Amazing Austria

January 2nd we loaded up the Jeep for a week of skiing in Austria, the Tirol region, with another family. The 5 hour drive turned into 9 hours due to heavy traffic. Needless to say, I was ecstatic to arrive at our chalet after riding in the back seat with squirmy boys. Snow and our wonderfully helpful and friendly Australian guide greeted us upon arrival. We stayed in the cozy top floor of this chalet. Pure cuteness

Chillaxin' after a day of skiing.

We made good use of the fireplace.

Incredible views out our window and the kid's ski camp was right next door.

View off our balcony.

This surreal landscape was the first thing I saw when I woke up the first morning. Ahhh!

These were some serious mountains....not like the "hills" I use to ski in highschool in NC. Big time. I decided to "go big or go home" and started at the very top with the other adults, day 1.

I had a few minor heart attacks but decided it was sink or swim time. Jeanne (the mom) was an expert skiier but was kind enough to wait up on me!Brian and Kristin, the other parents on the trip, went the snowboarding route.

Lunch at this mountain chalet was fantastic. Hearty goulash and hot spiced wine!

Before going down the "mountain of death" as we named it, we took in the views. And I procrastinated as much as possible because I was pretty....ok, VERY scared. One wrong move and I'd be off a cliff.

Ah, the beauty of it all!

Ski lift= frozen face= perma smile

One night both families went to a yodeling/ German dance show. The bread maker's dance was really entertaining. They spun around like wire wisks. And there was one dance/ fight over a girl and a girl in the crowd ended up getting smooched.

After the performance, the dancers corralled the men in the crowd to learn how to do the slap hand, thigh, foot, kick butts dance. Hilarious!
Moe (my Italy dad) is in the blue and the other dad, Brian is in the red and accessorized with an authentic belt. Such good sports!

Another night we went toboganning. But this was no ordinary sledding....it was intense: 2 K (over 1 mile) of an icy, winding, dark path. Sooo much fun but somehow I managed to get more bruises from sledding than skiiing!

The fearless extreme sledding crew. I managed to lap Kristin and her daughter...kind of forgot how to use the breaks..haha!

Before run number two, at the top of the run, we decided to warm up with some hot wine and hot chocolate at this cute little place complete with basket light fixtures, games, and fur for our tushies.

Liquid courage in the form of hot spiced wine.

Max ("my" 6 year old) and Kyleigh striking a pose after ski camp.

Gabe ("my" 8 year old) and Christopher took snowboarding school and had some mad skills by the end of the week.

The slope in Kirchdorf, right beside our chalet.

The boys playing keep away with Charlie the lab mix....she loooved the snow!

The last night of the boy's ski camp the instructors did a show for all the participants. Synchronized skiing, skiing on stilts, slolam, snow aerobics....good times!

I skied the last day by myself....in the extreme fog. At least I think I was by myself but really couldn't see anything around me when in the fog. The thrill factor was definitely present.

The kids had a race the last day and recieved medals! Gabe racing...

Max racing...

It was hard to leave the winter wonderland but I had a blast while it lasted!

Buon Natale Milano

It's time to catch you up on some of what December and Christmas celebrations looked like for me in Milan.
The week before Christmas Milan got a nice dusting of snow. This is the view off my balcony... I loved the contrast of the persimmons and their white cap of snow.

I just had to get a live tree for my room. This year it was a lil Snoopy tree due to the fact that I had to haul it home by foot. That little guys was heavy! The trees here come potted. Complete with a Pinocchio nutcracker and a star made by the boys.

My American friend, Amber, who lives up the street invited a few girls offer to trim her tree and indulge in some yummy appetizers.

This "Americanites" Christmas party had homemade egg nog, a caroling sing-along, and an elf..haha....or that's what I called this guy all night. The woman to my right is my Italy mom and her coworkers from the U.S. Consulate. Every Wednesday night this club "Americanites" serves American style burgers and plays English movies. It's a nice taste of home and I've met several very cool English speaking people.

Maggie, an intern at the US Consulate, and I. She was in Milan 3 months and this was her last night:(

Yep, that's us singing away...all the Christmas favorites.

This was a free concert by the Duomo, Burt Bacharach. I was surprised at how many songs I actually knew and could sing along to. I think my favorite by him is "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head". He also wrote most of the sappy song I love in "My Best Friend's Wedding".

My California friend, Katy, fellow Au Pair went with me....and our toes almost froze off but it was worth it....great show!

My British friend, Harriet, and I went to check out "Snow Park" by the castle. Sooo cold but the Vin Brule (hot, spiced wine) got us feeling our digits again.

This fashion statement or faux pas....the chicken hat, cow hat, US sunglasses, onesy snow suit, neon, and the blow up cow he was dragging around....was not runway approved but I guess it achieved some advertising attention for Milka chocolate:)

The boys were out of school for about 3 weeks over the holidays. This day we played in the snow and I took them to the castle and "Snow Park" to tube down a man made hill. We got another few inches of snow...plenty for snowballs, snow angels and snowmen!

For the record, I won the snowball fight;)

We were fresh out of carrots...

One day I took the guys iceskating. A couple of the U.S. Marines that guard the U.S. Consulate came along. Good times.....we raced, threw snowballs, etc.

I took around 200 photos of the kids one week and got some photos printed and framed as a Christmas gift for their parents. They are such characters...and I captured alot of their goofiness.

Christmas morning we opened gifts...the guys' excitment was fun to witness.

Note my Christmas tree PJ pants that my mom gave Michelle and I and wore herself...we were together in spirit:) The rest of the day we just hung out around the house and I took a long nap and helped with a turkey dinner.

Merry Christmas Everyone!