Zane’s visit

Catherine Frodsham, 21 August, 2024

WHOOP WHOOP!! My son Zane and his family are here to visit! They had a rough time getting here. Flights were cancelled and they missed a connection, but they made it to Geneva, Switzerland! We met them in Chamonix, France. It is a beautiful little town near Mount Blanc, high in the Alps. We got there in the early evening because we had to get plot plans notarized at the US Embassy in Geneva for our home in Bear Lake. That took us a few hours more than we thought. Trying to mail it back to the States did not happen. UGH! Therefore, we were later than expected to Chamonix! It was so wonderful to see Zane and Lexi and our grandkids, Zane, Weston, Bennett and CeCe. They were jet lagged and needed to go to bed early. We walked around a little, had dinner and then went to our Airbnb. The next day we took a train ride up to the glacier, it was so beautiful!!! When we got to the top, Zane, Tim, Lexi and the kids all went to see the Glacier. It looked slippery, and I didn’t want to walk down those stairs. My knees and feet aren’t doing well lately. My family and friends all know how I love to slide downstairs on ice…;-)

Here’s some pictures of the train ride and the glacier:

When we came back to Chamonix on the train, we went to an amusement park area with some different rides…. ha-ha…The kids found one and said Nana we want you to ride this ride for our souvenir!! I told them all I would get them a T-shirt or anything they wanted. They insisted and, well, I couldn’t resist!! This has gone viral through our family. It was noted as the best video of the year for the Shaeffer family by Aubrie!! Haha. We can’t post a video here, but here are other pictures of the rides. We had a lot of fun because not too many people were there riding the rides!

We had a great dinner, ate crepes and ice cream and enjoyed the scenery of these mountains in the Alps. Zane, Lexi and the kids had tickets the next morning to ride the Aiguille Du Midi tram up 15,000 feet. Tim and I did that with Elise and Mike and the girls a few months before and we made it to the top but got altitude sickness, so we did not want to go again. We said good-bye and left to come back to Lyon for some missionary duties. Zane and family drove through Italy and down to southern France. I’m sure it was a beautiful drive!

They enjoyed Antibes in Southern France and then a few days later we met them in Beynac along the Dordogne River. It was a 4 ½ hour drive for us and a 7-hour drive for Zane. Zane had secured a beautiful Airbnb near the Castlenaud Chateau. It was BEAUTIFUL. We had tickets to ride a Hot Air Balloon the next morning, but the weather was not good, so it was cancelled. So we went to visit several castles in the area. The Dordogne valley is known as the valley of the thousand castles. They are everywhere and so beautiful. Zane and the kids played in the Dordogne River and had fun. We tried to eat dinner at 5 but nothing opens in France for dinner until 7:00 p.m. They eat so late here.

Here are pictures of the castles we went to:

We had asked the hot air balloon company if they could change our reservation for Wednesday morning before we had to leave. They said they would try. They told us at 2:00 pm on Tuesday that the weather looked favorable. YAYAY!! We were so excited, but we had to get to bed early because we had to be at the place at 5:45 am. So, the next morning we all got up and we had to wear long pants and closed shoes. We piled in their jeeps and left with our pilot. There were 3 pilots and 3 balloons. It wasn’t cheap. It cost us about $199 Euros a piece. This has been a dream of mine since I was little and on my bucket list!! We got to the field, and we received instructions on what to do in the basket and what not to do. Then the pilot asked Tim and I (I think because we are old and might have a hard time getting in the basket quickly, to get on the ground and get into the basket sideways on the ground. HAHA! Zane thought oh no my mom can’t do that!!! I did and I was on my back down in the basket waiting for it to be up righted. It finally did and then he said everyone in. You had 5 minutes before it started rising!! I never would have made it. Oh, my heavens…. talk about a dream come true!!! It was so peaceful and beautiful. We wish it was a little clearer, but you will see in the pictures. What a beautiful place to be and be with my sweetheart and my son and Lexi and my cute grand kids, Zanie, Weston, Bennett and Cece. CeCe did get a little scared before we took off because of the sound of the gas as it lit on fire to heat the air in the huge balloon.

Our Pilot was the best. He does this year-round. He goes to Morocco and other places to give rides. He said it is hard in the Dordogne valley because of places to land?? Well, we had an hour up in the sky and it was time to land. The Balloons go up and down. You can’t really steer them. The Pilot knows how to use the wind to steer. Well, he found a farmer’s hay field to land in. No animals in the field and the hay had already been harvested into bails. But the farmer was not happy!! He started yelling at the pilot and the guy who was watching for where the balloon would land. He follows it with the jeep and the trailer. We finally got out and they started deflating the balloon. All men were helping them deflate and fold it up. The pilot said, I love Americans because they all help us. After that we loaded the basket and the deflated balloon on the trailer and got into the jeep to go have breakfast of croissants and coffee. Wait, we don’t drink coffee. He had an apple juice for the kids and we all drank that!! It was so beautiful and fun and an experience we will never forget!!

Here are pictures of the balloon ride:

We said goodbye again: Zane and family started up north to see Normandy and Mt St. Michel and the D-day historic sites. Tim and I drove back to Lyon. We had new missionaries coming in. We had made 10 lasagnas before we left for our Dordogne trip for Sis. Soulier (Our new mission president’s wife) (I love her) who is waiting to get into the Mission Home, where she has a kitchen. They were for the missionaries going home and the next night the missionaries coming in to the mission. We made it home in time to help with the dinner of the new missionaries. That was fun. President and Sister Soulier are very kind and wanted all of us senior missionaries to be a part of the dinners.

Then Zane and Zanie, Weston & Bennett drove from Paris on Sunday July 14th to Lyon. We were waiting in the street just like when Aubrie came to visit. It was so fun to see them drive up. We dropped some baggage off, and Tim and I got in their car to all go to our ward. This was the best church day ever!! It was fun to show them our underground parking and we had to take the car elevator to the 2nd floor parking. It is so different!! We walked in a few minutes early and our Bishop Nelson (an American) came off the stand and asked the 3 boys if they would help do the sacrament. They all agreed. Zane and Weston ran down to the car to get their white shirts and ties. The bishop asked Zanie if he would break the bread, but he wouldn’t have to say the prayer. But he forgot to tell his 2nd counselor in the Bishopric who also helped with the sacrament. I was called on to lead the music, so I was on the stand. It is a small chapel. After the sacrament hymn Zane and the member of the bishopric stood and he asked Zane if he wanted to pray in French or English. He only saw the French card, so he knelt down…… I looked at my son Zane he looked at his son Zane and we both thought NO!!!! He doesn’t speak French. But Zanie read it like a pro. We were shocked! The bishop looked at him and nodded he got it right!!!! After the sacrament the bishop got up and said that was evidence of the gift of tongues!!!! hahaha!! I was so proud of Zanie! Way to go! Way to have a feeling of service and a spiritual experience with the sacrament! We will never forget that!! That night France celebrated Bastille Day and there were fireworks! We walked to the Rhone River bridge and watched the fireworks there. It was very cool.

See the picture of our Bishop Nelson and Zanie a priest, Weston a teacher and Bennett a deacon. And the Bastille Day fireworks.

The next few days we took the metro to see the beautiful city of Lyon. Lexi and Cece had flown to Milan Italy to see Taylor Swift. They flew to Lyon on Monday evening. On Tuesday, we took all of them to see the Cathedral of Notre Dame and the Bartholdi fountain and Old Lyon. We ate crepes and ice cream in Old Lyon. See pictures: Then we had Raclette for dinner at our home. We had to say goodbye early in the morning. It was hard to see them go. What a fun time we had exploring France together. We miss you already!!!