Overtaken by Tim!!

The time has finally arrived. I have been expecting it for a few years, but it does not mean I have to like it.

Tim can officially ski faster than me:( 

I had to ask him to slow down his pace and keep checking I was not too far behind.

The good news is, he also has great technique!

This season his style has suddenly jumped. This may also be the reason why his leaves me in his snow powder dust. There are no action shots as I can't ski that fast and take pictures at the same time!

He effortlessly parallel skis down down the slopes. He seriously looks really good - I was so proud to ski behind and watch him!!

All the skill training he did last year on an easy slope obviously paid off.

So, I may be pushing a snowboard now to see if that will slow him down a bit;)

I LOVE this ski resort. We are lucky to have 3 different places to ski under 2 hours from our house, but this is my favorite although it is the furthest away. It is a small resort with a great nursery slope area, just enough red, blue and black runs and regular fresh snow on quiet slopes:)

Tae Conquers the Nursery Slope

Tae first experienced downhill skiing last year. He was not a fan skied holding Tig or my hand reluctantly. At the start of the second day he did not want to get out the car :(

Hence our expectation for this year was not too high. We discussed with him that we were going to go skiing again and how exciting it would be!

He started to talk about how he wanted to go skiing and kept saying 'Go ski now mummy, Tae go ski and I'm going to ski on a big mountain!" On Monday we got all the equipment out and tried on his new helmet. He refused to take it off all evening - we held out a little hope!!

So Tuesday morning we got up early, loaded up the car and headed off for a day on the slopes.

He was still excited and could not wait to put all his gear on when we arrived. Tig and I were still very skeptic, but hopeful.

So off we went to the nursery slope!!

He LOVED it!!!!

Tig and Tim went off skiing on the big slopes, and I stayed with Tae and went up the carpet rolling lift. We skied all the way down with him holding my hand as we did last year. He was so much more confident.

He did amazing and by the time Tig and Tim returned one hour later we had progressed to holding on with one finger all the way down, one finger for half the slope, then all the way down with on his OWN!!

Obviously Tim wanted to have a go with his brother and took him up and down a few times!!

We skied some more before taking a lunch break - traditional Norwegian ski slope food hot dogs!

After lunch I went off skiing with Tim and Tig stayed with Tae. Apparently Tae would not ski with Tig and just wanted to people watch - and eat some snow ;)

When I came back I was hoping for a little relaxing time in the sun! I had my lounger all ready;)

Obviously my little skier had other ideas and had me back out on the slopes. So up and down we went - nonstop.

We worked on turning. He managed to do this each time at the bottom of each slope as he turned to join the queue for the lift.

By the end of the day he was completely getting on and off the carpet lift alone and when I would try to help he would say 'no mummy let go'!! He also thought it was funny to turn into the pile of snow on the side and crash into it and fall over on purpose. Funny for him – hard work for mummy to help him up again.

After nearly 5 hours on the slopes it was time to call it a day, Tig and Tim went off to load their things in the car and I had to take a couple more runs with a certain ski king, who did not want to leave the slopes!

This smiley face sums it up!

After the final ‘just one more time mummy’ we called it a day, but are very excited for our next trip J

Sunday Hike

To kick start Winter break and get us out in the fresh air, we hit the mountain behind our house.

It takes less then 10 minutes walking from our front door to reach the woodland path.

After checking out the local pig and the chickens, we had a quick rest looking at the King's castle and the fjord.

Then it was on wards and upwards - along a very icy hill!

When we found a little bridge we had to stop a while to play. Tim was very cute, he went over first, jumped down and became the troll in  'Three Billy Goats Gruff' as Tae walked over the bridge. 

We continued up the mountain until we found a huge pile of rocks to climb next to a bench and decided it was a sign for a rest stop!

Tig opened up the bag and got out the biscuits for a snack and a drink - this proved very popular with the youngest member of our family:)

Tae kept smiling and saying "I love having a picnic!" I guess we need to do this more with a little more effort than biscuits;)

The boys skated around on some frozen water for a while before we headed off up the final part of the hill.

Tig and I followed the path and Tim decided to go straight up the mountain side. Obviously, Tae follows where his brother leads!

It was amusing watching them try to climb the steep, snowy, icy slope together:)

They made it in the end, and were very proud of themselves:))

Other Tae classic comments whilst on the walk included "Mummy, this is such a big, beautiful mountain!", " Come on, we are climbing the mountain" and "We are at the top mummy, we are at the top of the mountain!" (not that he watches too much Dora;)

Trust me while we were walking up I was quite aware that it was big mountain!

So once at the top, we started our way down. A better description would be slide and balance walk down.

Seriously slippy, but a fun 2 hours out in the fresh air.

Jumping Time

Bed time preparation in our house have been known to be crazy and involve noise. Usually Tae trying to keep himself awake and Tim enjoying the last 5 minutes before his brother goes to bed. I have a great deal of respect for those who have 30 minutes quiet time  - I remember we had it once too;) A few nights ago we experienced the joy of a new game called 'let's take turns jumping over each other'!

You would think this hyper behavior would mean trouble getting Mr Tae to bed and sleep!

Luckily for me, my boy LOVES his bed and goes down every night no problem. I appreciate I am very lucky Mummy that he is such a dream, however, this does not stop me yelling:

"Stop winding your brother up before bedtime"
"Tae, use your inside voice!"

"Can we have some peace and calm now!"

"Your brother is going to bed in 2 minutes -  now both of you settle down"

Seriously if it is not jumping, it's tickling, chase, ball play or catch!
 

Give me strength - though I wouldn't change a second of it as they simply love being together (winding each other up and all).