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Saturday 26 January 2013

It finally snowed

After threatening to snow all last week and James and I telling the kids each night that it might snow and then nothing happened, on Sunday morning we opened the shutters and there it was on the ground!

Much to the kids dismay it started to disappear quickly as the snow turned to rain.  Penelope declared "Mummy I need to go outside now as the snow is turning from white to silver".  I managed to convince her to have some breakfast before she donned all her winter gear and ran out in the snow!  We are going skiing in a week so it was a good opportunity to find out what they need to stay warm and dry and what I need to borrow from friends and buy.  I managed to buy a ski suit from a friend for Jasper which was fantastic and will keep him nice and snug on the mountain!

The kids and James had a great time outside playing in the snow, throwing snowballs and building a small snowman and then by mid afternoon it was pretty much all gone.

We are enjoying our new house and have spent the last couple of weekends mainly at home but have also been into Toulouse for a wander as well as enjoying exploring the park near our house.  Toulouse is a lovely city and we had a great Saturday afternoon wandering the streets.  Our aim was to find the english bookstore and also to go to the toyshop in the Capitol (the kids took their pocket money to spend).  The bookstore was small but had a good selection so we bought them each a book.  Jasper thought this was a great opportunity to buy the biggest most expensive book he could find!  Since then I have been back into Toulouse and stumbled across the most amazing French bookstore that also has an english section, so have a couple of choices now of places to get books which is great!

I am becoming more confident at driving into Toulouse on my own which is great as it is much easier to browse and look at all the lovely shops without husband and children in tow!  I went in two Fridays ago on a mission to buy a pair of boots.  It is the winter sales here or soldes as the French call it so a good time to go shopping! I didn't really have much idea of where to go so headed for the main shopping boulevard and started to wander.  I went to the department store Galleria Lafayette which had an amazing selection of boots but not much in my size.  In the end I found a tiny little shoe shop which had exactly what I wanted in my size - yah!  I took them back to the car so as my hands were free for more shopping!  I had arranged to meet a friend for lunch and so it was lovely to meet up with her and another friend and just relax, have a glass of kir (sparkling wine mixed flavoured with caisse) and eat a lovely French meal.  The restaurant we chose was heaving but luckily it was warm enough to sit outside - just!  Lovely James had taken the afternoon off work to look after Hannah which was a treat and so I had a bit more of a browse then went to school and collected Jasper and Penelope at 4pm.

I went back into Toulouse on Tuesday after dropping Hannah at school.  She goes to school after lunch on a Tuesday as she has speech language therapy on Tuesday mornings.  I discovered via the Internet that there was a whole section of Toulouse shops that I had not discovered so felt it was  my duty to check them out.  Unfortunately as I arrived in town at lunch time all the expensive boutiques like Armani and Chanel were closed as the staff were off to lunch!  I did find the most gorgeous gift shop though which was so full of stuff that I could barely get through the door.  Things were not so much displayed as just placed on top of each other.  Will have to try and remember where it was so I can go back when I need to buy birthday gifts.  I had a great wander around and bumped into a Spanish friend and her daughter who were at park and suites when we were there.  Her daughter also has Down Syndrome and was also struggling to get her accepted into the international school.  In the end they gave up and have moved into central Toulouse and her daughter is attending kindergarten no problem.

Looking forward to the weekend as James is going out to the rugby tonight then we are going out with friends tomorrow night to celebrate James turning 40.  I'm sure James will manage to squeeze a bike ride in somewhere and hopefully the sun will come out and we will be able to get out for a walk or family bike ride and enjoy this lovely place we live.





2 comments:

  1. Hi sounds like you are having lots of fun, it is nice discovering new shops and having the time to have a wee poke around!

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  2. More interesting news, Rachel. You sound like you are having fun and making sure you have some time to yourself. Good for you! We start back at school on Friday - TOD then the children start on Monday. The holidays seem to fly by so fast! Went to the Court's production of Grease last night - a fabulous show and amazing that Ch Ch can put on something so classy. Buskers finished at the weekend - that is always something we enjoy. We had a week at Otematata, camping, with family then headed to Cromwell. Stayed with Ian and elaine Stuart for a few days. Visited the Woodhills - Ted and Gay, while there. Also have Carly and Chris baker coming to visit this week! Those were the days!! Love to you all. We think of you often. Jos M. xxx

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