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.

Shopping with Baby

We don't have a car in Paris. Lucie's stroller really is our vehicle. Shopping for groceries or really anything usually involves hanging lots of bags off the handles of the stroller and/or stuffing bags into the basket under Lucie. If we go to the park, it means more stuff hanging off the stroller - a bag for the sand toys, another bag with a snack, water, and a diaper, a ball underneath... You get the picture. Apparently, Lucie has also been noticing how we pile stuff on the stroller too.
This is exactly how I look when I go shopping for groceries with Lucie, except I don't wear my pajamas to the store.
Lucie's baby stroller always has lots of bags hanging off the back of it.
She does this all on her own.
It's really amazing the little things she copies from us that we aren't even aware she notices.

Last Easter pictures

Lucie took the train to Bretagne with her grandparents and parents.

She was really well-behaved.
but only sometimes...


She looked at the boats with her grandfather and yelled "bateau!" at those that went by.


It was a great time.

Who says you're too young to make faces?
Some mornings, it's all about the cuddle.
Mostly, Lucie likes to be read to.
Sometimes (once in a great great while), she'll sit and read by herself.
Lucie got a great wind-up alligator for Easter, and it's already been a good deal of fun playing with it.

The lion

We just hope that you'll find these as funny as we do.

More Easter Pictures

We got some pictures from Bertrand's camera, and so here they are. Lucie, Michele, and Gabrielle painted eggs the day before Easter.


At breakfast, Lucie likes to eat yogurt. It's sometimes hard to aim when feeding her from behind.
Garçon! please bring me some more milk...
Another picture of the Easter basket discovery.
At some point during the holiday, Lucie tackled and wrestled her grand père to the ground.
He quickly put her in a choke hold, desperatly trying to escape. It was a vicious fight.
She won.