Another Wednesday survived

(Anna and Zoe, waiting for the circus performance last week-end)

It seems that this blog is being rather dominated by accounts of the girls' activities... and that's probably an accurate reflection of our life here, which feels rather dominated by the girls' activities. Still, I do think there is a certain thrill as a parent when you feel like you've signed your child up for a really, really good activity with a really, really nice teacher and your kid really, really loves it. So with that lead in... yesterday was the first session for Anna's circus skills class, and (you saw it coming) she absolutely loved it. She has a very nice, very CALM teacher (an approach I'm valuing more and more in this rather more 'shout-y' culture of coaching kids) and Anna is already walking on stilts and standing up on and rolling a big ball around. And she was doing some pretty impressive diabolo when we arrived to pick her up. She loved it so much that we asked if Indie could do the class too, although she's not yet 7 (the minimum age). They've agreed to let her try it next week to see if she's strong enough (and wants to enough), so we're hopeful.

So this past Wednesday was skating for Zoe, climbing for the other two, then Indra did saute a ski and Anna did VTT while Zoe did tennis. It was an interesting logistical transport nightmare because Toby was only arriving back in the afternoon from Canada, but a very nice friend helped out with some of the drop-offs and pick-ups. Saute a ski was not quite as successful for Indra as it was for Anna - she just couldn't stop herself from going limp and snowplowing and so fell on her bum every time. While it was quite frustrating to watch her do it again and again, while the other little kids quickly mastered it and moved onto the big jump, I have to give her credit for her determination and persistence - she went back up again and again. (And fell down again and again...). But again, I guess a life lesson of some sort. If mainly for me, to keep my mouth shut when I'm trying to be 'encouraging' - Indie eventually had to tell me to be quiet, because all my 'encouragements' and coaching weren't helping. Fair enough. I kept quiet after that.

 Anna and Indie hustle in tennis. What a location!

 Zoe (second from left) getting ready to go skating.

Indie, walking up the hill at saute a ski.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to include a short video of Indie's best attempt, but no go. I'll try again later maybe, if only you can see the steepness of the slope! And that was the baby hill... no wonder Indie was a bit nervous.

family portraits

(Just happy to be here...)

It was a quiet week-end for us, mainly because Toby had to fly back to Canada rather suddenly to sort out some stuff (significant tapping of forefinger to nose, I'll explain in full when he's back, just in case any customs and immigration folk are browsing this blog...) but Toby managed to see the girls play tennis before I took him to Geneva airport.

It's becoming clear that Indie really doesn't enjoy team sports - something about hating being told what to do, I think, remind you of anyone? - so in the lesson she was completely listless when it came to hitting the ball, but she came to life when they had to run around the court collecting the balls. So here's another one of those parenting conundrums: do you force your recalcitrant child to do lots of team sports because it will be 'good for her', or do you play more to her strengths and let her do the more individualistic sports, which she clearly enjoys more? Probably, as with most of these things, a bit of both is the solution.

I had a bit of a panic driving Toby to the airport because I suddenly realized, while I'd reminded Toby when we got in the car to make sure he had his passport, I'd forgotten my own passport, and there was a little matter of a BORDER to cross. I'm clearly still not in the European mindset for passports - in Canada you basically blow the dust off your passport only when you are flying yourself, or going to the States for some cross-border shopping. But thankfully we weren't stopped - in fact, Toby says he's never been stopped at the French/Swiss border, but I wasn't assuming there couldn't be a first time...

Yesterday afternoon, while Indie was at a birthday party (social progress!), I took Anna and Zoe to a little theatrical circus presentation in town. It rather suited us because there was very little speaking, it was mainly mimed, so even Zoe could follow along easily, and some of the circus skills - gymnastics, diablo, juggling, balancing a table on a chin! - were very impressive. And, as the average age of the audience was 3, it didn't really matter if any of the tricks went awry, in fact, it was when something was dropped that the performers got the biggest laughs.

I thought I would include a few pictures of the family that were actually taken almost a month ago now, when friends of Pete and Lesley's were visiting from Hong Kong, and we bribed lovely photographer husband Will to take some family portraits of us in front of the mountains in exchange for a parapont ride down the valley. We took a cable car up the mountain for an early session, and had a lot of fun running around the mountainside as Will snapped away. I think the silhouette shot is particularly fun - expect to see it on our Christmas card this year... Bizarrely, the mountains look so crisp in the distance it almost looks like a fake backdrop. But I promise you, it's the real thing. Anyway, really nice to already have some family photographs of our year living by Mont Blanc.

 That is the real deal in the background...

Anna, Indie, Zoe

Wednesday is over - and we survived

So Wednesday was, as usual, a day off school (remember! It's a four-day school week here in France...) and we finally launched in the girls' extra-curricular activities. I did write about the difficulty we were having in choosing which activities to sign up for, but the dust has settled and, despite some doubtless rookie mistakes, we have ended up with climbing for Anna and Indie on Wednesday mornings while Zoe does her 'taster' course of three different activities (skating, climbing, tennis), then it's Anna and Indie's turn in the afternoon for the 'tasters' (for them it's Velo tout terrain - that's mountain biking to us anglos -, hiking and ski jumping) while Zoe does an hour of tennis.
I don't know about the girls, but Toby and I were exhausted by the end of day, just from all the ferrying around. But the girls had a lot of fun. The climbing club for the older girls in the morning is great, and they loved it. Although they are going to have to learn to be more assertive, as Anna complained that the other girls kept pushing her off the wall. (It's very competitive here, as you can see...). I told her to push back, and when she said, 'but you told me I shouldn't do something mean back to someone just because they do something mean to me'. Yessss, I did - I DO - say that, but maybe this is one of those 'life lessons' that isn't always consistent, that sometimes it's OK to push back. I'll be thinking more about this one this year as the girls struggle to hold their own against more aggressive kids.
Indie was trooper with her 2 1/2 hours of mountain biking (and she was in with what looked like professionals, the other kids were so well kitted out, bike gloves and go-faster-glasses and everything) and Anna LOVED her ski jumping. If I can, I'll try to post the video Toby made of her - they go really fast, and with the proper form and everything! She's keen to do more, but honestly, I don't think this is really a sport we're going to encourage her to take up.
Zoe embraced her tennis lesson with her usual enthusiasm ('That was SO MUCH FUN. I loved it SO MUCH', a la Zoe) and once she actually figures out what the teacher is telling her, I think she'll enjoy it even more.
So now it's swimming on Friday afternoons, then tennis for Anna and Indie on Saturday mornings. Oh, and circus skills for Anna on Thursday afternoons. But that's it!
Until ski season starts, that is...

 Indie and her VTT gang

 Zoe, getting in the tennis spirit...

No, swinging is not one of their 'official' activities, but couldn't resist including this one of Zoe, swinging with her dolly in the sunshine. Happiness is...

And this is one of the girls getting ready to enjoy a fabulous selection of French pastries - a nice perk!

Holiday from our stuff

One thing I am really enjoying so far about this year in France is the holiday from all our 'stuff'. At the risk of sounding spoiled (obviously we are incredibly lucky to have so much 'stuff' in the first place), life suddenly feels much simpler, and I've been freed from a lot of the maintenance and attention the 'stuff' required.
Suddenly, I'm living life on one floor (we're essentially living in a small bungalow, with a 'bunkhouse' for the girls upstairs), instead of four; the girls have one plastic cup each (instead of ten); we each have a shelf of clothes instead of drawerfuls; the girls have a few beloved toys, instead of a houseful. And while we have a big garden to use, someone else looks after it and mows the lawn!
We did ship quite a few boxes of things for the year, but it was mainly computers, Toby's bike, winter equipment kit (x-country skis and boots, downhill skis and boots, and skates and helmets for FIVE takes up a fair amount of space), books and kitchen stuff.
I was feeling a little guilty before we left about separating the girls from their toys (the girls did play for hours with their duplo, barbies, stuffed toys, puzzles etc., and  Zoe is only four after all) but one nice result is that they are having to get more creative about entertaining themselves. Thus they can spend hours playing forts, british bulldog, climbing the tree outside, hairdressers, drawing etc. Also, the local library does have a wonderful 'toy lending library', in addition to all the books, DVDs, CDs, magazines etc. so we've already enjoyed borrowing some new games to try out. I can recommend 'Settlers of Catan Junior' for the under 7 brigade! (And the regular Settlers of Catan for the older kids - completely addictive and what I want for Christmas this year...)

 Even the stairs become a plaything

Hairdressers

 Drawing

Singing in the rain

 Squeezing fresh orange juice for mummy's breakfast is a favourite occupation (never too soon to put them to work)

Sticks have plenty of potential

The naked housekeeper - even housework can be fun!

Our first visitors

I'm starting to think I should have just called this blog 'another beautiful hike...', as it seems to be what I start with every time. This w/e was a lot of fun because we had our first visitors! Our lovely friends Bee and Emma came from England for a long w/e - and cleverly left their respective spouses and children behind, so had a (virtually) kid-free week-end. We kicked it off on Friday afternoon with ... wait for it ... another beautiful hike.
Now, I had joked before the visit that the fact that Bee is 5 months pregnant meant that I could perhaps finally keep up with her on a hike, but clearly the baby needs to be crowning if that is ever to happen. She decided the Col de Monte would be a good idea, so four hours and a some pretty hairy climbs later, we finally staggered back to the car. But it was worth it.

 We were allowed a few rests to enjoy the view

 Emma and Bee enjoying the sunshine (sadly, the only sunshine for the w/e)

 Emma, trying not to look down...

 The petite aiguille

 Part of the hike was climbing up the rock faces on metal ladders - a first for me. (Emma's trying not to look)

 Enjoying the fruits of our labour at the top

Me and Bee (she's the one with the bump)

Sadly, the rest of the w/e was pretty wet (amend that to VERY wet on Sunday, clearly when it rains here it REALLY rains, socks it in all day) but we still managed a hike to the Chalet de Floria with the kids on Saturday. I was very impressed with the girls - they made it up and down without any fuss, even Zoe on her little legs. A highlight was passing a shepherd and his flock of sheep on the way.

Interacting with the locals

Then on Saturday night we drove to Switzerland for dinner. (Rather fun writing that sentence, it's not something I've done a lot in my life... wait for the 'Went to Italy for coffee' in upcoming blogs - the beauty of living on the border.) Lovely friend Megan and her Swiss partner Gilles designed and built their own house on a mountain slope just above Martigny, and this was our first visit. It was absolutely gorgeous, what a dream to realize. It was also just fun to be out and about, and of course to be spoiled by someone else cooking - as well as meeting some other friends from the Chamonix valley.
Sunday, sadly, was a bit of a write-off weather-wise (rainy and cold - it even snowed up on the mountains at about 2000m) but we enjoyed a comfy day at home - and borrowed THE HUMAN PLANET from Pete, the latest (I think) in the BBC's series of documentaries, this one about people living in different challenging environments around the world. Top notch.

(Can't resist adding in an enlightening exchange between Indie and Toby this w/e: Indie was particularly energetic and mischievous at bedtime, and wouldn't settle. After asking her numerous times to lie down, Toby finally sat her down and said, 'I asked you five times to settle down, Indie, how many times do I have to ask?' 'Twenty times,' she said quickly. 'Infinity would be too many.' Well, thank goodness for that. )

Victorious! And another beautiful hike

So we have returned victorious from the doctor's office, multiple medical certificates clutched in our hot little hands.  Now, I don't know if we hit the doctor on a very quiet day, or whether people here have never tried to see a doctor in Canada or the UK, but I'm telling you, I've waited less time in a Canadian doctor's office when I've HAD an appointment. I'm not really sure what all the fuss was about.
We decided, rather rashly, to go to the doctor's after school on Tuesday, to suss it out if nothing else, and ended up being seen after only 40 minutes. They couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating, and happily printed out medical certificates for all (you need to get a certificate for EACH AND EVERY sport you do, so Indie alone has about six or seven...). I guess they're used to the system here, but I was still impressed. So it was a very successful sojourn, and saved us having to sacrifice the girls' Wednesday off... so we managed to go to a beautiful animal park and nature reserve called Le Merlet today instead.
It was yet another beautiful day,  and it was an impressive drive up the mountain (glad we got four-wheel drive, apparently indispensable in the wintertime), so we started our walk at 1500m. The combination of easy paths, gorgeous views (even better of the Mont Blanc!) and lots of wild animals to see just wandering around the park was pretty irresistible. We saw moufons, chamois, marmottes, deer, llamas, to name just a few. Sadly the camera was inadequate for capturing the animals in all their glory, but here's a little taste.

 At the start.

 The views, the views...

 Sisters

 More views

How do you like dem horns?

Then, of course, it was time for an ice cream to revive ourselves, and after a little more animal action, we called it a day.

 Toby's trendy shot - see the Mont Blanc reflected in my glasses?

 ummmm... ice cream

 Still enjoying them...

 Some animals were less than 'wild'

Chalet La Floria

Did the most beautiful hike yesterday to a little refuge called Chalet La Floria - and the name didn't mislead. The chalet was covered with the most gorgeous flowers - all the way up the path and around the refuge - and it was a beautiful spot to sit and enjoy the view with a cold drink in hand (after a pretty stiff uphill climb). It was very nice to do a hike with such a pleasant destination - they do lunch, I noted, for another day...

 What's the gardener's secret?

 View from my seat one way...

 View from my seat in the other direction...

Floria by name...

This is also the week of school meetings, where we get to go and meet the girls' teachers properly and hear a bit more about the system and classroom structure etc. It was Indie's teacher last night, who seems very kind, and it was interesting to see the resources they use to teach the reading and writing. The girls have only been at school for five days, but there was already work on the desk for us to see (clearly they waste no time here) and Indie is already writing in cursive! I was impressed. I think Indie is going to get on fine. It's a large, bright classroom, just renovated, and here is the picture of the view from her desk - I'm not sure if the picture does the mountains and the view of Mont Blanc justice, but it's pretty fabulous!

Tonight is the meeting with Anna's teacher, who, I'm afraid, continues to be very shout-y (in fact, Anna tells me that her nickname in the schoolyard is 'The Screamer', so clearly she's exceptional even for French standards). Oh well, hopefully the amount of sports they do (I was told last night that in ski season they even take a whole week of school time and ski for the whole week!) will soften the blow a bit for Anna. 

The other thing that is preoccupying us is trying to get 'medical certificates' for the whole family. It seems you cannot join in any sporting activity here without a certificate from a French doctor proclaiming that you're healthy enough to do the sport. So now we're in a mad scramble to get registered with a doctor, and get our physicals (otherwise, the girls won't be able to join in all these lovely activities we've been signing them up for). So in Montreal the challenge is actually finding a family doctor who will take you on - there is such a severe shortage. Here, they seem to get round the problem by allowing anyone to register with a doctor - no problem - the challenge is actually getting an appointment. (Maybe Quebec should wake up to this approach - on paper everyone could actually HAVE a doctor, they just wouldn't ever get to see them...) So tomorrow we're all going to go when the doctor's office opens, without appointments, and camp there until we can actually get seen. I'm going to treat it like a major expedition, and come equipped with a few meals, lots of entertainment, maybe a movie or two, and settle in for the day. We'll do what we have to do... wonder if we should bring a tent? I'll report back, hopefully when we return victorious.