Happy 8th birthday Zari!

We've spent the past two days celebrating Zari's 8th birthday. Yesterday--her "real" birthday--started with eating pain au chocolat and homemade waffles and opening presents. She got lots of artistic/crafty things: face paints, origami kits, nice markers, and a grown-up coloring book.

For lunch Zari and I went out to eat at a restaurant of her choice. She chose our downstairs neighbor's restaurant, Chez Palmyre, which is right down the street. Zari was giggly and giddy. She had soupe du jour (pureed pumpkin & potato), linguini in in a red pistou sauce, and pot au chocolate with coffee-infused whipped cream on top. I had beef carpaccio (thinly sliced raw beef) with an anchoïade sauce, morue (cod) with a tomato vinaigrette, and tiramisu. Everything was delicious.

A little plug for Chez Palmyre: it's a small restaurant that seats about 24 people. It's decorated to feel like your French grandma's kitchen. You have to reserve 4-6 weeks in advance for dinner and 1-2 weeks in advance for lunch. It serves traditional French food, more rustic than fancy-schmancy. And you get a 3-course meal for 17 Euros. Amazing. It's open M-F for lunch and dinner.

We took some pictures of each other at the restaurant

Then we made funny faces

The whole family, including my mom, spent the afternoon at a small, secluded beach on the far side of the port. The ocean was calm and glassy and almost unnaturally clear. No wind, no clouds, no waves. I can't believe we're still swimming at the end of October! Eric went spearfishing and found a huge school of dorade royale. But sadly a group of scuba divers scared them away.

We had a small family party after dinner with a raspberry & cream cake. We read her birth story (actually Eric's version because it was shorter), looked at pictures (1 day old, 2 days old, 3 days old), and watched movies of her as a newborn. Sigh...how can she already be so old?

Today the celebrations continued... in the morning we baked little cakes, made frosting, and gathered supplies for her party in the afternoon. Zari had invited everyone from her school class, but sadly only one person came. (It doesn't help that we're on a school holiday right now...but still it was disappointing). But a few other friends and their families came and saved the day. We did face painting, let the kids frost and decorate their own cakes, and let everyone run loose and eat lots of treats that usually aren't found at our house.