Surgy

One more 3-day week-end. This country is just perfect, we can go on mini-vacations all the time. We headed to Surgy in Bourgogne, a place we already visited last year, except that this time it was sunny and warm and Mamma and Papa really enjoyed climbing there.

Mamma up a very nice but slightly polished dihedral crack climb. She did a wonderful job leading it. Next to her, I think some aliens took a perfectly square sample of the cliff to recreate this climbing area on their planet.

I need some energy to recover from so much exercizing. Found a big chocolate chip cookie, that works, miam miam.

Eating with hands is for babies: I am a big girl and can eat my cereals with a spoon (or even a fork in that case).

I am glad Mamma and Papa brought my little stroller along: it turned out that it was not only great for sleeping but also to play with.

Coucou!

Look at those back muscles! This shallow rounded crack was the crux of the route, the difficult part of it. After mode than 30 meters of climbing, not so easy to negotiate.

It was Papa's 5th or 6th time on this route but he still had a wonderful time climbing it. This has to be a classic of Surgy, this one and the "Casquette" one that Mamma and him climbed together while I was taking a nap.

Calanques

Just after Mamie and Papi left, Mamma, Papa and I traveled South to go climbing and hiking for a week in Calanques, the sea cliffs arond Marseille. the trip was organized by the climbing club and was a great opportunity to go climbing with a bunch of friends in a super nice area.

Papa needs a little help preparing the climbing gear before we leave. I am just making sure he is not forgetting anything.

After 2 days of rain, the sun finaly showed up: good protection is the key to not getting sunburnt!

Ilena, taking very good care of me.

Papa and Michel at the top of their climb. Sketchy moments to remember for today: two lines of climbers crossing mid-way and some rain making the rock very slippery and slightly scary.

The young crew: my Mamma is there, in the middle.

A rest day from climbing, exploring the area. Look at the amazing view from the top of the cliff.

I am not very stable yet when I walk so I need to practice a lot holding Mamma's hand and dragging her everywhere I want to go.

Sometimes crawling is the key: all those rocks make it difficult for me to walk. The good part of it is that there are little pebbles to play with everywhere.

Hiking with Papa: you cannot see it on the picture but I am the one doing all the effort here. Cheering Papa up, waving my arms, trying to grab all the branches we encounter, playing with flowers... that's a lot of energy I am spending while Papa is just carrying me.

Gouter break, protected from the sun by a pine tree.

Ooooooooooh, I am singing.

Mamma's turn to carry me. As if I was heavy enough to make Papa and Mamma tired so they need to switch. Or maybe they tricked me to make me fall asleep in the backpack: Mamma's walking pace is smoother and put me to sleep in just a few minutes.

Talking about sleep, I can do that anywhere you want. A blanket on the ground, something to cover me so I don't get cold from the wind, some shade and here I go for at least an hour of nap.

Back to Fontainebleau

It's been more than 6 months since we last went to climb in Fontainebleau. We have not touched real rock for so long, I am sure Mamma and Papa are missing it even more than I am. This saturday is so sunny that we met there with a few friends to try a few problems.

Gear, food to get some energy to climb, warm clothes not to get sick... and me. I needed to take a nap just after lunch. I love joining Mamma and Papa during their active day but I am still a little girl. I am not worried, they always take good care of me.

That's my mom!

After a nap and a few climbing problems, mom and daughter meet for a little snack: homemade banana bread. Yummy.

I know how to climb too: I managed to meet Papa all by myself. I can climb very difficult problems thanks to my little fingers.

After climbing a little, we all went for a walk on one of the hiking path. And at the end, I showed everybody my own walking skills.

Meeting more cousins

Mamine, Mamie's mom turned 80 recently (that's 160 times older than me!!!) so to celebrate, her children organized a surprise week-end with a bunch of the family in the countryside, just an hour west of Paris. I got to meet a lot of new French cousins for the first time. These plus the Icelandic ones: there must be hundreds of them. I wonder if there is enough space in the world for other people.
We spent the Saturday walking around and spending time with all those people, finishing the day with a great fancy dinner: I kinda skipped that though, I prefer my mashed pumpkin and milk bottle dinner, and need my 12-hour beauty sleep. On Sunday, Mamma and Papa checked out a climbing spot while Papie and Maie took care of me for a few hours.

Some cousins, a boyfriend and an aunt. Guess who is who.

Papi demonstrated that he can still take care of little ones like me. Check out the relaxing position.

The newlyweds. Or maybe not. Mamine and Papou, my great-grandparents.

On sunday morning, we took a bath in a gigantic tub. There was space for the whole family and we could even make big bubbles. Can we have one of these at home?

Mamma climbing on the cliffs along the Seine river, the one that flows through Paris. I did not see them, too dangerous for a little girl like me, but they told me the rock was super cool: a big hard chalk wall with flinstones in it (reminds me of my nickname before I was born: little Pebble, almost like Pebbles from the Flintstone family).

Mamie and Papi took great care of me during the parent climbing session. Sho said I was not an angel? I almost even have a halo.

Gorgeous view from the top of the cliff. I would not mind leaving there either (in a big house with a giant tub).

V and J's Wedding in Soissons

This is a long week-end in France, let's do some traveling. Our friends Varuni and Jerome from State College are getting married (for the 3rd time) in Soissons, 90 minutes East of Paris. We take advantage of the super nice weather to camp in the area and visit a small bouldering area, almost like Fontainebleau.

Mamma and Papa were getting tired of driving so I took the wheel for a little while. A small driver in a small car. Big smile.

Even though the area was almost completely destroyed during the first World War, there are some nice building remaining here and there: a nice marketplace, nothing to be ashamed of in front of all those new supermarkets.

Another building that was not destroyed during the war... but long before that. So cool ruins: when I am older, I will buy a big castle like this and wait for Prince Charming to come and marry me.

The inside of the ruins, the evening sun casting nice shadows through the remaining windows and pillars.

The small bouldering area, big rocks in a sea of sand, almost like Fontainebleau but in smaller. I was sleeping in my stroller while Mamma and Papa tried a few problems.

No risk of hurting oneself too much, the rocks were all fairly small. Look at this nice back, it was a "hot" day.

I really liked Yellow 25, I found all the nice holds on the rock with my little fingers.

Later in the day, at V and J's wedding party. Swiss Laure got to see me for real for the first time. Halla and Xavier were happy to see her again, it had been almost a year since they last met, at their own wedding.

The happy couple. Not easy to pose for pictures for the 3rd time. France was last after the US and Sri Lanka.

After a good night of sleep (the one night when I woke up under Mamma and Papa's bed, I had rolled out of my bed), so nice to cuddle with Mamma.

Meeting Uncle Fabien

Today, I got to see someone that looks a lot like Papa: it is my uncle Fabien, Papa's medium brother. I had not seen him since a few days after I was born when he visited me at the clinic. I changed a lot since then, I am a big girl now. Mamma and Papa invited him to go climbing: we had to go indoors, the weather was too uncertain to go to my favorite forest in Fontainebleau.

Fabien climbed quite well for a semi-beginner (don't tell anybody I was helping him, showing him which holds to take)

It was a little warm in here. I even got to borrow Mamma's climbing shoes, almost a perfect fit.

I told you I was a good climber, Mamma even has to restrin me so I don't climb too high and hurt myself.

I might be small (and almost naked) but I am not impressed by those 2 big guys.

Always more rock

This is the last climbing week-end organized with the club for this year: Mama and Papa organized it and decided to go to bring the only 2 other participants to a new place in Bourgogne: Saffres. Nice weather during 2 days, no crowds. Perfect climbing week-end.

Mid-morning nap on Papa's chest. We keep each other warm: so comfy.

Mama on a very nice (and hard) slab climb. Tiny small holds, balancy moves, tricky placements... not easy. She managed to climb it very nicely!

Mamma working her way up a nice dihedral. Limestone in Bourgogne offers so many different configurations: climbing is open to all levels, all styles...

One can find a lot of strange creatures in the back-country of Bourgogne. Our encounter with this pink little fluffy animal could not have been more joyful.

Let's go for a ride. I might have short legs, I know how to find the best means of transportation.

Ooooh, a stick. I don;t need fancy toys, I can play with a stick for hours: touch it, spin it in all directions, shake it, poke it, possibly stick it in my mouth... Endless number of options.

The whole family gathered at the bottom of the cliff: Mamma belays while Papa prepares my milk bottle.

Yummy yummy, I like gnawing on the little antennas of the blue bug. Mamma and Papa hope I won't start doing that with real bugs when I am oler. Yuck!