By the time we were done breakfast Jay was done at the business session. He just went until the morning break and then left - the sessions are every day until noon, but they break at 10:00am. He saw the reps from Maui Jim (did I mention that we each, everyone here actually, got Maui Jim's as our conference gift?! Thank You Sunlife!) packing up so asked them how long they would be there for and they were just finishing up. So he chose a pair of Maui Jims for himself and I. The only thing is that, for me, he went safe and got me the same pair I already have!! In his defense, he knows I love them, but seriously. Mine are prescription and custom with the brown lenses. I also had a pair like these without prescription for when I wear contacts, which is never because I hate them, which I gave to him. Anyway, I'll try to see if there is any way for me to switch them up somehow to get another pair when we get home because now we have 3 of the same pair. He chose a sportier option for him which are also very nice.
We met Jay up at the room and I did a little googling to figure out what we would do in Cannes today, Paige read her book with Jay (always an event as she pushes his buttons on purpose, so I finally said to her that she's wasting his time and if she doesn't finish the last 5 lines of her page in the next 2 minutes that every minute after that was going to cost her a euro so she read it) and Sophie had a nap :( .
I found a gyropod tour (like a segway) that kids age 8+ can go on - So. Much. Fun. I booked a 2 hour tour for 3pm, Paige finished reading, we woke Sophie and made her take some Tylenol (she doesn't mind the Advil but for some reason doesn't like the Tylenol at all, even though they're both grape flavoured tablets) and we set off to do some exploring by foot. This is the beach directly across from the hotel, which we can see from our window.
View from the window.
It was about noon, so we walked around for a little over an hour before we sat at a cafe and had some lunch. We came across another L'Aduree shop and Paige pointed it out and said "Can we have one?" Sure. "I love vacation".
In one of the shop windows Sophie saw this Panda and loved it, so I took a photo. She's been pretty good today - I think she only had Advil once, cough syrup once and Tylenol once in the morning, then nothing all day until bedtime. She's definitely still not feeling well though, tired and droopy is the best way to describe her. Poor muffin should probably be resting in bed.
The store next door to the restaurant patio was a little junky souvenir shop, so I told the girls to go in and take a look around while we waited for food. Sophie found a cute necklace with her name on it which was 9eur and so I gave her a 10 and she went to go pay and then turned around and came back and said "Does this count as my souvenir?" No. "Ok, good". lol. Paige then came over, she had eyed a bag full of Eiffel Tower keychains in bronze, pewter and brass colours in a previous store and it was also 9eur, so asked if she could go back and get that without it counting as her souvenir. Sure, one for everyone you know. lol.
The store next door to the restaurant patio was a little junky souvenir shop, so I told the girls to go in and take a look around while we waited for food. Sophie found a cute necklace with her name on it which was 9eur and so I gave her a 10 and she went to go pay and then turned around and came back and said "Does this count as my souvenir?" No. "Ok, good". lol. Paige then came over, she had eyed a bag full of Eiffel Tower keychains in bronze, pewter and brass colours in a previous store and it was also 9eur, so asked if she could go back and get that without it counting as her souvenir. Sure, one for everyone you know. lol.
After lunch we walked down to where we would meet the tour guide.
There was a beach across from the parking lot where we were meeting our tour guide so Paige took off her shoes and went down to test the water.
Sophie was beyond excited when we arrived and she saw the gyropods. Its the first smile and animation we've really seen from her in the last few days, so it was really nice because I was hoping she would enjoy this. She couldn't wait to get on.
But once she did she was a little hesitant and it made her nervous - but she kept asking for one for home, so we know that she loved it. lol.
By the end she was a pro, but in the first 30 minutes she jumped off it about 10 times. The tour guide was so calm and soft spoken though and was great with her. But she was SO soft spoken that we couldn't hear anything she was telling us through our head sets for the tour so I know nothing about Cannes even though we did a full 2 hour tour and she told us all sorts of information. We also ended up the only 5 on the tour which was really nice. Paige kept complaining that Sophie got to be first after the tour guide, finally I said “Paige, if she were better than you then you would be in front” that got me a big grin.
At the end of the tour we walked the 20 minutes back to the hotel with a quick stop in a public toilet, one of those ones that self-cleans after every use. Sophie and Paige came in with me, Paige just wanted to see it but Sophie had to use it as well. It has a 20 minute maximum time allowed inside and Sophie got a little gun shy and couldn't go because she was concerned it was going to lock and we were going to be sanitized!!
When we got back to the hotel I wrote up yesterdays blog, the girls had a little iPad time (the photo from yesterday in their part of the room), Jay did a little work and we had about an hour before it was time to get ready to go out to dinner. Tonight is the dine around dinner, where they split the big group into smaller groups and each group goes to a different restaurant. We ended up at L'Ecrin.
As we were walking from the bus Jay introduced me to Daniel and his wife, from PPI Jay's MGA. I had noticed that everyone seemed to be wearing their atrocious name badges which hang from your neck in a vinyl and nylon pouch so I brought ours in my bag. I said to Jay maybe we should be wearing ours so took them out. I passed him and said "Here's yours, Jason Middleton, Producers Group - and here's mine, Dana Middleton - maybe I should have put Mortgage Intelligence on here, right now it basically just says Mrs. Jason Middleton".
We sat down at a long table with a few people from Sunlife, including Natalie O'Toole (Hoover, from high school) and her husband, Chris, who is Jay's Sunlife Wholesaler. I sat down and the guy beside me was talking about the menu, I reached for a folded sheet on the table and said "Oh, is this the menu?" He asked 'Do you like fish?' Not really. 'Well then you're screwed' lol. We had a lot of laughs over dinner between us, his business partner and the other couple they were sitting with at the table of 12 before our party of 8 joined them. Dinner started with salmon tartar with arugula and lemon, followed by monkfish in a cream sauce, mashed truffled potato and a small tenderloin. When the main arrived one of the guys said "Oh look, they managed to cut a steak into 400 pieces so we could all have some" lol, it was pretty small. I ate my steak, a little piece of fish and none of the potatoes. Jay and I ate about the same of the salmon tartar, maybe a third of it. Dessert was a small mousse, also not the best, so I skipped it and filled up on wine instead.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, about 10 minutes, with Nat and Chris and then joined them for a drink (or 3?) in the lobby when we got back, which we never do at these conferences. I had a glass of wine then Chris asked me if I wanted another drink and I said to surprise me, he asked with what (not good at surprises maybe?) something with tequila and not too sweet. He brought back Patron on ice with a lime. lol. Chris went to University with Steve and Julia - he was Steve's roommate one year - very small world. We ended up closing the bar at 12:30am, which again, I never do. I managed to avoid being Addgioed because of that closure, but not before I had two glasses of tequila on ice and some of Bob's gin.
At the end of the tour we walked the 20 minutes back to the hotel with a quick stop in a public toilet, one of those ones that self-cleans after every use. Sophie and Paige came in with me, Paige just wanted to see it but Sophie had to use it as well. It has a 20 minute maximum time allowed inside and Sophie got a little gun shy and couldn't go because she was concerned it was going to lock and we were going to be sanitized!!
When we got back to the hotel I wrote up yesterdays blog, the girls had a little iPad time (the photo from yesterday in their part of the room), Jay did a little work and we had about an hour before it was time to get ready to go out to dinner. Tonight is the dine around dinner, where they split the big group into smaller groups and each group goes to a different restaurant. We ended up at L'Ecrin.
As we were walking from the bus Jay introduced me to Daniel and his wife, from PPI Jay's MGA. I had noticed that everyone seemed to be wearing their atrocious name badges which hang from your neck in a vinyl and nylon pouch so I brought ours in my bag. I said to Jay maybe we should be wearing ours so took them out. I passed him and said "Here's yours, Jason Middleton, Producers Group - and here's mine, Dana Middleton - maybe I should have put Mortgage Intelligence on here, right now it basically just says Mrs. Jason Middleton".
We sat down at a long table with a few people from Sunlife, including Natalie O'Toole (Hoover, from high school) and her husband, Chris, who is Jay's Sunlife Wholesaler. I sat down and the guy beside me was talking about the menu, I reached for a folded sheet on the table and said "Oh, is this the menu?" He asked 'Do you like fish?' Not really. 'Well then you're screwed' lol. We had a lot of laughs over dinner between us, his business partner and the other couple they were sitting with at the table of 12 before our party of 8 joined them. Dinner started with salmon tartar with arugula and lemon, followed by monkfish in a cream sauce, mashed truffled potato and a small tenderloin. When the main arrived one of the guys said "Oh look, they managed to cut a steak into 400 pieces so we could all have some" lol, it was pretty small. I ate my steak, a little piece of fish and none of the potatoes. Jay and I ate about the same of the salmon tartar, maybe a third of it. Dessert was a small mousse, also not the best, so I skipped it and filled up on wine instead.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel, about 10 minutes, with Nat and Chris and then joined them for a drink (or 3?) in the lobby when we got back, which we never do at these conferences. I had a glass of wine then Chris asked me if I wanted another drink and I said to surprise me, he asked with what (not good at surprises maybe?) something with tequila and not too sweet. He brought back Patron on ice with a lime. lol. Chris went to University with Steve and Julia - he was Steve's roommate one year - very small world. We ended up closing the bar at 12:30am, which again, I never do. I managed to avoid being Addgioed because of that closure, but not before I had two glasses of tequila on ice and some of Bob's gin.
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