long time no post

Hi everybody,

Sorry we've been out of touch for so long! We've been busy, busy, busy playing outside in the backyard ever since the warm weather got here. We have some cool outdoor toys: a swing that hangs from a branch of the olive tree (that's our favorite and we fight over it all the time!), as well as a little playhouse, a sandbox, and a couple of tricycles that we haven't quite figured out how to ride yet. We also enjoy just exploring the yard, playing in dirt and chasing Nelly the kitty. Speaking of kitties, a stray mother cat left a couple of newborn kittens under our porch last week and we heard them meowing. We tried to take care of them with Mom and Dad since the mommy didn't want them; we fed them special milk from a bottle but they were too little and they both died. We're all sad but Mom and Dad said that happens sometimes with animals.

We've had lot of visits from family lately, which we love! First Grandpa came and stayed with us for a week in April, like he does every spring, and we had a great time playing with him. He read us lots of books and we went to the beach and for walks in the stroller. In early May we went to visit Mamie and Papy (our other grandparents) at their country house in Millau for a long weekend with Mom and Dad, and this past weekend our uncle Mathieu and "auntie" Emilie (they're finally getting married next summer!) came to our house for a visit. That's all for now; the pictures this time were taken by Grandpa during his visit--there's us in the backyard, us a the beach and a shot of our house. Talk to you soon! love, Ben and Alex