Snow Bunnies

While Sophia was out of school she met a classmate and good friend and went up to the slopes as a “Mommy & Me” day out adventure. After not skiing since last Christmas, Sophia jumped right in and loved going down the slopes. Going straight down, long swooping curves down the mountain – she was doing it all. It was a perfect sunny day to be on the slopes, but after living in Europe for 6 years – what’s with the no-beer at lunch?

Ski day!

Christmas 2009

the girls actually gave us a bit of a lie in this morning, good following the wine last night, and we had a few presents that we had brought with us, and Santa had also found us in the mountains, so everyone was happy.

Both Alexandra & Sophia received “sparkly Dorothy shoes” from Santa. Sophia was more than happy to help Alexandra open her gifts

but Alexandra is at that wonderful age where she opens one gift & just wants to play with it. At the end, everyone was happy.

And then it was time to get ready for the big race!

It was okay for the first hour, but as the race started, so did the rain, and the rest of the time we were just miserable waiting for the start!  and the awards ceremony later in the afternoon

Sophia getting her medal from her coach Karin.  Her entire class, I can’t believe how little she is compared to the others! and me, 2nd again, but Alexandra got my medal this year.

Troy found the HUGE chocolate medals for the kids that accented their ski school medals very well.  Sophia can’t wait to eat hers.

After the ceremony we decided to drive back to Munich, rather than waiting until the morning.  Merry Christmas everyone.  We miss you all…

Sophia Skies!

Just a video of Sophia's week - she was amazing, and had such a great attitude. I can't wait until she can ski with us, and then probably ski past us.

2009 - Sophia Skies! from Moya Z on Vimeo.

Apres-Ski

After all the skiing there still was time for play in the snow, and lots & lots of eating!  Then everyone collapsed!

Alexandra was in the nursery at the ski school, and had so much fun playing that she refused to sleep in the afternoons, so by 5pm each day she was exhausted!  We had a few movie nights, and the girls were asleep early – good thing because Troy & I were in bed by 9 most nights!  We are definitely getting old.

Sophia’s Ski Class

Sophia had an amazing group to ski with this week.  The ages ranged from 5 to 13, but the instructor was fantastic with them, and had them all doing exercises & drills down the runs.  Sophia learned so much, and by the end of the week was making parallel turns, when she remembered! 

Troy & I were able to ski a bit with the class & ride up the lift with Sophia, but we didn’t feel like we could do the whole day – she used us as a bit of a crutch when we were around, and skied much better when she didn’t know we were watching.

You can see the fog in the Valley below us – it was really starting to warm up!

The great lunch hut – Kasespaetzel (kind of like Mac & Cheese) is so good, as was the beer.

Sophia & her group were there as well.  Fast & Hot, and the kids all got to warm up for a bit before more skiing!!

Skiing in Austria

We were unable to fly to the US this year for Christmas, so we decided to get out of Munich & head for the mountains. Last year we had so much fun in Kirchdorf in February, that we decided to go there again. It was a bit iffy on the snow front, but the few days before we left there was enough to open most of the major resorts & we drove down thru the snow on Saturday!!

Sophia was signed up for ski lessons all week, and by the second day she was getting on the bus to travel to the larger ski resorts with her class – which includes going up the “gongola” and the very high lifts! We were so proud of her.

Troy & I had some lessons, and then spent the rest of the week traveling thru the region, checking out the resorts within a 15 min drive, which included Kitzbuhel and St Johann!

Troy & Dan on the peak to peak gondola at the Kitzbuhel resort.

The chalet where we had lunch, very posh

Ski supreme

It’s all in the family…

The Patriarch.

The Son-in-law

The daughter.

Next up, the return of the prodigal son…

Next year, the first grand-daughter!  (Sophia was already grabbing the handle of the rope tow.  I was so proud!!!)

Sun on a ski day

(These tracks were made by my ski class!! The powder was unreal- I've never skied in anything like this! 24 hours earlier we had over 40cm - 16"- of fresh snow)

We had one day of sunshine the entire week - and it was absolutely amazing!! It was the first day that Troy & I skied together, and we had a day unlike any other... A memory...

The lunch hut on the ski hill. We were actually able to sit outside & eat - lunch was cold after about 10 min, but so much better than sitting inside.

Sophia's ski lessons

We had such a great ski week, and we were so proud of Sophia - she went to ski school every day (Troy & I only went for 3 days and then we skied together the rest of the week). She even got a medal for her 4th place in the ski race at the end of the week.

We were a little concerned about how she was going to take to skiing... Sophia has such an amazingly strong personality, but likes to do things perfectly on the first go round. It is often frustrating for her, and for her parents, when she actually has to take the time to learn... Troy & I were a little frustrated with her ski school during the week. We felt they didn't have enough teachers for the kids that were ready to move on, but it worked out well for Sophia. She was able to really perfect her time on the magic carpet, and after the races on Friday she was more than willing to go on the rope tow, and then the big mountain with her parents. Nana & Alexandra were watching, and cheering her on, from down below!

We were also very fortunate that she had some friends from school in her ski class, so she was very comfortable with going to ski lessons.

The awars ceremony was very impressive, they even had a medal stand for the top 3!!