Lucie goes to Les Vosges

For the weekend during which the heathen French celebrate the ascension of Christ to heaven by all hitting the road at the same time on a Wednesday afternoon (Christ always ascends on a Thursday -- has to do with dying on a Friday, a large good number (40), and all that), we all trekked out 4 hours east of Paris to the beautiful Vosges mountains. Think of the Appalachians without the toothless locals and better cheese, and you've got Les Vosges (they've even got cars on cinder blocks if you look closely).

We stayed in a self-catered apartment adjacent to a farmhouse near Gerardmer. Lucie got to play with all of the animals, and we had tons of fun. On Thursday, the clouds and rain were out, but we still got to see the animals, if sometimes through the window. Lucie looking at the chickens (or "poule" as she calls them).


All of the animals are free to roam and eat grass, except for the rabbits. We saw pigs and cows, who were quite friendly if you had something to give them. If you've never tried to do this yourself, you should know that a cow is very strong and will try to make away with the bucket if you're not careful.
You might also get a kiss.
Lucie was very happy and clapped.
We headed up the hill for a short walk in between rainbursts. On the way up, Gregoire pushed Lucie who was happily sleeping.
On the way back, Lucie pulled Michele downhill.
To be fair, Michele did her share of uphill pushing, but it was funnier this way.
The meadows and the view were pretty.
coming up next: sun, rabbits, snow, etc...

A few older pictures

Lucie's going away for another long weekend (this is the last one, until 2 weeks from now...) and so here are some older pictures to tide you over until we come back.

Lucie loves to draw. Right now it's hard to tell if she'll get her talent from her mother (good) or from her father (best not to mention it).


She also loves to read, which is to say to point at things in books and say "ça" (this) until you tell her what 'that' is. We have a cute video of it, but unfortunately she's in her birthday suit sitting on the potty, so it's not for public consumption (and it's too big to email, so you'll have to visit us to see it).

Lucie's grandmother is visiting from Florida, where we know her grandfather is frantically checking the blog for updates. So here it goes...

Lucie, Michele, and her grammy went to lunch at a salad place in Montmartre.

Lucie consulted the menu before settling on tripe sausage...

Later on, they went down to the Louvre and Palais Royal.
During the weekend, we all headed to the Gallerie de l'Evolution (note that the French don't care what the pro intelligent design or creationism types think - there was not Scopes trial) at the Jardin des Plantes.
It's not as pretty, lavish, and grand as the NYC Natural History Museum, but it's more didactic and scientific. Lucie didn't care either way, and ran around like crazy.
Enough with these pictures already (aka: what I'm going to look like when I'm 13).
A kiss from maman makes everything better.
As does licking an avocado peel (don't ask).
The three ladies together at lunch after our trip to the Gallerie de L'Evolution.

Last day at the beach

On the last day of the weekend, it finally turned nice and we headed back to the beach. We first went to see the actual Baie de Somme, where the tide was low. Since the bottom is flat and the tidal range is nearly 8m (24 ft), the water recedes very far and very fast.

The family posed for some pictures. It was warmer than you'd guess from the outfits on the ladies.

A pretty view of the sand flats, despite the crappy camera.
Coming towards the harbor, the only thing that's visible is the top of the boat masts.
The boats themselves, and the tide is still going out.

At the beach, Lucie and Adele played in a tire (you can see the boat that used to rest on that tire in the background).

Seriously, who needs toys?
Lucie enjoyed eating a tomato. Since eating a full-body exercise, it sometimes is necessary to protect one's clothing by removing it. Fortunately, it was very warm.
Lucie, whose mouth is full, is trying to grab more food from her mother.
A view of the people that we spent our weekend with. Their kids, like normal kids, are off playing and not so interesting in eating. Meanwhile, Lucie sits there and chomps.

A whole post without Lucie...

On the second day of our trip, we went to see the white cliffs just to the south of where we were staying. This is where all of those pebbles come from. Michele pushed Lucie down the hill. I pushed her back up. Go figure.
The town is lodged in crevices of the cliffs, and so there are some odd perspectives.

The cliffs in all their glory. Yes, we're getting a new camera soon...
see, it wasn't so so bad not to see Lucie for an entire post...

Baie de Somme

This last weekend, the French celebrated victory over the Germans in 1945 (no laughing). So, while others were busy paying their respects at the tomb of the unknown soldier, the whole family headed to the Baie de Somme with 2 other couples. This was the first time in 4 years that we spent a prolongued weekend with people not somehow related to my family (Gregoire's).

Lucie, despite the somewhat frigid conditions, tried to pull her mother into the sea several times.

It was almost like playing keepaway (as in: keep the baby away from the sea), only with higher stakes.
Fortunately, Lucie and Adele (our friends' Didier and Carole's daughter) played well together.
Eventually, however, what was doomed to happen did happen, and Lucie belly-flopped into the wet sand. Thankfully, uber-mommy Michele had planned it all and had a clean (and dry) pair of pants. Meanwhile, her little Breton caban (a kind of peacoat) was watertight as advertised.
We decided that Lucie would be safer if we kept her somewhat further from the sand. Jokes about her father's height are not appreciated...
Like a good little Breton kid, Lucie's not afraid of gale force winds and smiles in all circumstances.
Eventually, everybody climbed back up the giant dune of large pebbles that borders the sand flats.
The view from the top of the dune as the tide recedes. At high tide, half of the dune is under water. The pebbles are the leftovers from the erosion of the cliffs slightly to the south (actually, they are the flint leftovers of the impurities in the chalk cliffs). We'll show you a shot of those in a later post.

May Day in Paris

Lucie went to the Tuileries on Friday, which was May 1st and a commie holiday in France. While some people were marching to celebrate the 8 hour day, we just headed to the park.
Lucie never goes anywhere without her trusted Hello Kitty pink sponge ball. It is the accessory for kids this season in Paris.

When we weren't busy chasing Lucie, we actually got to hang out with our friends. Here is Fergus, whose camera is much bigger than mine.
Lucie also played with Karan, our other friends' son.
When you're little, it's good to look up to the sky once in a while.
Lucie's new thing is collecting rocks (and occasionally trying to eat them), which she likes to call 'callou' (for caillou, we presume).
Once in a while, Lucie stops moving, and you can get a close up shot, but you have to be very quick.
Dude! enough with these pictures, why don't you go get me some ice cream?
For breakfast, Lucie likes bread with jam, like a good French kid.
Sometimes, the flashes from the paparazzis are just too much. (there's papa in paparazzi)
Lucie and Michele enjoying a cuddle in the morning.