At last, a Tricycle !

Enfin, enfin, enfin, j'ai mon tricycle!! Ça fait des semaines que j'en parle avec mon papa et ma maman, à tous les jours, et ils n'avaient pas l'air de comprendre que c'est VITAL pour un enfant de mon âge. Ce n'est pas juste un caprice pour avoir un autre jouet parmi d'autres (je ne suis pas du tout comme ça) — c'est LE jouet par excellence quand on a 2 1/2 ans et qu'en plus c'est l'été! Comment suis-je sensée me rendre à l'école, comme Gabriela, si je n'ai pas mon tricycle !?
[Ne riez pas, la langue sortie c'est juste pour la concentration...]

I want to see Fofo and Gabriela

Lily s'ennuie de ses grandes soeurs... qui sont en train de se la couler douce sur les plages de Long Island en compagnie de leur grandmaman Lastenia, leurs tantes Flor Mercredes et Irene et leur super-tonton Juancho!
[¡ Gracias Juancho por la foto !]

I want to see Meo

Meo told me on the phone that she couldn't come with us for a stroll to the park... she said she would have to take a plane and wouldn't be able to make it on time. "Could Meo see this?" I asked instead to my daddy today when I finished my painting... and he said "Yes, on the Internet, she could!". So here it is.

Hot Canada Day in the pool

Thanks to the infamous gang of back alley cats that keep congregating in our yard at night and who've ruined both small inflatable pools mommy bought for me and Alice, daddy finally had to get a BIG non-inflatable pool and now our whole family of six can sit in the water at once! Youpi!

P.S. Contrary to what the colours of my suit might lead you to think, I am not a supporter of the Swedish national football team. In fact, I'm rooting for France at the World Cup and despite what my big sister Gabriela and everybody else thinks, I assure you France will beat even the mighty Brazilians this afternoon!

Portugal wins !

Lily: "I'm not sure what happened exactly but we were all happily enjoying ourselves in uncle Paul-Antoine's living room, Alice and I playing with toys on the ground and the others watching something on the television, when suddenly they all yelled and bolted out of the house to go invade the streets on their bicycles! Gabriela was on her new yellow bicycle, wearing a funny flag fixed onto her new helmet... I stayed put, thinking my game looked like more fun than theirs."

Argentina wins !

"Lily is dancing, Lily is a dancer" says Lily every day these days... This particular performance is given for the admiring eyes of aunt Paula and mommy Rachel, while Paul-Antoine and Gabriela are hitting a soccer ball with their heads and daddy is cooking supper on the turkish grill... all in celebration of Argentina's 2-1 victory over Mexico (or maybe in celebration of happy family gatherings).

Summer solstice

"Fun season" is with us again... are you ready for take off? Alice is, anyway, and the big girls are planning an all-nighter in their sleeping bags and in Alex's parents' tent in the back yard. Oh what glee!

School's out! (part 2)

Lily: "Fofo is hosting a supper + all-night-camping-in-a-tent in our backyard garden to celebrate with her best friends the end of their second year of high school, and Alice and I are right in there, not missing a beat. Who says I can't take part in a teenage conversation in French — as a matter of fact, I'm leading it !"

School's out !

Alice: "My big sister Gabriela is showing daddy the new dress she and her mommy made for her graduation ball and I'm making sure everything is spanking clean and perfect, right down to the shine on her shoes!"

Just watch me

A look of determination in her eyes, Alice thinks: "My two older sisters walked at 10 months, my hypercautious third sister Lily walked at a whopping 14 months... I'm only 8 1/2 months old and standing strong already. Just watch me!"

Alice upright

From squatting up and down everywhere she can to standing up aided and unaided, our little Alice is fast aquiring the upright posture of a soon-to-be-walking baby... [Alice seen here in our backyard and at a picnic during the Bal en blanc organized at Lily's daycare.]

Lily's tea parties

"Let's have a tea party", proposes Lily almost every other day. She then whips out her finest plastic china out of the transparent backpack she received for Christmas, and sets the table for many guests, most notably mommy (and sometimes daddy when he's not washing the real dishes or taking pictures like right now). "Would you like some milk in your juice lemonade, mommy?" asks Lily on this one.

p.s. Lily's English has improved immensely since her trip to Meo and Doco's house. To the point where her mastery of the tricky English prepositions is now leaving her dad confounded. She says things like "Lily is serving up some supper"... what's the use of that "up" word, I wonder - I've never used that phrase, yet I sense she's got it right! :-)

p.p.s. the person in pink is just a GC (gate crasher), she's not yet on Lily's official guest list...

Mommy's garden

This is me, Alice, playing with my super high-tech cellphone. It's got great features: it's saliva-resistant and the antenna can handle any amount of pulling and pushing. But let's forget the cellphone, this is all about the GARDEN. This is a wonderful place my mom has created in our backyard where Lily and I can play for hours. To give you an idea of how much space we have to play with, look at this aerial shot my father took from the third floor balcony! Isn't it nice? all this green lawn to roll around in...
and thank you again, Doco, for believing in our lawn and grooming it so well last year... it is really happy now. Just like me 95% of the time. [the other 5% is when my big sister Lily grabs toys away from me, but I don't stay sad for very long... maybe we're talking more like 1% really].

La Fête de Mai

After a very nice day at Taïtaï and Papi's place celebrating Papi's 75th birthday, we accompanied Louis, Louise, Raphaël and Charlotte to the annual May Fair at their Waldorf school. A very hot and sunny and festive affair it was! Lots of games, shows, craftsmen, healthy food and spring rituals, like this dance around the May Pole.

Bonne fête Papi et Vive l'été!

Comme c'était le cas à chaque année durant toute mon enfance, le jour exact de l'anniversaire de mon papa - le 24 mai - annonce invariablement le début de l'été. A l'époque, à St-Bruno, cela coïncidait avec la floraison du pommettier en face de la maison. Ici, dans notre cour sur la rue Fabre, on marque le coup avec un premier souper en plein air après deux semaines de pluie. Youpi, bonne fête Papi! - de la part de Alice, Lily, Gabriela, Flor, Rachel et moi :-)

Se tailler une place...

"Baby Alice come play with Lily" said she. But exactly what Alice was invited to play with once she had joined Lily in her room wasn't altogether clear. "No, don't touch, baby Alice", no to this, no to that, no, no, no. Yet Alice is slowly emerging from her "inert doll" status into a potential playing companion in the eyes of Lily, especially when nobody else is around to play with. In this instance, the nobody was me (daddy), too busy washing the dishes (between camera shots, that is)...

Youpi ! Lily est de retour !

Ma petite princesse est revenue. Elle a oublié tous ses mots de français mais en revanche son anglais est peuplé de nouveaux mots et d'impressionnantes tournures de phrases apprises chez sa Meo adorée. Elle a fait un merveilleux voyage, s'est comportée comme une grande dans tous ces avions, voitures et aéroports. Elle a savouré à plein sa semaine sous le soleil de New Denver et s'est découvert une fascination pour la danse en voyant sa mère performer pour la première fois dans un spectacle! Vive la vie!

Youpi ! Alice est de retour !

Elle a deux petites dents, elle est légèrement bronzée, elle a un peu plus de cheveux, elle mange de tout ou presque, elle se tient debout toute seule ou presque, ma chère Alice est revenu nous enchanter de ses gazouillis joyeux, de son large sourire et de ses "dadada" enthousiastes. Quelle charmante petite boule d'énergie positive elle fait, ma petite cocotte d'amour!

Bonne Fête des (belles) Mères, Rachelou!

Dernier concert de Gabriela

Les 6e années de l'École Le Plateau ont livré leur dernier concert de l'année, et de leur cours primaire, jeudi dernier à l'auditorium de l'école. Gabriela a joué, chanté, flûté, marché sur des échasses et interprété un court numéro humoristique avec ses copines Annie, Delphine et Romy.
L'ambiance était survoltée, à croire que l'école était finie et que tous ces jeunes n'allaient pas entrer en période d'examens du ministère dès lundi... Vive la jeunesse folle et insouciante!