Dinard (pronounced Dee-Nar) is considered the posh place to vacation in Bretagne. It used to be a small fishing village, and in the mid-1800’s its persona changed to that of a resort. This is also the time the first English residents arrived.
I don’t know though – Dinard seems sort of run down to me. Kind of like Coney Island.
Well … maybe not exactly like Coney Island.
We come here every year, just the five of us (6 with Hunter)
to try and get a decent family picture.
Try being the operative word.
And we come here to eat ice cream.
I was nervous when I asked if dogs were allowed in the restaurant so we could eat at our favorite ice cream place. But to my shock, they were! They were allowed! I love France.
It’s always rather hard to wait for the ice cream.
Especially when the parents are served first.
It’s a soul-refining moment.
But in the end it is oh, so worth the wait.
Then we go jump and climb and stuff.
No guys – not there!
Here!
And here!
Oh look! Real estate! (Sorry. I’m distracted)
And then our clown gets to go on his own ride.
Complete clown.
Complete with a meltdown when he has to get off, that is.
The first time we came here was with the extended family when William was still in my belly, and we decided to take the ferry from Dinard to St Malo. It was high tide then (not like it is now) and this whole area was covered with water. The first thing two-year old Gabriel did was to jump up on this ledge to peer over when I was too far away to stop him.
You can’t really tell from this picture, but there is literally no protection for a toddler standing up on that ledge to keep him from tumbling in. And if he had fallen in, I would have jumped in after him, never mind how cold the water was, never mind that I didn’t know how deep or whether or not there were rocks down there (there are, as you can see), never mind I was five months pregnant!!!!
But I reached him in time and he didn’t fall in, and I didn’t have to jump to my probable death to save my son.
And so Dinard is is not the site of some personal family tragedy. Dinard can just be Dinard, after all –
a little posh, but a little run down.
Family fun and memories for later! And thank Heaven that Hunter is now well-behaved enough to join in. 😉 Enjoy…
Mama D recently posted…The Eyes Are the Prize
Beautiful pics as usual. The one of your three, the boys laughing – a framer for sure. Hope you’re having a great time!
Andrea recently posted…Right Now
Love the shots! I have a cousin that has a summer home in Dinard. I’ve never thought about going but after seeing your pictures I think the Hopper family will be visiting in 2 years!
Lovely pictures! Is the water cold?
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted…Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Tablet Review
The water is fuhreezing, but there has to be at least one full dip for the principle of it. 😉
Your daughter is beautiful. Probably also a genius and creative and lots of other inner-beauty stuff too, but…beautiful. As is St Malo–I’ve been on those walls, and I think on the beach there, somewhere, isn’t there also a saltwater pool that gets filled from the sea? I remember thinking that was the height of cleverness… is it still there?
What a wonderful time!
deborah l quinn recently posted…Saturday’s Snapshot (surat al-sabat): لقطة السبت
Thank you on Juliet’s behalf. It’s true we talk to her a lot about the importance of inner beauty, and hopefully she’s getting that part ingrained. I’m pretty sure the seawater pool is still there, although the last time we went to St Malo during the day was about 6 years ago. I’m about to post on St Malo now, but it was an evening visit.
Love the kids’ hats!
Carole recently posted…Taco Truck Meets PhotoToaster
–Love the photo w/ all of the kids laughing.
MUST put in an 8 x10 Frame! Xxxx
My Inner Chick recently posted…Tattoo’d Lady
Beach, ice cream – can I come with you next year?
Alison recently posted…Cake For Breakfast
From what I can tell it looks absolutely beautiful!
Jackie recently posted…Monday Menu – Super Simple Jello Salad
Bretagne is the French word for Brittany, just as Great Britain is “La Grande Bretagne.”
I had heard of Brittany growing up, but didn’t really know where it was. If pressed, I might have guessed somewhere in the UK. I first heard of Bretagne when living in France – from French people (including a couple of Bretons) – and I visited the department with them, not with Brits. It was only after going the second time that I put two and two together and figured out that Bretagne must actually be Brittany. But I knew it first as Bretagne, which is the name that comes out naturally.
I’m not saying that all Americans are as uneducated as I am (was), but I’d bet that a large number of them do not associate Brittany with the North of France if they’d heard of it at all. So there’s not the same strong connection with the place that the British have.
HTH