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This year we have had some unseasonably warm weather in October so one weekend we decided to go hiking up one of the volcanoes in the chain of lava domes which is about a 15 minute drive from town.  I had seen pictures of wooden steps that are built between some of the volcanic hills and there are beautiful views of Puy de Dôme (the largest volcano) from Puy de Pariou so off we went.  Apparently you can hike up these wooden steps to the top of the puy, but that must have been on the other side somewhere and we took the hard way up through the forest.

Ryan put Makenna in the hiking backpack and I had Reese in the baby carrier on my back, so it was quite the workout!  It’s about an hour hike up to the top and we made it in around 45 minutes, so needless to say I was pretty tired by the end.  We stopped a few times just to catch our breath or take a drink of water.  When we arrived at the top it was really windy and right in front of us was a huge volcanic crater; it was breathtaking!  We walked around to the other side and found the wooden steps leading down and towards the next hill.  After taking some photos and enjoying the views for a few minutes, we headed back down the trail that we hiked up.  The kids loved it and it was great exercise for me and Ryan.  I can’t wait to do it again in the spring when the weather warms up!

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This year we celebrated Halloween with the expats a little early, because Halloween fell during the school vacation and most people were going to be away.  One of the families hosted a party at their apartment in town and had most of the American families attend….thankfully it was a very large apartment because there were a lot of people!  There were lots of treats to snack on and the kids painted/carved pumpkins on the terrace.  Makenna found another pirate friend and Reese hung out with his new friend Parker.  Since Halloween isn’t a big holiday here and there is no trick-or-treating, it was nice for the kids to have a way to celebrate.  I can’t imagine what Makenna is going to think when she sees what Halloween is like in the US!

OK.  I don’t even know where to start with this post.  Do I start with how amazing the menu is?  Do I start with how amazing the amount of time kids have to eat is?  Neither comes close in comparison to the US.

Time- lunch is for 2 hours.  Yes you read that right.  And kids have the option of going home for lunch, which a lot of them do.  So they have 2 hours to walk/drive/bus/tram home for lunch and spend time with family for a little while and relax before returning for the afternoon.  Or, they have time to eat their lunch at school slowly and enjoy it and socialize and go to the bathroom etc.  For Makenna’s age, they probably spend more like an hour and a half (I think? Still don’t understand everything completely in French) at the cafeteria between taking time to line up and walk down and use the bathrooms after lunch and get ready for naptime.  But for real, I’ve heard lunch can only be 25 minutes in the US….is that really enough time to get your food, sit down, eat it (not scarf it down) and relax for a minute before you have to go back to class?! NO. Sorry.  25 minutes is absurd.

Menu- lunch is a fixed menu, one meal for everyone.  If you don’t like it, you better learn to like it.  And it’s healthy.  It’s a 4 course meal.  It is freshly made desserts.  It is fresh not frozen.  It is in-season products.  It is GOOD.  Seriously, Makenna eats better at school than at home sometimes.  The meal includes an appetizer, a main dish, yogurt or cheese, and a fruit or dessert.  I will translate the menu from the photo above:

Monday– chicken wings, macaroni, gouda cheese, plum

Tuesday– shredded carrots with orange, roasted pork, green beans, yogurt, cookie

Wednesday– mackerel with mustard sauce, zucchini stuffed with beef, cantal cheese, banana

Thursday– tomatoes and corn, white fish, creamed spinach, garlic and herb cheese, jelly roll cake

Friday– celery salad, lamb and sausage coucous, veggies, yogurt peach and apricot smoothie

Cost- Definitely more expensive than in the US.  However, that is to be expected with the quality of food.  It is also based on your household income.  If you don’t receive any discounted rate, it could be a whopping 7-8 euros per meal.  We are still waiting to find out how much we will have to pay.  However, people we know have to pay around 4-5 euros per meal which to me is a reasonable price for a quality, healthy meal.

I honestly feel bad that in the future my kids will have to quickly eat their food, while probably not enjoying it or appreciating it, and be subjected to low quality/unhealthy food if they buy their school lunch.  I am going to be printing out the school menu for each week so we can look back and remember this!