Au revoir et Bonne Chance, Juliette!

All things change at some point, right? 

Juliette, as you know, has been homesick for many months.  She wrote home to Maman in August and asked to return home to France.  She decided not to start the school year here in California and
is back home now, enrolled in our old school. She writes often and is very happy. She reconnected with her old friend Manon and of course our cousin Veronique. I miss her, but I would rather see her happy.

I hope to visit her during my winter break!

Meanwhile, I have made some new friends at school. One is my age, and two are are in a grade below me, but they are nice and share some of the same interests as me, especially Chloe. I'll write about Chloe next time.

Here's a picture of my new friend Elsa Lauren:

I want to steal her hat.

Yeah. I know.

I hate pink.

But that hat rocks. I think I might see if she has some other hats around! A nice tan or brown or blue works for me. I think she knows a lady who makes them. My interest is piqued!

More soon!

Love,

Lucie

Élodie and Summer at the Zoo

Hi Friends,

Juliette is happy to be home (I know, it's been much too long since we last updated the blog) and she's taking summer classes to make up for the credits she missed while at the hospital. You know how she is. She is deathly afraid of anything lower than an A+!

The summer is going by really fast. We had a visitor in town this week. The loveliest girls arrived: Summer and Rebecca! Here's my roommate Rebecca with our visiting friends Summer and Rebecca. Can you tell which Rebecca is from out of town?

They like the same clothes! My roommate Rebecca is on the far right.

Summer is a little quiet but she's very sweet and pretty and adventurous. I love her wardrobe too. I'm on the hunt for a shirt like hers. Perfect for my next hiking trip.

Summer asked to go to the zoo, and since I went the last time, Élodie was her tour guide for the day. They tell me the weather was perfect. Warm but with a nice breeze. They first set off down a trail that wound past a lovely stream and waterfall, lined with beautiful vegetation.

Élodie's little sister Vanessa decided to get in the picture as well. She's so silly.

After a lot of stops for pictures, they reached the panda area. One panda was fast asleep, even though it was 10:30 in the morning, but the male panda was very active that day.

 

 The girls were so impressed they decided to get a picture by some stuffed toy pandas and Vanessa got a toy panda to take home.

They enjoyed seeing the polar bears as well, and took a few pictures:

We hope Summer and Rebecca can visit again soon!

Love,

Lucie

Nice Wednesday Surprise!

What's this? What could be in here waiting for me?

Only one way to find out.

I hope I won't cut myself.

Or the sofa!

Okay, the box says "hospital". Flowers from Juliette?
No, that doesn't make sense.

 I would be sending them to HER. 
Could it be?

Surprise! 

Juliette is home from the hospital!

The pink hospital gown really
suits you, sis. I know you like pink,

but aren't you sick of wearing
this for two weeks?

Juliette, you look great! The hospital stay and lots of rest
really worked for you!

Thanks to Kirsten for lending a nice
spring dress for you to wear!

Welcome home my sister Juliette!

Love, Lucie

At The Hospital!

Juliette is at the hospital!  She fell at cheer competition last weekend and seemed fine when she got home, but she started developing headaches.  She left school early yesterday afternoon and went to the doctor. The doctor admitted her late last night.

We don't know when she will be home. They are running tests because the headaches won't go away.  She's been complaining about weird itching on the back of her head as well.  She calls often and says the food is terrible and she is spending this morning watching cable news and getting more depressed.  She might end up looking a bit different when she gets home.

I will update when Juliette gets home.

Feel better soon, Juliette!

Love,

Lucie

L'aventure dans le jardin

So I'm working in the garden, as I said in my previous post. It's an overcast day and it must have rained overnight because the plants are wet, making my job a little easier.  Anything to get out of the house, though, to avoid my science project.  In Southern California the schools sure do like to make us study earthquakes! I'm tired of researching the definition of P-waves and S-waves.  Miette (my adorable terrier) was helping me outside, but he spent a lot of time chasing bugs and dodging hummingbirds. Yeah, there's a hummingbird feeder right outside the sliding glass door and those birds are constantly teasing our cat.

In walks Juliette, back from the football game. The Cougars lost 17-7, but she's still all smiles. I would be so cold in that outfit.

 

Seriously, look at that short skirt and the sleeveless...what? Shell? Okay. It's  not exactly 75 degrees outside today. I know she jumps around a lot during the game but not the whole time!

What I forgot to mention is that one of our roommates attends a private school and she is also a cheerleader. Drew Erin has been to cheer competitions and actually competed against Juliette's team.  Drew Erin is captain of her squad and I'm noticing some tension between the two of them; Juliette is all smiles but I think she's feeling the pressure.  Of course Drew had to make an appearance (their team won their game 14-0). 

 Wish me luck for household peace this month. You see, it's Nationals month. Juliette and her Cougar squad will be competing at Nationals and one of the teams in their division consists of Drew and her fellow Wildcats.

I'm glad I have my weekend surfing lessons (starting up again in late spring) and that we aren't anywhere close to competitive level.  Sure, I want to be a great surfer but I don't want the pressure of competitions!

Juliette tells me they dropped one of their flyers in the last competition while the girl was going from a lib to a scorpion. I think I need to learn this cheer talk. Okay, maybe not.

Lucie

M.I.A. (no, not that one!)

We're back! Sorry to be gone so long. The last semester at school was a particularly tough one for Juliette and me.  We were barely speaking to each other. We had so much stress with classwork, and get this: Juliette joined the cheer squad. I never thought I'd see the day. Okay, I know she's into dance and is very coordinated, but she's very shy. How does the most shy girl in school try out for cheerleader and actually make the squad? I hate to admit this but I kind of think part of it is her accent. Imagine her cheering "Yell it loud Cougars!" with her French accent. Well she has a mean back handspring as well.

She's off at a game right now. I promised I'd take a picture of her in her new uniform when she gets back from the game. But let me tell you, it's been noisy around here. She's suddenly all giggling on her cell phone with her cheer friends and practicing cheers in the hallway. She scared the fur off Sébastien the cat the other day when he followed her down the hall and she did a jump and almost landed on his tail.

I don't know what to think. This is completely out of Juliette's comfort zone!

Well, I need to get some fresh air so I'm off to water the garden. There are days I miss Megan - aka Nature Girl - because the plants and flowers looked a lot better under her care.

Love,
Lucie