And the Skiing Continues...With a Breakthrough for Liam!

New Years Eve day we skied in the morning and then that afternoon we decided to take a break and drive over to Font Romeu (where we originally had wanted to stay but couldn't find an entire chalet available), about a 15 minute drive from here.  Font Romeu is an adorable ski town that we'd heard about from friends which is why we are up skiing in this area in the first place.  It's also a huge difference from the town we are staying in, La Llagonne, which is incredible rural.  The closest grocery store is easily a 10 minute drive out of town for us.

Anyways, we just needed to get out of the house and so Font Romeu it was.  We walked up and down the main street checking out the restaurants and shops.  We picked up a sled for Liam so that when he didn't want to ski he would have something to do. And of course we noticed a candy store that we would go to at a later time needing something to hold over the boys' heads for good behavior!

The main street of Font Romeu

Beautiful views from town

We had lunch here on Monday - it had good reviews on TripAdvisor, my opinion, just ok

Liam with his new sled, so happy (he lasted about 3 minutes on it)

More beautiful views

We took Monday off of skiing since we had been going for the last several consecutive days and felt we needed a break. Aidan was pretty devastated by this which is a sign of how much he is really loving being on the slopes. Every morning he waits for us in the car, anxious to get going! Since we had the whole day to do nothing we went back to Font Romeu and had lunch at a restaurant recommended by Trip Advisor. It was decent but nothing to write home about. The chocolate fondue was a disappointment and given we are in fondue country I was all excited for nothing. We of course, stopped at the candy store on our way back.

Sunrise Monday morning 

On our way to Font Romeu we came across some horses who must have gotten out... they didn't seem to mind the cars driving by

After lunch we went for a walk and then the boys played out in our "snow" pile

This morning we hit the slopes bright and early.  Josh and I had thought about turning in my skis and Liam's but we figured we'd give it one last try with him.  And we are sooooo glad we did.  Today was the day it clicked for him.  He now LOVES to ski and he did such an awesome job!!  I'm so proud of him for sticking it out and giving it one last try. 

Aidan on the slopes this morning

Liam on his first run... and one of the last while holding on to daddy!

Bend at the knees!

Determined to use his poles today

I took a bunch of videos today of both of the boys, they just did amazing!!

http://youtu.be/j0O-13BQWCM

http://youtu.be/ayVorwT2EKk

http://youtu.be/_8v_mBoF5Dg

http://youtu.be/GSfPBncgvAU

http://youtu.be/yCkucQFI8AM

And before we headed back to the chalet, a little sledding time!

Wipeout! 

We managed to ski for about 3 hours before the boys were tired and hungry for lunch.  We got back to the chalet around 1:30 and will get ourselves together, hit the grocery store and then dinner in Font Romeu.  I'm taking the advice of my Facebook friends to heart and hoping that we can make some changes to our dining experiences with the boys.  As I mentioned on my FB, I'm in constant awe of how European kids behave in restaurants.  I can't even call this a generalization because I have yet to see a single misbehaved kid in 2 years here.  I'm determined to figure out the secret of these parents and in the meantime need to take some steps with our kids who have the table manners of a goat.  Wish us luck!

Julie