Twitter: July-September 2011

 July 1: Exactly to the day a year after leaving Switzerland, I am heading back to visit all my friends. I can't wait.

July 10: After hrs of deluge the sun came out just in time for my party. So excited to eat strawberry tart, blow my candles & play with my friends.

July 10: I am two today! "happy birthday to Noah" I repeatedly chant (and have been chanting for weeks now).

August 14: Before my 2nd birthday, I took a trip with Tonton and Tata. First stop, Avignon. Sur le pont d'Avignon, on y danse...

August 14: Hello Avignon... Brrr, it's cold here. How do you like my crocodile hoodie? 

August 14: Just in front of the hotel, there was this great carousel! Tata Nicole took me for a ride... 

August 14: What fun I had in bright, sunny Avignon! 

August 14: I got my very own gelato, for the very first time. Yummy strawberry. Yay! 

August 14: Next stop, Barcelona! Tapas at Bar Pinotxo at the Boqueria....

August 14: Dancing for the tree during breakfast on the Plaza de la Catedral... 

August 14: Time to come back to eat my bocadillo de queso....

August 14: After breakfast, we went down to the Barcelonetta beach where I played in the sand and built sand castles! 

August 14: Riding off to lunch at the local market... I like riding on Tonton's shoulders, it makes me so big! 

August 14: From the roof of this Gaudi building, you can see the whole city! 

August 14: Here we are all on the roof of the Gaudi building.

August 14: There was this great toystore nearby where I practiced my singing. They seemed a bit surprised I knew what to do with a microphone. Silly parents, it's not so hard.... just like the singers at the music festival.

August 14: Yay, another microphone. "The wheels on the bus go...." Since then, I've been finding `microphones' everywhere I look.

August 14: My friend, the lizard! I haven't seen you for 16 months! How are you doing? As popular as ever, I see. 

August 14: In the Gaudi Cathedral, I ran back and forth with my  magneto-drawing pad, getting everyone to draw pictures for me and for each other. Oranges, apples, fish, and flowers...

August 16: Next stop: a guest house near Montelimar. I had a great time playing in the pool. 

August 16: After paddling in the cold pool, I warmed up in the sun.

August 16: After a relaxing morning by the pool, we visited cute towns in the nearby Ardeche region and had a crepe lunch. The highlight though were the olives we had bought at the market in Barcelona.

August 16: We then headed to the Gorges d'Ardeche where my mom has fond memories of playing as a kid. 

August 16: Maman and I by the river. 

August 16: More cuddle time with maman by the river. 

August 16: "Noah conduire, Noah conduire". During the entire trip, I kept asking to drive the car. I was almost a big boy of  2. That's old enough right?

August 16: Also during the entire trip I kept asking to take pictures, "Noah appareil photo, Noah photo". Here is one of my shadow studies.

August 16: Before driving up to Geneva (on July 9th), I went swinging on the swing one last time. 

August 16: Weeeeee.... 

September 27: It's been a blast tweeting for the last 2 years. I'm retiring from twitter for now, but you can still get Noah news at this blog! [Bye Twitter feed and hello Blog posts!]

Noah's 2nd Birthday: Celebration #3

Noah's good friend and loyal twitter follower Linus was on vacation on July 10th so he could not be there when Noah first celebrated his birthday. Last time Noah and Linus had seen each other, Noah was not even 11 months old and Linus was about 4 months old!

Now (well, in July), Linus is an adorable (and very tall) 17 month old.

On July 18th, Linus (and his maman and papa) invited Noah and their common friend Romy for lunch...

...and a surprise birthday cake. Noah was quite excited at this unexpected opportunity to celebrate his birthday and sing his then favorite song "Happy Birthday to Noah"!

Not to mention the opportunity to have some yummy chocolate cake.

After lunch, the kids played in the backyard with Linus's house. The trio had a grand time together (sometimes playing together and sometimes next to each other).

They also played with little red cars.

Until Noah and Romy tried to hug and kiss Linus. It was great seeing all three together playing. Hopefully we can have another reunion soon.

Linus's maman made a cute photo montage of them playing.  Enjoy!

Noah's 2nd Birthday: Celebration #2

Remember the babygroup? We had met 5 other sets of parents before the birth of our respective children. They were all born within a month of Noah, and we continued meeting up occasionally until we left for Singapore. Here are five of the little ones celebrating their first birthday in June of 2010.

On July 17th 2011, we met up with four of the other five toddlers from the baby group for a second 2nd birthday celebration. The plan was to meet up in a park and have a birthday picnic but unfortunately the weather did not cooperate so we met in a mall cafe instead. Noah did not seem to mind, however. He and his buddies ran around, danced around, ate and sang. We are not sure if he remembered his friends but he definitely took to little Emma.

And enjoyed wearing a birthday hat and blowing whistles.

And of course, opening presents and singing "Happy birthday to Noah".

They have all grown up quite a bit since the first meeting back in the summer of 2009!

Happy belated second birthday to everyone.

Noah's 2nd Birthday: Celebration #1

Noah was a lucky boy: he got to celebrate his second birthday four times. He was really excited for his birthday after watching his friends celebrate theirs. For weeks prior to his birthday, he would wake up every morning and ask, "Happy birthday Noah? Happy birthday to Noah today?" in a hopeful voice.


His first birthday celebration was in Ferney-Voltaire, France at our friend Jacquie's house on July 10, 2011. Before the party even started, Noah already had his first birthday presents to open. He had a great time discovering his new games and toys with his tata NiCole and tonton Charles before they had to go back to the U.S.

That morning amid the sounds of thunder and torrential rain, we joked that Noah would probably need an ark to make it through his birthday. Even so, we started blowing up balloons and more balloons.

Noah's Papy and Mamie had already arrived to help set up and to celebrate with the birthday boy. 

That afternoon, the sun came out in the nick of time, just as the guests were beginning to arrive. There was Miriam, Marco, and Stella (our ex-neighbors from Nyon); there was Celine, Seb, and Romy; and there was Vincent, Klara with their twins Romeo and Zoe. Here are all the kids swinging on the swing.

Before the official birthday goûter, the kids played games out in the yard, running around, sponging water from bucket to bucket and drawing with chalk.

Then, they ate some food. Maman went a bit overboard with the healthy snacks, carrots, celery broccoli and various dips as well as fruit and coulis. Most of the kids were not too interested in the food... except for Noah who LOVES dips and fruit. Then came the birthday cakes. Two fruit tarts!

After a round of happy birthday and some yummy tarts, the kids ran around for a while and played. Noah then opened his gifts. Some great books and games and clothes and... a camera from Papy and Mamie. He was very very excited about the camera and is always asking to take pictures. He even tried to take a picture with the camera wrappings!

Before heading home, we gave each child a card with a color and drawing. The kids had to find the hidden bags and match the color and drawing to figure out whose it was. Within a short time period and to the excitement of the older children, the five bags were found and given to the right child. All in all, it was a great sunny party.