2 March – 8 March 2020

What do you do when you suddenly have kids home from school for a week and it’s been snowing in the Alps? Take them skiing (even if it was our anniversary… oops). Learning our limits from the previous week,  Sena opted to spend the day with Mummy (no one has ever looked so happy, particularly when playdates with Florence were planned) and Jessie, Ellie and Ant went up to Risoul for a wonderful day of spring skiing over fresh snow. (OK, so we mainly went back for the awesome boulangerie by the base station, but the skiing was good too). By the end of the day the girls were panting, flushed and bubbling with excitement at a great day. It’s amazing how much they’ve improved through the course of the season. 

By the time the girls went back to school on Thursday even Sena was ready to get on the bus. In fact she basically climbed on and almost refused to get off. She was unimpressed that she would have to spend another 2 days without so much as Jessie to look after her.The kids came back and reported just how fastidious the school was being with trying to manage the risks to the kids – which we obviously were very grateful for. 

Somehow Liz, Sena and Anthony got through 1.5 days of 2:1 jaded parenting. At lunchtime Friday we packed up the car, picked up the Jessie and Sena and made our way towards Grenoble to meet up with Matty and Dan for what (looking at the forecast) would likely be our last ski weekend of the season. We had picked the resort of Villard de Lans, roughly halfway between Geneva and Aix, nestled just south-west of Grenoble and just east of some of the most beautiful, towering gorges that we’ve ever seen (around Choranche). 

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Running early for once, we pulled into the resort at around 430 on Friday afternoon to sort out lift passes etc for the next day. At 1100m it was 18 degrees and only a thin sliver of man-made snow differentiated the lower runs from the green and brown of the forests adjacent. This did not look promising. Hopefully things would improve further up. 

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Logistics sorted, we made our way 10 minutes down the road to the village of Villard-de-Lans which turned out to be a beautiful, family friendly french village, complete with a heap of restaurants, cafes, ice skating and swimming complex. 

We spent our first night catching up with Matty over several bottles of wine – as always it was great to catch up (even if Dan, a bit of a light-weight like his Dad, passed out whilst surrounded by 3 girls and had to be carried to bed). 

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The following day, after the obligatory morning run around, we made our way to the mountains (early – we were getting good at this now) and checked the kids into ski school for the morning. Sena had opted out of ski school for this season, Dan was pushing for 1 star, Jessie had promoted herself to 3 star and Ellie was hoping to graduate from bronze star. This was going to be a big weekend. 

More importantly, with the kids either in ski school or safely ensconced with mummy for the morning (no-one has ever been happier than Sena that day), Matty and Ant got to go boarding in peace. OK, so it was a very far cry from the fresh powder of ‘gigawatt’ in Laax, but it was still good to get out. And let’s face it, we were there to hang out and play with the kids. 

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After a quick fix of snowboarding it was back down the mountain to pick up Liz, Sena and Bonnie, don skis and head back up for lunch. Bonnie got to experience his first gondola ride (let’s face it, he doesn’t like having his paws off the ground and would like us all to remember that, as an old dog, he should not be expected to partake in new tricks. Despite this, we took him up anyway because, well, he was on leash and didn’t really get a say in it. He just looked sad and shaked a bit on the way up). When we got to the mid station (around 1600m) there was in fact plenty of snow, and Bonnie was able to take out his frustrations about the gondola ride at anything that moved more quickly that walking pace in his vicinity. 

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After a long lunch we said goodbye to Liz and Bonnie and donned our skis for an afternoon of frenetic skiing down the green runs of Villard de Lans. Caught in the pack, Sena really got her groove on and showed just how much she’d improved this year (almost despite her best efforts). It was lovely to see all the kids having such a great time together – and for Matty and Ant to be able to join in with them. 

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From skiing, we headed out to the local ice skating rink, dropping Ellie off with Liz to binge watch Supergirl – her current obsession. Matty, Dan, Jessie, Sena and Ant hit the ice, with various degrees of style and grace. After a relatively short while the kids were self amusing and Matty and Ant managed to grab a seat in the bar overlooking the rink and retired for a few well deserved drinks (whilst obviously keeping a laser like focus on the kids at all times). 

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After ice skating we all went for a drink to pull funny/scary faces at each other. Sienna won!

Sunday was the big day for Ellie. Her goal for the ski season was to get her Bronze Etoile and get into the Gold Star class. This was her chance to do it. The mountain was quiet Sunday morning when we dropped the kids off at ski school. The 3 star class (Jessie’s) had been merged into the Bronze group, so Jessie and Ellie would be together for the day. They were excited. And a little nervous. 

Matty and Ant said our goodbyes and headed off for a couple of hours and fun, kid free time exploring the ski area. Down to pick up Liz, Sena and Bonnie again for lunch (Bonnie looking perturbed as usual), back up to the mid station to meet the groups. Would we have tears or cheers? 

When the girls came in, the instructor had kept them in suspense. Feedback was calmly given and then the announcement made – Ellie had been awarded her Bronze Etoile and Jessie, without even knowing it, had been awarded her Second Star (justifying her decision to promote herself). A successful morning all round. 

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The afternoon was genuinely one of the best afternoons we’ve ever had skiing. It started with Bonnie doing his best husky dog interpretations by towing the kids around the snow. Then green runs with Sena for a while, before she decided that a hot chocolate and some impromptu maths homework with Mum in the restaurant was too good an opportunity to pass up. A couple of hours speeding down blues and reds with Matty and the kids. Then finishing off the day as a group having snowball fights and skiing down to the base station hand in hand with Sena. It was about as close to perfect as you can get. 

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When we finally said our goodbyes and started our drive back to Aix we had 3 very tired kids and one snoring dog. What a great way to finish the season.

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