On The Train

Yesterday (Sunday) we got to experience a French party.  Wow!  Do these French people know how to entertain!  (And I’m not sure WHO said French people don’t eat because all we’ve done since we got here is EAT!)

I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but the last few days have been spent preparing for this party.  From putting up tents (the weather in Paris (well, a suburb of Paris) reminds me of the weather in Wisconsin: if you don’t like it, wait a minute, it’ll change!) in case of rain (which there was!) or sun (which there was!), or setting up tables and chairs and buffets and bars and omygosh.

Unfortunately I don’t have any photos on my phone and the photos on my camera require the cord that is in the room where Oliver is sleeping and there isn’t yarnballs chance at Stitch & Bitch that I’m going in there to get it!

Actually, I just found a cute (to me) video of Oliver helping carry the chairs to the back yard.  (I’m loving the video on my iPhone 3 G S!)

And another of me with our friend Marie (who we saw about a month ago at our house, so you might recognize her!).  (Actually you might recognize her were it not for the e l o n g a t e d freaking photo!  Not sure what’s going on with my beloved iPhone 3 G S because the photos SUCK!  Could you get on that right away Apple?)

And finally a (bad, see aforementioned) photo of the recipient, Silvie of (insert royal music here) Cleo the Clapotis!  All finished (two years after she was started!)!  As in done!

Unfortunately Sylvie reads (I use the term loosely as she doesn’t speak very much English) my blog frequently and she saw the photos in my Flickr.  I’m not sure that she knew it was for her, but she had seen it done nonetheless.

Regardless, the perfect gift for wonderful, caring, kind, generous friend who is really more like family.

So, to continue, the party was fun and it was a hit.  Guests arrived around noon (believe it or not, EVERYONE who said they were attending actually attended!  Unheard of in Los Angeles!) and the last guests left around 11PM!  There was much fun had by everyone in attendance, including Oliver who was having a great time with his new French friends, all of whom adored him.

Then today we took the train to a suburb even further south to visit Hubby’s brother and sister-in-law who live in an adorable house whose photo is on my camera (again, see aforementioned missing cord).

So to distract you from that, I’ll instead show you a video of Oliver when we first boarded the train.

And finally another when we were lucky enough to happen upon some ducks.  I’m not sure if I’ve talked about it, but the kid LOVES ducks!  Or at least photos and stuffed animal ducks.

Turns out it’s the same for the real, live ducks, as you can see from the video!

Things are going great; having a great time with our hosts.  All of us are sleeping better and getting acclimated to France (although Oliver is NOT a fan of French milk and has therefore 1) been introduced to hot chocolate milk (a staple of French kids for generations) and 2) been pretty much taken off the bottle (my thanks to whomever invented that sippy cup that has the built in straw!).

Tomorrow we’re going to venture into Paris at some point (with millions of other people!) to watch the fireworks at la Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) to celebrate July 14th, the equivalent of the US’s July 4th.