Happy Birthday to US! Malcolm, Henry and Cledo too!

We had a great time!

It all started on Saturday actually, when we...

...opened the package Monique and Omi sent us from the States. That was very exciting.
Just look at Papa's face!

Max mostly enjoyed reading the wrinkled newspaper Monique used to fill the box with, but we, Malcolm and Henry that is, received some very nice presents.
Malcolm got...

and

...five collector's Pokemon cards and a T-shirt SO cool that Stella wanted to borrow it RIGHT NOW and if not RIGHT NOW well at least on Monday for school! "I mean, come on! You can at least let me borrow it!" (Mom had to agree seeing as the girl was basically naked under her bath towels during the package opening ceremony. She has NOTHING to wear!)...

Henry got...

...a very chic grey shirt which (we are happy to inform everyone) he's taking proper care of and which (we are also happy to inform everyone) Stella does not want to borrow. He also received...

...a new wristwatch and also...

...a new tennis racket! We both got the Dungeon's and Dragons guys we wanted and Ugly Doll key chains! (Mom and Stella ate all the candy....)

Many, many thanks to everyone!

We continued the festivities with a mega-mec sleepover (mec is the cool French word for dude, by the way.)

You've already met most of these mecs : from left to right, front to back that would be : Malcolm, Cledo, Henry, Nil, Tom and Max (Max is making his Pontoon Pirates' Premier, by the way! Let's everyone give him a nice warm round of applause, please! Thanks, thanks!).
First we played Mario Cart which is a video racing game then we watched The Matrix then we pretended to go to bed but in fact once we were in our room our friends got out all their Moonshine Nintendo DSs (there were at least three of them) - we'd told them they'd have to smuggle them in in their toiletries bags or Mom would certainly confiscate them. It worked too, until we got a little over excited about the game sometime around three am! Mom woke up and came in our room and found us in a pile on the floor hunched over the Moonshine DSs and she pocketed them all for the rest of the night. Boo hoo! It was actually a pretty lucky thing because we had a big day planned for the 14th! That way we got a little beauty sleep in.

The Big Day started with...

...a morning screening of...

... Matrix Reloaded!

Then Mom and Papa kicked us outside until they'd finished making lunch. Actually, they told us to go to the park till 1:30 pm. We're 11 now. We're old enough to go to the park alone! And now that Henry has a watch we know exactly when to come home and we were EXACTLY on time! Does that surprise anyone? We had...

...crepes for lunch! Yum!

And Mom made us a special birthday crepe for dessert so we'd have some candles to blow out (only one each; she didn't have thirty-three candles or the patience to stick them all in and light them all either)!

After lunch we went over to Cledo's house for Henry and Cledo's REAL birthday party! (Malcolm's REAL birthday party will be next Sunday...) You know, the kind of birthday with presents and...

...candy and...

...loads of friends...

...and...

...bananas and things!

But all THAT only came AFTER we'd all gone to LA VILLETTE together by scooter, rollerblades, bus or on foot!

Here we go!

We'll introduce everyone later on.

Mom went by bus so she got to the canal first but she caught sight of Sylvie, that's Cledo's mom for any newcomers...

...speeding down the rue des Pyrénées on her scooter with some of us.
Papa left early and went by foot; he arrived just as Mom was getting off the bus!

Then the rest of us caught up!

Henry and Malcolm first, then...

...Cledo, then...

...Quentin and...

...Cledo again with Thomas, then...

...Tom and Vincent...

...and finally the girls : Ella, Juliette, Swan and Sylvie in the background.

We were all a bit thirsty by then! But once we'd drunk some, we were off again, speeding along the canal!

Here's most of the gang : (from left to right) Cledo, Malcolm, Henry, Quentin, Swan, Ella, Juliette, Thomas and Vincent.

Where do you figure we finally managed to get everyone together for a photo?

Why, on the ponton, of course!

(Ponton is the cool French word for dock, it's therefore a false friend, n'est-ce pas?)

From left to right : Vincent, Max, Tom, Thomas, Quentin, Juliette, Swan, Malcolm, Ella, Henry and Cledo!
Nice group, huh?

OK everyone, ONE, TWO, THREE, JUMP!

We did more jumping at La Villette too, once we finally got there.

Ah, La Villette, it truly is one of our very favorite places! When we go there we feel like singing : "Raindrops on roses and children on rollers..."

And we always do have fun!

Ain't she sweet, that Ella?

Later, we found...

...the wonderful wheel!

And had more fun yet!

Then the boys invented another new game...

...and even Ella gave it a try!

And what were Thierry and his new shoes doing, you might ask, while we were having all this fun?
Watching the girls go by maybe?

Perhaps, but their self assigned task was actually...

...watching our scooters!

They did a good job too because when it was time to go, all eleven scooters were still there! And Malcolm's rollerblades too!

Malcolm and Mom went home by subway but the rest of us labored all the way back UP the rue des Pyrénées!

When we got back to Sylvie and Cledo's house, on top of the candy and presents, there was another nice surprise!

Sunset reflected in our windows across the street!

After a relatively cold, grey afternoon, it was a wonderful sight!

And now, Malcolm, and he speaks for all of us birthday boys when he says this, says...

..."Sank you, Papa-san!"...

..."Sank you, Sylvie-san!"

We all really did have a great time!