9 February was Pépé's 70th birthday, believe it or not! The family gathered at a lovely restaurant in a village nearby and spent the day (well, we celebrated on the 11th, actually) eating fine foods, drinking fine wines and toasting the birthday boy to another 70 to come. A lovely time was had by all and sundry, and even the babes dug (into) the delicacies with an apetite I doubt I've ever seen. Here're a couple of my favourite photos:
And 19 February was our wunnerful friend Neil's 40th birthday. A big, surprise gathering of friends was held at the Mensa that night, and once again, there was a fantastic time had by all - and not least by the man of the hour himself! Good friends, good fixins, good times... ahhhhhh!
A couple of impromptu gatherings were good food for the soul this past month. Here's a look at one that had a Before and an After. For the Before picture, everybody was supposed to look Very Serious. Or something like that:
Here are two sneaky boys. We'd told them that they could each take two cars to the park, but they cried out, "NO! LOTS OF! CARS!" and proceded to tuck a good percentage of their collection into their shirts - a trick that, once learnt, is never forgotten. Though of course, they don't get very far with it. Can't hurt to try, though, can it?
The boys were happy to have more Mommy Time yesterday afternoon. We celebrated with a mini-packet of gummy bears apiece and a long walk around the neighbourhood:
The walk culminated in a spirited exchange with a trio of quay-side fishers (funnily enough, they were drinking Fischer beers all the while), who gave each of the boys a Euro to do with what they pleased (which is to say, what their mommy pleases. And what would please their mommy would be to start a bank account for each of them, using this Euro and the three Euros apeice that a lovely woman - a stranger to us, too! - recently pressed into each of their hands when they met her in a bookstore. Gotta start somewhere; why not with a bit of Happy Money, eh?).
At any rate, when we got home, the boys were beat. Tomi didn't even last until the table was set. Leo managed, but it was touch-and-go. Dinosaur gazing helped:
Sleep is closing my eyes for me even as I type, but before it succeeds, here're a last couple of images for good measure:
