Jamie and Connor at Club Med

We're all having quite the time here at Club Med in the Dominican Republic. The boys have been at the Mini-Club Med all week and of course have claimed not to like it much, but it's not at all clear that they haven't had a pretty good time. The first day, Jamie reported that his favorite part of the day had been going to the pool. He then reported that the scariest part of his day had been going on the flying trapeze. WHAT?? we asked. Yes, it turns out that Jamie, hooked quite safely in, had climbed up to about 30 feet and swung out into space on the trapeze. We later learned that in fact he wasn't supposed to, as his group is too young, but while his group was working on the adjacent, lower, tight-rope, he seems to have plopped himself down in the line for the trapeze and from there dutifully did what he was told. Unfortunately, we didn't have any pictures of this, but when you see the ones of Sarah up there, you'll see just what a feat this was for our brave little boy. Having done it, however, Jamie says that he does not wish to go again.

One of the funny things about the trip is the predominance of French guests and language here. Much is done in 3 languages but when push comes to shove French is definitely the lingua franca, as it were. One of the persistent jokes of the week has been telling his cousins Erik and Emma that Connor knows French. Jamie's caretakers, "G.O."s in the lingo here, do a fair amount of English but the younger they get the less English so Connor hears almost exclusively French during the day. The joke started because one afternoon Sarah joined his group for a snack. As Connor was munching some Cheerio's one of the G.O.'s asked in rather rapid French "Veux-tu du lait Connor?" He responded with his particular way of nodding, a kind of steady bobbing of the head with a brief pause at the top and eyes wide open. Now, the other joke is that Connor is a yes-man, as in generally inclined to answer in the affirmative to any question, but all the same Erik and Emma have spent all week befuddled by the idea that Connor has already learned French.

Jamie, meanwhile, has become interested in French. Last night, he and Sarah were at the smaller of the pools here. They were having a good time playing with a football, throwing it sothat Jamie would try and catch it as he lept off the side of the pool. This very cute little girl, a bit older than Jamie, began sort of hanging around and watching them very closely. Sarah asked if she'd like to play and she immediately responded, "Je le veux bien!!" Turns out out that her name is Marie and she and Jamie hit it off famously. As Sarah and Jamie left she asked if he would come again the next day. He did and a fine time was had so it seems that Jamie's "chick magnet" ability, as Nonni puts it, translates into French. Earlier today he asked me how we sounded to French people and then said he wanted to be able to understand French and speak French. I asked if this was because of Marie and he said "Yeah. And I just want to be able to understand." Tonight as she left the pool he gave Marie a lovely "Au revoir."