Natalya's birthday: Second day - the night party outside at La Quieze

The second part of Natalya's birthday was a night party. There were 33 friends with their kiddies.

We set up outside, in front of the house, and Stephan did the BBQ, because he is so good at it, and likes to do it. I have no issues with that.

Natalya prepared lots of chicken breasts, and they were marinated in a sauce for a day, a Russian sauce that is very fun. There were French sausages, too, a whole variety of them.

Natalya made an amazing BBQ sauce, too, for those who wanted it. It had herbs and orange in it. It was super yummy!

We asked the friends to bring either a little appetizer, or a dessert. Almost everyone brought both!

There were so many desserts. (Does it go without saying that they were all homemade desserts? No one here would dream of showing up with something bought in some pan at a store.)

As we have all come to expect from our dear Natalya, there was music. Lots of it. And loud. Just how she likes it.

It was funny, because last year we had this party at Natalya's birthday, and it was nothing less than a riot. Total chaos. All our friends still talk about that night, which we had at the old cowshed in the orchard, with the cowshed decked out like the Sands in Vegas, with electric stringer lights blinking everywhere. And the music, well, the little speaker set of this year was a toy compared to what Natalya arranged last year. I believe they could hear that party in Caen. Caen is 30km away.

Anyway, we were all laughing because some friends might have been half expecting the sort of riotous party as last year. But we decided to keep it more low key this year. Not that anyone was disappointed. Hey, everyone needs a rest from comatose drinking every now and again.

But they were all saying: "Gregory, maybe next year the party will be like the one last year?" hahaha!

Natalaya had such a good time. I think there are very few things that bring more joy to her heart than a lot of friends around, all having fun. This appears to be something the boys have in their hearts as well. Maxime was leading a troup of kids around the paths in the fields, which were black as night, but he had a flashlight to guide them. And he wanted to know at the end of the night when we could do this again, and if it could be really soon.

Gabriel, at one point, was all by himself, propped up in a chair at the window, an arrangement of his own design, looking down at the party with a beaming smile on his face, for a long time, just taking it all in.

The party started at 7.00 PM, and ended at 2.00 AM, and even the kids all stayed up till this crazy hour, and were happy to have yet another snack at the very end, of their choice of cookies or candies.

It was a super evening for Natalya.

Happy Birthday, dear wife!

The kiddies

Stephan is the king of barbeques. Perfect fire. Perfect sausages and Russian chicken (that is, French chickens, with Russian 24-hr marinated sauce)

Natalya and Sandrine

Although a very dark shot, you can make out Gabriel waving to the adults down below

From the table, Gabriel accosted me, and led me into the hall to show me something, I knew not what. He made me "fermez les yeux", close your eyes. I was guided by his little hand in mine, to see his new drawings, taped up on the Salon door: