The V.O., Next Event

Who needs the Oscars? We've got the next installment of the Vermont Olympics!
Today's Event: GREAT AUNTS
Participant Requirements: Be a great-aunt to Estelle and Léna
Be it Perron or Alexander, blood or marriage
(We don't care how you are a Great Aunt, we're like the Unitarian Universalists - we'll take anybody). (Sorry Lisa and Dan).

Tie for Super Duper Gold Medals are my dad's 2 living siblings. Treasures, both of them.Above: Me and Aunt Becky in the middle of a crowd at Martha's. This is like hanging out with my Dad again, the same n0-nonsense attitude but with great perfume and fantastic nail polish. Sometimes she is so like him, it's enough to take your breath away.
Below, Aunt Elaine in her West Glover farmhouse.
See that chocolate cake on the table. Oh you better believe she made that for us. She is over 80 and uses a walker, but she made us chocolate cake AND brownies. On a wood stove. She says things like "Aren't you a cunnin' little thing?" to the baby. Speaks like my father's mother.Silver Medal Ties for a few lovely French Canadian gals = my mom's sisters. Aunt Yolande who enjoyed playing with our little butterball Léna.


And our other Silver Medal winner is one of my mom's other sisters, my Aunt Cecile Davignon (as in Sur le Pont).
Like a stage-coach inn, Cecile graciously hosted us for a few hours for coffee and blueberry muffins one snowy/raining morning, serving as a halfway meeting point so Martha could get me back to Lisa and back to NH so I could get back to Boston to get back to France. (an Olympic event in and of itself).
Bronze Medal Winners: My aunts who "married in", Carole and Marilyn Perron, wives to my mom's brothers Eddie and Rickie, who live up the road from Joan and Wes and with whom we enjoyed a Friday afternoon with tea and scones. It is amazing to think that they, plus Wes and Joan, all live on land that was originally all part of my grandfather's farm. It was a big farm!We missed seeing all our other aunts, most notably Estelle's namesake Aunt Estelle. Here's a photo of us together from a previous (pre-Léna) visit:
A Posthumous Gold Medal goes to my Aunt Eleanor, sister to Becky and Elaine, from whom Léna gets her middle name. Here is a photo of us, the last time I saw her. Healthy, caring, and fixed me some crackin' egg salad sandwiches, served with a pickle. I sure do miss her voice.
Another Posthumuos Gold for my Aunt Pearl, ("married in"), just days after Eleanor. The Queen of Cabot, the lady knew cheese. She also knew just about every crazy expression that every existed - and used them in every sentence she spoke. A marvel. Here's a photo of the last time I saw her.
Not only do I always be sure to visit everyone I can when I go home, I always bring my camera. You never know when it might be the last visit, and I like to have a nice visual to accompany their voices in my memory.
A bunch of great, great ladies - and Great Aunts!

The Vermont Olympics, Opening Ceremonies

Had my postings been more timely, presenting our trip to New England simultaneously with the Vancouver events would have made sense. But, internet connections (lack thereof) and neverending illnesses prevailed. Consider it a time-zone delay of 2 weeks!
Thus, without further ado, The Vermont Olympics, or, the V.O.
Like any good broadcast, we like to string you along, so we'll be covering one "event" per post.

Today's Event: Giant (Cousins) Slalom
Participant Requirements:

• Be a Giant Cousin - i.e. a LOT bigger/older than Estelle & Léna,
  
• Still be a first cousin,
  
• Be someone whose diapers Julie has changed

Gold Medal: Cousin Jesse, for making the most of a short visit during a blizzard (inside him and out!)
Honorable Mention Gold Medal: Cousin Anna, for single-handedly entertaining jetlagged Estelle nonstop for almost 48 hours and never wavering a bit:


Silver Medal: Cousin Lillian, who, on a quick ski weekend home from Harvard, trekked up to Glover to spend a few hours being attacked by Estelle:
And having her hair done:And reading to Léna:
Honorable Mention Silver Medal: Cousin Addison, for coming in a crazy blizzard to see his cousins:
Bronze Medal Tie-Breakers: Cousins Chelsea, Lauren, Katie & Lizzie, who all visited Estelle & Léna in Glover and played games, read books, got climbed on, had their hand combed and brushed over and over and over, went sliding, played with dolls, and God knows what else while I was busy a. talking with siblings b. stuffing my face or perhaps c. talking with siblings or finally d. stuffing my face.
The photo above of Lauren & Estelle is my favorite of the entire trip. It makes all the travel hassle worth it, and reminds me why in the heck I even do it.
Below: Candyland. Doesn't get any sweeter than that.

Above: Lauren at the top of the hill takes Estelle for a spin. Below, Chelsea reads Léna a favorite before nap
Cousins Katie and Lizzy hammed it up with the girls for over 2 hours straight one Sunday lunch. So fun!Lizzy gets mauled by 3 little girlsKatie obeys orders to "lie down and sleep with the baby doll!"Seeing as she was recovering from pneumonia, she was probably happy for the "rest".Honorable Bronze: Cousin Tyler, for keeping his house intact (barely) after a 75-minute visit with Estelle & Léna.
Aimee looks on wondering about the pot and stand behind this gymnastic event about to go south.

Vermont "Big" cousins we missed: Matthew, off interviewing at Tufts. Alexandra, sunbathing in Florida. Calvin, trying his luck in Seattle. Eliza, enjoying sunny San Diego. And all our other big cousins that we don't see as much: Caitrin (a mommy herself!), Sara, Emily and the Massachusetts crowd: Conor, Maura, and Rachel. Hope to see them this summer!

Who is telling the Truth?

Surrounded by moms who rave about being a mom and who write blogs about how delightful it is to be wiping noses and how they wouldn't change it for the world, I, for one, beg to differ. Are they all saints, or all liars? I always feel like some kind of federal criminal around those women.
For 2 fortnights I have been cramming somekind of medicine or other down my kid's gullet multiple times a day, most of it (and subsequent mucus and other upchucks) winding up on me, battling jetlag (ok, fair enough, brought that on myself) and other such nonsense and frankly its not too glam. Having said that, here's the poor kid trying out sledding when we were in VT:

Having said that, Léna is now officially crawling and this has added a whole new dimension to our little family. Like a faithful dog, she follows me everywhere in the apartment, including the toilet closet. Estelle thinks this is hilarious, until her Playmobil stuff is under attack, then suddenly big sis becomes tres possessif. With similar zeal, Estelle got busy last wk chez Aunt Martha, rockin and rollin in her big cousin Alex & Eliza's doll accessory kit. Baby-choking nightmare. Notice it is up high.
It's pouring rain and wind today on Wednesday, the day off from school. We are using the day off to hunker down and recuperate still from our trip. Yesterday I was out teaching/working from 7:30 until 5, guzzling caffeine and occasionally speaking gibberish to my students, who thankfully don't know better. At the moment I am dreaming of a martini. No that's not true, I'm dreaming of sleep. Which I will go do right now since everyone is napping.

Snowy Glimpse

Here we are, 3 weeks later, back on-line and about to (hopefully) fly out tomorrow back to Nice.
5 choice photos out of 250 to represent the past 19 days.
Yesterday a massive snow storm hit Vermont with a foot of snow. The 2 figures are Jacob (left) and the top of Estelle (right, barely visible!)
Last Sunday, Estelle spends one last afternoon in Glover and hits our pond on SKATES for the first time in her life. Great fun!

Valentine's Day: Heather and Estelle with teddy bears from Grammie:
Sliding with cousin Lauren:
Visiting my Aunt Elaine in West Glover:

Wish us luck as we fly back tomorrow. Hope to round out this photo-story of our trip soon.

America, Day One

9:00 a.m. on Friday morning, in the airport in Nice:

Hopscotching our way to the USA

11:00 a.m. on Saturday, bundled up for snow and sun:
Lena was not quite sure about this sled business
Building a snow fort-chateau


REading Blueberries for Sal and other standards with Grammie...
Just the beginning....

America!

We are safely arrived in America!
Flew thru Paris to Boston and now in southern NH with my mom, sister Lisa & bro-in-law Dan.
Both girls were troopers, Estelle was an amazing little side traveller.
We have cold weather -8 degree Celcius! And snow!
Off to Vermont tomorrow!

9 Months of Sisterly Love

A few photos showing the luvvvvvvv! We are at T minus 6 and counting for our trip to VT. I got more stuff to do than you can shake a stick at. Let's hope I hit that plane in one piece!
Léna had her 9-month check-up yesterday. The hefty-ness is slowing down, thankfully! (Though it may not seem like it in the photos). Nevertheless, the doc say "what's the weight limit on those wall-mounted bassinettes in-flight? I'm thinking you ain't gonna cut it."
30 inches and (only) 24 pounds. Datzalottababy 2 b a carryin'!
Speaking of hefty, I am starting to think about Krullers and Whoopie Pies.
These girls are fabulous, in good health, energetic, sleeping well! Léna slept from 7:20 p.m. to 7 a.m. today - thank you Lord!
And finally, a bathtime video with some running commentary.

More Galette! Chez Nous!

Remember those cute invitations we had made a few weeks back? Today was the party!
Estelle has been borderline loony since yesterday with excitement.
In attendance were Cathy, her husband Francois and son Julien, and Carlo, Milla and Marie and their parents.
Just a few shots of everyone with a glass of Veuve Cliquot before we attacked the desserts.Milla's dad Fred made this cake that was decorated with all the kids names. This was a BIG BIG BIG hit with the 4-and-under crowd.
Interesting, I have been caught unawares BEFORE with this group - them giving me presents at Xmas when I wasn't expecting and had nothing in return. Since that humiliating moment 2 years ago, I have been sure to never miss a bday or holiday with this group. Thus inviting them for the Gallette de Roi seemed safe - no gifts necessary, nobody's bday, not Xmas. Ooooooohhhhh nooooooooo, in they walk, bags and bags. Estelle's loot: large butterfly that can be clipped on to anything. Winnie the Pooh memo block. A huge box of colored styrofoam pellets which turn into clay if wet, otherwise just fun to play with. And a ceramic box for putting teeth for the tooth fairy. Lena got a wall clock for her room, a lovely wooden puzzle, and a butterfly wall decoration. Estelle is also getting Marie's old barely used ski suit. Rock on! I said "But, why? I don't have gifts for you (not true I had 3 little baggies all prepared, cute animal glass filled with old fashioned lollipops, thought it would be good to give as a parting 'thanks for coming' gift, thank the LORD I had SOMETHING to give, yowza) and the response independently from each was "Because".
Meanwhile, I had made my Aunt Becky's Black Bottom Cupcakes (again!), and we had 2 Frangipan gallettes, 1 raspberry frangipan, and 1 brioche praline gallette.

Simultaneously, the 4 terrors got into every nook and cranny in every room in this apartment. Poor Julien tried his best to keep them under wraps. Here they were locked in my bedroom:
Milla's plunged off the viewfinder on this one but they were up to no good!
Later I found Carlo in Estelle's makeshift wardrobe. This proved a great fort.
Meanwhile, these 2 gals fell in love with Estelle's newly made and changed bed, and they wouldn't get out. Hilarious. Look at the glee on Marie's face, and Milla looking right at the camera knowing she is full of mischief.

My batteries died and then I didn't get any more shots - but suffice to say we pratically had to throw them out at quarter past seven! 5 kids + 5 couples + 4 hours = awholelottacleanup. The good news is fun was had by all and there's lots of leftovers, including bottles of champagne!