Le Paques

Sorry that this blog has lost its momentum lately. I have just been too busy to update!  So over the next few days I endeavour to catch up, although it will be coming in chunks.

So, Easter.  Sandra arrived on Easter Saturday with Esme and Ruby in tow.  Lily had been stupidly excited for the week before their arrival and was possibly about to explode on the way to the airport.  Unfortunately the weather turned a bit rubbish for them being here, but they managed to camp out in the garden three nights, spend a day at a theme park, a day in town and lots of exploring.

The classic Savoyard chocolate fondue

We had an Easter egg hunt in the garden, which kept them entertained for about 20 minutes and the boys really enjoyed having a chocolate-centred diet for a couple of days:

Stu had to work away for a couple of days so me, Sandra and the littlies went out for some nice long lunches and trips to the park and soft-play. And I really appreciated the break I got having an extra pair of hands at bath and bed time!

Me and Stu were able to venture out for drinks in Chambery one night and located the Irish bar that seems obligatory in all European cities. O'Cardinals is possibly the most un-Irish Irish bar ever, with most of the Frenchies shunning the Guinness in favour of a café and a saucisson.  The thing I find the most puzzling about pubs and bars in France is that they don't take your money off you straight away like they do in England. They happily leave a tab open for you at the bar, trusting that you'll pay when you're done. I just really can't imagine that strategy going down too well in the Bigg Market.

There's just no rowdiness in the pubs either, it's a totally different culture to back home. People literally go for a couple of drinks and stop there, although with the prices of drinks it's pretty understandable.

So on the whole it was a nice Easter week, which me Stu and the boys finished off with a night in the Ardeche valley camping. Will update about this tomorrow!

Le printemps

The best thing about Savoie in my opinion is that the seasons are all as they should be; summer is super hot, autumn is fresh and beautiful, the less said about winter the better and now we have entered spring.

Spring is definitely my favourite. The temperature is perfect, the birds are singing, there's a sweet smell in the air and every night the flowers in the garden seem to grow about two inches. If you stand under the tree outside the house, all you can hear is the buzzing of the bees collecting the pollen from the blossom. I truly am full of the joys of spring!

I am really going to miss having a garden when we leave this place. Catherine and Eric really live the good life. They have a huge vegetable patch, which keeps them in fruit and vegetables, a walnut tree which provides them with nuts and walnut oil, an outdoor bread oven for baking bread and a number of beehives for producing honey. They also make loads of home brewed liqueurs, which have a tendency to blow your socks off.

One day...

Catherine's beehives

Stu has been making the most of the good weather and exploring the mountain bike trails behind our house.

At the top of the Col de l'Epine

A bee hotel!

Lukey is on the mend at last, although is surviving on a diet of fromage frais and biscuits. His chunky little thighs have definitely slimmed down a bit :-( 

Tomorrow Sandra arrives for the week, bringing Esme and Ruby with her. Should be fun!

Bricothé

For the past few months I have been attending weekly bricothé with my French mammy friends.

bricothé is a made up word (I think)...brico from bricolage the French word for DIY and thé the French word for tea. It also rhymes with tricoter, the French word for knit.

Basically we get together every week at someone's house to drink rooibos tea, eat homemade cake and do crafty things, while the children all play nicely together.

Now I am not sure if this is what all French mammies are like, but these ladies are seriously talented. I'll stumble in with the two boys hanging off me and they'll be effortlessly knocking up cushion covers on the sewing machine, making jewellery, knitting and stitching things that look like mini Bayeux tapestries.

I have yet to actually make anything at one of these sessions due to being highly uncrafty but I am really inspired and might get involved a bit more when Luke doesn't require constant help out of places he is stuck in.

However there's been no bricothé this week or last for us as Luke has been unwell, first with a nasty cold and now with a nasty stomach bug which has produced some of the most foul nappies I have ever seen (and after three babies, I have seen a hell of a lot). He has hardly eaten for a week and is sleeping worse than ever before. The doc prescribed him a whole load of stuff yesterday though, so hopefully he will be on the mend soon.

Speaking of nappies, Max is officially out of them during the day, hooray!

On est de retour

We arrived safely back in France yesterday after our holiday to Tenerife, where we had such a chilled, relaxing time. I am officially an All Inclusive convert, although it has left me nearly half a stone heavier than before we went.

The hotel was fantastic; five pools, amazing food, spotlessly clean and the friendliest staff I've ever encoutered. Max possibly had the best time of all of us, spending most of the days in the pool and all of the evenings at the mini disco. 

Here's some of my fave pics:

So it's  back down to earth with a bump. No one to cook and clean for me anymore!

Fortunately it's super-chaud here in Savoie, so the transition back to reality should be a bit less of a shock.

Best go and empty the washing machine :-\



Rien à dire

Sorry for lack updates this week, but there's nothing much to report from Savoie.

La vie is ticking along nicely and we are all looking forward to our trip to Tenerife via Whitley Bay at the end of this week.

Lily has been busy with exams, Stu has been out and about with work and me and the boys have been hanging around a number of parks and toddler groups in an effort to wear them out.

Luke has developed loads over the past couple of weeks and is now pulling himself up on everything, and inevitably falling down quite a bit too. He has learnt how to clap his hands and wave, which is pretty impressive as we haven't actually taught him how to do these things at all! I think back to all the hours we spent trying to get Max to crawl, to stand up, to clap and little Luke has just done it all by himself!

Nothing really more to say unfortunately. Here's a token picture of the babies for the grandmas:

La bonne note

Lily has had her ups and downs at school in France.  At home she was more often than not top of the class in most subjects. Here, she receives 80% of her classes in French so has more often than not been bottom of the class.

This didn't suit her to start with at all.  The reality of actually having to work hard to get good marks was alien to her. But I am proud to report that she has knuckled down and got on with it, and as I have mentioned previously her French is at a level I never could have imagined after a rocky first couple of weeks!

She's taking a pride in her work that I've never seen before and it is definitely paying off as she recently scored highest in her class on a written French comprehension test about the story of David and Goliath. And by highest I mean higher than even the French kids! Needless to say we're all impressed, including her.

I just hope that she doesn't slip back into her old complacent ways when we're back home. Lily if you're reading, please take note of that. And try not to succumb to all the social distractions too. Or boys!!

Trente et un

Most definitely the best thing about birthdays in France is the cake.

Stu and Lil returned from the boulangerie on Sunday morning with this little creation:

My idea of heaven! A giant macaron with rasberry and mango cream filling. Lush.

I also got a giant pain au raisin for brekkie:

And ate a large part of a lemon drizzle cake I'd made the day before:

There were also a few other highlights to my birthday weekend that weren't cake-centred. A nice dinner with friends, a bike ride to the lake, a picnic in the park, an hour long bath in peace and an iPad version of the Sunday Times with a cup of tea in bed. Rock and roll!

Thank you to everyone who sent cards and pressies xxxx