Feeding Time

Fridays are fun, just me and Léna.
Learning to eat, and a tour of some things I bought at the market:

Happy Birthday Léna!

On the eve of her 1st birthday, we took Léna to get her hair cut. It was a special kids' salon. Look at the cool race car stool!

Play Station consoles embedded into a castle. This is the one and only place like this in Nice, and it happens to be across from Estelle's school.
Things were a little sad toward the end, but in general it went well.

Today, the real birthday day, started with a one-year check-up at Dr. Wentzy's.
Thomas took today off so we could all spend the day together (remember no school for Estelle on Wednesdays.)
Results: 11kg850g and 80 cm. This is a little over 26 pounds and 31 1/2 inches. After lunch and naps, we went for a little birthday "gouter" in Parc Paradisio, in nearby Cimiez, the rather chic part of Nice, at the foot of Queen Victoria's palace from the turn of the century. Here's Queen Victoria herself. Or someone.
The parc is "new" in that up until 3 years ago, it was the private grounds of the Nice Conservatoire, which has since moved up the boulevard. Now it is a public park, largely unknown for the moment, thus lovely.
We are at the base of an ampitheatre, presumably was for outdoor concerts when it was the conservatoire.
Note Eliott is already shoeless. And so it Thomas!
Noah and his bubbles:
Léna enjoying her new sunglasses, a gift from Noah and Inés (who we somehow don't have a photo of, she's also 1 yr old):
Bubble war:
Later on Estelle's friends Eva and Loup (that means "wolf" in French) arrived, with Eva's sister Louise who recently turned 1 too. I was not good about taking photos so missing shots.
Estelle checks out Léna's gifts:
Back at the ranch, we surveyed Léna loot! Great stuff!
Then we had more gifts to open after dinner: cards and packages from America!
Thanks Martha for the Madeline book!
Tata Agnés calls to wish Léna a Joyeuse Anniversaire!
No, that's not the actual PRESENT. It's just the WRAPPING. Even random people in my life know about "your sister, the one who sends you those works of art":Enjoying her mini-cupcake:

Happy baby:
Estelle wants to show off her lice-free hair:
A great day, very very warm - over 80 degrees. As compared to today in Vermont - 16 inches of snow and a snow day! Crazy. Here's a little video of the last gift we opened which sang to us:

Baguettes, Butterflies

Saturday, on our way to buy strawberries in the old town, we stumbled on a flea market and some face painting:

Estelle loved being a red white a blue butterfly:
And Léna loved the end of her baguette:
Estelle in late March '07, and the end of a baguette:

The Godfather!

One week ago today we spent the day with Estelle's godfather, François. He and his family live in central France in a city called Clermont-Ferrand. They came to nearby Théoule-sur-Mer on vacation for one week.
We met them on the beach Sunday morning. Our last hurrah before the lice.
Above: Estelle and her godfather. Below, Cléa, who just turned 2, François' daughter.
Let's hope she didn't catch our little friends in her hair!
It was beautiful morning.
Thomas and Aurelie watch Estelle enjoying the real sand at Théoule.
I had been to Théoule 3 other times, but the last time was over 4 years ago. It is west of Cannes from Nice. I had been once on a hike 9 years ago (Mare, do you remember?), once on a boat (Craig & Doug) and once on a scooter for lunch (Craig). It was fun to go back as a family.

The view from their rented spot up in the hills where we went for lunch after the beach.
After lunch we enjoyed a walk up on the ridge just behind their spot. It was stunning.


Above: my charming husband. Below: was I thinking about the view? The scenery? My adorable baby? Or "where on a Sunday night am I going to find anti-lice products when I get back to Nice?"

These 2 guys have been friends since they met on the ice at the age of 3, almost 30 years ago. Incredible.
Last Saturday, the day before we discovered our "lousy friends", we visited the animals in a circus that is in town. It was something like "National Circus Day" so we got to enter for free and visit all the animals. We have done this before, but this time there were seals! Estelle thought that was cool.
This funny seal's name was "Nelson", hilarious to me since I have an uncle and a cousin named Nelson. We learned
We also got to see some rehearsing under the big top. The animal trainers explained (In French) that all circus animals in the West are "dressed" using either English or German. So this is funny, to hear French people with wacky accents hollering at the seals, who were being rather disobedient, and saying "Nelson! No! Bad Nelson! Nelllllllllssooooooonnnn! Nelson!"

These fountains are just a few blocks for our apartment. They are HIGH!
I am patiently awaiting the return of my hockey-star husband, who should be back in time for afternoon snacks today. It's been a looooooong weekend. Luckily we have the pleasure of doing more lice shampoos tonight.