I've been learning a little bit of Spanish. Mathilde speaks a combination of mostly Spanish with a little bit of French mixed in. One night she asked me "Como se dice 'insert word' en francais?" I didn't hear the word she said but I think it was ice cream because she was eating an ice cream cone.

Then yesterday morning I was eating some fried eggs and a banana on the terrace yesterday morning and she grabbed a banana and joined me. She was watching me eat and finally asked, "Pourquoi tu mange des huevos?" Why are you eating huevos? Then she told me she liked huevos and ended up eating the rest of my eggs. I also learned the word for banana in Spanish is platano.

This morning she was singing "Yo no tengo zapatos".

The Chileans like me now because I yelled at the mean "life guard" (read Troll) at the pool yesterday because he was yelling at Simon, who for once, did not deserve it. I don't know if I want to go there again - I need to find out which days he is not working. We are supposed to go to the lake again today but I have my HHS online class at 7pm and need to be online by 6:30pm so we'll see. Liliane doesn't like going to the lake because it's about 20 or 30 minutes of very curvy road.

Well, I am going to try to work a little before lunch!

Today is Bastille Day - Le 14 Juillet.

There were fireworks in Aubusson last night at 11pm but we decided it was too late at night to take the kids. Apparently Papi bought some fireworks if I understood correctly and we will light them off this evening. The plan is to go to the beach at the lake this afternoon.

Yesterday Papi decided to take the boys to the new pool. I asked Severin if he wanted to go and he asked his cousin Simon in french if he wanted to go the pool! He asked if Liliane was going and I said no, just the boys. So he put his little swim suit on and said, "Bye, mom" and went right with Papi without a second glance. Unfortunately there are strict rules and Severin was the only one with the small french style swimsuit (I bought it Cannes) so they couldn't stay. But they will go back.

Severin also asked Papi if he could be excused from the table after lunch in french and both Genevieve and Claude were so proud of him for his french and his politeness!

It is so fun to listen to the kids speak french to their cousins. Severin knows more than he lets on. He whines and complains still when I speak to him in french saying he doesn't understand but I know he does. Liliane was talking to her cousin Eva - they were riding bikes down the hill but Eva had to go to the bathroom so she asked if Liliane would wait for her. Liliane said, "I'm just going to go down one time and I'll come back for you." In french. So cool!

Well, that's all for now.

Been in Felletin for 9 days now. Haven't had much to report. It was nice and relaxing. Justine and Capucine arrived with Christian and Claude and Genevieve went up to Paris to pick up Philippe and the Chilean cousins. The cousins played well, Christian did the cooking, I did the serving. I worked quite a bit. We took the kids to the lake to swim and play. Christian took the kids mushroom hunting.

Then Genevieve and Isabelle arrived on Thursday with Antoine, Eva and Diane. It got a little bit crazier and noisier. Diane, who is 2, and Severin had a small battle the first night when Diane took Severin's chair and blanket and when he tried to get it back she screamed. Now she yells at him everytime she sees him.

The news from Paris was that Philippe was making everyone miserable so Claude brought the 4 Chilean cousins down yesterday and Philippe stayed in Paris with Abdel (Isabelle's husband). We are hoping he stays there. So with 11 cousins (Marion and Emily haven't arrived yet), it is crazy and noisy. Isabelle and I served the dinner last night and it was difficult to corral all the kids and make them sit at the table to eat. The only seat left for Severin was next to Diane and when he tried to sit down she screamed at him so he went to hide so no one would see him cry. Mathilde, who is 4, who saw Severin wasn't at the table decided she didn't have to be at the table and I couldn't convince her otherwise. I finally got Severin to sit between Thomas and Simon and made Mathilde sit next to Diane. Mathild doesn't speak much french at all and is pretty wild. She runs all over and doesn't listen to anyone. Genevieve has moved in to the lower house to her room next to our room. Mathilde is sleeping with her there. When she tried to put Mathilde to bed last night, she took off up to the other house. Genevieve cannot chase after her of course and by the time I got downstairs she was on her way back with an ice cream bar. This was at 10:15 pm.

The Chilean boys play pretty rough and Severin and Liliane have both been hurt already by one of them. The girls don't always understand what Liliane is saying and she feels like they ignore her. Liliane is riding bikes in the yard with Justine right now so that's good.

It's an adjustment having everyone here. I hope everything settles down a bit.

I haven't had WiFi in Cannes but I am sitting at a cafe with WiFi this morning. Yesterday we took a boat to the Isle Sainte Marguerite and found a treasure map and followed it to the 'X' and found the treasure! The kids split the coins and the candy that was inside! Then we found a beautiful rocky cove where we had a picnic and played on the rocks and in the water. Then we wandered around and went to a sandier beach where the kids played. We took the boat back to Cannes and went to the nice sandy beach by the Quai. So three beaches in one day, a treasure hunt, and a cool adventure! It was our best day yet! I will post some pictures on Facebook because I can't seem to get pictures posted here.

Bonjour tout le monde!

So we've been in Felletin for 5 days with just Claude and Genevieve. It's been a relaxing way to start our vacation. We go to bed around 11pm and wake up around 10am. There is not much to do so the kids play in the yard or in the playroom on the top floor of the upper house. We are staying in the lower house by ourselves. Liliane has her own room for now and Severin sleeps with me. Claude and Genevieve are staying in the upper house but will move down here when the rest of the family descends upon us.

Tomorrow we are going to Cannes until the first part of July. I won't have internet so you probably won't hear from me unless I find somewhere with free wifi. We are looking forward to going to the beach and relaxing some more!

We will be back in Felletin by the 3rd of July at the latest. The french cousins are coming down on the 6th of July and the South Americans arrive in Paris on the 6th and will stay a few days up there before coming down. The kids will finally get to meet their other cousins. So all 12 cousins will be here and we will have two very full houses.

Liliane has had bad hayfever and of course I didn't bring any allergy medicine. I bought some here but it's not working very well. It has made here a little cranky the last couple of days.

I am staying true to my diet here. I had a tiny bit of cheese and a tiny bit of wine yesterday but otherwise I'm doing well. I think I will buy some dark chocolate in Cannes.

Well I'll get back to you in a couple weeks.
Cheers!

We made it to France! It was a long day of traveling. It was much easier to go through Iceland though the flights were shorter so the kids didn't sleep very long. They didn't like the food on the airplane either. Our flight to Paris from Iceland was delayed an hour and a half because of the strike but that was not too bad.

Papi picked us up at the airport and we drove straight to Felletin. We slept in the car most of the way only stopping at McDonald's at Chateauroux. The kids were happy to eat some familiar foods. Liliane even went to the counter by herself to ask for ketchup in French! She would never have done that even a year ago! Can you believe it?

She has been very good about speaking in French and answering Mami and Papi in French. They went straight away to the top floor where the toys are to play. They have adapted to french life very quickly. I have as well. It's like I haven't been away for very long at all and my french is still very good. I thought I would have a rough time trying to speak french. Everyone is amazed at how small I am now and Claude and Genvieve are cool about letting me cook what I want to cook.

The kids are eating pretty well but Severin is sick of "steak hache" (hamburger patty). He bought two dry salamis (saucisse sec) at the Friday Market today. I bought some lovely strawberries, some blueberries, an avocado, a zucchini and some spinach. That should last me a couple days. :)

The grandparents are so happy to see the kids!
That's it for now.
A bientot!

Slight Delay....

So an hour and a half before leaving for the airport, I get an email from Icelandair that our flight to Paris is cancelled. The air traffic controllers in Paris are preparing to strike and they are cancelling half of their flights. We are rebooked on the same flights tomorrow.

Total bummer.