unfortunately, Bibou was s
o tired out from all that running that she fell asleep in the car on the short way over to Ampelle. So we left her in her car seat while we visited, and the other kids swam in the pool. Oh I LOVE their kitchen, with copper pots and pans hanging on the wall. They’ve done a great job with the ren
ovation. It’s a great pl
ace to be, however, they only stay there during the summer, spending the rest of the year in their Parisian residence, as it probably is too expensive to heat the whole place. When we got back home, it was time for dinner and the cousins fired up the BBQ and we had a delightful dinner of bbqed meat!Over the next few days, we had lots of other fantastic time visiting, eating, drinking. Oh, brilliant eating! Lots of fresh fruits (
prune plums of course), but one dish in particular stood out for me…. On my first day at Picotin, I was washing my hands in the kitchen sink when I noticed a covered kind of Tupperware, but with lots of holes and looked into it as it contained something that looked like it was moving. Well, blow me down, it were some snails. Garden snails! And they were eating some pasta. Now I knew (and have eaten them before!) that the French eat snails, b
ut I’d always thought that they were some ‘special’ bred snails or something. Nope, garden snails. And one lunch, Tante Vianneyte made a big batch of snails
(that were already in the freezer – those on the kitchen sink were being ‘cleaned out’ – you need to feed the snails bread / pasta etc for at least 3 days to get rid of their mucus and probably all the other stuff inside them). Daddy also managed to go do some wine tasting and brought back a few cases of wine (white, red, rose, floc and Amarngac). Daddy and Bibou went walking o
ne morning, and came across 5 wild peacocks! Amazing. Every night, Bibou slept very very well, due to the combination of great air but most of all, all that exercise in the open air. She was running, jumping, laughing with her cousins. In fact, they were running races each evening. And was it hilarious! Bibou would come in dead last each time, but she’d be happily giggling with laughter as she runs, just glad to be crossing the finish line. We were pleased to have captured that on video.On the final day,
before leaving for home, we went out to gather some prune plums to take home. As I’d mentioned, it was a bumper year, and so they didn’t bother picking up the fruits that had fallen on the ground (too much work = too expensive). So we grab a basket and off we went. There were tons on the ground
, and they looked like Easter Eggs on the ground. As I was picking them up, I kept thinking that Kongkong would be just so happy here, pic
king the prune plums. By the time we’d finished picking a basket full, Daddy thinks that we’d probably picked up about 10 kgs! And they were just delicious! We’ve made a fruit tart with it, and Daddy made lots of jam with the fruits that were too ripe already.
Yes we had a lovely time, and hope we’ll be able to return soon. The return trip wasn’t all that nice as it was pissing down like cats and dogs, but the girls were great in the car. We took someone’s advise and m
oved Bibou’s car seat to the middle position so she wouldn’t get sick. But both of them slept through most of the way. We’d left Picotin at around 5.30 pm, (got stuck in Bordeaux rush hour traffic for an hour) had a 2 hour dinner break, and finally arriving home at around 3.00 am. Right the videos. Here's the first one showing how the prune plums are harvested.
And this is a great clip of Bibou coming dead last in the races with her cousins but just having a great time!
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