A school performance

Today was the day of the rescheduled school performance. It being Zoe's first, Chloe and I were VERY excited. We arrived at the school to find Zoe getting prepared for her grande entrance. All week we had been trying to determine what her actual role would be, but our queries were dismissed with a role of the eyes and a "je ne sais PAS!". It was another hot day, and it seemed like an eternity before the little kids were due to perform. There was also almost no seating, and it was a struggle to get even a peek at her. In the lead up to the little kid performance, alex was getting pretty antsy, so Chloe and I had to take turns taking care of him. Some time during this kid shuttling, one of the kids (probably Zoe) filled our water bottle with dirt. Chloe unfortunately did not notice, and took a deep pull of mud water: refreshing! Zoe's class perfomance consisted of holding up cards that I could not see (because of the difficult viewing conditions), but which chloe tels me had the names of painters, writers etc, and then picking up instruments and doing some dancing. It was very, very cute. At one point, the kids put their instruments in a little circle before a dance routine, and then returned to pick them up. Zoe's instrument was a mini guitar, and a little troublemaking boy (who had earlier been hitting another boy in the head with his card) tried to steal Zoe's guitar! Zoe, however has been training her iron grip because of toy competition with Alex, and the guitar was soon firmly in her hand. I think the boy might have started crying at this point, but I didn't have much sympathy. Here is Zoe, with a stalwart look on her face, guitar in hand, flushed with the sweet taste of victory.


And a few more of the performance

Cerdon

Franck had introduced us to a sparkling wine with a light, dry taste a while ago, so we decided that it was about time to go visit the town in which it is produced: Cerdon. After a five minute internet reconnaissance, we decided upon Lingot-Martin as the vintner of choice. We had also cleverly timed the car ride so that the kids could get some sleep.

In addition to the wine, they also have a sparkling non alcoholic cider which while delicious, did not meet with Zoe's approval ("TOO FIZZY!")

Alex seemed okay with it, however

Chloe needed something with a little more kick, however

We ended up buying quite a few bottles, which we will avail ourselves of in Monetier in a few weeks time!
Next, we went to the town of Cerdon and wandered around for a while



And then walked to the copper forge, which was unfortunately closed. Alex did take the opportunity to dunk his sunglasses in the copper fountain, though.

And then we checked out this cool still

Before meeting up with the Aussie clan for drinks at the cafe under an awning (it was quite hot). After a while it was time to retreat to the safety of an air conditioned car. I could see cliffs down the valley, so I couldn't resist driving out to see if they were equipped, but alas they were not. It was an uneventful drive back, with the exception of seeing a pretty fabulous looking car dealership called GT spirit, which we will have to stop at next time!

Papa's day!

Today I awoke to Zoe bringing me a present wrapped in blue construction paper that she had made at school. It was a book about planting things (candies, musical notes, words, kisses, crayons) and the kinds of trees that grew out of them. When you plant a candy wrapper, a bonbon tree apparently grows out of it! It was beautiful, and quite honestly one of the best gifts I have ever received. She had apparently also been rehearsing it in school, so despite not really being able to read, she was able to recount most of it to me (stopping every once in a while to tell me that the book was "verrry special!". I think most of us have had moments like this described to us by friends and family, but it turns out to be one of those intensely personal experiences that defies description. Suffice it to say that I was overcome with emotions and ended up getting a little teary.


Later on, I went for a mega ride into the chartreuse: 80km and 1900 vert meters of elevation gain. I was pretty tired by the end.

Town

Peuil bouldering

We headed out to Peuil for some bouldering today


After trying out a few boulder problems, I wandered off with Alex, to practice walking for a while: he walked quite far and expressed his strong displeasure at having to turn around.

When we got back, however, I was greeted with the aftermath of a rather bad fall off the top of a boulder, with concomitant blood and scrapes. Luckily, nothing was broken.

Here is Zoe, a few seconds before sweeping her hand through a stinging nettle

even more ice cream

(best flavor=caramel, beurre salé)

Mille martyrs

Rode to Mille Martyrs today and checked out some of the route for the Criterium de Dauphiné. There were road closure signs, and the sprint signs had already been installed. It felt pretty good, and I had my fastest time up Placette. The last climb up to Layat was kind of brutal though.

Haircut!

dinner

Franck, Silvia and Artur came over for dinner tonight, the highlight of which was Franck's excellent Raspberry cake. I was thinking about grilling, but the weather was not cooperating.

In town

for ice cream, etc