Molins in the Mountains: Indie the Champion of the World!

(Indie the champion)

So this is what happens when you fail to blog for a few days (can it already be a week?) - lots of news to catch up on. If I'd posted a few days ago I could have exclaimed, 'the grandparents are coming! The grandparents are coming!' but they've already been here since Thursday. And how lovely it is, too. My mum and dad are still planning a trip over in the spring, but we decided to surprise them with a trip now, so they could see where we're living, and also hopefully take advantage of the fall beauty and weather of Chamonix in October. So we've got them here for 10 days, and the weather hasn't disappointed. It's been absolutely gloriously sunny and clear since they arrived. So Friday brought us a coffee and croissant in town (my dad says he wants to eat as many croissants and baguettes as he can while he's here, and who am I to dissuade him?) and a beautiful hike up to the Petit Balcon, and today was the market in the morning (Toby and Dad watched the France v Wales rugby game) and some climbing down at the Gaillands (the kids, not mum and dad) followed by another beautiful hike. Good on Mum and Dad - they're game.

The other thing we're celebrating is Indie's triumph at the regional cross-country tournament! 7 schools, 640 excited kids and a really really big field, and Indie came in first girl in her age group. She won! She got a trophy and everything. I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't even realize she'd won - I was a volunteer and had been assigned to the hot chocolate distribution, and so managed to see the start but missed the finish (sometimes I'm a little too responsibility-minded). The start was a disaster - mass start, one little boy tripped and fell almost immediately and brought about 20 of the kids down with him, including Indie. But it was obviously a real Chariots of Fire moment (cue the music), and she caught up the other kids and had a terrific sprint finish. But I missed it! So I had no idea that she'd done so well. So I wasn't even there for the medals, and Toby had to run to find Indie to get her trophy presented, and just had time to get one picture before she was whisked off again. Still - you should have seen the smile on her face for the rest of the day. What a moment! We're still riding high, to be honest. Of course, we haven't missed the opportunity to turn this into a 'parenting moment', and there have been lots of observations about 'see what happens when you try and don't give up' etc. etc. I don't think Indie's even listening though, she's too busy polishing her trophy.