On a 2 Horse Open Sleigh

One of the highlights of our ski trip to Austria was on New Year's Day (Jan 1), we went on a horse drawn sleigh through the village and country side of the Schladming Dachstein area where we were staying. It was a one hour ride and just beautiful. It started snowing on the morning of the 1st so it felt extra special to be riding with the big snow flakes coming down on us. We weren't too cold as the sleigh had big wool blankets for us to cover ourselves with. Plus, our driver gave us some schnapps to help warm up our insides.

Waiting for our sleigh

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T and Curt rode up front with our sleigh driver while Curt's parents and sister, Lisa, were in the middle. I was in the back with the girls.

Ali actually fell asleep while sitting upright. We laughed as she fell asleep on the sleigh last year too. It must be a relaxing rocking feel for her.


Next up our my scenery shots.

Tall trees in the forest.

And below a tiny tree amongst all the huge ones. It reminded me of the Charlie Brown Christmas tree so I had to capture a shot of it.

Ski Shots of Mom and Dad

For 3 days in a row Curt and I had the freedom to ski sans kids. It was great. Even though it is lots of fun skiing with T and Mia, we had fun just skiing faster, not worrying about the kids and stopping for gluhweins when we wanted to.

We took lots of self portraits!

This one was taken by another patron in the cafe we were in. It was actually so sunny that it felt great to sit outside!

Terence and Mia Skiing in Austria

We arrived at our destination in Austria on Saturday evening. On Sunday we enjoyed sleeping in, going to the ski shop, getting the kids (T and Mia at least) new skis and T new boots (Mia grew into his old ones), then skiing with the kids for the day. I love that they are now at the age that they can ski with Curt and I. It's unbelievable and I'm so proud. This is, after all, their 3rd season skiing. And, like riding a bike, they always remember how to do it and do it well. T needed a bit of adjusting as his new skis are long. When we bought them at the ski shop the store clerk had to ask him if he was an advanced skier. He wasn't kidding, I guess these are serious skis and not for the 'beginner'. Terence didn't boast or lie, he just told him the truth that he knew how to ski and has been skiing for 2 years.

Ski school registration was also on our Sunday agenda. This was the first year that T and Mia actually got into a ski school which started on Monday at 9:30am. Each day they had lunch with their instructor and class and then we picked them up at 3pm (one day it was 3:20pm as they skied in another location). I'm not sure if I'll do ski school again for them. It's great for the beginner but they now need a bit more one-on-one focus to improve their skills. I think ski school was a better intro and a great babysitting service. C'est la vie. Next time. We'll be skiing again in 2 months time so we can work out something else then.

Anyhow, here are some shots of them with their class and the videos are of me picking them up at the bus stop after their one day's lesson. Curt only took these short videos but still we thought it would be fun to include. We video taped so that we could capture their exhausted faces. Mia was really tired (and grumpy as she gets grumpy when she's tired or hungry) and T was also tired from a long day of skiing.

One last note, at ski school Mia made some friends. Many who old spoke German but somehow Mia always seems to befriend people everywhere she goes. T also made a friend which isn't the usual case for him. It was another boy who looked about 10 that also spoke English. Sometimes that's the only thing in common required to strike up a conversation and short-term friendship. The funny thing is right after this video clip ended, Mia's friends were all saying good-bye to her. I congratulated her for making so many friends on only the 2nd day. T told me that Mia was a terrible friend as she made all her 'friends' carry her poles on the lifts. She then turned to me and said in a very teenage way (you know, the head shaking valley girl style) 'Well, they wanted to!'. Mia, Mia, Mia - what are we going to do with her... The funny thing is that she'll always get what she wants and somehow make people feel that they are getting a good deal out of it...

PS Curt's parents are still here and leaving to go home tomorrow. boo hoo. We're having such a nice time. It's not that we're doing anything special. It's just great having them here for me, Curt and the kids to spend time with. Plus, I love that they enjoy everything I cook. I've cooked almost every night because they are a pleasure to cook for. It's nice to hear their appreciate other than our kids who often say 'yuck, i don't like this.' T, by the way, is named Sam I Am at dinner as at least 8 out of 10 times he says 'Yuck' repeatedly. Then, I tell him he has to have one bite to first taste is as he cannot just judge it by it's appearance (like Green Eggs and Ham). He often finishes swallowing, looks up, smiles and softly under his breath says 'I kind of like it'. That's the best!

Ali Skiing

Ali is still not 3 years old and she is our youngest family member to get up on skis. It was absolutely adorable to see her still not fully coordinated body trying to maneuver around with these short little skis. She was lucky enough to fit into T's old ski boots. We had planned to put her on Mia's old skis (both T and Mia recently upgraded to bigger skis and boots) but we thought they seemed a bit too long for her. Mia started with the length a year later when she was 3, going on 4 years of age. So, we were able to rent these short little skis for Ali to test out. We were hesitant and gave her many opportunities to get out of trying but she saw all 4 of us and had to give it a try too. It was a great warm, sunny day for her to try and she did... well, probably like any 2 year old would... she needed a lot of hand holding and helping up. She still loved it and especially loved the ski schools magic carpet taking her up the little hill (check out video below).

Boxing Day

I have quite a bit of blog catching up to do. I'm starting back on Boxing Day (Dec 26). The 5 of us (Curt, me and the kids) along with Curt's parents and sister, Lisa, all went out for breakfast at our favorite morning spot. The Four Seasons Gresham Palace. Neither Curt nor I are 'brunch' type people. We just feel like it's too much food and we don't even eat (or like) 90% of the food choices. We leave with empty pockets but still not completely satisfied. The Four Seasons is not a cheap place, however, we think it is reasonable as the quality is extremely high, the service is unbeatable, the atmosphere is warm and cozy and we leave satisfied.

Anyhow, we went into town for a wonderful breakfast after several days of enjoying being at home, eating lots, opening presents, catching up and spending time together. By the 26th, it was time to get out. After breakfast, Harry and Lisa wanted to see the Christmas market at Vorosmarty ter. Unfortunately, we were surprised to find that they were closed on the 26th except for the food vendors and 2 small craft kiosks. The stands were still set up and expected to reopen again on the 27th. It just surprised me that they didn't open for the many tourists that were hoping to get more of a x-mas feel (and even spend some cash). It was still nice to walk around but very cold. Here are a few photos of us at the square. During our stroll, Curt, his mom and Terence remained in the warm Four Seasons finishing their warm drinks and catching up with their newspaper reading.



The below snaps are of the girls on the lion statues.

We Are Back

Happy New Year everyone!

We are back from our ski trip. It was a great trip, other than the departure. After Curt got our roof rack on the car, packed everything up perfectly, we all piled in and tried to start the car and .... nothing! As I mentioned earlier, Terence, Curt's dad and Curt's sister took the train. It worked out perfectly as there was a direct train to Salzburg and from there they took a 1 hour taxi drive to our hotel.

After calling City Taxi and attempting to get our car jump started, we decided to call our move manager to ask for advice. We also called Misi who is responsible for all our company cars and looks after our car too. After some consideration, we decided to change our car with them and instead take our company van. It's an 8 passenger van so we just put down the last row for our skis and all our bags (we had the train people's luggage too so they didn't have to worry about lugging it). It worked out really well. However, it put us about 2 - 2 1/2 hours behind our original plan. No big deal. We made it shortly after the train group and met up for a beer and nice, light dinner of antipasto.

The next day we hit the slopes. We skiied as a family (just the 4 of us) while Ali stayed behind with Curt's sister, Lisa. The hotel also had a kindergarten for kids over 2 years old but we didn't need to use it as Lisa and Ali were very happy together. They hiked the cross country trails every day while Curt, Terence, Mia and I skiied. From Monday, Terence and Mia entered ski school from 9:30am - 3pm (lunch included) and Ali took a few attempts on skis (her request). Curt and I had great fun skiing alone and then enjoying apres ski until T and Mia were finished with ski school.

We'd meet up back at the hotel where we would usually go for a swim, then cards and coffee (or sometimes we'd stick to gluhwein or beer), then from 6:30pm dinner. Dinners at our hotel are fantastic! It's all included (as is breakfast) and we ate well!

Photos are still to be downloaded so in the meantime, here is a photo of the ski area we just returned from:



Pat, Harry and Lisa are still here with us until Wednesday, January 7th. We are having a great time together but taking it easy. Tomorrow the kids return to school, Curt back to work, me back to unpacking (I'll return to work on Thursday) and getting the house in order, my car repaired, our heat fixed (we returned to a very cold house), and everything else back in order. The week between Christmas and New Year's no one seems to work or do anything in this country so from Monday, it's time to get serious.

Photos coming soon... I promise.