Old Friends

Remember these shots from last year in late June?:
Above: Sylvianne & Pauline, Eliott & F, Isabelle holding Alessandro and yours truly. Both Sylvianne and Isabelle were expecting at this point - I was just in the plotting stage!
Below: Pauline & Estelle back then. (I laughed when I dug up these photos today to see that Estelle wore the same top last night as she was wearing in this photo below LAST June!)
Pauline's Dad Philippe monitoring the troops at Eliott's 2nd bday party last summer....
Well, Pauline and her parents Sylvianne and Philippe moved last summer to the Lyon area, but they are visiting Nice this week and so we had a small reunion last night here at our apartment. Things were W-I-L-D. Toys everywhere, blocks strewn about, fake plastic food being served and stepped on. Real peanuts and potato chips getting smushed under little bare feet. Hilarious chaos. Boy did they have fun!



Eliott was in his element!
After Eliott was ripped away and taken home, Estelle and Pauline played "you're sick, I'm sick" for about 35 minutes. Incredible. The little bench became the doctor's table, and they exchanged roles every 52 seconds. Over and over and over. The photo below shows Estelle administering some kind of shot (or resussication paddles?) to Pauline's stomach using 2 caps from mini Bonne Maman jam jars, hidden under her pudgy little palms.

Meanwhile, Pauline's new little brother, Nils, was born in late February and is like a line-backer already. Check him out on Sylvianne's lap next to scrawny Léna (who is ridiculously long for her age, comme sa maman!)

After everyone left, time to stand in someone else's shoes. Literally.

After cleaning up and getting our 2 to bed, Thomas went to play hockey at 8:30 and I ate a bowl of cereal while watching Desperate Housewives in English on cable! Phew!

Flying Solo

All in all, Day One was successful, and included a dr's appt, picks up from the nanny, hiring someone to do a pick up from the day care, a visit from a friend, shopping for diapers, opening and recording more gifts of clothes for the baby, going to the pharmacy, doing, hanging out and bringing in a load of laundry (onesies and pooped-on towels), telling telemarketers to stop calling, shopping for and preparing meals, expressing milk and nursing 5 times.
There are no photos cause who has time?

Pentecost Monday

A lovely morning here in Nice.
Esteliott was back up to their old tricks.
This next series is called "Fun with Water Bottles". I think only grandmothers and aunts would think this is interesting, so my apologies to the rest of you!


In case those 2 shots didn't satiate you, here's a video.

Back at the ranch, we enjoyed a lovely luncheon put on by my illustrious husband, and Esteliott enjoyed a few toys together....

Fransiska brought dessert - here's a photo of one thing she brought, a "Tropezienne". This is the name for this traditional type of cream-filled brioche cake topped with sugar. What you see is one portion CUT IN HALF. Do you know the way to St. Tropez? (harty har)
I know the way - it's called go straight at cellulite and take a left at cardiac arrest. But who cares? Man are these DEE-LISH.In the afternoon the skies opened up and we had a regular thunderstorm with a big downpour. People caught out on the sidewalks were shrieking and running for cover, which is hilarious to watch from 5 stories up. Legos became the past-time for the afternoon:
Check out this windmill complete with terrace that Thomas built looking at a picture on the side of the bucket of Lego's (faithful readers will remember these are vintage 1987 Legos from the church shop).
He can cook AND build with Legos.

Tomorrow I hold down the fort for the first time on my own. Stay tuned. Today went SO SMOOTHLY with everyone napping and eating and doing everything they should right on target that I'm sure the other shoe will fall tomorrow!

The Aftershock

Here's Léna looking pensive after the departure of TaTa Lisa.

But Estelle had a little visit late this afternoon from her friend Ines....now that all our visitors are gone, time to catch up with some of our friends here!
Thanks to Manou, Papy and Lisa for all their help the past few weeks!
Thankfully tomorrow is Pentecost so Thomas has the day off - one more day of reprieve for me.

Saturday in Nice

It all began with banana-bran muffins, filmed by Lisa, sideways. She forgot my instructions about holding the camera horizontally - but we DID get rid of the clicking at least!


Here's our little Léna who is filling out nicely lately . This onesie is too small now!

Then Estelle, Lisa and I bopped over to Eze, a famous perched medieval village just east of Nice. The sun was lovely, a great breeze blowing - perfect morning to stroll around. Here are a ton of photos:

On the side of the route we drove on. Behind Lisa you see the peninsula of Cap Ferrat, some of the most expensive real estate around.....



Here we are in Eze, looking down.


Chess, anyone?





Shots of the cemetery in Eze...



The bridge to Eze....
Inside the chapel lighting a candle for WHA:










We don't have any photos of Lisa's solo excursion out and about this afternoon when she went into the old town for some last minute souvenir shopping whilst the rest of us napped. Too bad, since she went all over the place!

Dinner tonight was savory crepes made by Thomas, and asparagus....
All good things must come to an end......boo hoo.