It was hard to believe it's actually October as we sunbathed and swam in one of the lakes down in Passy on Sunday. The water was definitely fresh, but we had a fabulous time on the beach with some friends who also have three kids. We didn't realize that there was a massive VTT (mountain biking) race around the lake that day, so it was not quite the oasis of calm we'd been seeking, and was absolutely jam-packed with kids, bikes and their parents, but it was still a great day out. The French definitely LOVE their cycling, and again it was amazing to see even the small kids completely kitted out with sponsored cycling tops and shorts, fancy gloves and shoes, expensive bikes etc. Still, what a great way to spend a Sunday. You can't help but notice that there don't seem to be very many over-weight kids here...
Our friends' kids are at the same school as Anna and Indra, along with our neighbours Peter and Lesley's boys, so I think that combined they make quite the little gang in the schoolyard. I think that has really helped our girls feel comfortable at school. And Zoe even seems to have made some friends at school now! At the moment it seems to be just another little English girl, but Zoe seems to be happier. And it's fun to see some more French creeping into her speech - the other day she said, 'Where's my pomme?' and yesterday she very proudly announced, 'Excuse moi' when she needed to get by. She's certainly churning out the artwork - there's at least four pictures to take home every day - and her teachers say she's happy to come to school, so I think, I hope, we're over the hump.
Tomorrow is another Wednesday of activities, and Zoe has tennis in the morning while the girls are climbing, and then it's hiking for Anna, mountain biking for Indie and more tennis for Zoe in the afternoon. I have to say that the French approach to kids activities is definitely less ... coddling of the kids. When I left Indie for her mountain biking on the first session, I watched a little bit from afar, and the very casual instructor, with about 12 little 6-year-olds in his charge, just set off and Indie, who hadn't really been paying attention, had to scramble at the very back to catch up. The instructor didn't even look back to see if he had everyone. One part of me was thinking, 'my god, have I just entrusted my child up a mountain on a bike for two hours to this man?' and another, tough love, part of me was thinking, 'probably good for the kids, to learn to look after themselves a bit.' She came back alright, and I bet that tomorrow afternoon she's not going to be the last in the line and is going to jump when the instructor says 'cycle', so maybe it is good for them. At least, I'll keep telling myself that.
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