Welcome to the madhouse!!!

I've found a new photo competition website with very few participants so I need your help again ! There are two pictures of Juliette to vote for :

http://www.biboon.com/contest_view.php?ct=566685&vp=48475885548788

scroll down until you find Juju at the beach

and

http://www.biboon.com/contest_view.php?ct=89514568

scroll down to the pic of Juju with her bucket

If you manage to create an account, you can vote 3 times for each every day. If you don't log on, you can vote once a day.

Thanks a million !

PS Last couple of weeks for voting for the banana bread recipe too !!!

http://www.elleadore.com/cote-cuisine/vos-recettes/desserts/pain-aux-bananes-par-cheryl59.php

one vote a week, still in the top 10 at the moment (for a voucher for an electrical appliance of your choice) but it's getting a bit hectic at the top now people are going voting-crazy for the last few days !!!

This is what Juliette's hair looked like when we woke her up on arrival at Disneyland !!!

Should hopefull have time to add the last photos, in between getting back from Sophie's arts and crafts club (first time - thought it was hard, they had to draw about Africa and she didn't really know what Africa was all about !!!) and heading off to the storytelling time at the library (where I said we'd look up books on Africa !!! )

Right, back to Disneyland !

Queued up for ages to see Winnie the Pooh ...

... then Juliette decided he was way too scary and cried her head off !!!

She soon got her smile back though !!! (We went mention the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, I'll have to do the "photo of terror" later because it needs scanning - it was so funny we had to buy it !!! )

awww with Pluto

on the carousel

Juliette on the carousel !

outside the Alice in Wonderland maze

As you might remember, we arrived for night one in a cheapie hotel, did the park on day 2, stayed in the Disney Santa Fe hotel for one night (kids go free for the 7th anniversary !), did day 2 in the park before heading back to the cheapie hotel for the final night.

Up bright and early with autograph book and pen at the ready (bought with her very own birthday money !!!)

Mickey and ...

... Minnie - both in the hotel lobby before going to the park (two less queues ! )

Daisy Duck in the Disney Studios park

a cheeky monkey ... and the one on the right is Abu from Aladdin !!!

Rémy from Ratatouille

on the Mississippi River Boat (bit tired, near the end of the day ! )

Speaking of tired ...

Juliette slept soundly for the entire round trip on the train !!! Sophie did the tired-thumb sucking bit too !!

It a small world ... and it was a small queue too, which was lucky as we had to do it about five times !!!

Is that slush puppy drink a bit cold Mike ?!!!

We're here !!! Sophie's got her special birthday (freebie !!) camera ready and waiting ! Oooooh can't wait to get inside !!!

On the fairy tale boats

Look at my lollipop, it's as big as me !!!

Waiting for the Dumbo ride

Tired out and dreaming of singing dolls !

Having a little rest waiting for dinner to arrive ...

... but suddenly woke up again when Jessie arrived !!! Is that Minty from Eastenders in the background ?!!!

on the choo-choo train

on the teacups - the "babyswitch" scheme was brilliant for when Juliette had a snooze in the pushchair, two rides for the price of one for Sophie because she got to stay on the ride while me and Mike switched over without queueing again !!!

Even I use maps in Disneyland !!!

Big smiles all round

....

There's more to come but I have to get the girls ready to go to Sophie's arts and crafts club ... in the rain !!!

Lovely blue Breton sky, no filter used !!!

hello !!!

Oops, looks like a Nazi propaganda photo !!!

Looking all excited !

With baby Morgane

Better than playing with a dolly !!!

Wowww look what Parrain (Alain my godfather) got for me !!!

Looking at the big yachts ... and the big fish in the water !

Sophie said, take a picture of me by that boat and we can put it on the blog and say it's mine !!!

BEACH !!!!! Again ????? YESSSSSS !!!!!

Juliette wearing Sophie's swimsuit because we hadn't yet found hers in the bottom of the bag !!!

Only problem here was the sandfleas - yuck !!!

We always end up going to Menez Meur when it rains !!!

They've got lots of farm animals, wolves ... and big ice creams !!!

No smutty comments please !!!

Juliette laughing because she had us all on the floor laughing by doing a very long, very noisy fart that echoed around her plastic chair and could be heard in the entire cafe ... and we were the only people in there so we couldn't blame it on anyone else !!!

In the paddling pool to wash off the sand - complete with shampoo !

No bathroom to clean afterwards and you can splash as much as you like !!!

This year was the year of the beach(es) !!!

Quick, grab your jelly shoe before it floats away !!!

Ah, that's better !

Look Dad, a baby crab !

Look Dad, sand !

Look Dad, a shell !

Having fun girlies ? YESSSSS !!!!

Here we go again !!!

Who said it always rains in Brittany ?!!

Fighting over the net (but guess which two !!!)

Up to the ankles is ok ...

... but beyond that it gets a bit cold !!!

Looked really impressive until she told me she had her arms on the floor !!!

This year's top find was a fishing net, found in Mamie and Papy's garage.

The only trouble was, everyone wanted a go at fishing for baby crabs and shrimps !!! (Although nobody was keen when Mamie found humungous great grown-up crabs by lifting up the rocks !!!)

Especially Mike !!!

Mike's got crabs (hee hee hee) !!!

Juliette found a new toy !

Finally finished cushion number one - now I've got to make the other two Mike saw in Hastings that I said I could make ... which I could, if I could remember what they looked like !!!

And if the weather's nice on Sunday, you can come with us !!!

"Mum, you go on the other end" - Yeah, right !!!

Juliette trying to push round Sophie

"Sophie, stop it, naughty" !!!

Oh good, she's gone now !

Oh blimey, she's back again !!!

Yee-ha, cowboy !!!

Future Hell's Angel ?!!

First time Sophie's ever been on a roundabout - they've taken them away from most places, because I suppose they think they're too dangerous these days - MUCH safer to go playing on mini motorbikes instead (not !!!)

It's Ivor the Engine !

Looking very demure (tired out more like !)

Time for a refuel !

In the sandpit - amazingly no glass or dogpoo !!!

Five minutes before going home, Juliette bumped her head on a big plank of wood (like a beam to walk along) and had a huge lump. It went down though so there's just a bruise now !

Emily, before you get the printer all fired up, I've just found the photos from the holidays in August so there are almost a hundred photos about to come hurtling through cyberspace ... you'll run out of ink if you try to print them all !!!!

Can't guarantee I'll get them all done in one go, although I did jus find a nifty "bulk uploader" on photobucket which is a real timesaver !

I've still got to find the CD with the photos from Brittany and Disneyland but that'll do for now.

Now go and vote for my bananabread again, I've dropped down to 15th and I've got to get back in the top 11 to win a new washing machine instead of a cookery book !!!

What is it they say about you know you're getting old when the policemen start looking really young !!!

WPC Sophie's come to keep you in line !!!

Juliette's checking out which bit has got the most smarties on !!!

Little known Hastings sport of concrete pig racing !!!

"Daddy, look ! "

"Errrrrr hello ? Grandad ?" !!!

She'll be the one who gets in trouble for never switching off her mobile phone in meetings !!!

Starting to look tired - they both went to bed after 1am ... and didn't sleep a wink in the car on the way home either (which was a bummer because it meant I didn't either, and that was the plan !!!)

And the star of the show, Morgane !

We didn't see the Red Arrows but we did see the Red Eyebrows !!!

Sophie rockclimbing at Airbourne 2007

... new things that have appeared in the last two days !!!

More shelves and spice racks we found in Brest

Bird houses !!! That cost more than a quid from Malcolm Mitchell's even though they look the same !!!

I think it's 107cm but I could be wrong - all I know is it was blooming heavy to get upstairs (and when I wimped out Mike had to carry it all by himself !!!) I haven't even watched it yet because it was football last night !!!

So I went for a bath instead, using the "volcano bath" as Sophie has dubbed the bath spa attachment we "found" !!! I don't know if it works right or not but it had me in hysterics (it's supposed to be relaxing but it's close enough I suppose !!!) First of all, you have to have a really deep bath for the attachment to be in the water to make the bubbles. Then it sort of "gets stuck", like it doesn't suck up any water for a few seconds, so nothing much happens ... then there's an enormous gush of water that shoots it halfway up the back wall !!! I laughed too much though because the dog came in and wanted to jump in the bath with me !!! I'm sure that doesn't happen in the pictures of jacuzzis in big posh spa resorts !!!

I went back to school last Monday and the girls had their first day at the new childminder's. All went well (despite everyone being tired out after our whistlestop drive down to Anne Laure's - 5 hours drive each way - at the weekend for Morgane's christening - more to come later ! )

I got this year's timetable which is brilliant - I work Monday morning, Tuesday morning, Thursday morning and Friday all day !!! And as I work from 8-12, I leave before Mike and get back after him so he also has to do the childminder runs and cook lunch !!!

I've got three 3e classes (14 year olds), 1 3e English second language class, 1 6e (11 year olds, which I'm form teacher for) and 2 hours a week of 3e "classe européenne". I've been concentrating on the "classe européenne" so far for lesson planning and have already come up with American penfriends in Pennsylvania for them and a project on World War Two - with two cool websites for webquests and then we'll watch the Evacuation series (so thanks for videoing it Sheila, see ? All your efforts aren't going to waste !!!)

Sophie went to "big school" on Tuesday - a bit stressed ( "... but I don't know how to read yet"!!!) but she did fine and seems to like her teacher ok. She didn't get a "bon point" for her work on the first day because she forgot the h in Sophie (tired from the weekend and nerves, she does it fine usually) so she was a bit disappointed because everyone else got one... and the teacher hasn't given any out since then. But the house fairy left her a book and a note telling her she's proud of her and that the first day she went on house fairy patrol, she was so nervous she flew straight into the wall and bent her wand !!! That seemed to go down well and Sophie went off all smiles the next day.

Good news as well is ... Stanislas isn't in her class this year !!! And at the moment they're doing playtimes at different times so she hasn't run into him yet. Someone did pinch half her biscuits but I told her to tell her I'd have words with her mum if it happened again and that seems to have done the trick. Oh, and Sophie got into trouble for talking on the first day so nobody was allowed out for playtime !!! (I think there must have been more to it than that, it sounds like some of the other kids were playing up.) She refuses to talk to her neighbour Wissem now and he's getting his own back by jogging the table whenever she tries to write - they were "boyfriend/girlfriend" last year so I'm sure they'll be friends again soon !!!

Anyway, here she is, all smiles on the first day !

with her Disney Princesses backpack

But she was told it wasn't big enough so she's got a bigger one on wheels now and is well chuffed !!!