The REAL 1st day of school !

Ah, enfin, c'est lundi et c'est le VRAI premier jour d'école de Lily (la maternelle). Les enfants font la file dans la cour de l'école Paul-Bruchési, à dix minutes de marche ou vélo de la maison.

Rachel: "They were waiting to go through the "haie d'honneur" when the kindergardeners go under an archway formed by all the older kids of the school. A lovely way to welcome the new arrivals!"

Euh... no, THIS is the 1st day of school

Deuxième visite (demi-journée seulement) à l'école de Lily.

1st day of school

Lily on the morning of her first day in Kindergarden.

Some kind of a dance?

... or is it just one little girl kicking some sand in the general direction of her little cousin?

[as for the anonymous bystander, I could have cropped her out of the picture, but I figured I'd leave her in for the sake of photographic balance and composition, what do you think?]

Les Chariatides

"Who are these two giant girls, anyway??"

— Galilée Ostrovski Lemieux (the little sweetie in between, Martin and Maya's daughter, and Roza's grand-daughter)

Tree fairies

Rachel et les fillettes retirent deux branches pourries de notre cher Catalpa.

If there is a botanist amongst our viewers, could you please tell us what ails our dear Catalpa? The leaves on two of its branches had completely wilted (one branch last summer too), and the cross-section of one of these branches shows dark rings... is it Verticillum? or some fungus? Will it survice, doctor?

Drag princesses

Gosh, these two never tire of dressing up... or down!

Happy painters

Watch out! This is oil-based paint, kids! (I see a stain already on mommy's calf...)