Skiing in the French Alpes

One of the things that we wanted to experience while we were here was skiing/snowboarding. Neither of us had ever been before. I'm not sure if that's crazy or smart to go skiing for the first time in the Alps; but nonetheless, that's what we did. We went to Megeve in France which is near the Mont Blanc. It only takes about an hour to get there. (Side note: I also had heard that this is where some of the old movie Charade was filmed with Audrey Hepburn and Carey Grant). We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day either. The view from the top of the mountain was unbelievable. I had to keep reminding myself to stop staring at my feet and remember to look out and enjoy it!!

Since it was our first time we decided it would be smart to take lessons. I wanted to learn to ski and David wanted to learn to snowboard. So we each took a two hour private lesson and after that we were so exhausted we were done!! It was really fun and such a great experience for our first time out. I was completely terrified and even told my instructor so. Here were the thoughts running through my head: What happens if i get hurt? I really don't want to end up in the hospital again here. Who would take care of me if i get hurt because David works long hours. Since our fridge is so small and we have no car how would I make the daily trip to the grocery and how would I lug the groceries home? We live in an Apartment, how would I take the dogs out? The list goes on and on!! I know God is up there going "Brooke, I got this...seriously" but still I didn't want to do anything too crazy. I made it down the bunny slope a couple of times and then I went to the bigger slope. I'm sure I was quite the site to see when I lost control and couldn't stop and went into the woods all while arms were flailing about and screaming at the top of my lungs "stop me, stop me!!" Seriously, i'm pretty aware that it wasn't my instructors job to stop me, but thankfully he eventually caught up with me and did stop me. Bless his heart...I'm sure he was thinking what is this girl doing?! Luckily I made it through my first trip out without any accidents.

David did great for his first time snow boarding. We were told it takes longer to catch onto snowboarding but that once you do, it's easier to advance in it than skiing. He was incredibly sore the next day though!!

I will say one of the things that just baffled me was the amount of children on the slopes!! I couldn't believe how many little kids were out there 4-5 years old going down the big slopes and just flying past both me and David. It was amazing to watch them!

Here are some pictures from our day!!

This was David's snowboarding instructor!!

Our Swiss family!!