Since the beginning of December, we have had several occasions to ski. It's one of the great things about living on the Jura and by the Alps, so we have to take advantage while we can. As my mom says, next year it'll be skiing in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We rented skis for Etienne, Denis, and myself for the season. Let's not talk so much about how much we paid for these rentals, but instead about the amount of fun we have had since.
The first big snowfall came early this season to the Geneva area- the first week of December. We took advantage of it to sled in our backyard with some friends and neighbors. Etienne had a blast with his friends Fintan and Simon and this year even Xavier wanted to sled down the hill. That weekend we went up to Crozet, the station about 5 minutes away from our house. Xavier had skis that day and we met up with friends with two little kids also. It was a challenging day since the Dad's went up the lift first for some fresh snow skiing and us moms had to keep the kids busy and happy and not too cold. Etienne enjoyed going up the kiddy hill with Denis and Xavier enjoyed being carried by Denis up and down the hill. My friend, Maura, and I did finally get to ski at the end of the day. Well she was skiing and I was falling and skiing into her. But I've improved greatly since that day.
Mom, Aunt Jill, and Aunt Carol Sue came to visit after Christmas and it was back to Crozet. Mom was really excited about skiing and the aunts were great to stay with the kids. Mom and I had some trouble at the beginning but then I got the hang of it and Denis and I got to do some of the slopes on the Lelex side. Mom, however, had a rough time. I wasn't sure how we were going to get her down the slopes, but I went ahead while Denis stayed with her to coach her. She's a trooper.
In January, Denis and I were able to leave the kids at his parents' house for the day and ski in the Vosges at Markstein. That's about 45 minutes from Denis's house and it was great to actually be able to concentrate on skiing. I was doing the red slopes there and we had a nice lunch at the lodge and continued skiing into the afternoon. Then, 2 weekends ago we had a wonderful ski weekend in Nendaz, Switzerland with our Norwegian friends Astrid, Odd, and William and some of their friends. Snow tubing, a tube merry-go-round, and sledding areas made it a great place for Astrid and I to hang out with the little ones while the guys skied. On Sunday morning Etienne did the mini kids' club for 3 hours. Wish we could have witnessed that, but the group was on the other side of the mountain. We were very lucky to have sun and snow in this picturesque Alpine village.
Denis has again been back to Crozet on his own and I hope to go back with the kids again soon. We've had one sickness after the other, colds, infections, etc. But hopefully we'll get one more chance to use our skis!
