Movin' on up, you're movin' on out

Hello All
Well the year is ticking past much faster than I had planned and all my babies are flying off again to their new nests. Patrick is currently in Holland settling in to his new life being a student again and learning another language. I really hope this works out for him, you never really know how long each child is going to take to settle into adulthood but I have learnt that when they get to 18 all you can do is guide, not impose and just be around to collect up the pieces when necessary. 
So I am hoping that Emily when she gets to Bordeaux next week to study English and Portuguese will settle in to her new adventure and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed my university years.
Number 3 will be hanging around a wee bit longer although moving up into Collège will be a new experience for her, not to mention learning to live with her parents without any sibling support. Luckily she has lots of friends and lots of activities to keep her mixing with people who know that "The Next Step" is a telly programme and not what you take every morning when you get out of bed. 

Gavin is currently tearing his hair out (well whats left of it) in town right now, berating the french obssession with "La Rentrée" and the buy, buy, buy mentality which means there are now 14 aisles of paper and pens and 14cm of garden and insect control so he cannot find any hornet spray to rid the tractor of the nest which is right by the wheel that he needs to fix. I thought of suggesting that he could erase it with tipex... but I'm not sure his mood was up for it.

Well we have been eating well as usual this summer Chez Nous and out as well at various delightful evenings we have had with friends this summer. My sister and my 2 nephews came to visit for a few days which was a lovely surprise, we visited Saint Emilion and bumped into people I know which was weird and great as it meant I was home. And I am sure every time I go there I walk down a street I have never been on which is surprising for such a tiny town. We have also been accrobranching...... well I have watched the kids accrobranching which was amazing fun and I have eaten far too much chocoate and ice cream. Oh dear what a shame.
Soon it is time to break free from the chains of the holidays (!?) and then nothing will stop me getting through rest of the year.
See you all soon
Helen
P.S. Who has spotted the musical reference? Could be tricky to be exact.