When the Kuehnes were down in Italy for Halloween, Ashley, Angela, and Morgan were busy figuring out the next time our three families could get together. It was decided that we would spend MLK weekend skiing in Austria. Our family had scoped out Bad Kleinkircheim in December to make sure it would be the perfect destination. And it would have been, had it not been for the unseasonably warm weather. Temps in the 30s-40s and either rain or, rarely, wet snow all weekend. No matter. We had a few goals of teaching Juliet how to ski, helping the older Kuehne girls learn to ski, relaxing in thermal pools, playing the envelope game, and eating unhealthy amounts of Austrian food. Mission accomplished.
Juliet getting suited up for her first day. In typical Juliet fashion, she was very excited to go skiing, jumping up and down and being overly exuberent. Then, also in typical Juliet fashion, once we hit the slopes, she wanted nothing to do with it.
Yet, despite her best effort, Juliet actually learned how to ski that weekend. It was the last run of the day, and she was crying almost the entire time, but she did it. Way to go, Jubie!
Georgie and Samantha are ready to go. Isaac is in the orange pants and Angela is kneeling helping Landon get ready. Georgie is the fearless one in our family. She is still working on transitioning away from the snowplow, but she just points those skis downhill and goes.
Isaac had a bit of a rough start, claiming he couldn't remember how to ski, but soon got back on horse and did great the rest of the day.
Here are Angela and Landon. For as much as Landon can struggle with enjoying some of our other European activities, he is a superstar when it comes to skiing.
With as much territory as we had to cover, at some point it was just more convenient to carry Juliet rather than ski with her between my legs. The rest of the group includes Samantha, Payton, Tann, and Isaac. After the initial bumps we ended up having a great skiing group and a great day. All of the kids did very well.
That night we descended upon the number one TripAdvisor-rated restaurant in Bad Kleinkircheim. The nine bigger kids sat at this large round table while the adults sat at another table next to them. Clockwise from the left are Landon, Payton, Isaac, Juliet, Georgie, Adayla, Tally, Samantha, and Ryann. The food was great and the staff were very accommodating, but I am sure that they were glad to see us leave.
Georgie and Adayla were getting along great that night. The next night they got into a bit of a scrape, but they made up and ended up having a great time together.
At various points during this meal we had children biting and breaking water glasses with their teeth, knocking over lit candles, and climbing all over the benches and dividing wall between our tables. And we didn't leave a tip. I think we are banned for life. Here are Morgan, Jacquelyn, Juliet, and Ashley.
Feeling a little timid.
Here I am trying to pump her up.
The boys and Juliet.
But we thoroughly enjoyed ourself. Tim and Tann a little too much it appears.
Tann is surprised to see you there.
The next day we skiied again and took the Kuehne girls with us. They had been in ski school the day before and really picked it up quickly. Ryann was a natural and fearless. Adayla was cautious and very dedicated to improving. Tally was giving us all a heart attack with her reckless speed and using falling as a means of stopping. But by lunch that day all three were completely independent on the easy runs and ready to conquer new challenges.
Ashley and I decided to take the tram up to some more challenging territory with Isaac, Georgie, Adayla, Tally, and Ryann. Although the weather was warm and raining lightly down below, at the top of the tram it was a white-out, wet snow blizzard. Ash & I were outnumbered 5 to 2 and almost overwhelmed. Two kids fell off of the rope tow and then Tally lost her ski in the wet powder at the top of the run while Ash and I were both dealing with the fallen. At that point the rope tow broke down. Someone skiied down to me to tell me that Tally was crying, so I took my skis off and started hiking up to her. She had taken her other ski off and was hiking down the run, crying the whole way. I got her taken care of and started working our way down when I came across Georgie stuck in the snow and crying. What a mess. It was one of those parenting moments when you are in crisis management mode and don't have any time to think about how cold or wet or miserable you are. Even though it was a skiing failure, I felt that it was a parenting success and I was very proud of all the kids and how brave they were.
Of course, we weren't done yet. Ryann left her gloves at the top of the tram and Ashley had to go back up to get them. Meanwhile, I was trying to get the five kids and all of their ski gear down two flights of icy, metal stairs when both Isaac and Tally tumbled and yard-saled in front of a waiting line of European skiiers. They must have thought I was insane.
We went out again that night and caused similar ruckus at another restaurant. I wanted to get the kids back and to bed as quickly as possible, but Ashley had promised them Kaiserschmarrn for dessert, an eggy pancake cut into pieces sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with fruit preserves. When the dish arrived Ashley began digging into it and got mad at me for taking it away from her and giving it to the kids. Not our best moment.
That night after putting the kids to bed we stayed up playing the envelope & newlywed games, during which we learned some very interesting facts about Morgan pre-Tim and some eerie commonalities among all three couples when it comes to ice cream flavors.
Our last day the Joneses went with us to the thermal pools while the Kuehnes took their girls skiing one last time. We went back to the same terme we had scouted out in December and everyone really enjoyed it, especially the natural massages under the waterfall and the outside pool. We had warned the Joneses about the co-ed locker room so they were mentally prepared. Afterward, while everyone was drying off and changing clothes, Juliet got into Ashley's make up.
She actually did get some around her eyes as well. I think she looks great.
Don't you?
The weekend went by far too quickly, so what did we do on the drive back to home and the airport? Arranged to have Morgan and the girls fly out again in February during their winter break to ski again.
