Happy Halloween!

Mia's costume was a big hit at the retirement home when we went to trick-or-treat at Mamie's room. We almost didn't make it past the mob of grandmothers and great-grandmothers wanting to compliment Mia on her costume. We were finally able to escape and deliver the rest of the chocolate chip cookies to her cousins and our friends. We even saw one small group of children dressed as gouls and goblins trying to trick or treat. Their candy bags looked pretty empty though....

Halloween J-2

Two days until Halloween! Mia went to Nounou's house today in her cow costume and was the belle of the ball at the play group. Apparently she ran around "mooing" at everyone, showing them her "soft" tail before going back to her coloring.

Thomas came home this morning from New York. We went out to lunch en tete a tete as a nice surprise before I went back to work and Thomas went to pick up Mia early from Nounou's house. They spent the afternoon together downtown shopping together as a father-daughter bonding session. Mia still pushes him away when I'm around but she's Daddy's Little Girl when they're tous les deux.

Spooky Sunday

The pumpkin Mia and I carved on Friday looks great out on the terrace tonight. There's a full moon that's veiled by some light clouds - perfect to get us in the mood for Halloween!!

Mia is going to her Nounou's house tomorrow dressed as a cow. It'll be a short day for her because Thomas gets in from New York in the morning and will pick her up early in the afternoon. That is, if he doesn't miss his plane...

Another cold

The greve has stopped officially but there are still some difficulties depending on the region. I changed my ticket to leave for Paris tomorrow so the trip shouldn't be too much of a headache. Unfortunately, Mia has come down with another cold so I feel guilty leaving, even if I know that she'll be with her daddy, Nano and Bomp. My friend Emmanuelle was trying to convince me to go and enjoy myself saying that "Mom needs a break" and "If Thomas can run Chateau Palmer, he can deal with a cold" so I'm doing my best to take her advice to heart. As much as I hate strikes that almost ruin my trip to Paris, I'm glad I have one extra evening with my little family.

Dinner, Theater and... an ambulance

We had an evening out at the theater, followed by dinner at a small bistro with Thomas' parents, that unfortunately finished with a visit from the SAMU. While we were having dinner there was a young woman who came into the bistro and started yelling at a man standing at the bar, a little something like the play we had just seen. She got a little violent and left, only to come back a few minutes later and bang on all of the outside windows. She was clearly drunk and her companion went outside to continue their "discussion" in an attempt to calm her down. She ended up passing out from the alcohol, which is where we came in, just as we were leaving the restaurant.

In France there is a law regarding non-asistance a une personne en danger, where you can be taken to court and charged if you see someone in mortal danger and choose to do nothing. I don't know if people stop to help simply because they're nice or because of this law, but we stopped as well as another young woman. We covered the girl to keep her from getting too cold, tried to wake her up, checked for vital signs and then told her husband/boyfriend that we had to call an ambulance. He didn't want to, saying that she was doing this on purpose, but somehow it's much easier to convince someone to call an ambulance if they know it's free...

We don't know how Florence is today, but we felt much better leaving her in the hands of the SAMU instead of with her husband.

Here we go

There are always strikes in France during la rentree, after August vacation, when everyone goes back to work. This year the unions want to punish us all - and most importantly, punish Sarkosy - with a general strike. Black Thursday, as the media is referring to it, actually starts tonight and finishes Friday afternoon. No regional or national train service, no metro in Paris, no bus service in most towns, schools are closed, hospital interns are already on strike, electricians and public employees too. This is going to be fun.

And Sunday just gets better...

Chicken pox! Mia came home from school on Thursday with red bumps on her tummy that I thought was heat rash. She's been itching for two days so we took her to the on-call doctor who confirmed that she has chicken pox. Apparently it's a mild form because she had the vaccination this past summer. We're not sure if Thomas has had it yet so we're crossing our fingers that he'll be okay. I'm more worried about his grandmother, who we visited last Wednesday, before the spots came out.

At least it's one less childhood disease to worry about...

Change of plans

So Thomas missed his train, by about 10 seconds, and won't be going to Paris tonight for the game. He realized his train was at 12pm instead of at 1pm at precisely 11:37 this morning. The TGV does always leave on time so despite his best effort, he only made it to the station in time to see the doors close and the train pull away.

Now we're just waiting for Mia to wake up from her nap to take advantage of the beautiful weather with a bike ride to her grandparent's house.

End of the road

France lost - it's all over the papers today. Thomas stayed home to watch the match with two friends and I went out to dinner with some anti-rugby girlfriends. Just before our dessert arrived we called home to see what the score was and France was still ahead. But by the time we finished and started to head home we knew that England had won simply by the prevailing silence. 20,000 people were in our neighborhood to watch the game on the waterfront and not a sound. The English were probably too scared to celebrate outside of their pubs.

Thomas is going up to Paris this afternoon to see another rugby match. He was invited to the Stade de France by one of his suppliers and couldn't turn the opportunity down. So he made it up to me by going out on a date with ME on Friday night. We went to a great Lebanese restaurant downtown and then went on a ride on the ferris wheel (my idea) on the way home.

This weekend we celebrated the end of harvest by sleeping a lot. Now until Christmas is his major travel period: New York, Chicago, Japan and somewhere else. Mia's had a hard time dealing with seeing her Dada so little during the harvest so I'm wondering if it will get better in the next few months or worse. She actually pushes Thomas away and runs for me when he comes home.

I sent them out this morning to buy croissants for a little father-daughter bonding...

For Thomas

Because he had to stay late at the winery last night and left this morning before Mia woke up... Here's a picture of Bebe Phoque and (the stuffed animal) Bebe Phoque having breakfast together.

Another Sunday gone

Tonight's news was basically dedicated to France's victory against the All Blacks last night. For a program that lasts 45 minutes (there's no publicity during the shows in France) it's a window into the mindset of the locals. Seeing as no one really expected them to win, the nation is basically celebrating a near-miracle.

We celebrated the win and David's birthday with a family lunch today. The cousins played together and we even had a visit from Mamie (Pascal's mother who is 84) for coffee. Mia called her "Mimi" and blew her kisses as Pascal drove her back to the nursing home.

Bonjour Bill

We woke up this morning with Clinton.

Lunch on the terrace

Good news for the harvest and for lunch on the terrace: the sun and warm weather are back!

With this crazy weather (cold one week, warm the next) Mia is sick again. I can hear her coughing downstairs in bed. We were up all last night because she was so sick. When I saw the doctor this morning he kind of shrugged his shoulders and said, "She's started 'school' so she's going to get sick more often. He suggested I stock up on coffee to make it through the day.

Busy weekend planned: Friday Mia is going to her Nano's for the night (uh, providing she's feeling better) because we're going to dinner. The cousin of Thomas' ex-wife has invited us over... Humh. Saturday is Dada day and Thomas has promised to spend all afternoon with Mia. Until the rugby match starts, that is. Sunday we have the Maison des Enfant's picnic, David's birthday lunch with the family, and then Thomas has a soccer match at the stadium.

Guess I'll try and get a nap in while I can...