Gymnastics "kermesse" and Fête du village

A friend of mine came from Paris with her 6-year-old son for the weekend. We picked them up at Crépy en Valois and went straight to Noah's gymnastics class (Benjamin didn't get to attend since he has chicken pox).

 The boys played a couple of carnival games afterwards, and then we headed home for the afternoon, where we chatted and let the boys play while we kept an eye on the rain outside. Finally around 5 pm, the intermittent showers seemed to slow down, so we took umbrellas and went out to tour the village.

Sunday we had the fête du village, the yearly lunch put on by the comité des fêtes for all the village inhabitants and friends. They served paëlla this year, a Spanish dish with rice, chicken, mussels, and shrimp (complete with legs, heads, and antennae, of course).

My friend's son got a bonus prize in his plate... a live snail! We think it fell down from the trees while they were heating up the paella in a large dish outside. That's a much more comforting theory than any other, at least.

Grandad Time

My dad flew here from Cambodia Thursday. The Air France agents in Cambodia had no idea what they were doing and we had to do some last minute ticket juggling as a result, and he had to fly like a sardine instead of comfortably in business class. 

But he made it safely, and Benjamin and Noah have been taking full advantage of his visit to have someone new to go outside with.

And did I mention that this stinker had to show up his big brother, and start riding without training wheels just a few short months after Benjamin learned how? He rides around like a little speed demon now. (Yes, that bicycle is getting too small!)

Gymnastics Gala

The boys had their end-of-year gymnastics "competition" this past weekend. I had tried to explain to Benjamin that it wasn't a true competition, but he still gave a disgusted sigh when we arrived, saying, "I didn't know it was just to play!" But as he watched the other kids, he got over his pique, and decided it would be ok to participate. (Seeing the medals helped motivate him.)

Noah's group went first. It is amazing how much they have learned in two years.

He got up on the uneven bars all by himself, and didn't want any help crab-walking along them.

His cheese-face is a good indication of just how proud of himself he was!

Then it was Benjamin's turn...

Up... and... over! This bar was a good 9 or 10 feet off the ground.

And another gymnast who was very pleased with himself at the end!

Bonne fête, Maman !

Mother's Day comes a little later in France than in the US. I didn't get my real wish of well-behaved children for the day, but I did get "Maman" letter-shaped cookies from Noah, and a card with a poem and a necklace from Benjamin. And I got to hear "You can do what you want, it's your day!" at random times throughout the day.

I'll take it.

Our very first fête des voisins, or, the social butterflies continue fluttering

A Parisian instituted the "fête des voisins" in France in the 17th district of Paris in 1999. More and more neighborhoods have joined the event as the years have gone by, but this is the first year that any place we have lived has participated. One of our neighbors surveyed the rest of us to see if we were interested, and just about everyone said yes, so we had our first block party ever on Friday, on the basketball court. 

It didn't start until 8 pm, to give everyone time to get home from work. Fortunately, it stays light until almost 11 pm these days, and when it got dark, they got out the lanterns and citronella candles. 

Many of our neighbors are original homeowners / builders, so have been here for almost 30 years now. But that didn't make them any less welcoming to those of us who haven't been here as long. 

We had a good evening getting to know our neighbors better, and we plan to attend the village party in two weeks, to continue our social-butterfly momentum.