But it's not over yet

Normally swim practice ends after the intraclub meet. But the boys' teammate was going on to regionals, so their coach let them join her for practice an extra week. 

And Frédéric took advantage of that to test out the camera my dad gave him last year. 

Noah

Benjamin

Benjamin

Noah

And final club meet

After the final competitive meet, they still had their last intraclub meet of the year. These meets are mainly so that the non-competitive kids can see what a competition is like and start learning the rules. 

First out of one is still first! 

Frédéric got pressed into service as a timekeeper, despite having been up since 3:30 am for work. 

New lifeguard in town.

Noah's final swim meet of the year at Château-Thierry

Noah's final competition of the year was in Château-Thierry, a town about 45 minutes from us. He and one teammate have been the only ones in their age group to compete this year, but a few others should join them in the fall. 

This time, Benjamin got to do warm-ups with Noah. It makes the team look 50% larger. 

And he eked out a medal!
Noah came in third in the 50-meter breaststroke, beating out the 4th place by 9/100ths of a second! 

June 10th in the garden

Things I love about France: late summer nights. This is how dark it was at 11 pm last night.

Summer is for ice cream.

Sunset... at 9:30 pm.

Potatoes everywhere!

Potato flower.

Noah's corn.

Noah's radishes.

Frédéric's snow peas.

Frédéric's cauliflower.

Zucchini, with flowers under there somewhere.

Cherry tomatoes, the only kind our growing season is long enough for.

And speaking of things in the yard, I made my attempt at helping clean things up by pulling and cutting some of the vines out of the hedge along the back fence.

When I had done enough for the day, I told the boys, "I pulled a whole bag full of vines out of that hedge, and you can't even tell!"
Benjamin replied, "Sure you can. There's not that big branch of avocado anymore."
I said, "Uh... avocado?"
Benjamin came back with further suggestions: "Mango? Lemon? Leeks?"
"You mean the blackberries?" I asked.
Benjamin confirmed, "Oh, yeah, that."

I guess we know who the gardener in the family is NOT. He must take after me.

Benjamin's quotables

Benjamin asked me to take him to school late tomorrow because his first class is cancelled. I asked him why I would do such a thing; He replied, "Because I'm so cute, and imaginary."

This might solve a lot of problems, really.

Then I asked if he had homework.

He said, "Demain c'est nickel, parce que j'en ai pas."

I said, "Tomorrow is a nickel, because you don't have homework? What does that even mean? What is a nickel, anyway?"

He said, "A nickel is a quarter."

Pentecost Monday swim meet

Pentecost Monday is a holiday in France, because France is a secular country, which believes strongly in the separation of church and state. Oh. Wait. Let me try that again. Pentecost Monday is a holiday in France, because Pentecost has to fall on a Sunday, and that just isn't fair, and France is a secular country, which believes strongly in the separation of church and state, except when it comes to days off of work, in which case they'll happily profess whichever faith will give them the most days off. There, that's better.

So on Pentecost Monday, the boys' swim team had a meet in Soissons. And because we saw another team having a whole barbecue at lunch time at Benjamin's last meet, we decided to imitate them this time - much more fun and friendly than eating plain ol' sandwiches.

Benjamin, doing his beloved backstroke.

Noah, doing his favorite, the breaststroke.

And more Noah - about to touch the wall and turn for another lap.

And more Noah - rejoicing in being the only one in the smaller pool near the end of the meet.