Automatic Friends

Lots of our friends also have children now which is really great. It means that we all have something extra in common and it's natural that all the kids are automatically friends too. Last weekend all the dads (Martin, JP, Bob, Dave and some others) took all the kids (Nicholas, Daniel, Genevieve, Oliver, Isobel, Gigi and some others) to the park. As you can imagine they had an absolute ball. Afterwards we all went for a braai at JP and Erica's house where the fun and games continued until late!

Fun in the playground

Nicholas having a chat with Oliver

Daniel having a chat with Gigi

Hillarious dinner conversation

All the kids adore Bob

Exhausted in the bath

Daniel's activities

I thought I would do a post of Daniel's weekly activities as some people think it's odd that he isn't at nursery yet. Our days are very busy time with loads of organised activities so I am not worried in the least. We both love our routine - after dropping Nicholas at school we head off to an activity, sometimes we go to a second activity, then home for a little play and lunch followed by a nap - then we go and pick Nicholas up from school. It's all about to change when he starts nursery in September but that is a whole different story. In the mean time I'm making the most of the time we have together and cherishing every moment I have with my precious little boy. We really have a lot of fun together!

I came across Surestart Children's Centre through Forest School which Claire introduced me to ages ago. It turns out that they run all sorts of other activities which we've been frequenting for quite a while now too. OnTuesday we go to Play School, on Wednesday we go to Forest School and on Thursday we go to Cooking Club. The nice thing is that it is all totally free so if we miss a session it's not the end of the world. As you can imagine Danny has become used to all the friendly staff and is rather fond of some of them. They also run some courses for the mothers. In March I did their 'Bringing out the best in boys' course (4 sessions) and in May I started their 'Positive Parenting' course (12 sessions). A lot of the content is obvious but it does make me think of things from a different perspective. The nice thing is that Daniel goes to the on-site creche while I am busy with the course. I see it as a way for him to get used to being without me in an environment that he is used to and with people that he knows well. So this is what we do every Friday now!

Play School

Forest School

Cooking Club

The Little Gym needs no introduction. Daniel started going to classes there when he was just 1 year old. He always takes part wholeheartedly. It hasn't only taught him core strength, balance and other physical skills but it has also to take risks safely, listen to instructions, wait his turn and other social skills. It even reinforces other more academic things like colours, counting and the abc. I definitely rate The Little Gym as one of the most beneficial activities we do!

Playball is another one of our favourite activities. It teaches the kids the basics of all sorts of different ball sports. Given Daniel's enthusiasm, and dare I say talent, for balls it is the perfect activity for him. He has been doing Playball since September last year - the children all started together and are roughly the same age - it's a lovely little group. This is the only activity that Danny does on his own. From September most activities will be without me (sniff sniff)!

Daniel loves the water and is already showing signs that he is going to be a good swimmer. I think he is a natural but I believe that it has a lot to do with the Waterbabies classes that we did from when he was 6 months old until he was 2 years old. Since then we've been doing the regular lessons at the Putney Leisure Centre once per week. Virginia said he is ready to start the starfish level without me but I am going to hang on a bit longer because he is much younger than the other kids in that class and I enjoy the time with him in the pool so much. On a Wednesday afternoon, before and during Nicholas' group lesson, Daniel and I have a lovely play session together in the pool. I think this also plays a very important role in his water confidence!

In addition to sport, I feel that music is vital for little kids, and they do enjoy it so much. We used to go to Rhyme Time until January, when we had time table clashes, so I had to find an alternative. I am delighted that I stumbled across Bea's Baby Music. It's a fun and refreshing music class for toddlers. Bea and her assistant musicians are eccentric and full of good ideas and fun. There's a different theme every week and it offers just a bit more than the regular music classes!

Out with the old - In with the new

Both boys are growing so fast they got too big for their respective beds so I couldn't delay getting their bunk bed any longer. We've gone for an interim solution where Nicholas is on the bottom bunk and Daniel is in Nicks' old junior bed. We want to use the top bunk for Nicholas and the bottom bunk for Daniel as a further incentive to the boys staying in their own beds until it's time for a morning snuggle. So far we've got 2 out of 2 peaceful nights from both boys!

Nicholas

Daniel

Count Down

The count down to Daniel's 3rd birthday has begun. It's hard to believe that he is growing up so fast. We made a count down chart for him the other day. It's great because it makes him feel ever so important as well as being a fun sticker activity, and also a great way for learning numbers. My little guy is super excited about turning 3 and talks about it ALL THE TIME!

Les Arcs 2012

FINALLY ... it's here ... and it's big ... so get yourself a cuppa ...

Sprawling over four different villages, and located very close to Mont Blanc, Les Arcs is a snow lover's paradise. We were based in 2000, the highest and ugliest and least lively of the four, but luckily charming and vibrant 1950 was not very far away. We decided to go the self catering route this time so it was logistically a bit trickier than last year's Mark Warner trip. This time, however, we had great company which made the trip. Fiona Cox and I were at boarding school together way back 20 years ago, although we haven't seen much of each other since then, we picked up right where we left off. Neil and Fee are awesomely cool people and their two boys are lively, energetic, imaginative and full of fun. It worked so well for a number of reasons, mainly because our boys are roughly the same ages, so we could easily share babysitting duties. All in all it was a holiday to remember!

Nicholas clearly loves being in the mountains and in the snow. He enthusiastically got his skis on every morning whatever the weather and always wanted to stay outside as long as possible. Daniel, like me, enjoyed being in the snow when the sun was shining. He wasn't so sure when it was dumping down, bless him, he seems to really feel the cold. One of his favourite past times was eating the snow and when he didn't have skis on he happily ran or rolled down the slope. I'm so glad our boytjies like wintersport as much as we do!

Nick attended ESF ski school and successfully completed the Flocon level. He was one of the youngest kids in the English group. I was so impressed how well he followed his instructor as part of the snake up the lifts and down the slopes. We quite enjoyed spying at them from a distance and trying to track them down while we were on the mountain. In the afternoons we always had a few runs with him which was great fun. By the end of the week he was bombing it down, both on and off piste, having the time of his life!

Unfortunately ESF said Danny was too young for Piou Piou, so Dad and I took on the role as his instructor. Dare I say he learnt more from us because he had one on one attention and we had him going up the moving mat and down the green slope by the end of the week. Evidently he also enjoys having skis on his feet. I can just imagine what he is going to be like in a couple of years time!

As I mentioned before we had a real mixed bag as far as weather goes. One thing is for sure we had enough snow. It dumped down most nights, and some days even, keeping the snow fresh and fluffy. Nicholas though it was great being almost knee deep in snow and Dad liked the fact that he could fly through the powder even on the piste!

It was great to look around and try to spot Mont Blanc. It's a rather beautiful mountain, the highest in Europe, at 4804 meters. We couldn't see it from our balcony but it was clearly visible from the front on our apartment block and from many of the slopes around 2000. Nicholas is fascinated by mountains and maps so he enjoyed trying to see where we were on the piste map and trying to work out where Mount Blanc was in relation. It made a perfect topic for one of his show and tells this term. Here are some views of Mont Blanc from many different angles as well as some other panoramic shots!

The Connans were brilliant at sledding and their enthusiasm rubbed off on us a bit. The boys still found it all a bit too scary as the tobogan piste was a quite steep and therfore rather fast for beginners. We also had loads of fun messing around in the snow on the sideline and one day we even built snowman. Besides skiing and boarding there are so many other things one can do as a family on a wintersport holiday!

A Mad Man on a Bike was trying to break the world record on a mountain bike down one of the black slopes. He only managed 201,117 km/h so unfortunately failed but pretty impressive none the less!

One day Dad took Nicholas on an expedition to the top of the mountain to find the ice cave and the panorama of the Mont Blanc range. This is also where an Irish band created a lovely apres ski scene which unfortunately we could never stay long enough to really enjoy. In our younger days I could imagine staying up there until we were ushered off the mountain!

Our apartment in Chalet des Neiges was nice enough, the bedrooms were small, but the living area was very comfortable. With 4 active boys it was definitely the right option for us because they could run wild without disturbing anyone else. We also had a big balcony with stunning views. The last photo was taken at 7.21pm - just after sunset when the snow made a magical glow in the air - long days are another reason why we like spring skiing!

We were pleased that the boys all got on so well with each other especially Daniel and Declan. There was even a swimming pool in our complex which made for a fun activity on the odd occasion. We had a great evening routine of fun and games followed by supper, bath and story time before an early bedtime for the children. It's great putting your feet up after an active day on the slopes!

It was Easter while we were there. We did most of our Easter activities at home before we left but we couldn't go eggless on actual Easter. The Easter Bunny (Or was it Fee or the Yeti because he was the one that left our breakfast bread at our front door every morning?) left chocolate eggs on the balcony for the boys. Chocolate = silence!

Inconveniently, I was extremely sick the one day, but thankfully it only lasted 12 hours and luckily it was a snowy morning. When my three boys came back from the slopes at lunch time and found me totally incapacitated they went on a rescue mission (covering 2000, 1950 and even 1600) to find some muti for me!

The one day we used a bar/restaurant on the slopes at 1950 as our babysitting base. While one adult stayed with the two little boys the other three did a lovely long run down into the valley with the two big boys. The boys loved the icicle tree and entertained themselves with 'horse-riding' on snow horses, digging tunnels and throwing snowballs. It worked out pretty well!

Neil and Fee took Dad on an off piste mission to 'their mountain' one morning while the boys were at ski school and I had my turn entertaining Danny on the nursery slopes. They sure do know Les Arcs well from their 'young' days when they used to go there on long winter boarding camps. I'm very envious and regret not doing that before we had kids!

Even with kids there were opportunities for some apres ski. Not the usual kind we are used from our reckless days but still relaxing with drinks, music and even some dancing after a lovely day on the slopes. Dad and Neil also popped off some rum babas when they were on their way home in the evenings!

And finally here are a few animations
(not sure if I'll ever get round to video clips)

Neil and Fee's blog