forests and trees

This is a theme (think eponymously) with our Swedish cousins, who were brave enough to visit for a whole week! Dzuk and T got some bonding time...





(I love this one, even though its kind of hard to see - both are doing the universal sign for 'crocodile'. Snap snap!)

Here we are birdwatching at Attenborough... obviously we were too caught up in the fauna (and the flora -- literally, as we spent some time picking 'natras' out of little hands...) to take too many pics of this gorgeous nature reserve.

Next day: busriders...

... and parkies.

Tante S's birthday afternoon was celebrated with a walk in (the NOT eponymous) Bunny Wood, with bouts of more and less enthusiasm from the entourage...

And here is the birthday girl in her guest role as Old Mother Hubbard (either that or an ad for birth control!):

But all's well that end's well - that is, with indian food and birthday cake!

(My girl wants to) Party all the time ...

How many parties can you fit in a telephone booth? Not as many, apparently, as we managed to stuff into one lonely old November week.


First - Hallowe'en. Not exactly Canadian style, but British style suited the terrors just fine (less houses, but more bang for your buck. We're talking full-sized chocolate bars.).

Tante Stinky was in charge of make-up, as it was a "London" night for Mamuks. Dzuk is a bit skeptical, I believe (nau.)

Then came Mudzuks' 'school friends' birthday party, which luckily Annika was still around for as well. This year Mamuks gave up on cakes and turned her hand to underwater papier mache instead....

... while pizza-maker Papuks played galley slave.

Well, not only galley slave. He was also jellyfish pinata maker extraordinaire. Perhaps too extraordinaire. Particularly as we hadn't quite reckoned on it being pitch black already at 5 oclock -far too dark to go across to the field with Big Tree - we improvised inside. The pinata was far too powerful a match for the wooden spoon, as the frustrated bashers soon discovered.

But the bottom, as always, evenutally gives way...

Happy customers!

But the partying doesn't stop there, oh no. The next night it was Guy Fawkes - i.e. Bonfire Night in England. Opis rose to the challenge! With marshmallows...

And real fireworks - both small and sparkly, and big and potentially dangerous! (You can see Papuks has almost lost a leg in that second pic...)


But we're just warming up, really. The next morning O-squared brought over a torte and more goodies for the birthday girl...

...while Dzukie and Vecais were already looking a bit hungover from all that partying (hmmm, fingersmears on the glass doors, anyone??)

But nothing a little bit of fresh air and park action can't cure.

And finally the real day arrives!

(I think she enjoyed it, through a sleepy sort of fog....)

Les Parisiens

Well, what 8 year old wouldn't want to celebrate her birthday in Paris??

Although, given how the midterm school holiday worked out, we ended up in Paris a week earlier - celebrating Mamuks' birthday instead of Mudzuks', exactly...! (How did I finangle that?)

It all started with a visit to the Brussels Sprouts - here are our kids in the park while the Outlaws were in school/at work...
Then we all evenutally converged in Gay Paris (mamuks from London, the rest from Brussels, in two separate batches). We stayed in a fantastic neigbourhood-ish flat - with a convenient little parkette just outside:


But we were in Paris, afterall,


which meant...

The Louvre:

(Vecais & Annika, proud to have made it through the line for their

5 seconds with the Mona Lisa)

(Dzudzie is less impressed by Liberty Leading the People)

Les Catacombes


Lots of riding the Metro

Seeing friends of the Outlaws' (from London, of course) up by the Parc de la Villette:


And a climb up the stairs of the inimitable Tour Eiffel - "What i've wanted to do all my life!!", as Mudzuks could be heard saying, repeatedly....

(Hot chocolate with a view, mid-way up)

(Yes, that is Vecais attempting to climb the Eiffel Tour on the *outside* of the structure... before getting chased away by a security guard!)

But of course, it was Mamuks birthday, so that called for some celebration in its own right:

(I was entertained by the Three Bones')

And indulged in real Parisien cakes! Yum! (With lots of help to eat them, luckily)