A Happy Anniversary (and just a great couple of days)

John and I celebrated our 6th anniversary yesterday and have been doing a couple of low-key but wonderful outings to celebrate. On Thursday, we went ice skating at the mall
Okay so maybe we're not that elegant...and then out to coffee to talk over the last six years. John and I have been tearing it up in Pac-Man World Rally too- and playing racing games always reminds us of one layover that we had in Tokyo once where we played one for several hours together in the kids area. Sometime this week we'll be going out to dessert after Sam's asleep and then when the new TGIF opens here we'll be going there too (I even got a free appetizer IOU from the owner when I went by to check out the hours).

Yesterday we went out with Sam's babysitter and her son and niece to the mall and to the zoo. It was loads of fun for us even though the kids don't speak French. Nothing rocks as much as doing pretty much anything with an 8 year old. Hamsa is so enthusiastic about everything and was just bouncing off the walls. He played on big inflatable castle things for awhile after lunch and John, who was watching him, confirmed what his mom says- that he has no fear. Munya had never been to a zoo or seen those kind of animals in person so she really enjoyed that, and she was surprised at how nice the mall is. She said that it looks like stuff she's seen on tv from the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.Munya and Hamsa with Sam (I wish I'd gotten a picture of Hamsa's super big and enthusiastic smile- it made our day!)
Hamsa really wanted a turn carrying Sam in the baby backpack but it's way to big for him so all the weight was on his shoulders. He's such a trooper though and carried him for 15 minutes or something.

Sam is having the best week ever (yeah VH1)- he adores being around big kids and being out of the house and just check out this schedule-
Friday- he went out on the town with his babysitter and her son for the whole afternoon (instead of her watching him at our place like normal), then we went to dinner at a French family's house who have three boys between 3-7.
Saturday- mall and zoo trip
and today, he stayed with me while I helped with Sunday school for the kids at church and after his nap we're going to the beach. He's in heaven!Sam sporting his new bathrobe that the French family gave us (sometimes he takes two baths a day so it's very useful)

The evening in French on Friday and yesterday all afternoon were pretty encouraging for us. It's not that we are totally fluent but that we understood everything that was said and were able to express our ideas for the most part. So we didn't sink.

We just downloaded the pics from our phone for the first time this year and came across this gem from back when Sam came to French class with us- what a cutie (maybe 2 or 3 months old)