Etienne's bouncy birthday party!

This year, we celebrated Etienne's birthday at Sky High, in the park and at home...


Etienne is now 6, he has a watch, a skateboard, lots of legos and pokemon cards !

Bye Gramie

We drove Gramie back to the airport today. She spent 2 weeks with us in Calidornia. her winter vacation matched Etienne's, that was lucky !
Gramie took tons of pictures of Etienne and Elodie, and before she left she sorted them out and wrote her comments on this wonderful album:


Reviens vite nous voir!

Christmas Pictures

Santa did receive the letter shown in the last post... Etienne and Elodie are still strong believers ;-)

Mommy turns 35...

and she got a small surprise during her birthday party...

Summer with Constance

Click on the picture to see what Etienne and Elodie did with Constance during the past 6 weeks:


As an added bonus, Elodie dramatically improved her French...




and Etienne learned some great French songs...

Can you dream of a better vacation?

Late June we finally flew to France and spent three amazing weeks of vacation:

with our French Family,	with our friends,
and just the two of us.

On top of that we attend the weddings of two of Alain's closest cousins

Pauline and Olivier

Marc and Nathalie

Man, it's going to be difficult to top that next time!

Pre-School Graduation

Last week, Etienne graduated from Junior Kindergarten. Here are the photos of the graduation ceremony



and the video of the song his class prepared for the proud parents:

Etienne is 5 !

At five, Etienne can read Dr Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham all by himself!

Today we had a birthday party for him with 22 friends, an exciting treasure hunt, a pinata and a small soccer tournament!

Monther's day on Bicycles!

5 weeks without a post nor a picture ?!
what's going on ???

Etienne scored 3 goals !

It was the very first game of the Spring season, Etienne stayed the whole time on the field, ans scored 3 goals !!!



Update one week later:
Here are the pictures of game #2...

Spring is here !

Last week we got caught in the snow storm in Tahoe, so when we saw that the weather forecast showed sun and high 60's (20 degrees C) for this weekend we decided to pull the BBQ out of the garage and invite our friends to play in our backyard

Classic Christmas Toys

As far as we're concerned, this year's top toys are not fancy video games but rather hot wheels cars, baby dolls, and a Playmobil pirate ship.






Look at this picture that Constance dug up form the family photo albums. In 1982 (when I was 6), I got for Christmas... a Playmobil pirate ship! What a great toy! It hasn't changed at all in 25 years!!!

December 9th is...

MY BIRTHDAY !!!

Click here to see pictures of my birthday party...

December 9th, 2005

December 9th, 2006

December 9th, 2007

Hawaiian Sunsets

We've just spent 10 days on Oahu and Kauai with Stephanie's family. It was my first visit to a tropical island. Everything is beautiful there, especially the sunsets...

On Oahu I highly recommend snorkeling at Sharks Cove
and I can assure you that spending $200 on an helicopter tour of Kauai is really worth it!

Trick or Treat

New French Doors

We were thinking about creating an opening between the living room and family room even before buying this house. That was 6 months ago... The job was initially scheduled for Memorial Day, then Labor Day, but it was finally accomplished over in October the past 3 weekends. we did everything by ourselves, and obviously this wouldn't have been possible without Mister Ed's expertise, advice and time ! Thank you !

The project is not over yet, we still need to stain the doors, cover the frame with gypsum board, paint the family room (in orange?) and add the trim around the door... who knows ho many more weekends we'll spend on it ! but it's all worth it...

Camping Trip to the Volcanoes

Last week was our first week long vacation since we moved back to California exactly one year ago ! What a change compared to our French vacation schedule !!!

We packed our tents and sleeping bags in Stephanie's car, and drove 1400 miles across Northern California and Southern Oregon. it was our first camping experience with the kids, and it was a big success !


Click on the map to see our pictures of Lassen, Crater Lake, and other volcanoes of the Cascade Range.

Au Revoir Constance...

Constance left this morning but she left us some great pictures...

A Visit to Bonfante Gardens

Yesterday we visited Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, aka Gilroy Gardens. They describe themselves as a family theme park, and the whole family had a great time, as you can see on these pictures.


We stayed there from 10 am (the park's opening time) to 2:30pm. The park was almost empty for the first hour and a half, but even after lunch, the lines were not that bad at all.

They have 3 semi scary rides for older kids and adults, but if your kids are older than 12, consider a visit to Great America instead.

Here are my final tips: Buy your tickets online (you'll save $12 on the $40 admission), and don't forget to bring swim suits and towels for the kids as there are some cool water play areas.

Happy Birthday, Etienne !

Etienne turned 4 years old today !!!
So Mommy made spiderweb cupcakes that we took to school.


When we came back in the afternoon, there was a huge gift in the living room.


wow, a real bicycle... with a spiderman helmet !


let's go to playground...


later, during dinner, we sang: "Joyeux Anniversaire Etienne..."
At 4, Etienne is old enough to cut with a knife !



2 days later, we had a big party. It was both a house warming party and a birthday party for Etienne. Click below to see all the pictures...