Club Meet

The boys' swim team had their second meet of the year this weekend. This meet only includes members of the local swim team, and its purpose is mainly to help the younger ones, who are not yet on the competitive team, get used to how a swim meet works, and inspire them to join the competitive team. 

Noah came in 1st or 2nd out of 3 each time, and Benjamin always came in first! (out of... uh... one.)

Benjamin diving

Noah warming up

Champion!

Still Swimming

Noah and his teammate had a meet at Laon this weekend. Noah came in third in 50-meter backstroke and second in 50-meter butterfly.

Swim meet or vacation? 

Big brother along to encourage

Benjamin's swim meet at Couloisy

This was our first time at this pool - its added attraction is that it's next door to a middle school that has a special swimming program through the school. If only it weren't 25 minutes away, over tiny roads, with no bus transportation offered, it would be a great option for the boys for school.

Coach lets Noah warm up with Benjamin and their teammate.

Benjamin

Warm-up pool not as crowded as usual - but Noah's head is popping up there in the middle, waiting for an opening.

Out of his four races, Benjamin improved three of his times. He came in 2nd for his age in 100m backstroke and 3rd in 100m butterfly. Not bad!

Noah is 10

Ten. How is that even possible...Noah invented his own birthday cake recipe, which ended up being like a brownie. We made royal icing for him to decorate it with. The purple near the bottom is a swimming pool. We invited his swim team friend over along with his little brother and their mom to have cake with us.

He didn't get a tablet, but he did get Pokémon cards!

And every 10-year-old's most requested gift... a raised purple garden bed!

He saw the garden bed in the supermarket ad a couple of days before his birthday, and added it to his list. Not sure yet what he'll be planting this year, though.

Ski Trip to Les Deux Alpes

Since we sold our condo, we figured that left us free to try out different ski resorts. This year, we tried Les Deux Alpes since it was one of the only ones we could find with space available and that would let us bring our dog. 

We're scratching it off our list, though. The apartment itself was nice, with a good layout, and a view over the ski area. But the resort isn't pedestrian-friendly and it felt like the entire city of Paris was up there with us. 

While we waited for over an hour for the agency to open for handing out rental keys, Benjamin and I amused ourselves by looking at the trees near where we were parked.  

Grumpy Tree

Benevolent Tree

Gala was overjoyed to get to go with us.

It was foggy or snowing much of the week, which is not the best for skiing. But the boys enjoyed their lessons and skied some in the afternoon with Frédéric, too. 

Arguably the best part of the trip: the scenery on the way home.