Family visits

Paul and I got back a few days ago from a visit to the Husaunndees in Northampton. Aurelia is getting to be a big girl now. She goes up on the big slide, likes the swings, the climbing toys and all that. She's very expressive, if not always comprehensible. She repeats just about anything in English or in French. And she eats just about everything, too. We were completely charmed. 

We also got a chance to see the house that Claire and Geoff are buying. It's nice. Big rooms. There will be a bit of work to do on it, but nothing preventing living in it immediately. 

And Charlotte came for the weekend, so we got to play with her, too, and then accompany her back to Woking and see Geoff's parents and the rest of the family, including the newcomer, Daniel, who is just two months old. We bought a couple of rose bushes and blueberry bushes for the garden.

The vet took the cat for the week we were gone. We'll ask him to do that again when we go back, but it still makes just going off for a couple of days difficult. We'd like to go down and see Gwen's folks, meet up with some other friends in the Tourraine.

Before going to England, I had dinner with the kids and Sarah and Kyle, who were in Paris for just a few days before joining their family in the Alps to finish their vacation. That was fun. Gwen had never met either of them and for Louis and Anne, it was the first time meeting Kyle and it had been a long time since they'd seen Sarah. We had dinner at the Bouillon Racine, a really fine restaurant. Very much in its Art Nouveau origingal look. 

Sarah and Kyle have returned home and now it's Roger and Gloria's turn for Paris before they, too, go back. They should be getting in later today with Shelby and a friend of hers. They only have two days in Paris. We're all having dinner together tomorrow. 

I think C was supposed to be coming to Paris for work last week, but I guess I missed her. J and E are coming in a few weeks for a longer stay and other friends are coming in September, so I hope we'll all be able to get together, then.