Welcome Back Girls!

We got our kids back this evening around 8 p.m. - everyone was happy to see each other. Here's Léna blowing out her candles at 9:50 p.m.
Yes that is my 3rd cheesecake in 10 days!
Both Thomas and I think Léna had changed in 2 weeks!

Happy Birthday Léna

Just a few photos from the last time we saw our daughters, the weekend of Palm Sunday when we left them in Calvinet....


The white house in the background, behind the tree, is Marie-Laure, T's cousin.
Some REAL Free-Range chickens!
Léna was quite intrigued
Guy holding Estelle and neighbors, the chicken owners.
Meanwhile, back on the terrace up at the house:
On the road just next to the house
Walking from our house to Uncle RiRi's
Borrowing Annaelle's scooter

A neighbor's horse, checking it out with Uncle RiRi

Back at the original compound where Andrée was raised and where Francoise now lives (mother to Annaelle & Hugo). Riri lives in a different house he built on the same land.

Andrée & Guy's newly seeded lower lawn

Tired after a long day of playing
foreground: Annaelle, Estelle's 2nd cousin. background - neighbor Garance, showing where the hole in the hedge is to go into her backyard to play
walking up Estelle and Garance, catching up to Annaelle. You see the new addition, and to the left in the background, the original home that was Guy's grandparents. We used to sleep there, there are still 3 bedrooms but now with the addition haven't needed them recently.
Anyways, Léna is 2 years old today and when we "spoke" with her this morning, as we have every days since the 17th, they were getting ready for a party with all the 2nd cousins. We miss her on her birthday!

Hoppy Easter!

Here's how we decorated the week before the girls left:

The Sunday before we took the girls to Calvinet where they are now on vacation, we spent part of our afternoon in a park that we had not gone to in probably a year - we used to go frequently when we lived on the port.

We got there with Estelle and me on bikes, Léna on the back of my bike, and Thomas on rollerblades to stay right by Estelle's side up and down the hundreds of sidewalk curbs we had to negotiate. Should mention he had had a hockey game earlier that day so he was pooped that night!

The park is called "Castel Deux Rois" (Castle of the 2 kings). The playground had a major renovation since the last time we went. Below: Estelle on some kind of twirly thing.

Lots of other stuff to check out:


Not to be outdone: why stay on the side of the playground for 2 year olds, when the side for the 10 year olds is so much more alluring? And dangerous!

Ran into Thomas' colleague Gilles, who was minding the 2 year old of a friend. Estelle is quite taken with Gilles, and lets him pick her up though she's only met him one other time.

Here she is with Gabin (blue hat).

The park has great views, and great palm trees.

Meanwhile: The Wednesday before leaving, while I was doing some preliminary packing, I discovered this:
All 3 of those white chairs are in Estelle's room. Léna dragged them all into her room and set up this little party for Baby, The Cat in the Hat, and herself.

Here's a photo from last Sunday, Palm Sunday mass in Calvinet, the day we left the girls. This was outside - the girls did NOT attend, too long.
Interestingly, the French in this region use boxwood and laurel sprigs and boughs, not palms, as certainly they would have been/are too hard to come by. It was quite pretty. I have just a tiny bunch in my hand - most mass attendees had large armfuls.

These cherries are edible - made of mazipan (almond paste). Thomas' favorite.
And speaking of hoppy Easter, here's a silly video only of interest to family, showing Estelle following the directions of an American folk song. She cooked this up by herself. Léna spends her time just trying to do whatever Estelle does.

Visits from London & around the corner

The Saturday before break, Estelle's classmate Alice came to play.

She lives a few blocks away and her mother, whilst French, is an English teacher and speaks to Alice in English quite a bit. This is funny for Estelle because Alice understands a lot of what I say.
Things to do:
Tug of war with a jumprope

Play with Dressy Bessy:
Léna likes having visitors in her room!

Decorate brownies...(with chocolate chips from Canada - Helene that's you!)
Get out the playdough:
Board games:

I guess when you are invited for a playdate, you should bring flowers. Even if you are 4. Here is the rose Alice brought Estelle.

Make music:

Eat brownies!
There were a few tears when someone won or lost a game but in general they had a great time. You can see they are used to "sparring" in the classroom because they were very comfortable with each other and made no bones about defending themselves.
Meanwhile, queen for a day:


I'm getting up on this bench if it's the last thing I do:
Ready for the Phish concert:
One other afternoon we got to see our friends from London, the Berrys:
Eleanor and Benjamin entertained the kids:
Janette and I chatted nonstop.
Benjamin, 5 years ago, took Latin lessons from me when they spent a year living in Nice in their home here. Since then they are back in London.

Eleanor got a workout:
Doesn't she look tired?
Great to see them, as always.
So, here we are, Thomas and I are on morning 3 of waking up to an empty apartment. Let's put it this way, it's 7:51 a.m. and one of us is still asleep.