The Loire from below

It took us nearly until the end of our year in France, but we finally had a chance to wade in the Loire River. This happened near the town of Sully-sur-Loire, up the river a ways from Orléans. On Aug. 9, we drove with the Chasserays, one of the local Olivet families with one child in each of Molly and Betsy's classes (Matthieu is in Betsy's, Hélèna is in Molly's, and Antoine is the bonus Chasseray baby), to the large chateau there. We had a picnic lunch near the Loire, then toured the chateau, then returned to the river, where we waded or sat on the sandy beach.

The tour of the chateau itself was a lot of fun, not merely because the building itself is interesting both architecturally and historically, but because there was a treasure hunt for the children. Some of the rooms contained small treasure chests, each containing a small puzzle to be worked out and recorded on a small sheet of paper the kids carried with them. At the end, there were prizes given out for those who solved the final puzzle successfully. In this photo, everyone is trying to work out the answer to said puzzle. Success was achieved, prizes were had.

The hard part of the day came much later, when we all had to say goodbye to the Chasserays for the last time. For now at least...