23 September > Well, it all started out so well! We arrived at our inn in the Vosges - a little farmhouse built into the mountain on one side of the village of Trois Épis - at 3pm and settled in, had a small picnic in their garden, and went upstairs to our comfy, farmhous-y rooms to try to get the boys to nap and wait for... what?!The bells tolled five and there was a knock on the door. Jean-Philippe answered and I heard, "Mrglumphanrrmassageahnoopalrghmuhn..." Whoa! And what a massage it was! TWO HOURS LONG and so-o-o-o-o-o magnificent, so exactly what I needed at this moment. Also, nothing could have better prepared me for the direction things turned later that evening...
That evening, the inn was putting on a dinner devoted to the micro-brewery beers of Alsace. There were a squillion courses, and each one was paired with "its" beer. Things were going well. Perhaps too well?
Because not long after the second course was served, Tomi emitted a wail and... everything he'd eaten that day. Or so we thought. Luckily, we were the only people on the terrace, which joined the other two small rooms, but offered a corner for the boys, where they could play while the rest of the restaurant beered and dined. This also meant that when the curtain began dropping on our evening, the show could go on virtually uninterrupted for the others. In any case, Tomi assured us that he was fine, and that he wanted to go back to the table. And when the third course came, he lost it again. And then again. And so... Jean-Philippe went up with Tomi while Leo finished his supper and our kindly hostess and I put together a platter with some of the rest of the fixins to bring up and get down when the boys were in bed. & later that night, after we'd finished our dinner and I'd opened my gifts (frankly, it hadn't occured to me that there would be any openable gifts, after all the rest. But that don't mean I refused Richard Thompson's 1000 Years of Popular Music or Enzo Mari's Jeu des fables. Huh-uh! No sirree!), we drifted off to dreams, until... BLORK! BLORK! BLURK! WAAAAAAAA! & it was Leo's turn.
24 September > & in the morning, the boys were just fine! But then again... Jean-Philippe wasn't. For the first time in his life, he ate nothing and drank but a cup of tea for breakfast. It had to be bad. So I couldn't figure out why he was so adamant about getting us to the inn he had reserved for lunch that day, somewhere in the Vosges above Riquewihr. Until we got there, and the woman asked how many we had reserved for, and Jean-Philippe murmured, "Ehm... about 20..." with a sidelong glance in my direction. Ahhhhh...!
Here are the wee ones: Elisa & Felix, Leo & Tomi, Lara & Dylan
As part of the party moved outside after the copious lunch...
...another part stayed inside to help keep Neil's spirits up until he was finally served a truly vegetarian dish. He had asked if the munster tart had any meat in it, and was told, "No - none." It came filled with bacon. We explained the situation to the waitress, who said, "Oh, there's really not that much in there!" We had to insist.
Dylan does the Ninja Shuffle as Leo takes out the topiary...
Elisa, Caroline & Anne-Sophie pose:
Clare, Caro & Fred, Marion & Manu:
Guillaume & Laurence (& Pacio), Clare & Neil, Candice, Joël & Anne-So:
The portrait contest begins (that's Eric on the right hand side):
& here is "ellybolly" (Leo & Tomi Speak for "everybody"):
Hm... just realised that Dylan's missing. Where'd he go?!& here is a picture from the way home, after having spent 7 fantastic hours at the inn:
& last but certainly not least:
Squillions of thanks to ellybolly for everything ( !!!! ), and especially to Jean-Philippe, who planned it all and couldn't eat many of the fruits of his labour. Snif! One of these days, I'll find some way of making it up to him...
p.s. Monday night, it was my turn. Aack!
