Alp D'Huez.....rather Scottish weather today.
Day 3.
Callum was first up this morning at his usual time of 7.30, which is just a wee bit early for the rest of us. If the ski lessons were in the morning it would be fine, but they are not so he was sent back to bed till 8am....10 minutes later he was back. So it was time too get up then. Lol.
After breakfast it was school time again and then into the pool at 10am for well over an hour, its amazing how much progress can be made with something like swimming when time can be spent at it day after day. They are both now almost able to swim to a degree. Swimming is tiring work for them however and they were both in need of a power nap afterwards so I went out and got some supplies while Joyce prepared lunch. A right pair of sleepy heads woke up at the back of 12 but they were refreshed and refuelled at lunch time.
There had been no rush to head to the slopes early again today as yesterdays snowy weather had continued throughout the night, but now the freezings level had also drastically risen so it was rain that was falling rather than snow. But by the time we headed out it was light and not unpleasant, it was very mild so both boys were kitted out with less layers than yesterday. I took Callum up for a couple of short runs before starting time just to impress upon him again about getting the ski's together after his turns.They both got started in their lessons and I headed up a few chairs behind Callum to see where he was getting to. I didn't want him or his instructor to know I was there, but I was just curious to see how he was getting on in his group, what runs he was able to ski and how far he was travelling. So I trailed them for a good few runs from a distance and occasionally overtook them and found a wee spot to get a video, he was completely oblivious to the fact I was there.
Nathalie, Callum's instructor was trying to get her group to modify their snow plough turns. Instead of just allowing the snowplough to continue right through the turn she was trying to get them to pull the uphill ski inline with the lower one part way through the turn, the first stage of changing from a snowplough to parallel turn. I could see Callum was toiling a little with this. I would say the other's in his group are just slightly more advanced than he is but not by much. He still has another 3 days to practice so it will be interesting to see how he gets on with it. He was however clearly enjoying himself, Nathalie knew the lines to take that would allow them a bit of fun also, she had them skiing off the side of the piste where there are little bumps and jumps, they were going through little tunnels also. After a bit I left them to their own devices and had a bit of fun myself, the slopes were quite quiet today and the snow although a little damp was very nice to ski on.
Eventually I went down and caught up with Joyce who was keeping a watching brief on Logan, he is keeping up well with everyone in his group. The Poma is now easy for him and he is getting quite adept at following his group down snaking from one side of the slope to the other doing his snowplough turns. He also understands well what he needs to do where things get a little tight, for example at the entry point of the Poma where they are all jostling for position and trying to get into a single file without knocking each other over domino style. We headed off for an afternoon beer, inside today due to inclement weather, had a wander round a couple of shops and then back out. I had a last couple of runs just in time for lesson ending time.
Both boys were exhausted but again happy with what they had been doing. Their respective instructors are also happy with how they are getting on although Callum was very tired as I think his group are starting to pick up the pace a bit which he is finding tough. We jumped on the Alpe Express and back to the hotel via the ski hire shop, a couple of things needed sorting out so that was addressed today..................🤔.
We were all feeling tired and I crashed out on the comfy chair while the boys watched a bit of a film, then after a bit of procrastination we got cleaned up and dressed and headed out for dinner. It was time for a bit change scenery for the evening, the apartment is nice but we needed to get out for the evening. After a bit of restaurant window shopping we plumped for Le Sporting a fairly large pub that also has a big restaurant attached, it had some music playing and the food looked good. We ordered our meal and made an interesting discovery......the boys and my Thai noodle's came with chopsticks......and both boys picked up the chopsticks and started picking up their food with them......I have no idea where they learned that skill, maybe they had just watched someone else doing the same but they managed really well. By 10pm we were home and the boys bedded, they need to seriously recharge the batteries for the second half of the week...3 days down, 3 to go but we're not counting just yet.
Tomorrows forecast is much improved though it is set to be very warm which will probably mean slushy snow by the afternoon, I think I will be up early to take advantage of the morning conditions.
Callum was first up this morning at his usual time of 7.30, which is just a wee bit early for the rest of us. If the ski lessons were in the morning it would be fine, but they are not so he was sent back to bed till 8am....10 minutes later he was back. So it was time too get up then. Lol.
After breakfast it was school time again and then into the pool at 10am for well over an hour, its amazing how much progress can be made with something like swimming when time can be spent at it day after day. They are both now almost able to swim to a degree. Swimming is tiring work for them however and they were both in need of a power nap afterwards so I went out and got some supplies while Joyce prepared lunch. A right pair of sleepy heads woke up at the back of 12 but they were refreshed and refuelled at lunch time.
There had been no rush to head to the slopes early again today as yesterdays snowy weather had continued throughout the night, but now the freezings level had also drastically risen so it was rain that was falling rather than snow. But by the time we headed out it was light and not unpleasant, it was very mild so both boys were kitted out with less layers than yesterday. I took Callum up for a couple of short runs before starting time just to impress upon him again about getting the ski's together after his turns.They both got started in their lessons and I headed up a few chairs behind Callum to see where he was getting to. I didn't want him or his instructor to know I was there, but I was just curious to see how he was getting on in his group, what runs he was able to ski and how far he was travelling. So I trailed them for a good few runs from a distance and occasionally overtook them and found a wee spot to get a video, he was completely oblivious to the fact I was there.
Nathalie, Callum's instructor was trying to get her group to modify their snow plough turns. Instead of just allowing the snowplough to continue right through the turn she was trying to get them to pull the uphill ski inline with the lower one part way through the turn, the first stage of changing from a snowplough to parallel turn. I could see Callum was toiling a little with this. I would say the other's in his group are just slightly more advanced than he is but not by much. He still has another 3 days to practice so it will be interesting to see how he gets on with it. He was however clearly enjoying himself, Nathalie knew the lines to take that would allow them a bit of fun also, she had them skiing off the side of the piste where there are little bumps and jumps, they were going through little tunnels also. After a bit I left them to their own devices and had a bit of fun myself, the slopes were quite quiet today and the snow although a little damp was very nice to ski on.
Eventually I went down and caught up with Joyce who was keeping a watching brief on Logan, he is keeping up well with everyone in his group. The Poma is now easy for him and he is getting quite adept at following his group down snaking from one side of the slope to the other doing his snowplough turns. He also understands well what he needs to do where things get a little tight, for example at the entry point of the Poma where they are all jostling for position and trying to get into a single file without knocking each other over domino style. We headed off for an afternoon beer, inside today due to inclement weather, had a wander round a couple of shops and then back out. I had a last couple of runs just in time for lesson ending time.
Both boys were exhausted but again happy with what they had been doing. Their respective instructors are also happy with how they are getting on although Callum was very tired as I think his group are starting to pick up the pace a bit which he is finding tough. We jumped on the Alpe Express and back to the hotel via the ski hire shop, a couple of things needed sorting out so that was addressed today..................🤔.
We were all feeling tired and I crashed out on the comfy chair while the boys watched a bit of a film, then after a bit of procrastination we got cleaned up and dressed and headed out for dinner. It was time for a bit change scenery for the evening, the apartment is nice but we needed to get out for the evening. After a bit of restaurant window shopping we plumped for Le Sporting a fairly large pub that also has a big restaurant attached, it had some music playing and the food looked good. We ordered our meal and made an interesting discovery......the boys and my Thai noodle's came with chopsticks......and both boys picked up the chopsticks and started picking up their food with them......I have no idea where they learned that skill, maybe they had just watched someone else doing the same but they managed really well. By 10pm we were home and the boys bedded, they need to seriously recharge the batteries for the second half of the week...3 days down, 3 to go but we're not counting just yet.Tomorrows forecast is much improved though it is set to be very warm which will probably mean slushy snow by the afternoon, I think I will be up early to take advantage of the morning conditions.
Braw ⛷😊 swimming lessons ski lessons French lessons chopsticks best school ever 😊 those boys are just too cool for school 😂👍🏼
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