Saturday 26 July 2014

28 - to Sebastian, Lily and Elliott - July 2014

Dear Sebastian, Elliott and Lily, 

Do you remember the big bike race we watched two weeks ago?   Well it’s still going!   It should finish today in Paris.  They have raced for such a long time I’ll bet everyone is really tired.

It was such fun standing on a small hill and waiting for the race to come to us though.

The first thing we saw was a helicopter way up in the sky, then we saw two more, then waaaay over in the distance we saw a blur of coloured things moving along the road very quickly.

They were all the bikes racing towards us. 





There were a lot of them.  Nearly two hundred bikes!   Sebastian knows how many two hundred are, I wonder if Lilly and Elliott do.    

They were going so quickly that we really couldn’t see anyone except the first few.   Do you remember which rider gets to wear the yellow jersey?

That’s right, the person in the lead.

They were going so fast that every bike had passed us by the time Jojo could count to twenty.

Because the cyclists are racing all day, they can’t stop to eat so they have some people whose job it is to give them food in special bags.    

The racers don’t even slow down to pick up the bags, because they don’t want anyone to pass them.

As the riders are racing along, they take the food from the bags and put it in all their pockets to eat later, then they throw the empty bags away so they don’t get in the way when they are racing.

Everyone thinks the bags are great souvenirs, so there is a race to pick them up. 

One rider threw a bag right into Papa’s lap while he was taking photographs, so now we have a bicycle lunch bag in our collection too!

Don’t forget to give everyone a big hug from us,

Love

Papa and Jojo

Sunday 20 July 2014

27 - Sebastian, Lilly and Elliott - July 2014

Dear Lily, Elliott and Sebastian,

When we are travelling on our boat we see lots and lots of fish in the water.  Sometimes it is very clear and just like being on an aquarium.

There are lots of little fish swimming in the plants.





We often see some bigger fish too, but there aren’t quite as many of them.


Sometimes we see really, really


really BIG fish!

We keep looking out for sharks, but we never see any.

Do you think there are sharks in the canals in France?

Give Mummy and Daddy a big sloppy kiss from us,

Love Jojo and Papa

Monday 14 July 2014

26 - To Sebastian Lily and Elliott - July 2014

Dear Elliott, Lily and Sebastian,

Well!  Last week we went to the the most famous bicycle race in the world.  It’s called the Tour de France and goes all the way around France.     Before the race passes by though there are lots and lots of trucks and cars and specially decorated contraptions that go past in a special parade called “The Caravan”.  There are so many they go back along the highway through a few towns at a time.   Can you see them way back in the distance?


The very first thing to come through was a little car with a HUGE statue made in the shape of a man riding a racing bike.

He was wearing a yellow shirt because at the end of every day the person who is winning the race is given a brand new yellow shirt and he wears it when he is racing the next day.


The cars and trucks were all shapes and sizes, some were the team mechanics cars and they had ten bicycles on their roofs, some were buses with people in them, some were painted in really funny colours and had people dressed in costumes sitting on the roof.

They were going very fast though, so everything was blowing everywhere and the people on the roof had special seat belts to keep them safe.

They must have been quite cold.

Some of them were specially decorated trucks and the people on them were throwing presents to the children and to JoJo too!

Can you see all the children in yellow tee shirts?   A lot of people had yellow shirts so that they could cheer the winner on!

One of the men on the trucks threw a yellow cap to Jojo, she was so excited that she couldn’t catch anything else very well after that.

I wonder what will happen to that hat when we get home?

I wonder if some of the other things she caught will come home with us?

I think they might!

Lots of love to you all, don’t forget to give yourself a big hug from us,

From JoJo and Papa

Tuesday 8 July 2014

25- Sebastian, Lily and Elliott - July 2014

Dear Sebastian, Elliott and Lily,

Well it’s been a long time since we’ve sent a story to you, but we have been having a wonderful time travelling around in France.




Do you remember on our boat, the doors are very low and Papa is too tall?! Sometimes he bangs his head as he goes through them. He says “ouch!” and rubs it with his hand to make it feel better.





Yesterday as we were travelling in our boat we saw a big fish swimming very fast past us. He mustn’t have been concentrating, because he swam right into a brick wall and made a huge splash!

 We wondered if he said “Dam!”



He didn't look very well afterwards, and we were sure he must have had a big lump on his head.

How would a fish rub the lump on his head?

 Give everyone a hug from us,

Love Jojo and Papa.