Holiday fun

So, we've just finished yet ANOTHER school holiday - a four-day one, this time, that started with Ascension Day on Thursday. We stayed local for the four days, and rediscovered some of our favourite Chamonix warm weather activities. 

Thursday was gorgeous, and we went for a picnic down at the lakes in Passy. Then on Friday we were supposed to do a hike to the Bonnatti Hut in Italy with some other families and stay overnight, but sadly the weather was so poor that we aborted those plans and had everyone over for a BBQ at ours instead. Staying at a hut as a family is not exactly cheap - with dinner and breakfast and a bed in a dorm it comes out to about 35-40 euros a person, so you really want to go when the views are going to be good and the sunset guaranteed. Then Saturday I did a great hike with the kids just up behind the chalet. (One of the main motivators for the kids on a hike is telling them a really long story, and they get to choose a few elements to be included. What does this tell you about their personalities? Zoe asked for a unicorn, a princess and a witch. Oscar wanted a jedi knight with a light sabre, a magic pond and a magic tree. Indie - wait for it - asked for a disembodied voice, evil magic stinging nettles, and a ghost. And yes, I did manage to include them all.)

Sunday we went climbing with the girls at les Gaillands. The foehn wind started to blow again yesterday, so it was pretty tiring. But it's now official: the girls can now not only out-ski me, they can out-climb me too...

 Pete planted his garden on the week-end - with a lot of help

 Anna's worm collection

 Ah, the lakes at Passy. As beautiful as ever.

Happy to be here. AND, Zoe is now officially riding her bike without training wheels! We had a real break-through at Passy cycling on the hard-packed sand and the grass.

 The water was COLD, but since when does that stop the girls??

 The view in one direction

 The view in the other

 Anna on the rock at les Gaillands

 Almost at the top

 Giving you an idea of the height of the rock

 This is the favourite way of making sure the harness is holding

 Indie almost at the top

 Indie's the little figure in pink

Rock Chicks carry their own ropes

A New Arrival & Springtime Frolics

Oh my goodness, the excitement in our household on Saturday when we got the surprise phone call from my brother Neil to say that he and Ellen had just welcomed their baby, Joe Stewart, into the world, a few weeks early.  It sounds like it was a great birth - only six hours of labour (well done, Ellen!) and Joe was a very healthy 7lbs exactly. He's absolutely gorgeous (as the picture clearly shows) and we're all over the moon to have him safely here. The girls can't wait to meet their new little cousin, and I can't wait to get my hands on him. A trip to NYC upon our return is in order. 

 On other fronts, the spring weather is improving, and the girls threw an impromptu picnic for their stuffed animals.

 Zoe also received her birthday presents early from Gran and Papa while they were here. (I tell you, I don't know where my memory is going these days, I looked at these pictures and I suddenly thought, 'Zoe turned 5? When did we have the party?'. Oh, that's right - her birthday actually isn't until June. Whew.)

 This present was a huge hit - pony paper dolls to dress up

Gran, feeling the love

 One of our other days trips while my mum and dad were in town was to Courmayeur, just over the border in Italy. It is a little strange going to a ski resort off-season, because it did feel very, very quiet, but it was beautiful, and it's a really nice little town with fabulous views and a pedestrianized main street.

 Cappuccinos and pastries to start

 Just a sampling of the many grappas on offer

 Lunch was at a very good pizzeria - Dad gave it a thumbs up

These were individual pizzas! Huge! We brought quite a lot of it home.

Le Merlet Animal Park, Revisited

Ready for the walk

Mum and Dad were denied the experience of Le Merlet Animal Park when they came in the autumn, because it was already closed. (Sadly, we didn't know, and made the trek all the way up there only to have our little picnic outside the park gates...). But this time we were not to be disappointed - it opened again for the season on May 1st, so we trekked along on the Saturday. I wouldn't say the animals were out in full force, and the weather was pretty cold and showery, but it was still a good walk, and the views as terrific as ever. We treated ourselves to coffee and cakes at the end. 

We were rewarded with the sight of some of the baby deer that had been born

Stalking the deer

The llamas were exceptionally curious and friendly

'Geeza kiss' - Dad even made new girlfriend

The girls in their reflective rain wear

They have a practically tame marmotte at the entrance to the park, and the girls spent a long time following it around and trying to get close to it.

We weren't supposed to actually touch the animals, of course, but this little guy was pretty irresistible. And pretty confident too.

Gathering material for his nest

The perennially favourite game - jumping into Toby's arms from a great height

Aiguille de Midi and a Birthday Lunch

We didn't have the best weather for Mum and Dad's visit - quite a lot of cloud and rain - but the end of their week here, Thursday and Friday mornings, were bright, clear and beautiful. We had intended to go through to Courmayeur in Italy on Thursday, but we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go up the Aguille de Midi instead - at 3492m it's the highest place you can reach by gondola in the Alps. 

You have to take two separate gondolas, in fact, and going up so high so fast meant that we really felt the effect of the altitude at the top. We were all quite breathless, but the views were worth it. 

Looking up at the Aguille de Midi from the mid-station

At the top

View towards the west

Through an ice cave.

There were a number of mountaineers getting ready to go down with their ropes and crampons. People were even videoing them like they were celebrities - very funny.

More views down into the valley

After our high-mountain adventure, I treated Mum and Dad to a slap-up lunch at Le Bistrot. Dad turns 75 in a few weeks' time, and so this was his birthday lunch.
I think the food and service at Le Bistrot is some of the best I've ever had. This was where we went for a memorable meal when Lindsay, Sophie and Toby's cousins were in town, and I'd be looking for an excuse to go back for lunch. In fact, the incredibly good price of their set lunch (17 euros for two courses, plus all the extras that come with it) has become my new standard for judging other expenditures - 'how many lunches at Le Bistrot would that buy?' I ask myself as I consider a purchase. And because this blog is a record for posterity, here is the meal we had - I'm still dreaming about it.
Selection of 'amuses bouches' to start: a tiny cold asparagus soup; a light cube of frothy goat's cheese with pistachios; a small toast with a smear of myrtille jam and a tiny piece of smoke jamon. Then there was a little extra 'starter' of a citron mousse with little 'bubbles' of cucumber and a sausage 'chip'. Our main was  lamb shoulder, melt in your mouth, with a barley risotto and some delicious sauce and caramelized veggies. Then Dad and I went for the cheese plate (chosen from the incredible cheese trolley) with walnuts and a pear compote, while Mum went for the tarte amandine with a rhubarb compote. And then it was coffees and petits fours - a passionfruit jelly, shortbread, chocolate pecan cookie, a cherry chocolate (like a teensy eensy cherry blossom), and the house speciality - flavoured marshmallows. We could barely move at the end. Sigh. A truly wonderful meal. So for all my complaining about the food in Chamonix and how it hasn't lived up to my 'dream' of French living, Le Bistrot goes a long way towards redeeming my opinion of French food.

Dad, enjoying the cheese plate and the wine

Mum had the tarte amandine with a kind of creamy rhubarb compote served in the martini glass for dessert

The petits fours served at the end of the meal (and yes, we ate them all)

The Girl Who Cried Wolf

So, I know that this is now the THIRD time I've definitively declared, 'it's the last ski of the season', but do you know what? This definitely WAS the last ski of the season. Grands Montets is the last of the ski hills to close (it's the highest, at 2700m) and yesterday was the last day for the ski lifts. We decided to take the girls for one last ski, not really appreciating what a party it was going to be. It felt like the whole of Chamonix was there.
We decided to go early, thankfully, mainly so that we could ski before the conditions deteriorated too much, but we were also glad to have skied before the drunken crowds hit the slopes. The girls were pretty lackadaisical on their skis - I think they're pretty skied out - but boy, did they perk up when we discovered the zip lining, face painting, horse riding, bucking bronco and BBQ. It was a PARTY. A few coffees and sausages in baguette later, and I was pretty happy too.
So that's it - the ski rack is now off the car, and while Toby isn't ruling out some ski touring from the Aiguille de Midi, the girls and I have put away our skis. What a great season it's been.

The family on skis

Free hats + face painting = happiness

Father and daughter

Indie enjoying a hot dog

The face painting was actually face art

Zip lining! Touted as the longest in Europe. The girls started doubling up for more fun, and I went on with Zoe.

Indie

Yee hah

Party party party