I just thought I’d write a little post on how lucky we are bringing up our children in the French Alps ! I still can’t quite get over the chance my children have (and myself too 😉 …I’m not saying for one minute that, I had a hard upbringing ! But let’s face it growing up in West Yorkshire did not entail skiing with Mummy & my friends on a Wednesday afternoon in the winter, nor did it entail pic nics and swimming by the lake in the summer !
I have been lucky enough to work 80 % as do lots of parents in France. The 80 % system is fabulous and is well accepted by lots of employers and enables lots of parents to make the most of Wednesdays with their children. Subject to the weather, I pick up my eldest monkeys from school at 11h30. (Public schools still have half day school on a Wednesdays whereby most private schools have all Wednesday off) I make sure that the car fully loaded with our ski stuff and we head up to the local ski resort with a pic nic in the car. The girls LOVE this and have their own little pic nic bags. They only eat sandwiches on a Wednesday and seem to view this as some kind of special treat 😉
This week we were extra lucky as a close friend had managed to rearrange her work schedule so she too could join us with her little boy. Her little boy is a “partner in crime” to both of my eldest girls and like family. Given their cousins live in England, he is the closet thing they have to a cousin in the Alps. Both girls are already in love with him and although the eldest has claimed rights that he is her “amoureux” …her sister is biding her time and hoping things will change!!!
On Wednesdays we tend to head to le Croix Fry, Manigod. The resort is stunningly beautiful, nestled in the trees and is great for children with lots of blue and green runs and a special kids park. There is a little drag lift just opposite the restaurant “Chez Fonfon” which is perfect. The worlds nicest “liftie” operates the lift…he is always smiling and already knows most of the kids names, including mine ! Once the kids can do a little blue run they love the independance of doing this on their own 🙂 At one point we bumped into another friend’s daughter and all of the children were doing this lift together as a little group…too cute!
Let’s get back to “Chez Fonfon”. I have spent so long in France now I am becoming French and have to talk about food frequently!!! This little family run, restaurant is perfectly located on the slopes and offers good quality lunch at a reasonable price. We tend to get there too late for lunch but we treated the kids to a “gouter” there…The “gouter” was in a league of its own…the kids all chose gaufres au chantilly…They were a huge success and caused lots of entertainment. Needless to say part of the gaufre ended up on the floor.
I would highly recommend Le Croix Fry for skiing with kids. If you decide to give them lessons the ESF are located in the centre of the resort and can cater to most needs. One friend puts her kids in little group lessons whilst she jets off and does some cross country skiing…there is a great circuit that starts from le Croix Fry. You can also snow shoe directly from the resort too. I ski with my girls on Wednesdays at the moment as they do lessons on a w/e and its nice to be all together! Subject to my professional situation I may not always be lucky enough to do this…so I’m making the most whilst I can 😉
Check out the resort here:
http://manigod.labellemontagne.com/en/winter-2/?saison=hiver
