A few days before we left for our jubilant adventure, we needed to shop for coats, hats, gloves and anything else we could find that would keep us warm. Going to many different stores just to find gloves in the middle of March was no easy task. We did, however, find a beautiful hot pink coat perfect for our Samantha. It had a nice hard shell so water would not soak through. I won't mention the cost, I'm too embarrassed to tell you, even on sale. Oh, how I wish she would have remembered that perfect coat when it was time to leave for skiing. Poor Samantha had to learn the hard way and suffer from a wet and cold coat while skiing for the first time.
Since the children didn't get the memo about how much fun skiing was, we didn't leave until 11. Daddy ended up hitting Isaac in the eye with a nerf gun and we thought we would need to go into the emergency room. After he was hit, his eye looked as if it were crossed. Thankfully, it wasn't and with time we could see there was no permanent damage. Boots had to be found, long johns worn, gloves and hats in bags. By the time we got everything packed, chains on the tires, and all kids thrown into the car we were hungry again. Snacks were good for that so I ran back into the house to grab some snacks for the trip, hopeful that it would keep everybody content and happy. The first part of the drive gave us all a little sense of calmness, until we drove around the corner and all we saw was a drop off. Slowly we crept around each corner with hearts thumping full of anxiety while holding our breath at every turn, praying we didn't fall off the cliff. By the time we were to the top, we couldn't wait to feel the ground under our feet. Ahh, finally we were ready to hit the slopes, let the fun begin right? Not quite.
Once we got there and actually found a parking spot, the kids piled out of the car one by one, when two children immediately stepped into dog poo. (Why do Italians like their dogs so much and why would they bring them to a ski resort?) While I'm telling them to stop walking, one hopped into the car and dragged poo all the way to the back of the car. At the same time the poo incident was happening, I noticed that the perfect, very expensive, ski coat was not on the child it was suppose to be on. While I'm wiping dog poo from her boots, I realized she didn't even have her own boots on and that was why the other child that couldn't find her boots had to wear her hiking shoes, that were to small, as boots. Hmmmm, what was a mommy to do with all this excitement? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I couldn't even laugh because I was emotionally drained from all the chaos of trying to actually get to the ski resort.
Finally, we had all our ski equipment rented, helmets on, ski's and poles in hand. Now where would we pay for the tickets? Oh, half a mile away. We all looked at each other with disgust, but trudged on. ( I think most of them thought," if this is skiing I don't want to go") We promised them it would all be worth it. Skis, poles, and gloves in hand, we moved forward. When we finally bought the tickets we found out we only had 3 1/2 hours to actually ski. The slopes closed at 4p.m. What!? How could they close at 4!? The steam was coming from all of us, no coats were needed by that time, the internal heat was forcing its way upward. The man of the house kept his cool, calmly encouraging the children as they walked up yet another hill for lessons. Uh Oh, somebody needed to go potty, but where were the bathrooms? Another long walk up a snowy hill the opposite way we were suppose to go for lessons.
Once the lessons started, we were able to take a deep breath and manage a smile or two.
Will we do it again next year?... I think so. It was all worth it.
We were skiing the Alps!
The girls listening to their instructor
Daddy was a big help
Looking good Jana
Woohoo! I didn't fall!
I did it!
This is where Isaac and I hung out most of the time. We got some good ol' American food. Hamburger with fries and some Italian hot chocolate. He ended up falling asleep on my lap for a few hours while I watched out the window at my other children ski the Alps. I think that makes it a pretty good day full of, might I say, interesting memories.
Gotta love that boy.
