Quelle bonne surprise! - What a surprise!

Feeling like a right tulip - at my surprise 30th party

I'd never thought that Paul was capable of sneaking around behind my back, especially as he usually works from home and I'm a lady of leisure, but he very successfully arranged a surprise party for me here on Saturday night!  It was a great soiree; he'd went into my emails to contact all of my friends here and arranged for his friend, John, to meet them all and bring them to the basement where there's a party room.  We'd been invited to dinner at the Greeks' flat in the building (or so I thought) and Vasso called at the last minute to propose eating in the basement as there's more room to allow the babies to sleep.  I was completely shocked and flattered to find all of my Paris pals there singing 'happy birthday' when I arrived.  It was really special and has made my 30th birthday celebrations very memorable before (I thought) they'd even begun.  

Rachel brought a fantastic birthday cake - delicious - particularly for me (as I'd saved myself for a big Greek scoff!)

Last minute panic - I didn't have a wish prepared and the candles were about to die during the wait for our arrival!

Party-man Paul celebrates the launch of the shin-dig with my tipple of choice, 'Cafe De Paris' - it's a cheap champagne (France's answer to cava)

After a few glasses of Cafe De Paris, and the party is swinging (most of us are mums who don't get out very often!)

My friend Kate and her partner, Jesse are both fabulous musicians.  Paul had asked them to bring their instruments and they played a fantastic set, including a full sing-a-long round song with audience participation!  Little Mo (on Kate's back) always goes to their gigs and claps along behind Kate.

Paul took a couple of days off last week as he'd been working non-stop for over a week due to deadlines and different talks.  We've decided to try to tackle some more touristy things in our final weeks, even if it means getting into debt!  We went to the Museum of Modern Art at the Tokyo Palais last week and struggled again to appreciate the vast majority of the work.  My friend, Moraima's partner, Matthieu, is a very famous contemporary artist here and has exhibited at the Modern Art museum.  He came along to the party too (you'll be relieved to hear that I didn't enter into artistic conversation with him after some of the aforementioned Cafe De Paris), but he is quite open about the fact that being successful here depends upon coming up with a unique concept - once you are part of the art circle, you can really do anything (eg drawing a line on a page) and your art will be worth a fortune because of your name.  I'm still working on my concept, but I think I'm onto a winner if I draw a big number and Paul writes 1,000 words on whether that number actually exists.  Whadayareckon?

At the Palais de Tokyo - Max's favourite place was the canteen as he was allowed to run riot!

The best thing about the Palais de Tokyo - it had an old-fashioned passport photo booth.  There are rarity now that you can select your own digital picture that you're 'happy'(!?) with.  Nothing beats being taken by surprise by the flash!

On Friday mornings I usually take Max to Cafe Zoide at the end of the canal for 'international singing'.  The cafe organise a 'Rue des Enfants' along the canal every year and they had a great day for it on Saturday.  There was a huge soft play area in the shade for little ones, so Max enjoyed himself.  We then walked up to La Villette and had a picnic and a play with the ball.

A beautiful sunny Saturday for the Rue Des Enfants along the canal

Fantastic music in the sun

Max and Paul chilling out at home.  I've been watching my friend, Jen's baby, Theodore for a couple of days as Jen's been in dance rehearsals.  It's so much more stressful when it's someone else's baby!  Max was loving the novelty at first but started to become a bit jealous - for the 100th time I asked myself, 'how do people cope with twins?!'

  

'Come on mum, it's starting to smell!' Max loves to tackle our very scary staircase - he knows to start climbing when he needs a nappy change!

Max in the sandpit in the park Villemin beside us.

When I was in the shower this morning, Paul yelled in to inform me that there were half a dozen men in the flat so I may not want to come out!  I had to get him to pass in my clothes to protect my modesty!  They'd arrived unannounced to deal with the wonky floor in the kitchen area and began ripping up the floor without any warning.  Thankfully, it was a gorgeous day again, so we went out for a coffee before Paul headed to work and I walked up to La Villette to meet Kate and co for singing.

'Put more suncream on my knees'!  Max heading out to La Villette this morning.

'Wa-oh!  Let's get outta here!  The men in suits all seemed to wear very long pointy shoes - I can't see that Parisian trend catching on in Scotland!

I'm off to pack our bags for a holiday weekend in sunny Scotland!  I can't wait!