back to the golden state!

After a wonderful ski season in France and a few days of jet-lag... it's good to be home! Océanne has changed so much since we left in December... many milestones between 7 months old and a week until her first birthday!

la ferme, franche-comté

On the way from the Alps to Alsace we stopped at the Ben's parent's farmhouse in Franche-Comté. A beautiful *old* house built in 1766 with lush green pastures... very cozy on a cold day.

easter monday...

a beautiful day in the neighborhood!


view of Le Grand Bec and le bébé!




the trail back home...

joyeuses pâques avec elo et yom!

Elodie and O on our porch...


nice catch guillaume!



Happy Easter! Guillaume and Elodie are visiting from Lyon for the weekend and brought Océanne her first Chocolate Easter *Fish!*... she isn't really ready for chocolate, so we'll happily do the honor. She also got a chocolate bunny from Nana and Papa in the States, so I had to eat that one too! We met the guys on the slopes in Meribel for a wonderful Easter lunch at Le Blanchot... no Easter Bunny sightings this year, maybe next year O will be ready for an egg hunt!

if you are going to san francisco...

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair,
If you are going to San Francisco,
You are gonna meet some gentle people there...
(gotta love The Mamas and The Papas)

Lily, Nicholas and Pierre are visiting... we're enjoying this fabulous spring weather! It's hard to believe that ski season is almost over (although there's still plenty of snow in Courchevel) and we'll be going back to California in a few weeks. Of course we're pretty excited to see friends, family, Ezra and Zoe!! We've been able to check in via video Skype with Rachel and the cats, I'm not sure they want to come home!

cache-cache!

our version of hide-and-seek... we both pop our heads up across the bed and squeal... lots of giggling... it can go on forever... sometimes we look at each other under the bed too... I love seeing her little head pop up!

eleven months!!

This girl is all smiles! I know I'm biased, but I really think she is one of the happiest babies I've ever known... lucky us!! She smiles at everyone and can make even the grumpiest guy in town smile back (I've seen it happen). Let's see... eleven months now, I can't even believe we're nearing her first birthday... Océanne has 4 teeth and 2 more on top ready to make an appearance... she's standing and walking while holding onto furniture... making "da da" and "pa pa" noises, lots of "ba ba ba's" in between... I don't know what her height/weight is currently, all we know is that she's still a little peanut and healthy as a horse! She loves spinach, zucchini, peas, yogurt, apples, pretty much everything we've tried. She's a Cherrios-addict and is getting into some other finger foods like bananas and tofu. She loves being outside and playing with refrigerator magnets. We have a dance party every evening when Ben gets home from skiing, she seems to like Latin and African music the best, she's very animated and kind of dances with her hands. She loves bath-time, but doesn't like to sit down, she'd rather stand and bang on the shower door... Her eyes have turned a pretty dark green and her hair is getting longer and blonder... The only thing she definitely does not like is having sunscreeen put on her face!

*proof that although Océanne is a pretty unique name, it isn't unheard of in this part of the world (one 'n' or two)!