You're Gorgeous!

Yes, that's what Mamita calls angel all the time, and she just LOVES it. She giggles and coos at Mamita whenever she says that to her. (Mamita says it so often that Bibou started mimicking her the other day... she went right up to angel and said, you're gorgeous!! oh did we crack up with laughter). She's just passed her 3 month old birthday on the 21st and has she grown. Even Mamita was commenting the other day and she's seemed to have grown up all of a sudden. I know this as I've had to clear out all her 3 month old clothes and she's starting to wear 6 month old clothes now. Sob sob. It's way too fast. I just realized that I'll be going back to work in just 3 weeks. Yikes! I am sooooo not ready. I wanna spend all my time now with the girls, especially Angel at this age. She's just so cute, adorable, well behaved and a real real joy to be at this age. The smiles and giggles that she gives out just melts your heart and I've mentioned this before I think, but I just LOVE the way she juts her chin out to you when she 'talks' to you. It's like she really wants to communicate with you. She's also grown much stronger and can really kick hard. She's loves doing that kick kick wave arm thingy, while cooing at you. I managed to capture the cute video of her doing that just here.

Bye Bye Mamita and Grumps

Where does the time go?? All too soon, Mamita and Grumps have to leave. They have been here for slightly more than 3 weeks and now they are on the plane back to Toronto. It is sad to see them go. It took Bibou a while to warm up to them, but boy did she have fun with them. She really enjoyed playing and horsing around with Mamita the last week or so. They have had fun playing with her jigsaw puzzles, coloring and especially using her scissors, which Mamita had taught her how to use to cut paper. They'd spent a couple hours in the garden painting and running around. They also took a number of walks to the parks, and particularly enjoyed their trip to the Parc de Sceaux where they discovered the Park's new 'lawnmower' - they have enclosed a large area of grass and have sheep to eat up all the grass! What a super duper idea for ecological lawnmowers lol! Bibou also discovered a new fun game - trying to unbutton Mamita's buttons. It was really unfortunate that the weather hasn't been good at all during their visit; it wasn't summer at all. It's either been raining or cloudy. Definately very damp and not a lot of sun. But whenever the sun was out, we quickly took full advantage of it, and we had a number of fun outings (all duly noted in blogs below :)!) to Jardin d'acclimatation, Jardin des Plantes (though we got totally wet there), Chateau de Versailles, EuroDisney (which was a disater!) Ludimax and all that visits to the market. Grumps even made it to the Jardin des Plantes with us. We've had lots of good delicious food.. a number of BBQs (whether the weather was good or not), some scrumplious trips to resturants (not that many, but when we did, they were really great), lots and lots of fresh fruits (from the market and also from the farm down south), and I made a number of pies, tarts, cakes and had the chance to make all our favorite delicious meals. Oh and not to mention the memorable trip down South, where we'd travelled the first leg with Grumps and Mamita to Uncle Sam's place. Yes Bibou had lots of fun with Mamita and Grumps this summer. She's already been asking where Mamita and Grumps are! We sure hope to see you very soon!

Birthday party at Chateau de Versailles

Well, the good weather unfortunately didn't last for long! It got cloudy and the sun kept disappearing and was actually quite cold in the shadow / shade. But we still ventured out, this time to the Chateau de Versailles, for a little birthday celebration of Soleil who turned 1 year old. Grumps didn't join us as usual, which was a good thing too; there was lots of walking and it was quite quite damp!

We met up with Soleil, her Mom and a few other Moms and their children (all fellow MESSAGE members) one of the other side gates to the chateau. We walked round through and down to the grand canal. It was a nice walk, but long... I think it took about 30 - 45 minutes of walking, especially with the little kids in tow (and me carrying Angel in the snuggli). Finally, we came to our the Grande Canal, where there were a nice picnic area. We stopped and parked all the strollers and laid down the blankets. There were lots of swans and ducks around and Bibou was all excited about being able to feed them. She got some bread and off she went to feed them. Daddy had to restrain to make sure she didn't fall into the cold cold water, and also get too close to the swans as they can bite really hard. It was a lovely place, with the water next to us, and the chateau in the far distance. It is just so unfortunate that the weather wasn't all that nice; it even rain for a very few minutes, and it was only a very light spittle, so much so that we didn't move, but at the same time, it wasn't plesant and we had to quickly cover up the kiddies and babies. Ella and her Mommy turned up a little later and both girls (who are about the same age - the others were all much younger than Bibou) squealed in delight in seeing each other. It has been a while as Ella has been away for 2 months with her Mommy. They ran round and round chasing each other and tumbling on each other. Even Mamita had fun chasing them. Daddy rounded up the nice morning with some songs on his guitar and then we packed up and left before all the kids could have meltdowns! We decided to take the train back to the main chateau as it was tiring lugging everything (guitar and little Angel) and we were worried that Bibou may get too hungry / tired = temper tantrum = Daddy loosing his temper too! But all's well there. It was really particular - as soon as Bibou saw the train come by and realized that we were gonna get on it, she started getting scared and clinging onto either me or Daddy, and whimpered that she didn't want to get on to the train. I really don't understand where this fear comes from, but we really didn't want to walk all the way so Daddy and I managed to persuade her and then carried her on our lap. Once the train started moving, she realized that it was going fast at all and was actually going slowly, and she relaxed and actually enjoyed the ride as we passed a number of animals like cows, sheeps and horses and took great delight in pointing them out to us.

Here's a little clip of Ella and Bibou running round and round.

Here's another clip of her and Ella with Mamita.

Day out at Jardin d'Acclimatation

Well, the wonderfully sunny weather continued on Monday and we decided to take full advantage of it, so off we went (Daddy, Bibou, Mamita, Angel, and I. Grumps decided to stay at home) to the Jardin d'Acclimatation, by the Bois de Boulogne. It's a great huge park, with lots of activities for kids for all ages and adults too. (There is a circus, a little train that goes round, a boat ride down the 'enchanted river', a huge trampoline area one with bungy cords, a circus area, a mini and 'real' golf area, 2 huge playgrounds, one for over 10 years old and 1 for less than 10 years old, a mini zoo, a few large rides - merry go rounds, and even a rollar coaster! What a treat. When we arrived, we realized what a nice day it was... as there were lots of people in and around the park. We quickly joined the slow moving queue to get into the park. And finally we got in, and the first thing we came upon is this area of 'funny' mirrors (you know, with concave / convexed mirrors so you look fat / thin, tall / short / like a dwarf etc). It was the first time that Bibou had ever seen these, at least she was a bit bewildered, but then she soon discovered what fun it was and kept running to the different mirrors, laughing at each of her distorted self. We finally managed to pull her away from the mirrors to go off to the next activity. We went to the playgrounds, and there were tons of huge slides, and climbing structures. But bibou was scared and didn't want to get to them, so we didn't push it and decided to go for lunch first. On the way, I picked up up a map and while we had a delicious lunch, Daddy looked at the map and realized why Bibou didn't want to play on the structure... it was for 10 years old and above! We hadn't realized how scary it would be for little kids like Bibou... it just looked fun (for us as we're over 10 years old LOL!). There was another playground for the youngsters, so we'll go to that later. However, first we will visit the guignol theatre - puppert theatre that is very similiar to a Punch and Judy show. We got there just in time, just 1 minute before the show started and Daddy and Bibou quickly sat down on the benches. I stood up as I had Angel in the stroller. Bibou looked like she had a really fun time. Though apparently, each time the curtains closed, she asked "C'est fini?" (is it over?).

After the show, we went to the playground for the younger kids. Well! We knew we hit the right place, once Bibou caught sight of the brightly colored play area with lots of mini slides and climbing apparatus, she RAN towards them. There were tons of kids, but she had fun, taking turns, waiting patiently for the other kids to finish. I was just amazed at her agility and her climbing capabilities. She just climbed and climbed like a monkey with no problems at all. We had a really lovely time with her at the jardin and I'm sure she had a great time too. (She totally enjoyed her treat of ice cream - oh and she got 'advanturous' - she tried and loved strawberry flavor).

Warm weather fun...FINALLY

Yes, it is the end of 'summer' and the sun finally came out, though it wasn't all that hot - it was fairly coolish in the shade (and very bearable at night, probably dropped down to the teens again during the night). But it was gorgeous, not a cloud in the sky, so out came the pool and the BBQ pit. And as they were back from their vacation, we invited the Molas. Boy was Bibou all excited that Emma and Kealan were coming to visit and swim with her. She could hardly wait.. going all out to help Daddy in the garden to get it all ready for her little friends. When they arrived, the kiddies were no less excited too, they couldn't wait to tear their own clothes off and put their swim suit on. At first, Bibou didn't want to put her swimsuit on (she's so used to swimming in the buff), but once she saw how excited the others were, of course she had to put hers on too. And she let Aunty put some sunscreen on quietly without any protest at all! And off they went, running squealing into the cold (very cold!) water. Remember how timid she was in the pool with the others a couple of weeks ago? Well, that was all gone when it was just E and K. Oh my did she splash, tug, run, throw, and everything else kids do in the pool. She had sooo much fun. Daddy had placed a small blue basin next to the pool so that the kids can step into it before getting into the pool. This is to ensure that they don't bring grass, mud, dirt and anything else that their little feet would bring. Well, all three decided that that was a great game, and they kept running in and out of the pool, steppping in their basin. Geesh! The tinest things amuses kids! But then, we saw the most hilarious thing; Bibou decided that the tiny basin fitted her just perfectly...and proceeded to 'squeeze' her tiny bottom into it. Oh we all died laughing at her. My funny girl.

Daddy and A as usual did a fabulous job at the BBQ. All the food turned out delicious, all the sussages were juicy, my chicken wings crispy. hmmmm. The kiddies were having fun at their own table, while we adults were able to enjoy our food in peace. Then they jumped right back into the pool. Ah yes, Bibou became 'naked' very fast as she took it off to go to the potty and didn't want to put it back on again! (too wet and 'sticky' to put it on). (Yes, potty training is coming along, slowly but surely. We still have lots of accident, especially in the morning (after having spend the night in a diaper). But she does go on the toilet on her own every day.) So she went naked for a while until I put on a swim diaper on her. Oh and I just realized, after seeing the umpteen picture of her doing the same thing - that she does like eating / drinking on her trampoline. It's her favorite 'chair' it would seem, with her feet dangling off the sides. My funny girl. Daddy topped up the gorgeous afternoon with wonderful guitar and song singing!

We had so much fun that the BBQ lunch turned into a BBQ dinner!! Yummy. We always have fun with the Molas.

I just realized that Blogger now allows us to upload videos directly! Yippee. Let's have a try here. Here is Bibou deciding that she's safer in her own tiny pool :) lol.

Here's another video of Bibou and Emma and Kealan playing in the pool. However, she got a bit fed up with all that splashing, and when they didn't 'stop it' when she asked, she got out! That was funny!

Bibou had a great time down South!

(A little note here before we ‘start’ – I just finished the blog and realized that it is really long. It is a blog covering 5 days and we did lots! Plus there were tons of photographs that we’d taken… some really good one. So! Enjoy the long blog.) Well, we're finally back from our trip down South to Bordeaux and Agen, visiting relatives and having a great ole time. We left on Thursday, with Mamita and Grumps first to visit Uncle Sam and Tante Isabelle at their farm near Tours. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive and we left mid afternoon so Bibou will have her nap. She did really well, and slept nearly through the drive, but unfortunately, she woke up just as we were approaching the farm and were on the windy country roads. Poor girly, she had car sickness and I didn't stop the car in time, and she threw up all over herself. Thank goodness we were almost there - so 5 minutes later, we were all safe at La Boisgardière and we got Bibou all cleaned up. She was IMMEDIATELY in love with the place - lots of places to run and a drive way full of...pebbles. She loves pebbles, picking them up, and giving them away as gifts. There were lots of space to run around, but she 'attacked' the pebbles first. We visited with Samabelle and 2 other cousins, Jamie and Alexandre, 2 17 year olds who were visiting also. The boys were great as they kept Bibou occupied, playing ball with her and general running around in the garden and all. We had a little scare though when she'd run off chasing the cat and then found herself lost in the middle of a crop field. Fortunately, I'd gone outside to see how she was, and heard her screaming and crying her eyes out for me. I think I was more upset than she was, trying to run as fast as possible towards her cries to try and find her. I thought she'd fallen and hurt herself too. Whew! After a really scrumpious meal (starting with Daddy's famous foie gras which he'd made and brought over), we finally went to a near by gite (bed and breakfast) place to rest for a few hours (really!). We had a charming little room - Bibou was so excited about sleeping in the same room with us that she didn't get to sleep for a while. She was in a little crib that she actually didn't mind, and really enjoyed being in! Hmmmm.

The next morning, we started off on our journey at around 6.30 am... putting the two kids in their car seat in their pjs. We'd wanted to leave earlier, but couldn't get up in time I guess. We were quite tired. The drive down to Bordeaux took less than 5 hours...we stopped at a Supermarket to get some food. Then we drove down to the Abby where an annual 'family reunion' takes place. We were a little late for the mass (though, to be honest, we weren’t too upset about missing it! Especially with a hyperactive almost 3 year old!!), so we hung around until everyone came out of Mass and then Daddy had a good time meeting up with all his cousins, Aunts / Uncles etc. We also met up with Tante Chantal, who is a Mother Superior at the Abby. She’s probably over 90 years old but has a great mind, her memory is incredible and is witty and chatty. Everyone was taking turns to visit with her and she was really pleased to see Bibou and Seraphine.

After visiting for a while, we drove down another 100 odd km past Agen to ‘Picotin’ (which actually means a kind of Donkey), the name of the farm of Tante Vianneyte and Uncle Michel. One of their daughters-in-law had purchased and manages the prune plum orchard next to the farm. They have about 2,000 trees and it was full blown harvesting time! They were harvesting the prune plums all the time we were there… it was a bumper crop year and were working hard to harvest them. It was just soooooooo good to be out in the country side… and when we stepped out of the car, the air just smelt so good. The air was crisp, and sweet smelling, with a wonderfully delicious smell of prune plums. Ahhhh the country side. We spent the rest of the first day catching up with Tante Vianneyte and Oncle Michel. We also went out to have a look at how they harvest the prune plums. It was quite fascinating. On a kind of tractor, a kind of ‘umbrella thingy’ spreads around near the base of each tree, and then it gives the tree a gentle shake. Loose plums drops into the pouch and they collect the plums! A video of that operation is below.

We woke up the next day to a gorgeous day indeed! The sun was shining and it was warm. We were all really excited and before long, the farm was filled with lots of kids (10 kids in all). 3 of Daddy’s cousins have arrived with their children (ranging from 4 years to early teens!). Bibou had an excellent time playing with them. She is the youngest (though she was the same build, and maybe even slightly bigger than her 4 and 5 year old cousins!!), but held her end. She had no problems getting to know everyone and playing with everyone…especially in the outdoors, everyone was running around. Us adults had a nice meal out on the terrace, catching up and enjoying the good food. The view is just breathtaking, rolling hills, green, green ,green everywhere.

After all that running in the hot sun, the kids were ready to cool down. So we all decided to head on down to Ampelle that belongs to Tante Chantal (another Chantal! – a sister of Tante Vianneyte). She and her husband own Ampelle, which is an old fortress that they’d spent the last 10 over years renovating. It even has a moat surrounding the fortress (which is filled with carps, though the water is so murky that you can’t see them). Unfortunately, Bibou was so tired out from all that running that she fell asleep in the car on the short way over to Ampelle. So we left her in her car seat while we visited, and the other kids swam in the pool. Oh I LOVE their kitchen, with copper pots and pans hanging on the wall. They’ve done a great job with the renovation. It’s a great place to be, however, they only stay there during the summer, spending the rest of the year in their Parisian residence, as it probably is too expensive to heat the whole place. When we got back home, it was time for dinner and the cousins fired up the BBQ and we had a delightful dinner of bbqed meat!

Over the next few days, we had lots of other fantastic time visiting, eating, drinking. Oh, brilliant eating! Lots of fresh fruits (prune plums of course), but one dish in particular stood out for me…. On my first day at Picotin, I was washing my hands in the kitchen sink when I noticed a covered kind of Tupperware, but with lots of holes and looked into it as it contained something that looked like it was moving. Well, blow me down, it were some snails. Garden snails! And they were eating some pasta. Now I knew (and have eaten them before!) that the French eat snails, but I’d always thought that they were some ‘special’ bred snails or something. Nope, garden snails. And one lunch, Tante Vianneyte made a big batch of snails (that were already in the freezer – those on the kitchen sink were being ‘cleaned out’ – you need to feed the snails bread / pasta etc for at least 3 days to get rid of their mucus and probably all the other stuff inside them). Daddy also managed to go do some wine tasting and brought back a few cases of wine (white, red, rose, floc and Amarngac). Daddy and Bibou went walking one morning, and came across 5 wild peacocks! Amazing. Every night, Bibou slept very very well, due to the combination of great air but most of all, all that exercise in the open air. She was running, jumping, laughing with her cousins. In fact, they were running races each evening. And was it hilarious! Bibou would come in dead last each time, but she’d be happily giggling with laughter as she runs, just glad to be crossing the finish line. We were pleased to have captured that on video.

On the final day, before leaving for home, we went out to gather some prune plums to take home. As I’d mentioned, it was a bumper year, and so they didn’t bother picking up the fruits that had fallen on the ground (too much work = too expensive). So we grab a basket and off we went. There were tons on the ground, and they looked like Easter Eggs on the ground. As I was picking them up, I kept thinking that Kongkong would be just so happy here, picking the prune plums. By the time we’d finished picking a basket full, Daddy thinks that we’d probably picked up about 10 kgs! And they were just delicious! We’ve made a fruit tart with it, and Daddy made lots of jam with the fruits that were too ripe already.

Yes we had a lovely time, and hope we’ll be able to return soon. The return trip wasn’t all that nice as it was pissing down like cats and dogs, but the girls were great in the car. We took someone’s advise and moved Bibou’s car seat to the middle position so she wouldn’t get sick. But both of them slept through most of the way. We’d left Picotin at around 5.30 pm, (got stuck in Bordeaux rush hour traffic for an hour) had a 2 hour dinner break, and finally arriving home at around 3.00 am.

Right the videos. Here's the first one showing how the prune plums are harvested.

And this is a great clip of Bibou coming dead last in the races with her cousins but just having a great time!