Culinary and Lego Creations

Noah invented his "Gateau dégonflé au chocolat" (deflated chocolate cake) which looks quite a lot like brownies.

And Benjamin created a Lego spaceship.

Ski Vacation

So while Gala and I were enjoying a quiet week at home, Frédéric and the boys were off in Val Cenis skiing. Not so much snow, but they managed!

Noah passed his "3e étoile" (third star) level, and Benjamin passed his "étoile de bronze" (bronze star), which is the second to last level.

You say vacation, I say vacation

Frédéric took the boys skiing, and left me at home with the dog. I'm not complaining, though! Gala and I had a great, quiet vacation week at home. And I got these great post cards from the boys. In English, no less!

Noah lost no time getting to know the cook - he knows that that's the best way to get extra helpings!

Other vacation activities

Noah worked on his quilt top:

And Benjamin helped Frédéric in the kitchen!

Swimming in the big leagues

Swim meets changed this year for Benjamin. No more splitting up results by year of birth - his category now includes 11-14 year olds. Yikes!

But he took the changes in stride, and had a great meet.

They also split up the regions differently this year due to the French regions reform (we are now supposed to say we are in "Hauts de France" instead of "Picardy"), so he's swimming against different kids than last year. One club is from the town of "Noyons," which Benjamin suggested wasn't such a great name for a swim team.... since it means "we drown" in French.