Backtracking

This is going to be a long post with plenty of pictures and videos and it's a little bit overdue since it's about Summer 2015. Yes. 4 months ago already is when it all began!

THE WEDDING

First was my Cousin Céline's wedding and that was 2 days of much fun! I was a little overwhelmed by the crowd for sure and resorted to hiding in odd places but in the end, I also joined the fun.
So, let's PARRR-TY!

BRITTANY

Then Maman and I spent time with Papi and Mamie and we explored things around in beautiful Brittany

  I got a tuba for my birthday from Papi and Mamie and I loved it! I had to wear it right away and try it right away...

PARIS

Then it was time to take the TGV again and head to Paris where Papa joined us. It felt like Fall in Paris but we got to see all I wanted. Maman could not wait to escape from the super packed tourist place that is Paris at the end of July!
I even got to celebrate my birthday there and THAT, was cool!

Our Airbnb was quite nice and spacious and Noah's room was in the library corner: how fitting!

 Jardin du Luxembourg

 Les catacombes: 3 hours of wait! THREE! And not that great if you want my opinion but impressive. It sure was a long wait that tested my patience...

 Notre Dame

 Cemetery of Père Lachaise: I managed to get lost in there and scared my Parents quite a bit...

 Le sacré coeur

 

Tour en bateau mouche... Tour on the Seine river on a super chilly July day!

And of course, the piece of resistance for me: Ze Tour Eiffel! It looks crooked like my teeth on this first picture!

And to conclude our Paris trip, special breakfast and dinner out!

THE ALPS

The last part of our trip took us to the Alps. We first stopped at Maman's friends' house and we had two fun days and ate very yummy food and cheese of course!

Then it was time to explore another part of the parts and to my cousins' house we went. They were leaving for a month so they invited us to stay at their place. Having them around would have been more fun but we still managed to have a great time. Here they are, after we dropped them off at the station:

So what did we do there? Hikes? Sure we did some hikes but, hey, I have small legs and sure those legs are made for walking, but I never said I liked walking. Yes, I can jump for a long time on the trampoline and I can spend hours in the pool, but walking does something weird to my legs: it makes them tired...

But here are more pictures and it was hard to choose out of the hundreds we have. Take the time to look at the video too to see the moving action!

We had a pretty bad weather in Brittany and in Paris and also a few days in the Alps. But then, it got super nice and it was great not only in order to be outside but because the Alps without the view, well, it's not quite the Alps.


PARC DE MERLET - This is an animal park with animals from the region. We saw a lot of wildlife and those animals sure have an unbeatable view!

SIXT FER À CHEVAL: 
Another great place with a hike in a canyon so it is mainly flat. I still complained a lot though. I complained a lot less on the way back because we had left Papa who was hiking a little further and Maman said we could get ice cream if we made it back to the car before Papa. Suddenly my legs were fine!

 GRANDES PLATIÈRES: To get to this hike, you take a telecabin that takes you high on the mountain. From there, you can walk but have to be careful as this is mainly rocks and crevasses. But this is the kind of terrain my legs enjoy. And whow, the view of Mont-Blanc!

 I am pointed to where we started and to where we were hiking back to catch the cabin down.

LE GRAND BORNANT: A little town that we enjoyed visiting on a very hot day. Our feet in the river and having a lazy but beautiful day.

SUMMER LUGE- ORANGE STATION 

This one you can see better in the movie. I guess the Ps were nice enough to take me to fun places like this place with a Summer luge. Fun... I was still too small in height to go on my own.

 ANNECY: Yes, you can swim in lakes and the Lac d'Annecy is a good one for that, especially in the very, very hot weather for that day. Annecy is a beautiful town but it was packed with Summer people and cars. It felt weird after being in the solitude of nature and we were in a hurry to go back to our host house.

AT THE HOUSE
Sometimes we just stayed at the house because it has such a beautiful setting and many fun things for me to do while the Ps were gardening a bit.

SUMMER IS HERE

Yes, it's finally time to relax and do nothing.
My first days off, I rolled around in nothingness luxury, refusing to even get dressed and doing what I like to do to relax: READ!
It was that good that I did not even want to eat. And don't they, the Ps, tell me to go to bed at 8:00pm. No sir! I turn off the light when I want.
Sure, I fell face first on a book one night and got so startled that I ran to the Ps' room to tell them all about it.
So yes, laaaaate nights you bet! Hey, I make it until 9:00pm!

It's also the time to finally put all thoughts about school in the far, far corner of my brain and... wait! What did you say mom? I get to do what? A journal? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?
Oh, apparently it says on my report that writing is not my forte. I can write and spell very well mind you. I just don't want to. Who has time to write when there are 50 million books out there!
Sigh. I feel that she is going to make me do it.
Ok, we have a deal: I come up with a question a day; we find the answer and I write down a paragraph about what I have learned. It does not sound too bad... except that she is tying it to my potential 45 minute a day of screen time; that, my friends could lead to ugly outbursts. But ok, I will try.

It's also time for playdates and J was the first one on the list. To the park we went to play tennis and make a fort next to the stream. Next we played board games and had a water balloon fight. He did not want to get too wet but I wanted to be soaked and he obliged!

FAMILY TIME
Papa's family had a long road trip all the way to our house where they stayed with us for 3 days. It took me a while to warm up to so many faces I don't get to see that much, but once I was warm, I got to be my usual silly self. And playing with my cousin was also a bonus.
It was HOT though so shade was very much welcomed and thankfully, we have plenty in the backyard. Enough so that we could play a good old game of washers.
Ashley and I were quite serious about it because, well, we were intimidated by our opponents!

But soon, we began to relax a bit while Grandma surveyed from her favorite place in the yard and made sure the rules were followed!

 Then it was time to sing for Ashley since she is turning 9 really soon now! And she seemed happy with her gift!

And then, oh boy, then came the dreaded "why-don't-we-take-a-picture-of-you-two" thing. Yes, we have done that before and here is the proof:

2008

 

2010

 2011

So when the 2015 session came about, every body knew what to expect... and I made sure that the first 5 minutes I gave them exactly what they were expecting. But, I decided to give it a good try since they would not let me off the hook and we got some decent pics too.

 We tried to include Grandma at the end of the session. She did great! But, well, I was pretty much done by then...and I ran away screaming my head off. ( this last sentence was added by Noah after he read my version)

Voilà for today!
Next entry will be from our trip to France coming up soon: Brittany, a wedding, staying at the farm, Paris, the Alps...
Have a great Summer!

End of the school year

Wait? I have not posted anything since April?
Not my fault if you want to know. The mom seems to have been doing quite a bit lately and she has not been able to carve some time for pictures and such.
But here it is, last day of June so time for a little update.

The end of April I had a break and it was nice enough to play outside a bit. The yard was beginning to look like Spring. We rode our bikes downtown and enjoyed the view of the new Tilkum bridge while having our picnic.

We also had a good time at the Hoyt Arboretum and, of course, took the MAX to get there.

Bouldering is fun but doing it with a friend is a lot better. L joined me for this climbing/ wrestling day where we nearly had the whole place for ourselves.

Then came May... Time for the Alice au Pays des Merveilles play. See, 2nd graders always do a play. We had been rehearsing since January and were supposed to do the show early April but it go delayed until the 3rd week of May. Sure it was fun but since I had chosen a role that consisted of two lines said in unison with 8 other cards, I did not have much to do... but get in trouble during rehearsals and even during the show. Oh well, I had to entertain myself one way or another right? It was a good show though and we did it 4 times! Oh, hum, I only did it 2 times since the dates had been changed and I could not be there on the 2nd day since we were going to Bend. The Ps gave me a choice but, really, I knew that 8 cards instead of 9 would not make that big of a difference.And if you look on the pictures, you can see how the cards all look very inspired during the show: after our entrance, we just had to wait in the back of of the stage for a very long scene!

So to Bend we went and it was a very cool and cloudy week-end for the annual PPP. It was a fun one though where I got to sleep in bunked bed with 4 other kids. And since accommodations were in Sunriver this year, Maman and I decided to ride our bikes instead of following the racers.

And soon enough, it was June and the end of 2nd grade.
Overall report is great. My nickname in the classroom was "Mr Dictionary" since I know a lot of things and am always willing to share them: "likes to be listened to" wrote my teacher!
Sure, there are still notes that mention silliness and my lack of understanding of where to use my, hum, very good sense of humor!

So it was time to celebrate right as Father's day came around. Cheers to the end of the school year and to the beginning of Summer!