Easter

In preparation for Easter there is some kind of child-friendly activity going on at Sihl City, our local family friendly shopping mall. So Alexandra took Bluet and Ilona there this afternoon, where they proceeded to get their faces painted. I wonder how much of this will still be left by bathtime......



UPDATE...this is the state of the make up by the time we got home

Messing about on the river

Last Saturday in Missouri we headed off on the annual Corse family summer float trip. This involved a whole bunch of people getting into canoes and spending two days without home comforts such as mobile telephones; fortunately we did take cameras.

Bluet particularly enjoyed 1) being around several other, slightly older kids, 2) spending more time with her cousins Lila and Nate, 3) going in the water, 4) touching the fish that everyone caught (even me, I caught my first three fish ever!)  and (most of all) 5) riding in Wayne's canoe. On the Sunday Bluet and Lila were both riding with Wayne when it started to rain. Hard. We covered the two girls up with a tarpaulin, and they sat under it, totally covered and giggling to each other as we continued downstream. As the thunder and lightning got closer, we pulled the boats ashore to shelter, and eventually camp. It was an experience.

On Monday at the end of the trip we took the boats out at an old water mill. We went and looked at the wheel with Bluet riding on my shoulders. She thought it was a bicycle wheel, despite the enormous size. More interestingly, she said 'I riding on my Dadn's shoulders' rather than 'Bluet riding on Dadn's shoulders' which was the first time we really noticed her using the first person rather than third person to refer to herself. She seems to have gotten the hang of using 'I' and 'my' over the last week.

Oh, and we also saw this copperhead "'nake".

And some butterflies