Grüß Gott!

Ready to vacation!

Winter break in Europe time has arrived!  This means for many a week in the Alps to enjoy the snow and spend some time on the slopes.  We of course missed out on this little holiday last year as we made the trek to CA with a baby in tow instead, so this year we were not to be denied.  Even with the many numerous options in France, we along with our friends who live in Zurich, Amy and Nik and their lovely little girl Isabelle who is all of 10 days younger than Joséphine, decided that Austria would be the place to go.  Part of that decision included their knowledge of a hotel in the village of Serfaus, Austria that caters to families and those with little ones. This seemed like just the right type of set up for us.

Team work back up the hill

So with only 1 week of vacation, (remember, in Europe, that's nothing!) we wasted no time and checked out of work a bit early starting on Friday afternoon. We took a flight to Zurich where we planned to spend the night with Amy and Nik before renting a big van and driving the 3+ hours from Zurich to Serfaus on Saturday morning.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

After an easy 1 hour flight and an uneventful Friday evening we loaded up our 9 passenger van Saturday morning and hit the road.  It really is a pretty easy drive. The only real delay was a stop at a mall in Austria for some lunch, time to let the kids run around a bit, and to load up some supplies at the "much cheaper than in Switzerland" grocery store.  Joséphine and Isabelle did pretty well in the car and only at the very very end when the road got windy getting up the last hill to the actual village did we have a touch of car sickness.  With a successful road trip behind us, we arrived in Serfaus at the Bar Hotel.

Taking a break from shredding

Josephine and Isabelle in their robes

A bit more about the hotel.  They probably have similar hotels in the US (and not just at Disneyland) but like many things that were right in front of me the whole time that I never noticed before having a child, this was a pretty new concept to me.  It is an all inclusive hotel and to stay at the hotel you have to have a kid with you.  The all inclusive means your meals are included, they have day care included, a swimming pool, games, the dining area has high chairs, bibs, baby food, and all the things you would need with a child.  The rooms themselves also all have a separate room with a door for the kids and they will set up a crib for you as well if needed. This is great as it allows the parents to put the kids down, close the door and still be able to watch TV.  When your child goes to bed at 7:30 pm, this is extra helpful.  We also had a baby monitor set up which was great as we could put Joséphine to bed and once asleep, head down to dinner to enjoy our meal in the company of adults while baby sleeps soundly.  It was a really great set up, exactly what we needed.  And they had these little kid size bath robes too which were awesome.

I mentioned we were with our friends Amy, Nik and their daughter Isabelle, but also along for the week were some additional Googlers from Zurich who also had kids bringing the total in the group to 8 adults and 6 kids.  Again being at the hotel meant everyone would just come and go to meals as they pleased, and we didn't have the challenge each night of trying to figure out where to go to eat.  Combined with the schedule flexibility you need with 6 kids, again, a perfect set up.

Nik, KeeKim, and Nate getting ready

The week in Serfaus was really pretty light on specific plans by design.  We wanted to go skiing of course, take Joséphine sledding, play in the snow a bit, go swimming in the indoor pool and try to find a few moments to just relax.  With the daycare option available this meant we could both go skiing together and leave Joséphine on her own to make some new friends.  This didn't exactly go as planned however.  The day care place and staff were great, they had all kinds of toys, would feed and give the kids a nap and we certainly felt comfortable leaving her there no problem. The issue was Joséphine didn't seem to be a big fan of the place.  After the first day, when we would take her down, almost upon entry she would start to cry.  Made it a bit difficult to leave her while she screams her head off and has those crocodile tears running down her face, but after dropping her off we would go change into our ski clothes and poke our head back in 10 minutes later to find that she had calmed down and was doing just fine. 

Built for Winter.

We ended up leaving her for only a few hours at a time which was still great as we got some time away on the mountain.  I even got some extra time to go skiing a few days when Cleaver would go pick up the Bean while I continued to ski.  I returned the favor one day when spa treatments were on the agenda for the ladies, more than a fair trade.

Pool time!

The sledding was a much bigger hit.  There was a big area in front of the hotel and you could rent a sled for the day at a cost of 5 EUR, so we were able to saddle up and take the Bean on on a few runs down the hill.  The reaction was a mix of interest, confusion, and definitely no objections to more trips.  The pool experience was similar and was good to get her in the water.  Haven't done that much yet.

The skiing was good too, mostly because last time I went to Austria it took all of about 3 hours into our 1 week trip before incurring a major injury requiring an orthopedic surgeon. This time we enjoyed 5 days of skiing in mostly sunny, early spring conditions and all body parts in tact at the end.  A much better outcome.

As always, the week went by much too quickly and it was time to pack up and head home.  Leaving on Saturday morning we decided best for us to make the whole trip back to Paris in one day and give ourselves a full day on Sunday at home before heading back to work.  Made for a long day and Joséphine didn't take a single nap the whole trip, not even in the car, but we made it home and enjoyed our last day of vacation before Monday morning arrived.