There is an old walking street in our village of La Colle sur Loup called Rue Georges Clemenceau. It is about a 10 minute walk from our place. Along this street you will find many tiny shops, restaurants, an artist's paint shop, a kids crafting shop, and even a little boutique with hand sewn dresses and homemade jewelry for little girls. There is a big tap with potable water halfway down the street in an open area where markets are held on Saturday mornings. We also just discovered a 'jardin publique' behind one of the little gates, which is basically a fenced in park with trees, benches, and a few park toys for kids. Oh yes, and a bathroom where each of the stalls simply has a hole in the floor between two foot grip spots.
Yesterday was a big day, as Daryl went in to Nice to pick up a rental car! Yippee! While he was out, the kids and I went for a walk to Rue Georges, with our Costco bike trailer stroller (good wheels for hills, and can fit 2 kids...much better than umbrella stroller). As we strolled down the old Rue Georges, we received many smiles and French words (not sure exactly what they were) regarding our stroller, as I am pretty certain nobody around here has seen such a large, modern looking stroller before. It kind of made me feel odd....but oh well, it worked well :0). The 3 big kids wanted to try out the crafting shop, so the we went. I left the 3 of them for an hour, while Marcus and I explored the area a little further. This is when we found the jardin pub liquid, which was great. It was quite humorous when I needed to go to the washroom, so I brought Marcus into the stall with me. He kept saying "where potty?" while holding his hands in the air. He fully didn't get that the potty was the hole in the ground. And funnier yet, when I crouched to use the 'potty', so did he. I think he thought I was crouching to try to find the potty. He was quite excited by the rush of water that came pouring down the wall when I flushed. What a bonding experience for him and I :0). The three big kids were quite excited to show us their creations when we returned to pick them up. Adrian (the crafting boss) said the kids were good....very 'timide' (shy). The first bonding experience for the three of them :0). Stephanie had a metallic orange painted fish with bling, Claire a metallic pink bear with bling, and Mathieu a Pokemon made of beads melted together. They loved this place, and so did I (Adrian actually had to tell me when I hung around a little too long when first leaving the kids there that parents were not allowed to stay....in an oh so kind French way :0)). When I only had a visa card to pay, he simply said to stop by another day to pay. He didn't even care to take my name or number. So trusting :0). I think the next creative drop in will be at the paint shop across the street from the crafting shop, where children/adults can do drop in painting lessons. Stephanie has also said that she would like to take some sewing lessons from Frederic, who is the woman with the boutique of girls dresses and jewelry. We are quite excited about the idea of drop in classes for the kids, as there is no long term commitment, and the kids can get the chance to try some different things, and meet some different people. Each of these drop in shops simply has a table in the middle, to accomodate 4 to 6 children...so the drop ins are quite personal. It was a good trip to Rue Georges. The walk home was only about 10 minutes, and you would be impressed to hear that little Marcus walked all the way, including up the hill to our house. He did stop halfway however to much on some baguette :0)
Shortly after we returned home, Daryl returned with our car! A silver Peugeot (automatic, which made D very happy, due to the hills around here), that could fit us all (hard to find that around here). Car/booster seats were ready for the kids, which they thought was fabulous. The only thing was that the only car seat in the store where Daryl stopped for Marcus was pink. So....poor Marcus has a pink car seat for the year. But he was still just as excited as anybody to see the car and a special seat for him :0). When we went for our first ride, I had to smile at our excitement of driving down the hill rather than walking. I think the kids have a good understanding for the word 'appreciative' now :0)
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