A Day in the Life

So, it's late Sunday afternoon as I write this post but Saturday was exactly as I would like for everyday of my life to be...

I did some online exploring on Friday night to determine the best things for our family to explore on Saturday morning.  I started out getting up at the crack of dawn (6am) and beginning preparations.  We finally made it out at 9 and headed down St. George's Bay Road to the La Cigale French Style Market.  It was a great day for it, cloudy but not windy or raining.  

 When we got there I was immediately in heaven.  I have recently had a serious urge to go back to France so the prospects of anything French were so very exciting to me.  The feeling of this market wasn't exactly French to me but fully European in a way that I have experienced continuously since we arrived (I have been working on that blog but want to make sure I am much more concise when describing my first impressions).  Unfortunately, instead of helping me feel fulfilled of my need to be in France this market only made me long for a European vacation a bit more (Jesse hasn't ever been to Paris and we have a momentous anniversary coming up soonish...)

 Pretty much any kind of foodstuffs you could be after were available at this market and we sampled and savored and filled Trader Joe insulated bags and our strollers to the gills.  Wines, spreads, meats, cheeses, ice cream, growing herbs, loose herbs, coffee and the list goes on (and on and on).

If we're Facebook friends, you probably saw a short, off center video of these two singing. My kids were completely entertained and danced (and so was I and so did I :). There were also Americans serving coffee and it was nice to wander up to a counter and hear a stranger speak in my own accent (okay, maybe not MY accent but US none the less). It's funny how being away from home can make you connect with randoms in a way you never would before. Three weeks ago I might have looked at those coffee servers and wondered if they were ax murderers -- yesterday, I just loved them on sight (well, on hearing).

The boys were entertained by this gentleman who created balloon swords for them.  They could have chosen anything they wanted but were being bashful.  I was reminded by the creator that fear of strangers is a good thing which brings up a point that I may expand on at a later time but Kiwi's are not afraid to parent random children even when random parents are around -- I believe it takes a village but I have been quite caught off guard by this at times.  Anyway, I requested that whatever he made, he made two of the same so they wouldn't fight and he gave them swords to fight with -- clever little man.

I am definitely taking one of these home with me next time -- bacon anything -- ummm, yes! We also saw someone hanging bacon in the front yard on the way home -- it looked pretty earthy. We took tons home (not the earthy stuff) and had a fabulous lunch!!