My alarm shatters the silence at, much to my roommate’s dismay, 8am. I’m not looking after any children till 12 so I have the morning to myself and obviously I’m keen to hit the snow at any available opportunity.
Hobbling down the treacherous hill from my apartment in my ski boots, I only slip on the ice once and I make it to the first lift of the day from Medran. Clear blue skies and fresh corduroy, nannies make the most of this awesome resort too don’t you worry. A couple of runs, a fair few tumbles and one chairlift mishap later I’m heading back down the mountain to see what the afternoon has in store.
At noon I spot 4 year old Hamilton and 6 year old Coco hop off the bus at Medran with their ski instructor. They fight to tell me about the various heroic wipeouts of the morning and the ski instructor hands me a bundle of goggles, gloves, skis and discarded layers. I think everyone’s earnt some lunch. We head up to Mountain Air Café and the kids can’t wait for lunch, more of which end around their mouths and all over the pristine white napkins than actually in their tummies. For me it’s avocado salad and of course we share a dessert because they’re just so good I can’t resist.
Finally time to play! Hamy and Coco can’t believe their luck as I take them to the Petit Verbier base for a quick play and tell them they can take some toys back with us. Sarina keeps opening more cupboards full of train-tracks, pipe cleaners, bubbles, princess dresses… We’d happily have stayed in there all day but the sun is out and I have a surprise for them which I think might tempt them to leave the dolls and megasuperawesome lego shark. I’ve hired a sledge so it’s back to Les Esserts for some more snow-related fun in the afternoon.
We then begin the process of trying to leave a building with 2 under 7s in a ski resort. If you’ve never done this before and are planning to attempt it any time soon I suggest you leave yourself a solid 45 minutes for the manoeuvre. Salopettes, jumpers, suncream, gloves, hats, sunglasses, lift passes... it’s inevitably at this point that someone decides that they did in fact need the loo after all. All has to be removed and the whole process started again from scratch.
It’s Coco and Hamy’s first snowy holiday so the sledging was a big hit and when asked they were adamant they preferred it to skiing. I’ll be sure to tell their instructor tomorrow. Petit Verbier 1, Ski School 0.
The journey home is an adventure in itself. Because they’re staying down the mountain in Le Chable we get to ride home in an ‘egg’ (gondola) and watch the multi-coloured paragliders sail down next to us in the evening sun.
You’d have thought such small people would be at least a little bit tired after such a full day but Hamy and Coco have heaps of energy left so the evening’s entertainments include den building, brownie making and the most competitive game of Uno I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of.
Mum and Dad come back just as we’re changing into PJs and so I leave them to recount the day’s adventures. Back up to Verbier just in time to catch the end of our team meeting. Everyone’s comparing anecdotes from their various jobs – “I read The Gruffalo 5 times today”, “3 year olds ask the funniest questions”. We plan our activities for the next few days and I head home for dinner and more catch ups with my housemates.
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