Ski Week

I have been very lax in my blogging lately! Sorry!

Back in February we took part in our very first expat ritual of going away for ski week. We went to Serfaus, Austria in the Tyrol region with two families from our school, the Dublins and the Jeppsons. Thanks to our friend Annalisa’s diligent research, we stayed at a lovely family hotel in Serfaus called the Hotel Furgler. A "family hotel" is a brilliant European idea that American ski resorts should adopt! It’s basically an all-inclusive hotel with kid-friendly features like included all-day childcare, a pool with water slides, a children's play gym with video games, a child’s buffet dinner with unlimited juice bar, ski passes, and wonderful five course dinners for the adults each night. The three families, with nine children between us, enjoyed the hotel very much.

The boys in Serfaus, before hitting the slopes!

Grant and Tobi had been skiing all winter, so Grant was ready for ski school. He and Patrick and Sophie skied off every morning to meet their instructors and never looked back. Charlie hadn’t skied for about 2 years, but he did great. He took 4 days worth of lessons and he felt more comfortable on skis by the end of the week. Caroline stayed in the hotel daycare with Vivi and Annie and had little outings like going to a farm to see horses and pigs.

Charlie hadn't skied since he was 3, but he did a great job at ski school.

The instructor would shout, "Charlie make-a the pizza!"

Every evening our après-ski routine consisted of snacks and swimming in the hotel’s very nice pool (indoor and outdoor!) and waterslides. After swimming, we would head to dinner. Since everyone at the hotel was there for the whole week, we had the same seating every night. They put our three families together and the kids had lots of fun eating from the buffet, having ice cream from the ice cream bar and then playing on iPods until the adults were done with dinner.

Tobi enjoyed skiing alone but he mostly liked skiing with Grant.

Caroline didn't ski but she still had fun in the snow.

Ski vacations are hard work and we were usually all in bed each night by 9pm. The kids were troupers, though, and they did great.

Tobi and Charley tried to keep up with Grant and Patrick.

On the way home from Serfaus, we drove through the eastern part of Switzerland, through St. Moritz and Davos. What an amazing scenic drive. The mountains in that part of Switzerland were astounding. We might need to go back someday to that region.

Views of St. Moritz (from the car) were stunning.

Cheers!

Tiffany