Where did April Go?

"Holy smokes" as Owen would say. Where did the month of April go?

So many things happened in April yet, as I look at our photos, not much was documented visually. So here are a few highlights:

1) Sean's first weekend ultimate tournament as a member of the A-team for 33Tours. The tournament was in Angers, a town about 4 hours north of Bordeaux.

The weekend started out with a huge purchase: a new car!

Just kidding... though we were very impressed (and Owen was very excited) that the dealership had mini cars to keep the kids occupied while mommies and daddies sign loads of paperwork. Here is the new car in the driveway moments after arrival:


Then, early Saturday morning, we packed up the car and headed up to Angers. The first game was at noon. We had quite an eventful trip. Sean's bank card was eaten by the ATM at a gas station on the way so we had to wait around for someone to extract the card. We arrived at the fields just in time for the games. The team did great! They were undefeated in all 4 of their games over the weekend. So many members of the team kept coming up to me on Sunday afternoon to tell me how great it was to have Sean on the team. He definitely looked good out there...



Team photo: précieux


Also precious is this picture of Owen napping at the fields:


For more photos and a description of the games, you can look at the team's website: 33Tours. We also really enjoyed the dorm-style hotel we stayed in called the Lac de Maine (about 30E per person per night including breakfast)

On Sunday, while the boys played (it's an open league but ther are no women on the A team), Owen and I headed to the quai of Angers to check out the boats. Unfortunately, we only saw 1 boat out on the water but Owen had a great time nonetheless running along the quai with his stroller (la poussette) and toy construction vehicles (loader = la chargeuse; backhoe = la tractopelle; dumptruck = le camion-benne).



2) We hosted our first BBQ in France!

Sean mowed A LOT of grass in preparation.


Courtney made a grass house with Owen and took Owen and Amy to look for deer (they didn't find any)


Owen and Amy played together in the sandbox and hammock.


It was a lot of fun. Thanks to Helen, Julien, Courtney, Pascal, Jasmina, Amy, Franck, Valentine, and Elliot (Saroumane) for coming and bringing tasty treats! :)


And tomorrow is not only May Day (May 1st), which is a bank holiday in France - even the supermarkets are closed - but it is also the 6th monthiversary of our moving to France!

A friend recently pointed out that I haven't done as much blogging about the ups and downs of the transition. She's right and I think it's because it really has been a rollercoaster and hard to put into words sometimes. But, tomorrow, while Owen naps, I will give it a try. So stay tuned... ;o)