Sasha's Birthday

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We got up a bit earlier today in order to straighten up and to be finished breakfast and get our bedroom tidied up in time for the people seeing the house today.

After breakfast, we all gathered in the living room and Sasha, who turns 6 today, opened his presents. At the same time Daniel was taking a couple on a tour of the house. It has to be hard for them to be leaving this all behind.

Sasha got an number of gifts including a scooter, bubble making things, and a pogo stick that uses a ball as the bouncing mechanism. Benjamin and Rafael worked together outside to put together the pogo stick.

After working trying out the pogo stick, Sandy, Evy, and I took a walk with all five children to a field nearby where teenagers have build a sort of motocross bike course complete with awesome jumps and some very scary looking ramps. Benjamin and Joshua borrowed bikes and got to try out some of the jumps, but 11 year old Rafael was the real expert.

After the bike park, we walked back the house where Daniel was taking another couple on a tour of the house. The kids cleaned up (all a bit muddy from the landings) and we all got into the van to go out to a restaurant for lunch and Sasha's birthday.

The restaurant we went to was a beautifully situated place in the countryside. From the angle of the road, it looks to be just a farmhouse, but with many cars parked in front. When you come around to the back though, you see a complete modern set up with lovely post and beam construction.

The meal, which was our first one in a sit down French restaurant, was quite leisurely with some tasty dishes including pate with salad and a main course of veal with a cheese sauce made from local cheese.

After the meal we headed back to the house. Sandy took Anastasia out to her dance class, while Joshua and Benjamin got down to some school work.

We seem to have connected to the Wifi in the neighbourhood and the password from the Grenoble, which is still in the computer, connects us to the local internet company. This is quite useful as we can check our email from our room. One message is about whether we will return to Canada in time for me to teach a summer course. It would involve being back about three or four days earlier than we have planned, but we could probably use the money, so it is tempting.

The second message was from my cousin Christopher who lives in London. They will not be around the first weekend that we are there but will be around during the week, so hopefully we can hook up with them.

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