Corsica - Poole Family Photos

Nighttime view from our balcony in Pinarellu, where we spent our first week

M shows off his swollen elbow out at dinner in Porto Vecchio; Leyton looks on in horror

The double buggy caused a bit of a stir wherever we went (I guess these things aren't as common in France), especially when we pushed it up the incredibly steep hill to get to the old town in Porto Vecchio

Daytime view from the balcony; we spent lots of time watching the beach, boats, and people

Dorian navigating our extremely steep and un-child-friendly stairs up to our apartment (he loved it of course)

A little sunset beach picnic outside our place...Leyton as usual heads straight for the booze

Preparing for a boat tour of the spectacular coast around Bonifacio

The boys playing together on the floor of the boat. This is the first (of many) times Dorian would see what Leyton was wearing and then demand to be dressed like Leyton

Dorian's culinary tour of Corsica included all the major French food groups - bread, pizza (the French LOVE their pizza and it began to be a bit absurd how many pizzerias there were everywhere), and ice cream, of course, though we actually got Mr. Fussy to eat VEAL by telling him, "It's just like chicken nuggets..."

Dorian would ask, "Why is the sun going to bed?" which actually makes some sense as that is how the French say sunset ("coucher de soleil")

Dorian waving to the little coastal "Micheline" train that passed by our house.

That is the great thing about 3-year-olds: this train went past us twice an hour for an entire week, and it never ceased to be an EVENT

I wouldn't call D the world's most enthusiastic swimmer, but he was diligent about his "ladder lessons" where he would teach us all how to get in and out of the pool, over and over again

This is how Leyton wanted to spend the holiday -- practicing his walking (he's at the "cruising" stage now where he can sort of get around holding onto things)

Getting up close and personal with the Micheline Train during an evening out in Ile Rousse

The first of many "friends" Dorian made on the trip..at a playground in Ile Rousse

Dinner at L'Escale, one of the many nice restaurants that were all surprisingly kid-friendly (always happy to talk to the kids, give them treats and toys)

Sunset in Ile Rousse, Dorian and his Mini-Cooper take it all in

Jennifer was very cautious in the sun and wore SPF 55 the entire time, except at the end when she decided to "go-for-broke" and go out in SPF 30 for a few minutes

Waving to Daddy from the beach under our house (red arrow indicates Daddy in this photo wearing blue t-shirt)

This house outside the goat enclosure was like something out of Dr. Seuss;

Dorian loved it of course

California-girl was right at home with all the Oleander on the island

Finally it was our chance to actually TAKE the train we had been watching and excited about all week!!

The reality of the train was a lot less glamorous than he had imagined..."You mean I have to sit on the FLOOR?? Don't they KNOW who I AM???"

Things looked up when D was adopted by Liam and his family from Glasgow...this was pretty much the only English we heard spoken in two weeks (we saw no other North Americans and few other Brits in Corsica, was nearly all French and Italian)

When D asked who that lady in the black was, and I said the Conductor, he marched up to her and said, "TICKETS, PLEASE!!!"

When we arrived in Calvi to meet Daddy and Leyton (who drove in),

D insisted on waving bye to the train and thanking it for the ride.

D picked up a good bit of French and was very eager to practice. He kept saying thank-you-very-much to people: "Merci Cuckoo!" (his 3-year-old version of merci beaucoup).