A thoroughly good summer (if that's what you wish to call this strange, extended autumn that we've been having since mid-June) has now officially come to an end with the departure of the boys' beloved Gamma & Gampa and with those same boys' finally knocking off to sleep a few minutes ago - for when they wake up, they will be readying for their first day of their second year of pre-school. But more about that later...
...and back to Gamma & Gampa! Who arrived on the last day of the boys' summer school, about five minutes after I'd finished the first of the revamped S'MAGs and sent it all off to the printer's. We picked the boys up just as they were waking from their nap and readying for the afternoon's fun on the playground. They were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, and it was terribly sweet to see them realise who was before them, at last. They immediately took their grandparents' hands and started talking up a storm with them. Mostly, the storm concerned pteradactyls and Batman and Leo's new-ish shoes (which never seem to lose their sheen for him)...
Their visit coincided with the end of a visit from our dear old pal, Agnès, whose departure for the southern climes about three years ago has been felt sorely ever since. Here're a few scenes from a day at the park with friends and family:
Below are a few shots from our trip back to the Kehl train station, where there is a series of fountains to occupy people of all ages as they await their locomotive. Some take off their shoes to enjoy them (or wear water-walking sandals), whereas some... Poor little elf. (I felt a bit badly about taking this photo, and yet...) 
And then, on Saturday, we headed into the Vosges, to a place called Hautes-Huttes. We had the love-r-ly company of Eric, Caroline, Fred, Dylan and Lara for the first two days, and beautiful weather to boot! The second of these two pictures is another from the four-year-old photographic genius, Lara. I am already a BIG fan of her work. And her dad took the first picture, which is one of my faves from the whole week:
If you look closely, above, you can see that Fred's taking a picture of us at the same instant that I'm taking a picture of the three men around the table. And (below) here we are in various states of readiness for the beautiful day's walk that was ahead of us.
From Sunday night to Thursday night, we were on our own, up to lots of trouble and hiking, hiking, hiking, eating, drinking, hiking, eating, drinking, rolling Yahtzee dice, reading, drinking, hiking, eating, hiking, hiking, hiking, eating, drinking, rolling more dice, reading, hiking, hiking... you get the picture.
Here are some scenes from a very foggy, romantic day's walk:
Tomi pointing out one of the many patches of heather along the paths:
Some scenes from a day at the Bioscope:
A day of walking that ended with the women and children awaiting the men and the car (that they climbed that mountain behind them to get to - an incredible climb, and they did it in about half the time the maps suggested. We were aghast when they explained their route to us, later):
A day of walking that ended (again?!) with the men trekking for the car, Jean-Philippe's being led for two hours all over the windy mountain paths to eventually track us down, and Larry and Neil at the point of contemplating a call to the local search and rescue operation when we finally rolled in (it had been a thoroughly gorgeous day, though, and the fact is that we who were left behind to fend off the hungry bears were actually the most fortunate, in the end, as the valley we were in was one of the most idyllic that I've ever seen, and came complete with a fabulous inn where we could stuff our stomachs. It's a long story, though - too long for this blog post, which is becoming epic in length already)... Starting with Barb and the view from just above our house, where the paths began:
Above, the boys learning the beauty of berries from Grampa. Below, a few of Leo's photos (the first one with a bit of help from his mom):
An unsatisfactory picture of the valley in which we were held captive until sundown and one of Tomi busying himself at the inn:
And then we were joined by the Ovey clan from Thursday evening until we all made our merry way home, taking in a long and lovely lunch on the terrace of a wonderful place that we found by accident in Villé along the way...
Oh, and here's a photo of the height of most of the ceilings in the house - as Caroline said as we walked in the front door for the first time: "Oh! It's a Yerkes-sized house!" - and also a photo of the effect of those ceilings on the tallest among us (heh! heh!):
If it ain't already obvious, we had a really wonderful time, kids and adults alike. Definately something we will use as a template for future vacations. And I will never forget some of the images (not captured on film) from this Gamma-Gampa stay, like the moment that the boys saw their grandparents in the school hallway and those moments following, during which the boys so happily took their hands and began walking and chatting with them as though this were something perfectly normal; or the evening we spent teaching the boys how to hit balls with rackets (Grampa was with the boys at the bottom of the tiny hill, acting as "catcher" while Gramma and Mom (sans -my, now) stood up above and launched) as Jean-Philippe prepared supper and the sun began setting behind the mountain; or many-many others... But it's taken far too long for me to get this up, and it's a long one as it is, and so... despite the gaps and the omission of the sometimes hilarious stories behind the comments and pictures above... I now hold my breath and close my eyes and hiccup and hit "publish post" at the same time... (yikes!)
