Switzerland skiing - Day 3

So we talked that night at dinner to see what the kids wanted to do the next day and it was unanimous that they all wanted to go skiing/snowboarding again.  Since we knew where it was and there were no lessons, we decided we didn't have to leave quite as early.  We also warned the kids that they couldn't be a herd of elephants so the adults could get a little more sleep.  Thankfully they did wonderful and we slept in a little.  We had a lazy morning and then headed out for the slopes.

The kids playing outside before we head out  for the ski lifts.

This was part of the backyard at our place.  We were up right in the  woods.  Michael was looking for some snow to play in.

The three boys - Ian, Michael and AJ ready to hit the slopes!!!

It was a little more crowded on the slopes on Sunday so we decided to take the kids to where we were skiing yesterday.  There was a really nice run with a T-bar that we thought all the kids would do great at!!  I took Michael and Ian up the Gondola!  They thought it was pretty cool!

This was Michael's first time riding up a T-bar lift.  It is not the most comfortable thing in the world, especially if you are not the correct height.  It is supposed to hit you right below your bottom.  When I rode with Michael it hit me right at my knees and I had no support.  By the end of the day I was hurting, but Michael became a pro and had no problem with it!

AJ and I took a run together.  He looks like such a natural snowboarder!!  He did so well and we both were very proud of him!

Off he goes down the mountain again!

We all were hungry, so we decided to stop at a little pit stop on the middle of the hill.  You had a choice of hot dog, soup or grilled cheese sandwich.  It was a good stop for a little rest because we had been skiing nonstop all morning.

 Michael decided to play for a little while after lunch, along with all of the other kids.  For a bit they disappeared over a bank and Sarah was wondering if they were going to be able to climb out again.  They were able to thank goodness!!

Next David and Wes decided we should take the kids down the run we went down the day before.  It was a good thought, but towards the bottom it was more red than blue and Michael was having a difficult time.  We finally made it to the bottom thankfully, but Michael didn't want to do that run again and I was fine with that.

My boys heading up for another run!!!  We broke off into two groups this time.  Michael, Ari, Sarah and I stayed at the T-bar run and the other four headed down the long run again.  They made it down two more times and they did great!  Michael was being a speed demon down the one we were going on.  He had no fear!

This was my view most of the day, behind Michael, beautiful blue sky and mountains.  It was great and peaceful!!!

The beauty of the area - it was such AWESOME skiing!!!!

We were meeting the other four up at this restaurant and Michael was hungry after all that skiing, so we ordered up some french fries for him and he ate up!

A view of the mountains behind us.  Back there is where they did the sledding.

I loved the name of this restaurant - snoasis!!

Ari and Michael showing me their pouty lips!!!  They are too cute!!!

The restaurant where we were resting for a little while.  Michael begged me to go one more time down the hill, so of course I said yes.  After that we headed back down to the first slope where the kids took ski lessons yesterday.  The boys weren't done skiing/snowboarding yet!

David and I enjoying the slopes and the sunshine!!!   We closed the mountain down on Sunday.  They actually wanted to go more, but the lifts were closed.  We had a full day of skiing/snowboarding and loved every minute of it!!!

A view of the mountains on the way back to the chalet.

On Monday we woke up, had breakfast and packed up.  We had such a wonderful time and the boys hands down want to go back to this ski area next year.  Actually they would have gone back on Monday had the men not had to work on Tuesday.  They asked me when we were going again this year.  I am glad they love it sooooo much!!!  This is the front of our ski chalet we stayed in.  It was great, but it had a really busy road in front of it that our children tried really hard to get hit by a car.

On the drive home the sun was out and it made the ride home so much nicer!

There were lots of old bridges along the road like this one - sometimes I wonder if a car can still drive over them.  :-)

Our last view of the alps and Switzerland.  It was really weird, as soon as we were getting ready to cross over to Germany the clouds closed in and there was no more sunshine.  It was a little sad, but we all were able to get a lot of great vitamin D over the weekend and had soooooo much fun!!!!  From the Awesome skiing to the fun card games and laughing so hard our stomachs hurt!!!!  Can't wait to do it again!!!

Switzerland - day 2 - skiing/snowboarding

On Saturday morning we were up early, earlier than we wanted to be because the kids were soooooo loud.  They sounded like a herd of elephants upstairs.  But with them getting us up early we were well on our way for the kids ski lessons.   They didn't have group lessons on Saturday so they had private lessons.

Since AJ and Ian were snowboarding they had one instructor.  His name was David - easy name to remember.  The boys said he was a great instructor!  Michael and Ari are both skiers so they had another instructor, Nina.  They took off so fast I wasn't able to get a picture at the beginning.

While the kids had their two hour lesson, the parents decided to head over to the other mountain across the road and take a few runs ourselves.  Here we are heading up the Gondola to the top of this mountain.

One thing about snowboarders, we always have to wait at the top of the mountain for them to get ready to go down.  :-)  David getting ready to hit the hill!!

Down goes Sarah and David.  This was our first run of the day and the powder was amazing!!!  What was even more amazing is that there were hardly any people on the hill.  We basically had the hill to ourselves.

See what I mean?!?  There is hardly anybody on the hill!!  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

We made it down our first run with no problems!!  You can see the sun was coming out and the blue sky!!!  It was turning into an even more gorgeous day!!!!

David heading up the chair lift - look at the beautiful mountains behind him.  It was such a fantastic view!!!

Look at AJ go!!!  This was only after a few hours on the snowboard.  He was getting the hang of it really quick!!!

Here comes Michael and Ari down the hill with their instructor!!  Michael has his hands in the air!!  This was my kid that really didn't like skiing at all, didn't want to do it and now he loves it and is off and skiing!!!!!!

It was getting so warm on the hill that I seriously thought about skiing in my short sleeve shirt.  Then I figured I should be a good example and put my coat on.  :-)  We all took off at least one layer before lunch.

AJ heading up the drag lift - he was doing great!!!

AJ and Ian heading down the mountain with their instructor.  Both of them were doing a great job!!

After lessons were over we were all extremely hungry, so we headed for a restaurant to have some lunch.  It was so beautiful that we decided to eat outside!

AJ is king of the mountain!!!!!

The men heading back to do some more skiing and snowboarding!

Michael is heading up the lift  He has no fear anymore on this run!  He told me all the way to the top with no hesitation and we didn't stop.

Michael with a big old grin - loving the weather and the skiing!!!

My boys on the hill and loving it!!!  It is such a wonderful thing that everybody is enjoying it!!!

David is really getting good on the snowboard and is very excited about it!!!!

AJ looking more and more comfortable on the snowboard!!  He made it to the top of the lift and down with no problem!!!

Ari and Michael - skiing buddies!!

After a long and hard day of skiing, David and Michael relaxing waiting for AJ to get off of the hill.  Everybody had a great day and we headed back to the "chalet" for some yummy dinner and more card playing!!!  I still can't believe that we are skiing in Switzerland!!  Who would have thought all those years ago when my parents had me in ski lessons that it would bring me here.  It was so awesome!!!!

Switzerland here we come!!!

So on Friday February 13th, we headed out in the morning with our friends the Bonds to Switzerland.  We rented a 325 year old chalet to stay in for the weekend.  This is our first trip into Switzerland and one that David had been wanting to take for a long time and we finally were making it.

Our first glimpse of the alps - they are so beautiful!!!!

The boys were very excited about going skiing and snowboarding again this year!!!  Look at the sunshine coming in through those windows!!  I love all the vitamin D!!!!

Another shot of the mountains - I couldn't get over their beauty!

With the fridge being so small we decided to use the snow to help keep things cold as well!!!  It worked great!!

So I come really well prepared when going to apartments all over Europe.  I bring my pans and pots if needed, crock pot, etc.  Usually they have cooking utensils for us to use.  When I started cooking the taco meat, I looked for a spatula and low and behold there wasn't any to be found.  So we improvised - cleaned off an ice scraper and that became the spatula.  It worked pretty well too!

This was one of the kids favorite places to play.  There was no cue ball, but that didn't matter.  They didn't know how to play pool and they made up their own games.

So in the listing it said the house had heating, which is important when it is below freezing.  What it didn't say was all the heating is by fireplace.  This was our heater in our bedroom.  It was a small fireplace that had to be checked regularly.  Unfortunately at night it always went out.  But luckily we had warm covers.

This was the main heater upstairs.  This one could put off some heat.  When we arrived at the house, the inside thermometer was at 0 degrees Celsius - it was warmer outside at that time.  Once we had the fires going the temperature rose thankfully.  It was definitely an adventure with this one, but we are always up for adventures.  We had a wonderful dinner and then we played cards the rest of the night!   We went to bed at a decent time so we would be ready for a ski day tomorrow!!!