Flashing Lights and Flying Machines

The new carrousel (parked in front of the bus stop near our favourite park) is up and running.  It is full of flashing lights and flying machines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I like it, too!"

"Oui, oui!  But of course Shawn will be getting a job to pay for all of this."

 

Where Does Shawn Play?

It may surprise you to find that we have no grass at our house.  We have a small cement backyard, surrounded by high walls.  Shawn and his sister have to find other places to play. 

To see a video of our shed, click here:  http://youtu.be/ZPugxDma0T8


Most schoolyards do not have any grassy areas.  Going to parks is very popular so that people of all ages can have what is called green space.

You can see pictures of Shawn's favourite park on this blog, at "When Learning Just Hits You in the Head."

Finally, here are some photos of our patio.  The house belongs to someone else, and we don't have permission to use paint. Also, people live above us and their windows open over our patio, so we can't make too much noise.

Can you help us think of some ways to have fun out here?

We have to go out through the garage to get to the patio.



See how high the walls are? 




This is the door back into the garage.



Going to the Boulangerie

We go to the boulangerie several times each week.  There are boulangeries in every single neighbourhood.  See if you can figure out what a boulangerie is....

Click here.
 

That's right...  It's a bakery!  In France, people buy their bread and cakes and cookies and sweet treats from a bakery more often than from a supermarket.

By the time Shawn left Dijon, he could speak French well enough to order from the boulangerie by himself, and he say a very cordial 'thank you and good day'.

Welcome to My New Neighbourhood!

In Shawn's new neighbourhood, we have noticed many differences...

 

 

We exit the house from the garage, since we don't have a door that opens to the outside.  This is common.  Shawn is always in charge of the unlocking/locking part.



It's very hard to find Canadian food like pancake mix and maple syrop, but when we did find it, we had a special breakfast.  (Notice the fireplace in our dining room.  We will use it to help heat the house come wintertime.)



It took about a month to figure out how to use the television, since North American DVD's do not work in European DVD players, and we couldn't find any good kid stations, either.  However, with some special plugs and wires, Shawn's dad figured out how Shawn and Annabeth could watch the videos we brought from Canada. 





Garbage truck!



Living room.  Le salon.



Garbage truck again!



There are no kitchen cupboards, so all the glasses and dishes and bowls, etc. are stored in the buffet in front of the window.



Bonjour!  See what colour the garbage man wears?

 



La cuisine = the kitchen, with our oven high up in the wall.  We do have a dishwasher.  Through the door is the laundry room, and that is also where the fridge is!




There are no screens on the windows so Shawn can stick his head out and wave to the garbage man.



Even "our Dijon house" needs a Lego-building table!



This is our backyard.  Shawn and Annabeth zoom cars and play with their sand toys in the stones along the wall.  Shawn's mom hangs out the laundry here, too.  All houses have walls or fences around them.



Thanks for making us dinner, Annabeth!



A pattern = une suite




Our landlady is very friendly and likes Shawn and Annabeth.  She brought presents for both of them for Annabeth's birthday.



We had bread and cheese and olives and sliced meats for Annabeth's birthday party.  And don't forget the birthday cake -- delicieux!

When Learning Just Hits You in the Head

 One day at the park, some chestnuts fell high from the trees and almost landed on our heads.  From squirrels?  We looked high and low but were unable to detect animal movement (this is an ongoing mystery we try to solve).  We examined the chestnuts, still in their prickly shells, and discussed.  Shawn thought they dropped because they were too heavy for the branches, then split open upon impact.  :)

 

Next, we collected the nuts themselves, whole ones from the ground.  We threw them to each other, rolled them along the benches, bowled with them, counted them, and learned French words while we played.  There was a lot of running involved (quel surpris!).  Annabeth picked her pet "bebe" noisette and we brought many home for the science table. 

 

While walking home, we saw one smashed on the trail -- the only broken one we had seen.  Shawn picked up a whole one and we tried to re-enact how the nut could have become so smashed.  He threw it, stepped on it, tried to smoosh it, etc.  It took a heavier foot (mine) to break it open.  Then we talked about other things we'd seen in the park that could have smashed the chestnut.  We came up with a horse and a Rosalie (a four-seater covered bicycle). 

 

It was a perfect day!
 

The chestnuts stayed in our garage until I noticed they had split open on their own and started to get moldy.  Sadly, bebe noisette is the only one left.  But chestnuts continue to be a great source of natural fun for us, and I am just disappointed that I do not have any nut-specific photos to share at this time.   

But here are some photos of the park that we frequent:

 

We bring sand toys in all weather.

It's a long walk from our entrance gate to the playground -- great for singing French songs, looking for chestnuts and kicking a ball.

Playground equipment does not look the same, does it?

There is a petting zoo in the park, with miniature ponies, donkeys, goats, chickens, geese, ducks and alpacas -- yes, alpacas!  We have a lot of videos of the animals but not many pictures.  We'll try to post some.

There is a carrousel at the entrance to the park.  Today it is closed.

But many times it is open!

 

 

 Interestingly, we later learned that the correct French word for 'chestnut' is really 'un marron.'  We preferred to continue calling them 'noisettes'.

The Scotland Castle Duart

This is our visit to Duart Castle.  This castle was given to the MacLean clan by Robert the Bruce, an important person in Scottish history.  Canadian astronaut Steven MacLean is a direct descendant of this early Scottish clan.

"It's a big castle called Castle Duart."

"This is me dressed like a knight, and Annabeth dressed like a princess."

"Me being a knight, guarding on guard for evil people."

"This is me dressed like a knight with my helmet down."

"Me on guard, looking for bad guys who would attack the castle and be so bad that they would break the bricks."

"This is Mommy and Annabeth pretending to be princesses, standing at the door for the anniversary picture."

"Somebody in the dungeon."  (This is a fake dungeon with statues of people, not a real dungeon.)

"This is where the water came from."

"This is a sign all about dungeons."

"People in the dungeon, somebody sleeping and somebody awake."

"This is fake dungeon with toy rats."

"This is a bed they slept in along time ago, and this is where they had their babies because they didn't have hospitals.  Their teacher also came to their house."

"This is me on guard, sitting on a hidden toilet that is already boxed over."

"This is Annabeth looking for the secrect staircase that is behind curtains."

"This is me standing on guard for bad guys!"

"This is me and Annabeth saying Ole! because we got a bad guy, but we just pretended."

Looking over the castle wall at the invading ship.

Mommy and Shawn had a sword fight.

Most staircases were built for right-handed knights.

Shawn's Daddy after a long day of defending the castle.

Big wall, little princess!

Canons in the front yard.

Boom!

I wonder who used to mow this lawn?