Rose's 5th birthday party #it'sallaboutthemakeup

My first attempt ever #frenchplait #didn'tlasttheday #bitmorepractiserequired

New ways of using today #imagination #whynot

Yoga baby #foot&mouthshot

3 candles #Fingerlingbecomesa'bigdurl'

Our little Fingerling entered the world 3 years ago, and has been just the most amazing delight ever since. So we decided to spend 3 days celebrating her 3rd birthday (we won't make this an annual thing), helped by her birthday falling on a Friday, her party on a Saturday, and the present from us on the Sunday.

So technically actually starting with Thursday, I finished the cake:

It's Dora the Explorer's backpack (see below)

 Friday morning, we sang and she got to open one present (with big brother never too far away in case she needed 'help'):

 And by the evening (back in her jammies) all the gifts were opened. Thank you all!

And what also made Friday special, was my 22-week scan. Like the 12-week one, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this baby wriggle and jiggle (it's a big wriggler and jiggler). The scan images were very clear and it was as cute as a button - at one point it had its foot up near its head and was playing with its toes. 

 And nope, no clue of the gender.

And on Saturday, our usual self-assured, independent and confident Fingerling became all shy and timid as we and her friends sang her happy birthday:

And then on Sunday, Fingerling chose her gift experience from us: a morning at the soft play area. I sat in the middle of the hall for 2 hours with my feet up drinking hot drinks so didn't get any photos until I watched the two of them race around the track and managed to heave myself up long enough to snap a couple of shots:

So, happy birthday Fingerling! What a treat!

Marine life #seaweed+protein

I'm in London today and at work, my colleague who had just got back from Iceland, handed out seaweed for us all to taste.

Have you spotted the snail on it?

Too authentic for me.

Not so little #bookclub #gotjustonemonth

Sweet Child o' Mine #thekidsarealright

Small Fry: 112 cm and 17.5 kg (i.e. tall and slim)

Fingerling: 96 cm and 14.5kg (i.e. pretty average in the best possible way)

Fish outta water #conferenceseason

I'm in a bit of a frantic travel period at work: Hamburg for the day last week, Vigo (Spain) for a 2-day conference this week, London for 1 night next week, and then a short break before a full week in Germany and Spain in October.

The travel itself is rubbish (out of nowhere I am developing a fear of flying, go figure), but generally the people you meet and the things you learn are really, really interesting.

And then you come across the absurd.

Like this robot that opened the conference in Vigo and provided the keynote address...in a high squeaky robot voice that was very, very bizarre.

And then the Galician pipes and drums entered the room, which for me was totally fine as I love that sort of thing, but for a few of the internationals in the room, it was quite, um, noisy.

Lunch at 4pm, no water in the room, 2 female presenters out of 20. Quite different to the Women in Seafood Congress my IPNLF colleague was attending at the same time in Iceland.

At least there was cheap wine for me!...oh, wait...

Paris 2024 #olympicgames #winningflowerbeds

Paris is pretty good at keeping its roundabouts and parks rather spick and span and a little army seems to be employed every season to replace the greenery. 

Our local park has decided to get in on Paris winning the bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games*, and the 4 flower beds now represent different olympic sports. Below is the main stadium flower bed (and in the distance a little statue has been put up) and I just didn't get round the others to take photos, but you get the idea.

It's always quite exciting to see what they'll come up with next, and this was pretty original.

*note to self: buy a studio now and rent it out for a small fortune later.

Family get-togethers #makemeallphilosophical

...and brothers must be the glass of milk with it :)

Summer Nights #summerinthecity #finalweekoffun #60yearson #larentrée

We came back a week before the rentrée (start of term) in order to get back into our usual routine, see our friends, and adjust to life back in Paris*.

Basically, we didn't. We had way too much fun, stayed up too late, still ate too much and generally had a final blast before we settle down to school once again.

The fun for the kids included yet another visit to the fabulous Air and Space museum, this time with besties Wendy and El éanor.

Little Miss Prim and Proper getting the bus

Concorde

A380

The museum

Chillaxing after an action-packed morning. Definitely one we can do again and again and again.

And the kids also joined their other besties, Rose and Clara, for a camera making arts & crafts workshop.

Meanwhile, I spent my final weekend of the summer celebrating my great-uncle Gilbert and great-auntie Rose's Diamond Wedding anniversary near Stoke-on-Trent. A well deserved celebration.

Can't beat an English cup of tea, even from a hotel.

The dress, 60 years later

The immortalised couple (well, until I ate it)

Cutting the cake, again

We had a beautiful BBQ in their back garden on the Saturday and a moving renewal-of-vows service on the Sunday followed by a family lunch.

And I reckon I spent half the weekend travelling. That's what delayed Air France flights will do to you (and a refusal to go through the airport scanner while pregnant)**

El Puma held the fort and together we got these two ready for their first days of school:

Showing off the backpacks

Not a tear in sight

And boy is the house quiet.

Still, what a great summer. Let's do it again next year.

*evidently required because within 2 hours El Puma had stepped on Small Fry's ankle in our tiny flat while they were passing each other in the corridor and ripped off his scab. Blood everywhere and a very proud little boy.

**OK OK so I've researched it since and apparently it's less radiation than flying for 2 minutes or living 40 minutes of normal life.