FISHING - WHAT WAS I THINKING

So Samuel has begged enough for me to relent and I went and got two fishing permits, all the tackle, gear etc to fit his rod we brought from SA and off we set.  For Benjamin I just got him a hand line.  Well Benjamin hooked himself twice before we even got to the river.  Samuel managed to cut his line twice on the branches across from the river.  And all I can say is what the hell am I gonna do if they catch a fish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So fed up with fishing we headed off to the mountains and had a picnic.  We picked all these beautiful wild raspberries.

ALPENHORN

This is the Alpenhorn as blown by two Savoie men in our village on Sunday, interesting sound, all by using the voice.  I kept turning around expecting HEIDI to come skipping down the mountain.

HOLIDAYS HOLIDAYS

Done not an enormous amount lately due to the weather.  We have snow on the mountain so the wind is cold, about 8 in the morning and 20 in the day.  Lots of rainy days though so we've just been staying local.  Last week for mom and dad and I'm thrilled to say Samuel now plays a perfect game of Uno thanks to mom and Benjamin is learning it to.  Manu is still in Miami until September, he said it's roasting but the house is air conditioned so all's ok there.

ALBERTVILLE - I took mom and dad to Albertville where the 1992 Winter Olympics were held, just for a day out, about 20 minutes from here, but a pretty town I must say.

SAM'S LAST DAY AT ESCALADE - Friday was the last day of climbing so all the proud parents were there to watch.

PARC MERLET

Well it stopped raining yesterday in time for us to go out for the day.  We headed to Les Houches which is just before the Mount Blanc tunnel to Italy.  They have a park with all the animals of the Alps and others in it and you just walk and enjoy the scenery.

Entrance to the Parc Merlet

 The Glacier opposite the parc, Italy situated behind the mountain

Lamas walking very confidantly down the track

Daim

Bouquetin

Daim and a little Marmotte down in the corner by the house

SPORTS CENTRE

Well we've had the most awful weather.  It's been raining for over a week and at the moment is 8C with snow on top of the mountain and it's meant to be SUMMER.  I enrolled Samuel in the climbing program in Megeve at the sports centre which is just as well, so we went to watch him with my parents yesterday.

Quiet an impressive climbing wall.

This is the pool area and outside is heated too, with a fun area for the kids complete with slide.

And the ice rink, they also have a curling rink, ping pong, indoor tennis, gym, saunas etc etc.  It's so impressive, I am waiting for the sun to come out so I can use the outdoor pool.

MARKET DAY

I've been dying to go to the Sallanches market, but because it's huge and also sells clothes, Manu has always found an excuse to avoid going.  So I went yesterday with my folks.

JAZZ JAZZ JAZZ

It's jazz festival weekend in Megeve.  So nice to have different people here instead of the bling, fur wearing, Landrover driving breed that comes here for winter.  What a great atmosphere.  14 bands playing in the street at different times, at the same time, etc etc.  I went with my mom of course Ice creams were the order of the day.

Then a treat for the kids on the carousel of course because we don't treat them enough - poor kids.

Then Manu treated us all and took us out to pizza - just our local place but such delicious pizza - the proof on Sam's plate

MB RACE AND MY LITTLE MOUNTAIN GOAT

Great day today, unfortunately Manu was still working so no car, but not necessary we had the MB (Mount Blanc) Race here today.  Big build up and one of the stages finished in Praz.  It's the hardest mountain bike race in the world with a cumilative height of over 6000m.  The stages are 50km, 70km and 140km so hard hard, but they had lots of things for the kids in the park.  Amazing for such a little village.

All the bikes going through

In the park at the finish

They had the climbing wall open in the park for the kids to have a go, of course our Samuel jumped at the chance, My friend Louise calls Sam part Goat hence the My little Mountain Goat title, and he earned it today.  We've enrolled him in the climbing programe for the holidays - I think we've done the right thing.