So luckily I didn't come down with any illness last week, I was fine the next day. I have no recollection of what we did last Wednesday, so we must have stayed at home. We had a meeting on site at our new house, a brief one as we had the kids with us and it's quite a dangerous play area for them as you can imagine. We got the good news that all the big work on the house exterior should be finished by the end of next week. The roof is in progress as we speak.
A friend I had on the comittee at Laila's old school asked if we wanted to go to a soft play park on Thursday, we jumped at the chance! Now to friends in the UK and possibly in the US, this will not seem like a big deal. But as with (almost) everything in France, they are behind the times on facilities like this. The only soft play in Lannion is either at McDonalds (and it stinks) or at Quick (another fast food chain). So obviously you can't go without ordering fast food, but the main problem is the structures are for older children. It says 3+, but Laila only managed it recently for the first time, it's quite high up and she was too scared to go before. It's also very enclosed and difficult for an adult to go in, not my idea of safe play for the little ones.
So our nearest facilities are Defoul'parc near Morlaix, a 45min drive from Lannion, or Woupi Parc in St Brieuc, a 45min drive in the opposite direction.
Defoul'parc is smaller than Woupi parc, and Morlaix is a smaller town than St Brieuc, so it seems like a good choice for our first time. You may be suprised that we hadn't been to either one until now, but Max would have needed constant supervision before and Laila wouldn't have wanted to go and do anything without me so it didn't seem very appealing.
This time however, they were both the perfect age! It was fantastic! Max was, as always, happy to go off and explore on his own, but I was safe in the knowledge that he's now capable of getting himself on, in and out of things on his own without doing too much damage. Laila, though really surprised me. She went off immediately to play, either with the children we were with, with Max, on her own or with children she didn't know. She was so happy just to play, she wasn't concerned where I was or what anyone else was doing. It was amazing to see the change in her and how much she's growing up, she has always been the one to stick by my side! She was also really good that day, she did everything I asked of her and i was very proud. Alright, I'll admit to get her to leave I had to bribe her with a lollipop but we do what we can!!!
Last Friday we had a playdate with some friends at our house, Max was having his nap when they came. The girls played on their own in the playroom for almost an hour while us mums got to chat uninterrupted, it was amazing!!
We decided to go back to Francois' parents in Quimperlé for the weekend, to help a bit more and mainly to show the kids Papy and Mamy's new house. We had a very nice weekend, I even managed to get my first lesson plan done!
This week, we saw Grandad very briefly on his way to the port to collect some friends. We've spent some nice time at home, I continue to sort and clean where I can, also trying to sell some kids clothes online, it's neverending!
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| playing in Max's room |
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| playing in the garden |
I went back to work this week, Tuesday and then tomorrow, doing my professional English lessons. Max went to the childminders, and I took Laila and Thomas (the childminders son) to the Centre de Loisirs, it's like holiday camp I guess. But you can do half days or full days, no need to book ahead. It's very flexible, the kids have great fun and it's cheap! I'll write more about this and other childcare facilities in another post.
Here are Laila and Thomas in fancy dress for Mardi Gras!
So there are only 2 days left now (it's taken me one day to write this post!)...tomorrow I'm working, and on Friday Laila and Max are going on a playdate without me! This is a first and I'm very excited!
I promise to write more soon, but for now I need to sleep. It's been a very tiring and trying day, we stayed home today and it was HARD WORK!!!!
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