Walkin inna win terwund der land

We have managed to get away as a family once before, to the wedding we went to in Rutherglen. So in late May, we thought that it'd be achievable to head up to the snow this year. Last year, we had our big around-the-world trip, during which we found out that Naomi was pregnant, so those two factors meant that getting up for a slide just didn't happen. So this year, we were pretty keen to make it happen.

So, with the regular crew, we booked some apartments in Bright. However, since we did the same thing two years ago, one of the crew has moved to NZ (and probably still hasn't gone to the snow over there even though it's a bumper year), another has found love (as well as the love of his two young boys) and we have had Genevieve. So it wasn't quite party-central as it had been previously.

I took the Friday off, so we could just cruise up there. So we packed the car 'tetris-style' and set off around 11am. It was just as well, as it took a little longer than previous times, with stopping for feeds, changes and just the odd cuddle. But we landed, unpacked and set up Genevieve's stuff in record speed.

Once everyone arrived, Paul, or resident 'little-brother' called it for an 8am start. And, I'm very proud to say that without any undue effort, we were ready at 7:50. of course, Paul wasn't ready until 8:15.

Once we drove up, we settled in at Swindler's, or SWNDLRS as the cool-kids call it these days. Naomi and I were gonna tag-team. She had first shift with Genevieve, then I'd come and an let her have a go, and so on. So I went out for a little while, making sure that my mate Brendan found the Summit run OK, gauged his comfort level and then tried a few other runs before heading back in. Naomi was a bit anxious about heading out - it had been 2 years since she last boarded and, of course, a lot has happened since then. So I wanted her to get out before the snow softened too much. While she was gone, I tried to give Genevieve a feed (getting a take-away large cappucino cup full of hot water, to heat her pumpkin/sweet potato/zucchini puree). It was reasonably successful, although she did wear a lot of it.

Naomi came back in a little later than I expected, which was great. After one run she realised she remembered it all and she had a ball. She was quite impressed with her efforts, but she'd had enough, so I was out amongst it for the rest of the afternoon.

We headed off around 4:30, before the traffic and got back to Bright before Genevieve got too upset, and gave her a regular feed and tummy time. She was such a good girl. We were highly conscious that this could have been the weekend from hell, but it was actually pretty easy. However, we had to check out at 10am so to go up the mountain a second day, with all of the gear packed into the car, we both agreed it was going to be too much hassle to get our snow gear out, set up camp in Swindlers etc etc. So instead, we thought we'd have a nice sedate Sunday cruising the various wineries and gourmet eateries around the Alpine Shire.

We all had a wonderful weekend and we are glad we made the effort. It was great to get out on the snowboard. It was also great that we could so easily juggle looking after Genevieve, and getting some runs in. I can't wait until next year (no point in going again this year, as Australia's snow season hasn't been great).