Thursday, January 4, 2018

Our holiday ski trip!

We just got home from an amazing week in Hintertux, Austria for a family ski trip. We stayed at the same hotel we stayed at back in February, Hintertuxerhof. This world of "kinder hotels" is just amazing, friends!! We seriously cannot say enough about them...They have 2 playrooms and childcare available (for free) from 9:00am-9:00pm. We got there and the kids headed straight to the playroom to hang out while we unpacked and got situated. They LOVE being able to go play when they're finished with their dinner and Chris and I love being able to enjoy a relaxing dinner without cutting up food or stopping to pick up (another) dropped fork!




Michael celebrated his 8th birthday while we were there and they were so sweet to decorate our table, give him a little gift and bring a delicious cake! On that note though, I seriously cannot believe this boy is 8! He is just the sweetest kid and I spent a lot of time this past eek reflecting on guys how much he has grown and matured the past year. Our super shy guy has really started to come into his own and display a level of  confidence and maturity that I've never seen before...Chris and I truly could not be more proud of this kid!!



Michael was ALL OVER the mountain with his group (he actually surpassed Allie into a higher level) I was blown away by how much this instructor had them..they were taking different gondolas up to different elevations to ski various runs and he loved every second of it!! He wasn't ready to stop skiing at the end of the day...he always wanted to keep going! He and Chris would ski a bit longer before skiing back down the mountain to our hotel. I think he had the best time out of all of the kids this week and really took off down the slopes! Chris has found his ski buddy for sure! Lord knows I can't hang. I did ONE run with Chris...totally wiped out and then took the gondola back down to meet him at the bar! Ha!! I hope to get better in the future, but man have I turned into a wimp!!!



After a rough first day for Emily (they had to call me to come pick her up from ski school because she wouldn't stop crying!!) She rallied for day 2 and finished the rest of the week of lessons with a HUGE smile on her face! It was so cute...The little "bambini" area has the teeniest, tiniest little incline and she would ski down and said every time, "I'm going so fast!!!"



Mary "graduated" from the little bunny hill and got to go up the mountain! I couldn't believe it! I kept asking them, "you know she's only 4, right?!?" Overprotective much??? But she mastered getting up the T bar by herself and had a great time skiing!!



Allie had a great time as well and our little social butterfly loved meeting some new friends at the hotel as well as crafting her heart away in the playroom! We were all thrilled there were no injuries this year!!



And then there was this guy...



He was in HEAVEN this week...and his skiing was amazing. Seriously, even if I wasn't such a wimp I wouldn't be able to come close to keeping up!! Watching him unplug and enjoy himself is just the best!!





Chris is already back in the office today and flies to China on Sunday...the kids go back to school on Monday along with one new "school kid"...Emily starts kindergarten on Monday!!! Insert ugly cry from me here, but I know she is going to have so much fun!!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and 2018 is filled with many blessings for you all!! Thank you all for all of your continued love and support while we are on this adventure!

xo,
Chris, Lex, Allie, Michael, Mary & Emily