CARNIVAL, Costumes, Crepes, Cuteness

Things are hoppin' in Nice. Carnival kicked off Friday night and we're all living and breathing it now - it's all intensified this year because Estelle really "gets" it - and because for the first time in a long time, I'm not in Vermont during this period.
But first, a few other shots: Saturday, while Léna napped, so did the rest of the family....
Until she woke up and walked in on Daddy and Estelle and decided she was jealous.
Last week on Monday night we had a fantastic "surprise" visit from Craig & Doug. We had a nice aperitif at home, capped it off with a lice treatment for Estelle, and then the boys took me out to one of Nice's top-notch restaurants called "La Petite Maison". Doug and I had a chateaubriand that was just.....unbelievable. As comforting as the food and wine was, the company and the conversation was better. Miss them!

Friday, "Bébé Valise" (Suitcase Baby) came to visit. Really this is Basile, Eliott's little brother, but for some reason Léna can't say Basile and instead calls him "Valise". Which means suitcase.

Léna was really happy to see Valise.

She also has taken to reading in the toilet. Which nobody in this house does, so we don't know where she got that from!
The typical thing to eat on Mardi Gras is crepes - so I made the batter, let it rest, and Thomas worked his magic when he got home Tuesday night. Slap on some Nutella, and everyone's happy. Even Estelle, sporting a hell of a shiner after wiping out racing Léna to the bathroom Sunday night.
And all the rest of Estelle and Léna's spare time is spent dressing up. I've got a lot of odds & ends costumes that I pick up at thrift shops etc.



Lots of kids make headpieces at school/nannys for Carnival. Here's Léna's:

And this is Estelle's from school, that Léna likes to wear. It's pretty amazing, this mouse.

Sunday afternoon we ventured out into the Carnival madness. This year's theme is "The King of Sports". So the 20 floats all have some topical sports reference.

This one above is the Nice team. Below it's mocking the behavior of the French World Cup team 2 years ago in South Africa (when they had a "strike" on a bus).
This person is a man named Bernard Tapie, who is a big sports president and then he went to jail for corruption or something but he's still a gizillionaire.
Meanwhile if you want you can buy some yummy socca.
Or listen to some music

This is the float about the Tour de France (which will come to Nice in 2013). It's all about the doping. Those are doctors behind the guy in the yellow jersey....

This one has to do with how in Nice you can ski during the day and be on the beach by evening.
I don't get this one, something about the middle east or something.
More Nice stuff: It's supposed to be the people who deliver socca.
This one is a play on words: Promenade des Anglais - the boardwalk in Nice, but it's supposed to be the Royal Family out walking in Nice (famous Negresco hotel behind)....


Kate and William:
This is something about how the sport of muscle-making/body building has evolved. Or something.
This is the King. He gets burned out at see off the beach on the last night.
This is the Nice guys again. That's a famous statue in Nice.
This is something I can't explain about something.
These are just girls twirling. They were really young!
This is the queen. I think she is freaky looking. Like the Snow Queen in Narnia.

And here is the huge mob of city workers waiting to move in and clean up. This photo captures about 1/4 of them.

Also in the children's playyard there was this absolutely amazing merry-go-round.
(Don't know this kid above, just trying to capture the intricateness of this thing)
It was all made from driftwood found in Lake Evian (yes. like the bottled water)
It could take 7 kids, and each kids was sitting in/on an animal made of wood, cloth, leather. The animals were all ones that you would find near Lake Evian.



Below: Estelle on the Animal up high in the center - she told us after she was scared.
Léna, meanwhile, lovin- every second.
and it turns by two people going up and down on a see-saw. And the music is live, a guy on a piano.

There's Thomas on the see-saw (right) with Estelle watching him while Léna was riding.The whole thing was like nothing I had ever seen. And totally free. Best part of Carnival.
Today Estelle went to dance, piano, and the pool dressed in a tutu and wearing a tiara. People smiled like crazy at her everywhere we went saying "Oh, Carnival!". I realize it's a little like Halloween. Except instead of Tootsie Rolls and DumDums, you eat crepes.