Mountains: Part One

A few days after school (finally!) got out, we left for the mountains. Since we're in the process of selling our condo up there, this might be one of our last trips to this particular resort for a while.

The first full day up there, we just checked out the different activities on offer. And wondered why we were even looking into it, when the boys invented their own "boules" game, using pine cones and rocks.

First Summer Visitors!

Our first round of summer visitors showed up this week! My friend Chelsea, who attended the junior year abroad program with me a couple (ahem) of years ago, was in Paris for her work. She and a friend came out to visit me for the day.

After a walk around Puiseux, and lunch, we started our visit with Pierrefonds Castle:

Then we moved on to the St Jean de Vignes Abbey in Soissons, built between the 11th and 16th centuries:

And we finished up at the Saint-Gervais-et-Saint-Protais cathedral in Soissons before heading home for dinner, and then taking them back to the train station.

Perfect start to the summer!

Gymnastics Meet

The boys had their end-of-year gymnastics meet yesterday. They did a great job, and each came in second in his category.

Rainy Swim Meet

The boys' end of year swim meet for their club was held in the outdoor pool, since the indoor one was being resealed. We were fortunate to avoid the storms, but the rain was there, and it was cold! (Just ask the time-keepers!)

It was one of the shortest meets ever, with each kid doing just one race, and no relays. After the races, we dashed back inside for snacks, and to say goodbye to the boys' coach, whose contract wasn't renewed. Their competition group met up again in the evening for a picnic to end the season - and we even got one little ray of sunshine.

End of School - almost

As the end of school draws near, we were invited to the school show, where we got to see Benjamin's amazing plate-spinning and ring-juggling skills.

Noah's class showed us they were aware of differences in the world, with illustrations of how some children are required to work from a young age, and others are able to go school, or how we have running water readily available here, but others must walk miles to get it.

They did a great job! In September, it will be on to 6th grade (middle school!) for Benjamin, and 4th grade for Noah, in our village now, with a new teacher.