Quel beau cadeau! Heu...

Le petit B trépignait d'impatience. "Ouvre-le, Maman! Ouvre-le!" Simone se mit à défaire l'emballage. À l'intérieur se trouvait un marque-page - mais pas n'importe quel marque-page! Ce marque-page était fait d'une photo laminée du petit B auquel il avait attaché des fils qu'il avait tressé lui-même. "Mais c'est super beau comme cadeau, ce marque-page, petit B! J'en avais justement besoin. Merci!" S'enthousiasma Simone. Le petit B fronça les sourcils. "C'est quoi un marque-page?" "C'est quelque chose qu'on utilise pour marquer la page sur laquelle on est quand on ferme le livre qu'on était en train de lire et qu'on a pas encore terminé," expliqua Simone. "Ah bon!" Fit le petit B. Il reprit le marque-page. "Moi aussi j'en ai besoin. Merci!"

Stickers

Simone's hubby rubbed his hands together gleefully. A package had arrived in the mail that set a huge smile on his face. "Go do something else," he instructed Simone. Simone frowned and smiled at the same time, puzzled by her husband's secrecy and pleased by it at the same time: a surprise awaited and Simone loves (happy) surprises. Given the vague instructions, Simone chose to grab a book, snuggle in bed and read. She could still hear ripping as hubby opened the envelope, the opening and closing of the cupboard door as he dropped something in the recycling bin and, more puzzling, the opening and closing of the front door. Simone heroically resisted the urge to peek through the window to see what hubby was up to. Fifteen minutes later, hubby called out. "Okay, I'm done! Come and see your car!" Car? Simone's general attitude toward a car tended to "does it get me from point a to point b? then I love it!" What could hubby possibly have done to improve on that? It turned out that hubby had pasted stickers representing every member of the family, including their names, on the rear window! Simone was ecstatic! Of course, the rear window had very little window space left - 6 kids, 2 parents, 2 dogs!

Coup de soleil!

Fin avril, début mai. Normalement, ce n'est pas tout à fait la saison des coups de soleil mais voilà que Simone et quatre enfants se retrouvaient rouges comme des homards! Heureusement, Simone avait plus d'une bouteille d'aloe vera chez elle car l'anniversaire de la jeune fille de 13 ans (bientôt quatorze ans) approchait à grands pas. Surtout qu'il s'agissait de manus pour elle et quelques unes de ses copines. Pas question de se présenter avec une peau "maganée" devant l'esthéticienne! Bon. Encore un peu d'aloe. L'anniversaire se fête demain - espérons bien que toutes les rougeurs disparaitront d'ici là!

We love Nassau!

The day would begin with a cab ride to Atlantis. First up on the agenda? A lovely ride down their lazy river. Except that the lazy river has some rapids! Little B and Simone had a blast, spiralling down the river runs! The older kids all disappeared, each off on their own adventure until noon reared its ugly head. "We're kinda hungry," they said. No kidding. Hurtling yourself down water slides definitely build a craving for nourishment. Afterward. When you realize that you survived. Simone spent the afternoon portion of the day watching little B negotiate the splash pad. Once everyone was sunned and watered out, the group headed out, briefly stopping by the Ben & Jerry's stand. Simone looooooooooooooves Coffee, coffee, buzz buzz buzz ice cream! A quick stop at the ship to clean up and bring little B to Camp Carnival, the daycare where he'd have dinner with his peers. And then Senor Frog's for the older group! Um. Paaaarty?

Freeport

Première journée et il pleuvait. Il ne pleuvait pas un petit peu. Il pleuvait beaucoup. "On fait quoi?" "Bah, on va à la plage?" "Sous la pluie?" "Bah oui. Il fait chaud, non?" En effet, il faisait même très chaud. Donc tout le monde en taxi. Heureusement, les taxis aux Bahamas sont fait pour les groupes et les 9 personnes grimpèrent dans le taxi. Pas de ceinture de sécurité (le petit B s'énervait à ce sujet) et un conducteur qui conduisait comme un défoncé. Malgré les palpitations de Simone, ils arrivèrent à destination sains et saufs. Quelques uns s'aventurèrent dans l'océan sous la pluie. D'autres dans la piscine de l'hôtel qui se trouvait à deux pas de la plage. Et les derniers, plus sages, sans doute, restèrent bien à l'abri dans le lobby de l'hôtel. Après le bain, il était temps de se réchauffer avec un petit café. Heureusement, il y avait un Starbucks dans l'hôtel! Et puis un petit repas ferait du bien, donc le groupe se dirigea vers les magasins à deux pas de l'hôtel. Là, ils s'installèrent dans un restaurant que le conducteur de taxi avait recommandé. Décidément, le conducteur de devait pas avoir bon goût. Non seulement le groupe a attendu plus de 45 minutes avant de recevoir leurs boissons mais la nourriture était infecte. Comme si cela ne suffisait pas, il pleuvait averse lorsqu'ils sortirent du resto. En plus, il ne faisait plus très chaud. Bon. Un peu de shopping, ça relève toujours le moral, n'est-ce pas?

Muster Stations!

Delights abound when you travel on a cruise - but the safety drill definitely falls outside the fun things to do. Still, the drill is obligatory for all passengers, so Simone, hubby, the 13 year old and her friend as well as little B dutifully attended. Given the somewhat recent sinking of a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, cruise personnel reinstated the "stand on deck where the safety boats are located" portion that had fallen by the wayside. As soon as the whistle sounded, signalling the end of the drill, Simone knew where she wanted to go. "Where are you going?" Demanded hubby. "I'm going to Camp Carnival to register little B," Simone informed him. "No, no! We're going to the slides first. He wants to go to the slides first. Don't you want to go to the slides?" Hubby asked little B. Little B readily agreed as Simone fumed, miffed because she really wanted to get the registration over with. Now. She silently cursed her husband for arbitrarily deciding to go to the other end of the ship when Camp Carnival was right there! Next to the safety boats, for crying out loud! Still, little B was very excited at the sight of the slides and quickly stripped down to his swimsuit. Simone sat down in one of the lounge chairs, a little disappointed that in addition to not getting little B registered yet, she had neglected to bring something to read. The overcast, 20 degree Celsius weather was simply not warm enough for Simone to venture out on the slides. Then, Simone spotted a familiar figure. Wait! Make that two familiar figures! Oh wow! Four familiar figures! It seemed that hubby, wanting to surprise Simone, had invited all the kids on the cruise! And there they were, gathering around Simone... What a most delightful, wonderful surprise! Thank-you, hubby! Thank-you, kids!

Yellowing

"Your hair is turning yellow," Simone's hubby noted. Simone grimaced. She had indeed noticed the fading and now, having Googled it, realized that in order to apply red dye to her hair, the stylist must have first bleached her hair. And when the red washed off, as it often will, the yellow "shone" through. She went back to visit the stylist and informed him that she no longer wanted red in her hair. Simone felt strongly that the process would damage her hair. The stylist, however, failed to heed the warning. He assured Simone that he would not strip her hair, that everything would be hunky dory. Only he bleached Simone's hair AGAIN prior to applying the red dye. Simone fumed. The stylist promised never to do it again. Ever. And the next day, to sweeten the pot further, as Simone dried her freshly washed hair, she found streaks of red dye

on the towel. The previously pristine white towel. Ugh.