Water Pistols

Four girls in a bath

Bonnie's friend Fanny came for a sleep-over last night. The girls stayed up VERY late, but as there is no school today we didn't mind. Then this morning they got into a gun-fight with some boys in the street. The boys are a year or two older and their weapons were superior. Their tactics were more sophisticated too. When they took Fanny hostage and demanded that she squirt the other girls or she would get hurt it was time to call in reinforcements. So Mum was called out of the shower and marched down the road wrapped in a towel to rescue the hostage and repatriate the water-soaked girls to a warm bath.
No-one had the camera out to catch me in my towel (it scared the boys off though), but I got it out to take a snap of the girls in the bath.

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On the Beach

Sophie and Bonnie on the beach, with St Tropez in the distance

Odette, Sophie and Bonnie on the beach at Port Grimaud

Beach girls - Odette and Bonnie with St Tropez in the distance

Odette - doing the posing thing

Hugh as a beach dude...

Fun for the Kids

After a day of touring the kids were happy to be back to their temporary home. As a treat for being so well behaved I took them to the fun part of the holiday park while Roger cooked dinner. Our kids wouldn't get to see this type of thing more than once in a year back home, but it was the second time in two weeks that they got a ride. What lucky children!

Hugh on a pink motor scooter on the carousel

The kids, with their friend Luca, on the bouncy castle

Bonnie - the closest she has come to riding a pony in France...

Off to the Riviera

We are heading off for a few days to stay in a "mobilhome" in a park near St Tropez on the Cote d'Azur. Sounds very romantic, but with 4 small children we won't be going to any clubs!

Hugh's New Bike

Hugh is always wanting to ride a bike, so I decided to buy him this cute little one, with a steering handle accessory at the back. The handle can be taken off, but with the busy roads and steep hills around here it will make riding much safer. I had visions of him riding his little bike down to pick the girls up from school, or to buy our bread at the kiosque in the mornings.
He rides it well, and fast, but he hates the handle being attached. He threw such a tantrum when I put it on yesterday afternoon that it took us half an hour to get from the basketball court at school back to the house (about 200 metres). I hope he gets used to the idea...

In the Barn

Although the cows in the last post were pictured walking in from their grassy field to be milked, they were not going out again to sleep in the field. That can only happen in summer when the night time temperatures are warmer than freezing. Until such time they will stay in the barn overnight. Their calves stay permanently inside the barn. Bull calves get fed for about 20 months before going to the place that cattle go to when they are nice and meaty. The heifer calves will probably go on to be milking cows.
The food was meant to be for the cows, but Hugh thought it looked good enough to play with (and it did smell quite tasty...).

Aussie Rules

We brought a football to France with us. Sophie is very keen to teach the French kids how to play Australian football, but usually they think it is a rugby ball. The Viennet family got the hang of kicking and marking pretty easily, and Stephan has a pretty good boot on him. (I don't suppose that will translate very well for those using the Babel Fish translation service.)

We stopped for lunch near the river at a pretty village called Pesmes on the river Ognon (yes it means onion). Annick had packed a substantial lunch of bread, cheese, ham, juice, wine, yoghurt, and fruit. It was quite chilly in the wind but once everyone started to play football they warmed up. As you can see in the photos most have shed their thick jackets.

We were already in the Australian spirit playing footy, so why was I surprised when I saw an emu?? Yes, a real emu, walking back and forth trying to get out of its little pen, in the village of Pesmes. Apparently there is an emu farm somewhere near the Grenoble airport too.

Le Cirque

This afternoon we went to the circus "le Nouveau Cirque Triomphe" at Pontcharra, which is 7kms from Sainte Marie d'Alloix. Of course the lions (lionesses actually) came out first and we didn't get off to a good start when one of them sat dutifully on the platform in front of us - and did a poo. Sophie didn't like the smell of that too much...
Hugh sat on my lap for the lions, but joined his sisters in the front row for the rest of the show. He liked the animals, and there were plenty of them - apart from the dog that performed with the lions there were horses, snakes, a camel, llama, and donkey. All the usual circus tricks were there with juggling, balancing, hula hoops, and an aerial hoop with a pretty girl dangling. Probably the part we enjoyed the most was the clown. And maybe that was because he didn't speak, but used a whistle to communicate. He chose two people from the audience to act out his commands which made it even funnier. All the usual circus talk was unintelligible for us, although I now know how long the pythons live for, which temperatures they favour, and how often they shed their skins.

Another Trip To The Snow

We went and found some snow to play in this afternoon. This time on this side of the valley, at Col de Marcieu. Although the ski station is closed we played in the snow, on the luge, and tried to start to learn to ski - with Roger as our instructor. Sophie stayed up surprisingly well. I can't say the same for myself, and I don't think I'll ever become a skier. I can honestly say I now have more respect for those who make skiing look easy.
On the way up to the ski field we were surprised by the amount of snow on the ground, on the houses, on the cars, and in the fields. Everything was pretty much covered with snow, and I guess that is a result of the heavy snowfall over Easter. It is a pity that most of the ski stations will be closing in the next few weeks.
Here are some pictures of the kids enjoying the snow, although when I look at the enlarged picture of Sophie and Hugh in the luge (above) I am not sure that the look is one of pleasure.

Les Bougies Magiques

Today was Sophie's 10th birthday so I made a cake and decorated it with ready-made icing decorations. It looked very pretty. Then when the girls came home at lunch time they put the candles on it. I looked at the packet which said "Bougies Magiques" which means "Magic Candles". I did momentarily wonder at the name, thinking that it gave the candles an air of mystery, but I didn't read the small print on the back of the packet.
So it wasn't until Sophie blew the candles out that we found out what "Magic Candles" actually are... They are candles that magically light again when you blow them out!! That is why there is so much smoke in the photo. We ended up having to dip them in a cup of water to make sure they were properly extinguished, but gee it was fun. With little kids you usually have to light the candles several times so that everyone gets a turn at blowing them out. But magic candles save you the trouble, by lighting themselves!

Happy Easter

I was going to take a photo of the gorgeous Easter eggs and bunnies that the children got for Easter. But I was too slow!!
Here is a photo of the kids enjoying the chocolate anyway.
Stef's Mum gave them each a gold-wrapped Lindt rabbit, so not only do we have an exchange house, but exchange grandparents too.
Easter Sunday was as it is at home, but the fact that there was no holiday on Good Friday (and the kids had to go to school) and that there were no Hot Cross Buns made Easter different from at home.

School times

Now that all three girls are going to school we are battling to juggle their comings and goings.
Their schools all have different times for arriving and leaving and the timetable looks a bit like this:

8:30 Bonnie starts school
8:35 Sophie starts school
8:50 Odette starts school
11:45 Odette comes home for lunch
11:45 Bonnie comes home for lunch
11:50 Sophie comes home for lunch
13:05 Odette returns to school
13:45 Bonnie returns to school
13:50 Sophie returns to school
16:10 Odette finishes school
16:30 Bonnie finishes school
16:35 Sophie finishes school

But now Odette can go to school in the morning and come home again in the afternoon on the bus, so we only have to drive to her school at lunch times. BUT it means we have to remember the bus times which are 8:40 and 16:17. Bonnie will be able to take the bus when she has approval, and that will make it easier too. But Odette's lunch break is fairly short, and doesn't give much time to get home, have lunch and return to school. So she will eat at the school "cantine" as soon as we can arrange it. Then to be fair we will probably have the other girls eat at the cantine too, at least a couple of days each week.

On Wednesdays there is no school, but on Saturdays there is school in the morning. But the Saturday mornings have different times from the weekday mornings so we have to remember another set of times:

SATURDAY
8:30 Bonnie starts school
8:35 Sophie starts school
9:00 Odette starts school
11:30 Bonnie finishes school
11:35 Sophie finishes school
12:00 Odette finishes school

























Odette at L'Ecole Maternelle at La Flachere on Saturday morning

Was the wine too strong??

Hugh didn't quite make it through dinner!!
Roger is blaming the French wine...