A Piece of the World: 2011

We have begun the ski season and are having a GREAT time! It is amazing how fun it is to wake up, drive 40 minutes, ski all day and drive back home in time for dinner.

When we returned from the United States, it was unseasonably warm here. Beautiful and pleasant, but not desirable for skiers. And then with in a week the temperature dropped 45 degrees and snowed every day and although not all that nice out - we had good skiing again!

We are skiing with a group of families I have met through Josi's playgroup. The amazing woman who runs the group is named Lisa - and we think she may really be four people because she organizes school and family activities that boggle the mind. She has only been here a year and a half (from California) and after her first year decided that there needed to be a better way for families with children of like ages to get together and make friends, plan activities and enjoy the incredible area where we live. So through her group, we have met a number of friends and formed a group called "Zurich Families Who Ski." This is a group of people who work hard and play hard and our kids are having so much fun with them.

Surprisingly to me, more than half of the new families here have never skiied. Three of the women in the group contacted a local ski hill and set up ski lessons for 25 families. The kids are in small groups of about 4 and are set up by their abilities. There are a number of adults that are learning to ski as well. I grew up skiing and Rich has become a pretty good skiier. We took the kids to Vail the last two years so they had a bit of head start, but we can see how they will begin to improve quickly. We have skiied the last two weekends and ski again tomorrow. Jack has "earned" his ski poles so he is really excited and Will and Josi are improving rapidly.

The week of February 14th, we are heading to Fiss, Austria for a week long ski trip with a few families from the same group. It should be fun!