Slalom and snowballs

Someone before us had built a small ramp, so the kids decided to ride on the "bum sleds" over the ramp. Not content to just sled, they also needed to see if they could ski jump off it as well...
Cameron has a hidden talent of being able to ski down a slope, find where Nicole is standing, bend down, whilst skiing, pick up a handful of snow, make it into a snowball as he skis towards Nicole, and then throw it at her. All while still staying upright, and going rather fast! Then speeding off down the rest of the slope laughing loudly!

Having a lay down on the snow to cool down after a long day of skiing.
The boys want to go skiing again next week, and the week after, and the week after that!The last day of ski school was "race day". The kids all do a timed slalom course. At the end of the week, they all get a medal, photos and a certificate. Something to be able to take to "show and tell" when they get back to school.

Ski lessons

We got ourselves suited, booted and ready to ski! We went first to the nursery slopes so the kids could get a feel for skiing again, and we met a girl of Cameron's age (Amy) with whom we could hear their parents talking English. We introduced the kids, then ourselves. Here is a photo of Cameron, Amy and Alexander, not that you can see much of them with their ski gear on! The boys and Amy skied together on the nursery slopes and became friends quickly. They were all going into ski school together. Amy's mum (Nicola) was a school teacher with a big group from Lincolnshire in the UK, and her dad (Dave) was a policeman who had tagged along. As it worked out, there were 4 other dads who had tagged along (all good skiers) and Phil was invited to join them skiing. It was quite easy to remember the names, because there were two Phils, two Daves and a John. All were great blokes and across the week Phil caught up and skied with them (and had a few beers, too!). This was half-term holidays, and the ski school was overflowing! I'm not sure the ski school were prepared for such a huge influx of people, there seemed to be a lot of disorganised chaos as groups were sorted. The boys were put into groups for ski lessons but not in the same class,  Alexander and Amy were in one group, and Cameron was on his own in another group. It was all too hard for the teachers to put them together.

Cameron was a bit stroppy about it, and we hoped this wouldn't cause him to 'crack the wobblies' and refuse to go. After the first day, he was OK, and had made a few friends in his group. Later in the week the groups were reconfigured and they all ended up in separate groups! They did get to eat lunch together. Afternoon sessions they were all together, and they played together before and after lessons.

Cameron's teacher was Marc and Alexander's teacher was Franzi. The kids really enjoyed their lessons, and again proved how quick they are to learn new things (also having no fear helps as well). They are able to go quite fast down the slopes, and on the the second day were already at the top of the mountain going down the red (intermediate level) slopes. Alexander went up first on day 2, and Cameron on Day 3. Phil was also having lessons on the upper slopes and kept an eye out for the boys. It was great to see how well they were doing, and to see them about having fun. Alexander (above, Cameron below) It was hard to get a photo of them skiing this year. They are both getting quite fast, and we ended up with lots of blurry ones! They are ready to go skiing with Uncle Stuart now! Nicole started on the beginner runs, and 'graduated' to the top of the mountain on day 4. The resort is great for beginners and intermediate skiers with lots of 'blue' and 'red' runs of varying difficulty, and unlike Werfenweng, it is possible to get to the intermediate slopes on top of the mountain without having to go down very steep slopes (which put Nicole off a bit last year). Nicole's teacher was Hubsi (a bit like skiing with your grandpa, very patient and caring!) and Phil's teacher was Alfred.

Phil had more confidence this year in his skiing and would head off to catch up with the guys by himself after lunch. The slopes in the afternoon were often slushy, with rocks popping through and it was a lot harder on poor beginners like us! Some of the best slopes up on top of the mountain would be really busy, as everyone chased for the best snow. The boys would be back in Ski school after lunch. Nicole would do a couple of runs, pop her skis into storage, watching the boys, shopping, drinking coffee or just enjoying the sun! There were lots of deck-chairs, complete with "nana blankets" to keep you warm, and even wooden hammocks so you could really enjoy the non-skiing time! Cameron testing out the hammocks!Phil and Dave would always plan their afternoons to be back to pick the kids up from Ski school at 3:45, whereafter it was time to put all of the ski-geat into storage and head back to the apartment for a shower and a rest before dinner!Cameron on one of the beginner slope liftsAlexander on the beginner slope lift

Bad Kleinkirchheim Ski Trip

The February half-term holiday is now our 'skiing holiday', and once again we headed to Austria. We were not able to get into the village we went to last year, Werfenweng, but our great travel agent suggested a small village in St Oswald, called Bad Kleinkirchheim. This is only an hour's drive north of Klagenfurt airport, into which we flew on super cheap flights direct from Berlin! 

This year has been terrible for snow. Without the snow-cannons making snow each night, we would have been lucky to ski at all. The weather this week was all above zero during the day, and the snow each afternoon was slush at the bottom of the mountain. Luckily the temperature was colder at the top of the mountain and the runs up there had good snow. 

We stayed in a little apartment with two bedrooms, in an 'all inclusive' hotel - no cooking after a hard day skiing! It was simple, clean and really nice, and only 5 minutes walk from the bottom of the ski lifts! On Saturday, when we arrived, we went into town and got some cash and 'supplies' for the apartment, then took care of all of the ski hire, lift passes and ski school booking. Following this, there was no time left for skiing!

Altes Museum

Alexander's class is learning about Ancient Egypt. This is a topic that has them all amazed! We went on a trip to the Altes Museum, which holds the Egyptian Collection   I went along as a parent helper. I was fortunate to get a great group of kids, Isaiah, Verena, Alexander, and Emily. 

They are all so keen to learn, and were great at telling me all the things they knew about Ancient Egypt. They were able to pick out hieroglypic symbols, tell me the names of the Gods, Pharoahs, and all sorts of other things. As this was my favourite topic in Art History at school and university, it was a real thrill for me too. 

It was great to see pieces that I have only seen in my text books. The Alte Museum in Berlin has the Bust of Nefertiti!  There is talk of a lot of the Egyptian collection being sent back to Egypt. A lot of the exhibits were smuggled out many years ago during excavations. 

The kids were amazed at the Mummies. It was great to see them so excited about seeing the exhibition, and obvious that their teacher has them all captivated!

Pasta Amore

It was our 11th wedding anniversary today. We rarely celebrate our wedding anniversary with anything special. There have been years when both of us have forgotten until later in the evening.

Having our anniversary so close to Valentine's Day, means we can often find something unusual, when we do remember.  I managed to find this pasta last week, so we had our go to salmon pasta meal with Amore!