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Papa
Here are the two younger offspring mocking
their aging father mercilessly as he makes a sterling effort to improve his
physical condition.
Maman offered papa the stepper for Christmas
2003, and he
jumped on it regularly, for a thousand steps until the counter broke (made in
China), and then for 25 minutes until it broke again, and again. It died
completely by 2006.
The process fascinated the younger boys, who exercise constantly and all day
long without the benefit of anything more substantial than a
soccer ball or goalie gloves!
Just to make sure that Papa got the point, Charlie one day jumped on the
stepper and effortlessly, without breaking a sweat, stepped more steps than his
father in less time. Thank you, lad!
The photo on the right above was taken at home at Daphné's family birthday celebration (of
course, there was also the friends' party, on video, and the school
celebration!) at home in August 2000. THIRTEEN!!
Here is a group of Disney photos.
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With Nick, Alex,
Tom and Charlie at Christmas
1998 at Disneyland. |
At Disneyland in Anaheim in February 2006.
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Back at Disneyland in Anaheim in 2006, on the monorail.
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Here we are in August 2000 at The House of the Blues in Downtown
Disney, just outside Disney World, Florida.
Charlie is splashing the fountain on the restaurant's terrace. It was a great
meal!
The red nose is a reminder of the Irish and English ancestry: we
weren't built for the sun!
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Not surprisingly, almost all of these photos were taken on vacation.
| is a calmer shot from a sunny beach in
Southern Brittany, during a two-day trip from La Grée in 2004. The beach was near a village called Telgruc.
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On Father's Day 2005, Alex looks over his dad's
shoulder on the deck at home. |
Keep scrolling down!
This larger photo on the right is one of that rare breed taken
with all of the children. Of course, they're not all
smiling: that would be too much to ask, particularly of
teenagers!
The occasion was Charlie's 12th birthday, in August
2007. Alban was getting ready to cut a little more cake,
as he was indicating with his left hand!
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At brunch in Santa Cruz, June 2002, taken with Marie-Hélène's
new digital camera.
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Alex reading to his dad, January 2000 |
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With Tom, Alex
and Charlie, at Carentoir, near La Grée, July
2001. |
With Nick (another shot on the same
trip can be seen on his page) in Yosemite, July
2005.
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With Alban and Daphné at his
graduation in June
2007.
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At San Diego Zoo, in March 2007, during a visit to
Courtney, Antony and Avalon Nash.
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Finally, papa spent almost a year, June 2003 through April
2004, living and
working in Orange County (in Southern California),
400 miles from the family, and commuting home to
Santa Cruz on weekends. On a family
level, it was not a good move. The family visited his home away from home from
time to time. It was in an apartment complex in Irvine called Villa Siena, where
this was taken in the swimming pool late in 2003. It's a bit blurred, but you
can see that it was fun. We sure love pools!
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