Manu et famille chez nous

Here's a surprise - the cake was chocolate

Johnny has that: I am losing, look about him

I don't think I was in that last one you took

Connor wonders if children really are lovely

Click on the thumbnails for a larger picture

Pom-Pom Girls Rule Part 2

19 February 2005

We wouldn't want people to think that they are never welcome to visit so after the last couple of visits to Cambrai we finally managed to get Manu, Rebecca and the two wee cutties to come and visit us.

Manu has been in the throws of working on an album with his band and they had been recording his drum parts in their house for a few days. After that though they had made use of the children mid-term break to come up to the coast for a few days. Putting them close to hand.

I did ask Rebecca just what the children had found to do at the seaside in February, and she explained that they had been out walking on the beach everyday with the youngsters toboganning down the dunes. Nature lessons about all the things washed up on the shores etc.

I was a little upset to find on the Saturday morning that they had to phone and announce that they were lost - having driven through the village about 20 minutes before hand. I had to send Johnny out to bring them back down the road to the house. They must have blinked as they reached the village or something.

When we had made the arrangements to visit, Manu had overlooked the fact that it would be Yasmine's 5th birthday and we didn't know until they arrived with the birthday cake and pressies. Luckily for us we had already bought her a small present from Stockholm.

The two girls soon settled in and got to know Connor the Rat very quickly. I was a little surprised that they took to her so quickly but there you go - children. I am not certain that Connor necessarily enjoyed the experience of being poked picked up and prodded by lots of tiny fingers

Sandra and Peter joined us for lunch and our French guests got the chance to try dumplings for the first time as well as beef cooked in English ale.

After the meal and the traditional blowing out of the candles the adults sat down to natter whilst the three children went upstairs to play on the X Box or with Johnny's Dragonball figurines. The only moment of chrisis for Johnny being when Yasmine wanted to start playing with his model cars and her pocket dolls. Nobody touches the cars! They may well be the only items in Johnny's room that do get regularly dusted.

Time moves on though and before the grown ups could fall asleep it was time to head back to the coast or the hills.