Lavender

On the way back to Switzerland from the South of France, we spent a night midway, in the Drome. A chance to visit a region of France I didn't know at all. And when weren't lost in lavender fields, we got to visit Grignan and its castel, and the very interesting Silk Museum in Taulignan.

Weekend in Los Angeles

After numerous failed attempts, we finally made it to our friends in LA (Santa Monica to be fair, it's much nicer then just LA). Kyan, Anastasia and I drove down on Friday, and Michael joined us on Sunday. What a treat to see the Doreaux again, to chat while sketching with Delphine, and the kids were thrilled to see their buddy Etienne again. We even managed to go see the dinosaurs at the museum, and the mammoths at the Tar Pit.
And about the pictures taken at the beach, all three kids were wearing clothing from my creation. What an honor...

First outing for the Goblins

Halloween has started early this year. We went to the Discovery Museum which had a special "not scary" children party, with witches school, bat cave, petting zoo, crafts... I finished the costumes just in time, the kids having chosen what they wanted to be a while ago: a giraffe for Anastasia, and a kylosaurus for Kyan...

Seapeople in training...

Rain, rain and more rain has been on the menu for quite a few days, and it's sometime a bit challenging to keep the kids busy in an area where so much is focused on the outdoors. So, we went for yet another visit at the kids' museum, where Anastasia met with one of her little quebecois friends, Victor. And, oh joy, the sky cleared just long enough to go climb up a hill.

Tiny waves...

Lovely morning at the museum with Chloe, a good friend of Kyan. Despite the chilly weather, the kids wanted to play with plastic starfish in the little stream instead of staying in the warm cabins...

Aquarium

One more picture of the weekend in Monterey, of the aquarium, which we got just for us for a while. Since we don't see the fish so well on the picture, we're looking at three hammerhead sharks, a white shark, several manta raies, huge tuna fish, sardines, a big sunfish... The rest, I don't remember ...

Seaside

Short weekend getaway to go see the Monterey Aquarium (and a very nice exhibition about seahorses and sea dragons), and enjoy slightly warmer temperatures (let's say that the water is a tad warmer there). To drive the two and a half hours, we rented a minivan to haul everybody down the coast. It felt like a school trip.

I'll start with a few pictures of the beach, the first day. You can see the beautiful jacket Odile knitted for Anastasia (the kids were all in home fashion, Anastasia with her caterpillar pants, and Kyan with his stingray shirt and seahorses pants).

I think we all enjoy that little expedition. Back at home Kyan transformed part of the living room into an aquarium. Beware where you set foot.

Discovery Museum

Sunday morning, we went to the Discovery Museum to see, among other exhibitions, "The Secret Life of Animals" (or where and how animals live). We learned a lot, like how to hide acorns in a tree trunk, build a dam when you're a beaver, hide crabs and seagulls in the cavities of a cliff, or hop from lily pad to lily pad. All sort of things really important to know...