Acacia

To our happy, sharp-tongued, sensitive, beautiful, justice-demanding, sociable, smart, sassy, quick-to-laugh, eye-rolling, athletic, funny Acacia:

Happy 12th Birthday!

We love you more than a toaster.

September 24

    

Life Lessons After Hours

Both Cayenne and Acacia were already in bed when I called up the stairs, "Did you brush your teeth?"

"Yup!"

"Yup!"

I went to tuck them in and knew instantly Acacia hadn't brushed her teeth.

"You brushed your teeth?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Kind of."

"I know you didn't brush your teeth. Cayenne? What about you?" I called.

Silence.

"Get up, mes filles! Go brush your teeth. Both of you."

"But MOM! It's midnight. Can't we just go to sleep?"

"You could have if you hadn't lied to me."

Cayenne slipped out of her bed and was brushing before Acacia whipped back her sheets with an, "Are you kidding me?!"

Stomp stomp stomp

"This is not okay!"

Brush brush brush

"It's midnight!"

And it was. We had spent the evening with Michel and Ilona, who had chosen to make a Timbale Milanese so we would have leftovers to take home, and a Mousse au Chocolate because Nicolas wasn't there (just kidding, Nico). And then we watched The Horse Whisperer.

 

(Photos taken with my phone in low light. I apologize for the low quality.)

And now it's Monday, the girls are enjoying their Timbale for lunch at school, they've hopefully forgotten that they hated me at midnight last Friday, and remembered that it's not okay to lie.

    

Life

Do you ever just stop, look around at your life, and think, "How did I get here?"

Me too.

 

Jet Lag Rocks

For the first time in my life I can say, "Yay for jet lag!"

Normally a summer of relaxing makes for nightmarish 6:15am wake-ups during the first week of school, but we got smart this time. Nick and the girls returned from France late Friday night (Aug 22), which meant they were up and at 'em at 5am (4am if you're Acacia) for days. Perfect for an Aug 25th school start date.

They even had time to make their beds. It's a miracle.

And they left for school with plenty of fodder for the "What I Did This Summer" essays, having climbed ten more 14ers and spent some quality time with their extended family in France...

Cayenne and her Awesome Great-Grandfather in St-Raphael

I can just hear the laughing, taste the rosé, and feel the warm sticky air. *sigh* 

Playing Mah-Jong is a family tradition.

Papa in his happy place.

They all had a good time at the beach...

But Acacia kept finding the jelly fish and anemones.

And at the end of every fun-filled day, all the kids slept en plein air on the upstairs balcony.

Awesome, right?

But wait... there's more...

Most of the crowd traveled back to Grenoble where they enjoyed more big family dinners, hiking, and hanging out at the cabin known as La Maison Bleue.

Marion made birthday cakes for both Tiphaine and Acacia, born six weeks apart. It was in this living room almost 13 years ago that we both shared the news we were expecting. :)

I can't say thank you enough to our French Family for taking such good care of my little family on their trip. 

They loved every minute of it!

♥ Merci Merci Merci!! ♥