And snowboarding!  Jake and Eli are ready to take some lessons.  We debated for a while, skiing or snowboarding?

In Europe people still seem pretty loyal to skiing, but at the American school there is a lot of snowboarding so we decided to give it a try.  And since they have to learn somewhere, it might as well be Italy.  Although it’s a little cold up here on this mountain!

But that’s what makes it so pretty!!!

The letters we’re standing in front of are part of “PLOSE,” the name of the ski resort about 20 minutes away from where we’re staying in Brixen.  The Italians pronounce it in two syllables, like “PLOH-say.”  It turned out to be a perfect place for the boys to learn how to snowboard.  The snowy part up at the top is Plose, as seen from where we are in the town below.

We are imagining what it will be like a month from now, when Winter hits the Alps and this entire scene will be covered in white.  Like this, only better.

Eli and Jake had a teacher named Peter who patiently helped them learn how to stand, slip side, and even start surfing back and forth across the bunny slope.  We’d heard that sometimes European ski schools aren’t great for kids, due to language barriers and other “cultural differences” about how to teach children, but this was not the case.  Either we got lucky with Peter, or the boys have grown desensitized to those things over the years, but the Sci Scuola Italiana at Plose was a wonderful experience.  The snow wasn’t great so early in the season, but Mike and I are amazed that they learned to snowboard!  The resort was really cool too, with everyone drinking Prosecco and Aperol Spritz up on the mountaintop.

And smoking.  Nothing like exercise to stoke your habit!

There is even a Kinderpub for the kiddos.

After a few hours of snowboard practice, Jake and Eli were excited to just be little boys throwing snowballs and rolling around in the snow.   They became experts at the sled by the end of the afternoon.  It’s kind of funny to see these long kids riding down on the sled with their legs sticking out, but it’s not their fault they’re long.  They are still little boys!

Daddy helped when they wanted more practice.  I tried to help but kept falling down.  It was hard to keep them from crashing into me!

The reason I love skiing most though, is for the way you feel after it’s over.

Warm, tired, and ready for the spa and some hot chocolate.