On the way home....

The Alps are not far from our first home in France, so on the way home, we stopped a few days in BJ, and caught up with some friends.  Nutbag picked up right where she left off with Mia and Justine - and indeed Yoyo, who played the "wolf" in their outside games!

When the wolf thing got all a bit much, the girls came inside to play princesses.

The three of them were born at the same hospital within a fortnight of each other.   Whilst she was always taller than the other girls when we lived in the same town, the difference was really pronounced this visit.

When she wasn't on the slopes....

 She was having a great time on her sled!

Or making snow angels.

Rhys did venture outside, doing his best to look like the Michelin Man - but it was too cold for him to crawl about in the snow....  

I did take him out in the pusher one afternoon.  Getting down the 700m from the chalet to the village was easy.  Getting the pusher back up the hill was not so much fun - they need to make snow tires or chains for pushers!

He did have a few rides in the sled - which he really enjoyed.

But he also liked being inside in the warm too!

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And finally, this is the view from our chalet as the sun set.  Not much snow on the mountains - in fact the snow only arrived for the first time of the season on the Saturday before our planned Sunday arrival.  Many people were stranded on the motorways due to the weather on the Saturday.  After the initial flurries, there was no more snowfall during our stay - and the artificial snow machines worked overnight every night of our stay.

Learning to ski

We passed a week (over New Years) in the Alps at Montalbert.

During our stay, Hazel did 5  90 minute ski lessons.   By the end of the week, she was really starting to get the hang of it, going over little bumps and everything.  She clearly has better coordination (and knee joints) than her mother.  I enjoyed admiring her skills with a hot chocolate and the papers from a nearby cafe instead of hitting the slopes myself!

Here she is in action.

The object of this descent was to ring the bell in the hoop.  She managed that bit - staying upright as too was a bit harder.

There was about 12 kids in her group - and the instructors spent much of the first days picking kids up!

Hazel was a big fan of Jean-Pierre:

And seemed to enjoy the time with the other kids whilst waiting her turn.

Not having grown up skiing, I did not know what to expect from her ski lessons.  At 3 years old, I had trouble imaging a couple of instructors getting them up the mountain on the scary in the air thingees, let alone getting them all down in one piece.  What they have instead is a fenced off area at the base of the slopes, with a shallow incline.  To get the kids to the top of their "slope", they have these funky travelators!

They ask the parents not to hang around - to avoid the separation anxiety bit.  So I waited a few days before getting these snaps.  I did my best to hide behind a large restaurant signboard, I was busted after a few minutes.  Shortly after this shot, she dobbed me into Jean-Pierre ("Look!  That's my Mummy!!!) - so I had to make a swift getaway!