Montgenevre

Am in a little bit of heaven, skiing in Montgenevre.
Our departure from Paris for Vacances Scolaires (school break ) was delayed two days because hubbie had to work. So instead of me taking the train solo (sans enfants – a blissful five hours of alone time to read and write), we all squashed into the car and drove to Italy. We’ve talked our fabulous babysitter (really a professional saxophone player but for some reason agrees to babysit for us) into coming on this trip (true, escaping Paris to a villa in Italian countryside has it’s appeal. But it does require spending the vacation with the Petites).

I had been DREADING this since all previous car trips (over past six years) as well as train and air trips to Italy have been HELL. Had warned sitter it might be squashed and screamy and then today - perfect! NO traffic. Rainy so not easy driving for Clay but Bebe spent ENTIRE DRIVE glued to the new Barbie movie we bought last night (that was $10 well spent!) I think she watched it four times during the drive. Petite wasn't as easy but did a great job reading books (making up stories out loud to herself ) asking for "half a croissant mama" and sucking on her bottle - which resulted in no less than four URGENT stops for her to pee (but bythe time we stopped of course she didn't have to go and then wet her pants later but cest la vie).

We pretty much had to drag Bebe out of the car at the rest stop bc she was glued to Barbie (second viewing).. They did amazingy! (except for Petite holding it and then peeing on the restaurant floor , soaking her boots and then having to go barefoot till back in the car. oh well. the boots were on sale for 10 euro and we've gotten a ton of use out of them. They are white snow boots that look like 60s Go Go boots ESPECIALY paired with the purple polyester Dora nightgown Petite insists on wearing every day. She looks like a60s Hipster. I did buy two more of the nightgowns so yes, we can wear a clean one every day…she's like one of those weird fashion freaks who only wears ONE style every day and has a closet full of ten of the same dresses…)

ANYWAY the drive went insanely easy. Towards the last twenty minutes Petite was asking "where are we going?" like "Remind me again what the plan is?"

We arrived at this ski town with amazing mountains but is virtually shut down for the season. Seriously we are the only guests at the hotel which is fab bc we don't have to worry about the noise the girls make (i.e. our downstairs neighbors in Paris freaking out bc Petite, who weighs all of two pounds, runs to the toilet at 7am). We have a huge quad room and got sitter has a single which is also huge AND she has a view of the slopes (damn!) Bebe was freaked out at first - being in new place, where are we? and Petite was calling out "i thought we were going to ITALY / this is not ITALY!" meaning this is not our villa and scoffing at our new digs until we saw the bedroom - which basically looks like a quad dorm room but the girls were thrilled and each staked out their own beds. Bebe promptly setting up her dolls, suitcase and arranging her belongings and feeling VERY independent bc she could walk the ten feet down the hall alone to "visit" the sitter’s room. She packed up a bag and told us she was off to "visit" the sitter. Petite hopped onto her bed, crawled under the covers and said goodnight. TOO cute.

Then hubbie and I went out for a walk ALONE while the girls set up camp in the sitter’s room feeling very "grown up" that they were "visiting" her.

Looks like a cute ski town but is totally closing up for the season . we must be the last guests and we were a bit desperate to find somewhere to feed the kiddos tonight since turns out everything is shut down. but one place was still open and served up a mountain of fries and spaghetti for their girls (a balanced diet is not in the cards right now). Petite strolled into the restaurant, took off her coat and announced "this place smells like vagina!”. Twice. We couldn't help but bust out laughing. WHERE she got that from I have no idea but of course laughing only caused her to repeat it. Luckily we were the only guests and luckily even still we aren't in English speaking country. Later she added "And it smells like PENIS." Again not sure WHERE she got this from but I had to choke back my wine before spitting it all over the table.

She is a natural comedian and if I don’t keep tabs on her I think she might strip off her purple polyester nightgown and danceon the table in her go go boots bc clearly she will do anything for a laugh.

Hubbie’s huge gift to me -- a key to my very own room. Since the nlace is emty he talked the owner into giving us an extra room (so yes, we have three rooms and you would think one of them would be for the kids but instead, we take turns sleeping with the kids and sleeping in our own room which feels like pure luxury). I was so excited to get some sleep that I turned down any offer of company (who would watch the kids? ) grabbed the key and headed straight for my own bed in my own room with a locked door.

Seriously, my little one starts waking up about one hour after I turn in. From then on it’s musical beds depending on who has peed where and when , what bed is dry and whether I can convince the little one to stay asleep without lying horizontally across me. She is darling, a joyful little sprite, a true ethereal spirit but she wants to sleep "on mama" and Mama is a light sleeper who needs more than two hours consecutive sleep. I’ve even given in to trying to take a nap when I’ve had some babysitting but hearing the little ones yelping right outside my door as well as knowing they might barge in any moment does NOT make for a restful sleep.

This is the first time I’ve been in bed in a quiet room of my own with no chance of hearing someone crying out for "i want MY MAMA!!!" in year