The Banana Test There is a very, very tall coconut tree and there are 4 animals, a Lion , a Chimpanzee , a Giraffe , and a Squirrel They decide to compete to see who is the fastest to get a banana off the tree. Who do you guess will win? Your answer will reflect your personality. So think carefully . . . Try and answer within 30 seconds. Got your answer? Now scroll down to see the analysis. If your answer is: Lion = you're dull. Chimpanzee = you're dense. Giraffe = you're a complete moron. Squirrel = you're hopeless.

A COCONUT TREE DOESN'T HAVE BANANAS. Obviously you're stressed and overworked. You should take some time off and relax!

Not my day....

Tuesday was not my day. There were horrible storms around 2:30 in the morning that had us wide awake, Claire slept right through them! As I was getting ready to leave for work I realized that my rain coat was in the trunk of the car. Not a big deal, except the car was parked 3 blocks away. It was supposed to pour so I needed my coat. When I get the coat, I realized we were parking in a No Parking Wednesday spot, which meant we would have had to move the car last night. We had a busy night planned so I decided to move the car at 6:30 AM since I was already there. No luck finding a parking spot so I gave up and ended up driving to work. Tuesday is my gym day, but I am always rushing to get out of Spin class, shower, and get to daycare before they close at 6:30. Since I had the car, I figured I would take Claire to the gym with me since we already paid for 50 daycare sessions. That plan backfired as I got called out of spin class not once, but twice, because Claire was pitching a fit. That also meant I didn't get a shower at the gym because I couldn't leave Claire. But, I was playing with Claire in the day care room at the gym to try and get her comfortable and guess what Little Miss Thing decided to do...

We finally had dinner and Dan had a condo meeting so I put Claire in the crib, jumped in the shower, then gave Claire a bath. I took her down to visit with the neighbors and Claire decided she was going to pull up on the neighbors coffee table. Like a proud Mom, I was saying, Wow - she has never done that before, this is a first....and down she goes. On her butt, fall back, and bump her head. Maybe I should have done without the rain coat yesterday....

On another note, I have been bad with the pictures so here are a few from this past weekend. And I put two new videos on Claires page.

What I love about this picture is that you can see the black raspberry ice cream on her top lip, the peanut butter ice cream on the bottom, and the orange sherbet coming in on the spoon. Would you guess that she was being spoiled by Kristin and Andrea at the same time?
These pajamas might be the cutest things I have ever seen, so I had to post them. Claire has her arms up waiting to give someone a hug. Hopefully that someone is you on June 20th!

Julei

Check Julie's Blog for an update by Gail!

PARTY

Amy's Party will be on Sunday, June 21 at 1:00. She is looking forward to seeing the family.

????????for Robillards and Ryans

Could you make it if I have Amys Graduation Party on June 27th? I am not sure about having it on fathers day.

June already??

I don't know who had more fun this past weekend - Dan & I went to a wedding in Maryland while Grandma & Pipere babysat Claire for us (with the help of Auntie Andrea of course!). I think Grandma had this date on the calendar since last year, so I know she was very excited! Apparently Claire had a blast and got to enjoy the swing they bought her. I don't have any pictures of Claires weekend, but here are some of our weekend.Also, if you have yet to receive an Evite for Claires birthday party, please give me your E-mail address. We are just trying to get a good idea of how many people will be there. The party is June 20th at 1PM. We hope you can make it!

PARTY WEEKEND

Just a heads up.....Claire will be celebrating her first birthday in West Spfld on June 20th and Amy her graduation from AIC on Sunday June 21st at 1:00p.m. in Spfld. Invites to follow. Anyone reading this is welcome.

Greggory Myers Graduates

Congratulations to Greggory Myers.

 He will graduate from Edward Little High School on June 6th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Job Greg

Pats Season Tickets?

Happy Wednesday!

A guy I work with is on the waiting list for Pat's Seasons Tickets. He asked me today if I was interested in standing room only season tickets for $450. While I do love the Pat's, driving up there every weekend isn't that exciting of a thought but I said I would check if anyone else was interested. You have to have a seasons ticket account to get the tickets but I'm pretty sure he can get them in anyone's name. Let me know if you are interested!

Obama in Ghana

One of the other volunteers in my group for Ghana posted this on our facebook group wall and I thought you all might find it interesting. Obama's first visit to Africa will be to Accra, Ghana, the capital. And, it will be while I'm there, though I'm sure I won't get to see him. If Ghana is good enough for Obama it should be good enough for us, right? Anyway, here's a link to a short article about it.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/16/obama-chooses-ghana-for-first-africa-trip/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Plans this weekend?

What is everyone up to this weekend? Will anyone be around? Mere, Dan, Claire and I will be heading North tomorrow and wanted to know who is around.

What are your plans?

Here is a shout out to Sarah Puffer Caron spuffer@bathpath.edu for getting her Master's Degree in Occuaptional Therapy this Sunday, May 18th and.... Amy Elizabeth Caron amybeth9051@hotmail.com for getting her Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education this Monday, May 19th

Compose Email: kmrousseau@aol.com

Add to Contacts

Finally....

Sorry it took so long! Here are all the pictures from family weekend. And a few for you to enjoy if you don't feel like looking through them all.

Julie's Ghana Blog

I created a blog to keep everyone updated on my adventures in Ghana. The address for it is juliebordua.blogspot.com. Check it out and keep checking it while I am gone. The first post is intimidatingly long, but don't worry, you don't have to read the whole thing if you don't want to, but at least read the first part that I wrote. The majority of it is letters from the peace corps to family and friends that you don't necessarily have to read. My address is also there, so make sure you save it and send me lots of letters and packages because I will miss you all a lot! I'm also putting a link to my blog in the side panel here so you can always get there easily.

Uh-Oh!

Watch out - Claire is mobile! How things change in a short amount of time. She has discovered scooting as a mode of transportation. I added a few videos to her webpage if you want to check them out.

Enjoy!

Vermont Schedule

Let us know when you will be visiting our favorite Summer getaway. There is a link added under favorites on the right hand side so you can always check back.

Let's try our best to keep this up to date, it will help out everyone!

Andrea has set up a calendar so you can see who will be in Vermont when - it will stay in the post and also on the bottom of the blog - just let Meredith or Andrea know and they can add when you are going to be there and it will show up below. If you want access to be able to add stuff to the calendar you need a google e-mail account - let us know and we can help you get set up!

Congratulations Gail!

For winning the Valley Advocates award for best birthing center.
"The staff at Wesson Women and Infants Unit regularly win in this category, and they attribute their success to their love for their work and their teamwork. They strive to provide whatever birthing experience a couple is looking for, while keeping everything as safe as possible. Being a teaching hospital keeps them on the cutting edge of technology and new techniques, and also provides their patients with a safety network of checks and balances. They are the only neo-natal intensive care unit in the area, and they can handle a wide variety of situations arising during pregnancy.

This weekend while the girls were at the house we made some plans for family weekend... Let me know what you think.
 
Friday night:  We really have nothing planned for the night but we were thinking maybe a fire in our backyard or something of the sort.  But Maryellen wants anyone who is going to be drinking to stay the night.  We have plenty of room.
 
Saturday morning Paula would like to make fried dough for everyone!  We thought we would do this here as an incentive to stay the night.
Lunch at noonish at Gail's. 
Wiffle ball game at 2ish?  Don't know if this works for the Peter Robillards.  I know you are having your grandfather over for brunch.  And Erin is taking the teachers test, but I think she will be done by then. So if that time doesn't work it can be changed.
 
Saturday night we are having dinner catered by Christian.  Chicken parm, ziti, salad, and bread.  If anyone would like to bring an appetizer or dessert feel free.  I will be making a peanut butter pie. It is quite tasty!
 
Sunday we will be having a Mother's Day brunch on Gails new deck!
 
Unfortunately they are predicting rain so these plans may have to be changed.  We were thinking maybe bowling...
 
Let me know if you have any ideas!

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Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. See how.

Celebrations of the week...

Happy Birthday to Sarah (it was on Sunday!)
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Sarah,
Happy Birthday to you!

And can you believe this handsome couple has been married for 25 years?? Congratulations and you are still as cute as ever (I don't care what the others say...)

Everyone raise a glass to them this Family Weekend! My guess is there will be no shortage of drinks to do so with.

Let's talk Family Weekend....

Family weekend will be taking place in 3 short weeks. Would anyone care to share the plans that are in place?

Make Tuesday a good day....

Stop by Dunkin Donuts for a $.50 small iced coffee
and don't forget Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's

Happy Easter!

I hear we missed a nice Easter brunch at Auntie Cindy's. We had a great time in Cleveland and wanted to share some Easter pictures. (Now I think everyone else should share their Easter pictures with me!)

Happy Birthdays!!

Just because you live in Vermont doesn't mean we would ever forget your birthdays

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday Tina & Teddy,
Happy Birthday to you!

Have a fabulous day - we love you both very much!

Support me in Relay for Life!

It's everyone's favorite time of the year - well, at least my favorite part of the year! Relay for Life 2009 is coming and I need your support. I am hoping to raise at least $700 this year and would appreciate any support you may be able to offer. Here is a link to my page:

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/andrearobillard

Now, if you don't remember my Relay efforts last year, let me remind you. Mere was about 8 1/2 months pregnant but her doctor was assuring her she would not go in to labor that week so I decided to go. Basically as soon as I got to the Cape Mere called and I turned around the next day and came back - and I missed actually walking in Relay. So, while my friends understood while I left, there were consequences to missing Relay...

Here are my friends, about to extinguish my torch from Survivor Island


The quote on this one was 'The tribe has spoken Andrea, it's time for you to go'

And finally, my extinguished torch the next morning at the end of Relay - BUT notice we got a Gold award last year because we raised so much $$$.

So in order to not get voted off this year, I need any help I can get...I'll keep you posted on my progress! :)

Let's go Red Sox!

I might not be around to dress Claire in the morning, but I do pick her clothes out. This one's for you Uncle David!
While I was taking her picture, Dan walked in from work and Claires expression immediately changed to this - I love it! :-)

Mom - I don't think this scale is very accurateI think she's ready for Easter

Camels don't so much like me...

So I'm working on putting some pictures together for everyone but I wanted to share this hysterical video. When we finished the sand dune rides we had the opportunity to ride camels during our safari. Kate and I were the first to volunteer and as you can see AND hear, my camel was NOT a fan of giving camel rides. I was trying to tell the guy that I would get off but he just kept trying to get the camel up. Our friend Carly is taping, we think it's pretty hysterical. More details to come...

Enjoy!!!!

TECWAE

Shrek, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Lopez were having lunch together.      Shrek said, 'I have always thought that I'm the strongest man in the World, but how can I be sure?      Brad Pitt said, 'I'm pretty sure I'm the hottest man alive but I've never had it confirmed.'      Jennifer Lopez added. 'I'm told I'm the sexiest of them all, but sometimes I wonder.'      They all decided that the best way to find out if their beliefs were true was to approach the wicked Queen's mirror to confirm for them whether Shrek is the strongest, Brad Pitt is the hottest and Jennifer Lopez is the sexiest.      They agreed to meet again the next day for lunch to discuss their findings.      The next day Shrek walked up with a smile. 'Well, it's true. The mirror told me that I am the strongest man in the world.'      Brad Pitt followed and boasted, 'It is true, it has been confirmed that I am the hottest man alive!'      Jennifer Lopez walked in, head bent, tears in her eyes and asked, "Who the hell is Maryellen Caron?

Abu Dhabi Update #2

Greetings from Abu Dhabi! We are having a great time - it feels like we have been here forever. On Monday we went to Dubai. Shan's friend had to go there for work so we only had to pay for 1 taxi which is great. You have to take taxis everywhere because they can only use the driver for work stuff. She lives close to a main road so it's normally pretty easy to catch unless its during the call for prayer which happens 5 times a day because all of the cabbies are at the mosque. We have to take 2 taxis everywhere because there are 5 of us which can get annoying. Shan has one driver who the normally call to come and get them named Gul and hes let us all squeeze in a few times but you can tell he doesn't like it. He is so funny - he speaks some english and always says 'Too much drink? You have whiskey and too much drink?' He thinks whiskey is alcohol in general so we are always drinking whisky. The hotel was AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZING!!!! So nice - you should definitely try to go sometime Mom and Dad! We were ushered upstairs as soon as we arrived to a private check in. The room was huge and really nice - exactly the same as the pictures online. And did you know that with a suite the mini-bar is complimentary? We may have asked them to restock it when we went to the pool. The pools were amazing - I think they had the most comfortable We chaise lounges I've ever slept on, they were like actuall mattresses. It was a little expensive - pools charge for people not staying at the hotel and since we had to say 2 people weren't staying we had to pay 500 durham so around $170 for the 5 of us to use the pool but it was worth it. That night one of Shan's friends came and got us and we went out to dinner in this gorgreous mall/resort right by the Bege (the sailboat building). After dinner we have the 'traditional Dubai drink' or so we were told and then Rich brought us around Palm Island - it was really cool! In the morning we got tickets and did one of the hop on hop off tours all day. We didn't get to get off much because some people were worried about time but it was still a great way to see Dubai! We did get to see Ski Dubai but no one else really wanted to do it so I lost out on that one. We were lucky enough to find a van cab to bring us back to Abu Dhabi - it cost around $100 so that wasn't too bad and it was a nice car that the Hyatt arranged for us. When we got back, Shans roommates had people over for Saint Patricks day. We went out to the bars and had yet another long night of being up until 5AM - not enough sleep for sure! Today we relaxed by the pool for a little while and then went touristy shopping. When we got back her roommate and friend had put together a big bbq for us and made us dinner. The meat tastes so strange but it was still pretty good and very nice of the guys! Its now 9pm and we're just going to shower and relax tonight. We are headed to the Grand Mosque tomorrow morning and from Shan's pictures it's AMAZING! You have to wear the traditional garb and can't wear shoes so it will be interesting. After that we are heading to the Mall of the Emirates which is supposed to be really nice and has some great views of Abu Dhabi. Tomorrow night we are going to get dressed up and go to these 2 really nice places for drinks and appetizers (apparently its super expensive to eat there) so that should be fun.

ESPN Tournament Challenge - Bragging Rights are on the Line!!

Let's see how many people we can get in on a little online basketball pool. Just click on the link below (you will need to create a username and password for ESPN) .

http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/group?groupID=92523

Group: Robillard Family
Password: pinehurst

Who will have the best picks?? Let the fun begin....

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I hope everyone has a Happy St. Patrick's Day! I thought Claire looked adorable in her new PJs so I snuck in to take her picture this morning before I left for work. She didn't even flinch when the flash went off. Good thing, or Dan would not have been happy with me waking her up as I am on my way out the door. I think Claire's ready for a party - what do you think?

Andrea sent us an update from her trip to Abu Dhabi. It seems like she is having a wonderful time. She left Thursday morning and spent a night in London with some of her work friends and then continued on to Abu Dhabi Friday morning. Her friend picked her up at the airport and they have been on the go ever since. Sunday they went to the beach and went out for Lebanese food, which she enjoyed (that is a big step for Andrea!) From her E-mail - "We way over packed in the conservative way - you can really wear anything you want but people literally STAREEEEEEEEEEEEE at you. It's kind of strange. Today we went on a safari - it was AWESOME!!!!! We were in these SUVs going up and down these huge sand dunes - it was insane- I was screaming! They had camel rides and belly dancers and sand skiing." We are waiting for the latest update after her adventure to Dubai, where she was going to Ski Dubai - a fully indoor mountain. Should be interesting!

Anyone recognize this woman?

Since Cindy wasn't in the office on her birthday, her coworkers took the opportunity to decorate for her. I bet she was quite surprised to walk in the office Monday morning. You look great Cindy - I love the glasses!

Uh oh.....

Cindy just had a big birthday....

Don't worry, you're still looking young (Keep drinking that Patron - it'll help!) We all love you very much and hope you had a wonderful and very memorable birthday!

Meme is doing much better today.  You would not believe the difference!  She is awake, talking, and of course hungry!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!

From our little Munchkins - it looks like they enjoyed celebrating his birthday!

You like her Cindy Lou Hoo hat? (thanks for the idea Grandma S!)