Day 1243. I had my alarm set for 7:30 this morning. Two minutes before Sammy was the first one to wake up, and all he asked was "Wecker?" (alarm clock?). I did not answer. When the alarm went off, he was pretty excited. The first picture shows him "reading" a book that makes sounds, which he loves. Pushing buttons is his favorite thing to do.
After dressing them, we went downstairs for breakfast, then returned to our room to put their skiing gear on one last time. Then we left to walk to the bus stop across the street. It was snowing once again, when we left the hotel. Tammy just loves snow and was all excited. Surprisingly we were the only ones getting on the 9:25 bus, but more people got on at the following stops. It only took us a few minutes to get to the skiing resort.
After we got off the bus, we first went into the shop to ask whether they had a Lost & Found. Sammy had lost one of his gloves yesterday, and we believed it had been right there at the bus stop. They didn't have it and sent us to the ski lift ticket counter. They didn't have it either, but she lent us a pair of gloves. Then we headed to the skiing school area. I asked a teacher there whether they had a Lost & Found, and he said to just look inside the hut. I had no hope, believing he had lost it at the bus stop, but to my greatest surprise there it was on the floor. Sammy was able to put his gloves on again.
We then put their skiing boots on and then their skis at their training slope. Tammy did not want to ski once again. She wanted to play in the snow. By the end of the day she said she wanted to go on another vacation and come back here next year. Emmy is pretty excited about going home.
I put Emmy's skis on, and he started going up and down the hill. He skills really well. When they say to spread his legs wide, he spreads them more than any other child, to the point that he's done a split before, ending up on the ground. Today both of them impressed me by their ability to change direction, making a curve, which they hadn't taught them yet. Randy thinks they are able to do this thanks to the scooters they've been riding at home. Tammy started skiing again at some point. One of the teachers asked her to, and then the teachers bribed them all with candy, giving each child one just before they went down the hill. I then started playing with Tammy and Emmy again, playing I was trying to catch them, or running down the hill in competition to them. They were enjoying that, and it motivated them.
And I noticed again how different Tammy and Emmy are. When I did this with Emmy and said that he had won, he said that we had both won and had reached the bottom at the same time. When Tammy and I reached the bottom at the same time and I said that, she said that she had won.
Sammy now wants Mommy all the time and cries every time I'm not holding him, and especially when I'm out of sight. I could not hold him the whole time, especially with me playing with the other two, but I took him as much as possible. One time I also ran down the hill to chase Emmy while holding him, and let him catch his brother. Sammy always wants me to do a "cave", i.e. open my jacket and let him put his head inside, with me putting my jacket around him. He also does that when he's in bed with me, where we make a cave by pulling a comforter over our heads.
At one point the boss from the skiing school came by and stayed for a little bit to see how things were going. He watched Emmy go down the hill and then did a high-five with him, but always moving his hand away, when Emmy tried to hit it, until he finally let him hit it.
At about 10:45 it was break time. The teachers were taking the kids inside the hut for drinks and cookies. It was clearly the coldest day yet today, every day having been colder than the previous one, and so it was very welcome for us to go inside. It was typically Tammy again, when she overtook every other child and reached the hut first right after the teacher. She also always overtakes everyone she can at the line to get on the moving carpet to get back up the hill.
The kids all got to drink and eat cookies, then the teachers took them to the caroussel. Emmy asked about the sticks hanging down from it, and I told him those were for practicing riding a ski lift. I showed him how to put them between his legs, and he did. Then Emmy and Tammy sat together in one "boat", as there were a lot of kids, and enjoyed the ride, as always. Tammy always leans out, trying to pick up snow as they go.
Then we walked back to the training slope. It was time for the big final race to end the week. Since they don't know how to break yet, they were not gonna go down the actual race track, but just go down the slope they know. The teachers started putting race numbers on them, and Tammy ended up being number 1, while Emmy was number 6. They were still going down the slope one time, then the teachers started lining them up on top of the slope, according to their numbers. It was really funny. They had lined the ten kids up, and then Tammy simply left to go down the hill. They had to wait for her to come back up, and then they carried her back to the starting position. She tried one more time to leave before it was time, but this time they stopped her. One of the teachers then gave a short speech and told all the parents to go to the bottom of the hill. Then Tammy was the first one to go down the hill, and the others followed one after another. I filmed it all, so I don't have pictures. The kids went back up the hill and lined up again. This time they were supposed to all go down the hill at the same time. There was not a lot of space, so I was wondering how well that was going to work, and whether they'd all end up in a big heap, but that was not the case. Emmy was actually up front to start with, but then a bigger boy reached the bottom first, and it looked like he was second. And Tammy, who'd tried several times to go down first did not move, when everyone went down the hill. She took her time and followed the crowd.
Skiing school was over. We still had to wait for the older kids to finish their race before they were gonna do the ceremony to hand out the medals. So we went into the house and took their skiing boots off and put their shoes back on. Then we took the equipment and went to the bottom of the hill to wait for the race to end, which was soon enough. Tammy was playing in the snow while waiting.
Once the race was over, they set up a pedestal and got everything ready for the ceremony. They called all the kids to come up front, so I took them there. Randy had Sammy who was screaming at the top of his lungs because Mommy wasn't holding him any more. He had fallen asleep on my shoulder and had woken up, when I handed him to Randy. I left to find a good spot for pictures, but it was not satisfying. Seeing that other parents were right up front, I ran to get there as well to be able to take good pictures. The teachers put all the ten kids on the pedestal and then gave them certificates and put medals around their necks. All certificates said first place. There were only first places for the little ones. Then they gave us the opportunity to take pictures of them. Once done, I led them to the exit, where I took their pictures. How proud they were of their medals! I believe that's why Tammy wants to come back to go skiing so she can run a race and get another medal again. But in fact, they were most excited about the candy they had received.
I took Sammy again so he'd stop crying again, and together we started walking down the rest of the slope to go to the skiing school office and rental place. Randy turned in their skis and boots, while I went into the skiing school office with the kids to return their vests and helmets. Then we walked to the ski lift ticket counter to return their lift cards and receive the deposit back, and we also returned the borrowed gloves. As we were already by the bus stop, and there were only 10 minutes left, we decided to just stay there and take the bus back to the hotel, all five of us, even though the kids wanted to ride the car again, even without us. We then arrived back at the hotel at the same time the kids arrived in the car.
We went to our room to take our skiing gear off, then went back downstairs for lunch. The kids' plates were already on the table. They had soup today. I ordered soup for myself and a ham and cheese toast that the kids then also ate. Once we were done, we returned to our room for nap time. I sat down on the floor by Sammy and held his hand, while Emmy ended up sleeping in my bed and with me, once Sammy was asleep, while Tammy slept in her own bed. As has been the case all week, Sammy woke up first at about 3:45, and Emmy woke up, when I got up to get Sammy. Then Randy got up, and we started putting their swim suits on, then woke up Tammy so she could do the same. Then we went down to the swimming pool.
Today we saw the biggest number of people there, at least two families. The kids did not like that very much, but we still played and had fun. They had a clock there, and at 4:45 we decided to get out, so we'd make it in time for the Kasperl show at 5:15 pm. We went to our room, got dressed, and went downstairs for the show. We got there just before it started. Randy left to go to the grocery store to buy some food for the trip home tomorrow, while I sat down with them for the show. Tammy and Emmy sat on chairs, while I sat on the window bench with Sammy. Then the show started. Sammy was a little unsure about it all and kept asking to go to the balls. I told him to be patient. Tammy and Emmy really enjoyed the show. They were telling how Donki, the donkey that is the hotel's mascot, got to be at the hotel. In fact they have three donkeys now. Once the show was over, the two ladies that had played it came around and let the kids see and hold the puppets. Tammy got to hold the chicken, while Kasperl said hello to Emmy. Then they invited them to go backstage, and Tammy stood right there with her chicken pretending to play a show.
Then I finally took Sammy to the balls, and his siblings soon joined us. We played in the balls, then I let Sammy climb up and do the whole circle. Once we were back with the balls, Randy returned. The kids then wanted me to read them a story, as there were several books there, and so I sat down on the bench to do just that. We then noticed that they were sitting something up, which turned out to be a kids' disco. And so we suggested we'd go eat, so they'd have enough time to be a part before it was over.
We went to the dining room and started the rather hard process of having dinner. I got plates for everyone, but they've been eating just little proper food, and it takes a lot of coaxing to get them to eat. Finally Tammy had eaten enough for me to let her go, and after having fed her, Emmy took her place, and I fed him some more. Then he was allowed to leave as well. Sammy now always wants to play games after having eaten, and so we finally gave in and let him play and watch.
I went over to the kids' disco to see what was going on. They had clothes and props to use for disguises and were playing the kids' songs our kids know. Emmy came back after a while, not enjoying it, and started watching a movie. When I checked on Tammy, they were just doing a game together. It ended at 7:30, and then Tammy returned to the table as well, and together they continued and finished yesterday's movie, 101 Dalmatians. Then it was time to go back to our room so they could go to bed.
We started the process of getting them ready for bed, and by 9 pm they were all in bed. I turned the rain sounds on and sat down on the floor by Sammy holding his hand, while Tammy and Emmy were sleeping in one bed. Sammy was asleep fast, for his siblings it took a little while longer. I started working on today's 300 pictures, then writing, and so it's now 1 am as I finish my report.
