October Holidays

Although the girls have a much longer day at school most days, one of the cool things about the French school system is that every 6 weeks they get 2 weeks off. The kids of course love this and it allows for trips and travel at different times of the year. Since I'm currently working from home it's not too hard to accommodate the change in schedule. I can imagine what a pain it would be though for all those who are working and not taking the time off.

We didn't go anywhere but we did have some fun day adventures. The break also conveniently started on Teah's birthday and continued through Halloween.

Starting with Teah's birthday, if you've been following along on the blog for awhile now then you know that birthdays are quite the undertaking here. Teah actually ended up celebrating the whole weekend, first with us, then her friends, and then with the family.

Of course she's up before the sun to open her presents!!

Me and my birthday girl.

After school we headed to the indoor play gym.

I think I deserved a birthday "gift" too! ;-)

The next night a few friends came over for a birthday sleep-over. Unfortunately I was too busy playing hostess to take many pictures.

And the day after, the family came over for lunch. Teah with her tonton and papa.

 

Mamie's Gateau Roule with raspberry jam, as requested by Teah!

One of the days during the vacation we decided to take a tour of the Chateau Ripaille. A castle dating back 800 years and right in our back yard, in Thonon. Surprisingly Marc and I had yet to see it. So......it was at the top of our "Day Adventure's To Do List".

The chateau! Believe it or not, this is actually my first French castle!!

Taking a family selfie is no easy task with the Detraz clan. I'm surprised we're all actually looking and smiling!

I literally could have spent the entire tour in the kitchen! It was renovated in 1900 to what it looks like today. A bedroom and bathroom off of this space would literally be all that I would need. LOVE!

I mean seriously......that wrap-around stove!!

And the pastry station. Everyone needs a dedicated baking station, right?!

More highlights from the castle. Apparently, the billiard table lived here for awhile. Fun!

And this gorgeous ceiling in the "Ladies Waiting Room"! If you've watched Downton Abby, I'm guessing this is where the women would go after dinner to socialize, play cards, what have you.

Oh, and this....I mean, I can see a lot of uses for a large sitting area in my bathroom! Across from the bath was a sofa! So useful, am I right?

Strolling through what was once the moat, listening to my audio tour! There were so many beautiful photos from this day I couldn't share all of then. I think you'll just have to plan your own visit here someday.

And ending the day with a treat the size of your head. Seems about right!

Then there was Halloween!! If you remember from my post last year, Halloween in France is definitely NOT like it is in the U.S. I think it's starting to gain some popularity but it's still not widely celebrated. For example, I still haven't found a place to buy pumpkins. Next year, it will be my mission to find some version of a "pumpkin patch". Last year the girls did not get to go trick-or-treating but the village of Anthy did celebrate the weekend before with a Halloween monster hunt & party. It was a bit out there but totally fun. Unfortunately they didn't do it this year. So.....we decided to give trick-or-treating a try. It was actually kind of comical trying to decide which houses the girls would go up to. Many were dark and did not look open for business. We decided to stick with the ones that had some kind of Halloween decoration up. Mind you it was only 7ish but several of the houses were already out of candy, so they either gave the girls some of the candy from their kids loot or at one house she actually handed out cookies. The other "awkward" thing is the girls didn't know what to say. Apparently nobody has heard of "trick-or-treat" so they would ring the bell and then just stand there smiling holding their bags up; kinda hilarious. Eventually we learned that the accepted phrase is "bonbon ou sort" (candy or spell).

Witchy Teah getting ready to head out. Lola got ready at a friend's house.

Met up with Lola and her friend before heading out.

On the quiet streets of Anthy. I do love the spooky back-drop of an old French village at night. It added an appropriate ambiance to Halloween night I think.

Some of the houses got in the spirit. This is the one that gave the girls some cookies.

All in all, a pretty fun night. I think though we've decided to try to rally some friends next year to actually see if we can get a block together to really DO Halloween (American style)!

The next day, the 1st of November, we decided to take advantage of what relatively nice weather remained to go camping. Marc had been dying to take us camping ever since we got back. He actually did go hammock camping one night with a few buddies but not with us yet. So.......I rallied, we packed up the car and headed up ~40 minutes into the mountains.

Marc setting up the tents. I helped but.....not very much. ;-)

It was a beautiful spot and as expected we had the whole place to ourselves. Lola and Teah spent the first half hour or so running up and down that mountain. I think this was taken right before Lola rolled down the mountain. Thankfully she didn't hurt herself other than some scratches and uber dirty clothes. Ahhhhh, the joys of camping!

It was chilly but thankfully warm in our tent & sleeping bags. I half expected us not to make it all the way through the night BUT we did!! The girls were awesome.

My view the next morning outside our tent. That blue in the distance is Lake Geneva! We're looking down over the plateau above Evian. We packed up camp, headed back down the mountain, and ended our "adventure" with pastries in town. My kind of camping.

Our last day trip was a drive up Vallee Abondance! There are 3 valleys leading from the lake up into the Alps. We've explored the other two quite extensively but I had yet to head up the 3rd. So.....our final day trip was to drive through the Abondance Valley, ending at the ski town of Chatel. I do believe that this was my favorite valley yet. The views were stunning. I apologize I didn't take more photos to share with you.

This was in the town of Chatel. We've already decided to drive back up this Valley once there's snow to see what it's like in the winter. I'm sure amazing! I'll try to take more photos then.

We parked, walked around a bit, and had lunch at one of the few restaurants open during the off-season. It was delicious!

All in all, a fantastic holiday. Although I hope to be able to travel to some farther away places during future holidays, I love that there's still so much to explore right here! I am definitely not taking for granted how lucky we are to have moved to such a stunning place.

Sprouting Roots

Our box arrived!!  7 weeks after we packed it and left it in a warehouse in South San Francisco, it arrived on our driveway. Relief, was definitely my first feeling. It’s a strange thing to narrow down all that you own into what can fit in a 200 cubic foot box (plus 5 suitcases) and trust that you will see it all again. When it arrived, it was like a gift from “home”. Unpacking each item like a melding of the old with the new.

That's everything!! Weird, right?!

In some way the crate’s arrival was our grand finale. The culmination of all that was done prior to make France our new home. With every item that is unpacked, our roots are sprouting and starting to grow. Even Lola commented to me as she climbed into her bed freshly made with her sheets and blankets from home, that she felt like she was "home" again. 

The logistics of unpacking and finding room for all these new arrivals has definitely been a chore. We’re slowly getting through each box but are admittedly living amidst boxes stacked up against the walls. We have a bit of storage available to us, thanks to Marc’s parents, but not a lot. So that has been our most recent undertaking and likely will be for the next couple weeks.

In conjunction with the arrival of all our "things" we have also been making a concerted effort to find a routine around family time. One of the ways we've done this so far is by keeping Sundays just for family. A big Sunday meal and a hike (or outing) in one of the many beautiful places around us. This is at the heart of why we moved to France. To slow down, simplify (as best we can), and spend more time together. We are definitely making an effort to do all three!

For our first Sunday hike, we headed up Mont Forchat. It's a beautiful hike, about an hour up and back. We had done it once or twice last year but decided to take the quicker, yet steeper, route. 

Teah resisted going on the hike and then ended up going faster than all of us and leading us up the rocky terrain.

This is about half way up.

And when we finally made it to the top.

The next weekend we went to "Les Gorges du Pont de Diable" (The Gorges of the Devil's Bridge). We tried to take this walk last year but showed up when it was still closed. Because of the dangerous conditions in the winter, the Gorge is only open late Spring through the Summer. We managed to get a tour in right before the end of the season. It was breath-taking!

Our guide telling us the legend of "The Devil's Bridge" from where Les Gorges got it's name.

The Devil's Bridge! I would tell you the legend but I don't want to ruin the surprise when you come to take your tour. ;-)

This was at the end of the summer. I can only imagine how full and fast the river is right after Spring! We may just have to come back next Spring!

For those of you who have been following along with our adventures you know that we moved to a new location when we returned this last August. We're only about a 5 minute drive from where we were living in Anthy but I was a bit bummed that we wouldn't be so close to the lake. We were spoiled last year with views of the lake directly from our house and in less than a 5 minute walk could be down by the lake's edge. Well, although we are a bit farther away and don't have views of the lake anymore, I was happy to discover that in only a 10-15 minute walk we could be at the lake!!

We have 2 options. One is a beautiful park just below the small village of Corzent. The park used to be a private property and was bought by the town to create public space. It's so close to us and I had no idea it was there until a friend invited me to an outdoor yoga class there one morning. It was magical! 

Another 5-minute walk, around the corner, from the park and we have Corzent Beach and direct lake access.

I couldn't resist taking a few photos of the village of Corzent as we walked home. I seriously can't get enough of these old stone buildings and water basins!!

With the shorter days we're not going to get to enjoy this much longer but one Friday after school, the sun was shining, I was longing to get by the lake, so we decided to pack up the BBQ, some dinner, and head down. We found a great spot that had grass, picnic tables, and beach. And the best part.....we were the only ones there!

Marc brought his hammock and we were all lucky enough to get a turn before the evening was done!

I mean what's an impromptu BBQ at the lake without a bottle of French wine?!

We stayed for sunset. So pretty!

Had to lighten it a bit to see our faces but Teah took this picture of us!

We had so much fun that the next weekend we went again and invited some friends to join us.

This time we stayed late enough to enjoy a fire and some roasted marshmallows!

And then some weekends it's just a shorter outing; like a walk in one of the forests right on the outskirts of town, some roller-bladeing down by the lake, or even just hanging outside in the sun and doing some coloring.

  

The important thing is that it's time together, enjoying each other's company (mostly ;-) ) and not trying to multi-task. Hoping for many more weekends like these.