Saturday morning though, we needed to go to the library, since everyone had read all of their books. After a desperate search to find the last Asterix book (under the couch cushions) we were off to the train station. Sapphire carried her own books on the grounds that if she carried them then she should be allowed to check out as many books as she wanted. I told her that was fine, but that she needed to check out at least one book with more substance than The Babysitters' Club books.
At the library, we returned our old books (all 27 of them) and picked out new books. Ezio picked 5 Boxcar Children books. Cherry carefully selected books from the C-D bin. (I found out later that her selection criterion was purple.) And Sapphire hunted down the Children's Librarian and told her that her mean mom had said she wasn't allowed to check out any Babysitters' Club books because they weren't substantive enough. She ended up checking out A Wrinkle in Time, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, a couple of historical fiction books, a biography of Michelle Obama, and a new book that I'd never heard of but which the librarian strongly recommended. (I'll just note that I've been trying, unsuccessfully, to convince her to read the first 3 books for months. Evidently the librarian is a more reliable source of book recommendations than I.)
After lunch, the kids and I dressed for skating, and I grabbed cash for admissions and skate rentals. I also grabbed the receipt for my Carte de Séjour because it had our address on it and admissions and rentals are significantly cheaper for residents of Fontenay than for non residents. Once we finally reached the front of the line, I discovered two things.
1) Blanche hadn't brought any money, and so I would have to pay for her admission and skate rental.
2) In order to get the Fontenay admission rates, I needed to bring photo ID and proof of address and identification sized photos and a couple of other things to the office of the Sports Complex (not open on weekends) and they would make special cards for everyone that would entitle us to the discounted admission rates. So I had to pay full price for 4 children and 1 adult.
We made our way inside and got skates. Once I had laced and tied the skates of all 4 kids, and laced and tied my own skates, we were ready to make our way out onto the ice. (Are you getting the impression that this is all a bit of a production? Because it is.) Sapphire and Ezio headed out onto the ice with Blanche. Cherry held my hand, and we skated very slowly, and with many falls, around the rink 1.5 times. Then, Cherry announced that she was done skating, and ready to go home. Problem: I couldn't leave without the big kids, who were still skating, and I'd paid a small fortune in admissions for everyone. If all of the kids had wanted to leave, I would have left and chalked it up to a learning experience and refused to repeat it.
So Cherry and I sat on the steps and watched the other skaters. After 5 minutes she decided that she wanted her skates off. We could always put them back on if she changed her mind. After another 5 minutes she decided that her feet were cold. Could she put my mittens on them? We did. (In case you were wondering why I didn't just put her skates back on, I wore mine the entire time, and my feet were like blocks of ice by the end. I suspect the mittens were substantially more effective.) A few minutes later Ezio came over and told me that he wanted to leave. And I told him that he was welcome to stop skating and sit with me until 4:30, or Sapphire and Blanche wanted to leave, but that if he was only going to want to skate for 20 minutes or so I probably wouldn't be bringing him next time. He was, of course, more than welcome to sit for a while so that his legs could rest.
Shortly before 4:00 they announced (evidently, I was listening to Cherry whine) that it was somebody's birthday, and they switched from ordinary white lights to multicolored spotlights that switched on and off in sequence. That was enough to convince Ezio to go back onto the ice, and all three big kids ended up skating until close to 4:30 when Ezio came off saying he was tired, Sapphire told me she was getting blisters, and I dragged Blanche off the ice. After reversing the putting skates on operation (though Blanche, at least, could get her own off) and putting shoes on, we headed back home. (And then I headed back to the grocery store to get food for dinner and something to fix for Sunday since the grocery store would be closed.)
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