Fingers, Fish, Fools, Fountains, Fowl

April Fool's Day in France is called "Poisson d'Avril". The object is to stick some kind of paper (or other) fish on other people's backs without them knowing it. Just as simple as that. Nothing more, no pranks, no hoaxes, no War of the Worlds. Just slap that fish on without the other guy knowing.
This was so much fun for Estelle. She made this fish at school. The big 'joke' for her class was that when they open the gates (literally, there are gates) and all the parents rush in at 4:30 to pick up their kids, Estelle's class was not in their classroom. They were no where to be found. They were....hiding with their teacher in the "library" (which, p.s. I didn't even know existed as we have never been in it nor shown it nor told about it).

Sunday the 3rd Thomas took the girls to a big enclosed animal park near the airport (I was frantically working, as I have been for 2 weeks on 2 big deadlines). There happened to be an antique car show next door.

Antique? This? What?

Yep. cute.
Here's a look towards the Asian Arts Museum of Nice, adjacent to the park.
Some great fountains at this park. Some are musical!

A bit of waterfowl.
She might as well be in high school. Look at her! She's FOUR.

Some kinda wierdo kangaroo stuff. (Remember thomas took all these photos)
Later in the week, Léna, true to her recent obsessions with advertising leaflets (remember the Playmobile circa 1986), carries around a DVD ad for Curious George for 3 days.

Why do anything else? Stick beads on your fingers. In perfect colored symmetrical order, please note. (OCD? Whatever do you mean?)

"Get those beads outta my grill, sis."

Okay off to bed.

Papy and Manou visit! (and other photos)

Last Sunday the 27th, Papy & Manou spent the day with us since they were "nearby" in Aix-en-Provence. below: Léna VERY excited to see them:

Beads, backpacks, books and spinning tops! There were a few presents to start things off right:

Estelle at work with one of her gifts: Princess stickers...

Poor Papy! Attack of Léna:
Manou enjoys puzzles...
See Thomas laying on the floor? this was about 11 hours after the last of our guests left after the "21" party (see previous post)...

Family portrait:
The week before, we had my friend Chantal from Amiens over for Sunday dinner:

We went for a long long walk on the Prom. Saw these very cool bikes, called "Nitre".
Enjoying homemade lemon merigne tart that Chantal brought. Whoah baby.
Meanwhile, every Wednesday and every Saturday, this guy Fabio tells Estelle how to swim:
Here's Flora (robe), Eva (goggles) and Estelle (far right):
Here they are again with their little boyfriend Celestin.
Does Estelle look L-O-N-G or what?
And in a moment when she wasn't shrieking, our (almost) 2-year old Princess:

Curling up with a book:
Léna getting a haircut a few weeks back:
Léna's usual routine: take off her diaper (see it off the the right there?) and then drag every floor pillow out of her room to the salon:
Here's our little impressionist:
3 weeks ago on Sunday I trained to Cannes to meet a friend for lunch (yes that does sound quite chic doesn't it), and when I returned, Thomas had made "pate a sel" - like playdough but you bake it. Then they painted it:
Well, back to my translation. See you soon!

Last Weekend - 21

21 is the famous club in NYC, and also how many people were in my apartment a week ago.
Joanna was the photographer Saturday night at our party so I take no responsibility for these photos that showed up on my camera the next day....


Ludovic, Gilles, Yannick, Arnaud, Fransiska & Maris surrounding Thomas (or is this when Arnaud announced he & Fransiska were pregnant?):
Pack of kids:
Lisa, Marie, Veronique:
Posed, of course:
Arnaud and Thomas discuss....who knows:
Me on the move, and the two pregnant women (Emmanuelle & Fransiska) staring at the food:
Estelliott:
Hosts with the mosts
Regis entertains us all, esp Lud
How to calm down 7 kids in 2 seconds. Note Léna was fast asleep in her crib after 9:15.
Thomas' coworkers Joanna (Australian/Polish) and Gilles.
Louise, Flora (thumb), Eva, Maelys, Estelle, Eliott, Charlotte
Before this party I hosted a tupperware-style thing except with clothes for our nanny Cathy. To bribe my friends to come checkbooks in hand, I promised a party after, kids welcome. A lot of fun, food, friends, etc.
We were dead the next day - but thankfully our 2 favorite French babysitters arrived on the scene for the day: Papi & Manou - more on that next post!

Snow Tunnel

An old video from our time in NH showing our 'famous' tunnel: