Snowy Chamonix

After a lazy morning and a huge tantrum from G (who didn't want to go skiing) we ventured out to the slopes (she changed her mind).

They have a free to use conveyer belt lift for beginners... 

...the kids skiied with me one at a time. I'd looked on YouTube for suggestions on how to teach it, and settled on lassoing them with a rope, letting them go and only pulling them back when things were getting out of control. 

We expected F to have a great time, but he was often frustrated with his progress, G after this morning's pyrotechnics was the surprise package - she absolutely loved it!!!

With a whole week of snow predicted, we decided to stock up on a whole load of provisions, for us and our guests who arrive next week. Boxed wine, custard puds and barquettes de fraises - we should be good for any emergency.

Today, was a very grey start, with snow due soon, Fred and I decided to go skiing. 

We had a great time!

He seems to struggle engaging the snow plough but he was doing immaculate parallel turns. Instead of pushing the SP on him I decide to let him carry on and he did great. The SP is good for early safety/control/confidence but causes really bad habits at the intermediate level, I figure going straight to parallel should be possible even if it's likely to take a bit more time early on - watch this space...

After the skiing, Fred wanted to test out the new sled/spade things we'd bought yesterday, after a bit of hesitation from me due to the faff involved, I said yes and we had a wonderful half hour careering uncontrollably down the hill.

As we left the piste the weather closed in, First Snow!!! 

After lunch the kids wanted to go out and play, they proceeded to play by themselves for around 2hrs! I love snow!

After some negotiation I joined them outside. Imbetween dragging them up the small hill and providing snacks, I entertained myself by increasing the slope's gradient and building a mini ski jump. 

In all the kids must have played out there for around 4hrs and it snowed throughout. I'm really glad we bought some good quality ski suits for them.

After all the exercise the inevitable crash

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, snowing or not.