Hello family!!

So, David and I were able to go up to see Jocelyn and family. It only took about two hours to get up to Perpignan from Terrassa. We arrived at about 5:15 and Patrice, Jocelyn and crew were all waiting for us just after the exit.

Since we had no place to go, we went to the beach. We had a great time! Of course the kids didn´t stay dry. After about 5 minutes they were all in their underwear playing in the water. So the kids were having fun and the "adults" were having a nice time chatting (sooo much fun to be able to "compare notes" with Joc about European living.) But the best is yet to come...

David had brought a soccer ball to play with and YUP it ended up in the water. At this point ONLY the KIDS were wet. Guillome (i don´t remember how to spell it, sorry) had kicked the ball into the water and now of course his parents told him that he would have to go get it. Now Guillome doesn´t exactly know how to swim. So Patrice blew up a floaty thingy so Guillome could go get the ball all by himself. The water got deep fast and every time Guillom couldn´t touch the ground he freaked out. So here we are four adults shouting out how he needs to swim and that he´ll be ok. Patrice is in the water getting almost as we as Guillome. And poor Guillome doing well and then freaking out, doing well and then freaking out... Finally Guillome started to swim and eventually got the ball. As he reached for the ball and threw it towards the beach we all started cheering and telling him what a wonderful job he´d done and his little face lit up with pride and satisfaction. He had gotten the ball all by himself.

We all went back to playing and talking enjoying the time together and all of the sudden Patrice screams out, "Guillome, not again!" I took a picture of Patrices face but because of the backlight it didn´t come out, but it was SOOOO good. This time it wasn´t the ball that had been thrown in the water but the floaty thingy!! So Guillome was standing there next to the water with that "oops I did it again" face and then Margot started SCREAMING/CRYING. Of course it was HER floaty thingy. (I have to admit at this point I starting peeing my paints, I was laghing so hard!!) Luckily they had another floaty thingy and Patrice blew it up, gave it to Guillome and sent him out for the other floaty thingy. Because of the success he had had with the ball at the beginning Guillome was all for going out in the water again, to be the hero again. But this time he had to go farther out. He ended up freaking out and coming back in (which was ok, because it really was too far out for him to go alone). There was a man out in the water, kind of far out, and he was nice enough to come in and help Guillome. Yup he passed the floaty thingy and came and got Guillome and took him out to get the floaty thingy with him. We all thought that was nice of him. So finally we had the TWO floaty thingy´s and Margot FINALLY stopped crying!! I was still peeing my pants.

So, after all this the "boys" (Patrice and David) decide that the kids are having all the fun and they put swimming suits on (Patrice lent David one of his) and went out in the water for a swim. (They could have done that a few floaty things and ball earlier don´t you think?) Joc and I got to talk some more and then came the showers, changing clothes and getting warm. The poor kids were cold after being in that cold water -- don´t worry Cassy they are ok. They don´t need swimsuits even though they were swiming in their undies and they don´t need jackets even though they were cold!! hahaha...

We went to a restaurant that was near by and ate pizza and muscles (for those that like those icky things). It was a great time. Of course it made me miss having family around even more, but we really enjoyed the few hours we did have together. Thanks Jocelyn and Patrice for making the effort to see us. We had a great time. And let´s just say, watching Jocelyn´s kids has been the best entertainment we´ve had in a LONG time! (And they gave us lots of hugs, which is better than anything.)

I do have to say that the ride home was hard. After a long day and a big dinner David and I were both tired. Neither of us remember much about the ride home!!

We love you all and hope everyone is happy happy happy. Hugs for all.
keepsmiling.