Winter Holidays As A Family of Five!

It was that time again... winter holidays! This time we were a family of five! Tony rode his bike to Sanson where he joined the carload and Lilith had to take her place in the back with the other kids. We stayed at the Gregan's place at the Rocky Mountain Chalets again - which was super convenient and fairly comfortable even with the bed in the lounge for Lilith. The kids joined in the Holiday Programme again - Hunter had private sessions for the two hours before lunch, while Helena had a group ski lesson all day. These lessons are really paying off and the two of them have plenty of confidence and skills to do most of the runs that Tony does! We are almost 'that' mountain sport family!

 Hunter got a bit of new gear this season - a new board, new pants and new gloves!!! Wow! Next year it will need to be a new jacket!

 Lilith was a really good sport. Her typical skiing experience in Bavaria is quite a bit different, but she graciously braved the weather, crowds, ice and slush to embrace the kiwi family experience!!!

 With the kids in lessons, we had a bit of time together... when I was on the mountain, that is.

There were a few breaks here and there between the slopes...

The Flett's were also at the mountain the week we were so we had dinner and games a couple of times and met up on the snow when they came up.

The Cameron's also came up for a couple of nights so we had some fun with them as well! The kids loved being on the snow together... actually, we all had fun on the snow together...

Here's a few of us on the Giant - Lilith, Noah Flett, John Cameron, Tony & me - unfortunately Nathan Flett couldn't get in Tony's arm reach, but he was there on my left.

Tony and Helena went for a little father-daughter bonding one morning...

We happened to be there on Ohakune's special community day - the opening of a new park by the big carrot!

We decided to go for a bit of a walk in the bush - but of course the kids decided to get their feet wet.

Lilith and I had an inside day - she chilled out while I worked on an essay... there's no stopping this student.

We had a really good time getting to know Lilith - this was the best introduction to a family homestay student because we had so much time to chat without regular routines and books.

And no holiday would be complete without a few bike rides through the open country...

And it looks like we'll be doing this again... and again... and again!