Ski Week 2013!

During mid-February we spent another great week in Serfaus Austria for the kids' Sportferien.  It's a really fun vacation filled with skiing.  The week we were there, there were also a lot of Dutch and German families on holiday.  So, Nate and Will took ski lessons the entire week, which included a ski race at the end.  And Meredith learned to ski this week!  She started in the Kinderschneealm (kids' area) and by Wednesday they were going on the lifts and the pistes!  Incredible!  Dave, Elise and I skied together and Dave and I took one afternoon of lessons (Elise says she's done with lessons now!).

We stayed at the Familienhotel Furgler for the second year in a row, and it was great!  Meredith and William would go to the kids' club after dinner to do a craft or some activity, and Nate and Elise could hang out in the hotel.  But we were usually all so tired after skiing...and eating...  The meals are so nice there, with breakfast, snacks and cakes in the afternoon, and a children's buffet and a 5-course served dinner every night for the adults.  Amazing!

We tried hard to speak German all the time at meals - since we were in Austria and they speak high German there.  Tuesday was Fasching (Carnival in Austria), so Meredith and William dressed up in costume at the kids club, complete with face painting, and Meredith won first place in the contest (the first 3 prizes all went to the smallest kids!).  They had a lot of fun.

As I mentioned, the kids did a ski race as part of their class.  William's teacher told me the day before that he was really fast - and he is!  He got 5th place in his race (he slowed down after the last flag and didn't realize he still had to go farther to officially finish), and was a good sport about it all.  Nathan got third place (he had gotten 2nd the last 2 years and he's very serious about the competition).  And Meredith got 4th place (her class started with 10 kids, and by Friday there were only 4 in the race...).  But Meredith definitely got first place for the cutest smile while racing.  Speed didn't seem to be so important to her.  But Nathan and William are speed demons!

I love the way Nathan ran out when they called his name!

We love this tradition and have already rebooked for next year!