Fall break

October was characterized by a magnificent weather and a fantastic Fall break (2 weeks). My cousins' kids came to their Grandparents (next door from us) for a week and it turned our week into a better than real vacation camp.

On their first day here my uncle and my cousin did some wood cutting work (an occupational hazard in the family) which fascinated Joshua. He was so excited (and a little concerned) to get to ride on the tractor.

William did not want to have anything to do with this giant dangerous machine.

Isn't the place gorgeous!?

The treehouse was a hit, they played in it daily.

and they all learned new tricks on the swing.

Cousins and 2nd cousins 

The second week of fall break, our friends Kate and Ada (and their Mom and baby brother) came over to play. We walked to the village play area with them and spent an afternoon there. It is quite gorgeous there.

And that week-end, William learned to ride a bike with no training wheels! Not to pat myself on the back (cause I've got nothing to do with it) but I think this kid has amazing coordination skills (provided I bribe him with a bag of Monster Munch). It took him less than 2 hours to learn to pedal and balance! Proud Momma moment.

The next day we had a picnic on the Saone river banks near Villefranche after stake conference (2-hours north). Again several of their cousins and a few friends were there and we had a good time. That area is really pretty too, not mountainous but very green and picturesque.  

And that was our Fall break (with the 2 Halloween carnivals in the middle). I was afraid the boys would be reluctant to go back to school after so much fun with their cousins (they were a little reluctant at first) but now they're happy to go to school again although I don't think they like school as much here as in Boulder sadly.

Halloween in France

This year the boys decided to be Ninjagos. They discovered the show here in France and they were obsessed with it. I don't love it but I jumped onboard quickly because I thought it would make for some cute and easy costumes. Indeed I just had to buy a pair of colored sweat pants and hoodies for each of them and decorate them with duck tape and they were done.

No difficulty being in character for this little ninja.

Josh's moves were beyond impressive, of course his favorite part of the outfit was the matching sword.

Hiya!

zing, zang…

 why did I go along with this theme again?

Since I hadn't heard of any organized party or activity I teamed up with friends and family members and we planned 2 carnival parties for the kiddos. We organized one at home with all the cousins (my cousins's children were visiting their Grandparents next door for fall break and one of my sisters was home too). And we organized another one at church closer to Halloween day with some of their church friends.

Knock the can game

Aiming game

Face painting

My aunt made delicious cookies that the children decorated… and gobbled up.

The weather was fantastic so the kids played outside endlessly.

I pulled out my balloons and made some swords (that never gets old). 

And we had a fishing game to gather some candy.

Interestingly the Knock-the-can game was the most popular. 

The weather was so fabulous the kids ended up playing outside all afternoon and again the treehouse was the star of the show.

(I think I found my new Boulder as far as scenery goes)

The boys posing with their loot. 

The night before Halloween we went to church downtown for another carnival party and trick or treating feast. 

These kids don't need sugar to be hyper...

The witches

The decoration and another fishing game that was completely snubbed (I recycled it in primary to get my work worthwhile though) 

the popular knock-the-can game

Cool decoration by our friend Dustin.

We decorated cookies again.

And the boys crossed swords endlessly : one for all, all for one! (I think that's what they meant to say but the thing they actually said did not make any sense!)

again, and again, and again!

Then we played the mummy game :

followed by a spontaneous TP fight!

Lastly we took the kids trick or treating down the hall of the church building. The parents (Dustin, Leslie, Emmanuelle and Anne-Laure)  waited on the other side of the doors and distributed candy provided the kids make scary faces or smile. The french way to say "Trick or Treat" is "Des Bonbons ou la vie!" which means "Candy or your life!"… (You can say obnoxious).

Everyone went home happy, and that saved me the pain of going Trick-or-Treating for nothing in the cold (and dark) the next day. Based on the number of kids who came to our house on Halloween night (zero) I'm guessing it would have a little disappointing.