I thought I would never get to blogging about this last bit of our trip... Life hasn't been super busy or anything, it just has been turning to a different direction, so to speak.
All right....Back to Slovenia...the snowy (sort of) land.
So we had three days total to ski. I signed the kids up with the ski school for each morning, from 10 till 12. I figured we could use a couple of hours each day to ski on our own, with Robert.
But then the first day came and it was kind of drizzly and rainy....and miserable looking, but the kids all protested and said they wanted to ski anyway and they didn't care it was going to be wet, as long as there was snow. I decided to skip skiing this day, but Robert rented his gear anyway and was ready to hit the slopes.
We were very-very fortunate with the kids' ski school. Because they were not very busy, Mark got to have a beginner 2 hour lesson all to himself. Monica was his private teacher, who later said that Mark was one of the most amazing listeners and a very focused boy. Because it was just him and her, she didn't need to take him to the real beginner slope but was able to basically teach him from scratch in a very accelerated way.
This is how Monica helped Mark get up the hill.
Mark coming down the mountain again, again and again. Not afraid to fall.
Alex was put into L1 class to refresh his memory, but he remembered quickly what skiing was all about. Katya went to L2 and by the end of the day was skiing on hard slopes again.
On Day 2...it was not as rainy or wet, but still drizzly and uncomfortable. The kids didn't care and couldn't wait to ski again!
This time, for some reason, there were a lot more children in their skiing groups. Mark was in L1 now, Alex in L2 and Katya in L3.
They mastered the pully system and patiently waited in short lines again and again.
They never got tired and had maybe just 40 min break to eat at lunch time. Otherwise, they were on the slopes from 9 am till the resort closed at 4 pm.
Robert was rarely seen by me when the kids were in ski school as he was able to ski on some more advanced slopes. He tried to stay with Mark in the afternoons, but a lot of the time, Mark just skied on his own on the beginner slopes with me watching him go up and down, while he took Katya and Alex on medium slopes.
Look at the thaw behind Robert. Pretty sad. And this was the middle of February. Who knew?
Both days we were so happy to come home to be warm and cozy in our lovely apartment right in the middle of town of Kranjska Gora. It was just perfect--large (except the kitchen), with hot shower and many radiators to dry off our clothes. And boy, did we need to dry those clothes off. Every day I had to pack extras of gloves and make sure the kids changed them half way through the day as they were simply drenched in water. It was not from falling down, it was from the rain.
For dinner, we went to some yummy places nearby. Slovenian food is a mixture of Italian/German and Eastern European dishes. Lots of pizzas everywhere and hearty meals. At one place called "My world" (I just guessed that's what it meant as it sounded similar to the same phrase in Russian) we ordered a dish to share that turned out to be so huge and heavy on meat that we had to take loads home. I hate when we over order not knowing exactly what we'd be getting, but at least we have yummy food for the next day.
In the evening of Day 2, Robert was crazy enough to take ALL three children night skiing 7 pm till 10 pm. The kids are insane. I don't know where they get their bravery from, but I was so intimidated by that hill that they were going on and the kids didn't care at all. They thought it was the most amazing experience ever!
Well, on the night before Day 3, a miracle happened. It snowed almost 2 feet of snow!!! We were ecstatic! Finally! This is what it was supposed to look like all along! Disregard the funny car on top of the hill.
Alex and Mark now both were in L2. Katya was in L3. They all did great!
This is Katya and Alex convincing me to go up that hill that is supposed to be beginner but is quite steep at the very beginning. By now they had done it at least twenty times.
And finally they convinced me to go. It was like 10 minutes before the resort closed.
Our last selfie of the day. Robert was somewhere hanging with Mark on medium slopes (because Mark is crazy like that).
Here is a taster video for you about "how Lyana feels about skiing". Despite the fact that I was completely fearless back in 1999 when I learned to ski at Sundance....I am now officially a wimp.
I am so happy that it finally snowed for at least one day while we were on our SKIING trip. It still amazes me how the kids had such wonderful attitude even through all the wetness and discomfort of the first two days. They loved skiing and wanted to keep going for more days. I also admire their independence. I think we, as parents, are more willing to let go of them and let them try do things on their own more often on this side of the pond for some reason.
I am glad we were able to squeeze this cold-weather family trip and that we went to a new cool country--Slovenia.
Lyana.
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