Snow Storm

Well we had our holiday in the snow! Just gorgeous. Shan joined us and we met up with Dene's brother Paul and his now FIANCE Bec. Congratulations guys! (they got engaged on New Years Eve). Yipee a wedding. Holy crap that means I had better get my butt off the couch and down to the gym. Thanks to another friends suggestion I might try the couch to 5k in 2 months.... I want to start slow!

We all had a great time. Bec still hates snowboarding so I suggested (well I think she suggested it actually, but minor details) she to join me in skiing. I am secretly recruiting so we take over the snowboarders in the family. Shan got back on the board after not being since she was living in Whistler all those years ago. She loved it too. And Dene and Paul well they had a ball.

The kids loved it. Sharni is a speed demon and skis like her mother drives. Flat out or stop, nothing in between. It did my head in and I couldn't take her. After getting over being on the chairlift with her. My fear of her falling out, so easily as the gap is made for big adults not little kids, consumed me and it was the worst 10-15 minutes of my life! Shan found it humorous and at least looked after her for me. I literally could not even look at Sharni. Not fun at all!!

So I finally make it to the top of the mountain (I by the way am a pretty useless skier but after a couple of days of lessons I am willing to give the easiest run on the mountain a go!)with Shan and Sharni. And off they go!! Seriously straight down the mountain at an alarming rate. Well to the mother of a 5 year old it was bloody fast. I don't care how much my instructor tells me they can't go THAT fast because of their weight....

I am so nervous it takes me ages to catch up to them waiting patiently at the bottom. No not the bottom of the mountain, just the bottom of the first little 100 meters. Oh crap I realise I have the whole mountain to get down. Seriously contemplating telling Shan to take Sharni the rest of the way down so I can't watch. Anyway long story shorter, we made it down and all was well.

Then I had a great idea, the next time we went we could do the other beginner run where we could get the gondola instead of the chairlift. Nice enclosed box as opposed to the open chairlift, no way Sharni could fall out. Great idea, getting to the top of the mountain no big deal. Getting down, a WHOLE other story. Turns out the skiis that I hired that day are longer than the ones I have been using the other days........... Translated it makes it much #$%king harder to turn, well for a novice like myself. So 2 minutes into the descent and I fall...... and then again and then again...... After not falling at all for the previous 2 days, this has knocked any confidence I had in my own ability out the window. And the hard bit is yet to come. Needless to say we got to the bottom where Dene was waiting with Tahlia to be fed and he thought we must have done the run a couple of times.......... hhhhmmm no that would be once my love, ONCE!!

Oh but it gets better there is more! Are you sure you want to read on?

So after building up my confidence all day, Shan and I decide to do another run. By the way it hasn't snowed at all since we arrived so the slopes are starting to get a little icy, which means slippery and bloody hard. I don't mean to keep translating, but I had no idea being from WA anything about skiing conditions/terms etc.
So all is well we start, get around the corner and then HOLY CRAP there is a bloody huge drop off........... I was shitting myself. Anyway making it down, with little tackers flying by me. Man you just want to trip those little dudes. Get to the next bit and it is worse! So Shan starts giving me advise. I just want to take the skis off and walk down the hill. Seriously this is just bloody crazy. So Shan starts losing it and laughing her ass off. I start swearing at her and adopting the only sign language I know! All the time laughing but really wanting to curl up in the foetal position and cry. Why would I do this to myself? All the time Shan is quoting that 'I should do something every day that scares me'........hhhhmmmm at this stage I tell her she should be scared of what I am going to do to her once these skiis come off. With more sign language. Fortunately I could laugh about it. And I did make it in the end. Again Dene asking in disbelief if we only went down once? YES honey ONCE and once only, never again will I go down that run.

Anyway to answer your questions yes I did actually enjoy skiing and I would love to do it again sometime. These were only a couple of instances in the whole holiday, but in hindsight I thought they were funny...... Not in the moment I assure you.

Sharni had a few days of lessons, so Nait wanted to give it a whirl.... The first time fine, the next time he cried for Dene and didn't want to do it. No big drama, he was just as happy to play in the snow!

Tahlia was good and wants to rip it up next time! At least be strapped to the front of Dene going down the hill he he... (Mum and Margaret I assure you both, I am only joking)

We arrived home safe and sound, no broken bones, with about 10 loads of washing that I am still getting through.

We then had another week with Shan before she headed home :( We miss her heaps. We had lots and lots of laughs and quite a few funny things happen throughout her holiday. I hope we didn't put her off of kids forever!! ha