One If By Land, Two If By Sea

Longfellow's poem about Paul Revere (click here) really has nothing to do with my summer but it seems an apropro title for this post. I'm still playing "catchup" with photos from our trip to Vermont.

So where were we....We left off with our 4 days in New Hampshire visiting Mom and Lisa, etc. We came back to VT and the next day, Friday July 10th, was a stunningly lovely New England summer day. We went to Shadow Lake Beach and hung out with Heather and Darlene while the boys were in their swimming lessons.
So, Shadow Lake may not be the "sea", but there certainly were "two" little cousins playing well together "by" the sea (as opposed to attacking via the sea as the poem goes...). I should add that it was all silent, but they smiled a lot.
It's a lot of pictures, but it's to show that there was a lot of playing going on!









Somewhere in there Estelle jumped into some action with some other older girls...
You can really see how it was just a beautiful day at the beach....
Messy Messy and Lovin' It!

That afternoon I moved our "operation" next door from Wes' to Joan's and we went for a walk to check out the surroundings of our new digs. As it was such a beautiful day, the farmer's were out haying to beat the ban. My 2nd cousin Brian Perron was baleing (sp?) in the field above Joan's. Estelle, like any kid, thought this was quite cool to watch.
This is our "One if by Land" part- I did think of a farmer and all those hours spent alone haying.... Or it could be Estelle, one lone kid running around in a field.


Brian stopped the tractor and offered Estelle a ride, but she silently declined with a furrowed brow and a scowl. He was probably relieved.

Fascinated by the rows of cut hay about to be rolled up and baled.
Red clover, VT state flower ( photo posted once before).



I tried to show her how you can suck on the ends of the clover "petals" and that they are sweet. She was having nothing of it.
We spent the weekend calmly doing not much at Joan's, settling into our new home and seeing how many pairs of scrapbooking craft scissors Estelle could use simultaneously. I spent Sunday getting ready to dump my kids on my sister-in-law/niece duo team Jeanne and Lizzy up in Derby for the day on Monday so I could drive to Montreal and pick up Thomas. (the next installment).
For the moment I should mention it is Assumption today here in France (August 15th), and so a national holiday - but as it falls on a Saturday pretty much everybody gets "gipped", so they are all grumpy about that. Hilarious.
We are still really enjoying some one-on-one time with each other and with Léna, with whom I am completely smitten. I am turning into a sap in my old age. I just want to cuddle and cuddle! Yech! Totally not my style, but I can't help it! Meanwhile, Estelle is having the time of her life up in Angers. Yesterday she called to say she got 4 pairs of new shoes. Every girl's dream trip!
For grandmothers and aunts - a VERY boring long 3 minute video of quiet....

No Estelle Day #2

Last night when Thomas walked in the door, Miles Davis was on and a glass of chilled rosé awaited. We both said, after having eaten and cleaned up by 8:15, "isn't this easy"? It's like having an only child again - one that is a baby.
And she's cute all right, even if she does look like Alfalfa from Little Rascals:

This morning we had a play date (for which I took no photos? what's the matter with me - I'm slipping!) and my friend Emilie came with her 6 month old Ines AND her 3 yr old Noah. Let's put it this way - she's jealous of my current "vacation". I forgot, in just 2 days, how much work a 3 yr old is!

A Weekend in Provence

Saturday morning we drove to Salon-de-Provence, a town in between Aix and Avignon. Here we rendez-vous'd at Thomas' aunt & uncle's house with his parents so as to "hand off" Estelle for 2 weeks. We stayed the night and came back to Nice with just Lena Sunday.
A few shots:
Estelle on Papy's shoulders with Uncle Dédé
Picking cherry tomatoes with TaTa Yvette
Léna trying on one of her many gifts she received in a new "shipment" from Angers/Calvinet...
Enjoying "cornet de creme", all completely made from scratch by Yvette. One word: Unbelievable.
Those cones look small, but they were big in delightfulness. I had more than my share.

Lena enjoyed sleeping in this iron bed which was used by her grandmother (Andrée), Yvette, and the 3 brothers in that family. It has been lovingly restored. It is charming. So is Léna in her Ben & Jerry's onesie.
Don't worry we blocked the sides with stuff so she wouldn't get stuck in between.
Manou enjoys feeding Léna her nighttime bottle (which I had pumped while stuck in traffic on the autoroute earlier!)
Dinner out on the veranda....
Tradition in France is to toast a new baby with champagne. I am as excited as I look. It was some top notch champagne! Dédé's wine cellar is something to revere.
It should be noted that our visit to Salon also encompassed me meeting up with some family! My grandmother's second cousin, who is only 61 years old, is presently touring around France with her husband on bicycles.
Lin and Seph live in Oregon. I had never met them. They were long lost until 4 years ago when a man whose hobby it is to research photographs he finds in Antique shops connected them and us. It's all quite remarkable and complicated so suffice to say there were many Salmons and Stones up in heaven grinning away Saturday at noontime as I picniked with Lin, to whom I am a 2nd cousin twice removed.
Here they are, riding away to Avignon, their next stop. What a treat to get to meet!

And now here we are back in Nice, Estelle-less. It is bizarre. Last night after Léna went down at 7:00 we sort of wandered around the apartment giggling and not knowing what to do with ourselves as normally it's time to feed, bathe, chase and entertain Her Highness. I know she is having a blast and getting LOTS of attention.
Here's Lena with her friend Louise:

Trip to New Hampshire

Well, we've officially been back in France one week. It's 8:25 a.m. and this is just about the time we wearily crawled in the door last Friday morning, children and suitcases in tow.
Stealing a few minutes over my tea this morning to upload some more photos.
Yesterday I unloaded the last suitcase and today I pack up new suitcases to ship Estelle off for 2 weeks with Papy and Manou, and ourselves alongside for one night in Provence at TaTa Yvette's.

Faithful readers may remember that my Blog Chronicles of our trip Stateside left off just after 4th of July weekend and I had arrived in NH chez Lisa & Dan to visit them and my mom. Sister Laura also came up from below Boston to visit for one night.
Here's what Dan was up to....

Laura caught mom, Lisa and I enjoying someone else's blog!
That's the only photo I have of my mom from the whole 4 days! She was paparazzi-weary so I let her be. (Can you imagine how many photos you have to pose for when you have 11 children and 26 grandchildren? Staggering!)

Estelle did a lot of tearing around Lisa and Dan's big house. They have two different sets of stairs to get to their 2nd floor and that was VERY entertaining for Estelle. As was the dishwasher, apparently.

We did a lot of lounging around as the weather was SOAKING WET.
p.s. Laura you left those socks at Lisa's.
Here's cousin Ana at the playground with Estelle, in between rainshowers. Should be noted that Ana was on a marathon of playing with Estelle. I almost felt like I should be paying her, the poor college grad that she is....
A slightly different look than the parks in Nice!
Retro toys:
Rain Rain Go Away.
Story hour at the New Boston Library....
Who is that woman in between Lisa and I? The Milkman's daughter? How is she our sister? We always said Laura looks nothing like us.....

One morning Laura gave us pedicures.
Heaven.... now if this isn't sisterly love, what is?
Enjoying the baby over tea....

We had a great few days before going back up to VT and getting ready for Thomas' arrival....Thanks to the whole New Boston crowd for being our wonderful hosts.

Time to get my day going so I'll sign off, but here's a sneak peak at the next installment with a little video....

Estelle on Uncle Paul's swingset. July 15th.