Serre Chevalier 2010

Our wintersport trip was a little bit different to usual for a few reasons. We went to Serre Chevalier (never been that far south before), joined Dave and Tamsin in a catered chalet type place (great to eat delicious food made by a gourmet chef for a change), drove there in our little Peugot 106 (1400km each way plus ferry between Dover and Calais) and all that with two little boys in tow (hard work but very rewarding as they were both delighted by the snow and all the activities that come along with it). It definitely won't be the last time we go on a wintersport trip! Hopefully next time more of our friends, especially those with kids, will join us!

One thing I learnt from my parents is that the journey is part of the holiday and I always strive to make every journey interesting and exciting for my kids. It must be working because they are both such good boys and travel very well even if they are stuffed in the back of a small car packed to the rafters including two snowboards. Nicholas loved exploring and comparing the ferry to the one in Richard Scarry's 'What do people do all day' book.

It dumped the few days before we arrived and on our first day the snow kept falling. We were lucky to have loads of fresh powder even though it was already April and the resort is quite low at 1400m. The rest of the week was mostly sunny and warm. What more could we ask for!

Serre Chevalier is not a purpose built resort typical in France but consists of lots of old villages dotted around the valley. Here is our rustic little village, Les Bez, in the background. The resort is also characterised by lots of trees and scenic pistes which make the somewhat dated lifts seem insignificant.

It wasn't all boarding and apres ski for us now that we have two little boys to think of. We had loads of fun doing other things that you do in the snow. It doesn't matter how tired the kids were - they were always rejuvinated by the sight of the snow and didn't want to go inside even when it started getting dark and cold.

Snowman

SnowballsSnow angelsSledding
More sledding

Gondola playground

Danny was an absolute star and always had a smile on his face. He thought the feeling of the cold snow with his bare fingers was the best thing ever and loved being dragged around by his big brother in a sled. He even got a go down the slope strapped to dad's chest (no photos as battery died at the wrong time). He is a bit of a thrill seeker/risk taker so I have no doubt that he will enjoy the snow more and more as he gets older!

Nicholas enjoyed ESF's Club Piou Piou Ski School where he learnt the basics with other little ones younger than 4 years. They were so cute following each other around like little lemmings. He did really well and had no fear - just pure delight. Next year he'll be ready to graduate to proper lifts and pistes. How exciting!

Here's Dad showing off his new Evil Twin board. As you can see the boys were very impressed.

One of the other nice things about going with kids is that you have a good excuse to do a lot of chilling and I must say I quite enjoy it. The way we managed the logistics this time was finding a nice spot somewhere and then taking turns to board and to chill. It worked well but wasn't really ideal as we could never board together or too far. So next time we hope someone will join us who will be happy to share the babysitiing!

A couple of awesome portraits

Some great group shots