End of July

Yesterday way Louis' birthday! 30! They've all made that hurdle now. I can't believe it. He celebrated first with a barbecue at our house a week early and we got to see some of his friends that we hadn't seen in a long time, but other than just say hello and stick around long enough to grab a hamburger, we went upstairs and stayed out of sight for the rest of the evening. We didn't even hear much, because we were in a room with windows on the street side and they were in the yard, at the back. Since they had managed to hang a tarp almost the full width of the yard over the table area, they were assured of no rain. In preceding barbecues, they had the tarp ready but not up, and it rained, making it difficult to get it up right. This year, Sacha came to the party, so other guests were free to bring their kids, too, but only M & J. did, so we got to see their little boy. He's just over 2 and remembers very clearly having played with cars at our house a few months ago, so I got out the old Fisher Price bus and cars and the little Fisher Price people again and he played. F & A brought their new puppy, who was a hit with everyone. When we got up in the morning, we could hardly believe there had been a party; the yard was all cleaned up and whatever dishes there were were washed and stacked up in the sink to dry. In the morning we got to play a bit with Sacha, had a family lunch before Anne, Louis, Gwen, and Sacha left. 

Aurelia helping Claire feed Sacha

Claire and Aurelia arrived on Tuesday evening on a business trip. Claire went to her meeting on Wednesday and we had Aurelia. Later in the day, we all went into Paris for an appointment. All the Lebelle kids together. Gwen and Sacha were missing, though, as they'd gone down to Tours for a few days and Geoff hadn't come over, so it was not absolutely everybody, but as close as we could get -- all of our kids, at least. Thursday morning, we got the kid seat on Emma's bike and went over to the Parc Floral with Aurelia. She loved it. And she didn't even see all of the play area because too much of the area was in the blazing sun and we stuck to the shady parts. In the afternoon, she and Claire went into Paris to meet up with one of Claire's friends and she got to play in the sand at the beach (Paris plage). Friday morning, Emma left and Gwen and Sacha came back, so in the evening, we all got together for a family birthday party and Aurelia got to admire Sacha some more. She even helped give him his bottle. Claire and Aurelia left yesterday afternoon and this morning, I'm taking it easy.

Yesterday morning, I discovered a bit of a flood in our basement. Looks like the hose that leads to our watering system has sprung a leak! Not the same kind of damage as when the water came down through the ceiling last fall. Things that did not get wet last time got wet this time. Paul and I spent the morning mopping and vacuuming the water up. The bin with canvases and painting materials had water in it - no cover because I was just using it to hold the stuff and the canvases are too tall. The box fabric for sewing projects, the basket of yarn, stationery... Luckily it was sunny yesterday, so we managed to spread everything out on the grass and most of it dried. No more boxes, everything is going into plastic bins from now on and I'll have to figure out a way to get the covers on. But for now, I've got the Olympics on for background distraction.