We took a trip to the ski shop to get skis and boots for them and of course Beatrix had pink skis with a unicorn on them and boots to match whilst Maurice had red boots and monster skis! After a little play around on them and the discovery that Maurice was much more suited to an adult-sized snowboard, it was back to the chalet for a hot tub, dinner and bed (including me!).
I particulalry enjoy the early morning visits and even after 16 hours of constant action the day before they both appeared into our room at 0615 with an excited 'Hi Guys'!! After a breakfast of chocolate porridge, chocolate croissant and chocolate anything else you can wangle out of Auntie Kate I left the men to it and went shopping. Charlie and I were in and out of Metro before 10 o'clock and must have set a new record! Charlie certainly doesn't think we'll break it this season! I unpacked, had a cup of tea and some rather nice carrot cake that I'd made last week and then wandered along to Rochebrune to meet them for lunch.
After a sandwich, hot dog or bread and ketchup (Beattie), I sent the men off who were itching to get up the mountain and Maurice, Beatrix and I bundled into the telecabine and went to the top of the mountain. Maurice now knows the names of all the mountains around us, even if a lot of them had the same name as I didn't have my postcard with me! We decided to ride back down the telecabine, dump the skis and get the bus to La Livraz to go sledging. After a couple of hours the blokes rang, admitting defeat on their boards and we took the bus into town to meet them. They actually managed to catch the same bus as us! We enjoyed hot chocolate and chose a cake for pudding and a horse for our sleigh ride before heading back up for tea, bath and bed.
After another rather Nutella-fuelled breakfast, we were ready for action. This time I had the children in the morning so we did some hoovering - it's amazing how far croissants can get spread! We then made a cake for the ski shop guys, vanilla and chocolate chip, and then had a lovely walk over to the ski shop to deliver our fabulous cake and pick up the skis. We took the bus up to La Livraz and did some sledging before the men joined us and we had huge burgers for lunch!
We had a very successful afternoon and discovered that the walking tracks are just the right incline for Beatrix and Maurice to practice their skiing on and on the uphill sections a ski-pole between the legs, with an Auntie or Uncle at the other end to pull, is a much faster and easier way to get along. Beatrix picked it up very quickly and today she wouldn't even get pulled up some hills, she prefers to shuffle! She also has the hang of 'pizza slice' stopping. Maurice, however, is definitely his father's son, and has an inability to concentrate, listen or control his feet! Maybe when he's 28... He actually did pretty well and his inability to turn left just meant that he stopped by turning right every few yards!
After their fabulous efforts, the promised horse sleigh ride was done and we chose a rote through the Rochebrune area as it's somewhere we haven't really seen. It was really good, quiet and just at the right time for some beautiful evening light on the mountains.
We've had a fabulous few days with them and they've both gone back thinking they're experts at skiing! I'm looking forward to sleeping past 6am tomorrow and after a few more sleeps, Daddy will be here!! We also only have 3 and a half more weeks left of the season. It's all gone so quickly and I hope there's more snow before we leave as currently it's rapidly melting in these glorious warm and sunny days!
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