Un autre bon weekend!

Now that the weather has finally become all that we had hoped for, the weekends are jam-packed with pleasure. The weekdays are just as nice, if not nicer, because the beaches are not as crowded when all the kids are in school and the majority of adults working. Not us! Irie gets a bit jealous when she sees us packing for the beach and she is heading off to school, but she knows she can always go on the weekends, and Weds. when she sails.

This weekend the city's Club Nautique, where Irie takes her sailing lessons, held its annual Fête de Nautisme. They had music playing on the beach, the "toys" were free to be tried out, and lessons could be had. Saturday we got a 45-minute catamaran lesson, and Sunday morning I headed down early to try out the planche à voile (wind-surfing). The typical weather here these days is mid-to-high 70's and very calm in the morning with the wind and waves picking up in the afternoon. The catamaran was a blast in the afternoon winds as our ace instructor whipped across the bay. On the other hand, my wind-surfing experience was colored by the breezeless morning making it difficult to pick up any speed. I was also interested in some sea kayaking, but we were invited to a picnic with Laly's family.

Laly is probably Irie's best "French" friend and it was her family that had us over for Easter dinner. The grandparents treat us like extended family, and the parents are easy-going and relaxed. We headed over to the Base Nature beaches where we were treated to a wonderful lunch of salmon pastry appetizers, big salad nicoise type sandwiches, yummy cheeses, rosé wine, coffee, and our contribution, an apple tart. Meanwhile, the girls used the multitude of sticks that had washed up on shore (from a heavy rain on Friday whose runoff turned the bay's waters from their normal blue to brown) to create their own beach shack
while the rest of us got sunburned and (Lisa and I) swam in the ever-warming waters.

Another great weekend! And, here's the video.