Brave

A single word I would use to describe my kids over the past 2 weeks: brave.

When I planned this 2 month long stay in the US, there are a couple things I didn't factor in. First, I didn't take into account how hard it would be for them to be without their dad for 3 weeks. I knew they'd miss him, but I thought they would be having so much fun that they wouldn't think about it too much. But, as Suzanne's daily evening meltdown turns into a Max daily meltdown, it proves that Papa is sorely missed. 

Second, the relationship with the language. This one is obvious yet I didn't think it would be an issue for some reason. Suzanne has slipped easily into English and back into French when speaking to Papa. But Max had trouble getting into all-English mode and now has trouble getting back into French. Third, I didn't realize how overwhelmed I'd be even with the time away from the kids. When they come home in the afternoon, they are in full force and need my full attention. By the time they're in bed, I'm exhausted and just want to curl up. This point makes it hard because there are things I want to do and people I want to see. But I'm so tired that I can't even make a phone call. 

Keeping all of the above points in mind, Suzanne started a second week of day camp yesterday. Last week, she was in a half day programme in town. But yesterday, she started a day camp at a nearby lake which entails taking the bus. As the bus pulled away yesterday, I had one of the worst parenting moments of my life - my daughter was waving goodbye while shaking her head no and crying. She was trying so hard to be brave and to pull it together. I knew she would have fun, there was no doubt in my mind, but it was hard for everyone. I didn't realize quite how brave my little girl was until I really started to think about how much change she's dealt with in the past 2 weeks. Even small things that I take for granted are different. For example, she keeps asking me why there are wires everywhere outside. She's talking about the wires hanging on the wooden telephone poles. She's never seen them before because we live in a large city and wires are attached to the houses or underground. Simple yet different enough to wonder why and to throw her off. And I'm not even talking about the stress of meeting new people! 

Max has thrown himself full force into day camp after a rocky start. The first day, the teachers weren't sure if he spoke English. But now he's part of the group. I'm not actually sure how much he's actually interacting with the other kids, but I'm sure he's getting a lot out of the experience even as a lone wolf at the daycamp.

So brave. My kids are brave. And I'm so damn proud of them.

Réalville : Tree house fun

This summer will go down in history as the summer that saw no summer. We spent an incredibly rainy week in the Tarn et Garonne at my in-law's summer house. Since we couldn't really go in the pool, we were lucky there were donkeys and cows around the house and plenty of puddles to jump in. And there was a surprise for my treehouse loving husband.

J is an architect and has become increasingly interested in treehouses and cabins. He built one out of cardboard that's been in our house for almost 5 years and is the best toy any kid can have: it's cheap, easy to repair and packs flat (ok, that's for the parents). He should copyright the plans. But I degress...

So to celebrate our anniversary this summer, I booked us into a treehouse for a night. (At first, I was trying to find a family treehouse for a week or so, like Swiss Family Robinson style but everything was booked).

What I found, by going through the Bienvenue à la Ferme site - my favorite site for all things farm and fun- was an amazing treehouse in a 200 year old oak tree on a truffle far, surrounded by rolling green hills and vineyards. The farmer, George Delcasse, is warm and welcoming. The treehouse - cabane perchée - is amazing : it has a kitchen, a shower, a pull out sofa, a terrasse equipped with plancha to cook your dinner, an outhouse at the base of the tree. He lends you a tandem bike and provides tons of information about things to do. Unfortunately, it poured rained and was windy the night we stayed in the treehouse - which swayed back and forth which I guess added to the effect of sleeping in a tree - but we able to drink apero and eat our breakfast out on the deck, which makes you feel like you are on top of the world.

To get to the tree house, you have to climb up a set of stairs, duck under a large branch, climb more stores and then lift the trap door. Once you're inside, with the trap door closed, you feel like you're cut off from the world and that you're sitting on top of it.

I highly recommend it if you're ever in Réalville in the Tarn et Garonne.

Les vacances

Not just any vacances, but les grandes vacances. In France, when people refer to les vacances, it's generally the 2 month summer break during which most people take a month or so off. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of time to spend with my kids. But my husband has less time so we go away as a family for about 3 weeks.

Vacation time is one of those "quality of life" things that I would never trade in. So, I guess I can't move to the US until I can be guaranteed at least 4 weeks of vacation a year.

We are leaving on Wednesday to spend a couple days outside of Tour, then heading to the Southwest near Toulouse to spend time at my in-laws' vacation house. Then we rented a house in Auvergne for a week in August. When we get back, my parents invade/arrive. :)

Something that's always hit me during the summer months is all of the cahiers de vacances that you find in the supermarket, book stores and news stands. In the US, I remember having summer reading lists. But here, there are special vacation workbooks so your child can work during vacation. For example, the books for 5 year olds include learning to write cursive and coloring books where you need to copy the model. No free hand or free thinking allowed! I remember hours of fun with Richard Scary's rainday activity book during our summer vacations (I do have a copy of it which I am desperately looking for. I put it away last year so it wouldn't get ruined and now I can't find it! Typical). Richard Scary was all about cutting, folding and coloring. No writing allowed! (I got this Barbapapa one for Suzanne....it has stickers and a puzzle in it, on top of cursive skills).

Which reminds me of when I worked in HR at a very large French company in Paris and all of the candidates' handwritten letters were sent for handwriting analysis, called graphologie in French. I was told that handwriting analysis on non-French writers wasn't valid because it's not the same writing rules. And I can confirm that it wasn't because I "stumbled" on my own handwriting analysis while going through the HR files one day. I now understand where the formated handwriting comes from.