Worked weekends, and peanut butter stealing aside, my family redeemed themselves today.

Yesterday was Antoines birthday, and since I cant compete with Normandy, I settled for an outdoors picnic and cake.

I was nervous about asking to have dinner there, but S asked me if thats what I wanted, and everyone was so nice about it! I went to get Antoine from the train after 8, and the three oldest kids came along with me. We had aperatif (peanuts) on the porch followed by a trampoline lesson for the enfants. While I was gone, S put cherry blossoms, candles, and a table cloth on the table I had strategically placed in the side yard, out of view from the house. We had roasted red pepper, onion, and goat cheese pizza, bread, and tabuleh, and chocolate cake strawberries and champagne for dessert. There was a slight hiccup with the trains (that were, of course cancelled from Poissy to Mantes la Jolie) but I was able to drive Antoine to Poissy where he caught a train to Saint Lazare.