St Veit, Austria

There were two scenarios running through our minds on the five-hour trip from Stuttgart to St. Veit in the Austrian Alps: 1) Our kids have a fabulous time on skis; they all learn and beg for more. Andy and I return to a sport we love but have forgone for almost 10 years for three little reasons.

2) They hate it. They never learn and have tantrums from the minute the skis go on til two hours after the skis come off. Andy and I wreck our knees.

It is hard to let the fate of the week and the wisdom of spending several hundred dollars on a ski trip rest in the hands of little people who might decide skiing is "yucky."

The family went for option number 1. We had a great time with the kids begging for the next ski trip when we headed home.

We went with a group from Andy's office and our trip coincided with our school's main campus trip so we got to be with both groups. The tour coordinator was Siegi Tours, chosen by the groups because it is family oriented. They offer lessons for everyone and evening stuff, like (I kid you not) yodeling contests, Austrian folk dancing, cow milking, limbo, and karaoke. The ski coordinator is Sven, a tall skinny guy who is a former gold medalist in the international ski instructor olympics. He skis backwards down the slope you are struggling to ski down and shouts out pointers. Knowing this made it all the funnier for me to watch him teaching the kids in the group to yell, "Oompa Oompa Mega-Party!"

Some times we participated. Some times we were in bed before 8 p.m. Micah didn't make it through dinner most nights. He would curl up on the padded bench in the hotel restaurant and drop off.

Highlights:

* Austria! The Austian Alps are beautiful. Andy said prettier than Colorado. I say not prettier, but just as beautiful and more of it. The peaks are densely packed across the miles. An international ski jump competition was held 17 kilometers from our slope. An Austrian won. After his amazing jump, he bent down and kissed the snow. The Austrians on the the slope the next day were jubilant. Lots of red and white flags painted on faces.

* The Ken and Barbie ski school. Actually, their names are Tom and Ilsa. They were the kids' instructors. Patient and beautiful. All beginner skiers start out in a kiddie pen, fenced off from the rest of the bunny slope. There is a conveyer belt that takes them to the top of the ever-so-slight incline. The littles had skis the size of salad utensils. They maneuver off the conveyor belt and glide to the bottom.

Tess was out of the pen the first afternoon. Maddie escaped on Wedesnday and Micah got to go out Thursday afternoon. I saw one instructor with an Austrian cow bell around his neck. When it was time for his little group to turn, he would ring the bell and the kids would "make a pizza" with their skis to wedge turn.

*Mens' sledding trip. Three of the guys in our group, Andy included, and one daughter tracked down a six-kilometer slope that was open for sledding after the skiers left. Andy was careening down when he saw a sign that said Langsam (slow). He put both feet down to break. As he went through the turn and saw the other people in his group stacked like wood in the powder. Apparently they mean it when they want you to slow down. I hear it was crazy fun.

*Watching our kids ski in the end-of-the-week race. No one in the top three, but they did great. After the race, there was an award presentation where all the kids got medals. The top in each class got to stand on a box while they played that child's national anthem.