Coes in Pau

We were so lucky that my sister's family, the Coes, came from their adopted home

in Russia to visit us in France.

Their first night was the day after we'd picked 21 kilos of blueberries with Leen's family. I only took home a third, but even with the ten people in our house, it took a dedicated effort to eat them all. This dessert consists of nothing but blueberries and cream.

Our 7 kilos of blueberries...

We toured the city center and chateau-- I think I finally know my way around.

The kids loved seeing each other, even DJ (14) and Tim (12). Thanks to their youngest, Ella, being barely older than Adi and Mae, the families merge together well. Although Adi and Mae appreciate their male cousins too, Vivian is very much at the age when she's obsessed with older girls. She'd wake in the morning and ask immediately where Ella was. And we had many tantrums concerning the seating arrange mtns at meals.

There was a heat wave (40 deg C= 104 deg F) while they were here so we spent most of our days in the river , along with many other residents of Pau.

Or in the nearby stream where they built this dam. DJ and I jogged one day, stopping every 10 mins to soak our tee shirts in the river, and ending up lying in  the deep pool they created. It was the only way to survive running in that temperature.

The boys were enthusiastic about practicing karate, which was inspirational for Adi and Mae.

In the heat of the day, we practiced in the house.