April Snow: Part One

We hesitated until the very last minute about heading up to the mountains during the boys' spring break. Spring break fell so late this year, we didn't know if there would be any snow. But it ended up snowing the whole week before vacation, so we bit the bullet.
It rained for most of the second half of our drive up:

But turned to snow once we started heading up the mountain:

I decided to be brave and try skiing again for the first time in 14 years. Unfortunately, this attempt was no more successful or pleasant than the last one, so one morning (let's be honest, I wore the ski boots for maybe an hour, total, and came down the very gentle slope two or three times) was plenty for me.

The first day of skiing was full of tumbles and whining (not solely on my part), but the boys stuck it out and got the hang of it again.

Since we didn't stay an entire week, we weren't able to enroll the boys in ski lessons this year. But the second day, Frédéric and Benjamin took the chair lift and spent the afternoon skiing on the "big tall mountain," and Benjamin made a lot of progress. (Too bad we can't say the same for me.)

The resort didn't expect so much snow, and were very French in their reactivity (or lack thereof) to the blizzard. They closed both the rope and the children's ski area after our first day there - the only two slopes that were accessible to Noah (or me, for that matter) at his current level.

So when Noah couldn't ski anymore, he went sledding:

Built snowmen (if you look closely at that little lump, you might be able to make out eyes and a smile):

Threw snowballs (this is the post-throw stance):

And played Little Red Riding Hood:

I got to spackle and repaint a bathroom wall during vacation... that's the downside of having your own condo!

Noah tried his hand at cheating for the first time during our vacation. (Ah, what a wonderful milestone, right?) We bought an Uno game last year at a flea market in order to leave it in the condo for our guests to use while they are here. It's a great game for both boys, as Noah knows his colors and numbers now - and showed an amazing propensity for understanding the draw 2, skip, reverse and draw 4 cards right off the bat. 

During one hand, Noah realized he was about to lose, so, oblivious to the rest of us looking on, he carefully stacked two red cards together and slyly tried to put them down on his turn.

No, we didn't let him get away with it. But it was pretty funny and reminiscent of card games friends and I used to play in high school.