It was our fourth year travelling to Puy St Vincent with Snowbizz and there is a reason we and so many others go back year after year. A lot of people wouldn't even consider a family ski holiday, but once you have tried it, you may well find yourself hooked. We battle through the early morning airport meltdowns and the hyperactive toddlers on the flight because when we arrive in the snow covered resort, everything is so easy, so relaxed and just so much fun.
The fresh mountain air is cold and takes a while to adjust to, the snow is unfamiliar to little hands but soft enough to sink into and the views . . . I don't think I could ever not be in awe of the snowy mountains that dominate the horizon in every direction. The first day is always put aside for adapting, for preparing, for collecting our hired boots and skis, for take away pizza and early nights.
The next day however is a different story. Dylan and Archie were skiing for the third year and Archie has in the yellow group at ski school with Jean-Paul whilst Dylan was in the orange class with Benjamin. They were up and dressed in their thermals and salopettes and raring to go. Dropping them at ski school was as easy as walking down one flight of stairs as we are directly above it (I didn't even put my shoes on some days), and they can sledge and play outside or chill out with games in the lounge before their lesson starts. It is a little further to drop off Finn and Cora but I can probably do the walk with both of them on foot in two minutes still. We leave our apartment block, cross in front of a shop and we are at the welcoming Snowbizz creche where the pink ladies greet them every morning with smiles and cuddles. There are always toys laid out inviting them to play and a craft or painting set up on the tables.
And then we can ski, or read a book, or go for a walk, or eat a fresh croissant bought from the bakery next to the creche. The morning is ours and we love the freedom, the rest, the adult time.
Our week is always a mixture of family time, adult time, skiing and some one on one time with the little ones. We follow their lead and take it day by day and it works so well for us. We love sledging and the creche has plenty of sledges that you can borrow to take to the little sledging hill next to the playground. The restaurants all have tables outside so we can play in the snow as we wait for our lunch, and hot chocolate will never taste quite as good as it does from the Creperie after an afternoon sledging.
We had snow, so much snow and we had sunshine. It snowed for about 24 hours straight with around 60cm laying just over night. The next morning the sun shone, the freshly pisted slopes could not have been more inviting and we couldn't resist stomping in the fresh powder snow, watching it rise up our legs, rolling around in it and throwing it up in the air. We could not have asked for better weather and I will always remember Finn's face as the snow fell, the excitement and awe, the desperation to be out in it and the sheer joy as he ran through it with his tongue out to catch the falling flakes.
Dylan gained even more confidence skiing and on the last day we could barely keep up with him as he skiied down the blue slopes without fear. For a child that has never been very physically confident, it is amazing to see how much he loves this sport, how well he is improving and the experiences it gives him. Archie was the smallest in his class and needed extra help at the beginning of the week but we took him up on the lifts at the end of the week and were amazed at how well he could ski down, never falling over or struggling and smiling and laughing the whole way.
Ed and I tackled harder red slopes, improved our skills and took in the views from the very top of the mountain where we really did feel on top of the world. We made friends as did the children and it felt like we had our own little community by the end of the week. Being a smaller resort, the children really make great friendships as do the adults and we all found ourselves seated together on the plane on the way home too.
The boys loved the kids clubs in the evenings and award night at the end saw Finn awarded the 'Shining Star' for 'brightening up our day' whilst Cora got the 'Haribo' award for 'being a sweetie'.
There are so many reasons that we love going on a family ski holiday and I have written in the past about
You can also check out our
We received a discount on our stay but all thoughts and opinions are completely my own
and we are already looking into booking for next year!
|
Pin Me! |
Read more ⇨