French Alps

Bonjour!  We had a lovely 4 day, Valentines, JJ's Birthday, weekend in the Alps.  I remember the first time I went to Colorado and sat on the mountaintop, just taking in the beauty and thinking that it was one of the most beautiful places on earth.  I had several more of those moments in the alps.  The area that we went to, Morzine & Les Gets (pronounced le jeh if you want to sound like a local, if you want to sound like an American pronounce the s's and t), was massive and so much bigger than any ski area that I've been too.  In the mountain range, you could ski to about 8 different ski resorts and you could even ski to Switzerland.  There were mountains where ever you looked.  And the trees were huge and everywhere.  This was a big snow year for them and the snow was over 2-3 feet deep in many places. 

We stayed in a little chalet a couple miles from the town of Morzine.  The managers of the chalet were a British couple who were about our age.  They lived in the basement of the chalet and you could tell that the chalet was their livelihood and they wanted to make their guests feel comfortable at all times.  Breakfast, tea (with cakes and snacks) and dinner was included in the price of the room.  Tyler got a freshly cooked pancake every morning so he was happy as a clam.  And dinner was really gourmet every night.  The woman cooking, Elisma, was only 25 and I was amazed that she had the skills to cook so well already.  Oh and she broke both wrists snowboarding the week before which barely slowed her down.  She also made a kids meal for Tyler and the 2 other girls staying there a bit earlier and Tyler had a clean plate nearly every night.  Staying in the chalet with us was a British family that had 2 girls ages 6 and 9 and they also brought the grandparents.  Tyler loved the girls, especially the youngest one who liked to sing.  The last room was occupied by another British couple.  We were a bit of a novelty as Americans.  It was the first time they had ever had Americans stay at the chalet, most of their guests are all British.  It was hilarious to hear them get excited about our accents.  I have never in my life had anyone tell me that my Michigan nasally accent is cool.  They loved it.  The guy running the chalet, Dave, asked me to say, "This one time, in band camp..." from the American Pie movie and he was cracking up.  He told us that he knew Tyler was cool when he strutted in in his little Puma track suit the first day.  It was a little strange staying in a cabin with folks that we didn't know but by the end of the time we had gotten to like everyone quite a bit.  The last night Dave and Elisma ate with us and we all polished off several bottles of wine.  JJ and I had intended to go out to check out Morzine night life but we ended up staying at the chalet because we were having fun.  It turned into a dance party and we were up dancing with everyone until 4am!  What a fun way to close out the weekend, by made for a tired travel day the following day!

JJ and I ended up snowboarding 2 full days and had a great time.  I realized that I will probably never be actually good at snowboarding, and I'm absolutely terrified every time I go down the mountain.  But I love the atmosphere so I guess I will keep trying!  JJ is becoming quite the skilled snowboarder and he enjoyed hitting some little jumps :)  It was a more difficult ski resort as the alps are much steeper than what we are used to in the US but we stuck to the easier hills and had a lovely time.  Tyler stayed with a nanny that we had come to the chalet.  She was Scottish and he ended up doing really well with her both days. We took him sledding in back of the chalet, but the snow was so deep that he just kind of ended up getting stuck.  He seemed to like it though and his impressive locations of "firsts" is adding up quickly.  First he eats his first spaghetti dinner in Italy and now his first experience sledding is in the Alps!  It's pretty good to be Tyler Kern!

This week it is back to reality and non-stop laundry to catch up from being gone.  We continue to get packages in the mail for Tyler's birthday and that has been really fun.  JJ even has TWO boxes of Cheez-its here sent to us by both Kris & MB and the Chicago friends.  Yesterday I went to Surrey to speak with the Managing Director of a sister company to Rust-Oleum.  We had a really nice chat and it sounds like I may be able to pick up some project work for them.  I have to figure out what in the heck I'm going to propose my "consulting fee" will be, I just want to at least make a bit more than what we pay our babysitter :)  And our babysitter Alison continues to work out perfectly.  Tyler spent the full day with her yesterday and had an amazing time.  I was home for about an hour of it and stayed downstairs but I could hear him running through the house playing peekaboo with her and squealing in delight. 

I can't help but feel really blessed with how things are going so far.  It just seems all connected and meant to be right now.  I'm blessed to have the opportunity to work part time potentially fall in my lap, I'm blessed to have such an amazing person available to watch Tyler here (and also watch him before we left when we found Lili), I'm blessed to have the opportunity to travel around Europe.  And now to top that all off we are lining up visitors to come soon!  My mom and aunt have confirmed their trip in April and I can't wait.  It also sounds like JJ"s dad may be planning a trip here as well.  So much to look forward too!  Here are tons of pics from the trip!

I'm so tired of traveling, guys! Are we there yet?

Inside of the living room in the chalet

Birthday mulled wine by the fire!

It was like an avalanche when snow fell from the trees!

Enjoying the first day snowboarding :)

We were in the clouds and it snowed hard the first day

Me snowboarding.  Unfortunately I am so slow that I never made it down the mountain before JJ to take a pic of him :)

Choco Rhum to warm us up!

I felt like I was in a gingerbread house scene!

We had a beautiful second day, not a cloud in the sky!

The flags by the directions denote the country you will be skiing in!

Nice way to relax on the mountain!

Relaxation!

Kernovich takes on the Alps!

Dance party at the chalet the last night!

Our last day we decided to walk into town.  It was a beautiful walk but not exactly made for strollers!

This is how JJ had to pull the stroller for about 45 minutes...

Beautiful river walk

The chalet we stayed in

Sledding!

The whole family enjoying the snow!

Weeeeeee!

Daddy and T sledding

They look superimposed here but they were really there!

Super T!

My boys :)

Tyler enjoying the last day at at the chalet

Watco House - where the office is that I may work at.  It is an old school from the 1800s.  They walked me out so I had to take a picture from afar