She's a Skier

Feeling Better

What a rough few weeks of one illness after another...double ear infection, stomach bug, the flu, and pink eye.  Oh - and the doctor thought she might have pneumonia in the middle of it all.  A couple x-rays of the chest ruled that out (thankfully).  We are officially on the mend and ready to have fun again.  Thanks to Scott and Denise for helping so much this last week!

Easy Rider - First trip to Bogus Basin

Escargot and Chamonix

Elsi tried a lot of new food while she was here, and as an observer I think breakfast crepes were her favorite but the most fun thing to watch her eat was the escargot.  She was pretty excited to try a snail when we asked her and she ate the whole thing with a confused and curious expression but when asked if she wanted another, she declined.  I think that is pretty good considering that when she tried the froe gras she spit it right back out onto her mother’s plate. 

Another thing she was excited about was to go to Chamonix.  She talked about it as if she knew how special of a place it was during the entire day prior and for most of the drive there.  We got there and did some shopping and enjoyed a terrific lunch at our favorite restaurant.  She then went skiing “real fast” with Uncle O and loved every minute of it (laughed and sang as they cruised down).  She liked sledding and making snow angels as well but I’m relatively sure her favorite thing was the loft in the chalet.  She called it her “office” and she was often doing work up there or "getting the mail".   When we got back home she asked if we could go back to Chamonix and I promised we would next time.  And we will!

Everyone was up by 5:00 a.m. this morning and made it to their flight on time.  I only cried during the drive home and have held it together pretty well since then.  I already miss everyone but imagine they are ready to be home.  

Sledding into Les Allieres for lunch & the museum des automates

A king and a princess

The pastry shops in France offer King's Cake for about a month prior to lent.  I picked up one for our good bye dinner for dad.  Good thing they gave us two crowns... This princess wasn't about to go without one.

She also is insisting on visiting a castle, which we're trying to find for her because most are closed in the winter.  What makes it even more of a challenge is that she has instructed me to find "a big castle.  I don't want to go to a small castle, only a big one."

oh la

Exercising while Mom and Dad go skiing

Elsinore found my mini weights and recognized they were for "exercises" right away.  She'll periodically grab them and do some bench presses, bicep curls or butterflies.  What I love most is we'll show her a new routine and she won't be interested in doing it with us but the next day she'll pick them up on her own and do a handful of the exercises we showed her.  

Uncle O took Steve and Ab for a ski day.  The goal was to do some back country but when they got up there they realized the conditions were not great so they played at the Chamrousse resort where it was sunny and the wind could be tolerated.  

While everyone was up on the mountain and Grandpa was napping, Elsi and I played outside.  Grandpa got her a new scooter and we tried it out for a few minutes.  She didn't take to it right away but when we were in the city a couple days later she saw some "big kids" on their scooters and she was able to better grasp the concept.  We played, again, yesterday and she was all over it.  

Climbing and Pedicures

We’re a bit behind in blogging because it has been very busy around here.  We’ll try to improve our efforts but be patient with us if we fall behind again.

After we picked up Grandpa from the hospital we decided to take advantage of a rainy afternoon and go to the climbing gym.   (Steve sat with Grandpa while they waited for the luggage to arrive). Elsinore was not sure about climbing at first but after seeing Uncle O and her Mom climb the big walls, she was ready and asked for me to put her harness on.  We climbed a bit with harness but without the rope and she loved it.  Once we started using the rope, though, she wasn’t as sure.  It could have been she had too much help (both O and I were a bit overzealous) or it could have been the strange sensation of the rope pulling on her.  Either way, when she was done with this climb she was done with rope climbing for the day.  We did a bit more bouldering afterwards, and she was great at it.  She also loved watching the other kids.  I really hope we get back there at least one more time before they go.

Nothing says "holiday season" like bright blue toes!  Pedicures all around.

Pizza, Sledding and Skiing, Day 2

About 5:00 a.m. Dad (aka Grandpa) woke us up because he was in quite a bit of pain and needed to go to the hospital.  It turns out he had an infected cyst in a very uncomfortable area and they needed to operate to remove the infection.  This was no fun and very sad for all of us but what was even harder on some of us was that he couldn’t have anyone with him while he was being diagnosed and tested.  The French system only allows for the patient to be in the room until after surgery.  And even then, the visiting hours are limited.  So we did our best to have fun until we could make our visit.

We made homemade chorizo pizza (Uncle O's crust is the best!)

We went sledding...

and we tried on new skis!  

Els did a great job on the skis and she loved sledding.   She really didn’t want to leave when it was time but the time to see Grandpa was short so off to the hospital we went.  When we got there we discovered she was too young to be in the room so she waited in the lobby with Abbie where she made friends with a little girl who was also waiting.

The different language has seemed to be less of a “scary thing” for her during this trip and, in fact, I think she likes it.  She has asked Uncle O to read her books in French a couple of times and we watched a DVD about dinosaurs and volcanoes that was in French.   We’re hoping to get her together with Franck’s daughter to go swimming very soon.

We closed the evening by calling about Steve’s bag which still hadn’t arrived but was supposedly found and enjoyed a dinner of Mt. d’Or cheese.  It was a very long, although fun, day.

Christmas in France

For weeks we have been prepping Elsi for her visit to France.  She knew she was going to take an airplane to visit France and she would talk about it with her friends and with me over the phone.  Ab even told me that she was telling strangers in the airport that she was going to France.  Of course a 2 ½ year old cannot conceptualize what that all means and what  it takes to get here but she was and has been terrific. Other than wanting to party in the middle of the night, she really hasn't seemed phased... 

Her ease with it all is even more surprising to me because the Korol family had an even longer journey than most... They missed their connecting flight from Washington D.C to Brussels, so they had to spend an extra night in the U.S.  

With the delay, it meant they wouldn’t arrive until Christmas Day. Gilles and Nicole were making the trip just for lunch and needed to be back on the road well before dark.  There was a lot to coordinate and have ready, which left Elsinore and family very little time to adjust to the new time zone before the festivities would begin.  (I think they ended up with about 45 minutes)

We ate with Gilles, Nicole and our friend, Franck and opened presents.  It was a bit hectic but everyone held it together beautifully and we enjoyed a very nice lunch while Els played with her new toys.

Right before dark, we went for a walk to go see the sheep.  Elsinore walked with Uncle O and told him all sorts of stories.  When we returned to the house, she looked up and said, “We’re back in France.”  So it is ...she thinks our house IS France. J  And there is something I really like about that because yesterday in the car when she asked where we were going, I responded, "our house" and she said, "I Love France!"

We all digested dinner and got into our pajamas (except for Steve because his were still somewhere in Frankfurt where they lost his bag),watched a move and went to bed early.  But shortly after everyone was sound asleep, the real adventures began...

To Be Continued...