Ski Trip News... Aidan is Officially a Better Skier than his Mom!!!

The last few days have been spent on the slopes of La Quillane.  First off, I must correct a statement in my previous entry that Josh said was not right... the slopes of La Quillane has more than 2 ski runs.  I'm sorry, I was wrong, there just happened to be only 2 open the other day.  They have something like 5 runs.  It's HUGE!  Yes, that's sarcasm.  But again, it's totally perfect for myself and the kids so by no means am I complaining. 

I'm reminded of home this week where often times you hear this time of year about ski resorts suffering because they haven't had much snow.  I imagine it's the same here.  I know there had been concerns in Switzerland and this morning it was actually raining here.  The base at La Quillane is not that deep and so there were spots that seemed like there was some grass sticking out this morning.  So unless you are going up to significant elevations, you aren't getting a lot of powder right now.

But again, this is all fine.  Sure the conditions aren't perfect, but the types of runs available are exactly what we need.  And the kids are doing amazing!!  Especially Aidan.  I am in complete awe of how he has done in the last 3 days.  I can confidently say that after finishing his skiing today, he has surpassed my skills (not that that took a lot but I have been skiing a lot more than 3 times in my life). 

Liam on his own!

Josh giving Liam a hand...

Hey mom and dad!  Look at me!

Yesterday we came home for lunch and then Josh and Aidan went back to the slopes to do a full day of skiing.  Liam was pretty much tuckered out after his lesson.  It's fine by me if he wants to come back - I'm good with a mellow afternoon just him and I.  We took Jake for a nice long walk which was much needed for him and found a playground along the way that was a part of the neighborhood we are staying in.  They had some old style playground equipment including the merry-go-round like the kind we had at Frothingham Park when I was a kid.  He loved it!  And the view was absolutely stunning in every direction.

The neighborhood we are staying in has a mix of new chalets and homes that most definitely date back some significant years.  It's a nice mix of the old and new and more than likely they all have views of the mountains around us.  While our chalet is rustic, as a ski chalet should be, one of the things we've been enjoying at night is fondue!  The place came with a fondue pot and we are most definitely utilizing it!  Josh and I have been getting a lot of reading over the last few days - I think I'm on my third book already!  The kids have been loving the itouches that they got for Christmas - thank god for them!  Though I wish I'd brought other things to entertain them as well like a deck of cards and more books.  But they seem very content after a long morning (or day if it's Aidan and Josh) skiing to come back, chill out with some fondue and watch a movie on their itouch. 

Our chalet

Liam taking a stroll

In the distance an old church with beautiful church bells at the top

View of the mountains from the bottom of our street

And looking the other way

Liam has found the playground

The highlight while we were playing though were all the horses that walked by!

This morning we headed back to La Quillane for the third day.  The boys were supposed to have 2 lessons but after the first one Liam was pretty toasty.  So Josh and I took turns with Aidan for a while before he had his second lesson.  Once again, I'm amazed.  We took the lift up to the top and instead of going down the windy green circle that I liked, he immediately turned around and headed down the blue square... and he beat me down it.  Yeah, he's already better than me...

Cloud cover that looked pretty cool

Getting ready for their lesson this morning

More low clouds

Liam taking a "break" (he didn't get back on his skis after this)

View from the restaurant

Yummmm hot chocolate while Aidan has his second lesson

And a big snow pile!

Here comes Aidan

Because Josh is a much better skier, I sent him out with the camera today to videotape Aidan going down the hill.  These are some of the videos that he took:



http://youtu.be/UPG1wma9xKs

http://youtu.be/yi5zdHMTdfY

http://youtu.be/qlIdddwYPzo

We're not 100% sure what our plan is for the next week - we have the chalet til next Saturday.  The kids have one last ski lesson tomorrow and we don't know if we'll try another ski resort after that with some more challenging slopes for Josh or stick to La Quillane.  Josh said that Aidan seems really happy where he is and is improving each day... plus we've gone thru the process of renting the skis there already so it saves us time each morning since we can hold on to them til we are done.  So we may just stick to it.  We thought about going to Toulousse or Carcassonne, but it's looking like over a 2 hour drive from here so given Liam's likelihood to get carsick, we may just stay local for the next week and keep skiing most of the days.  We shall see where the wind (and snow) takes us :)

In the meantime, we want to wish all our friends and family a very happy and healthy New Year!!  I have a feeling ours is going to be very low key and likely we will not even make it up til midnight, especially since the boys have their last ski lesson at 9:30 tomorrow morning!!  You never know though, we could surprise ourselves and have a wild evening!
Julie