First summer peak

Today I woke up from an amazing all night sleep.

Mama is even more excited about that than my dodo.

She seems so much more refreshed when sleep through the night, maybe i'll try it again tonight...

After some playdough play we decided that we would summit a mountain.



After a civilized breakfast downtown, we geared up.

















European style we boarded a different lift, one we get to ride on all by ourself.












I'm getting pretty good at this!

I think my cousins Jade, Cale, Tieghan and Katie would love this too, perhaps when we are teenagers, now that would be fun...









Hey, there's Papa!

Indeed there was, at least the trail that Papa made at 4am as he summited Mt.Blanc this morning.

Look carefully on the center white peak...


I recognize this one, it's just like the oxeye daisy that I eat at home.















One of mama's favorites in the alps, rhododenron.















Let's start hiking!













There's the Chamonix valley and the town of Les Houches where I live.

We're near where the river takes a big bend.

Rocks go pretty far from here...mama says trundling isn't such a good idea in europe, too many people.










Today's pretty quite, seems like June is the perfect hiking month.

A little rest spot...





See these, this is grass...trust me don't eat it!

On Monday I decided to swallow some like the neighbors horse, it got stuck for nearly four hours, yuck and ouchy!








I'm up for hiking a bit more then I think i'll take a rest again.
















Incredible!!

















Next rest is on mama that is, she can take us up to the summit.






And here we are, feels good for my 1st summit this summer and easy height for me.











Wow, there are amazing 360 degrees views of France and Italy.

Maybe we should go trekking into Italy?










Fun! I'm getting used to this lifestyle....












Back down for my a bike ride uphill and dodo.

A bientot....

biking adventures about the valley

Here we are at our home; morning is good time to head off exploring as mom has lots of energy to pull me about.













First stop is dropping off our recyling down on the small street of Les Houches.







No shortage of diggers, cranes or lifters for me to watch.

I love it!

This one is moving the recycling from all the bins and bringing it down the valley to get processed.









Next stop is a French bank, mama is trying to use her francais to get papa a bank account.

That way we can get paid and have some euros for all our gourmet meals and our home...










Now we're going to head out of town to find a good place to pick strawberries.

The heat and sun have returned so I've decided to put on sunscreen "myself"...











We've found an huge stash of strawberries!

Loads & loads that we can fill our bellies just off our bike path.

When mama is fit, she can pull me all the way to Chamonix on this up and down trail...








There's Les Houches just across the valley.

We live just below the left drainage, about 5 minutes from a mountain river, fun for rock throwing and cool shady place in the afternoon.

Soon we'll head back for our mid-day nap, mama's pretty happy I'm still taking these!


I'm pretty lucky, where we live there is a swingset...








And a trampoline!!!!

Crazy bouncing I can do.

Mama was worried, I'd get hurt but I'm pretty good at....look "watch me"...










That's Steve our neighbor. He's pretty fun to chat with, which I do quite alot...









Speaking of which, time to do ours so we're ready for tomorrow's next adventure...

A typical day...

Elias's day begins as the birds start to sing, which they do well!

We live near the forest so have lots of wonderful sounds. He sleeps in his own little bed with trusted wolfie and duckie



Since Chamonix is within 20 minutes, Papa has time to be with us before his day in the mountains.

The boys both enjoy looking good so they start with a shave...



They pack the climbing gear into a sac a do (back?) I'm working on my french!

And papa heads off up somewhere and we hang out either in the valley or take a high alpine walk.

To work then...







Today we're starting with drying of laundry.

In Elias case he's a boat driver heading to Vancouver.





Then, we need to decide what to wear for the day and get out of our pj's.

Elias tries out different things.

Before our final choice, we head out on the deck for a weather check.







Hmm, today is going to be a bit different, raingear is in order...















Elias is enjoying his stroller so much more than at home.

I'm the one getting FIT as there are plenty of hills and places to either walk or bike ride to.

We usually enjoy taking either the bus or train or both! Elias loves the movement and thrill of being whisked up and down the valley.






Today we're meeting some new friends at a mom's group in Chamonix.

One friend we met two years ago, Bekah turns out to live just 2 minutes from us!


After a nice long dodo (nap) well mom actually keeps waking me up...I'm sure I could sleep much more than 2 hours!

I'm glad she got me up though.

We hooked my trusty stroller up to mom's bike and rode to the playground.






We decided to have supper with Papa in Chamonix.

Last time I was here I didn't get to enjoy the frites so much, now I even get to dip in sweet sauces!


Papa and I rode the bus home so mama could enjoy some exercise on her mtn bike.

We like to end our day with some exercises on these mats, making sure our backs stay strong for our adventures here this summer.

Bon nuit!

trekking towards Mt.Blance

David enjoyed two days of guiding locally and coming home each night.

The weather is changing so his group headed up toward mount blanc this morning via a teleferique (cable car), then the a train and a hefty walk/scramble up to a high alpine hut.










Elias wanted to follow his footsteps, so we trekked on but got distracted by an exciting...















Crane of course!



















Once back on route we hopped on the cable car and ascended to top of Bellvue.

















Elias must of remembered his journey in these two years ago when he was an 8 month old baby as today he was incredibly comfortable, intrigued and interested in more...

















Let's follow Papa's trail!















We descended to a very small mountain train station where some other climbers where waiting, the very train Papa must of taken.




While we were enjoying the cushy comforts of wandering the alpine, in the background climbers were making their long ascent.

By late afternon they would have reached the topof the left mountain feature (the cut off one) to prepare to awake early and be climbing by 4am for the summit.

Mama et garcon are enjoying some pretty special time together.

Relaxed, no agenda, in nature, of course always with lots of good food.

















"I can't see Papa...where is he?"


Let's consult the map... mais oui!

Il est la!












We descended the fast route to the valley for our nap, another amazing morning!












By afternoon we were into other adventures...

Planting beans in the back yard with neighbors

Biking for pizza (yippee I have my old bike back, wheels that give us access to so much) and watching skateboarders

Late night excursion to a play park

And a final phone call with Papa, he in the Refuge hut, and us in our cozy home...