Most of you know we head to the Austrian Alps every February for skiing. We found a great "Kinder Hotel" called the Hotel Almhof (www.familyresort.at) which is designed especially for families, and we're hooked. This is our fourth year. And oh, what a year!
It started with our drive...from Frankfurt, it's about 5 hours. From Amsterdam, Google says it's 9. Bing says it's 8. The Carpenters say it's 13. Not kidding, THIRTEEN hours! The traffic once we hit Munich was more like a parking lot. ARGGGGGHHH!
But we finally arrived, and got everyone signed up for Schischule (Ski School). This is Jack's 4th year, and he already skis better than his mom. Jack's class heads to the mountain every day around 9:30 and returns at 15:30. This year, he is in one of the more advanced groups, and they are learning how to keep their skis parallel, so no more pizza slice. The kids in his class are really good and really fast on skis. Impressive.
Luke is in the beginner class, which is only 2 hours daily and skis right outside the hotel. His teacher says he's a natural. (No teacher ever said this about his mother and a sporting activity.) Luke can curve a little and do a pizza slice. This is a huge improvement over last year, when he cried so much during each lesson that we finally aborted about mid-week. We weren't sure how this year would go, but it's going great!
But the big news is the Big Boy, who on day two, hit a patch of ice while skiing too fast and had to be escorted down the hill on a snow mobile. After a visit to the local doctor, he's drugged, braced and generally not so happy. Prognosis is a torn ACL, and a trip to the local doc in Holland upon our return.
Tomorrow is the big ski race for the kids - we'll see how the Carpenter boys fare!
