Four christenings and a wedding

After ten years of marriage, the parents of Bea's best friend Vincent got wed in church with their four children all simultaneously christened in the church behind Bea's school. Very brave (of them!), and totally relaxed event with lots for the children (over 60 of them!) to do. The sports hall was reserved for the kids stuff (hockey, football, etc) after the service, and what would have been the first kiddies disco for Bea, but he was stuck to the wall and wouldn't join in. After the disco, a movie, so they were fully entertained while we sunk the fizz.

Seeds and sport

Ili's Spielgruppe has a new project (supported by the city of Zürich), to make a little garden where the children can grow flowers and vegetables. Today they planted flower seeds on a very cold and wet day—summer has left us! Bea had a sports "fun day" which is a little like a sports day — although not as competitive and they all came home with edible "cookie" medals for doing well!

Back to Zurich

We had the morning by the beach in Sete, before taking the train back to Zurich. The journey was longer on the way back (more changes to make), and never as much fun as the getting there, but we survived! Here's Bea and Ili outside the station in Montpellier.

Swimming in the sea

More playing on the beach today, and all of us — except Ili — went in swimming! It was just warm enough. Lovely.

On the beach

True to most of my camping experiences, it didn't fail to piss with rain all night. Forgetting to peg down the guide ropes in strong sea winds didn't help the sleeping experience, although it didn't seem to stop the little ones snoozing soundly (using me as a pillow), and they were ready to hit the beach again this morning. The sun didn't show until after lunch, and in the morning it was only Bea on the beach freezing his butt in swimwear, but the afternoon was glorious.

Camping on the coast of France

Took the opportunity of the last holiday Monday this term to head to the sea in the South of France to meet mum and dad near Sete. So we packed the tent and jumped on the train. It was a real treat to get to the sea, and Bea and Ili behaved as if they'd never seen water before — on Friday evening when we arrived, Bea was more or less in with his clothes on.

Frith at the Colosseum

Frith sent these pics tonight from Rome, where he's based for a couple of days (for meetings).

Wasn't all work . . .

Kiddie corner

We levelled one of the small terraces, where we hope to build a tree house in the summer. Even if we don't get around to it, it will be a good little area for the little ones to play (being a very rare flat piece of ground). Before we left, Bea and Ili planted flower and grass seed, so hopefully it will look a little greener next time we visit.

Strimming in France

Guess who's got a new toy (and it's not Bea). . . . and we surely need it to keep the garden in shape.

The new wall — #3 filling with rocks

No shortage of rocks. . .

but boy, they were heavy!

Half way through the second week, we were finished! What a holiday (we were knackered!)

The new wall — #2 the gabions

Days later we could start building . . .

. . . by adding wire cages

that would later get filled with children (and then stones)!

The new wall — #1 the digging

This was the slope we wanted level, so

we dug . . .

. . . and we dug.

. . . and we dug some more.

In France from 19 April to 5 May

A few of my favourite pics from France which was sunny like this for half of the holiday but we had our fair share of rain and cold too. More pics coming when I have a minute . . .!

Barrow boy Bea. Mama & papa worked hard in the garden.

Bea and Ili having their night disco.

Went out for dinner once. Poor papa.

Bea with a lizard on his back.

Pool way too cold to swim, but was okay for a float.

Bea and Ili had lovely time collecting bugs . .

Had a few bbqs.

The zipwire for the garden was a success.