Ski Break Wrap Up

After our crazy ski day, we had a much more successful week. 

We skied each morning, and then enjoyed the hotel amenities in the afternoons. 

Such a fun family week!!

Ski Success

On our second ski day, the sun was shining and the power was restored. Much better day!

Our kids are great little skiers. Cade skied with us instead of going to ski school this year and did great.

Chelsea is a little pro and has no trouble skiing with us. 

Our only mishap occurred early in the day. We took the chairlift up, and we planned to ski a couple of easy runs and then take the lift back down if we determined that the long run down was too difficult. After getting off the lift, we skied a short run down to another lift. The problem came here - this lift was a t-bar, which is very common in Europe but very hard for the kids. You have to balance on a little bar and be drug up the mountain. This one also happened to be steep and bumpy. 

We let Chelsea go first, followed by me, and then Larry held Cade. Well, Chelsea fell off about halfway up. I kept going, knowing that Larry would get her.  He did, but he had quite a time. He wasn't sure what to do, but thought the best plan was to cross from the lift line over to the slope. The problem was that there was 3 feet of snow in between. Somehow, he drug himself and both kids plus gear through all that snow. It was not a peasant experience for any of them!

When I met them, they had just gotten though that. Well, now we were stuck. We couldn't get back to the chair lift without doing the t-bar again, and no one wanted to do that. Our only was out was down the mountain via a red (intermediate) slope. This provoked much anxiety in me, mostly because of Cade. Thankfully, we all made it down in one piece. There were tears and crashes, but none too serious. Larry ended up carrying Cade about a third of the way down. Needless to say, we were all glad to see the end and we called it a day after that!

The Snowiest Day

So behind in blogging, but going to try to catch up....so, we go back to the Kinderhotel. 

We woke up on our first ski day to find that it had snowed all night and the power was out at the hotel. We would not be deterred from our plan, however. We ate breakfast, got all the gear, dropped Logan at childcare, and headed to the mountain. 

The ski area was a 20 minute drive away under normal conditions. As we began to drive, we knew these were not normal conditions. See the lump in the picture above? There is a car under all that snow. There was more snow than I have ever seen. The road was mostly okay, but got a bit interesting in places. Halfway to the ski area, our windshield wiper broke because there was so much snow. But, we pressed on. I was questioning our decision, but I did so only in my head. 

We finally made it to the ski area after about an hour. 

We parked in deep snow and you can see the wall of snow that was behind our car. 

We went into the ski shop and got all the skis, boots, etc on....definitely the least fun part of skiing. From there, it was a bit of an uphill hike to the bunny slope. We finally got everyone up there, and then the bunny lifts stopped. The power was out at the ski area as well. We had to laugh - too much snow to ski.

Larry was determined that the kids ski a bit, so he pulled them through the powder up the hill a couple of times. After that, we called it a day and headed an hour back to the hotel. The power ended up being out until 5 pm at the hotel thanks to multiple fallen trees in the area due to the snow. We made the most of our day anyway, and had much better success the next day! 

Kinderhotel Round 2

Last year for Ski Break (that is a real thing in European schools...so nice!), we took our first trip to a Kinderhotel. These are all inclusive hotels that cater to kids. It is a week of relaxation and fun for everyone! This year, we decided to do it again at a different Kinderhotel that is a little closer to Budapest. We drove partway Friday night, enjoying a Valentine's Day dinner of Happy Meals. Saturday morning we arrived at the Kinderhotel Babyhotel in Trebesing, Austria.

Happy to see lots of snow!

Kinderhotels provide everything you may need - including robes for all. So cute!

We spent pour first afternoon just walking around and enjoying the hotel. Chelsea loved the sledding hill, but Cade crashed into the netting and that was the end of his love of sledding. 

There is an indoor pool, indoor/outdoor pool, and baby pool. 

Crazy girl almost went down the "snow slide." 

There is also a giant twisty waterslide that is fun for all. Logan LOVES it. 

This play area is adjacent to the dining room. Kids finished eating? No problem, they can go play and we can finish our dinner in peace. Win-win. This play car is a huge hit for all ages. 

The other great feature of the Kinderhotel is a kids club, with tons of fun activities all day long. Our plan for the week is to ski in the mornings, and then we play/swim/whatever in the afternoons. Logan stays at the hotel while we ski and plays with his friends. Not sure if he is happy with that arrangement, but he tolerates it. :) The kids club has these amazing German baby swings that hang from the ceiling and he sleeps for 2 hours in the kids club every day. I think I will buy one to bring home!

Weekend in Vienna

Once again, I am horribly behind in blogging. We have been in the US for almost 4 weeks and have so many fun things to blog....maybe I will catch up this week.

For now, we rewind to early June when Jeff, Erin, Hunter,and Chandler were in Budapest. We took a quick weekend road trip to Vienna and had the best time. We always love Vienna and there is always more to discover!

We started our road trip with a 2 car caravan, with Larry, Jeff, Chelsea, and Cade in Larry's midget car and the rest of us in my car. Logan had great entertainers in the back seat. These 2 were buddies until a major diaper blow out that headed for Chandler's seat (yes, really major!), at which point Chandler jumped out of the car in a drive thru lane....so funny. 

The Vienna Prater is always a fun place to go!

Schonbrunn - always beautiful and still one of our favorite places 

Extra arms to carry tired children would be great on all of our vacations!

One of our new Vienna discoveries this trip was the House of Music museum  - very hands on and fun for all ages.  Another successful weekend in Vienna!

Skiing the Alps

While we are living here, we decided we really should ski in the Alps. We chose a small ski resort a few minutes from the Kinderhotel, and it was perfect for us. Cade loved his ski school and Chelsea skied with us like a pro. Logan enjoyed his time playing at the hotel.

How cute are they? All decked out and ready to go. 

View from the top - breathtaking!

We had fun and I was quite thankful we all were in one piece at the end of each day! 

More Kinderhotel Fun

We all enjoyed relaxing at the pool...can't beat the scenery.

 Fun times for everyone in the baby pool 

The indoor giant tube slide was so much fun!

A great thing about Kinderhotels is they provide everything - baby food, strollers, baby monitor, etc...even robes and slippers for the little bitties to wear to the pool. They were so adorable!

Relaxing in the hammock

We loved our Kinderhotel!

Adventures in the Alps

Back in February, when we still liked snow, we took advantage of the kids ski break and visited a Kinderhotel in the Austrian Alps. It was a fabulous getaway for all of us - like a cruise on land. Free kids club for all ages, all inclusive wonderful food, baby monitors so you could put the kids to bed and then enjoy a leisurely dinner....ahh. It was really great and we loved our few days there. 

Pools, pony rides, indoor playground....what's not to love?

Now, it is the end of March. It's still snowing. It snowed about 6 inches last night.  

It's been snowing for at least 4 months on a regular basis. With snow comes gray skies and blah days. 

Snow, I used to love you, but we are done. Please be gone. 

More alpine pics to come!

Vienna Christmas Market

 The first weekend in December, we headed to Vienna to visit the Christmas Markets. There wasn't any snow, but it was oh so cold. We all bundled up and were good to go!
                       

Our first stop was the main market outside the City Hall. 

Our favorite part was the children's area. There were several activities for kids, each charging a couple of euros per child. Our kids wanted to make cookies, of course! Each child was given an apron, hat, and a mound of dough. They could roll and cut cookies for as long as they wanted to stay.

                                                 

 There was lots of flour flying around our little bakers! I think they could've stayed all day!

 No baking for this guy, but he enjoyed his Daddy time!

             When they were finished, they received a bag of baked cookies. These were a great bribery tool for later when they got tired of walking!

Our last stop of the morning was this little ride. 

From there, we headed to another market - more to come!