Fall Photo Catch-Up

I'm here on the last day of October to do a quick catch-up on the last month and a half since school started.  In a nutshell: my mom has been here, gone, and here again, James celebrated his 7th birthday, and my aunt (my mom's youngest sister) and uncle from London visited.

the fall sun shone on the palace for our visitors 

As I mentioned in my last post, my mom arrived on the first day of school.  Having just retired in August, she planned to stay in a mixture of Luxembourg, France and the UK until the beginning of December.

after completing the first week of school

lots of walking around enjoying the sun when it appeared

the front of Lux's Notre Dame Cathedral - don't think I've ever posted that before?

I took her to Remich, a Luxembourg vineyard town on the border with Germany.  We tried to take a boat tour on the Moselle, but there weren't enough people to join us so they cancelled the trip.

we had a nice walk around the hilly town instead

Luxembourgish vineyards

We also took her to actual Germany - Trier, just across the border.

And then she was off to meet one of her sisters from the UK at a walking retreat in southern France, and then to spend a few weeks there on her own.

seeing her off on the overnight train

While she was gone, we attended our first Luxembourg church retreat in Germany.

family games - they had crackers thrown at them to see how many stuck

"the tipsy waiter" game

Then back home, we celebrated James' birthday with his best friends.

My mom decided to come back to Luxembourg a little earlier than planned (we don't blame her, it's lonely in rural France by yourself!!).  This worked out great because she was here when her sister and husband came for their first visit to Luxembourg.  

We spent the weekend walking around Luxembourg city.  Those who have visited us before will recognize our well-worn route!

But we did manage to go to a spot Pete's never been - the fancy Luxembourg retirement home in the city.

not too shabby, eh?

And we're back to where we started - the sunny palace.  

And, we're officially caught up.  Bring on November!