France Wk 4: 3-9 July; Rammed Week including Zoo and Aquapark

My goodness, this was such a busy week that I actually kept a note of it in my phone to remind me just how much we'd managed to cram into seven days in a new city where we don't really know people that well yet.

On Monday, we started as we would have in New Plymouth. A trip to the supermarket. However, like I'd mentioned previously, even the smallest of chores can become an adventure when everything is so new. As we continue to get to grips with our new town, this often involves me visiting different shops, just to get a feel for them and also to check out who has the best GF sections. Today we tried out Lidl in Idron. I've heard so many people rave about Lidl (and Aldi) but it wasn't really up to much. It's a bit of an everything shop so after trying to do our weekly shop here, I felt that still needed to go to Auchan or Leclerc. To much messing about for me so I doubt I'll go back. In the afternoon we spent some time down at Idron playground (again). William just loves it there.


On Tuesday, Julie invited us out to Parc Animaler, a sort of open air zoo on the other side of Lourdes. Just getting there was an adventure in itself. There is no in-built sat-nav in Bobby Berlingo so I need to use the Maps App on my iPhone. That's fine. But I couldn't work out how to connect my phone through the speakers with the bluetooth. I needed to plug it in and for some reason the stereo kept over-riding the music app on the phone, playing the same song repeatedly. But I needed the phone on because I didn't know where I was going. We ended up listening to Overload by Alfie Zapacosta from the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack twenty-two times. I was absolutely demented. It didn't help matters that there was a road closure in the centre of Lourdes and I had to work out my own detour, overruling Siri and getting regular "make a u-turn" and "proceed to the route" prompts. The only saving grace was that Iain wasn't with us, or worse, driving. It really would've sent him over the edge.

So, once we got there, the park was great fun. Having taken so long to get there, we sort of rushed through the first part to catch up with the others but we still managed to see lots of animals. It was information overload for the wee guy and we will definitely return.

On Wednesday, we headed to Aquabearn, an aqua park in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Although aqua parks aren't usually my first choice, we had a brilliant day here along with Miriam and her five year old daughter, Layla. It was another scorcher of a day so perfect weather for enjoying the water. Also, the schools hadn't finished for the summer yet, so although it was busy, it wasn't mobbed. I don't think this is the biggest aqua park in the area, or the fanciest, but it certainly met our needs as the rides weren't enormous but the kids loved them, and the park was just a decent size that you didn't need to trek for ages to get to another pool or slide.

William realising the wave machine had started again. He was desperate to get back in, then get a bit scared once he was in the mixer. 

All kids (under four, I think) must wear arm bands. Good job Miriam brought some! 

On Thursday morning we had playgroup, but we still managed a bit of morning snuggling and reading books before we headed out. New words include, "turtle" and "bubble". This morning also marked a clear attachment to his Big Bag. Loves his big bag.

On Friday, we did a big shop at Auchan, and then actually went out for dinner! What a novelty! On Saturday morning we headed into town for the final test match between the Lions and NZ. Wee bit of a flat ending though with them drawing. And an annoying end to the morning for us too when we got home and a bottle of salsa had exploded in the fridge.

I had been hoping for a bit of R&R in the afternoon but it wasn't to be as I had to clean the entire contents of the fridge and then make a salad for heading to our first BBQ en France, at Ciara's house for her wee girl's christening. It was a lovely evening. We were dodging showers but also got a chance to meet some more ex-pats including some folks from the International School, and Miriam's husband, Chris. On Sunday we went for coffee and croissants at the Snowden/Smith's house and then went out for dinner again at an Italian chain that actually has an allergens menu. Not sure mine was entirely gf this time around though. To top it off, when we left, William was running around like mad outside, tripped up, smashed his face off the ground and burst his lip open. It was a right sair yin. Sake.

What a week. LM.